Capturing Christmas

by Shanna Hatfield

  “I love you, too, Celia. More than you can possibly know.” Kash kissed her again and the ever-present fire and ice arced between them, making them both shiver.

  She laughed and pressed her forehead against his. “I think I’ve got a good idea, handsome. Let’s go home.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I like the sound of that. From this day forward, my home is in your arms.”

  Nut Goodie Bars

  I remember the first time I tasted this delicious chocolate confection… my wonderful Aunt Robbie made these for a holiday gathering when I was a young girl. A chocolate devotee even back then, the flavor and decadent aroma left me captivated.

  Once I was old enough to make them myself, my aunt gladly shared the recipe and I am pleased to share it with you today. These are always a hit — quick and easy to make, and so yummy.

  Nut Goodie Bars

  1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

  1 ½ cups butterscotch chips

  1 ½ cups peanut butter chips

  1 large bag mini marshmallows

  1 1/2 cups cocktail peanuts

  Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish and set aside.

  In a large microwave-safe bowl, mix chips. Microwave 45 seconds.

  Stir.

  Continue heating in 30-second intervals, stirring in between until chips are melted.

  Mix in peanuts and marshmallows then spread in the casserole dish.

  Cool and cut into bars.

  Makes about 24-36, depending on how big you cut the bars. Store in an air-tight container or the freezer.

  Thank you for reading Capturing Christmas.

  If you liked this story and are willing to write a review, I’d be very appreciative. Reviews are so important to authors, and as you know, they are important to readers too. Thank you for considering it!

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  Author’s Note

  Since I first introduced Celia McGraw’s character in The Christmas Cowboy, I knew she had to have her own story.

  The interesting part was creating a male character who could handle her confident and sassy yet vulnerable personality. Kash did a great job of fitting the bill.

  Some of the photos and Christmas craft ideas I used for visual inspiration while I wrote this story can be found on the Capturing Christmas board on Pinterest.

  You may have heard of Louise Serpa or seen some of her amazing images. Special thanks to her daughter, Mia Larocque, for permission to mention Louise in the story. Read more about her western legend in Jan Cleere’s book Never Don’t Pay Attention. Louise possessed an incredible talent for taking photos at rodeos while capturing the emotion and spirit of both the human and animal athletes. As Celia said in the story, I want to be like Louise when I grow up.

  If you’ve never heard of Twin Falls, Idaho, check out some of the town’s history. The fun tidbits shared in the story are true and illustrate the area’s fascinating past. Should you ever find yourself driving through the region, make sure you visit Shoshone Falls. Sometimes called the “Niagara Falls” of the West, the falls are forty-five feet higher than Niagara Falls, flowing over a rim one thousand feet wide.

  And there really is a photo of Marilyn Monroe wearing a Twin Falls potato sack. I wouldn’t kid you about something like that.

  Oh, and I can’t leave out marionberries. If you’ve never had them, marionberries were developed in Oregon and are a cross between two varieties of blackberries. Known as the “cabernet” of blackberries for its rich, earthy flavor, if you have the opportunity to sample marionberries, go for it!

  What I learned through my research about rodeo stock contractors is that the business is not for the faint of heart. These people work long, hard hours, spend much of their time on the road, and look after their stock with more loving care and attention than many people give their pets.

  You may have noticed the mention of the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. The Justin Boot Company formed a partnership with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) in 1989 to establish the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund (JCCF). The fund was granted 501-C3 status as a non-profit charity organization in 1991.

  The idea behind the JCCF is to assist professional rodeo athletes and their families in the event of catastrophic injuries resulting from professional rodeo activities. The fund helps lift the burden of financial hardship when a serious injury interferes with the careers of those who have dedicated their lives to the sport.

  To find out more about the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund or to make a donation, please visit their website: http://www.justincowboycrisisfund.com/

  Once again, I will donate a portion of all book sales from November 1 through December 24 to JCCF.

  Thanks again for reading Kash and Celia’s story! If you enjoy the Rodeo Romance series, stay tuned for book four.

  What character(s) would you like to see get their own happy-ever-after in future stories?

  The Christmas Cowboy (Rodeo Romance, Book 1) — Flying from city to city in her job as a busy corporate trainer for a successful direct sales company, Kenzie Beckett doesn’t have time for a man. And most certainly not for the handsome cowboy she keeps running into at the airport. Burned twice, she doesn’t trust anyone wearing boots and Wranglers, especially someone as charming and handsome as Tate Morgan.

  Among the top saddle bronc riders in the rodeo circuit, easy-going Tate Morgan can handle the toughest horse out there, but trying to handle the beautiful Kenzie Beckett is a completely different story. As the holiday season approaches, this Christmas Cowboy is going to need more than a little mistletoe to win her heart.

  Wrestlin’ Christmas (Rodeo Romance, Book 2) — Sidelined with a major injury, steer wrestler Cort McGraw struggles to come to terms with the end of his career. Shanghaied by his sister and best friend, he finds himself on a run-down ranch with a worrisome, albeit gorgeous widow, and her silent, solemn son.

