Miss Charlotte Surrenders. Cathy Gillen Thacker

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      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Copy

       Title Page

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Copyright Page

Prologue

      “I want that woman off my back,” Stephen Sterling grumbled to his New York City attorney.

      Franklin Dunn, Jr., picked up a gold pen and turned it end over end. “Charlotte Langston has been a pest, hasn’t she?”

      “And then some.” Stephen stroked his gray goatee and sighed, then turned back to Franklin with a relentless scowl. “I’m not going to let that nosy journalist unmask me,” he vowed.

      “I don’t blame you,” Franklin said. Waving his pen in lecturing fashion, he continued, “And to that end, I have a suggestion for you.”

      Stephen’s bushy gray brow lifted in speculative interest. “Name it.”

      “You need a spy in the enemy camp.”

      Stephen grinned as he casually tucked his silk ascot into the open collar of his shirt. “Someone to keep her from finding out everything she has always wanted to know?”

      “Exactly. As long as the person you hire is one step ahead of the indefatigable Miss Langston, keeping her in the dark about you will be easy,” Franklin assured him.

      Stephen sat back in his chair. He ran his hand thoughtfully over the ivory handle on his cane. “You’ve got a point,” he said slowly. A wicked gleam came into his eyes. “Furthermore, I know just the man for the job.”

      “Who?” Franklin sat forward expectantly.

      “Brett Forrest,” Stephen said with a contemplative grin. “He’ll keep her so busy and aggravated that poor Miss Langston will never guess an enemy has infiltrated her nest.”

Chapter One

      Charlotte emerged from her car, stiff from two straight days of driving, and took a good look around. The house where she and her sisters had grown up was just as she remembered it. Twelve tall white columns braced the front of the majestic three-story plantation home. Dark green shutters adorned every window and contrasted nicely against gleaming white wood. Creamy-petaled camellias with evergreen leaves surrounded the veranda on all sides. But there, the tender loving care stopped.

      Her heart sinking, Charlotte realized the grounds of the rural Mississippi plantation were in terrible shape. The once beautiful lawn of Camellia Lane was now peppered with crabgrass and dandelions and streamed wetly up past her knees. The flower beds that lined the drive stood empty. Even more disturbing, one of the shutters on a second-floor window had been knocked loose by the wind and hung crooked on one hinge.

      Her younger sister, Isabella, had hired a caretaker. What on earth could he be doing with his time?

      Charlotte frowned. Having seen the grounds, she wondered what kind of condition the caretaker’s cottage was СКАЧАТЬ