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A Southern Reunion
Lenora Worth
The story was for her own good. No matter how many times Cal Collins repeats this he still regrets breaking Cassandra Brennan's heart. Yet what choice did he have all those years ago? The truth would have destroyed her family.But Cassie is back in her South Georgia home once more, and Cal is rethinking that decision. From the moment they meet again all those intense feelings reignite and he wants another chance. First, he'll have to win her trust, which means revealing the truth. Then he can prove that a future with him is for her own good now.
Cassie shook her head and pulled away.
“Don’t lie to me.”
Cal tugged her back. “This is not a lie.”
“But everything else is. Something isn’t right here and no one will tell me the truth.”
He pushed his hand through her hair, tugged her even closer. “I only know that I came back here for you. And that is the one truth you need to remember.”
Then he kissed her, his touch tentative and tender until Cassie sighed and returned the kiss, her arms grasping him and holding him close. Cal wrapped her in his embrace, his touch demanding and deepening until she felt herself falling into a blinding mist of longing.
Dear Reader,
I have always loved a good Southern gothic saga. So I was thrilled to be able to finally write the one that has been in my head for many years. This was a complex story, and I admit I struggled with it a bit. But I’m pleased with the final product. I hope you will be, too.
When ready-to-wear designer Cassandra Brennan returns to Camellia Plantation in South Georgia, she finds several surprises waiting for her—the main one being the man who broke her heart years ago. Her estranged father is dying, and Cal Collins seems to be taking over her beloved home. But as revelations keep coming, Cassie finds things are not always what they seem, and she also discovers that even though she still loves Cal, he might be involved in an elaborate plot to keep her from finding out what really happened the day her beautiful socialite mother died.
I grew up in a big Southern family, so I know a thing or two about secrets and scandals. But in the South, we tend to bring out our eccentric family members and show them off! In Cassie’s case, however, she was embarrassed and ashamed that her own father had scorned her. The truth turned out to be a test of her love for Cal.
I hope you enjoy A Southern Reunion. I’d love to hear from you. Please visit my website at www.lenoraworth.com and send me a message. I’d appreciate your feedback.
Lenora Worth
A Southern Reunion
Lenora Worth
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author Lenora Worth has written more than forty books for three different publishers. Her career with Love Inspired Books spans close to fourteen years. Her very first Love Inspired, The Wedding Quilt, won Affaire de Coeur’s Best Inspirational for 1997, and Logan’s Child won Best Love Inspired for 1998 from RT Book Reviews. With millions of books in print, Lenora continues to write for Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense. Lenora also wrote a weekly opinion column for the local paper and worked freelance for years with a local magazine. She has now turned to full-time fiction writing and enjoying adventures with her retired husband, Don. Married for thirty-five years, they have two grown children. Lenora enjoys writing, reading and shopping…especially shoe shopping.
To my darling Big Daddy, my husband Don.
You were the first person to ever read the original
version of this story. Thanks for sticking with me
for all these years.
We’ve come full circle.
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
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER ONE
THREE THINGS HAPPENED the same week ready-to-wear designer Cassandra Brennan announced she’d be opening two more Cassie’s Closet boutiques in the metro Atlanta area.
She broke up with her fiancé, Ned Patterson.
Her estranged father sent word that he was dying and he wanted her to come home.
And once she arrived home, the man who had been her first love in high school walked out onto the front porch of Camellia Plantation with his arms around the woman who’d come between them. And he still looked good doing it, too.
The house hadn’t changed all that much in the past twelve years. But everything else certainly had.
Why was Cal Collins back at Camellia? And what was he doing with Marsha Reynolds? Last she’d heard, after Cassie had caught them together and broken up with Cal, things hadn’t worked out for Cal and Marsha after all. Too bad. And too bad they’d decided to take right back up on the very day she’d driven the four hours from Atlanta to get here.
Anxious to get inside and see her father, Cassie swallowed and inhaled a deep breath. She could do this. She had to do this.
Memories danced into her head, taunting her, some beautiful, some tragic. Cassie tried deep breathing, her breath stopping near her rib cage. The old camellia bushes, from which the plantation had gotten its name, grew with a lush abandonment all over the side yards and in front of the pool, their velvet pink blooms popping and exploding in the sun like clusters of chiffon.
She and Cal used to meet each other in the shadows of those tall, rich green bushes. Usually they’d sneak out at midnight after her parents had gone to bed. Cassie would leave by the French doors in her room that opened onto the upstairs porch and make her way down the outside staircase.
But everything had changed. In the blink of an eye, she lost her mother to a tragic horseback-riding accident, lost the man she loved to another woman and lost the father she’d always adored because of something she’d done or said during that horrible week.
Bracing herself, Cassie got out of her late model convertible and slammed the door hard enough to get the attention of the couple on the porch. She wanted to tell them to get a room. She wanted to scratch Marsha’s green eyes right out of her head. And she wanted to grab Cal by the collar and ask him why he’d hurt her so badly.
