Love Inspired Historical June 2014 Bundle: Lone Star Heiress\The Lawman's Oklahoma Sweetheart\The Gentleman's Bride Search\Family on the Range (46 page)

Before she could say anything more, they were interrupted by an insistent rapping on the study door. Miss Fairfax glanced toward the sound then back at Jasper with her brows raised in a silent question.

“Go ahead,” he growled, impatient with the ill-timed intrusion. “Answer it.”

She opened the door to admit a flustered-looking footman. “Begging pardon, Mr. Chase, but Mrs. Thorpe bid me fetch you straightaway. Your guests have begun to arrive.”

They were not
his
guests. Jasper barely stifled a gruff observation to that effect. They might be going to spend the next three weeks under his roof, but he had not invited them and he was far from certain he wanted them there. “Tell Mrs. Thorpe I will be along as soon as I am finished speaking with Miss Fairfax.”

That was clearly not the response the footman wanted. “Mrs. Thorpe was very insistent, sir.”

His mother-in-law was a good-hearted creature, but Jasper knew how little it took to throw her into a flurry and the effort it required to soothe her nerves again afterward.

“Oh, very well,” he muttered as he strode toward the door.

As he brushed past his children's governess, he added, “This matter is not settled, Miss Fairfax, only postponed.”

On his march back to the entry hall, Jasper tried to arrange his features into a hearty smile of welcome, but they resisted. However well-meaning the motives of Miss Fairfax and his mother-in-law, he resented the prospect of sharing his family holiday with a pack of strangers.

Still, none of that was his guests' fault. They would come to Amberwood believing he'd invited them. They did not deserve to be made uncomfortable or unwelcome. With that conscious alteration of his outlook, his features relaxed.

When Jasper spied a lanky gentleman in conversation with his mother-in-law, his lips spread into an unforced smile. “Norton! Welcome to Amberwood. It has been far too long, old friend.”

He and Norton Brookes had grown up together when Norton was a pupil of Jasper's adoptive father. Though he came from a family of superior class and education, he had never lorded over Jasper, like some of the other boys. Jasper wished he had kept in closer touch with his old friend since their school days.

That made him regret the harsh manner in which he had questioned Evangeline Fairfax's motives for arranging this house party. Perhaps she had simply decided he might need something more in his life than work and his children. If she had, he owed her thanks rather than suspicion.

He glanced back down the hallway and spied Miss Fairfax lingering at the foot of the servantsʼ stairs, watching his reunion with his friend. Jasper caught her eye and gave a rueful nod that he hoped would signal his apology. As soon as he was able, he would seek her out and properly beg her pardon for mistrusting her. He should have known a woman who cared for his children so well could not mean him any harm.

She acknowledged his nod with a fleeting smile that conveyed relief. Then she headed up the stairs.

“Jasper.” Norton Brookes seized his hand and shook it warmly. “How good to see you again. And how kind of your mother-in-law to invite us! You must remember my sister, Abigail?”

He turned toward a tall lady with dark curls and a long, but attractive face that resembled her brother's.

“I do remember.” Jasper bowed over her hand. “Though I fear I never would have recognized you, Miss Brookes. The last time we met you were still in the nursery.”

Abigail Brookes's green eyes sparkled with lively mischief. “I was out of it more often than in, as you may recall, roaming the countryside like a proper little savage. I have been civilized since then, however. You needn't worry that I will smuggle hedgehogs into your house in my apron pocket.”

Jasper laughed heartily. “My children would not object if you did.”

“In that case I should very much like to meet them,” Abigail replied. “How many do you have and how old are they?”

“Five altogether. Emma is eleven years old, Matthew nine and Alfie eight. Owen is six and Rosie, my youngest, is five.”

They were too young to do without the woman who had cared for them the past several years. Somehow he
must
persuade his children's devoted governess not to abandon them.

A flurry of activity at the door signaled the arrival of more guests.

Jasper's mother-in-law greeted a tiny woman of her own age with a fond embrace then beckoned him over for an introduction. “You must have heard me speak of my dear friend Mrs. Leveson. Martha, may I present my son-in-law, Jasper Chase.”

He bowed. “Welcome to Amberwood, ma'am. I hope you will enjoy your visit.”

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance at last, Mr. Chase, after everything I have read of you in Hilda's letters.” As Mrs. Leveson spoke, Jasper had the uncomfortable feeling she was sizing him up. He could not be certain whether he'd been judged adequate.

Next, his mother-in-law brought forward a young woman not much taller than Mrs. Leveson. Her golden-brown hair was tied up in two bunches of sleek ringlets that looked absurdly like sausages. Though Jasper guessed her age to be above twenty, she blushed and giggled like a child when he bowed to her.

“This is dear Martha's daughter, Gemma.”

Jasper greeted Miss Leveson then turned to introduce her and her mother to the Brookeses. Mrs. Leveson appeared to size up his friend, as well. Gemma Leveson simpered when Norton asked if they'd had a pleasant journey.

Meanwhile, Abigail's dancing eyes warned Jasper that she was in danger of laughing. He was hard pressed to stifle a grin.

“We must show you to your rooms so you can rest from your journey.” Jasper struggled to recall the expected duties of a host, which he had not been obliged to perform for quite some time. “Further conversation can wait until dinner.”

No sooner had their guests been ushered away than more arrived.

