The Enemy's Bargain
A Second Chance, Fake Relationship Sports RomanceBy Quinn Mercer
Length8h 9m
About this audiobook
James Harlow has run the cutting side of his family's timber operation for ten years and can read a tree by the sound it makes. What he cannot do is stop his father selling the whole thing out from under him.
Silas Voss arrives with fine print and an offer. *I'm prepared to offer twenty thousand dollars for the land, the mill, and the equipment.* Emmett Harlow wants it taken. *We're three months behind on the bank loan. The mill needs new blades.* James is offered a foreman's job on the northern tract, which is to say the chance to work the ground his grandfather cleared, for somebody else.
In a harbour-side yard slick with seawater and fish scales, Frank Delaney is listening to his own father say no to a net he has been arguing for all season. Harlows and Delaneys do not mix. *This was Delaney dock, and Harlow timber didn't belong here.*
What neither town nor family knows is that these two men have been writing to each other for two years without signatures. *Dear Frank, I don't know your real name but I know your handwriting.* James keeps thirty-seven letters in a locked drawer and has read them until the ink began to fade. Frank has memorised his.
The envelope that arrives at the logging camp is the first time one of them asks to be seen in daylight.
What follows is not a soft courtship. There is a limp Frank got from a net winch that crushed his leg, an accident everyone called bad luck. There is a wedding being planned for James by people who have not asked him. And there is a letter, sealed in wax, that James eventually opens and reads twice: *The Delaney boy's accident was convenient, wasn't it? I trust you'll remember our arrangement when the time comes to settle accounts.*
The bargain in the title is not the one the two of them make. It is the older one, made over their heads, by men who decided years ago what these families were worth and who would pay for it.
A closed-door historical romance between two men in a coastal logging and fishing town, with draft horses, mill ponds, a harbour festival, a forged deed and a train leaving after dark.
Audiobook details
GenreRomance, Biography and Memoir
Length8 hrs 9 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateSep 15, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Chapter 1 - The Letter I Should Have Burned
2Chapter 2 - The Blue Ribbon
3Chapter 3 - The Hollow Stump
4Chapter 4 - The Taste of Smoke
5Chapter 5 - The Price of Timber
Mostrar todos os capítulosVer menos
6Chapter 6 - The Net That Wouldn’t Tear
7Chapter 7 - The Breakwater at Midnight
8Chapter 8 - The Harbor Blessing
9Chapter 9 - The Shed That Shook
10Chapter 10 - The Splintered Door
11Chapter 11 - The Trap Is Set
12Chapter 12 - The Cannery Ledger
13Chapter 13 - The Confrontation
14Chapter 14 - The Empty Room
15Chapter 15 - The Safe’s Secret
16Chapter 16 - The Weight of a Father
17Chapter 17 - The Mill Yard Stand
18Chapter 18 - The Price of Freedom
19Chapter 19 - The Trap That Worked Too Well
20Chapter 20 - The Cylinder Rolls
21Chapter 21 - The Town Meeting
22Chapter 22 - The Wreckage
23Chapter 23 - The Father’s Silence
24Chapter 24 - The Proposal
25Chapter 25 - The Last Log
26Chapter 26 - The Suitcase on the Dock
27Chapter 27 - The Train to Astoria
28The End
29About the Author
