The Best Little Joeville. Anne Eames

      Letter to Reader Letter to Reader Title Page About the Author Dedication 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 Copyright

      A SPECIAL LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR

      

      Dear Reader,

      

      In The Best Little Joeville Christmas, part of my Montana Malones series, you’ll share in the love story of characters you met in the first book, A Marriage Made in Joeville (6/97 SD), Shane Malone and Jenny Moon. If these characters seem real to you, it’s because they originated from a very real place in my life, since issues of adoption, control and spirituality are all very personal to me.

      

      This holiday season, my hope is that we will all take time to reflect on what we have been blessed with and give thanks. And in the process, I hope we all find peace of mind, more tolerance for each other’s differences and most of all...love.

      

      Happy holidays, dear reader. I hope you enjoy The Best Little Joeville Christmas, and I would love to hear from you.

      

      Write to me c/o 4217 Highland Road

      #252 Waterford, MI 48328.

      Please include #10 SASE.

      Dear Reader,

      

      Happy Holidays to all of you from the staff of Silhouette Desire! Our celebration of Desire’s fifteenth anniversary continues, and to kick off this holiday season, we have a wonderful new book from Dixie Browning called Look What the Stork Brought. Dixie, who is truly a Desire star, has written over sixty titles for Silhouette.

      

      Next up, The Surprise Christmas Bride by Maureen Child. If you like stories chock-full of love and laughter, this is the book for you. And Anne Eames continues her MONTANA MALONES miniseries with The Best Little Joeville Christmas.

      

      The month is completed with more Christmas treats: A Husband in Her Stocking by Christine Pacheco;

      I Married a Prince by Kathryn Jensen and Santa Cowboy by Barbara McMahon.

      

      I hope you all enjoy your holidays, and hope that Silhouette Desire will add to the warmth of the season. So enjoy the very best in romance from Desire!

      Senior Editor

      Please address questions and book requests to:

      Silhouette Reader Service

      U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., PO. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

      Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Ene. Ont. L2A 5X3

      The Best Little Joeville Christmas

      Anne Eames

      

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ANNE EAMES

      

      This is Anne’s fifth novel for Desire. Her books have appeared on the USA Today bestseller list, and prior to publishing, she was a Golden Heart finalist and Maggie winner. Anne and her husband, Bill, live in southeastern Michigan.

      

      Look for the next book in The Montana Malones series, Last of the Joeville Lovers, coming in May 1998.

      With special thanks to the kind people of Crow Agency

      who gave so freely of their time—especially the Real Bird Family; to Haley Nicole Garthe, whose arrival was timed perfectly; to Linda Pastor, for “delivering” the details; and most of all, to my research assistant and best friend, Bill.

      One

      Hardly a day had passed when Jenny Moon didn’t wonder why she’d ever left Montana and the Malone ranch. It had been eighteen months since she’d returned to Detroit, leaving behind more than her best friend, Savannah, but the mountains, streams and big skies that she had come to love, at a time in her life when she had tried hard not to love anything...or anyone.

      Especially a man as dark and brooding as Shane Malone.

      She’d been successful in that area. Oh, maybe twinges of lust had distracted her during her first visit, but that had been remedied by returning to her suburban Birmingham job and her countless persnickety customers, each and every one of them demanding a new culinary work of art, many less interested in the palate than presentation, since most ate like birds anyway.

      Her job had been a handy excuse to leave at the time, but now, as the plane taxied into Bozeman airport, she wondered if she hadn’t been running away from something...or someone....

      She closed her eyes, mentally shaking off the ridiculous notion. No, this had nothing to do with that impossible man. The impending holidays were making her feel melancholy, that’s all.

      She was returning to spend time with Savannah; it was as simple as that, she told herself as she deplaned. Again the word liar echoed in her subconscious and her pulse quickened from just thinking of the man waiting ahead.

      She cleared the jetway and scanned the small gate area, instantly spotting Shane leaning agamst a post in the same manner he had the first time she’d met him. Then, like now, his ankles and arms were crossed and his dark brown eyes bored into her from beneath the low rim of his Stetson. He didn’t move, but waited for her to come to him, a fact that immediately annoyed her.

      She hitched her carry-on higher on her shoulder, heaved a disgusted sigh and strode over.

      “It took you long enough,” he said, his posture unchanged.

      She dropped her bag at his feet and thrust her hands on her hips. “There’s no direct flight. I had to change planes in Minneapolis