The Housekeeper's Daughter. Christine Flynn

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      THE CAMELOT CRIER

      ABOUT TOWN: Camelot, Virginia

      Could the rumors be true?

      Is Camelot’s favorite son in a hot relationship…with his housekeeper’s daughter? Reliable sources claim just that. Senator Gabriel Kendrick, some would say the future governor of Virginia, has been seen in the company of one Addie Lowe, the Kendrick estate groundskeeper and child of household staff. A photographer at The Crier caught them in an intimate pose on a garden path. Gabe has claimed the two are “just friends,” but if a picture is worth a thousand words, the one above is screaming something more than friendship. Is the honorable senator involved in a clandestine affair? Or has he really fallen for the lovely Miss Lowe?

      Dear Reader,

      It’s spring, love is in the air…and what better way to celebrate than by taking a break with Silhouette Special Edition? We begin the month with Treasured, the conclusion to Sherryl Woods’s MILLION DOLLAR DESTINIES series. Though his two brothers have been successfully paired off, Ben Carlton is convinced he’s “destined” to go it alone. But the brooding, talented young man is about to meet his match in a beautiful gallery owner—courtesy of fate…plus a little help from his matchmaking aunt.

      And Pamela Toth concludes the MERLYN COUNTY MIDWIVES series with In the Enemy’s Arms, in which a detective trying to get to the bottom of a hospital black-market drug investigation finds himself in close contact with his old high school flame, now a beautiful M.D.—she’s his prime suspect! And exciting new author Lynda Sandoval (look for her Special Edition novel One Perfect Man, coming in June) makes her debut and wraps up the LOGAN’S LEGACY Special Edition prequels, all in one book—And Then There Were Three. Next, Christine Flynn begins her new miniseries, THE KENDRICKS OF CAMELOT, with The Housekeeper’s Daughter, in which a son of Camelot—Virginia, that is—finds himself inexplicably drawn to the one woman he can never have. Marie Ferrarella moves her popular CAVANAUGH JUSTICE series into Special Edition with The Strong Silent Type, in which a female detective finds her handsome male partner somewhat less than chatty. But her determination to get him to talk quickly morphs into a determination to…get him. And in Ellen Tanner Marsh’s For His Son’s Sake, a single father trying to connect with the son whose existence he just recently discovered finds in the free-spirited Kenzie Daniels a woman they could both love.

      So enjoy! And come back next month for six heartwarming books from Silhouette Special Edition.

      Happy reading!

      Gail Chasan

      Senior Editor

      The Housekeeper’s Daughter

      Christine Flynn

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      For my walking buddy and dear friend, Wendy Graham.

       Thanks for mile after mile of conversation, motivation

       and for being the caring person you are.

       CHRISTINE FLYNN

      admits to being interested in just about everything, which is why she considers herself fortunate to have turned her interest in writing into a career. She feels that a writer gets to explore it all and, to her, exploring relationships—especially the intense, bittersweet or even lighthearted relationships between men and women—is fascinating.

      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 One

       T hey said he needed a wife. A woman of breeding who wouldn’t mind spending her evenings alone or entertaining on a moment’s notice. A special woman who could withstand the scrutiny of his family, the press and his constituents. According to the polls, men who were settled projected a better image and more easily gained the public’s trust.

      A frown furrowed Gabe Kendrick’s broad brow as he stood at the arched bedroom window, his hands in the pockets of his khaki slacks, his broad shoulders straight beneath his white polo shirt. As a senator in Virginia’s General Assembly, he was well aware that political decisions could often be cold and calculated. But adding “find a wife” to his list of things to do hadn’t been the advice he’d expected from his father and his uncle Charles when he’d arrived at the family estate last night.

      Offhand, he couldn’t think of any woman he’d want to spend the weekend with, much less the rest of his life.

      The thought deepened the furrows. Last night’s discussion had been a long-range planning session, one of those discussions that went beyond immediate needs to set smaller goals on the way to a larger one. He already had an excellent reputation. He had money. And heaven knew he had name recognition. From the moment his mother had relinquished her claim to the throne of the kingdom of Luzandria to marry his father thirty-five years ago, the Kendrick name had been a household word.

      His father, now retired, had been a young senator himself at the time. Not much older than Gabe’s own thirty-three years. His mother was one of the most photographed women in the world. He, his brother and both of their sisters had grown up on the covers of magazines. Press and paparazzi followed them nearly everywhere.

      Name recognition, he definitely had.

      All he needed was the perfect woman. He just had no intention of addressing the wife issue now. He had no time for a relationship. He would have even less after he announced his candidacy for governor. He barely had time for his own family as it was.

      The thought had him glancing at his watch and wincing at the time. He was supposed to be joining them for breakfast at that very moment.

      He loved his family. The good-natured competition between them energized him, and he hadn’t seen certain aunts, uncles and cousins in months. He was even looking forward to a little rough and tumble with his young second cousins out on the manicured lawn. But, having arrived late last night from Richmond, then being up until two in the morning with his father and uncle, he wanted nothing more than a little peace before he joined the myriad relatives gathered below.

      Always mindful of what others expected of him, he prepared to abandon the view of magnificent gardens beyond the leaded glass. Peace would have to wait.

      Or so he was thinking when he caught sight of a small, slender figure moving from behind the gazebo. The family’s young groundskeeper moved methodically as she tended the wide flower border, reaching to snag a weed, pinch a dead bloom.

      He couldn’t help the smile that erased his fatigue. His mother never had been able to get Addie Lowe into a uniform. With the exception of the stable master, every other member of the Kendrick estate’s staff wore a uniform appropriate to his or her position. Bentley, the mechanic and chauffeur, wore tan in the summer and black in winter. The maids wore black dresses with white collars and aprons. The cook wore white. Gardeners wore tan jumpsuits.

      Except for Addie.

      The jumpsuits his mother preferred were apparently sized for men and didn’t come small enough for her. As quiet and unassuming as the youngest staff member tended to be, she managed to blend in even in her usual chambray and denim.