Table of Contents
A writer of incredible beauty and sensitivity,*New York Timesbestselling author LaVyrle Spencer offers a story to cherishabout falling in love and finding the courage to follow your dreams...
Lee Walker knows it wont be easy to start a new life in a new city. But she is on a mission: to prove to everyone, and to herself, that she can make it here, working in the masculine world of the construction industry...
When contracting rival Sam Brown offers her a job, Lee is stunned... and a little wary. Sams motives seem honorable enough, even if he doesnt see her in a strictly professional light. In fact, Sam sees her as the woman shes always hoped to besmart, capable, warm, and funny. And sexy. Before she knows it, Lee is falling head over heels for her boss... but part of her is sure that telling Sam about her past would have him backing away, fast. Now she must choose between protecting her bruised and battered heartor trusting it to a man whose quiet strength just might heal it...
[LaVyrle Spencer] knows how to tug at readers heartstrings.
Publishers Weekly
Affaire de Coeur
THE BESTSELLING NOVELS OF LA VYRLE SPENCER...
Then Came Heaven
A triumphant story of faith and love... Touching.
The Chattanooga Times
Small Town Girl
A country music star rediscovers her heart... Warm and folksy.
Kirkus Reviews
That Camden Summer
A shunned divorce finds unexpected love... A modern fairy tale.
People
Home Song
A secret threatens to tear a family apart... Tug[s] at readers heartstrings.
Publishers Weekly
Family Blessings
A widow is torn between her family and new love... A moving tale.
Publishers Weekly
November of the Heart
True love blooms for two hearts from different worlds... One of Spencers best.
Kirkus Reviews
Bygones
A moving story of a family at a crossroads... A pageturner.
New York Daily News
Forgiving
A beautiful story of family ties renewed... A lively story.
New York Daily News
Bitter Sweet
The poignant tale of high school sweethearts reunited... A journey of self-discovery and reawakening.
Booklist
The Endearment
A womans love is threatened by past secrets... A tender, sensual story.
Lisa Gregory
Morning Glory
Two misfit hearts find tenderness... A superb book.
New York Daily News
Spring Fancy
A bride-to-be falls in lovewith another man... Incredible beauty.
Affaire de Coeur
The Hellion
Sparks fly between a lady and a hell-raiser... Superb.
Chicago Sun-Times
Vows
Two willful loversone special promise... Magic.
Affaire de Coeur
The Gamble
Take a chance on love... Grand.
Good Housekeeping
Years
Across the Western plains, only the strongest survived... Splendid.
Publishers Weekly
Separate Beds
First came the baby, then marriage... then love... A superb story.
Los Angeles Times
Twice Loved
A womans missing husband returnsafter shes remarried... Emotional.
Rocky Mountain News
Hummingbird
The novel that launched La Vyrle Spencers stunning career... Will leave you breathless.
Affaire de Coeur
Titles by La Vyrle Spencer
A PROMISE TO CHERISH
FORSAKING ALL OTHERS
THEN CAME HEAVEN
SMALL TOWN GIRL
THAT CAMDEN SUMMER
HOME SONG
FAMILY BLESSINGS
NOVEMBER OF THE HEART
BYGONES
FORGIVING
BITTER SWEET
MORNING GLORY
SPRING FANCY
THE HELLION
VOWS
THE GAMBLE
YEARS
SEPARATE BEDS
TWICE LOVED
SWEET MEMORIES
HUMMINGBIRD
THE ENDEARMENT
THE FULFILLMENT
With
gratitude
to my friends in
Independence and Kansas City
Bea, who gave me the map
Barbra, who showed me the old orchard
and
Vivien Lee, who took me to the C C
Chapter ONE
As the first suitcase came clunking down the luggage return of Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Lee Walker checked her watch impatiently, drummed four coral fingernails against her shoulder bag, and studied the conveyor belt with a frown. It moved like a sedated snail! She glanced at her watch a second timeonly one hour and ten minutes before the bid letting! If the damn suitcase didnt roll out soon, shed end up at City Hall in these faded blue jeans!
Lee glowered at the flapping porthole until at last her suitcase came through. She sighed deeply and strained to reach it.
She plucked it off the conveyor belt and flewa tall, dark-skinned flash of loose black hair and aqua feathers, the worn patches on the backside of her tight jeans attracting the eyes of several men she adroitly sidestepped. The feathers in her hair lifted with each long-legged slap of her moccasins on the terminal floor until she came at last, panting and winded by the thin Denver air, to the Economy Rent-A-Car booth.
Twenty minutes later the same suitcase hit the bed in Room 110 of the Cherry Creek Motel. Lee reached to yank the shirttails free of her jeans at the same time that she released the catch on the suitcase and flipped it open. Her hand halted. Her jaw dropped open.
Oh my God, she whispered. Lifeless fingers forgot about buttons. Stricken eyes stared at the strange contents of the suitcase while one hand covered her lips, the other clasped her suddenly queasy stomach. Oh sh... Her eyes took it in, but her mind balked. No... it cant be! But she was staring not at the mustard-colored envelope containing the bid for a sewage treatment plant shed worked on for the last two weeks. Instead, a half-naked blonde tootsie lifted a pair of enormous breasts and smiled a come-hither message from the cover of a... a Thrust magazine.
For a moment Lee was struck motionless with disbelief. Thrust? She stood hunched over, horrified, her thoughts whirling. Then frantically she scrambled through the suitcase, throwing out item after itema gray sweat suit, two pair of dress trousers, a mans shaving kit, two neatly folded shirts, royal blue jockey shortsroyal blue?black socks, Rawhide deodorant, a pair of well-worn jogging shoes with filthy laces, a hair blower, and a brush with very dark brown hair caught in its white bristles.
She ran a thumb over them, then dropped it distastefully and quit scrambling through the contents to grab the identification tag dangling from the suitcase handle.
Sam Brown
8990 Ward Parkway
Kansas City, Missouri 64110
With a groan Lee sank to the bed, leaned forward, and clutched her forehead in both hands. Oh, damn my hide, Ive really done it now. Old Thorpe will gloat over this for months! At the thought of Thorpe and his small, racist mind, panic swept Lee, tightening the skin across her temples, making the blood sing and swirl crazily as she burst to her feet. She checked her watch. Frantic thoughts tumbled about in her head, leaving her to stand in indecision, glancing from phone to suitcase to the car keys on the bed.
