This Christmas, we’ve got some fabulous treats to give away! ENTER NOW for a chance to win £5000 by clicking the link below.
www.millsandboon.co.uk/ebookxmas
An Impossible Choice
Some might call it a proposal. Violet Burton knows it’s blackmail, and she refuses to give in. She won’t marry the unscrupulous banker who holds the mortgage on her Virginia home. Instead, she’ll find employment in New York City, earning enough to pay her debts before returning home. Virginia’s where she belongs....even if reconnecting with childhood friend Michael Heaton makes her long to stay permanently at his mother’s boardinghouse.
The freckle-faced little girl Michael knew is now a lovely woman. Helping Violet find her way is a simple act of friendship—at least at first. But soon he’ll do anything to keep her safe, and hope she’ll see that the home she seeks is one they can share together.
“Do you miss Ashland, Michael?”
“Sometimes I miss the times I lived there. But nothing there is the same now, and I’ve come to love living here in the city. It took a while, but now I feel this is home. What about you? Do you plan on going back to Ashland?”
“Oh, it’s still home for me. And of course, once I pay off the mortgage, I’ll be returning.”
Violet’s words didn’t really surprise him, though they did seem to put a pall on his mood. He knew the whole reason she was here was to earn enough money to get her home paid off. But he was going to have to warn his mother against becoming too attached to Violet so that she didn’t take it too hard when she did leave. And he couldn’t let himself enjoy her company too much for the very same reason.....
About the Author
JANET LEE BARTON was born in New Mexico and has lived all over the South, in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. She loves researching and writing heartwarming stories about faith, family, friends and love. Janet loves being able to share her faith and love of the Lord through her writing. She’s very happy that the kind of romances the Lord has called her to write can be read and shared with women of all ages.
Janet and her husband now live in Oklahoma, and are part of what they laughingly call their “Generational Living Experiment” with their daughter and her husband, two wonderful granddaughters and a Shih Tzu called Bella. The experiment has turned into quite an adventure and so far, they think it’s working out just fine. When Janet isn’t writing or reading, she loves to travel, cook, work in the garden and sew.
You can visit Janet at www.janetleebarton.com.
Somewhere to Call Home
Janet Lee Barton
And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee;
he will be with thee, he will not fail thee,
neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
—Deuteronomy 31:8
To Tamela Hancock Murray and Tina James
for making a dream come true;
To all my LI and LIH author friends,
who have encouraged me to keep trying;
To the Bards of Faith and the OCFW chapter
for their encouragement and support;
To my husband Dan and my family
for their unending love and support;
And, most of all, to my Lord and Savior
for showing me the way.
Contents
Prologue
Ashland, Virginia
May 1895
Violet Burton sighed with disappointment as she left the mercantile. How could things have changed so much in such a short time? Only moments ago, on her way to the post office, there’d been a help-wanted sign in the store’s window and another one in the milliner’s shop. Evidently, she wasn’t the only one seeking employment in her small hometown, for both positions were filled by the time she got through picking up her mail.
She walked along the main street, her gaze searching the windows of the businesses on each side of the street. When she spotted a sign in the café across the way, a flicker of hope nudged her to gather up her skirts to clear them from the dirt road and hurry across. However, just before she reached the door, the sign was yanked right out of the window. Violet’s hope sank once more, but she entered the establishment anyway.
She walked over