In Love with Her Boss

In Love with Her Boss
Christie Ridgway

Lori Hanson had come to Whitehorn to start over–not to fall head over heels in love with her boss! She knew better than to risk her heart–her life–on another man. Besides, Josh Anderson was too attractive, too nice and…too dangerous. Nice because he cared about her. Dangerous because he made her want to care about him.Josh's alluring receptionist had secrets and fears she couldn't let go of, and all Josh wanted was to hold her in his arms and make everything better. Okay, so that wasn't all he wanted. Lori's presence made it all but impossible to work–except to count the ways to capture her heart!

Stories of family and romance beneath the Big Sky!

“Can’t believe a little thing like you could overturn me like that.”

Lori half smiled. “I’m stronger than I look.” That was her hope, anyway. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?” Her face heated again as their tangle replayed in her mind. The man probably thought she was certifiable for going into maul-the-mugger mode at the slightest contact.

Josh shook his head. “I’m fine. You might consider registering with the sheriff as a lethal weapon, though.”

Her eyebrows rose. “My hands, you mean?”

His eyebrows lifted, too, and another one of those slow smiles warmed his rugged face. “The whole package, sweetheart.”

In Love with Her Boss

Christie Ridgway

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

CHRISTIE RIDGWAY

Native Californian Christie Ridgway started reading and writing romances in middle school. It wasn’t until she was the wife of her college sweetheart and the mother of two small sons that she submitted her work for publication. Many contemporary romances later, she is happiest when telling her stories despite the splash of kids in the pool, the mass of cups and plates in the kitchen and the many commitments she makes in the world beyond her desk.

Besides loving the men in her life and her dream-come-true job, she continues her longtime love affair with reading and is never without a stack of books. You can find out more about Christie at her website, www.christieridgway.com.

For Barbara Freethy, a great listener.

Thanks.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter One

The calendar read December twenty-fourth, but Lori Hanson wanted to forget all about Christmas. She wanted to forget a lot of things, truth to tell, which was why she was impatient to begin her workout at the state-of-the-art facility located at Whitehorn High School in Whitehorn, Montana. Standing in the small entry area, she clutched her gym bag in one hand and used the other to dig in her coat pocket for her membership card.

Card located, she stepped up to the desk, ignoring the Christmas carols piping cheerfully through the speakers, the red-and-green tinsel draped along the counter, the fuzzy Santa hat perched on the head of the high-school boy who was there to check her in. His winning smile was impossible to avoid, though. “Merry Christmas,” he said.

“You, too,” Lori murmured, hoping her Scrooge mood didn’t show. But Christmas was for families, something she didn’t have in Whitehorn…not yet.

The boy took her card and wrote her name down in a ledger book. “New member?” he asked.

“Yes, I sure am.” She’d only been in Whitehorn a week, but she’d joined the gym the day after finding her small apartment and hours after she’d gone shopping for a winter-in-Montana wardrobe and groceries. To Lori, working out had become a necessity on a par with shelter, clothing and food.

“Texas?” the high-schooler asked as he handed back her card.

Lori frowned. “Texas?”

“Your accent.” The boy grinned. “My mom loves to watch those Dallas reruns.”

“Oh. No. I’m from South Carolina.” But she was never going back there. She couldn’t.

“South Carolina.” His forehead scrunched in thought, he leaned back in his chair. “Capital city, Columbia, population approximately 4 million, major economic features are textile manufacturing, tourism and agriculture.”

At Lori’s clear surprise, he grinned again. “County geography champ last year.”

This time Lori had to grin back, because his big, open smile was that cute. When she was in high school she would certainly have fallen in love with a boy like this one. Then her smile faded. Those years were long gone, though, and when she had fallen in love it was with a man who had kept his true nature hidden. She shoved her card back in her pocket and turned toward the women’s locker room.

The boy wasn’t through with her, though. “Winter in Montana’s going to be a shock,” he advised.

She sent him a half-smile over her shoulder, but kept on walking. She’d been shocked before. She had come to Montana in winter to get away from all that. To make a new start.

The locker room was deserted. Probably most women were completing their last-minute Christmas shopping or putting the finishing touches on a big family meal. Lori stifled a sharp pang of loneliness and focused instead on shedding her heavy outer clothing and exchanging her winter boots for her running shoes. The sooner she started running, the sooner she could forget her troubles.

The weight room was nearly empty too, but on its other side there was a basketball game in progress on one of the courts surrounding the indoor running track. She paused, out of long habit cautiously surveying the men at play.

Though they were the right age, somewhere in their thirties, none of them had the lean, almost slight build of the man she was constantly on watch for. Thank God.

Relaxing, she continued watching for a minute. Goodness, the males grew big in Montana. The players on the court were all over six feet tall—one of them probably six and a half feet!—with heavy shoulders and broad chests to match.