COWBOY CHRISTMAS REDEMPTION
Author: Maisey Yates
ISBN: 9781335009906
Publication Date: 9/24/2019
Publisher: HQN Books
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Book Summary:
As snowflakes fall in Gold Valley, Oregon, will this rugged
cowboy finally win the woman of his dreams?
Cowboy Caleb Dalton has loved single mom Ellie Bell, and her little daughter, Amelia, for years. But since Ellie is his best friend’s widow, Caleb’s head knows Ellie will always be strictly off-limits. If only his heart got the memo. So when Caleb discovers that Ellie has a Christmas wish list—and hopes for a kiss under the mistletoe—he’s throwing his cowboy hat into the ring. If anyone’s going to be kissing Ellie and sharing this magical time with her and her daughter, it’s him.
Ellie has dreaded the holidays since losing her husband. But this year, she’s finally ready to make some changes. She never expects the biggest change to be the heart-stopping kiss she shares with Caleb. For almost five years, Caleb has been her best friend, her rock, her salvation. This Christmas, can Caleb prove he’s also the missing puzzle piece of Ellie’s and Amelia’s hearts?
Cowboy Caleb Dalton has loved single mom Ellie Bell, and her little daughter, Amelia, for years. But since Ellie is his best friend’s widow, Caleb’s head knows Ellie will always be strictly off-limits. If only his heart got the memo. So when Caleb discovers that Ellie has a Christmas wish list—and hopes for a kiss under the mistletoe—he’s throwing his cowboy hat into the ring. If anyone’s going to be kissing Ellie and sharing this magical time with her and her daughter, it’s him.
Ellie has dreaded the holidays since losing her husband. But this year, she’s finally ready to make some changes. She never expects the biggest change to be the heart-stopping kiss she shares with Caleb. For almost five years, Caleb has been her best friend, her rock, her salvation. This Christmas, can Caleb prove he’s also the missing puzzle piece of Ellie’s and Amelia’s hearts?
Excerpt
From Chapter Two
Caleb
Dalton hadn’t had much to smile about for a long time. It had been a bear of a
few years, since his best friend’s death, and while time might ease a wound, it
wouldn’t ever bring Clint back.
But
that permanence made space for movement, around the grief, around the pain. And
finally toward a future he’d been planning for a long time.
Clint
had been, honest to God, one of the best men on earth. The hole he’d left
behind had been huge, and Caleb had dedicated himself to caring for his
friend’s widow and child in his absence.
That
had been his life, his whole life, for nearly five years. And it was fair,
because it had been Ellie’s life, too.
He
cared for Ellie. A hell of a lot. He’d met her because of Clint, but she’d
been in his life now for more than ten years.
His
feelings for Ellie were complicated. Had been from the beginning. But she’d
been with Clint. And there was no doubt Clint was the better man. More than
that, Clint was his brother. Maybe not in blood, but in every way that counted.
Caleb
had never claimed to be a perfect friend. Clint was one of those people who’d
drawn everyone right to him. He was easy to like. Caleb’s own parents had been
bowled over by Clint from the time they were kids.
And
Caleb’s jealousy had gotten the better of him once when they’d been younger.
Something that made him burn with shame even now.
He
hadn’t let it happen when they’d been adults. No matter how tempting it had
been. No matter how much he’d…
A
muscle in his jaw ticked.
He
gave thanks that there was a space in front of the Gold Valley Saloon, and he
whipped his truck there up against the curb, ignoring the honk that came from
behind him.
He
turned around and saw Trevor Sanderson in his Chevy, giving Caleb the death
glare.
“Hold
your damn horses, Trevor,” he muttered as he put his truck in Park.
He
should have been quicker.
Hell,
that was life in a nutshell. Sometimes, you were just too late. For parking
spots, and for women.
He’d
tried to get that image out of his head. More times than he could count over
the past decade. Had tried to erase that first time he’d seen Ellie.
It
was at his parents’ barbecue. Late one summer afternoon.
He’d
been talking and laughing with his brothers, and he’d lifted a beer to his lips
and looked out away from the party. Then he’d frozen.
It
was like the world had slowed down, all of it centering on the beautiful
blonde walking toward him. The golden light from the sun illuminated her hair
like a halo, and her smile seemed to light him up from the inside out.
