Christmas Ranch Rescue. Lynette Eason

      

      HER CHRISTMAS PROTECTOR

      When his former crush is suspected of funneling drugs through her ranch, it’s DEA agent Nathan Williams’s job to find out if Becca Price is guilty. But after Becca is attacked, his top priority becomes protecting her. Convinced she’s innocent, Nathan is determined to find the real culprit before the escalating threats become deadly. An ex’s betrayal has left Nathan wary, and falling for the suspect he’s secretly investigating is a no-win move, so he must keep an emotional distance. But with criminals preparing for a fatal showdown, can he find the truth in time to save Becca’s life?

      The white truck drew closer.

      Becca pressed the gas pedal then let off. She’d let the truck go around her if he was in that much of a hurry. She slowed. He closed in fast. Too late, she realized he wasn’t going to pass her. Instead, he rammed the back of her truck.

      Becca cried out and spun the wheel to keep the vehicle on the road. Another slam sent her into a spin. She screamed and stepped on the brakes. Her truck slowed, but the pedal felt squishy and then went to the floor.

      In horror, she realized she was headed straight for the side of the mountain. Becca spun the wheel one more time and managed to keep from going over, but it put her face-to-face with the person trying to kill her.

      He gunned the engine of his vehicle and Becca slammed hers into Reverse then hit the gas. She lurched backward, and the attacker flew past her.

      Becca hit the brakes, and this time the pedal didn’t even pause as it slammed against the floor.

      She continued to move backward and dropped over the edge of the mountain road.

      Dear Reader,

      Thanks so much for coming back to Wrangler’s Corner with Becca and Nathan’s story. They’ve become two of my favorite characters. Probably because I got to work on this story with my favorite daughter. Okay, my only daughter, but she’s still my favorite. This was truly a very special story for me because we brainstormed it together. When the Killer Voices contest was announced, Lauryn (then fifteen years old) decided she wanted to give it a try. She came up with the characters and wrote the first page to be submitted. Of course I helped her out by telling her what to include in the first page, like a lot of suspense, and she took it from there. She based Becca’s character on her own experience with a fall from a horse and the misery of a sprained back and a concussion. She then added her years of experience riding horses (since she was about four years old) and voilà, had a great heroine for the story. I came up with the hero for the most part, and then she and I brainstormed how the story should unfold. Lauryn then wrote the next two chapters, which I helped her edit, and she went through to the last round of the contest, where she was asked to submit a full manuscript. Well, her schedule was such that there was no way she was going to be able to do it. Exams in May, then a very busy summer with mission trips and so on. So, the story was shelved. About six months or so ago, I asked her if she was ever going to finish the story and she said, “No, probably not, but you can if you want to.”

      And so I did. I tweaked it a bit to make it fit the Wrangler’s Corner series, but I felt she deserved her name on the cover due to all the initial hard work she put into it. We hope you love Becca and Nathan’s story as much as we do! Have a blessed Christmas and very happy New Year. May you never run out of books to read!

      Much love and blessings,

      Lynette

      Dear Reader,

      This book was originally supposed to be entered into the Killer Voices contest back in 2014. I started working on it at the beach during spring break of my sophomore year of high school because it was too cold and rainy to go out and do anything. I intended to just write and enter the contest for pleasure, but the Lord obviously had other plans. I sent my mom the first chapter, and she encouraged me to keep writing, so I did. Brainstorming with her for the rest of the book was fun because she is so passionate about writing and gets excited about the characters and story line. She’s the most creative person I know (which was annoying in high school when I wanted to stay out late with friends and she was worried I was going to end up kidnapped at gunpoint), but if it wasn’t for her encouragement, the chapters and ideas probably would have wound up being deleted and that would have been the end of it all. I did learn that while writing fiction can be fun, it is also very difficult. Writers have my full admiration and appreciation. And while working on this story with my mother was fun, it looks like I’m going to be transferring my writing to everything that comes with law school. Maybe I’ll write a book again one day, but for now, I’m just so proud to say that I got to work on this project with her (even though she did most of the work). I hope you all enjoyed the story!

      God Bless!

      Lauryn Eason

      LYNETTE EASON and her daughter, LAURYN EASON, teamed up to write Christmas Ranch Rescue after Lauryn made it to the final round in the 2014 Love Inspired Suspense Killer Voices contest. Lauryn is now a sophomore in college and plans to major in international studies and communications. Lynette is the bestselling, award-winning author of almost forty books. She writes for Revell and Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense line and can be found online at www.lynetteeason.com.

      Christmas Ranch Rescue

      Lynette Eason & Lauryn Eason

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

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      Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

      —Psalms 91:1–2

      To the amazingly smart, supercute, sweetest little three-year-olds ever, Lynette’s niece and nephew and Lauryn’s cousins, Shelby Elizabeth and Thomas Lane. We love you to the moon and back and pray you grow up to realize how wonderful our crazy family is in spite of all our imperfections.

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

       Dear Reader