Fletcher's Woman

Washington's rowdy lumber camps were no place for an innocent young beauty. . . .

When Rachel McKinnon attracts the attention of Jonas Wilkes, she is truly in dire straits. Wilkes, the owner of a lumber empire, has power over most everyone he meets—and now he wants Rachel. Her only hope is Griffin Fletcher. The town's darkly handsome, unmarried doctor, he once made a promise to Rachel's dying mother to keep her daughter out of harm's way. But little did Fletcher know that looking after the lovely Rachel would mean facing down Wilkes, his nemesis. Now the enmity he harbors for Wilkes is about to erupt in a dangerous confrontation . . . and the young doctor who swore never to love again is suddenly in danger of falling desperately in love with the one woman he swore he would always protect.

One of America's best-loved storytellers, Linda Lael Miller sets passions blazing in the unforgettable tale of FLETCHER'S WOMAN.

Sigrid Estrada

Linda Lael Miller
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of more than fifty novels, including her bestsellers of romantic suspense,
Don't Look Now, Never Look Back,
and
One Last Look.
Her acclaimed frontier romance series include
Springwater
and
The Women of Primrose Creek.
There are more than 14 million copies of her books in print. Ms. Miller resides in the Scottsdale, Arizona, area.

Visit her website at
www.lindalaelmiller.com
.

More enthralling novels from

Linda Lael Miller

Be sure to read her electrifying bestsellers of romantic suspense!

DON'T LOOK NOW

NEVER LOOK BACK

ONE LAST LOOK

“Exciting. . . .Linda Lael Miller at her intriguing best.”
—Midwest Book Review

All available from Pocket Books and Pocket Star Books

Dear Readers, Old and New,

Is it with joy that I give you one of the novels written earlier in my career. Some of you have read it, and will feel as though you're meeting old friends; to others, it will offer a completely new reading experience.

Either way, this tale is a gift of my heart.

The characters in this and all of my books are the kind of people I truly admire, and try to emulate. They are smart, funny, brave, and persistent. The women are strong, and while they love their men, they have goals of their own, and they are independent, sometimes to a fault. More than anything else, these stories are about people meeting challenges and discovering the hidden qualities and resources within themselves.

We all have to do that.

We are blessed—and cursed—to live in uncertain times.

Let us go forward, bravely, with our dearest ideals firmly in mind. They're all we have—and all we need.

May you be blessed,

Linda Lael Miller

A
LSO
BY
L
INDA
L
AEL
M
ILLER

Banner O'Brien

Corbin's Fancy

Memory's Embrace

My Darling Melissa

Angelfire

Desire and Destiny

Fletcher's Woman

Lauralee

Moonfire

Wanton Angel

Willow

Princess Annie

The Legacy

Taming Charlotte

Yankee Wife

Daniel's Bride

Lily and the Major

Emma and the Outlaw

Caroline and the Raider

Pirates

Knights

My Outlaw

The Vow

Two Brothers

Springwater

Springwater Series:

Rachel

Savannah

Miranda

Jessica

A Springwater Christmas

One Wish

The Women of Primrose

Creek Series:

Bridget

Christy

Skye

Megan

Courting Susannah

Springwater Wedding

My Lady Beloved
(writing as Lael St. James)

My Lady Wayward (
writing as Lael St. James
)

High Country Bride

Shogun Bride

Secondhand Bride

The Last Chance Café

Don't Look Now

Never Look Back

One Last Look

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

An
Original
Publication of POCKET BOOKS

POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright © 1983 by Linda Lael Miller

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN-13: 978-0-671-73768-9
ISBN-10: 0-671-73768-6
ISBN 978-1-47671-072-3 (eBook)

First Pocket Books printing April 1983

POCKET and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Prologue

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 Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

FLETCHER'S WOMAN

Rebecca McKinnon sank back on her satin pillows as the pain intensified. With fingers that seemed to bear little regard for the orders of her mind, she took the letter from the table beside her bed and read it for perhaps the hundredth time since its arrival the day before.

Anguish filled her, mingled with a dizzying, hopeful wonder.
Ezra. At last, Ezra had found her. And that meant that Rachel probably would, too.

Tears of frustration and pain burned in her eyes.
Would he tell Rachel what he knew? Would he set up some kind of mother-daughter confrontation?

Rebecca shuddered. Her head began to throb, and she flung back the red velvet comforter that covered her and struggled out of bed. She crossed the room on thin, shaky legs, her once voluptuous body gaunt and bony beneath the gossamer beige silk of her nightdress.

On the dresser top, the liquor awaited—amber comfort confined to a crystal decanter.

A chill ran through Rebecca's soul as she unstopped the bottle and poured a generous dose of its contents into a glass, then replaced the stopper and returned the brandy to its place.

The already dim room darkened; the storm blowing in from the sea was almost upon the town of Providence. The bitter winds announcing its arrival were already screaming around the clapboard corners of Rebecca's business establishment and creeping across the bare wooden floors to sting her naked feet.

She raised the glass high, in a mock toast—to Ezra. To the mouthy sailor who had betrayed her whereabouts in a Seattle saloon. To her own vanished youth.

Rebecca glared at her shadowy reflection in the dingy, rippled mirror over the dresser, and a sigh escaped her.

Her long, ebony hair was threaded through with gray now, and the fire had long since left the wide, amethyst eyes,
rendering them flat and dull and vacant. Her cheeks were hollow and void of all color, her once full and mobile lips were thinned by years of degradation and regret.

Where was that other Rebecca now?
Where was the vibrant, spirited woman who had smiled back at her from so many kinder looking glasses?