Lenora Worth
The story was for her own good. No matter how many times Cal Collins repeats this he still regrets breaking Cassandra Brennan's heart. Yet what choice did he have all those years ago? The truth would have destroyed her family.But Cassie is back in her South Georgia home once more, and Cal is rethinking that decision. From the moment they meet again all those intense feelings reignite and he wants another chance. First, he'll have to win her trust, which means revealing the truth. Then he can prove that a future with him is for her own good now.
Cassie shook her head and pulled away.
“Don’t lie to me.”
Cal tugged her back. “This is not a lie.”
“But everything else is. Something isn’t right here and no one will tell me the truth.”
He pushed his hand through her hair, tugged her even closer. “I only know that I came back here for you. And that is the one truth you need to remember.”
Then he kissed her, his touch tentative and tender until Cassie sighed and returned the kiss, her arms grasping him and holding him close. Cal wrapped her in his embrace, his touch demanding and deepening until she felt herself falling into a blinding mist of longing.
Dear Reader,
I have always loved a good Southern gothic saga. So I was thrilled to be able to finally write the one that has been in my head for many years. This was a complex story, and I admit I struggled with it a bit. But I’m pleased with the final product. I hope you will be, too.
When ready-to-wear designer Cassandra Brennan returns to Camellia Plantation in South Georgia, she finds several surprises waiting for her—the main one being the man who broke her heart years ago. Her estranged father is dying, and Cal Collins seems to be taking over her beloved home. But as revelations keep coming, Cassie finds things are not always what they seem, and she also discovers that even though she still loves Cal, he might be involved in an elaborate plot to keep her from finding out what really happened the day her beautiful socialite mother died.
I grew up in a big Southern family, so I know a thing or two about secrets and scandals. But in the South, we tend to bring out our eccentric family members and show them off! In Cassie’s case, however, she was embarrassed and ashamed that her own father had scorned her. The truth turned out to be a test of her love for Cal.
I hope you enjoy A Southern Reunion. I’d love to hear from you. Please visit my website at www.lenoraworth.com and send me a message. I’d appreciate your feedback.
Lenora Worth
A Southern Reunion
Lenora Worth
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author Lenora Worth has written more than forty books for three different publishers. Her career with Love Inspired Books spans close to fourteen years. Her very first Love Inspired, The Wedding Quilt, won Affaire de Coeur’s Best Inspirational for 1997, and Logan’s Child won Best Love Inspired for 1998 from RT Book Reviews. With millions of books in print, Lenora continues to write for Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense. Lenora also wrote a weekly opinion column for the local paper and worked freelance for years with a local magazine. She has now turned to full-time fiction writing and enjoying adventures with her retired husband, Don. Married for thirty-five years, they have two grown children. Lenora enjoys writing, reading and shopping…especially shoe shopping.
To my darling Big Daddy, my husband Don.
You were the first person to ever read the original
version of this story. Thanks for sticking with me
for all these years.
We’ve come full circle.
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
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER ONE
THREE THINGS HAPPENED the same week ready-to-wear designer Cassandra Brennan announced she’d be opening two more Cassie’s Closet boutiques in the metro Atlanta area.
She broke up with her fiancé, Ned Patterson.
Her estranged father sent word that he was dying and he wanted her to come home.
And once she arrived home, the man who had been her first love in high school walked out onto the front porch of Camellia Plantation with his arms around the woman who’d come between them. And he still looked good doing it, too.
The house hadn’t changed all that much in the past twelve years. But everything else certainly had.
Why was Cal Collins back at Camellia? And what was he doing with Marsha Reynolds? Last she’d heard, after Cassie had caught them together and broken up with Cal, things hadn’t worked out for Cal and Marsha after all. Too bad. And too bad they’d decided to take right back up on the very day she’d driven the four hours from Atlanta to get here.
Anxious to get inside and see her father, Cassie swallowed and inhaled a deep breath. She could do this. She had to do this.
Memories danced into her head, taunting her, some beautiful, some tragic. Cassie tried deep breathing, her breath stopping near her rib cage. The old camellia bushes, from which the plantation had gotten its name, grew with a lush abandonment all over the side yards and in front of the pool, their velvet pink blooms popping and exploding in the sun like clusters of chiffon.
She and Cal used to meet each other in the shadows of those tall, rich green bushes. Usually they’d sneak out at midnight after her parents had gone to bed. Cassie would leave by the French doors in her room that opened onto the upstairs porch and make her way down the outside staircase.
But everything had changed. In the blink of an eye, she lost her mother to a tragic horseback-riding accident, lost the man she loved to another woman and lost the father she’d always adored because of something she’d done or said during that horrible week.
Bracing herself, Cassie got out of her late model convertible and slammed the door hard enough to get the attention of the couple on the porch. She wanted to tell them to get a room. She wanted to scratch Marsha’s green eyes right out of her head. And she wanted to grab Cal by the collar and ask him why he’d hurt her so badly.
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