Love Lostand Found
Grateful when shes hired as the Davises maid, Ruby Ballard vows to help save her familys farm. Theres just one problem: the bosss handsome son, Lorenzo. He makes her forget family duty, forget her lowly place, even forget her friends who are in love with him! But his love is a gift that could never be hersnot even for Christmas.
Lorenzo knows Ruby is the only woman he could marry. Yet the quiet beauty refuses his courtship. As the holidays approach, he will make both their wishes come true, when he claims her at last as his snowflake bride.In northwestern Montana, these friends stitch together their happily-ever-afters
She could feel the tug of his gaze and the gentle insistence of his presence.
She wanted to look at him. She really did. She wanted to gaze into his eyes and feel that click of closeness to him. To let him look deeper and let herself dream of having handsome Lorenzo Davis fall in mad love with her.
It wasnt going to happen.
Next harvest will be better, he promised. Ill put it in my prayers.
His smile drew her once again. Unable to resist, her eyes met his and the world faded. The jarring of the sleigh ceased. The cold vanished and there was only his sincerity, his caring and the quiet wish in her soul she could not give in to.
Were here.
JILLIAN HART
grew up on her familys homestead, where she helped raise cattle, rode horses and scribbled stories in her spare time. After earning her English degree from Whitman College, she worked in travel and advertising before selling her first novel. When Jillian isnt working on her next story, she can be found puttering in her rose garden, curled up with a good book or spending quiet evenings at home with her family.
Jillian Hart
Snowflake Bride
www.millsandboon.co.uk
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Thereforeput on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another and forgiving one anotherbut above all these things put on love.
Colossians 3:1214
Contents
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
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Epilogue
Dear Reader
Questions for Discussion
Chapter One
December 1884
Angel County, Montana Territory
Snowflakes hovered like airy dreams, too fragile to touch the ground. They floated on gentle winds and twirled on icy gusts. Not that she should be noticing.
How long have you been standing here, staring? Ruby Ballard asked herself. Her words were too small to disturb the vast, lonely silence of the high Montana prairie or to roust her from watching the beauty of white-gray sky and dainty flakes. They reminded her of the crocheted stitches of the doily she was learning to make.
Your interview. Remember? She blinked the snowflakes off her lashes and hiked up the skirts of her best wool dress. Time to give up admiring the loveliness and get her head in the real world. Pa often told her that was her biggest problem. Could she help it that Gods world was so lovely she was mesmerized into noticing it all the time?
Focus, Ruby. You need this job. Badly. Enough that shed hardly prayed about anything else for days, ever since her dear friend Scarlet had told her about the opening. She quickened her pace up the Daviss long, sweeping drive because Pa hadnt been able to get any work in town so far this winter and her family was desperate.
Ping! The faint sound was at odds with the hush of the flakes plopping gently and the crunch of her shoes in the snow. A very suspicious sound. She glanced around, but there was nothing aside from fence posts and trees. The wind gusted and knifed through her shoe with the precision of a blade. Fearing the worst, she looked down.
A spot of her white stocking clearly peeked between the gaping leather tongue of her black left shoe. Her stomach dropped in an oh-no! way. She had lost a button. What kind of an impression was she going to make when Mrs. Davis, one of the wealthiest women in the county, noticed?
Ruby hung her head. She would look like the poor country girl she was. Not that she was ashamed of that, but she didnt think it would help her get the job.
Dont panic. Stay calm. First things first. She needed to find the button. How hard could it be to locate in all this white snow? It would surely stand out; she could pluck it up and sew it back on her shoe. Since this wasnt the first time this sort of thing had happened, she carried thread and a needle in her reticule for emergencies. Problem solved. Job interview saved.
Except she couldnt see the buttononly pure, white snow in every direction. There was no sign of a hole where it had fallen through. Nothing. Now it was time to panic. If she couldnt sew it back on, she needed to come up with another plan.
Looking for something? A warm baritone broke into her panic.
Ruby froze. She knew that voice. Shed heard it before when shed overheard him talking with his family before or after church. She remembered that deep, kind timbre from the previous school year as he would answer the teachers questions or chat with his friends during recess.
Lorenzo Davis. Her heart stopped beating. Her palms broke out in a sweat. The panic fluttering behind her ribs increased until it felt as if a hundred hummingbirds were trapped there, desperate to escape. What did she do? She straightened, realizing she must look like an idiot.
A snow-covered idiot. She swiped the damp stuff off her face and spun to him. Try to be calm, Ruby, she told herself. Be dignified.
Ilostashoebutton, she said, the words tumbling off her tongue as if she were no more than a dummy. Honestly. The words had sounded just fine in her mind, but the instant they hit her tongue, they bunched together like overcooked oatmeal, and now she looked twice as stupid to the most handsome man in the territory.
Brilliant, Ruby. Just perfectly brilliant.
Sorry, I missed that. Lorenzo tipped his hat cordially, disturbing a slight layer of snowflakes that had accumulated on the brim. He looked like seven kinds of dashing as he rose from his sleigh. He had a classic, square-cut face, impressively wide shoulders and enough quiet charm to send every single young lady in town to dreaming.
