“Getting you out of the limelight?”
“He’s shutting down the place for six months and starting over with an entirely new crew.”
“Wow.” Ryan’s expression was sheer amazement.
“Right? Rich people do weird stuff.” She had to say it. “And lonely people do things that can’t continue. Not if we’re going to fix everything that’s wrong in your life.”
He hesitated. “Okay?”
She brushed her lips over his first to ease the sting of the words she still had to say. The thing that had felt off when she’d tried to figure out Ryan’s life had finally become clear. “You didn’t buy a new bed because you weren’t ready to move on. And you’ve filled your days with activities you love, but to the point where there’s no room to notice how quiet your world is.”
“Have you been around my daughter? Quiet is not the word I’d use.” But he nodded, understanding flooding in. “Holding down two full-time jobs isn’t going to work anymore, is it? I want time with you, and Talia, and as a family.”
Peace rolled in. Finally. Plus, it was her turn to say it. “Okay.”
He grinned and tugged her toward him.
Madison held him off. “So can we go back to your let’s get married comment?”
“If we decide it’s right. The tradition-raised core of me says yes, but I won’t love you less if we skip the ceremony. We should pick the parts of getting married we want and do them with joy. We’ll figure out becoming a family in the same way. My job, yours. What we do in the end might not look the same as other families, but it’ll be what’s right for us, and that’s what counts.”
Sounded pretty perfect to her.
“Challenge traditions, but don’t throw them away without putting something better in place.” She leaned toward him, angling for another kiss. “I think we can do that.”
“I know we can.” Ryan rolled her under him, his grin widening. “We’re ordinary people doing extraordinary things. That makes us heroes of our own stories.”
She snickered. “That was really cheesy.”
“Still true.”
He leaned down and kissed her. The one thing she could totally agree on?
Their future would be extraordinary.
Epilogue
November 15, one year later.
Alex Thorne sank into a chair in the small coffee shop in the town where he’d grown up. With a deep inhale and an even deeper exhale, he relaxed his shoulders and reached for his coffee.
He was finally able to go home. His new home.
Alex didn’t regret having gone to his family’s rescue. He did regret having to leave Yvette back in Heart Falls without saying something about what she meant to him. What he hoped she could mean to him.
Now after being away for so long, he’d be back in Heart Falls in a couple of weeks. Just in time for the holidays, which meant it was a perfect time for him to do the next thing when it came to Yvette as well.
With his upcoming return, setting up a little advance work seemed prudent. He’d been in touch with his friends at the fire hall and Silver Stone over the past months. None of them had mentioned Yvette getting involved with anyone new.
Heck, Ryan had come right out and updated him on a regular basis, usually with a “get your ass in gear before you lose her” vibe to the notes.
Alex had no idea why he was so fixated on the idea of Yvette, but he’d given up trying to convince himself to look elsewhere. Just like his father before him, it seemed Alex had fallen in love and that was it.
While he didn’t want to be creepy about it, he did plan on convincing Yvette that they belonged together. Which required finding a non-creepy way to let her know he was coming back and coming for her…
Yeah, no. That still sounded creepy. Alex dropped his head into his hands and grumbled his annoyance.
He spotted a display of Christmas gifts on the nearby shelf, and slowly an idea grew…
* * *
Yvette Wright paced the distance to her country mailbox, focus torn between the text message on her phone from her work at the veterinary clinic and the email update from her grandparents’ senior home.
She deliberately shoved her phone into her pocket and forced herself to look around and enjoy the crisp winter day. December was just around the corner, and at some point, she’d have to get into the holiday spirit.
Her plan to settle into Heart Falls had been hugely successful in so many ways. She adored working with Josiah at the Heart Falls Animal clinic. She’d been welcomed in by the local ranchers—not always the case when old men in the ag community and a younger woman making them spend money interacted.
Her grandparents had welcomed her in with open arms, and while her grandpa grew more fragile and forgetful all the time, Yvette was glad to be able to be there with them.
She had girlfriends and volunteer activities…and she was lonely.
Yvette mindlessly flipped through the envelopes in her mailbox. Bills, sale flyers, what looked like a few overeager Christmas letters. Way to make the rest of the world feel like slackers. One was probably from—yup, there it was—postmarked from her sister.
And one envelope, oversized and bulky. Like those Bubble Wrap ones meant to protect the contents. Addressed to her in a fancy script. From—
Alex Thorne?
What on earth?
She’d thought about the gruff cowboy more often than she should have over the past months. That fact was annoying to say the least. They’d never gotten along, always argued…
She’d been terribly attracted to him and fighting it the entire time.
What was he sending her?
Curiosity won out, and she stopped right there on the snow-covered road to tear the top off the envelope and peek inside. No papers.
She tipped it over, and a small, shiny object fell into her hand. A key ring holding a small key and a cardboard disk. The decorative Christmas tree on the end of the chain had little sparkling gems as decorations. It was cute; it was whimsical.
It made her smile and shake her head. Alex, what are you up to?
The disk had a short handwritten note.
December 1. Buns and Roses, twelve p.m.
* * *
I hope you enjoyed Ryan and Madison’s story. The next book in the series is A Cowboy’s Christmas List. Alex is going to pull out all the stops to make this holiday season a memorable one for Yvette—and somehow convince her two opposites need to be together.
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Check out The Stones of Heart Falls, the start of the adventures in the Heart Falls community. A Rancher’s Heart features Caleb Stone and Tamara Coleman, and is available now.
Are you new to my books? Check out my handy newbie guide to all things contemporary romance by Vivian Arend!
About the Author
With over 2.5 million books sold, Vivian Arend is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 60 contemporary and paranormal romance books, including the Six Pack Ranch and Granite Lake Wolves.
Her books are all standalone reads with no cliffhangers. They’re humorous yet emotional, with sexy-times and happily-ever-afters. Vivian pretty much thinks she’s got the best job in the world, and she’s looking forward to giving readers more HEAs. She lives in B.C. Canada with her husband of many years and a fluffy attack Shih-tzu named Luna who ignores everyone except when treats are deployed.
www.vivianarend.com
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
A Hero’s Christmas Hope
Copyright © 2020 by Arend Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 9781941456941
Edited by Anne Scott
Cover D
esign © Damonza
Proofed by Angie Ramey, Linda Levy, & Manuela Velasco
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations.
First electronic publication: December 2020
www.vivianarend.com
A Hero’s Christmas Hope: Holidays in Heart Falls: Book 3 Page 18
