Operation: Married by Christmas
Debra Clopton
Published by Steeple Hill Books™
With a vast amount of admiration and gratitude,
this book is dedicated to Joan Marlow Golan, Executive Editor for Steeple Hill Books. Thank you for all you do, but most of all thank you for believing in my first book and buying it. You made my dream come true!
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 Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Chapter One
She was so close—only five miles from a warm bed and sweet dreams.
She needed oblivion…. She did not need this!
Bleary-eyed and road-weary, Haley Bell Thornton peered through the window of her BMW Roadster and frowned at the cowboy blocking her path. With the stiff-armed motion of a traffic cop he signaled for her to halt.
Behind him stood a group of men hunched over the open hood of a truck that was connected to a cattle trailer. A cattle trailer that was completely blocking the road to Mule Hollow.
Haley was not a happy camper as the tall, lean cowboy strode toward her. Collar flipped up around his chin, he’d pulled his hat low over his eyes to hamper the frigid November wind. Haley groaned wearily when halfway to her car the man halted and responded to something one of the cowboys called out to him. “Come on,” Haley said, snippy from fatigue as she rested her forehead against the steering wheel. She needed sleep and this delay was not in her plan.
Yeah, right, what plan was that?
Haley closed her eyes. As the bride who had backed out of a church chapel, dropped her bouquet on the sidewalk, hopped in her car and sped away with her veil flapping in the wind, Haley couldn’t exactly say she had a plan.
Lost her marbles—now that she could say.
As could everyone else who’d watched her walk out on the groom who had more money than Bill Gates…Okay, so that was stretching things a bit, but in the realm of the ultra-wealthy, Lincoln Billings could hold his own.
She’d warned him, though. Been up-front with him. He’d known full well she didn’t love him. Known she’d attempted to walk the aisle two times prior and had yet to make it to the altar.
But that had only fueled Linc’s competitive spirit, and Haley had gotten caught up in his game. She’d let him talk her into attempting the notorious wedding walk once more.
Attempt being the key word. Poor Linc, he’d so believed his charm and his millions would be the antidote to her problem…. At least it was only his ego she’d damaged and not his heart.
A knuckle rapping on her window brought Haley out of her daze. She blinked and straightened in her seat. Oh, how she needed to get to Grandpa Applegate’s place. She needed to crawl into a warm bed and pull her grandma’s quilt over her head. She just needed to block out the world for a few days and rest.
But she was in Texas cattle country, and she had forgotten that it unfortunately came with unique problems. Like broken-down cattle trailers and shoulderless roads that rendered low-to-the-road sports cars, like hers, useless. Grumpier by the moment, she pressed the button and lowered the window just a crack. Instantly, her car interior chilled and her eyes stung from the bite of the near-freezing wind that whisked through the slight opening.
“I need to get by here. Would you move that thing?” she snapped, giving the cowboy only a quick glance before returning her glare to the no-good trailer.
“Well, ma’am,” he drawled. “I thought that might be your plan. I mean, you are heading north. But as you can see the truck has stalled. And as you can also see, I’m just a mere man.”
The instant she heard his voice, Haley’s gaze whipped from the trailer to his face…or at least she tried to see his face. He was standing too close, and she had to scoot down and angle her head to the side so her car roof didn’t cut him off from sight. Even at this odd angle his features were shadowed beneath his black Stetson. But Haley knew him. She would have recognized Will Sutton’s voice anywhere.
Will’s slow drawl always had done funny things to her heart. Rich and silky, it had never failed to connect with her.
Will Sutton! She snapped out of her stunned surprise and bolted upward so fast she banged her head on the roof. What was he doing back in Mule Hollow?
Her gaze dropped to her gown and she wanted to shrink into the floorboard of her car. Oh, why hadn’t she taken the time to change? Only a crazy woman walked out of her wedding and drove eighteen hours in her wedding dress.
“Haley?” Her name whooshed from his lips as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Haley cringed and ducked her chin; a loose curl slapped her in the forehead and she closed her eyes. She looked like roadkill. A woman wasn’t supposed to look this way when she met—
“Haley, is that you?”
Okay, so she couldn’t very well remain hidden behind a single golden curl and a clear sheet of glass. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t realize she was wearing a wedding dress. After all, it was a simple, elegant Vera Wang sheath. A guy would just look at it and think: white silk dress.
Right?
Her mouth was as dry as dirt and her insides wobbly as she reluctantly let the window down farther. He had bent forward so that he could see her better. Warily, she met his disbelieving gaze. The man had the most gorgeous brown eyes. Soulful and bottomless, with gold flecks that sparkled when
