The Cutting Edge. Linda Howard

       Mills & Boon is proud to present a fabulous collection of fantastic novels by bestselling, much loved author

      ANNE MATHER

      Anne has a stellar record of achievement within the

      publishing industry, having written over one hundred

      and sixty books, with worldwide sales of more than

      forty-eight MILLION copies in multiple languages.

      This amazing collection of classic stories offers a chance

      for readers to recapture the pleasure Anne’s powerful,

      passionate writing has given.

      We are sure you will love them all!

      I’ve always wanted to write—which is not to say I’ve always wanted to be a professional writer. On the contrary, for years I only wrote for my own pleasure and it wasn’t until my husband suggested sending one of my stories to a publisher that we put several publishers’ names into a hat and pulled one out. The rest, as they say, is history. And now, one hundred and sixty-two books later, I’m literally—excuse the pun—staggered by what’s happened.

      I had written all through my infant and junior years and on into my teens, the stories changing from children’s adventures to torrid gypsy passions. My mother used to gather these manuscripts up from time to time, when my bedroom became too untidy, and dispose of them! In those days, I used not to finish any of the stories and Caroline, my first published novel, was the first I’d ever completed. I was newly married then and my daughter was just a baby, and it was quite a job juggling my household chores and scribbling away in exercise books every chance I got. Not very professional, as you can imagine, but that’s the way it was.

      These days, I have a bit more time to devote to my work, but that first love of writing has never changed. I can’t imagine not having a current book on the typewriter—yes, it’s my husband who transcribes everything on to the computer. He’s my partner in both life and work and I depend on his good sense more than I care to admit.

      We have two grown-up children, a son and a daughter, and two almost grown-up grandchildren, Abi and Ben. My e-mail address is [email protected] and I’d be happy to hear from any of my wonderful readers.

      Take What You Want

       Anne Mather

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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       Table of Contents

       Cover

       About the Author

       Title Page

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

       CHAPTER SIX

       CHAPTER SEVEN

       CHAPTER EIGHT

       CHAPTER NINE

       CHAPTER TEN

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

       Copyright

       CHAPTER ONE

      SOPHIE shifted her weight from one foot to the other, aware that her every move was being monitored by the two soldiers squatting on their suitcases a few feet away. The train was crowded with holidaymakers, and not having had the opportunity to book a seat, Sophie had had to spend the journey jammed up against her cases in the no-man’s-land area between two of the compartments. Not that she had minded. She was too excited at the prospect of going home to care to spend several hours sitting absolutely still, and although two men had offered her their seats she had politely declined. Still, their gesture confirmed her growing maturity, she reflected, and even in the bottle-green skirt and matching school blazer, she looked like a young woman. She had been aware for some time now that men found her physically attractive, and although she had always enjoyed the knowledge she was only now beginning to appreciate its advantages.

      A young woman carrying a baby passed on her way to the toilet compartment and Sophie squeezed her slender body further into her corner, refusing to acknowledge the sympathetic smiles of the soldiers. One of them had already offered her a cigarette which she had refused, and while she accepted that they were harmless enough she wanted no complications to interrupt her daydreams of her reunion with Robert.

      It was eighteen months since she had seen Robert, eighteen months since he had held her and kissed her and shaken her small world to its core …

      But he was to be home these holidays. Her father had written and told her so. Of course, Simon would be there, too, and in spite of her preference for her older stepbrother, she had always found Simon an easier conquest, and consequently had used him shamelessly.

      Robert was different. Robert was unpredictable. But with Robert she shared an affinity. Robert—who had taught her to ride and swim and play tennis, who had talked to her as an equal about his plans and ambitions, who had first interested her in books and music and poetry.

      She peered out at the green countryside flashing by the windows of the train. She could remember clearly the first time she had seen Robert. Her mother had died when she was born and her father, a busy London doctor, had employed a series of housekeepers to look after them. But it hadn’t worked. He had had too little time to spend with his small daughter and realising that without a mother either the child was being neglected, he had thrown up his London practice and moved to Conwynneth, a village not far from Hereford on the Welsh borders. Here life moved at a much more leisurely pace and Doctor Kemble relaxed and felt young again and involved himself and his small daughter in the social life of the community.

      Laura Ydris was a widow with two sons. She ran the small inn in the village single-handed since her husband had been killed two years previously in a road accident. Her younger son, Simon, was twelve, while the elder boy, Robert, was sixteen. Both boys attended the grammar school in Hereford.

      Sophie’s father began spending a lot of time at the inn, and it was no real surprise