Cynthia Thomason - High Country Christmas

A runaway teen at Christmas...

brings a special gift into her life.

When Ava Cahill returns to Holly River to reunite with the son she gave up for adoption, she’s stunned to encounter Noah Walsh again. The attractive biker she knew six years ago had no idea of her secret. And now Ava’s mentoring his troubled daughter. As she and Noah rekindle powerful feelings, can she tell him the truth and become one forever family?

CYNTHIA THOMASON inherited her love of writing from her ancestors. Her father and grandmother both loved to write, and she aspired to continue the legacy. Cynthia studied English and journalism in college, and after a career as a high school English teacher, she began writing novels. She discovered ideas for stories while searching through antiques stores and flea markets and as an auctioneer and estate buyer. Cynthia says every cast-off item from someone’s life can ignite the idea for a plot. She writes about small towns, big hearts and happy endings that are earned and not taken for granted. And as far as the legacy is concerned, just ask her son, the magazine journalist, if he believes. Please contact Cynthia at cynthoma@aol.com and cynthiathomason.net.

Also by Cynthia Thomason

The Cahills of North Carolina

High Country Cop

Dad in Training

The Daughters of Dancing Falls

Rescued by Mr. Wrong

The Bridesmaid Wore Sneakers

A Boy to Remember

Firefly Nights

This Hero for Hire

A Soldier’s Promise

Blue Ridge Autumn

Marriage for Keeps

Dilemma at Bayberry Cove

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

High Country Christmas

Cynthia Thomason

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09471-9

HIGH COUNTRY CHRISTMAS

© 2019 Cynthia Thomason

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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“I’m not sure if I’m lost in the memories of that one night in our past or if I wish tonight were a first.”

“I’m not sure, either, Noah,” Ava said. “But we can’t relive the past, can we? Nor should we automatically believe that the past determines the future.”

“Everything about that night is coming back to me, Ava,” Noah whispered.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t read too much into one simple kiss.”

“Maybe,” he agreed. “But I would hardly call the one I just experienced ‘simple.’ I’m not sorry at all that you and I met once before, or that you and I found each other again...”

Dear Reader,

“For the love of a child,” one of the most powerful phrases in our language. What any of us wouldn’t do for the love of a child. We try to do what’s best for the children in our lives. We struggle with each decision and pray we made the right one.

High Country Christmas is Ava’s story, the third book in the trilogy, The Cahills of North Carolina. Years ago, Ava made a decision about a child in her life and now she is facing the consequences of that choice. She changes her future and doesn’t look back to do what’s right for Charlie and ultimately for Sawyer, a young teen being raised by an obstinate and risk-taking single dad.

With the help of her supportive family and the man she comes to love with all her heart, Ava’s journey “for the love of a child” will hopefully warm your heart at Christmas and all year through.

If you like Ava’s story, please read about her two brothers, who are as different as any brothers could be. High Country Cop is Carter’s story. Dad in Training is Jace’s.

Cynthia Thomason

This book is dedicated to the caring folks at Crossnore Children’s Home in Crossnore, North Carolina. Thank you for welcoming me, educating me, and allowing me an intimate look at this warm and wonderful home.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

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

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

THE NUMBERS WERE beginning to blur. Ava checked the clock on the wall and was shocked to see the hands indicating one o’clock in the morning. She’d been at this for three hours.

The job would have been much easier if she’d had access to the computers of her deceased father’s paper mill company. But the current owner, her uncle Rudy, had denied her request. So Ava spent long hours trying to decipher the financial status of the business by slogging through ledgers the now-retired bookkeeper had painstakingly entered with a number two pencil. And all Ava had determined so far was that something wasn’t right. The numbers weren’t adding up, literally and figuratively.

Elsie Vandergarten had been a crackerjack bookkeeper in the days when accountants were called by that job-specific name. Ava’s father, Raymond Cahill, had trusted her with accounting for every dollar the company took in. A software technician had begun transcribing the figures into the company’s computer more than five years ago to satisfy Raymond’s techie brother, Rudy. A newly hired comptroller had replaced Elsie when she retired over a year ago when Raymond died.