Home For Keeps

Home For Keeps
Lynn Patrick

Preserving nature. Growing love. Can they do both?Grace Huber has no interest in taking over the reins of her father’s successful development company. Instead, she’s busy building a dream of her own: A “green” housing community in Wisconsin’s Sparrow Lake. Educator and conservationist Caleb Blackthorne is not only on the same page, the handsome single father tempts goal-oriented Grace to take time out to smell the flowers. But Caleb’s rebellious teenage daughter keeps throwing obstacles in their path. And when Caleb’s long-gone ex-wife shows up, along with rumors of ghostly sightings that threaten the future of Green Meadows, Grace fears she may lose all the things that matter most to her.

Preserving nature. Growing love. Can they do both?

Grace Huber has no interest in taking over the reins of her father’s successful development company. Instead, she’s busy building a dream of her own: a “green” housing community in Wisconsin’s Sparrow Lake. Educator and conservationist Caleb Blackthorne is not only on the same page, the handsome single father tempts goal-oriented Grace to take time out to smell the flowers. But Caleb’s rebellious teenage daughter keeps throwing obstacles in their path. And when Caleb’s long-gone ex-wife shows up, along with rumors of ghostly sightings that threaten the future of Green Meadows, Grace fears she may lose all the things that matter most to her.

Caleb looked at Grace. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t.” She smiled, but he still felt the tension between them. It had been a long day.

“Things might get even messier,” he warned. “I hope you’ll bear with me.”

Grace stepped toward him. “If you’re honest about your intentions, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” And he drew her closer to kiss her.

Her lips were soft and she wound her arms around his neck. For a moment, the day’s problems and irritations melted away. Grace felt so good in his arms. He wished they never had to return to reality.

Dear Reader (#ulink_9f4fa04f-826d-5e97-94d7-250de2bd74bc),

In Home for Keeps, a couple characters are frustrated by parents who don’t support them in working at what they love in life. Both of us, the coauthors of this story, were warned by our protective parents that making a living in a creative profession was impractical.

Patricia wanted to work in theater...then in television production...then as a romance writer. Because she’d had similar youthful desires, her mother empathized. Even so, she urged Patricia to get a teaching degree so that she always had a job. Patricia didn’t exactly follow that dictum, but she did work in educational television for nearly two decades, even as she wrote romances and became a published author...and eventually, a college-level fiction writing teacher, as well.

Linda wanted to be an artist and a writer. Although nobody else in her family had graduated from college, they urged her to pick up a teaching degree as a backup plan. She started out as a high school art teacher, went on to write romances and then got into teaching writing at the college level. Throughout, she has done artwork and used the creativity she developed in art classes to make life more interesting.

We believe that people should do what they love...and that it never hurts to have a practical option to earn a living. Hopefully, you’ll see something of yourself or someone you love in Grace and Caleb’s story.

Good reading!

Lynn Patrick

Home for Keeps

Lynn Patrick

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

LYNN PATRICK is the pseudonym for two best friends who started writing together a few decades ago. Linda is a professor with a reading specialty, and Patricia writes as Patricia Rosemoor. Together they enjoy creating worlds that are lightened by the unexpected, fun and sometimes wonderful vagaries of real life.

Contents

COVER (#u95a705e5-b412-5581-81b3-3c764b39873a)

BACK COVER TEXT (#u29f19091-966d-5843-a298-85584552c42d)

INTRODUCTION (#u0b76fe48-18d9-58a8-99dd-cacf0f191f3e)

Dear Reader (#uddecfc13-ebe4-5e86-b7bc-6f8ee2869a19)

TITLE PAGE (#u3315cbb3-054f-500f-af24-82314451889f)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#u4653ea3a-4b18-5218-beed-7d6f2c52ff92)

PROLOGUE (#u3b4f5ebb-caf3-536d-80e8-5612c4ede6a5)

CHAPTER ONE (#u0e8e2f22-374e-5eb0-813c-a986fb97f184)

CHAPTER TWO (#uaafdec32-1309-5d53-9660-83a672f90a99)

CHAPTER THREE (#ud1928b2d-41a6-5138-be2b-77afed2b94c4)

CHAPTER FOUR (#u0c6b3053-455f-5b98-9c2c-271d8f57fd60)

CHAPTER FIVE (#u8666d4df-ad22-54d0-9cef-b9f4f033af97)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)

EXTRACT (#litres_trial_promo)