Cowboys Under The Mistletoe: Five Christmas Christian Romance Novellas

by Kristen Ethridge

  “Merry Christmas, Jamie. You’re an official cowgirl.”

  Near sunset, Grant adjusted the saddle on Chewie’s back. He’d said his goodbyes to Jamie earlier and given her a hat to take back to Atlanta.

  It had been a few days since Santas on the Street and one day since the Holiday Home Tour and life should have been normal. Well, at least as normal as it could be during the so-called most wonderful time of the year.

  But nothing had been normal since Sarah Murdoch walked into Beachcomber Stables with her daughter Jamie.

  It seemed hard to believe that it hadn’t been all that long. It seemed harder to believe that in just a few more days, the Murdochs would be back home in Atlanta and the ride on the beach, the lighthouse, the jalapeno poppers at The Seahorse, and those kisses in the middle of Santas on the Street and under the mistletoe would all be memories in the not-too-distant past.

  Well, maybe not the kisses.

  Grant suspected he’d carry the memories of those a little more closely for a long time.

  He hadn’t seen Sarah since dropping her off at the rented beach house after the home tour. Her parents had dropped Jamie off today. They said Sarah had been running late for her lunch appointment with her new Realtor friend.

  It was for the best, most likely. The time with Sarah had been memorable. Their kisses had been sweet. Sarah fascinated him—and of course he felt protective of little Jamie and couldn’t resist trying to tease a smile out of her. But there was no path forward for a high-powered real estate agent from Atlanta and a simple guy on a Texas beach with some horses he’d inherited.

  Sarah had pretty firmly established her reasons for not wanting to uproot from her life in Atlanta. He respected her reasons, but he knew they also meant the end of the line for finding out where the Christmas wish under the mistletoe might lead.

  Absence might make the heart grow fonder, but distance made it grow cold.

  “You’re Grant, right?” A voice came from the entrance to the stables.

  He tipped his hat back slightly. “Yeah, I am. Can I help you?”

  The woman was petite, and had dark hair in a braid that flipped over the front of her shoulder. But something about her seemed very familiar.

  “I’m Ellie Packard. You know my sister and my niece.”

  That’s why she looked familiar. She had the same dark green eyes as the woman he’d been thinking about all afternoon. “Sarah and Jamie?”

  The sound of his voice made it seem like he was asking a question—but he definitely knew the answer.

  “Right.”

  Even talking about them made Grant smile a little. “How are they? Aren’t they supposed to be doing the downtown trolley tour right now?”

  Ellie checked her watch. “Yep. Right now, in fact. That’s why I’m here.”

  Grant didn’t understand. “You’re at the stables because they’re on a trolley tour?”

  “I don’t want Sarah to know that I’m here.”

  Clearly, Ellie had a reason for coming to the beach. “How can I help?”

  “You can give my sister a reason to stay here in Port Provident.”

  Grant raised his hand, palm turned toward the brunette. “Actually, as crazy as it sounds, I already tried. She’s not going to. It’s not something she’s interested in. I wish I could help you, Ellie, but I can’t.”

  “Could you do it if you knew it was to help Jamie? She’s happy here. Back in Atlanta, she’s a shell of who she could be. She’s in school and then Sarah’s job has her running all over town so Ellie has to be in an extended-day program until the evening. Last night, Jamie told me she loves the water here. She said it reminds her of Haiti. It gives her good memories, which warms my heart because so many of her memories about where she was born are bad, simply because of everything she went through. The upheaval of her early life haunts her. I love my niece and I want to see her reach her full potential. But the life that Sarah lives in Atlanta—it just feeds Jamie’s anxiety. Sarah does what she does for the right reasons, but it’s too much. Too much pressure. Too much stress. Too much on-the-go.”

  The waves rolled up on the shore nearby. It didn’t take much to understand why Jamie loved the water. He’d always thought of himself as a Hill Country guy, but being here had washed the stress out of his life. Still, Ellie’s request was far-fetched.

  “She’s known me and Port Provident for a little over a week. I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but—no offense, Ellie—but it seems a little crazy. Especially since I know how she feels about it. Unequivocably.”

  Ellie smiled broadly. “Trust me. It’s crazy enough to work.”

  “Well, you know your sister better than I do, for sure, but I still don’t think…”

  “I do,” Ellie said with total conviction. “I saw her when she came back from Santas on the Street with you. She hasn’t had that look for a long, long time. In fact, if I’m totally honest, she’s never had that look. She was…”

  “Beautiful?” Grant completed Ellie’s sentence with the word he’d shared with Sarah.

  A nod was Ellie’s reply. “Yes. Exactly. She’s always been pretty. Always. But when she walked through the door, I could see it. You thought she was pretty. And she knew it. What’s more, Grant, she believed it.”

  He couldn’t argue there. That night had been something special for both of them. In the end, though, it didn’t matter. He’d spoken up once and she’d rejected it.

  “Believe me, Ellie, I’d help if I could, but I don’t know how. Sarah’s done with me and she’s done with Port Provident as soon as Christmas is over.”

