Once More A Family

The Texan’s Convenient Bride

To bring his daughter home to Texas, widowed rancher Jack Burnett needs a wife. And the well-bred Ada Westmore, his neighbor’s niece, will surely meet his father-in-law’s approval. Not willing to open his heart again to love, Jack proposes a marriage in name only. But his independent bride proves more intriguing than he expected.

Needing to support her sisters after the collapse of their father’s fortune, Ada reluctantly agrees to the handsome cowboy’s proposal. The transformation from New York belle to prairie wife—and mother—is challenging for the onetime suffragist. But when their little family faces the threat of being torn apart, Ada and Jack must decide whether their marriage of convenience can become a marriage of love.

“You should have thought to ask.”

“You wanted me to create an environment for Laura that would be acceptable to the St. Clairs.” She straightened her spine. “I can tell you right now that if Winchester Falls doesn’t get a church, it won’t become a place the St. Clairs will consider suitable.”

He sat there, staring at her. She would not look away.

“You still should have consulted me first. As an equal partner.” He said the last few words quietly, so faint that she had to strain to hear them.

“You are right.” And he was. She was barging ahead without thinking, but if he had done the same to her, she would have been furious. “I apologize.”

“Apology accepted.” He stuck his hand out down the length of the table. “They can have the land. Do we have a truce?”

She took his hand in hers. His was rough and calloused, the hand of a man who worked long, vigorous hours, using reserves of strength and vitality.

She pulled away sharply, suddenly aware that she had let her hand rest in his for longer than absolutely necessary.

Growing up in small-town Texas, LILY GEORGE spent her summers devouring the books in her mother’s Christian bookstore. These books, particularly ones by Grace Livingston Hill, inspired her to write her own stories. She sold her first book to Love Inspired in 2011 and enjoys writing clean romances that can be shared across generations. Lily lives in northwest Texas, where she’s restoring a 1920s farmhouse with her husband and daughter.

Once More a Family

Lily George

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” saith the Lord, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

—Jeremiah 29:11

For my tireless beta reader, Marie Higgins, and my fellow writers Kristin Etheridge and Belle Calhoune. Without your cheerleading and support, I would not have made it.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Winchester Falls, Texas

March, 1905

Heat radiated in waves around her. Who knew that Texas would be so terribly hot, especially so early in spring?

Of course, this was the uncivilized part, not the more well-established, genteel cities one heard about, like San Antonio or Austin. Perhaps scorching heat was befitting the rough-and-ready northwestern Texas town of Winchester Falls.

Ada Westmore stepped gingerly out onto the train platform, holding tightly to her hat as the wind threatened to tear it free of all its carefully placed hat pins. She caught a glance of her reflection in the train-car window as she struggled to keep the door from slamming shut. Her black hair, so tidily arranged this morning, framed her face in straggling locks. Her dark blue eyes were ringed with fatigue. Her dress, once a fashionable shade of dark green, had been dyed the requisite somber hue for mourning. Yet the color really didn’t matter, for it was muted by a fine layer of sandy dirt that had blown through the train-car windows.

Ada straightened, shoving the hat pins more deeply into her coiffure to anchor her hat securely. Then she gathered her skirts in one hand while navigating the steps to the platform. A porter waited, extending his hand as she made her way down.

“Thank you,” she said, grateful for the assistance. She scanned the length of the platform, but no one seemed to be expecting her. Surely Aunt Pearl would be here by now. The train was late, after all, having been delayed by a solitary cow that had refused to move from the tracks and had to be coaxed away by the conductor. “Is there a waiting room inside the depot?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the porter replied. “But it’s so hot right now most people wait out on the platform. At least that way, you can hope to catch the breeze.”

Ada gave him a wan smile. This was no mere breeze, but a howling, scorching gust that made her feel as though walking might be a passing fancy but not something to be seriously attempted. She should probably offer the man a tip. She opened her reticule and removed a few precious pennies, the last of the small horde that she had managed to bring with her. He took them from her with a curt nod.