Jo Goodman

My Steadfast Heart

The Thorne Brothers Trilogy

Book One

by

Jo Goodman

USA Today Bestselling Author

MY STEADFAST HEART

Reviews & Accolades

"Difficult to put down. Ms. Goodman gets better and better."

~Old Book Barn Gazette

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ISBN: 978-1-61417-321-2

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

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Copyright © 1997, 2012 by Joanne Dobrzanski. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

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Thank You.

To my brother Olaf and his courage for searching out the father (and the family) he never knew

Prologue

London, October 1820

They came for the baby first. Colin remembered because he was eight—old enough to grasp the loss, too young to prevent it. He had expected it would happen but expectation alone did not prepare him. He had not been able to prepare his brothers.

Not that Greydon could have understood. He was the baby they came for. With his round face and engaging smile it was natural that he would be chosen. Grey had no real knowledge of his circumstances or surroundings, Colin thought. At five months he did not know he already had a family, albeit a smaller one than he had had three months earlier. Young Greydon was all gurgling laughter and chubby, flailing limbs. He charmed without effort and without conscience, as naturally as breathing and eating and crying.

So when Grey sighed contentedly as he was lifted into the woman's arms, Colin tried to remember that it didn't make his baby brother a traitor.

Beside the doorway, just inside the headmaster's office, Colin stood holding his younger brother's hand. Decker was only four but he was willing to stand at Colin's side, his small body at attention while the couple from America made their decision about the baby.