  Five minutes after Cort McGraw lands on her doorstep, K.C. Peters fights to keep a promise she made to herself to stay away from single, eligible men. When her neighbor said he knew just the person to help work her ranch for the winter, she never expected the handsome, brawny former rodeo star to fill the position.

  Ready to send him packing, her little boy has other plans...

  Capturing Christmas (Rodeo Romance, Book 3) — Life is hectic on a good day for rodeo stock contractor Kash Kressley. Between dodging flying hooves and babying cranky bulls, he barely has time to sleep. The last thing Kash needs is the entanglement of a sweet romance, especially with a woman as full of fire and sass as the redheaded photographer he meets at a rodeo.

  Confident and spirited rodeo photographer Celia McGraw is determined to capture the best images possible. Fearless and feisty, she’s the last person to back down from a challenge, even when it puts her in danger. However, her biggest risk isn’t in the rodeo arena, but the way her heart responds to one incredibly handsome stock contractor.

  If you enjoyed Capturing Christmas,

  don’t miss out on The Cowboy’s Christmas Plan,

  Book 1 in the Grass Valley Cowboys Series!

  Grass Valley Cowboys Series

  Meet the Thompson family of the Triple T Ranch in Grass Valley, Oregon.

  Three handsome brothers, their rowdy friends, and the women who fall for them are at the heart of this contemporary western romance series.

  Book 1 – The Cowboy’s Christmas Plan

  Book 2 – The Cowboy’s Spring Romance

  Book 3 – The Cowboy’s Summer Love

  Book 4 – The Cowboy’s Autumn Fall

  Book 5 – The Cowboy’s New Heart

  The Cowboy’s Christmas Plan (Grass Valley Cowboys, Book 1) — Cadence Greer’s plans for a happy-ever-after are quickly derailed when her fiancé runs off with his secretary a w
eek before their wedding. Homeless, jobless, and jilted, she escapes to Grass Valley, Oregon, where she takes a job as a housekeeper and cook to seven cowboys on a sprawling ranch.

  Trey Thompson is a well-respected pillar of the community, running a successful ranch with his brother. All he wanted was someone to cook his meals and keep the house clean. When he hires Cadence Greer for the job, he gets more than he ever planned on, including a sassy little red-headed orphan.

  Come spend Christmas in Grass Valley at the Triple T Ranch, where mistletoe hangs abundantly and holiday magic is in the air.

  Enjoy a fun excerpt…

  Chapter One

  Everyone has a plan

  'till they get punched in the mouth.

  Mike Tyson

  Cadence Greer gaped at her boss in disbelief. “I don’t think I heard you correctly, Neil. Would you please repeat that?”

  He has to be wrong, her mind screamed, while her knees morphed into a consistency quite similar to watery oatmeal.

  Neil Dumont took her by the elbow and steered her into one of his leather office chairs. After ordering her to put her head down between her knees, he released a long sigh.

  “Cadence, I know this is a surprise, but it really shouldn’t come as a shock.” Neil sat down next to her as he patted her shoulder. She absently wondered if he had a lot of practice comforting hysterical young women, since his daughter was close to her age.

  “I know, Neil, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened,” she whispered, sitting up and dabbing at her eyes with her fingers. She couldn’t fully wrap her head around the notion that all her carefully crafted plans for the future suddenly shattered into tiny irreparable pieces.

  Neil was well respected as one of the founding partners of the prestigious law firm where she worked in Seattle. A family man with a wife of thirty-two years and two great kids, he was someone Cadence admired. Normally, she heeded his advice. However, when it came to Bill Aimes, she had blocked out his warnings and done as she pleased.

  Slowly nodding his head, Neil handed her his pristine white handkerchief and cleared his throat, just like he did before stepping before a judge in the courtroom. Cadence knew what that sound meant. The four years she’d spent as Neil’s personal assistant left her well versed in all the sounds he made when he prepared to do verbal battle and win.

  “Cadence, I warned you when you began working here to stay away from guys like Bill. I warned you when you two started dating that it wouldn’t end well. I even warned you when you announced your engagement to be careful. I know you, Cadence. You are a no-nonsense kind of girl, so don’t make me sugarcoat this. Bill sent an email out last night to all the attorneys in the office stating he was calling off his engagement to you and eloping with Miss Roberts.”

  “But Bill said…” Neil cut her off before she could finish her thought.

  “I’m sure he said he loved you, that you were the best thing that ever happened to him, and that he’d spend his life making you happy. What he failed to mention was that he has chased after every skirt in this office while you two were supposedly engaged and Miss Roberts didn’t exactly play hard to get. You really shouldn’t be surprised that a guy like Bill would run off with his secretary.”

  “How did I not see this coming?” Cadence asked. She’d started to move on the emotional scale from devastated to angry. “How could he do this a week before our wedding?”

  When Bill continually sought her out on breaks, walked her to her car after work, and invited her out for coffee, she was flattered. The hotshot attorney was tall, handsome, successful, and charming.

  With a sigh of disgust, she thought about where that charm had gotten her.

  For the first time in her life, she felt like an idiot and a failure. If Bill had punched her in the face, she couldn’t feel any more mistreated and hurt than she did right at that moment.

