The Hired Man

The Hired Man
Lynna Banning

A home for the drifter

Cordell Winterman is haunted by his mistakes—and the years spent paying for them. Broke and hungry, he takes a job as a hired man on Eleanor Malloy’s farm.

Eleanor needs help. Desperately. Her kids are running wild and the place is held up by spit and rust. But as Cord helps her set her home to rights, Eleanor realizes she doesn’t just need this enigmatic drifter with hunger in his eyes...she wants him, too!

“I’m sorry, Cord. Really sorry.”

“For what?”

“For everything. I’m sorry about Tom, and for being so weak after the pneumonia, and I’m sorry about your wife. I’m sorry you saw my apple trees in bloom on your way to California. I’m sorry you stopped.”

He sucked in a breath and held it, eyeing the daisy things he’d laid on the quilt beside her. Then he exhaled in one long, slow stream.

“Eleanor, I’m sorry about Tom, and about you being sick. But I’m not sorry about your apple trees, and I’m sure as hell not sorry I stopped at your farm.”

Author Note (#ub3a4fbdf-f875-5b82-a0cf-8c3bd12de7ef)

My mother was raised on a ranch in Oregon, and she always spoke fondly of the hired men who came to help out. She remembered them as kindly, usually unmarried men, who moved from ranch to ranch in the summertime. She recalled one hired man in particular, by the name of Frank, who came every summer; he shared his cookies with her after supper and made her corncob dolls to play with.

The Hired Man

Lynna Banning

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

LYNNA BANNING combines her lifelong love of history and literature in a satisfying career as a writer. Born in Oregon, she graduated from Scripps College and embarked on a career as an editor and technical writer, and later as a high school English teacher. She enjoys hearing from her readers. You may write to her directly at PO Box 324, Felton, CA 95018, USA, email her at carowoolston@att.net (mailto:carowoolston@att.net) or visit Lynna’s website at lynnabanning.net (http://www.lynnabanning.net).

Books by Lynna Banning

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

One Starry Christmas

‘Hark the Harried Angels’

The Scout

High Country Hero

Smoke River Bride

Templar Knight, Forbidden Bride

The Lone Sheriff

Wild West Christmas

‘Christmas in Smoke River’

Dreaming of a Western Christmas

‘His Christmas Belle’

Smoke River Family

Western Spring Weddings

‘The City Girl and the Rancher’

Printer in Petticoats

Her Sheriff Bodyguard

Baby on the Oregon Trail

The Hired Man

Visit the Author Profile page

at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.

For hired men everywhere. And women.

Contents

Cover (#uf112151d-b36b-5aba-9c8c-db059a6e8cfd)

Back Cover Text (#u0cdab67c-6a72-5fd3-91ec-0af37b81f79a)

Introduction (#u503d3cc5-bf8a-50ea-8665-9cf8e9aef22f)

Author Note (#u9ac64355-d25e-54e7-b14c-6d2b2274e27e)

Title Page (#u3e9dec28-6cd2-5d1c-a2b4-2731291ae4a0)

About the Author (#u658440b3-d774-5d8c-8cb6-cdb8b73c0be7)

Dedication (#ue93a0b7a-5b0f-5440-b0a3-f93784e03d49)

Chapter One (#u1f802605-4675-50ed-9b29-616d7464e48f)

Chapter Two (#u21ee856a-e6d1-53ef-aceb-bb6e3776c3c2)

Chapter Three (#u74519386-d704-5bf2-bca0-16120da58d0d)

Chapter Four (#uef6bcda1-ae97-5040-9581-a3511eac84ce)