Barreling Through Christmas: (Sweet Western Holiday Romance) (Rodeo Romance Book 4)

by Shanna Hatfield

  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.

  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.

  Barreling Through Christmas (Rodeo Romance, Book 4) — Cooper James might be a lot of things, but beefcake model wasn’t something he intended to add to his resume.

  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 sweet contemporary western romance series.

  The Cowboy’s Christmas Plan (Book 1) — Cadence Greer’s plans for a happy-ever-after are quickly derailed when her fiancé runs off with his secretary a week 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.

  The Cowboy’s Spring Romance (Book 2) — Trent Thompson has carried a torch for the new schoolteacher since she moved to Grass Valley more than three years ago. Instead of asking her out, he’s dated every single female in a thirty-mile radius, giving her the impression he’s not interested in her at all.

  The Cowboy’s Summer Love (Book 3) — Always the wild-child, Travis Thompson doesn’t disappoint as he rolls from one adventure to another in his quest to keep his adrenaline pumping. He needs a release for the tension constantly building inside him, especially after he discovers the girl he’s loved his entire life just moved back to Grass Valley.

  The Cowboy’s Autumn Fall (Book 4) — Brice Morgan thought love at first sight was some ridiculous notion of schoolgirls and old ladies who read too many romance novels. At least he does until he meets Bailey Bishop at a friend’s wedding and falls hard and fast for the intriguing woman.

  The Cowboy’s New Heart (Book 5) — Years after her husband died unexpectedly, Denni Thompson can’t bear to think of giving her heart to anyone else. With three newly married sons, a grandchild on the way, and a busy life, Denni doesn’t give a thought to romance until she meets the handsome new owner of Grass Valley’s gas station.

  The Cowboy’s Last Goodbye (Book 6) — With his siblings and friends all entangled in the state of matrimony, Ben Morgan is more determined than ever to remain blissfully single. Despite his vehement refusal to commit to a relationship, he can’t help but envision a future with the sweet, charming woman who unknowingly captures his heart.

  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 a respected founding partner 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 the most infinitesimal details — 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 t
he 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.

  Yet it had.

  At least the last three days had passed in a blur. By the time she notified all her family and friends of the situation, returned the gifts, and reclaimed what funds she could from the canceled wedding plans, she was ready to leave and forget she had ever heard the name Bill Aimes.

  As she drove south on the freeway toward Portland, she contemplated her journey to the middle of nowhere to stay with her Aunt Vivian in a self-imposed exile until she could figure out what she wanted to do with her life.

  With one more glance in the mirror, Cadence mentally waved goodbye to the only life she’d ever known, resolved to face an entirely new one with tenacity and courage.

  She made a quick stop in Portland to do a little shopping before she finished the drive to Grass Valley. Her aunt assured her there were no malls, and suggested she might want to pick up a few things before heading east on the freeway.

  When Cadence got back on I-84, she was the owner of new jeans, casual tops, a pair of hiking boots, and a heavy waterproof coat.

  She’d always dressed professionally. Her wardrobe consisted of the power suits and silk blouses she wore to work and slacks with cashmere sweaters for casual days. Not a single thing she owned would be very useful in a country community, as Aunt Viv repeatedly pointed out.

  A couple of hours later, Cadence pulled off the freeway and turned south on Highway 97. She drove through the small towns of Biggs and Moro before she came to Grass Valley, population one hundred and seventy.

  A sigh escaped her as she parked the car in front of her aunt’s pride and joy, Viv’s Café, and went inside.

  Goodbye Seattle, Starbucks, and Nordstrom.

  Hello greasy spoon.

  Available on Amazon!

  Can forbidden love blossom amid the constraints of war?

  “Strong characters, historical authenticity, and unique twists of fate blend with details of a wounded soldier's love.”

  Jane Kirkpatrick

  Award-winning author of This Road We Traveled

  Garden of Her Heart (Hearts of the War, Book 1) — The moment the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, life shifted for Miko Nishimura. Desperate to reach the Portland Assembly Center for Japanese Americans, she’s kicked off the bus miles from town. Every tick of the clock pushes her closer to becoming a fugitive in the land of her birth. Exhausted, she stumbles to her grandparents’ abandoned farm only to find a dying soldier sprawled across the step. Unable to leave him, she forsakes all else to keep him alive.

  After crashing his plane in the Battle of the Atlantic, the doctors condemn Captain Rock Laroux to die. Determined to meet his maker beneath a blue sky at his family home, he sneaks out of the hospital. Weary and half out of his mind, he makes it as far as a produce stand he remembers from his youth. Rather than surrender to death, Rock fights a battle of the heart as he falls in love with the beautiful Japanese woman who saves his life.

  A poignant, sweet romance, Garden of Her Heart proves love can bloom in unlikely places even under the most challenging circumstances.

  Hardman Holidays Series

  Heartwarming holiday stories set in the 1890s in Hardman, Oregon.

  The Christmas Bargain (Hardman Holidays, Book 1) — As owner and manager of the Hardman bank, Luke Granger is a man of responsibility and integrity in the small 1890s Eastern Oregon town. When he calls in a long overdue loan, Luke finds himself reluctantly accepting a bargain in lieu of payment from the shiftless farmer who barters his daughter to settle his debt.

  The Christmas Token (Hardman Holidays, Book 2) — Determined to escape an unwelcome suitor, Ginny Granger flees to her brother’s home in Eastern Oregon for the holiday season. Returning to the community where she spent her childhood years, she plans to relax and enjoy a peaceful visit. Not expecting to encounter the boy she once loved, her exile proves to be anything but restful.

  The Christmas Calamity (Hardman Holidays, Book 3) — Arlan Guthry's uncluttered world tilts off kilter when the beautiful
and enigmatic prestidigitator Alexandra Janowski arrives in town, spinning magic and trouble in her wake as the holiday season approaches.

  The Christmas Vow (Hardman Holidays, Book 4) — Sailor Adam Guthry returns home to bury his best friend and his past, only to fall once more for the girl who broke his heart.

  The Christmas Quandary (Hardman Holidays, Book 5) — Tom Grove just needs to survive a month at home while he recovers from a work injury. He arrives in Hardman to discover his middle-aged parents acting like newlyweds, the school in need of a teacher, and the girl of his dreams already engaged.

  Baker City Brides Series

  Determined women, strong men and a town known as the Denver of the Blue Mountains during its days of gold in the 1890s.

  Crumpets and Cowpies (Baker City Brides, Book 1) — Rancher Thane Jordan reluctantly travels to England to settle his brother’s estate only to find he’s inherited much more than he could possibly have imagined.

  Thimbles and Thistles (Baker City Brides, Book 2) — Maggie Dalton doesn't need a man, especially not one as handsome as charming as Ian MacGregor.

  Corsets and Cuffs (Baker City Brides, Book 3) — Sheriff Tully Barrett meets his match when a pampered woman comes to town, catching his eye and capturing his heart.

  Bobbins and Boots (Baker City Brides, Book 4) — Coming in 2017!

  Pendleton Petticoats Series

  Set in the western town of Pendleton, Oregon, at the turn of the 20th century, each book in this series bears the name of the heroine, all brave yet very different.