His Wedding
Losthampton Heiress Found!Kidnapped as a toddler twenty-five years ago, Janet Abbott is finally back where she belongs, and just in time to see her two long-lost brothers get married. The whole clan welcomes her with open arms–except for the person whose arms she'd most like to be in, that is.Brian Girard, the "illegitimate Abbott," wants to avoid the festivities like the plague, afraid the press will dredge up old scandals, embarrass the family and make him look like a gold digger–or worse. But Janet's an Abbott in every sense of the word and doesn't like to lose.Which explains why persuading him to join the wedding party is the first step in her grand plan to get the last "legitimate" Abbott–Janet herself–to the altar, as well!The Abbots
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“You’re flirting with me,” Brian said
Janet didn’t know whether to be pleased or angry. She started to speak, then drew back and collected her thoughts. She put her food down and firmed her chin.
He prepared himself for her reaction.
“Okay, you want to be straight with each other?”
Not necessarily. He just wanted her to understand—
“I’m attracted to you,” she said, interrupting his conversation with himself. “You’re kind, smart, funny and comfortingly sane…when you’re not being weird about embarrassing the family.”
“But you’re a poor judge of character, remember?” he said brutally. “You were left at the altar—”
“Would you do that to me?” she asked ingenuously.
“No, I wouldn’t, because you’d never get me anywhere near an altar.”
She took another clam and studied it, then looked up at him.
“Are you a betting man?”
Dear Reader,
With this fourth book in THE ABBOTTS series, the family has become very real to me. I’ve explored their minds and hearts and know them as well as I know my own family. I fully expect to round a corner in Astoria and bump into the whole crowd, vacationing here for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.
While they’re here, I’d love to be in Losthampton, sunning on the deck at Shepherd’s Knoll, or having coffee on the porch at Brian’s General Store and Boat Rental. Join me there one last time to witness the solution to the mystery of Abby’s kidnapping, and to be on hand as Brian discovers love at last.
Best wishes,
Muriel
P.O. Box 1168
Astoria, Oregon 97103
To the gang at Jarvis, Redwine and Chaloux:
Steven, Mark, Alice, Toni, Trish and Walt. Thank you for the pleasure of your company. Work shouldn’t be this much fun.
Books by Muriel Jensen
HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE
866—FATHER FOUND
882—DADDY TO BE DETERMINED
953—JACKPOT BABY*
965—THAT SUMMER IN MAINE
1020—HIS BABY**
1030—HIS WIFE**
1066—HIS FAMILY**
Contents
Chapter One
“He’ll listen to you. You’re the one who should talk Brian into being Campbell’s best man,” Killian cajoled.
Janet Grant Abbott was sitting across from her brother Killian at the breakfast table on the deck off their family mansion, the August-morning breeze fluttering the linen tablecloth. Their brothers, Sawyer and Campbell, sat at opposite ends. All the women in the house were sleeping in after a family party celebrating Janet’s permanent move to Losthampton had continued to the wee hours. Janet, though, had just rediscovered her brothers after a lifetime apart from them and was still fascinated that they had one another. She’d heard them talk last night about having breakfast together and had gotten up to join them.
As the eldest Abbott son, Killian was CEO of Abbott Mills, a conglomerate of corporations encompassing the production, manufacture and sale of their and other designs. He’d also acquired several unrelated holdings in an experimental foray into other areas.
Janet looked from one brother to another in confusion. “Why should Brian have to be talked into it? He’s our brother…sort of.”
Campbell, the youngest of the three men, shook his head. “I like to think of him that way, but technically, he’s not. He’s their half brother,” he said, pointing to Killian and Sawyer, “but no real relation to you and me.”
There was a visible difference in the coloring of the Abbott progeny. Killian and Sawyer were fair haired and blue eyed, an inheritance from their mother’s Scottish heritage. Campbell and Janet had their French mother’s dark hair and eyes. Otherwise, they had emotional characteristics in common, and a stubbornness that marked all four.
“Well, sure. Technically,” she allowed. “But I’ve noticed that doesn’t seem to matter around here. And he’s your good friend, anyway. That should…”
Campbell was already shaking his head. He was responsible for managing the estate and the apple orchard, and was as quarrelsome as he could be charming. “I asked him while you and China were in L.A., and he made some excuse about this being the busiest time at the store and he had to be there because he was getting estimates to add on a coffee shop, or something. But I don’t think that’s really it.”
Sawyer pushed away his empty plate. “We’ve invited him into the family, but apparently, he prefers to stay carefully on the fringe. Maybe he’s afraid of intruding.” Sawyer headed the Abbott Mills Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the family’s many holdings. He was a daredevil by nature and conducted every phase of his life like an extreme sport. At thirty-five, he was four years older than Campbell and two years younger than Killian.
Janet had come to adore her brothers in the five weeks since she’d rediscovered them, but she did not want to have to talk Brian Girard into anything. She found him interesting and attractive, but he seemed to have little use for her. It was embarrassing.
They saw each other at family get-togethers, and while she managed to be polite, there was always a certain testiness to his behavior that had started the day she’d first arrived at Shepherd’s Knoll, looking for China. She had accidentally run him over with a Vespa, though she’d apologized for that.
