A Maverick under the Mistletoe. Brenda Harlen
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Award-winning author Brenda Harlen returns to Rust Creek Falls for a holiday homecoming to remember in the newest installment of Montana Mavericks: Rust Creek Cowboys!
RUST CREEK RAMBLINGS
Readers, can you believe it? Sutter Traub is back in town! It’s been five years since that handsome wrangler took off for Seattle, but no one ’round here has forgotten. Especially not Paige Dalton, the devoted schoolteacher everyone thought he was going to marry….
Rumors abound. No one is quite sure what has brought Sutter home after all this time—or whether he is deserving of a second chance. But we are betting there’s a certain brown-eyed beauty with a special request on her Christmas list. Maybe the power of her forgiveness will bring the mighty maverick home for the holidays—and for good!
Kissing Paige Dalton was not the smartest thing he’d ever done.
On the other hand, he knew it had been inevitable, that they had been moving inexorably toward this moment since he’d walked her home from the town hall debate earlier in the week.
One kiss—just to prove to himself that she didn’t have the same hold on him that she used to. Except that one kiss had proven him wrong. She tasted just like he remembered—right down to the cherry lip balm she’d favored when she was sixteen. Just one kiss, and he knew that he wanted her as much now as he’d always wanted her.
Maybe even more…
MONTANA MAVERICKS: RUST CREEK COWBOYS: Better saddle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!
Dear Reader,
I love reunion stories and I’ve loved the Montana Mavericks series since the beginning, so I was thrilled by the invitation to be part of this latest expansion of the continuity—Rust Creek Cowboys.
I grew up in a small town, where a five-minute trip to the corner store inevitably led to crossing paths with a friend or family member or acquaintance and resulted in a thirty-minute conversation. Rust Creek Falls is that kind of town, where everyone knows everyone else—and everyone knows at least something of the history between Sutter Traub and Paige Dalton.
But it is history—or so Paige has tried to convince herself. After all, Sutter left town five years earlier and she’s moved on with her life without him. But when he comes back to Rust Creek Falls, there is no denying the sparks that fly between the stable owner and the schoolteacher. Add in some holiday season ambience and Paige starts to wonder what might happen if she manages to get this Maverick under the Mistletoe!
I hope you enjoy their story.
Happy Reading!
Brenda Harlen
A Maverick under the Mistletoe
Brenda Harlen
BRENDA HARLEN is a former family law attorney turned work-at-home mum and national bestselling author who has written more than twenty books for Mills & Boon. Her work has been validated by industry awards (including an RWA Golden Heart® Award and the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award) and by the fact that her kids think it’s cool that she’s “a real author.”
Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her husband and two sons. When she isn’t at the computer working on her next book, she can probably be found at the arena, watching a hockey game. Keep up-to-date with Brenda on Facebook or send her an email at [email protected].
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To Chris R., Christyne, Leanne, Karen and Vikki—
brainstormers, researchers and community planners
extraordinaire. Thanks for making the writing of this
book not just easier but a lot more fun.
To Susan Litman—for keeping us on track while still
letting us color outside of the lines. (And yes, I know
that’s a mixed metaphor :) )
With thanks also to my good friend Anna Perrin,
who always has the solutions to my last-minute plot
problems (even if I can’t always use them).
Contents
Chapter One
In Sutter Traub’s opinion, Rust Creek Falls was as irresistible—and fickle—as a woman. Once upon a time his heart had belonged to this town and he couldn’t have imagined ever living anywhere else. Then she’d turned him out and turned her back on him.
Just like the only woman he’d ever loved.
Of course, he’d come back when she’d needed him—the town, that was, not the woman. Because Paige Dalton had never needed him, and she wouldn’t ever ask for his help if she did, and thinking about her now