Not Just For Christmas

The Manning Grooms

THE DAKOTAS

Dakota Born

Dakota Home

Always Dakota

The Farmer Takes a Wife

(Exclusive short story)

Buffalo Valley

Love by Degree

Debbie Macomber

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

Table of Contents

Cover (#u03ffd252-c330-55df-b854-5debfd3a7530)

Title Page (#ua245a570-8584-55da-803e-8fdd6ad2dea6)

Buffalo Valley (#u98774b52-f69e-5f24-a932-ace163a34b8d)

Dedication (#uc0376931-9e1f-5084-8029-ce17f78c6008)

One (#u55c12dbc-0026-5ee1-9222-4f9fbdb60fe5)

Two (#ufc8ce61f-fff9-5ca6-9aa8-26b5cbecc8f3)

Three (#ud152a7f5-7664-5853-b59c-9ca60ed198ec)

Four (#uabab0d7b-22ed-5e2a-9938-d279b4c119b1)

Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Love by Degree (#litres_trial_promo)

Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)

One (#litres_trial_promo)

Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Endpages (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Buffalo Valley (#ulink_960a8037-37d3-5de6-bf26-9c4bc9bb5f2a)

Debbie Macomber

In memory of my mom and dad, Ted and Connie Adler.

Boy, did I get lucky to have you for my parents!

I will always love you both.

One (#ulink_47e70ceb-7723-5bad-9d32-4dcdd2c6718d)

So this was North Dakota. Gazing steadily ahead, Vaughn Kyle barreled down the freeway just outside Grand Forks. Within a few miles, the four lanes had narrowed to two. Dreary, dirt-smudged snow lay piled up along both sides of the highway. Fresh snow had begun to fall, pristine and bright, glinting in the late-afternoon sun.

His parents had retired earlier in the year, leaving Denver, where Vaughn had been born and raised, and returning to the state they’d left long ago. They’d moved north, away from the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains to the endlessly boring landscape of the Dakotas. This was supposed to be beautiful? Maybe in summer, he mused, when the fields of grain rippled with the wind, acre after acre. Now, though, in December, in the dead of winter, the beauty of this place escaped him. All that was visible was a winding stretch of black asphalt cutting through flat, monotonous terrain that stretched for miles in every direction.

After seven years as an Airborne Ranger in the U.S. Army’s Second Battalion based in Fort Lewis, Washington, Vaughn was poised to begin the second stage of his working life. He had his discharge papers and he’d recently been hired by Value-X, a mega-retailer with headquarters in Seattle. Value-X was one of America’s most notable success stories. New stores were opening every day all across the United States and Canada.

His course was set for the future, thanks largely to Natalie Nichols. They’d met two years earlier through mutual friends. Natalie was smart, savvy and ambitious; Value-X had recognized her skills and she’d advanced quickly, being promoted to a vice presidency before the age of thirty.