Cowboy Christmas Blues

Cowboy Christmas Blues
Maisey Yates

He didn’t want to come home for the holidays—but can an unexpected reunion with a woman from his past make this cowboy’s Christmas merry and bright in this sweet and sizzling novella?When Cooper Mason left Gold Valley, Oregon behind him eight years ago, he told himself he wouldn’t be back. But when a Christmas promise sends him home to face his demons, he’ll find that not everything is as he remembers—especially family friend Annabelle Preston, who’s somehow morphed from childhood pest to full-grown, hot-blooded and oh-so-tempting woman.Growing up, Annabelle had built a lot of dreams around the ruggedly gorgeous Cooper—dreams she’s long ago learned to put behind her. Until a chance encounter with Cooper leads to a night neither can forget, and all the old feelings come blazing back to life. Now, Annabelle has a week to prove there’s more between them than a no-strings holiday fling…and with a little Christmas luck, she just might convince Gold Valley’s favorite cowboy to come home for good.

He didn’t want to come home for the holidays—but can an unexpected reunion with a woman from his past make this cowboy’s Christmas merry and bright in this sweet and sizzling novella?

When Cooper Mason left Gold Valley, Oregon behind him eight years ago, he told himself he wouldn’t be back. But when a Christmas promise sends him home to face his demons, he’ll find that not everything is as he remembers—especially family friend Annabelle Preston, who’s somehow morphed from childhood pest to full-grown, hot-blooded and oh-so-tempting woman.

Growing up, Annabelle had built a lot of dreams around the ruggedly gorgeous Cooper—dreams she’s long ago learned to put behind her. Until a chance encounter with Cooper leads to a night neither can forget, and all the old feelings come blazing back to life. Now, Annabelle has a week to prove there’s more between them than a no-strings holiday fling...and with a little Christmas luck, she just might convince Gold Valley’s favorite cowboy to come home for good.

Cowboy Christmas Blues

Maisey Yates

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

MAISEY YATES is a New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty romance novels, including the Copper Ridge and brand new Gold Valley series. She has a coffee habit she has no interest in kicking and a slight Pinterest addiction (those half-naked men are for research, she swears). She lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. When Maisey isn’t writing she can be found singing in the grocery store, online shopping for shoes and probably not doing dishes.

Contents

Cover (#ub9712ff7-ed1f-5cd8-a104-0a349c1e66b5)

Back Cover Text (#u4964b77d-96a5-5f5c-aa68-45e5bd7b9c11)

Title Page (#u0dabb26f-32df-5d9e-8384-46e5b7996c51)

About the Author (#u86a4bf69-c281-51b9-baaa-af01ed992e28)

CHAPTER ONE (#u8231e522-afa3-5e0c-9a4b-c0ed4563b045)

CHAPTER TWO (#ud449311b-c337-55d0-9588-6807f508e14f)

CHAPTER THREE (#u8132a191-af94-5ec7-b345-eab288b9d142)

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)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#ubd3a9b6e-2ee1-5b16-9897-ad835c31f6fe)

GOLD VALLEY AT Christmastime hadn’t changed at all since Cooper Mason had left town eight years ago. Every streetlight was wrapped in white Christmas lights, and wreaths and more white lights covered the redbrick buildings, window displays reflecting the season in each little shop.

He hated it. All of it.

And sure, he had come to terms with Christmas since Lindsay’s death, because you couldn’t exist in the world and not figure out a way to survive the season. But he had deliberately avoided this little corner of Oregon since then.

Because the last thing he needed was to be inundated with memories of his older sister and the joy she had taken in celebrating. The joy she had taken in everything, in spite of her illness.

Gold Valley was the same now as it had been eight years ago, and the same eight years ago as it had been when they were children. So it was easy now to envision her, rosy-cheeked and standing in front of the antique-toy store, her face pressed against the glass as she exclaimed over dolls and blocks, books and art supplies. Before sickness had stolen so much of who she was.

She’d been sixteen when she’d gotten sick, already dating Grant Dodge, who married her as soon as it was legal. Knowing she wouldn’t live long. Their love story had made national headlines. A love story that was doomed already, which the public found so much more romantic than a love that might last a lifetime.

God knew why.

Cooper knew there wasn’t a hell of a lot that was romantic about death.

He shouldn’t have let his parents talk him into coming home for the holidays.

He always felt a little bit guilty about the way his visits home went. He avoided his old friends. Avoided people he’d been close to before. His football buddies from high school, Nate and Jason, who had wives and kids now. He hadn’t seen Ben Preston in years. The older man had been his dad’s mechanic and friend, and had been like an uncle to Cooper. Ben’s chubby little girl, Annabelle, had always trailed around after him on the farm when they’d come to visit.

He didn’t even know if Annabelle lived here anymore.

There was a time when she’d almost been like another sister to him. Now, he just tried not to think much about the past.

Cooper had lost touch with this place, and he’d done it mostly on purpose. Normally, he could outpace the guilt just fine. But sometimes...

He shook his head and went into the saloon, which was where he had spent most of his time this week. At least inside the Gold Valley Saloon there was some respite from the seasonal cheer. Some respite from the family home that was a shrine to Lindsay and all that she had been.

Here, it was just the bar. Just alcohol and people coming together for their own reasons. To escape real life, to visit with friends. To hook up.

Cooper snorted. He wasn’t about to hook up anytime soon. He hadn’t come back to this small town to cause trouble. He was way better off waiting until he left. But he couldn’t deny that a little sex to take the edge off would be welcome.

But the gossip line in town was like a vine and rumors grew on it like grapes, and there was no way he wanted to get enmeshed in that. He had extricated himself. He had gotten out. He spent his days moving cattle around the country from ranch to ranch, never staying in one place very long. And that suited him just fine. He lived on the road, occasionally stopping to visit his parents. But never for that long. And never at this time of year.

He should have stuck to his guns on that one. But he couldn’t resist his mom when she got emotional, and she’d been filled with conviction that he needed to come home for Christmas this year. Because it had been too long since he had. Because it had been Christmastime eight years ago when Lindsay had taken a sharp turn for the worse and passed away just before New Year’s. And the memories were all oppressive now, even more than they usually were.

Cooper didn’t want to think about it. Cooper wanted a drink.

He went up to the counter and took a seat, waiting for the bartender, Laz Jenkins, to come over and take his order.