Close To Christmas, A Westen Series Novella

by Suzanne Ferrell

  Gage looked out among the people who’d gathered in the church for the ceremony and now here to celebrate his marriage to Bobby. A year ago he’d been burying his dad and counting the days ‘til he could turn his back on these people. Now, they’d come to mean so much to him.

  A soft hand settled over his. He stared down at the diamond-and-white-gold wedding set on Bobby’s third finger. A simple design. Like the woman, herself. Beautiful, but understated. Slowly he lifted his head to meet her gaze.

  Love filled her eyes. Then she smiled and he felt it clear through his body.

  His.

  “They love you almost as much as I do,” she said, nodding towards their guests.

  “It’s a little humbling knowing that a year ago I couldn’t get out of town fast enough.” He turned his hand to hold hers. “Then you dropped into my life.”

  She laughed. “Quite literally.”

  He loved hearing her laughter. She should always smile and laugh. Then his thoughts turned to the danger she’d been in just yesterday. If Moira had had her way, none of this would be happening. It was a Christmas miracle that Bobby was here with him today.

  “Stop it,” she said, leaning in to kiss him softly. “Don’t think about it. It’s what she wanted, to ruin our wedding.”

  “I can’t help it. If something had gone wrong. If I’d lost you…and our child…”

  She cupped his face in both her hands. “Well, you didn’t. We took her down. Together. Face it, Sheriff Justice, we’re a team. Nothing can tear us apart.”

  Before he could answer her, the music stopped and his youngest deputy, Jason Clarke, who was serving as DJ, interrupted. “Time for our bride and groom to open the dancing with the first dance.”

  Gage shook his head good-naturedly, pulling Bobby to her feet, the white silk of her dress swirling around them. Applause filled the hall as they walked onto the dance floor. Then he took her into his arms as the melodic strains of the Christmas Waltz filled the room.

  They’d been practicing a traditional waltz for weeks just for this. After a few whirls around the room, other couples started to join them. Doc Clint and Emma matched them step-for-step. Deke Reynolds, his best man, and his new wife, Libby were slow dancing in a quiet corner, while their foster son Kyle did some odd sort of swing dance with Rachel Doone. Cleetus and little Sylvie were doing some odd sort of two-step. Even Lorna had gotten Pete, her line chef, cleaned up and out to dance. This was what Christmas was really all about. Being with the people you loved the most. Family.

  Gage pulled Bobby closer. “As much as I love all these people. How long do you think before I can get you alone?”

  She laughed. “Are you planning to ravish me for Christmas?”

  “As thoroughly as I can.”

  “I can’t believe she’s going to have a baby,” Chloe said, pulling up a chair next to Wes. She held out a glass tumbler. He splashed in some whisky from the bottle on the table in front of him.

  “I can’t believe he put her in danger by distracting Moira, yesterday.” He sipped his drink, watching the couple on the floor, his peripheral vision catching Chloe down the whisky without a cough or shudder from the burn afterward.

  Impressive.

  He poured her another.

  “Damn it, I’m going to be an aunt.”

  “Are you angry with her? For the baby?”

  She shook her head, taking another healthy drink. “No, of course not. If anyone deserves a happily-ever-after, complete with big, sexy husband and cute babies, it’s Bobby. She put her whole life on hold to take care of me and Dylan. I owe her everything.” She nodded to the youngest sister, who was doing a little swing dance shuffle with Henry from Petal Pushers. “And that one is going to be a helluva surgeon someday.”

  “Bobby gets a husband and family. Dylan a career. And what do you want?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.

  “Safety.” She finished off the second drink and held out her glass for another.

  He obliged. Maybe if he got her drunk enough she’d let down her defenses and tell him who she thought was stalking her. As they drank quietly in the dark corner, the party continued around them. He slowly sipped his while making sure her glass was always filled.

  Finally, Gage and Bobby left, but Chloe was in no shape to see them off.

  “I should…go…to the inn,” she said, reaching for her purse and nearly toppling off her chair.

  “How about I drive you,” he said, leaning in to take the bag from her. He fished out her car keys and helped her to her feet.

  She draped one long arm around his shoulders and leaned in close. “You jest wanna take ad…ad…vantage of me,” she slurred.

  “Oh, sweetheart, if you only knew how true that was,” he said, quietly leading her out the back door of the town hall. He eased her into the passenger side of her car then climbed into the driver’s side. She’d curled her long legs up to one side and closed her eyes.

  Pulling out of the parking lot, he headed out of town.

