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Mistletoe Bride
Linda Varner
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYSJINGLE BELLS, WEDDING BELLSOn Christmas Eve single dad Ryan Givens and his newfound son were stranded in a small Colorado town without a dime to their name. But just when Ryan saw his plans for their first Christmas crumpling faster than his son's smile, a miracle came their way….No matter how hazardous good-looking cowboys were to her heart, Danielle Sellica couldn't let Ryan and his adorable son spend the holiday in a hotel room. Everything would be fine, as long as they stood clear of the mistletoe….But they didn't….Celebrate the joy and love of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's with three very special couples.
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u95640f21-0fc2-5d8d-abd2-38118cb93bbc)
Was it love? (#u7289a17a-b847-5831-aa0b-528b335ca8be)
Dear Reader (#u08ffde9b-fac9-565e-8d24-a1077f5273b6)
Title Page (#u94b0d998-46c7-5f99-9104-0c0aa4a3ec2b)
Dedication (#u8977ab50-b54a-56c1-8cda-84082e1baae1)
About the Author (#u0caf5105-73d8-581d-aaac-f3b1131795a1)
Recipe for A Very Merry Christmas (#u524081c8-8573-5243-9ab9-7691ab1f033b)
Prologue (#ubffab6b3-22ed-5de3-8860-f43dc8498c53)
Chapter One (#uf5308ad1-e8f9-5cf1-8257-5dd48e31115e)
Chapter Two (#u199e42f9-e62b-5b98-9e79-7b8396b2c674)
Chapter Three (#ucf627a76-783d-5274-bbde-faf2ed965432)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Was it love?
Ryan had his son, Sawyer, to think about. But Danielle and Sawyer already shared an easy affection that would grow if fed time and patience. In short, loving Danielle might not be such a bad thing for the boy…or for him.
So why did the thought scare Ryan half to death?
Maybe it was because what was between them defied logic, common sense and caution. Near strangers, they had kissed in the dark and tempted fate. And he’d enjoyed it way too much.
Was this a Christmas miracle? A little Yuletide magic? A gift from above that Ryan would be a total idiot to deny?
He didn’t know…but he was going to find out.
Dear Reader,
What better way for Silhouette Romance to celebrate the holiday season than to celebrate the meaning of family….
You’ll love the way a confirmed bachelor becomes a FABULOUS FATHER just in time for the holidays in Susan Meier’s Merry Christmas, Daddy. And in Mistletoe Bride, Linda Varner’s HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS miniseries merrily continues. The ugly duckling who becomes a beautiful swan will touch your heart in Hometown Wedding by Elizabeth Lane. Doreen Roberts’s A Mom for Christmas tells the tale of a little girl’s holiday wish, and in Patti Standard’s Family of the Year, one man, one woman and a bunch of adorable kids form an unexpected family. And finally, Christmas in July by Leanna Wilson is what a sexy cowboy offers the struggling single mom he wants for his own.
Silhouette Romance novels make the perfect stocking stuffers—or special treats just for yourself. So enjoy all six irresistible books, and most of all, have a very happy holiday season and a very happy New Year!
Melissa Senate
Senior Editor
Silhouette Romance
Please address questions and book requests to:
Silhouette Reader Service
U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269
Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3
Mistletoe Bride
Linda Varner
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Thanks to Ginger Moix for sharing her expertise on
horses, barns and rodeos.
LINDA VARNER confesses she is a hopeless romantic. Nothing is more thrilling, she believes, than the battle of wits between a man and a woman who are meant for each other but just don’t know it yet! Linda enjoys writing romance fiction and considers herself very lucky to have been both a RITA finalist and a third-place winner in the National Readers’Choice Awards in 1993.
A full-time federal employee, Linda lives in Arkansas with her husband and their two children. She loves to hear from readers. Write to her at 813 Oak St., Suite 10A-277, Conway, AR 72032.
Recipe forA Very Merry Christmas
1 cowboy
1 newly found son
1 unexpected mugging
1 independent single gal
1 rescue
1 ranch (big enough for 3…or more)
Toss together cowboy and son, add in Christmas Eve mugging. Stir in single gal and a reluctant rescue. Set mixture on an isolated ranch, right in time for Christmas morning. Simmer until too hot to handle.
Yield: A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS…and forever!
Prologue (#ulink_f1ef1d4d-04e5-5b82-a6e9-3a6cc63bb8a1)
“Okay. You don’t have to go if you promise me that you won’t play with matches, stick anything in your nose or ears, drink poison or open the door to strangers.” Ryan Given, now hesitating on the threshold of the motel room he’d just rented, hated leaving his son, Sawyer, alone for even a second. It was something he hadn’t done since they’d found one another.
“Aw, Dad,” responded the boy, who lay sprawled on his stomach on one of the beds, his nose a couple of feet from the television set. “That kind of stuff is for kids. I’m eight years old.”
“So you are,” Ryan hastily murmured, properly chastised. Though his fingers itched to tousle Sawyer’s dark hair affectionately, he wasn’t that comfortable with the boy yet, so dared not. Instead, he stepped into the freezing cold night and shut the door firmly behind him. Sawyer would surely be okay for the fifteen minutes required to walk to a nearby café, pick up their take-out dinner and walk back to the motel. In fact, he’d probably be okay for longer than that. He was damned mature for his age.
Grinning with fatherly pride—a novel experience—Ryan sidetracked to the narrow metal strongbox hidden behind the seat of his pickup truck, where he’d stashed their traveling cash. He tucked a couple of ten-dollar bills into his wallet, then headed to the café where a long overdue hearty meal awaited. He and Sawyer had been on the road ten hours, with only quick snacks to nourish them. Both wanted the works tonight: salad, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade cloverleaf rolls with lots of real butter, apple pie and ice cream….
