Love at Any Cost (The Heart of San Francisco Book #1) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Julie Lessman

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206 pages

English

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Description

Jilted by a fortune hunter, cowgirl Cassidy McClare is a spunky Texas oil heiress without a fortune who would just as soon hogtie a man as look at him. Hoping a summer visit with her wealthy cousins in San Francisco will help her forget her heartache, Cassidy travels west. But no sooner is she settled in beautiful California than Jamie McKenna, a handsome pauper looking to marry well, captures her heart. When Jamie discovers the woman he loves is poorer than he is, Cassidy finds herself bucked by love a second time. Will Jamie discover that money can't buy love after all? And can Cassidy ever learn to fully trust her heart to a man?With delectable descriptions and a romantic sensibility, bestselling author Julie Lessman brings the Gilded Age to life in this sumptuous new series. Readers will faithfully follow Lessman to the West Coast for more romance, passion, and surprising revelations found in Love at Any Cost.

Sujets

Historical romance

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	15 avril 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441240576
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0432€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2013 by Julie Lessman
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2013
Ebook corrections 06.13.2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-4057-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Scripture used in this book, whether quoted or paraphrased by the characters, is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.
“With an artist’s brushstroke, Julie Lessman creates another masterpiece filled with family and love and passion that compares to none in the Christian market today. Interwoven with themes of betrayal, trust, and God’s love, Love at Any Cost will not only soothe your soul, but it will make you laugh, stir your heart, and release a sigh of satisfaction when you turn the last page. The next book in the series cannot come soon enough!”
MaryLu Tyndall , bestselling author of Veil of Pearls
“One of the spunkiest, most endearing heroines to ever grace the page, Cassidy McClare will win your heart right along with her heart-tugging hero. Julie Lessman is a master at writing godly passion infused with spiritual truths. Readers will not be able to part with these characters come ‘The End,’ nor will they have to, as Love at Any Cost is the start of an unforgettable series, certain to win a place on your keeper shelf!”
Laura Frantz , author of Love’s Reckoning
“This is the most fun I’ve had reading a Julie Lessman book. I love all her books, but I was so in love with her O’Connor family saga that I was worried if she could create another family that was so engaging. But the McClare clan is wonderful and I loved all of them, especially that little touch of Texas in Cassie and the sparks flying between the widow Cait and the charming Uncle Logan. I can’t wait to see what Julie does next!”
Mary Connealy , author of Over the Edge , In Too Deep , and Out of Control
Praise for A Hope Undaunted
“A rich girl and a poor boy find that love can be the great equalizer in Lessman’s engrossing tale, which has more awareness and sizzle between the hero and heroine than your average inspirational romance.”
Booklist , starred review
“I have been waiting feverishly for the next Julie Lessman book. I love her work, and this may be the best book yet. A Hope Undaunted contains a powerful message, wisdom, romance, and fun, all in one book.”
Mary Connealy , author of Doctor in Petticoats and Wrangler in Petticoats
“Lessman writes my favorite kind of book: the kind I can’t put down a book that has a heroine with unforgettable spunk, a romance with undeniable sparks, and a family that will remain in your heart long after you turn the last page.”
Siri Mitchell , author of She Walks in Beauty
To the Lover of my soul, Who taught me about “love at any cost” two thousand years ago on a hill outside of Jerusalem. I will love You and worship You all the days of my life.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:20–21
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Endorsements
Dedication
Epigraph
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Books by Julie Lessman
Back Ads
Back Cover
1
S AN F RANCISCO , M AY 1902
Sweet thunderation deliver me from pretty men! Twenty-two-year-old Cassidy McClare peered up beneath the wide feathered brim of her black velvetta hat legs, luggage, and magazine scattered on the dirty platform of Oakland Pier train station.
“Miss, I’m so sorry ”
You certainly are. Hair askew, she blew a curl from her eyes along with a broken feather dangling over the rim of the “fashionable” hat Mama begged her to wear. Reining in her temper, she forced a smile at a man in a stylish straw boater who’d just swept her off her feet literally .