“Mr. Webster, welcome!” Jasper shook hands with his late father-in-law's partner, a big, burly man whose genial air concealed a shrewd head for commerce. “You must feel as much out of your element in the countryside as I sometimes do. I trust business is thriving at Red Gate Mills.”

Piers Webster shook his head, though his smile did not falter. “Beastly, and getting worse. But I promised Margaret I would try to put it out of my mind during our visit. You remember my daughter, don't you?”

“Miss Webster, of course.” Jasper greeted the fair-haired lady with a dapple of golden freckles on her pretty nose. “I hope you did not have too much difficulty getting your father away from his mill.”

“None at all,” she replied. “It was Papa who insisted we accept your invitation.”

Jasper and his mother-in-law talked a little more with the Websters until the footman returned to show them their rooms.

“Perhaps this house party was not such a bad idea, after all, Mama,” Jasper said when their guests were out of earshot. He was not certain about the Levesons, but Norton and Abigail Brookes would be good company, as would the Websters.

“I am pleased to hear you say so, my dear boy.” Mrs. Thorpe regarded him with a look that seemed to mingle relief and…pity? “You cannot grieve forever. Life moves on and there are the dear children to think of.”

What did she mean by that? Jasper had no opportunity to ask because just then
more
guests arrived. The first to enter was a tall, striking lady with an elaborate hat perched on her carefully coiffed dark hair. In contrast, the woman who followed her was small and mousy looking, clearly doomed to lifelong spinsterhood.

Something about that impression made Jasper uneasy.

The handsome lady kissed his mother-in-law on both cheeks, exclaiming over the charming house and beautiful countryside.

Mrs. Thorpe beckoned Jasper to introduce her. “No doubt you have heard me speak of my goddaughter, Penelope Anstruther.”

The lady thrust out her hand for Jasper to bow over. “It is a pleasure to meet you at last, Mr. Chase. It was vastly kind of you to invite me.”

“The pleasure is mine, Miss Anstruther and Miss…?” Jasper bowed toward the other woman, who started at his greeting and bobbed a timid curtsy.

“Oh…” Miss Anstruther seemed surprised to be reminded there was anyone with her. “
Mrs.
Dawson, my companion. I am informed you own a cotton mill, Mr. Chase. It sounds fascinating. You must tell me all about it.”

Her interest in his business surprised Jasper, for he could not imagine anyone who would look more out of place in a cotton mill.

Then Miss Anstruther fixed him with a gray gaze he could only describe as…predatory. Suddenly everything that had been troubling him about this house party collided in his mind with his mother-in-law's earlier remarks. Though he had little experience with such gatherings, he believed it was customary to invite an equal number of ladies and gentlemen. This one had only two male guests while four were marriageable women—five if he counted Mrs. Dawson, who must be a young widow.

Why, this party was nothing more than a thinly veiled matchmaking scheme to find him a new wife! And his children's governess was clearly the mastermind behind it.

He would soon make it clear to Evangeline Fairfax that he wanted nothing more to do with matrimony!

Copyright © 2014 by Deborah M. Hale

ISBN-13: 9781460333815

THE LAWMAN'S OKLAHOMA SWEETHEART

Copyright © 2014 by Harlequin Books S.A.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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Matchmaking with a Mission

If Jasper Chase won't trouble himself to find a new governess, Evangeline Fairfax must find her employer a wife. That way, his children will be well cared for once she leaves to start a charity school. Jasper reluctantly agrees to a matchmaking house party with one condition—that Evangeline give him lessons in courtship.

Devoted to improving conditions at his mill, Jasper unwittingly ignored matters at home. Only now, as Evangeline teaches him how to win a wife, does he realize what it means to be a true father and husband. And if this independent young woman would just say yes, her plan could have the perfect ending….

Glass Slipper Brides: From governess to Cinderella bride

“Are you sorry you put yourself to so much trouble to find me a wife?”

When he asked the question, Jasper Chase cocked his head to one side, just like his son Matthew. His grin sparkled with impudence, yet there was an appealing warmth about it.

“Of course not.” She tilted her chin and looked him in the eye. “I enjoy a challenge.”

He nodded as if to say he did, too. “You have risen to it admirably. You must be very anxious to get away and start that school of yours.”

“I am.” Evangeline willed her voice to remain steady and positive, without the slightest quaver of doubt. If Mr. Chase heard it, she feared he might apply pressure to that weak spot to persuade her to stay.

But when she betrayed nothing he could exploit, Jasper Chase simply shook his head and repeated his earlier words with one minor but significant change. “How
will
we manage without you, Miss Fairfax?”

Books by Deborah Hale

Love Inspired Historical

The Wedding Season
“Much Ado About Nuptials”
*The Captain's Christmas
Family
*The Baron's Governess Bride
*The Earl's Honorable
Intentions
*The Duke's Marriage Mission
*The Gentleman's Bride
Search

*Glass Slipper Brides

DEBORAH HALE

After a decade of tracing her ancestors to their roots in
Georgian-era Britain, Golden Heart winner Deborah Hale turned to historical
romance writing as a way to blend her love of the past with her desire to spin a
good love story. Deborah lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, between the historic
British garrison town of Halifax and the romantic Annapolis Valley of
Longfellow's
Evangeline.
With four children
(including twins), Deborah calls writing her “sanity retention mechanism.” On
good days, she likes to think it's working.

Deborah invites you to visit her personal website at
www.deborahhale.com
, or find out more about her at
www.Harlequin.com
.