As
she’d gotten closer, he’d taken in every last detail. The way the left side of
her cheek dimpled with that grin; her eyes, a mix of green and blue and a punch
in the gut. Her lips were glossy pink, and he wondered if it was that stuff
that women wore that smelled and tasted like cherries. He couldn’t decide if he
hoped that it was or not.
Twenty
years old, more experienced with women than he probably should be, and ready
right then and there to drop down to his knees and propose marriage to the one
walking in his direction.
It
took him a full minute to realize that the beautiful blonde was holding hands
with someone.
And
that that someone was Caleb’s best friend on earth.
It
was a surreal moment. It had been a sea change in his soul. When his feelings
for Ellie had tipped over from nothing to everything.
A
revelation he hadn’t been looking for, and one he sure as hell hadn’t enjoyed.
It
was like the whole world had turned, then bucked, like a particularly nasty-ass
bull, and left him sprawled out on the ground.
It
had been the beginning of a thorny, painful set of years. As he’d gotten to
know Ellie, as his feelings for her had become knit deep into his heart, into
his soul. She’d become more than his friend’s woman, and more than a woman he’d
desired. She’d become a friend to him.
In
many ways he was thankful for the depth of the feeling, because it was the
reason he’d been able to put aside the lust. The idea that he’d fallen in love
with her at first sight.
When
Clint had first started dating her, she’d been in school, so she hadn’t been
around all the time. But during the summers, and on breaks, she came around
with Clint.
Went
to the lake with them. Went fishing. Came to Christmas and Thanksgiving.
The
summers at the lake, though, that had been a particular kind of torture. All of
them swimming out in the water, her and her swimsuit. A tiny bikini that had
left little to the imagination.
And
he had been so very interested in imagining all the things that it did conceal.
And
he’d felt like the biggest, most perverse asshole.
Then
there had been the time that Clint had asked him to take her out riding.
Just
the two of them.
Because
Clint trusted him. Of course he did. Why wouldn’t he trust his best friend? So
he’d done it.
Had
taken her out on the trails that wound behind the Dalton family property, up to
the top of a mountain. And he looked over at the view with her, watched the
sunset. And everything in him had wanted to lean over and kiss her on the
mouth. To act on the feelings that were rioting through his chest.
For
just a breath she’d looked back at him, met his eyes. And he’d thought maybe
she’d wanted it, too.
Yeah,
it would have exploded his relationship with Clint, but for a minute it seemed
like it might be worth it.
Then
she’d looked away. And then he’d come back to himself.
Clint
was his brother. In every way but blood.
And
he couldn’t betray his friend like that.
Anyway,
Ellie loved Clint.
She
didn’t love Caleb.
And
no matter how much he might not want to, he had to respect that.
So
he hadn’t kissed her. They had ridden back down that mountain, and nothing
happened between them. But late at night, Caleb had taken himself in hand and
fantasized that it had.
Two
days later Clint and Ellie had been engaged.
Caleb
had agreed to be the best man.
She’d
married Clint. And while his feelings for her had remained, they’d shifted. As
they’d had to.
He
wasn’t perfect. He’d never touched Ellie. Not like a man touched a woman,
though that hadn’t stopped him from going over the accidental brush of
fingertips, of their elbows touching, over and over in his mind if it had
happened on accident.
It
hadn’t stopped him from keeping and cherishing secrets with her, even when he
knew he shouldn’t. Hadn’t stopped him from pushing some boundaries that not
even Ellie had realized he’d been pushing at.
Ellie
was the one who’d realized, for the first time, that he was dyslexic. And he’d
sworn her to secrecy. And in that secrecy had come secret reading lessons.
And
he’d…well, he’d lost control of his own feelings again. And once he’d
recognized that, he’d cut them off. Cut her off.
But
then Clint had died, just a month later. And everything changed again.
Since
then, his relationship with Ellie was about their coming together to try and
fill the gap Clint had left behind. His helping where she needed it.
Helping
with the house, with her grief, with Amelia.
That
was all.
Excerpted from Christmas
Cowboy Redemption by Maisey Yates, Copyright © 2019 by Maisey Yates.
Published by HQN Books.
Social Links:
Twitter: @maiseyyates
Instagram: @maiseyyates
Author
Bio: New
York Times Bestselling
author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her
husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon.
She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her
coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit.
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