Anna Meets Her Match

Anna Meets Her Match
Arlene James

Take one uncontrollable little girl. Add a home infested with bees.Toss in former childhood nemesis Anna Burdett, and what single dad Reeves Leland gets is one big headache! His trio of matchmaking maiden aunts aren't helping matters. Neither is his attraction to Anna, now grown into a beautiful woman. The former wild child soon proves to be the perfect match for Reeves and his willful daughter. Could this reunion spark old memories and new possibilities for a future together?

“I’ll walk you out, Anna.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she said.

“I told Aunt Hypatia that I would see you out,” Reeves insisted, taking her by her arm.

When they made their way into the foyer, he took both her hands in his.

“Thank you for caring about my daughter,” he said, his molten gaze holding hers. “Thank you especially for spending time with her. It’s made a difference.”

Anna nodded.

Reeves then tucked one of her hands into the curve of his arm and stepped toward the front door.

He looked at her, his smile matching hers. For one heartstopping moment their gazes held, and she actually wondered…He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead before dropping her hand and stepping back.

He opened the front door, and she stumbled through it. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

He waited until she walked over to her car before closing the door behind her. Anna stood in the dark, staring up at the big silent house.

It was perhaps the best moment of her life.

ARLENE JAMES

says, “Camp meetings, mission work and church attendance permeate my Oklahoma childhood memories. It was a golden time, which sustains me yet. However, only as a young, widowed mother did I truly begin growing in my personal relationship with the Lord. Through adversity, He has blessed me in countless ways, one of which is a second marriage so loving and romantic it still feels like courtship!”

The author of seventy novels, Arlene James now resides outside of Dallas, Texas, with her husband. Her need to write is greater than ever, a fact that frankly amazes her, as she’s been at it since the eighth grade! She loves to hear from readers and can be reached via her Web site at www.arlenejames.com.

Anna Meets Her Match

Arlene James

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

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

—Romans 8:1

I am often asked why, after all these years,

I continue to write romance.

The answer is very simple.

I’ve been happily married for all this time to the same increasingly wonderful man.

No wife has ever been more blessed in her husband, and no husband has ever given his wife more inspiration!

Thank you, sweetheart.

DAR

Contents

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

Epilogue

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

“Da-a-a-dy!” Gilli’s muffled voice called from the backseat of the silver sedan as Reeves Leland lifted the last of the suitcases from the trunk. “Out!” Gilli demanded, rattling the disabled door handle.

He had parked the car beneath the porte cochere on the west side of the massive antebellum mansion known as Chatam House, where he and his daughter had come seeking sanctuary. “In a minute, Gilli,” he said, closing the trunk lid.

Since turning three six months earlier, his daughter had grown increasingly difficult, as if he didn’t have enough problems. He thought of the letter that he’d recently received from his ex-wife. The divorce had been final for nearly a year, but she had suddenly decided that he hadn’t treated her fairly in the settlement. He shook his head, more pressing concerns crowding his mind. The most immediate had to do with housing.