Melissa, who was bouncing baby James in her arms, exclaimed with delight. “That’s wonderful, Chelsea! I always knew we would see your stories in print. Congratulations.”
Chelsea lowered the letter to her side and looked at Blake. “I can’t believe it.”
“It’s true,” he said.
She smiled. “I daresay it is. But I could never have sent them this story without your confidence and encouragement, Blake. Thank you.”
He stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek. “It was your talent and imagination that won their esteem, darling. I had very little to do with it.”
“You’re going to be famous,” Melissa interrupted.
“Well, I don’t know about that,” she replied, laughing at the idea. “I suggest we see how well my story is received before we make that claim.”
“Who’s going to be famous?” her mother asked, coming around the side of the house as she returned from her evening stroll. At her side was Dr. Melville, her fiancé. They had been walking on the beach, exploring the sea caves.
“Our very own Chelsea,” Sebastian said with pride. “One of her stories has been accepted for publication.”
“How extraordinary,” her mother replied, but the initial excitement in her eyes quickly died away. “I hope you’re not going to write under your own name. My wedding is only three weeks away. I can’t possibly arrange it with another scandal looming. We only just tiptoed out from under the last one.”
Chelsea took her mother’s concerns quite seriously. “I do have time to think about it,” she said. “But either way, you’ll be married and gone off on your honeymoon by the time the book is printed. I predict your wedding day shall proceed without a single hitch.”
Lady Neufeld looked up at Dr. Melville and smiled alluringly. “Only three more weeks, darling. Then we will be strolling the beaches of Monaco.”
A seagull sang a shrill song over their heads, and the sun glowed like a great ball of orange fire in the twilight sky.
“Shall we go inside and dress for dinner?” Sebastian asked, addressing Melissa, who nodded and carried little James toward the door.
Later that night, after a quiet dinner with her husband and family, Chelsea lay in bed beside Blake, warm and safe in his arms as they looked out the window at the full moon. “I am so glad I found you that day,” she said softly. “Imagine if I had not gone walking…”
He kissed the top of her head. “You saved my life.”
She snuggled closer to him, laid her hand upon his cheek and gazed into his eyes. “Just as you saved mine. I never knew happiness like this was possible, Blake, and now I have everything I ever dreamed of. I am so grateful.”
And as he lowered his lips to hers and they basked in their feelings of love and completeness, the ocean waves surged and exploded onto the rocks outside their summer retreat, and their baby kicked his little legs in her belly, immensely eager to greet the world.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to my friend Tracey Taweel, for the memorable camping trip to “The Ovens” in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, where the sea caves turned out to be a great inspiration for this book.
Thank you also to my cousin Michelle Phillips, for reading and critiquing, and for always being a great friend. And to Kelly Boyce, for constantly stepping up to the plate. You rock.
Finally, to my amazing husband, Stephen, for your work on the book videos we have so much fun with. (And all the other stuff, too.)
About the Author
JULIANNE MACLEAN fell in love with some of the classic romances—Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, andPride and Prejudice—while completing her degree in English literature. Then she decided that she needed a “real job,” but after a brief stint as a government auditor, she realized she just didn‘t care enough about numbers matching up. So a month before her wedding, she sat down and wrote the first paragraph of a romance. Now fifteen years, a husband, and a daughter later, Julianne is a happy, fulfilled, stay-at-home mom and a devoted romance writer.
Julianne would love to hear from readers and can be reached via e-mail through her website at www.juliannemaclean.com or by regular mail: c/o Avon Books, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.
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By Julianne MacLean
WHEN A STRANGER LOVES ME
THE MISTRESS DIARIES
IN MY WILDEST FANTASIES
SURRENDER TO A SCOUNDREL
PORTRAIT OF A LOVER
LOVE ACCORDING TO LILY
MY OWN PRIVATE HERO
AN AFFAIR MOST WICKED
TO MARRY THE DUKE
If You’ve Enjoyed This Book,
Be Sure to Read These Other
AVON ROMANTIC TREASURES
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND DESIRE by Lorraine Heath
NEVER DARE A DUKE by Gayle Callen
LIKE NO OTHER LOVER by Julie Anne Long
BOLD DESTINY by Jane Feather
THE DEVIL WEARS TARTAN by Karen Ranney
Coming Soon
SEDUCED BY YOUR SPELL by Lois Greiman
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
WHEN A STRANGER LOVES ME. Copyright © 2009 by Julianne MacLean. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition DECEMBER 2008 ISBN: 9780061984914
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