That was one thing she was not dreaming aboutLorenzo Davis. She might not be as well-schooled as her friend Meredith or as well-read as her friend Lila, but she knew a man like him would never be interested in a plain girl like her or one who could embarrass herself so easily. Not only did she have a button missing, but she had to explain it to himagainand pray this time she regained the power of speech, or he would think she had something terribly wrong with her.
Oh, you have a button missing. He strode toward her, a mountain of powerful male concern. Shed never realized how tall he was before, as shed never been this close to him before or alone with him. She swallowed hard, realizing there was just the two of them and the veil of the falling snow for as far as she could see.
Do you have any idea where you lost it? His deep blue gaze speared hers with something that could have been friendly, but it was far too intense. Its a long way between here and your farm.
Ah, over here. Thankful her command of the English language had returned, she felt silly pointing in front of her, where she had been looking when hed driven up. His horse watched them curiously, blowing air out his nose and sending snowflakes whirling. Im afraid its gone for good.
Im afraid youre right. You may have to wait until spring to find it. A slow grin accompanied his words. There was a reason most of the young ladies in Angel Falls had a crush on the man. When he smiled, good humor warmed a face that was already perfection and gave heart to his intense, dark blue eyes, the straight, strong blade of his nose and the hard, lean line of his mouth. His cheekbones were sharp enough to cut glass, and the uncompromising angle of his square jaw spoke of strength and character. He didnt need his heart-stopping dimples, but they made him mesmerizing. Incomparable. The most handsome man ever.
I better not wait until April for a button, she quipped. I should be going. Thanks for stopping.
Sure. He tilted his head slightly to one side, as if he was studying her or trying to make up his mind about her.
So far, so good, she thought. She hadnt said anything that she considered inane enough that it would haunt her for days. She tightened her grip on her reticule, nodded good day and set out like the dignified young lady she wished she could be.
Ping! Ping! Shoe buttons went flying and plunked into the snow right in front of Lorenzo.
How embarrassing. Now her stockings were really showing, plus she looked like someone who couldnt afford sturdy shoes. Mrs. Davis was never going to hire her now. If she did, the woman might worry what other part of her new maids attire would fail next. And as for Lorenzo, he had to be thinking she was the most backward country girl hed ever seen.
Got one. He bent quickly and neatly plucked something out of the snow. Lets see if I can hunt down the other.
Mortified, she watched in horror. Dreamy Lorenzo Davis dug his leather-gloved fingers through the snow in search of her battered shoe button with the patience and care he would spend looking for a fallen gold nugget.
Dont think about the patch in your shoes, she told herself. Shed carefully repaired the hole on her handed-down shoes from the church donation barrel and had oiled the leather carefully. At a distance, they could have been new, but up close, they had clearly seen better days. She feared she looked as secondhand as her shoes. Definitely not in Lorenzos class.
Found it. Triumphant, Lorenzo stood, all six feet of impressive male towering over her, and held out his hand. There, on his gloved palm, sat her buttons. Are you interviewing with my mother this morning?
Yes. Thank you. She plucked the buttons from him quickly, because shed made her own mittens and they were a sad sight. She was only learning to knit and the uneven gage showed more than just a tad.
He didnt seem to notice. I know shes looking for someone dependable. Her last kitchen maid eloped with the neighbors farmhand without giving notice, so Ma is particularly miffed about that. Mention you are as dependable as the sun, and shell hire you.
She slipped the buttons into her coat pocket. His advice was nice, but why would he bother? Youre giving me an advantage.
Guilty. It would be nice to see a friendly face around the house. I miss everyone from school. Dont get me wrong, I love working on the ranch, but I spend more time with cows and horses than people. Those dimples deepened and held her captive.
Surely a sign of impending doom. She could not let a handsome mans dimples draw her in like that. What was wrong with her? She tried to hide her smile and stared at the toes of her shoes. She needed to repair her shoe in time for her interview. How could she do that while he watched? Surely, as nice and kind as he was, Lorenzo couldnt help drawing conclusions.
Well, she was never going to be as stylish as her friend Scarlet, endearing like Earlee or poised like Kate. She couldnt pretend otherwise. She could only loosen her reticule strings and fish around for the packet of needles and bobbin of thread.
Let me drive you up to the house. His warm offer startled her.
D-drive me? She nearly dropped the buttons.
It will give you time to sew everything on. My mother will never suspect. Kindly, he held out his hand, palm up, as an invitation. You can sew while I drive.
Did his unguarded blue eyes have to be so compelling? Veiled in the snow, he could have been a western legend come to life, too dreamy to be real and too incredible to be actually speaking to her.
Dont do it, she decided. Her pa had raised her to be self-reliant. She was perfectly capable of walking the rest of the way. Besides, she was too shy to think of a thing to say to him on the drive. She should simply say no.
Cmon. Im not leaving without you. If you walk, I walk. Not that I mind, but Poncho might take offense.
As if on cue, the beautiful bay blew out his breath like a raspberry, making his lips vibrate disparagingly.