Midnight Sons by Debbie Macomber

Author:Debbie Macomber [Macomber, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781426847653
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2010-02-01T07:32:26+00:00

* * * * *

DEBBIE MACOMBER

Ending In Marriage

MILLS & BOON

CHAPTER ONE

TRACY SANTIAGO always cried at weddings. It embarrassed her no end because, for one thing, people might believe she wanted to be married herself. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Tracy had high ideals and knew she was often opinionated on a variety of subjects, most of which related to women's issues. Any man she got involved with would have to understand that. So far, the men in her life had been a severe disappointment.

"Dearly beloved we are gathered together this day to celebrate the union of..."

Tracy lowered her head and struggled to hold back the tears. She was standing by Reverend Wilson in the small community church of Hard Luck, Alaska, as her friend and former client, Mariah Douglas, exchanged vows with Christian O'Halloran.

Almost two years before, the town had advertised for women—or, more accurately, had advertised jobs they'd hoped would bring women north. The O'Halloran brothers, owners and operators of a bush-plane business called Midnight Sons, had been the prime movers behind the plan.

In their eagerness to entice women to Alaska, they'd promised jobs, free housing and twenty acres of land if the applicants agreed to live and work in Hard Luck for one year.

"Do you, Mariah Mary Douglas, take..."

Tracy swallowed and tilted her chin at a proud angle, refusing to humiliate herself in front of the entire town- arid even more importantly, in front of Duke Porter. The thought of him was enough to stiffen her spine and keep the tears at bay.

When she'd first read about the men in Hard Luck, Tracy had been suspicious. An article in the Seattle newspaper had described the proposal, which sounded far too good to be true. Experience had taught her there was no such thing as a free lunch... or free land.

Her one fleeting thought that summer morning had been to hope any woman who signed the contract would have an attorney look it over first. Heaven only knew what this rowdy bunch of bush pilots was up to.

Little did Tracy think she'd be the attorney reviewing the contract. _

A month later, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Douglas made an appointment with the prestigious law firm where Tracy was employed. Tracy was assigned to meet with them.

It seemed the Douglases' daughter, Mariah, had been hired by the O'Hallorans as secretary for Midnight Sons, and the couple was worried. They asked Tracy to investigate the people responsible for luring their daughter north. They wanted her to study the contract, find a way to break it and bring Mariah safely home.

Tracy remembered how Mariah's parents had characterized their daughter—a gentle, fragile, gullible, naive and easily swayed by control-seeking men. They feared that their only daughter had made a terrible mistake. Pride, they suspected, was the only thing that kept her in Alaska. Tracy believed the Douglases were justifiably worried.

Mrs. Douglas had battled tears as she spoke of Mariah's decision to leave Seattle. Tracy was provoked to fury by the idea of a bunch of men taking advantage of young women, especially women like Mariah.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.