  “I don’t think she’s as done as she says she is. Could you meet up with her tonight? I’ll watch Jamie. I saw there’s an outdoor man-made ice skating thing at one of the churches. Sarah used to be a competitive ice skater when we were growing up. She’d like that.”

  Grant remembered reading about it in the The Provident Gazette the other night. “First Provident’s Twelve Nights of Christmas. It’s supposed to be a lot of fun. But trust me, she doesn’t want to go on another date with me.”

  “Actually…” Ellie got a twinkle in her eye. “You just be there at seven o’clock. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  “Lunch was great. There’s a lot of opportunity here. It was really refreshing to talk to someone else who is using social media very effectively to network and get exposure to potential clients.”

  Ellie nodded as Sarah caught her up to speed on the day’s events while they walked around the last night of First Provident Church’s Twelve Nights of Christmas community event, held in the church’s expansive parking lot.

  “Mom and Dad actually called Mari after your lunch and went and toured a few properties while you and Jamie did the trolley thing. Mom spent all morning talking about wanting a beach house on the Gulf of Mexico.

  Sarah turned her head toward her sister. “Wouldn’t they be better off buying a beach house in Florida, in that case? Port Provident is a long way from Atlanta.”

  “Yeah, about that…” Dina Packard came alongside Sarah. She tried to keep Muffet on the sidewalk as best she could, but the dog wanted to sniff everything.

  If she didn’t turn her head back to the front, Sarah knew she was going to trip over something and embarrass herself. But she really needed her mother to finish the rest of her sentence.

  “About what, Mom?”

  Dina tugged Muffet’s leash. “About the house in Atlanta. I’m going to need you to list it. I found my dream house this afternoon.”

  “Um, Mom…I hate to tell you this, but your dream life is back in Georgia. You know, your friends, your church, your family…”

  “Nope. I’m retired. I can live anywhere. So can your dad. Therefore, he’s coming too. I mean, who would do his laundry and cook for him if he stayed behind? He wouldn’t last a day without me.” Dina laughed. “And Ellie works remote. She said she’d like to have an office on the beach. And really, this church looks lovely. I’m sure we
could find some nice people here to be friends with, too. So, that just leaves you, Sarah. Well, you and Jamie. But I already know Jamie wants to stay.”

  Muffet tried to pull ahead, but Dina would not be moved. She locked one hand on her hip and came to a full stop. Shockingly, so did the labradoodle.

  “I have a feeling you do, too, Sarah Beth.”

  Emotions overtook Sarah, spinning like the swirl inside a snow globe. “This is madness, Mom. They have a hospital here on the island. I saw it when we were on the trolley tour. We probably need to get you checked out. And by that, I mean in the psych ward.”

  “The only madness is going home to a hectic life where you work all day to give your daughter everything but yourself,” Ellie countered.

  Sarah’s mouth dropped, agape. “So you’re all in on this? You’ve all gone crazy? I thought you supported me, supported Jamie, supported how I was raising her.”

  “We do,” Dina said. “And it’s not crazy to want the best for you both. Jamie loves it here. She told Ellie that this reminds her of home. And you’ve been very careful to make sure she doesn’t forget where she’s come from. You could sell real estate here just as easily as you could in Atlanta. You just need to get licensed in Texas. You said it yourself—these views sell themselves. Look at me, I bought a house in about three hours. This is where you belong, Sarah. And we all belong here with you.”

  Men and women in red and green choir robes with white collars began to circle the multi-story Christmas tree in the middle of the parking lot. Suddenly, the strains of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” filled the Christmas Eve air.

  “And you belong here with me.” A Texan accent came from just behind Sarah’s shoulder. “You and Jamie both.”

  Sarah turned. Grant stood two steps away. She’d gotten used to seeing him in funny holiday T-shirts and worn denim that fit him like a glove. But tonight, he wore a red and white plaid button-down shirt with a hint of gold tucked into starched, dark indigo jeans. His black boots and black cowboy hat took her breath away.

  She didn’t want to say yes just because he looked like every Texan male stereotype times one hundred. But the view in front of her sure made it hard to say no.

  “You’re in on it too?” Sarah couldn’t think of anything original to say, so she just repeated what she’d already asked of her sister and her mother.

  “Everyone who loves you is in on it, Sarah.”

  Her mouth went dry as she took in Grant’s words. Never had she wanted a cup of hot chocolate or cider more. She could barely speak. “But you barely know me.”

  “I know you belong here. I know Jamie belongs here. And I know you two deserve a relationship that doesn’t involve hours of commuting in a car and late hours and child care programs. Port Provident can give you all of that.” He looked straight at Sarah from beneath the brim of his hat. “And there’s also a stable where Jamie can ride any time. Oh, and a guy who would like the chance to get to know you better. You see, he made a Christmas wish under the mistletoe.”

  Quietly, Sarah quoted the usual parent refrain to him. “You can’t tell people what you wish for, or it won’t come true.”

  “Oh, I’m not worried about that.”

  “You’re not?”

