Moondrift

Moondrift
Anne Mather

Mills & Boon are excited to present The Anne Mather Collection – the complete works by this classic author made available to download for the very first time! These books span six decades of a phenomenal writing career, and every story is available to read unedited and untouched from their original release.You never forget your first love… Ten years ago Jordan Lucas fell innocently in love with Rhys Jordan, a musician visiting her Caribbean island home. She experienced the soaring flight of first love and the bitter crush of betrayal. She would never forget her humiliation when his wife had shown up with a young child in tow! Now Rhys Williams is back…and he's brought his teenage daughter with him. Jordan is tempted to ignore Rhys's presence - but she soon finds it impossible not be even more drawn to him than ever…

Mills & Boon is proud to present a fabulous collection of fantastic novels by bestselling, much loved author

ANNE MATHER

Anne has a stellar record of achievement within the

publishing industry, having written over one hundred

and sixty books, with worldwide sales of more than

forty-eight MILLION copies in multiple languages.

This amazing collection of classic stories offers a chance

for readers to recapture the pleasure Anne’s powerful,

passionate writing has given.

We are sure you will love them all!

I’ve always wanted to write—which is not to say I’ve always wanted to be a professional writer. On the contrary, for years I only wrote for my own pleasure and it wasn’t until my husband suggested sending one of my stories to a publisher that we put several publishers’ names into a hat and pulled one out. The rest, as they say, is history. And now, one hundred and sixty-two books later, I’m literally—excuse the pun—staggered by what’s happened.

I had written all through my infant and junior years and on into my teens, the stories changing from children’s adventures to torrid gypsy passions. My mother used to gather these manuscripts up from time to time, when my bedroom became too untidy, and dispose of them! In those days, I used not to finish any of the stories and Caroline, my first published novel, was the first I’d ever completed. I was newly married then and my daughter was just a baby, and it was quite a job juggling my household chores and scribbling away in exercise books every chance I got. Not very professional, as you can imagine, but that’s the way it was.

These days, I have a bit more time to devote to my work, but that first love of writing has never changed. I can’t imagine not having a current book on the typewriter—yes, it’s my husband who transcribes everything on to the computer. He’s my partner in both life and work and I depend on his good sense more than I care to admit.

We have two grown-up children, a son and a daughter, and two almost grown-up grandchildren, Abi and Ben. My e-mail address is mystic-am@msn.com (mailto:mystic-am@msn.com) and I’d be happy to hear from any of my wonderful readers.

Moondrift

Anne Mather

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

Table of Contents

Cover (#uaaaa9e51-7738-54ed-b43c-ca6f3a749916)

About the Author (#u4143d5ce-2de4-52a8-bb9d-2f658fe9cc93)

Title Page (#u840b7111-526d-597e-a97b-33e5d0aa9756)

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

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#u9883ea01-0894-5c9e-81ec-6488e1e4f61d)

THE island lay almost immediately below the plane now, one of a group of smaller islands that depended on the larger islands for most of their supplies. It grew coconut palms and banana plants and pineapples, and a small amount of sugar cane, but mostly it relied on tourism for its survival, which at times had not been easy. Shaped like an avocado, it lay drowsing beneath the heat of a Caribbean afternoon, and Rhys felt his nerves tightening as the Cessna banked to make its landing.

He had not wanted to come back. Indeed, there were times when he had sworn he would never come back. But it was ten years now, ten years and he had finally got the island out of his blood. He had had to come back to complete the catharsis.

‘Is that Eleutha, Daddy?’

The girl beside him leaned towards the window excitedly, gazing down at the oblong curve of sand that fringed the west coast of the island. The hotel was situated along that strip of beach, Rhys remembered unwillingly, its low-walled terrace overlooking the lagoon confined by the reef.

‘Yes, that’s Eleutha,’ he answered now, giving her a brief smile. ‘We’ll be landing in a couple of minutes. You’d better get your things together.’

‘I’ve only got my bag and my jacket,’ she exclaimed, looking down at her bare legs with some satisfaction. ‘Look, I’m getting brown already. I expect to have a really super tan when we get back to London.’

Rhys regarded her with affection. ‘You’re not wanting to go back already, are you?’ he enquired, and she shook her head.

‘No, of course not. You said we could stay for a month, didn’t you?’ Her dark gold eyes, so like his own, sparkled excitedly. ‘I can’t wait to see our house. Does it really have its own stretch of beach?’

‘It does.’ Rhys’s eyes turned irresistibly towards the window again. ‘I just hope you don’t get bored. Eleutha isn’t London, and there are no discothèques or department stores here.’

‘That’s not fair!’ A sulky look invaded her eyes at his faint criticism. ‘I didn’t get bored when we went to Mauritius, did I? And you were working there. You’re not going to work here, are you? You promised!’

Rhys sighed. ‘I said, if I remember correctly, that I didn’t think I’d feel like working here,’ he corrected her drily. ‘Besides, you won’t want my company all the time. I’m too old.’