A whistle shrieked and the Overland Limited belched a cloud of steam into the air, the smell of smoke and coal wrinkling her nose. Apparently the “gentleman” and she used the term loosely hadn’t seen her, too busy rushing to wave goodbye to the girl he’d just put on the train. With a deafening screech, the train groaned on its rails, chugging away while people moseyed and milled on the platform, gaping at a girl sprawled on her backside in a House of Worth tailor-made suit. A curious sight, indeed . . . not to mention embarrassing. Even for a non-prissy ranch girl from Humble, Texas.
The heat of summer asphalt warmed her bottom while the man’s gaze warmed her face, his frank perusal sending off warning bells she’d heard before. And, unfortunately, ignored. She issued a silent grunt. But never again. Struggling to rise, her lips went flat, not unlike the hatbox her mother had foisted on her, which she’d just crushed on her fall from grace. Fooled by a pretty boy once, shame on him. Fooled by a pretty boy twice, shame on me.
“Are you okay?” Nudging the boater up, he held out a blunt hand attached to a muscled arm that strained beneath a crisp, white pinstripe shirt, its casually rolled sleeves in stark contrast to a meticulous four-in-hand tie and a high starched collar. He could have walked off the pages of Men’s Wear Magazine , easily six foot one with a boyish smile that lent a roguish air Cassie recognized all too well. A thick curl of dark brown hair that was almost black toppled over his forehead, obviously a stray from the slicked-back style of the day. Hazel eyes the color of coffee with cream assessed her with a crimp of concern wedged between thick, dark brows, reminding her so much of Mark, she cringed.
Make that cold, bitter coffee.
Hand still extended, he eased into a smile that at one time would have generated as much heat as the platform beneath her body, a gleam of white in a chiseled face that sported a California tan. “I beg your pardon, miss, but I never even saw you.” A sparkle warmed his gaze as it slowly trailed down the upturned brim of her hat, past renegade curls from her upswept hair to her white silk shirtwaist, hesitating long enough to prompt a blush in her cheeks. “Which is pretty hard to believe,” he mumbled, almost to himself. His bold look continued to roam her gored navy skirt only to halt with several blinks at the peek of her forbidden cowboy boots the ones she’d put on after Mama and Daddy left the station. A grin inched across his face and his eyes slowly trailed back up as naturally as his dimples deepened with the lift of his smile. Heat suffused her cheeks, as much from the obscene number of petticoats Mother had insisted she wear as the Romeo’s frank perusal. Flattery will get you nowhere, mister. Her lips took a slant. Though it’d certainly gotten Mark’s ring on her finger. She issued a silent grunt. A history lesson unto itself, she thought, the smell of horse manure from buggies lining the terminal oddly comforting.
And appropriate.
Lips clamped, she ignored both the Romeo and the disparaging glance of a passerby and tugged on her trumpet-shaped skirt to hide her socially unacceptable footwear. Oh, how she wished she could have worn her “shocking” jeans from the ranch instead of the fashionable suit Mama requested. Huffing out an unladylike sigh, she accepted the Romeo’s proffered hand, feeling like she’d been hit by a train, and not the one on the tracks. His massive palm dominated hers, and she popped up with all the grace with which she’d toppled over her luggage in the first place: none .
He stooped to retrieve her magazine, using it to slap the dirt from her skirt as if shooing flies from the rump of a horse, and she waved him away, mortified that a stranger was swatting at her backside. “Please, I’m fine, truly. No harm done, I assure you.”
“No, I insist . . .” Paying her no mind, he collected her blue handbag and dented hatbox after righting her Oshkosh suitcases, cherished gifts from her father when she’d gone to Europe with her cousins three summers past. Before the oil wells ran dry, ending life as she’d known it.
Shaking his head, he handed her the purse and magazine, then dangled the sorry hatbox in the air, sucking air through clenched teeth. “Gee, I’m sorry,” he said, giving her an endearing little-boy grin she’d lay odds had gotten him off the hook more times than not. “But I think this box may have seen better days.”
As have I . Cassie winced at this brazen man whose casual air, rugged good looks, and wind-tousled hair reminded her way too much of the man who’d broken her heart. But . . . better days were ahead . . . she hoped. She and her cousin, Alli, just graduated with teaching degrees, and Aunt Cait didn’t know it yet, but Mark’s rejection had sent Cassie northwest for that very reason. Not just for the summer this time, but to join forces with Aunt Cait and Alli in their dreams of a school for poor and disadvantaged girls on the Barbary Coast. For Cassie, San Francisco was not only her chance to put the pain and humiliation of Humble behind, but it ensured she could focus on a