  Grant shook his head. “No, it started to come true the minute you and Jamie walked into Beachcomber Stables and asked for a ride. The other night, I wished for my family. I thought I was talking about my brothers and my sister. I still want to make amends with them—seeing you and Ellie together, and the way Ellie’s looked out for you, has confirmed that. You need to come to Port Provident for you and Jamie. But I hope that in time you’ll stay so maybe my Christmas wish can come true true.”

  The sincerity in Grant’s words touched Sarah’s heart.

  A soloist stepped on the stage near the choir and began to sing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” It wasn’t exactly the song she expected to hear at a church. But it was the song she needed to hear. Because she was home. Port Provident was where she and Jamie were meant to be.

  Her heart filled with gratitude that those who loved her the most would make sacrifices for her happiness and her daughter’s future.

  And then, she looked at Grant. He’d stepped close to Jamie and curled his arm around her shoulders in a gentle hug. As she saw the smile on her daughter’s face mirror the one on Grant’s face, her heart filled with something more. Hope…and the first sparks of genuine love—a love that was as cherished and special as the Christmas season itself.

  “It’s too bad there’s no mistletoe around,” she said.

  Grant pulled his arm back from Jamie and dug in his pocket. He pulled out a little green-and-white sprig.

  “I thought there might be some need for this tonight.”

  Sarah closed the gap between them in three steps, then rose up on her tip-toes as Grant held the foliage above their heads. She placed one palm flat over each of Grant’s shoulders, then leaned forward.

  Only a breath separated their lips.

  Only a moment stood between them and their future.

  “I have a wish I’d like to make,” Sarah said, then sealed it with a Christmas kiss between her and the cowboy who’d stolen her heart.

  A Note from Kristen

  Dear Reader,

  It’s been fun writing a Christmas story early this year, because the weather in Texas feels anything but wintery right now. Telling Sarah and Grant’s story has been a great way to pretend that snowmen and candy canes are just around the corner, because like so many people, Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

  In The Cowboy and the Christmas Wish, Grant references his favorite Bible verse several times—Ephesians 4:15, where we are reminded to speak the truth, but to do so in love. It’s a great verse for all of us to keep hidden in our hearts all year long, but perhaps especially at Christmas time. I know that the holidays can get chaotic and we can all find ourselves staring across a turkey at that one relative we’d hoped to never see again. But if we let love be our measuring stick for the words that come out of our mouths, we’ll be that much closer to making our days not only merry, but bright. My prayer for you this holiday season and in the new year to come is that you will be a light. There’s only one of you, and the world needs you to shine!

  All the best,

  Kristen

  About Kristen

  The writing bug bit Kristen Ethridge around the time she first held a pencil. A 2012 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award Finalist, Kristen was discovered by Harlequin through their 2012 So You Think You Can Write contest.

  Kristen is the award-nominated author of the best-selling Port Provident series with Harlequin’s Love Inspired line and Laurel Lock Publishing. The first two books in the Port Provident: Hurricane Hope series, Shelter from the Storm and The Doctor’s Unexpected Family, each reached No. 1 in several Amazon categories.

  Her favorite stories are filled with love, laughter, and happily ever after--and her favorite happily ever after is the story of God's love. Although she has fun creating characters, Kristen's favorite people are her family. She lives in Texas with her husband, children and a self-important poodle. Keep up with Kristen by joining her newsletter list and her author pages on Amazon and Facebook. You can also visit her online at any of the places below:

  www.kristenethridge.com

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  Sweet Escape Romances with a Wave of Faith, Hope and Love

  MEMORIES + MISTLETOE = LOVE

  By Danica Favorite

  For all of the math nerds out here. I do not understand you, but I love you.

  Chapter One

  Mallory McPherson knew that coming to the Grant Ranch just outside of Spruce Point, Colorado, was a mi
stake the second she laid eyes on the expansive ranch house before her. Okay, so that might have been a little bit of a lie. She’d known it was a mistake when she told her aunt Ernestine that she’d be happy to come spend Christmas with her only living relative. And, when she’d walked the mall wondering what the appropriate gift was for a relative you don’t remember ever meeting, she was pretty sure she should have just politely said she had other plans and stayed in her condo, with nothing but a stuffed cat for company. Yes, Mallory was that pathetic. She didn’t even have a real cat.

  In her defense, she had been working at least sixty hours a week at the Greenmount Software Company. Sometimes more. John, her boss, would say things like, “Mallory doesn’t have anything going on, she won’t mind taking on a new project. She can give you a hand.”

  And he should know. John also happened to be her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend now, but the more Mallory looked back on things, the more she should have realized that something was off with the relationship.

  That is, if she’d had the time to reflect on things.

  Was it even a real relationship if you mostly only saw the guy at work, where by mutual agreement, you kept your personal life private?

  Maybe that’s why Mallory was here, sitting in her car, staring at the ranch house where she didn’t belong, wondering if she was just so desperate for human connection that she was willing to spend Christmas with strangers. She looked behind her at the mile-long driveway she had just driven up. She could always turn around and go home.

  But just as she had that thought, the front door opened, and an older woman with short cropped gray hair and wearing an apron came rushing out. This must be Aunt Ernestine. She hoped.