  EPILOGUE

  The smell of coffee filtered through the dense fog in Chloe’s head. She opened one eye. The wall wasn’t the modern drywall of her condo. It was made of thick logs.

  Wait. She wasn’t home. She was in Westen.

  This wasn’t the cute Victorian room at the inn, either.

  Slowly, she untangled her body from the thick quilts and sheets on the huge, wood-framed bed.

  Sunlight glistened on the snow outside the window. She winced and squinted her eyes.

  Damn, her head hurt. It also felt like it weighed the size of a baby elephant.

  Where the hell was she?

  A cabin of some sort. Who did she know that owned a cabin? She glanced out the window once more. Saw trees. A cabin in the woods?

  Had her stalker found her?

  She looked around the room, taking in the masculine feel of the place, then her gaze landed on the blue baseball cap with the sheriff’s logo on it.

  Wes.

  Suddenly her head cleared a little. She stumbled around until she found the deep-red bridesmaid’s dress she’d worn yesterday. Bobby’s wedding. She’d made it through that and gotten piss-drunk with Gage’s deputy. Her gaze returned to the bed behind her, taking in its rumpled state.

  Shit. She’d slept with the man.

  She had to get out of here.

  Still wobbly, she managed to wiggle into her dress and find her shoes and purse on the chair by the door. Then she stopped and looked carefully around the room. No sign of a condom wrapper.

  Oh, great. Not only had she had sex with the man, she’d done so without protection.

  In a panic, she whipped open the door.

  And there he stood. Bare-chested, flannel pajama pants slung low enough to show off one fine, firm ass. Had she gripped it last night? How drunk had she been that she couldn’t remember having sex with him?

  He was filling a travel mug with coffee. Next to it were her car keys.

  Heat filled her face.

  She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and strode directly over to him.

  “Cream’s in the fridge. Sugar’s in the canister,” was all he said. He set the old-fashioned coffee pot back on the stove and picked up his mug. “I’d offer breakfast, but I’m all out of eggs.”

  She doctored up her coffee, snapped on the lid and headed to the door.

  He stopped her hand on the knob. “You’ll need this,” he said. Reaching behind her he pulled a heavy navy pea coat off a hook and held it up for her to put on. “It’s cold out there.”

  To argue would not only be stupid, but childish. She juggled her travel mug, keys and bag to get her arms in the coat. He stepped in front of her and slowly buttoned it up, pausing at the top button.

  “I really enjoyed last night, Chloe,” he said in that deep voice of his and sending shivers of awareness skittering over her. Gripping the coat lapels tighter, he leaned in to kiss her. His lips were warm and firm, the heat of his body seeping
through the wool of the coat and the silk of her dress to warm her in a more sensual way. His tongue slid between her lips and she hungrily met it with her own, wanting more.

  Then he released her.

  “Safe travels, sweetheart.” He opened the door and waited for her.

  Still reeling from his kiss and her hangover, she hurried out the door and down the slick steps to her car.

  Still tasting her on his lips, Wes leaned one arm against the doorframe, watching Chloe make her escape until the taillights of her car disappeared around the bend. Closing the door, he snatched up a thick sweater and pulled it on. Then he grabbed his phone to double check that the GPS tracking was working. Getting her drunk last night hadn’t loosened her tongue as much as he’d liked. In fact, he’d learned that Chloe was the rare quiet drunk. The one who numbed her senses and fell asleep quickly.

  If he wanted to find out who was stalking her, he was going to have to do it the old-fashioned way, by spying on her.

  He checked the special app he had for cloning phones. A gift left over from his days in the dark ops unit. Every text or call she got, he’d see them, hear them and find out who made them.

  He was certain she’d be back. The one thing she’d said last night, as he stripped her out of her dress and into his bed was, “You make me feel safe.”

  When she came back, he’d have to make a confession.

  He chuckled.

  Wonder how pissed she’ll be to find out I slept on the couch last night?

  Other Suzanne Ferrell Books...

  CLOSE TO HOME, Westen Series, Book 1

  Emma Lewis has a lot on her plate. The single mother of two precocious twin boys and an aging mother who is having trouble getting through each day, the last thing Emma needs is a man in her life, especially a doctor. So when the town’s doctor goes on vacation and his handsome nephew takes over, Emma is shocked to not only find him standing in her bedroom, but accusing her of being a neglectful parent.

