Rochelle Alers - A New Foundation

She managed a brittle smile. You want to be my friend and my boss?

One of Taylors eyebrows lifted. Technically, I wont be your boss because youll be the only one on the team working independently of the others and not under my direct supervision. However, Ill always make myself available to you if you need to talk about something.

Sonja chided herself for misinterpreting his motives. Maybe it was because she was his sisters friend that he didnt want any romantic entanglement. Besides, hed warned Viola about attempting to set him up with her friends, and for Sonja she thought of it as a win-win. Not only would she add the restoration project to her rsum, but she would also interact with a man with whom she would have an ongoing no-pressure friendship.

She extended her right hand. All right. Friends.

Taylor took her hand and dropped a kiss on her fingers. Friends. He released her hand. Now, friend, its time we head down to the cellar so you can see whats waiting for you.

Dear Reader,

I have written several series about families residing in Florida, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina and West Virginia. Now its time for New Jersey.

Bainbridge House is the theme of my latest miniseries, in which the central figure is a French-inspired chteau in North Jersey. The castle erected during the Gilded Age has been abandoned for more than a half century, and as decreed in the will of the last surviving Bainbridge, the responsibility of restoring the property to its original splendor falls to his adult children.

Taylor, the eldest of the five foster children who were subsequently adopted by Conrad and Elise Williamson, is the first to volunteer for the project. It is only when his sister recommends he hire her best friend, architectural historian Sonja Rios-Martin, that Taylor, a supermodel turned structural engineer, realizes hes ready to turn in his bachelor card for a future with the young divorce.

However, Sonjas plans do not include marriage. Shes focused on fulfilling her commitment to cataloging the contents of Bainbridge House to jump-start her aborted career and add to her rsum. If Sonja is hiding a secret, so is Taylor and another mysterious character living on the property.

A New Foundation is the first title in the Bainbridge House series, in which you will be introduced to the other Williamson siblings. With ties that bind them inexorably together as brothers and sister, they are given a second chance not only to be loved but to find their own personal happily-ever-afters.

Happy reading!

Rochelle Alers

A New Foundation

Rochelle Alers

Since 1988, nationally bestselling author Rochelle Alers has written more than eighty books and short stories. She has earned numerous honors, including the Zora Neale Hurston Award, the Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews. She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Iota Theta Zeta Chapter. A full-time writer, she lives in a charming hamlet on Long Island. Rochelle can be contacted through her website, www.rochellealers.org.

Books by Rochelle Alers

Harlequin Special Edition

Bainbridge House

A New Foundation

Wickham Falls Weddings

Home to Wickham Falls

Her Wickham Falls SEAL

The Sheriff of Wickham Falls

Dealmaker, Heartbreaker

This Time for Keeps

Second-Chance Sweet Shop

American Heroes

Claiming the Captains Baby

Twins for the Soldier

Sweet Dreams

Sweet Deception

Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

Psalms 128:3

Contents

M omma was really full of surprises today. I still cant believe she waited until today to tell us that she bought a condo in a gated community, listed the house with a Realtor, and now she plans to take a two-hundred-forty-five-day around-the-world cruise. But what really threw me for a loop was willing us a dilapidated property and expecting us to restore it.

Taylor Williamson met his sisters eyes for a millisecond before he shifted his gaze back to the road and the bumper-to-bumper traffic heading for the tunnel leading into New York. Firstly, Mom is a widow and an empty nester, and that means she doesnt need a house with six bedrooms. And shed always talked about taking an around-the-world cruise when Dad was alive, but she knew he would never go with her because his parents were killed during a boating accident.

Im aware of that, Taylor, but why didnt we know that Daddy had inherited a mansion hed planned to restore once he retired?

Thats something I cant answer, Viola.

And when Momma asked if you would supervise the restoration of his ancestral home I couldnt believe you said yes.

Elise Williamson had waited until her children were all together at the same time to reveal the details of her late husbands will. Conrad Bainbridge Williamson had left her and their sons and daughter a mansion in northern New Jersey.

I agreed because its something both Mom and Dad wanted. And, dont forget I wasnt the only one to agree. Tariq said he was willing to get involved once he finished his postgraduate program, and then later fulfill his obligation at the horse farm. Even Joaquin is willing to become involved as the landscape architect. Only you and Patrick are the holdouts.

But that means you have to quit your position at the engineering firm where youve just been promoted to an assistant project supervisor.

A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of Taylors mouth. I know, but if I assume the responsibility of overseeing the restoration, then not only will I supervise my own team, Ill be working for the family. His mother had given him two steamer trunks filled with blueprints, floor plans, correspondence and documents linked to Bainbridge House. Conrad had stored the trunks in the attic of the farmhouse with the intent to review them once he retired.

Right now, youre the only one in the family that has actually committed. Theres no guarantee that Joaquin and Tariq wont change their minds a year or two from now.

Taylor wanted to ask Viola why she insisted on being a Negative Nelly. He really did not want to argue with his sister, not when hed grown tired of her complaining that she wanted to run her own restaurant kitchen. As a professionally trained chef she had secured a position at an Upper East Side Michelin-starred restaurant. And if she did agree to come on board once the hundred-room mansion was restored to its original magnificence she would have the autonomy shed craved since graduating culinary school. She would supervise her own staff at the family-owned business Taylor had planned to convert into a hotel and venue for weddings and private parties that could accommodate up to three hundred guests. It would take some time before the property would be fully restored, and while Taylor didnt want a firm commitment from Viola he did want her to consider it.

I know a lot can happen in that time, but right now I have to believe theyre willing to get involved. There was more than a hint of confidence in his prediction.

His brothers Joaquin and Tariq seemed genuinely interested in becoming involved in the restoration of Bainbridge House, and Patrick had offered to oversee the financial component. He had worked for their father as a CPA after graduating college. Then hed become involved with a woman whose father and uncles were winemakers. Patrick subsequently divided his time between working in their fathers office and at a Long Island vineyard, and after a few years decided growing grapes and turning them into wine was his passion.