Their history can’t be rewritten. But their future…
Bears, eagles and wolf dogs she could handle. But ten years after their split, Nature Times journalist Jimmy Murphy still had the power to rattle Meredith Stone. One look at him and a lifetime of memories came flooding back—and a decade of carefully constructed defenses came crumbling down. Defenses she’d need in order to deal with her grandpa’s latest turn for the worse, her sister’s upcoming wedding and Jimmy’s persistent questions. Why was he probing into her work at the animal rescue? And why did she care so much about what he thought? She’d buried her feelings for him a long time ago…
“You need any help?” Jimmy asked, his voice a different kind of serious.
“No.” She certainly didn’t need any help with the prescriptions. She might, however, need a prescription to get rid of a very real headache named Jimmy Murphy.
“How is Ray?”
Ever the calculating journalist out for information any way he could get it. She’d dealt with people like this before. They had agendas; she had animals to take care of. They had deadlines; she had animals to feed.
Still, it felt different when the one asking the questions happened to be the one who got away.
I’ve long been an animal lover. Growing up, I had cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, birds, guinea pigs, turtles and fish. Every Christmas from age six to about twelve, I asked for a horse. We lived in the city, and boarding a horse would have cost about the same as what we paid to rent our house. The closest I came to getting a horse was the Christmas I got a bike. My dad said the bike could take me to “almost” all the same places as a horse could. In my twenties, I was a kindergarten teacher. My classroom had birds, fish, hamsters, lizards and, for a short while, ferrets. One night the hamster escaped and attended a school board meeting. Apparently, Goober wasn’t recognized right away for the hamster that he was. We had new rules about pets in the classroom after that. Right now, I’m typing with a cat pressed against my arm. What a great life.
The heroine in Holiday Homecoming is Meredith Stone. She introduced herself to me in Katie’s Rescue, the first Scorpion Ridge book. We’ve all met that person at work, school, church, who is the powerhouse that gets things done. Well, that’s Meredith. She gets things done, mostly when it comes to the animals under her charge. But now, she has to slow down to help care for her grandfather. It’s a time for reflection. Of course, nothing’s that easy.
Jimmy Murphy’s whole world changed when his wife died, and he realized that a vagabond life didn’t work well for his daughter. Now he’s caught between the old and the new. His career still means a lot to him, but his latest story is in direct opposition to what Meredith believes in. Jimmy’s first love was Meredith, and sometimes first loves are meant to be forever loves.
I hope you enjoy Holiday Homecoming. If you’d like to meet some of the Mills & Boon Heartwarming authors, please visit www.heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com. If you’d like to learn more about me, please visit www.pamelatracy.com. I love to hear from readers!
Pamela
Holiday
Homecoming
Pamela Tracy
PAMELA TRACY
is an award-winning author who lives with her husband (who claims to be the inspiration for most of her heroes) and son (who claims to be the interference for most of her writing time). She started writing at a very young age (a series of romances, all with David Cassidy as the hero, though sometimes Bobby Sherman would elbow in). Then, while earning a BA in journalism at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, she picked up writing again—this time it was a very bad science-fiction novel.
She went back to her love and was first published in 1999. Since then, Pamela has had more than twenty romance novels in print. She’s a winner of the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award and has been a RITA® Award finalist. Readers can find her at www.heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com or www.pamelatracy.com.
To Aimée Thurlo,
a gifted author who opened her heart to both
people and animals.
We miss you, Aimée.
Contents
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I CAN’T GET a hold of Grandpa. He’s not answering the phone—again.” Meredith’s brother’s tone was more annoyed than frantic. For the last three months, Grandpa Stone had been acting more like a teenager—disappearing for hours, not answering questions directly, grumpy.
“You are still coming, right?” Zack asked.
“I’m just ten minutes from his house.” Meredith