  Clint Preston came to Westen for the year to fill in as the town doc while his uncle took a long needed vacation. Clint also needed a sense of peace and calm to try to find his passion for medicine burned out by long shifts in an urban hospital’s ER. Angered to find two boys in his clinic with broken wrists and no accompanying parent, he is determined to confront their mother. The feisty redhead he meets quickly dispels his belief that she’s a neglectful mother, but he can see her situation is more critical than she wishes to face and finds himself volunteering to help care for her sons and the remodeling of her home.

  As Emma and Clint forge a relationship among the slightly off-beat characters that inhabit Westen a menace from Emma’s past threatens her and her sons. Clint and Emma join forces to prevent the loss of either boy and the love they’ve discovered in each other’s’ arms.

  ****

  CLOSE TO THE EDGE, Westen Series, Book 2

  After facing death as an undercover narcotics cop, Gage Justice has come home to heal. His recuperation is cut short by his father’s unexpected diagnosis of cancer and subsequent death. Now he’s honoring one of his father’s last wishes by taking over as the sheriff of his boyhood home, Westen, Ohio. Biding time until his father’s term is finished, he fights boredom more than crime in the sleepy little town – that is until one sexy little teacher-turned-Private-Investigator literally falls into his arms.

  Bobby Roberts is looking for adventure. After giving up her own dreams to raise her two sisters after the death of their parents, she’s been trapped in a schoolroom for nearly two decades. The suffocating claustrophobia of the classroom has set her on a new career path. She arrives in Westen, complete with brand-spanking-new PI license, a handgun and a simple case – investigate a lien on property of a dead man.

  Little does she realize her “simple little case” will lead her into the world of one sexy sheriff and the path of a murderer intent on keeping them both from discovering his secrets or stopping his plans that could destroy Westen.

  ****

  The Edgars Family Novels

  KIDNAPPED, Edgars Family Novels, Book 1

  FBI Agent Jake Carlisle is in deep trouble. He’s been shot and if he can’t get help fast, two lives will be lost-his and that of the young witness whom he’s sworn to protect. Desperate, on the run from both the police and the Russian Mafia, he kidnaps a nurse from a hospital parking lot.

  ER nurse Samantha Edgars has been living in an emotional vacuum since the death of her daughter. Mentally and physically exhausted following a difficult shift, she’s suddenly jolted from her stupor when she’s bound and gagged, then tossed into the back of her car. Forced to tend a bleeding FBI agent and his injured witness, she’s terrified. But Samantha quickly learns the rogue agent and orphaned boy need more than just her professional skills. Danger is bearing down on them, and she must learn to trust Jake – and her heart – if they’re all going to survive.

  ****

  SEIZED, Edgars Family Novels, Book 3

  Dave and Judy Edgars have always loved each other – they’ve been married ten years and have three kids. But ever since Dave, a SWAT team member, was shot on duty Judy can’t control the intense fear that grips her every time he heads out to work. It puts a strain on their relationship. Dave knows she’s scared, but damn it she knew he was a cop the day they met. His patience is wearing thin.

  Until the tables are turned…

  One icy winter night, Judy, an operating room nurse, is called into work. She’s taken hostage by a crazed gunman with an agenda. Now with Judy’s life in danger and the SWAT team deployed elsewhere, Dave must face the same fear his wife does on a daily basis. Terrified he will lose her, he and his law enforcement family race to save Judy and stop her captor’s plans.

  ****

  THE EDGARS FAMILY NOVELS, 3 Book Anthology

  This boxed e-book set includes the first two Best-selling Edgars Family Romantic Suspense Novels, KIDNAPPED and HUNTED, along with the fast-paced novella SEIZED.

  ****

  Thank you for reading CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS!

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  Author Bio

  Suzanne Ferrell

  Suzanne discovered romance novels in her aunt's hidden stash one summer as a teenager. From that moment on she knew two things: she loved romance stories and someday she'd be writing her own. Her love for romances has only grown over the years. It took her a number of years and a secondary career as a nurse to finally start writing her own stories.

  A double finalist in the Romance Writer's of America's 2006 Golden Heart with her manuscripts, KIDNAPPED and HUNTED (Romantic Suspense), Suzanne has also won The Beacon Unpublished and the CTRWA's contests in the erotica categories with her book, The Surrender Of Lacy Morgan.

  Suzanne's sexy stories, whether they be her steamy Western eroticas, her on the edge of your seat romantic suspense, or the heart warming small town stories, will keep you thinking about her characters long after their Happy Ever After is achieved. Visit Suzanne Ferrell’s website at www.suzanneferrell.com

 

 

 
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