The Rancher's Holiday Hope. Brenda Minton

      

      She’s the gift he never expected...

      He returned for his sister’s wedding...

      Not a romance of his own.

      Back in his hometown to help his family, rancher-turned-businessman Max St. James has no intention of staying beyond the holidays. But the more time he spends with his sister’s wedding planner, Sierra Lawson, the more the small town he left behind feels like home again. Falling for Sierra wasn’t part of his plan, but he’s never wanted anything more for Christmas.

       Mercy Ranch

      BRENDA MINTON lives in the Ozarks with her husband, children, cats, dogs and strays. She is a pastor’s wife, Sunday-school teacher, coffee addict and sleep deprived. Not in that order. Her dream to be an author for Harlequin started somewhere in the pages of a romance novel about a young American woman stranded in a Spanish castle. Her dreams came true, and twenty-plus books later, she is an author hoping to inspire young girls to dream.

       Also By Brenda Minton

      Mercy Ranch

      Reunited with the Rancher

      The Rancher’s Christmas Match

      Her Oklahoma Rancher

      The Rancher’s Holiday Hope

      Bluebonnet Springs

      Second Chance Rancher

      The Rancher’s Christmas Bride

      The Rancher’s Secret Child

      Martin’s Crossing

      A Rancher for Christmas

      The Rancher Takes a Bride

      The Rancher’s Second Chance

      The Rancher’s First Love

      Her Rancher Bodyguard

      Her Guardian Rancher

      Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

      The Rancher’s Holiday Hope

      Brenda Minton

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      ISBN: 978-0-008-90066-3

      THE RANCHER’S HOLIDAY HOPE

      © 2019 Brenda Minton

      Published in Great Britain 2019

       by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

      All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Version: 2020-03-02

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      “We have a wedding this weekend and today the caterer almost quit.”

      “But you brought them back on board,” Max said.

      Sierra nodded. “Yes, I did. I didn’t want this job. I’m not a romantic. I am the last person who should be planning other people’s happy-ever-afters.”

      “Why’s that?” he asked.

      She shrugged, unsure of how to answer him. She’d never been coveted, guarded, cherished.

      “Until I came to Mercy Ranch, I didn’t know any happy marriages or couples who cherished each other. You have this lovely, kind and supportive family. You have the dream.”

      “I do,” he admitted, looking somewhat shy. “I almost threw it all away. But about you. Now that you have the job and since you’ve been here, in Hope?” he asked. “Now do you believe in happy-ever-after?”

      “Sometimes.”

      She had never really thought about it, but deep down inside, she wanted to believe it existed.

      It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

      —Lamentations 3:22–23

      Dear Reader,

      Sierra Lawson has been a favorite character of mine from the conception of the Mercy Ranch series. I loved her dry sense of