  Although she refused to move in with him until after the wedding, Cadence had given notice on her apartment and sold all her furniture. Bill owned a beautiful condominium with posh furnishings and made it clear he didn’t want her hand-me-downs or second-hand finds in his sleek and modern environment.

  Now she had nothing.

  “What am I going to do?” Cadence stared at Neil with a look of despair in her hazel eyes.

  “Take a few days off, let your thoughts clear, and give your heart time to mend. Then come back to work with your head held high,” Neil said in a commanding voice. “You didn’t do a thing wrong, Cadence, except fall for a man who is completely undeserving of your love.”

  “Be that as it may, I can’t keep working here. Not with him and his new bride coming back. I just couldn’t do it, Neil.”

  “Cadence, don’t be hasty.” The look of determination on Cadence’s face alarmed Neil more than anything else that had transpired. “Once the dust settles, tongues will wag about another juicy bit of gossip and all will be forgotten.”

  “Maybe by the others, but not by me.” Cadence stood then began pacing across Neil’s office. “I can’t keep working here knowing I’ll run into him every time I turn around. It would be like rubbing salt in a wound on a daily basis. I don’t have a choice, Neil. I have to leave.”

  As she rose from the chair, Neil studied Cadence. She was the best assistant he’d ever had. If she wanted, she would have made an excellent attorney. Her mind was sharp, her demeanor cool and professional, and she noticed even the most infinitesimal detail — except when it came to Bill.

  However, Cadence was correct. Working in the same office with her former fiancé would be a form of torture. He’d love to see Bill kicked to the curb, but the fact that man’s uncle was one of the firm’s partners insured the loser would still have a job when he returned from his honeymoon.

  “Cadence, maybe I can make a few calls and find you a position elsewhere.” Neil walked up behind her where she stared out the window into the gray, rain-laden sky.

  She turned around and gave him the barest hint of a smile.

  “Thanks, Neil, for the offer, but no thank you.” She shook her head and rolled back her shoulders. “I’ve made up my mind. I’m leaving. I’ll start over somewhere else.”

  “Where will you go? What will you do?” Neil knew she grew up in a middle class home in the suburbs. Her parents worked hard to help put her through college. An only child, Cadence had been by herself since her parents moved to southern Mexico a year ago. They’d been saving their pennies for years to live out their dream of retiring early and moving somewhere tropical. Still, Cadence never thought they would actually go and leave her behind.

  Alone.

  Maybe that was part of the reason she had rushed to marry Bill. She needed to fill the quiet left by the departure of her parents. Cadence talked to them once a month and emailed them frequently. She also spoke of an aunt who lived out in the sticks.

  “What if you go spend some time with your aunt in Oregon? I bet she’d take you in until you can decide what your next step should be,” Neil suggested with fatherly concern.

  “Aunt Viv?” Cadence instantly warmed to the idea. Of course! She could spend some time with Aunt Vivian and Uncle Joe in Grass Valley before she made any further mistakes or decisions.

  Cadence smiled at Neil. “That’s perfect, Neil. Thank you for the suggestion. I hate to leave you without an assistant, but the sooner I cut my ties and leave town, the better off I’ll be. Besides, I only have my apartment for another three days. I was going to stay at the hotel with my parents until the wedding.”

  “You know I hate losing you, Cadence. You’ve been a top-notch assistant. If there is ever anything I can do for you, just let me know.”

  Cadence held out her hand and offered Neil a handshake, but he pulled her into a warm hug. “You’ve become like a daughter to me and all I get is a handshake? I think not.”

  She released a shaky laugh, hugged him back, and brushed at more tears.

  “I better go pack up my desk and get out of here.”

/>   Before she finished cleaning out her desk, Neil walked by and dropped an envelope into the box she filled with her personal belongings.

  “You be sure and keep in touch.” Neil smiled as he stood in his office door. “I want to know you landed on both feet and are doing just fine.”

  “I will, Neil, and thanks again.”

  Cadence picked up the box and her purse, hurrying out to her car. As soon as she set the box down in her apartment, she opened the envelope. Neil not only paid her for wages due, but also included a hefty bonus that would help her start fresh somewhere else. A note from him simply said, “You’ve more than earned it.”

  Tears flowed as she sagged onto the one chair left in her apartment. When they subsided, she took a cleansing breath, picked up the phone, and began calling people to tell them the wedding was off.

  ><><

  The city’s skyline receded to a blur in her rearview mirror and Cadence released a long sigh. Things could not get any worse unless she suffered the same fate as Lot’s wife for looking back and ended up as a pillar of salt. With the sky pouring down a steady drizzle of rain, the salt would quickly wash away and leave no trace behind.

  She wished, once again, that her white-knuckled grip around the steering wheel were instead around Bill’s neck. What kind of man runs off with his secretary days before his wedding?

  The kind who isn’t worth crying over, as Aunt Vivian had told her multiple times during the last few painful days.

  At twenty-seven, she was homeless, jobless, and jilted.

  In her worst nightmares, Cadence would never have pictured herself in her current predicament. She was too serious, too organized, too grounded to let something like this happen.