Laura Marie - Baby's First Christmas

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Dear Reader,

I love Christmas stories! They are one of my favourite things to write because, for me, the underlying themes of the season are family, friends and tradition. And a Christmas story is a chance to relive all of those wonderful emotions!

I hope you’ll enjoy the story of Zach Forrester and Jessica Tomball Farnsworth, two very different personalities from opposite walks of life. I believe that Christmas works its magic on the most stubborn people, and magic in even the most challenging of circumstances can bring love to the most impossible situation. May your holiday season be lit by this very special spirit of love, charity and fulfilment.

Best wishes and much love,

Tina Leonard

TINA LEONARDloves to laugh, which is one of the reasons she enjoys writing. In another lifetime, Tina thought she would be single and an East Coast fashion buyer forever. The unexpected happened when Tina met Tim again after many years—she hadn’t seen him since they attended school together. They married and now Tina keeps a close eye on her school-aged children’s friends! Lisa and Dean keep their mother busy with soccer, gymnastics and horseback riding. They are proud of their mum’s “kissy books” and eagerly help her any way they can.

Tina hopes that readers will enjoy the love of family she writes about in her books. A reviewer once wrote, “Leonard has a wonderful sense of the ridiculous”, which Tina loved so much she wants it for her epitaph. Right now, however, she’s focusing on her wonderful life and writing a lot more romance! You can visit her at www.tinaleonard.com.

“I’ve tried to be perfect. I’ve lived in a world. Imperfect is a lot more fun.”

—Jessica Tomball Farnsworth.

“I’ve tried to be perfect. I’ve lived in a world that wants perfect. Imperfect is a lot more fun.”

—Jessica Tomball Farnsworth

Zach Forrester freely admitted that boredom was his worst enemy.

He didn’t mind living in Tulips, Texas, on the Triple F ranch, but he wanted to do more in his life than just take care of a family property. He had plans to build a new elementary school in the small town, a challenge he would enjoy.

But now it was time for a different challenge. Maybe the late September moon was getting to him, but excitement seemed to be a hard-to-find commodity.

One thing was for certain, he wasn’t giving up his life the way Duke had, to diapers and a wife and a round-cheeked baby. He loved his little nephew, but a baby put a certain stop to one’s life. Nor would he ever let a woman lead him around by the nose as Liberty had Duke. She had left the altar with Duke standing at it, then made a surprise return with his baby, finally marrying Duke in a wonderfully romantic ceremony.

Of course, Duke was insanely happy with his new wife and child, but it had been hell on Duke getting there. Zach had to admit it had been fun watching his older brother struggle mightily to get his woman. Everything always seems to come easy for my brother and sister and harder for me.

He was enjoying his pity party as he drove, until he saw the hot pink convertible T-bird and the madwoman standing next to his favorite bull, which she’d clearly hit. She was talking on her cell phone as if it was just any old piece of meat she’d struck. But Brahma Bud was his best and finest!

Hopping out of his truck, Zach stared at the imperious woman with whiskey-colored hair. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

She snapped her cell phone shut. “I am trying to get this beast to move, Cowboy. He seems to think he has the right of way.”

“He does!” Zach stared at his poor bull, which gazed back in return, not bothered in the least by the annoying woman who had hit him.

“Well, he’s been having his way for an hour,” she replied, her voice so haughty it belonged in New York. “Do you think you could move his plump hide?”

Perhaps Brahma Bud had only been lightly tapped, because the bull didn’t seem any worse for wear. He did, however, seem quite mesmerized by the pink T-bird, and as Zach forced himself to calm down, he had to admit the car—and the woman—were definitely worth second looks. “What’s the rush, City?”

“I have a life,” she told him. “I just can’t stand here and watch the grass grow.”

Well, hell, Zach thought, wasn’t she special. Of course, she certainly looked special in her tight dress. When she spoke, she emphasized her words so that all of her bounced in the right places. “He might move tomorrow,” Zach said. “Once he gets to a spot he likes, he tends to stay there.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” she exclaimed, enunciating and bouncing, to Zach’s delight.

Ah, city folk. So much fun. He leaned against her T-bird and gave her his best leer. “When I get to a spot I like, I tend to stay there, too.”

“Cowboy, I know all about guys like you, and believe me, the words are bigger than the deed. Just take your cow and go home, okay? And I won’t charge you for the dent in my fender. Not to mention I think he used his antler to lift my skirt when I tried to make certain he was all right.”

“Yeah, that would be the easy way out,” Zach said slowly, suddenly realizing what he wanted more than anything was to shake things up, and this gal was a smoking-hot challenge even if she didn’t know horns from antlers. “I’ll do two things for you—one, I’ll ask my prize longhorn here to move, if you’re nice. Two, I won’t ask why you’re trespassing on my private drive, if you’re nice. I won’t even be mad that you hit my livelihood, here,” he said, dropping a casual hand to Bud’s horn. “However, I do insist upon a kiss.”

She gasped. “I consider kissing to be sex. Why would I have sex with a stranger?”

He laughed out loud. “Make it a brotherly peck, then.”

“No. You’re weird. It might be catching.”

“I think you’re the weird one.” Crossing his arms, he decided this exceptional woman was his next challenge. “So, I noticed you didn’t protest that you had a boyfriend or were married or something.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I just broke up with my boyfriend. He was too possessive.”

Zach raised his brows. “Possessive?”

“He thought he owned me.”

“Boyfriends will act like that sometimes.” He wondered if he’d feel the same way if she was his girlfriend. Nah. He’d never felt that way about any woman. Safe!

Her back stiffened. “Being possessive is bad and being bossy is worse. But if you’d like to boss someone around, why don’t you tell that cow to move so I can get back on the road?”