Silver Christmas

By Helen Scott Taylor

Ten years ago, Owen gave Jennifer an ultimatum, give up her dream of being a veterinarian and marry him, or he'd take custody of their newborn daughter. His plan backfired when she left him to go to college. He's raised their daughter alone but never given up hope that Jennifer will return to them. Now he has a second chance. Can he prove he's changed and win her back?

Paw Prints on Your Heart Trilogy
#1 Golden Christmas. Two wounded hearts brought together by an adorable golden retriever puppy.
#2 Silver Christmas. A sweet silver kitten helps a man win back the woman he loved and lost.
#3 Snowy Christmas. An abandoned Westie helps a desperate woman find her hero.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Helen Scott Taylor
• Release date: Jan 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311841179

Helen Scott Taylor

Helen Scott Taylor's first novel, The Magic Knot, won the American Title contest in 2008, was a Golden Heart® finalist, and was chosen as one of Booklist's top ten romances of 2009. Since then, she has published other novels, novellas, and short stories in both the UK and USA. Her published works have been finalists in a number of contests including the Holt Medallion, the Lories, the Prism Contest, the Write Touch Award and the Maggies. Helen lives in South West England near Plymouth in Devon between the windswept expanse of Dartmoor and the rocky Atlantic coast. As well as her wonderful long-suffering husband, she shares her home with a Westie and an aristocratic chocolate-shaded-silver-burmilla cat who rules the household with a velvet paw. She believes that deep within everyone there's a little magic. www.helenscotttaylor.com

Book preview

Silver Christmas

by

Helen Scott Taylor

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Copyright © 2015 Helen Taylor

Cover design © Helen Taylor

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The right of Helen Taylor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act, 1988.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Copyright owner.

Chapter One

Jennifer Dean sat in her parked car, watching the children as they streamed out of Rosemoor village school at the end of the day. She ignored the small children and concentrated on the older ones. Her Chloe would be ten now, in the top class, although Jennifer hadn't set eyes on her since she was a newborn.

Raising her phone, she glanced at the screen, at the photograph Owen Bramwell had sent her of Chloe eleven months ago, last Christmas. How much might Chloe have changed in a year? In the photo, the girl's long dark hair was loose around her shoulders, laughter in her brown eyes as she held up a huge black Labrador puppy.

Jennifer moved her gaze between the phone screen and the children, trying to identify her daughter, her chest tight with remorse that she might not even recognize her own child. Some of the kids left on bicycles, some dashed out to meet mums and dads, while the rest set off in twos and threes along the edge of the road to walk home.

A constant stream of cars arrived at the school in the picturesque Cotswold village, their headlights on against the early twilight at the start of December as they vied for parking spots. A large black four-wheel drive with the Rosemoor estate motif of a gold angel inside a red Tudor rose drove up and parked on the opposite side of the road. Her heart jolted and her breath froze as the door opened and Owen stepped out.

Jennifer sank low behind her steering wheel, her heart pounding at the thought of being caught here watching. Not that she was really doing anything wrong. Nobody had ever told her to keep away from Chloe, nobody except Owen. He might not recognize her now, anyway, not with the long blond hair she'd been so vain about chopped short, and she'd lost a lot of weight in the hospital.

She hadn't set eyes on Owen since the day he took Chloe from her, ten years, three months, and four days ago. He hadn't changed much. Reluctantly, she noticed he was still handsome, maturity making him even more good looking. The last ten years had been kind to him, his hair still thick and dark, his shoulders broad and his waist trim. He still had that arrogant air about him as if he were the master of all he surveyed, and he was, more or less. The Bramwell family owned most of the village.

Yet she didn't care if he was gorgeous and loaded, there was no way on earth Jennifer would ever let herself fall under his spell again. She was here for one reason—to get to know her daughter.

The other parents turned and greeted Owen, stepping aside to make way for him as he strode towards the school. Jennifer remembered the way he'd been back when she met him, throwing money around, sweeping her off in his sports car to house parties in mansions and castles with the nobility. It was as if she'd fallen through a rift into an alternate reality where people didn't have to work for a living. Stupid, naive girl that she was, for a short while she'd been dazzled.

Owen raised a hand in greeting as he approached the school gate, and Jennifer followed his gaze. She pressed a hand to her mouth, her heart pounding as a tall, slim girl with long dark hair tied back in a ponytail made her way through the throng of students.

Jennifer's phone slipped from her fingers, hitting the steering wheel with a clunk, but she barely registered the sound. It seemed impossible that the tiny baby she'd handed over to Owen so rashly had grown into this beautiful girl.

My daughter, she whispered, her voice little more than a croak. My Chloe. Tears filled Jennifer's eyes, and she sucked her lips to hold the flood back.

Owen put his arm around Chloe's shoulders, and kissed her cheek. A sob tore at Jennifer's chest. Pain shot through her body from the scar on her belly. She pressed a hand against the place where she'd been shot by poachers in Africa, and gritted her teeth until the ache subsided.

Lying in the back of the wildlife warden's pickup, she'd thought she would die. As blood and sweat soaked her clothes, her belly was a burning clench of pain. One of the rangers had leaned over her, pressing on her wound to stop the bleeding, and told her to focus on someone she loved. As she'd drifted in and out of consciousness, all she could think of was her sweet baby in her arms, her tiny Chloe.

Jennifer watched surreptitiously as Owen and Chloe climbed into their vehicle to be greeted by a rabble of excited dogs with wagging tails. Then the vehicle drove off. Once it turned at the end of the road and disappeared, she gave herself a moment, wiping her eyes and checking her face in the mirror. She didn't want to turn up at Rosemoor Farm looking a mess.

When she was satisfied with her appearance, she started her car and moved off along the road. In the last ten years, time seemed to have stood still in Rosemoor. The ancient stone cottages of golden Cotswold stone lined the narrow street, and she had no trouble remembering the way to Rosemoor Farm.

At the entrance to the driveway, she pulled up at the cattle grid between the imposing stone pillars topped with statues of the Rosemoor angels, and sucked in a steadying breath before continuing on, her headlights cutting through the gloom.

Rosemoor Farm was lit up like a beacon in the wintry countryside, the Jacobean house too grand to be called a farmhouse. She pulled up beside Owen's vehicle, her pulse racing. She was so close to what she'd dreamed of during the months she spent in the hospital. The only barrier now was Owen Bramwell, and she wasn't sure what reception to expect from him.

She'd thought he was a selfish rich boy who would dump her the moment he heard she was pregnant; instead he'd offered her an engagement ring. The problem was it came with a condition. Owen wanted her to be a full-time mother or have no part in Chloe's life.

She'd worked too hard at her studies to give up her dreams, and she'd let him cut her out of Chloe's life. Now she was no longer a naive student. Owen's wealth and status didn't intimidate her anymore. She wanted to

Reviews for Silver Christmas

[Nancy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really like this second chance romance. Jennifer had returned to England after being shot by poachers in Africa. She wanted to meet her 10 year old daughter that she had abandoned when her child’s father had demanded that she abandon her goal of going to college and becoming a Veterinarian and marry him. She had dreamed of becoming a veterinarian ever since she was a child and she could not abandon her dreams just because he demanded that she abandon them. Now that she was back in England to live she wanted to meet her daughter and become a mother to her that she hadn’t been since she had left her in the arms of her father. Would her daughter accept her and would her child’s father allow her to become the mother of the child that she had left in his care, and would there be a chance for her and her child’s father to at least have an amicable relationship and would there be the possibility of a second chance for them to become a family.