Ryan swallowed hard and stepped faster, his face stinging from the brisk winter wind. Wishing for his sheepskinlined jacket, which hung in the motel room, he noted how dark it was for 7:30 p.m.—black as pitch, thanks to heavy snow clouds—then glanced toward his destination, the Clearwater Café. Though a tree-tangled shortcut obscured his view of the building, Ryan could tell that vehicles filled the back parking lot. He couldn’t help but wonder why all these people weren’t at home, spending Christmas Eve with their families.
Ducking to avoid a low-hanging limb, Ryan entered the shadowy no-man’s-land that would save him steps, according to the motel desk clerk. Almost instantly, he stumbled over a rock, invisible under the patchy snow underfoot. Then a frozen tree branch slapped his cowboy hat off his head. Staggering like a wino on a cheap drunk, Ryan reseated his hat, then forged a path through the gnarled branches by pushing them, crackling and popping, away from his face.
So much for saving steps, he thought as his hat left his head again. Cursing his bad luck, Ryan bent to retrieve it. He heard the snap of a frozen twig. He sensed that he was not alone.
“Who’s there?” Ryan blurted out, words that barely left his lips before he saw a blur of motion and felt pain shoot through his head.
Chapter One (#ulink_67d04ea9-ba78-5f31-b34b-c8db45f91685)
Humming “Blue Christmas,” the last song she’d heard inside the Clearwater Café that Thursday night, Danielle Sellica slipped behind the steering wheel of her car and set her one-more-for-the-road cup of coffee in the plastic holder designed for it.
She wrinkled her nose at the smell of old grease and cigarettes that permeated her denim jacket. Although a few minutes of fresh Colorado air would easily kill the scents, Dani didn’t get out of the car. It was already 8:30 p.m., and a one-hour drive home still lay ahead. Not that Dani minded the drive. She really didn’t. There was just so much to do before she could go to bed tonight—not the least of which was put up and decorate her Christmas tree.
A mood as blue as the Christmas of the song settled over her. Refusing to give in to it, Dani turned on the radio and quickly found a station playing something upbeat. She relished the cheerful tune, as well as the beauty of the snowflakes dancing in her headlights, for only a moment before turning the volume way up so she could sing “Holly Jolly Christmas” at the top of her voice.
It was the buzz of the car phone that brought an end to her off-key songfest some forty-five minutes later. Since only one person ever called her on the car telephonebought for emergency purposes only—Dani smiled and turned off the radio, then snatched up the receiver.
“How did you know I was in the car?” she demanded, instead of saying hello.
The familiar laughter of Jonni Lisa Maynard, a dear friend and neighbor, spilled forth. “Lucky guess.”
“Do I hear Jimmy Stewart in the background?”
“Of course. Have I ever made it through December without crying over It’s a Wonderful Life a couple of dozen times? For that matter, have you?”
It was Dani’s turn to laugh. They were both sentimental softies for sure. “No to both. Are you ready for Christmas tomorrow?”
“I’m proud to report that my presents are wrapped, my fruitcake is baked and my tree is up. How about you?”
“I’m not into fruitcakes, but my shopping, such as it is, is done.”
“What about your Christmas tree?” asked Jonni.
“The most beautiful Douglas fir in the world is in my trunk even as we speak. I’ll put it up the minute I get home.”
“And I thought I was running late! Any big plans for the holiday?”
“I’ll probably sew.”
“You mean you still haven’t finished Barbara’s wedding dress?” Jonni asked, referring to a mutual friend who planned a New Year’s Day wedding.
“Another lucky guess,” Dani told her, ruefully adding, “Would you believe she’s changed her mind about the sleeves three times?”
“I’d believe that. What I cannot believe is that you ever agreed to make it in the first place.”
“Temporary insanity?”
“Well, that beats the permanent kind, which is what I’ll be by the time Ricky goes back to school.” Ricky was Jonni’s rambunctious seven-year-old son, out of school for the holidays and already driving his mother nuts. She also had a four-year-old daughter named Pattie and was trying for a third child.
“Which reminds me—”
Thump. Thump.
A sudden sound, loud enough to make Dani abandon what she’d started to say about having presents for the children, seemed to be coming from the rear of the car. A flat? she automatically wondered with a mental sigh of dismay.
“Dani? You still there?”
“I’m here, and I’ve got a flat,” Dani replied even as she braked her car and eased off the asphalt.
“Oh, God,” Jonni exclaimed, clearly concerned. “Will you be okay?”
“Are you kidding? I can change a tire in five minutes with one hand in my pocket.” She didn’t add that she’d never had to do it on a lonely mountain road with the heavens spitting snow….
“Well, be careful. Two guys broke out of prison this morning—”
“Thanks so much for letting me know,” Dani retorted dryly, refusing to think about a prison break at Cañon City, less than fifty miles away.
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry—”
“I was teasing you. I’m not a bit scared. Now, I really have to go.”
“Please call me when you get home. I’ll worry until I hear from you.”
“I’ll call,” Dani promised, wishing her friend a Merry Christmas before hanging up.
With another sigh, this one of resignation, Dani killed the engine. After checking to see that the car was easily visible to approaching traffic, should there be any, she switched on the hazard blinkers. Flashlight in hand, Dani then got out of the car.
With purposeful strides, she walked around her vehicle, inspecting each tire in turn. There was no flat. Had she imagined that awful noise…?
