Farewell to a Valley — Lee Belvedere

It was sometime after the marriage of her brother that Nancy Akland decided to leave her Green Hills farm in Lonville, New Zealand. As much as she disliked the thought of doing so, she realized that her brother and his wife needed their privacy and that she could not remain the mistress of Green Hills any longer.

So it was with a sad heart that Nancy walked up the road away from the farm one morning to catch the bus that would take her to Hauraki, a gulf town along the coast, where she would stay with the Mallory family until she found a place for herself. There, in time, she hoped to carve out a new life and meet new friends.

With her petite frame and long brown hair, Nancy did not look her twenty-one years, and she had always been referred to as a ‘little girl” by those who did not know her well. But the man whom Nancy met on the bus did not regard her as such, although his teasing blue eyes belied that fact, Red Lilliard was tall, dashing, and the skipper of the best fishing launch in Hauraki. And when he helped Nancy with her luggage and insisted that he escort her to the Mallorys, Nancy could not understand how he managed to make her feel uncomfortable and excited at the same time…