30Also by Quinn Mercer
31Acknowledgements
32A Note from the Author
More from Quinn Mercer
The Don's WeaknessQuinn Mercer7h 25m$5
The Enemy's SecretQuinn Mercer6h 50m$5
The Defenseman's WagerQuinn Mercer8h 53m$5
The Enemy's WeaknessQuinn Mercer9h 9m$5
The Enemy's VowQuinn Mercer7h 54m$5
The Coach's WeaknessQuinn Mercer8h 32m$5
The Coach's VowQuinn Mercer8h 42m4.2 (2K)$5
The Coach's SinQuinn Mercer8h 26m$5
The Boss's ConfessionQuinn Mercer8h 32m$5
The Roommate's SinQuinn Mercer8h 22m$5
Top ShelfQuinn Mercer7h 52m$5
The Coach's SecretQuinn Mercer7h 50m$5
The Defenseman's SinQuinn Mercer8h 35m$5
Her Duty Bound DefenderSharee Stover6h 30m4.6 (559)$12 · $0.00
Defending from DangerJodie Bailey5h 46m4.6 (588)$24 · $0.00
White HotIlona Andrews13h 18m4.5 (136.9K)$5 · $0.00
Explosive RevengeMaggie K. Black6h 18m4.6 (545)$12 · $0.00
Her Brand of JusticeB.J. Daniels6h 48m4.6 (1.3K)$12 · $0.00
Search And DetectTerri Reed5h 51m4.6 (706)$24 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
Danger in the WildernessDarlene L. Turner6h 54m4.7 (299)$12 · $0.00
Yukon JusticeDana Mentink6h 15m4.6 (751)$12 · $0.00
The Rogue WarriorCindy Roland Anderson5h 44m4.6 (410)$17 · $0.00
Trail Of ThreatsJessica R. Patch5h 47m4.6 (425)$24 · $0.00
Ironwood, a Fae Universe SeriesAlessa Thorn26h 57m4.6 (835)$30 · $0.00
Ready to ProtectValerie Hansen5h 38m4.6 (981)$24 · $0.00
Searching For EvidenceCarol J. Post6h 21m4.6 (552)$24 · $0.00
New Beginnings at Lullbury BayGeorgia Hill6h 59m4.6 (423)$13 · $0.00
Hiding in MontanaLaura Scott6h 18m4.6 (1K)$12 · $0.00
Christmas K-9 Unit HeroesLenora Worth, Katy Lee5h 51m4.6 (507)$24 · $0.00
Three ComradesErich Maria Remarque15h 50m4.5 (47.3K)$2 · $0.00
Craft BrewLayla Reyne7h 50m4.5 (986)$26 · $0.00
THE BLUE CASTLE (Unabridged) (Annotated)Lucy Maud Montgomery9h 18m4.5 (61.8K)$2 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
Just as I AmCicely Tyson16h 8m4.6 (99K)$33 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
My Bondage and My Freedom (Annotated)Frederick Douglass15h 30m4.6 (2.4K)$2 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Biography of Robert Murray M'CheyneAndrew A. Bonar7h 41m4.6 (2.2K)$1 · $0.00
You may also like
Eighteen AcresNicolle Wallace9h 31m3.8 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Dividing EdenJoelle Charbonneau9h 48m3.7 (12.2K)$29 · $0.00
Sex With PresidentsEleanor Herman12h 37m3.9 (2.5K)$33 · $0.00
The Alpha's Poison KissLuciana Bellini10h 32m4.2 (1.7K)$5
Cemetery RoadGreg Iles23h 44m4.2 (39.3K)$46 · $0.00
Pretty Little Liars #3: PerfectSara Shepard7h 35m3.9 (83.5K)$26 · $0.00
Before VersaillesKarleen Koen15h 57m3.8 (3.8K)$28
Lady in the LakeLaura Lippman10h 45m3.9 (100.1K)$29 · $0.00
The Wings of the DoveHenry James20h 53m3.9 (36K)$2 · $0.00
In My Father’s HouseE. Lynn Harris9h 1m4.1 (1.5K)$20
Sweet TemptationAlexandra Moody11h4.0 (4K)$29 · $0.00
Slight MourningCatherine Aird5h 24m3.9 (1.3K)$17
A Brother's HonorBrenda Jackson10h 41m4.3 (4.7K)$29 · $0.00
Dark Side of the RiverB.J. Daniels8h 31m4.4 (1.2K)$26 · $0.00
The Colleen Bawn; or, the Brides of GarryowenDion Boucicault, Gerald Griffin2h 26m3.1 (104)$1 · $0.00
Blood and VowsVincent K. Stanhope7h 16m$5 · $0.00
The Heir's SinPaige Sinclair8h 35m$5
The Markenmore MysteryJ. S. Fletcher8h 55m3.9 (286)$20
Her Ruthless TutorSloane Barrett10h 23m$5
Studies In Love And In TerrorMarie Belloc Lowndes6h 37m3.6 (20)$2.30