RaeAnne Thayne – The Holiday Gift (страница 1)
A Cowboy for Christmas
With two kids and an active life, widow Faith Dustin only wants peace and quiet for Christmas. But her snowy Pine Gulch ranch is nothing but chaotic. All that keeps Faith going is her helpful neighbor, cowboy Chase Brannon. He’s always been “good ol’ Chase,” her faithful friend. Until he kisses her under the mistletoe...
Years ago Chase blew his chance with the woman he’s loved since childhood. Now he’s determined to step out of the friend zone...and into the role of husband. But the scared and stubborn Faith won’t let herself fall. With Christmas just days away, Chase will need all the magic of the season—and the help of her two matchmaking children—to unwrap a second chance at love.
Praise for
“Romance, vivid characters and a wonderful story; really who could ask for more?”
—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on Blackberry Summer
“This quirky, funny, warmhearted romance will draw readers in and keep them enthralled to the last romantic page.”
—Library Journal on Christmas in Snowflake Canyon
“Entertaining, heart-wrenching, and totally involving, [Evergreen Springs] is a sure winner.”
—Library Journal
“A sometimes heartbreaking tale of love and relationships in a small Colorado town.... Poignant and sweet.”
—Publishers Weekly on Christmas in Snowflake Canyon
“RaeAnne Thayne is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors... Once you start reading, you aren’t going to be able to stop.”
—Fresh Fiction on Snow Angel Cove
“Plenty of tenderness and Colorado sunshine flavor this pleasant escape.”
—Publishers Weekly on Woodrose Mountain
“Thayne, once again, delivers a heartfelt story of a caring community and a caring romance between adults who have triumphed over tragedies.”
—Booklist on Woodrose Mountain
“Thayne pens another winner... Her main characters are strong and three-dimensional, with enough heat between them to burn the pages.”
—RT Book Reviews on Currant Creek Valley
I’m so excited to bring you the story of Faith Nichols Dustin and Chase Brannon, at long last. I introduced them two years ago in The Christmas Ranch, the first book in my current Cold Creek miniseries. I loved Chase and Faith from the beginning. Faith had just suffered a great tragedy and the world seemed a bleak place. Chase was not only her neighbor but her best friend—caring, loyal and fiercely protective of her.
I knew a few basics about their lives and the journey they would have to find happiness again together, but uncovering the details of their story has been a true delight.
I’m always so happy when I have the chance to return to Pine Gulch and visit old friends! It’s been ten years since I wrote my first book based in Cold Creek Canyon (I know! I can’t believe it, either!) and the people who live here almost feel like family.
Wishing you and your loved ones the very best this holiday season.
RaeAnne
The Holiday Gift
RaeAnne Thayne
RAEANNE THAYNE finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains, where the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author lives with her husband and three children. Her books have won numerous honors, including RITA® Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be contacted through her website, www.raeannethayne.com.
To Lisa Townsend, trainer extraordinaire, who is gorgeous inside and out. And to Jennie, Trudy, Karen, Becky, Jill and everyone else in our group for your example, your encouragement, your friendship, your laughter—and especially for making me look forward to workouts (except the burpees—I’ll never look forward to those!).
Contents
Something was wrong, but Faith Dustin didn’t have the first idea what.
She glanced at Chase Brannon again, behind the wheel of his pickup truck. Sunglasses shielded his eyes but his strong jaw was still flexed, his shoulders tense.
Since they had left the Idaho Falls livestock auction forty-five minutes earlier, heading back to Cold Creek Canyon, the big rancher hadn’t smiled once and had answered most of her questions in monosyllables, his mind clearly a million miles away.
Faith frowned. He wasn’t acting at all like himself. They were frequent travel companions, visiting various livestock auctions around the region at least once or twice a month for the last few years. They had even gone on a few buying trips to Denver together, an eight-hour drive from their little corner of eastern Idaho. He was her oldest friend—and had been since she and her sisters came to live with their aunt and uncle nearly two decades ago.
In many ways, she and Chase were really a team and comingled their ranch operations, since his ranch, Brannon Ridge, bordered the Star N on two sides.
Usually when they traveled, they never ran out of things to talk about. Her kids and their current dramas, real or imagined; his daughter, Addie, who lived with her mother in Boise; Faith’s sisters and their growing families. Their ranches, the community, the price of beef, their future plans. It was all grist for their conversational mill. She valued his opinion—often she would run ideas past him—and she wanted to think he rated hers as highly.
The drive to Idaho Falls earlier that morning had seemed just like usual, filled with conversation and their usual banter. Everything had seemed normal during the auction. He had stayed right by her side, a quiet, steady support, while she engaged in—and eventually won—a fierce bidding war for a beautiful paint filly with excellent barrel racing bloodlines.
That horse, intended as a Christmas gift for her twelve-year-old daughter, Louisa, was the whole reason they had gone to the auction. Yes, she’d been a little carried away by winning the auction so that she’d hugged him hard and kissed him smack on the lips, but surely that wasn’t what was bothering him. She’d kissed and hugged him tons of times.