Cowboy to the Rescue
Summoned by two little girls to help their mother in distress, Blue Lyons rushes to rescue widow Clara Weston. When the cowboy discovers the fatherless family has nowhere to go, he offers them food and shelter. But widower Blue won’t get too close to the needy trio. He’s lost too many people he’s cared for, and he isn’t about to set himself up for loss again.
For Clara, any dangers she may face on the frontier are preferable to staying with her controlling father. Although she’s determined to keep her independence, Blue’s kindness and tenderness are hard to resist. Can two pint-size matchmakers help Clara and Blue open their guarded hearts in time for Christmas?
“I’d love to go to church with you.”
Blue blinked as if surprised at her agreement. “Really?”
She laughed, although she felt somewhat annoyed. “Why did you ask if you expected me to refuse?”
“Because I’m worried. I don’t want to see anything happen to you or the girls.”
Her annoyance fled, replaced with gratitude for his concern. “Blue, you’re a good man.”
She watched, surprised, as he turned pink beneath his tan. She chuckled. “Not used to hearing compliments?”
He merely shrugged.
Blue seemed to truly care about her safety and that of the girls. Like she’d said, he was a good man. He should really remarry. He has so much to offer. He—
Not knowing where those thoughts came from, she slammed the door on them right quick.
If Blue Lyons chose to marry or otherwise, it was none of her concern. She had her own issues to worry about. There was no room in her life for wondering if Blue would ever consider taking another wife.
So why couldn’t she stop wondering what it would be like to be married to a man who treated her like an equal and yet showed tenderness and concern?
LINDA FORD lives on a ranch in Alberta, Canada, near enough to the Rocky Mountains that she can enjoy them on a daily basis. She and her husband raised fourteen children—four homemade, ten adopted. She currently shares her home and life with her husband, a grown son, a live-in paraplegic client and a continual (and welcome) stream of kids, kids-in-law, grandkids, and assorted friends and relatives.
A Daddy for Christmas
Linda Ford
But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
—Romans 5:8
Christmas is a special time made more special by sharing it with those I love.
This book is dedicated to you.
Thank you for filling the day and my life with such joy.
Contents
Edendale, Alberta, Canada December 1882
The church door clattered open. A cold breeze skittered across the floor as two little girls rushed into the room from beyond the partition of raw wood that separated the entryway from the main part of the partially finished church. They skidded to a halt, staring at him with wide eyes.
The peace twenty-eight-year-old Blue Lyons sought so desperately shattered into fragments as tiny and elusive as the sawdust at his feet.
“We need help,” the bigger girl said, an unfamiliar child with hair the color of caramel candy sticks and heavily lashed eyes as dark as night.
“Something’s