Mending Her Heart

Mending Her Heart
Judy Baer

After quitting her high-powered job, Catherine Stanhope heads home to Pleasant, Minnesota, to rest and regroup. When she arrives at her late grandmother's house, Hope House, she finds a handsome caretaker and his adorable nephew fixing up the place. This is not what she had in mind! Catherine is thinking of selling Hope House and starting fresh.But Will's determined to honor her grandmother's wish to restore the beautiful Victorian mansion to its former glory. Can he convince Catherine that together they can turn this house into a home - and turn their partnership into true love?

Charley slid into his seat at the table and folded his hands. “Can I say grace?”

“You bet. Give it your best shot, buddy,” Will said.

Catherine listened in amazement as the child began to pray.

“Dear God, thanks for fish, especially salmon the way Uncle Will cooks it, and for cabbage even though it’s gross. And thank you for Jesus and my mom and my uncle and for Miss Catherine who’s come to help us fix up Hope House. And take care of Gram. You’re lucky you’ve got her now. Amen.”

Catherine didn’t even realize there were tears streaming down her face until Will touched a napkin to one cheek.

“He affects me that way, too, sometimes,” Will said so softly that Charley, who was busy eating, didn’t hear.

Everything Charley and Will did seemed to touch Catherine to her core. She looked down at the napkin in her lap. She didn’t want Will to see her face. She was a hairbreadth away from falling for these two charmers, and what a complication that would be.

JUDY BAER

Angel Award-winning author and two-time RITA

Award finalist Judy Baer has written more than seventy books in the past twenty years. A native of North Dakota and graduate of Concordia College in Minnesota, she currently lives near Minneapolis. In addition to writing, Judy works as a personal life coach and writing coach. Judy speaks in churches, libraries, women’s groups and at writers’ conferences across the country. She enjoys time with her husband, two daughters, three stepchildren and the growing number of spouses, pets and babies they bring home. Judy, who once raised buffalo, now owns horses. She recently completed her master’s degree and accepted a position as adjunct faculty at St. Mary’s University, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Readers are invited to visit her website at www.judykbaer.com.

Mending Her Heart

Judy Baer

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

Weeping may tarry for the night,

but joy comes in the morning.

—Psalm 30:5

For my mom. I love you.

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

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

Letter to Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Goodbye, Gram. I love you.

Catherine Stanhope turned away from the grave site, her heart aching, unable to watch the ornate silver casket being lowered into the ground. Now the last living Stanhope, she felt truly alone.

As she turned away, consumed with grief and loneliness, she stumbled on a patch of rough ground and pitched forward. She would have fallen flat on her face but for a pair of strong hands that quickly circled her waist.

“Are you okay?” Will Tanner studied her with dark, compassionate eyes.

“Fine, considering the circumstances.” Her voice was faint and monotone.

She stared down at her feet as if they belonged to someone else. She’d worn ridiculously high heels to the funeral even though she knew full well that she’d have to make her way across the cemetery to the elaborate Stanhope family headstone that towered over the rest of the graveyard’s modest rows of tombstones. She wasn’t thinking ahead. In fact, she wasn’t thinking at all. The sudden death of her grandmother Abigail had come as such a shock that she was still reeling.