Promise of a Family. Jo Brown Ann
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Family in Training?
After rescuing six children abandoned in a boat, Captain Drake Nesbitt is determined to ensure their safety and locate their unknown parents. But first, he needs someone to nurture the babies. He’s grateful for the support of kindhearted Lady Susanna Trelawney.
Although Susanna has given up all hope of marriage and happiness after her fiancé’s betrayal, the adorable children evoke all her maternal instincts. Soon she’s falling for her tiny charges—and their handsome rescuer. Can Susanna convince committed bachelor Drake that he’s more than just a onetime hero, but a man who has room in his heart for a family after all?
Matchmaking Babies: Seeking forever families and speeding up the course of true love.
“One day the children will appreciate that your family has provided for them. Not every abandoned child is so blessed.”
“What happened to you, Drake?”
“The neighbors took me in with their brood, which was large enough that they never seemed to notice one more.”
“So they became your family?”
“No. They were never cruel to me, but I was always an outsider. I was never allowed to call them mother and father.”
“Oh, how horrible! You must have been so alone and so lonely, even in such a crowded house.”
“No one else has ever said that.” He quickly looked away.
“If I have pried too much…”
“No, it feels good to have someone understand.” He shook his head with a grin.
Before she could ask another question, the twins called to her. As he stood, she went to swing the girls out of the sleeping hammocks. He could sense that Susanna was just as anxious to leave the solitude belowdecks. As for himself, he would be glad to return to where they would not be able to talk about the past and what he planned to do in the future.
A future when the rolling waves of the sea would come between him and Susanna.
No, he definitely did not want to think of that. Not until he had to.
JO ANN BROWN has always loved stories with happy-ever-after endings. A former military officer, she is thrilled to have the chance to write stories about people falling in love. She is also a photographer, and travels with her husband of more than thirty years to places where she can snap pictures. They live in Nevada with three children and a spoiled cat. Drop her a note at joannbrownbooks.com.
Promise of a Family
Jo Ann Brown
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
—Matthew 18:2–3
For Jo Piraneo
Who has an amazing gift for making my jumbled comments into something beautiful
Contents
Porthlowen, Cornwall 1812
“There! It is leaking right there!”
At the shout, Drake Nesbitt looked down into his ship where his first mate and crew were struggling to fix the damage The Kestrel had suffered after crossing the path of a French privateer. Sunlight sparkled on water in the depths of the ship. Hurrying to join his crew, he muttered under his breath as he pulled off his new boots. He had thought the last of the holes in The Kestrel