Susan Sleeman - Christmas Hideout

Cowboy lawmen make the best protectors

A McKade Law novel

Fleeing from her dangerous ex-boyfriend, on-the-run single mother Nicole Dyer takes refuge in a cabin—and is discovered by the ranch owner, Deputy Matt McKade. It’s easy to fall for the handsome lawman and his kind family, but staying at the ranch endangers them all. When everything Nicole loves comes under direct fire, can Matt keep her—and her heart—safe?

SUSAN SLEEMANis a bestselling author of inspirational and clean-read romantic suspense books and mysteries. She received an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award for Thread of Suspicion . No Way Out and The Christmas Witness were finalists for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence. She’s had the pleasure of living in nine states and currently lives in Oregon. To learn more about Susan, visit her website at susansleeman.com.

Also By Susan Sleeman

McKade Law

Holiday Secrets

Rodeo Standoff

Christmas Hideout

First Responders

Silent Night Standoff

Explosive Alliance

High-Caliber Holiday

Emergency Response

Silent Sabotage

Christmas Conspiracy

The Justice Agency

Double Exposure

Dead Wrong

No Way Out

Thread of Suspicion

Dark Tide

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Christmas Hideout

Susan Sleeman

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08651-6

CHRISTMAS HIDEOUT

© 2018 Susan Sleeman

Published in Great Britain 2018

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.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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“Do you really think we’ll still be at the ranch on Christmas?” Nicole asked, and realized she wished they would be there.

Matt’s eyes narrowed, and she wanted to reach up and press out the wrinkle above his nose, but she refrained from doing so.

“Even when this is all resolved, I don’t want you to leave Lost Creek, but I don’t really have anything to offer you.” He ran a hand over the dark stubble on his jaw. “My life for the next few years is mapped out, and I can’t change that.”

Right. That again. She knew he didn’t want a relationship, so why did hearing him say it cut her to the core?

She held up the key, eager to change the subject. “So...we should get going, right?”

He nodded but didn’t look all that convinced. He gestured for her to precede him, and she took one last look at the Christmas tree before starting for the door.

It was suddenly kicked in.

Nicole screamed and lurched back as two men holding rifles burst inside.

“On the floor now!”

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading Christmas Hideout . I have loved every moment of writing about the McKade family, and I hope you have enjoyed getting to know them in the first three books of the miniseries. In this story, both Nicole and Matt struggle with trusting God with their futures. They worry about the unseen and need to realize that God can see into the future, that they can take heart, that though their future may not be what they expected or planned for, He always promises to work things for our good. If you struggle with the same thing, I hope reading about how Nicole and Matt overcome their issues helps you cope with your own.

If you’d like to learn more about the McKade Law miniseries or my other books, please stop by my website at www.susansleeman.com. I also love hearing from readers, so please contact me via email, susan@susansleeman.com, on my Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/susansleemanbooks, or write to me c/o Love Inspired, HarperCollins, 24th Floor, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

Susan Sleeman

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart...

—Psalms 34:18

A special thank-you to Susan Snodgrass for naming Walt’s horse, Thunderbolt; Julie Gilbert for naming Jed’s horse, Bullet; Lora Doncea for naming Nicole’s horse, Sunrise; and Debora Wilder for naming Winnie’s horse, Starlight.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

The low, keening wail reverberated from the walls of Nicole Dyer’s apartment as fear skittered through her body.

She listened. Hard. Trying to figure out where the sound originated.

Her. It was coming from her. She was the one crying out.

She clamped a hand over her mouth, stilling the noise before she woke her precious three-year-old daughter. Nicole stared at the warning message. Someone had laid a photo of her on the butcher-block countertop and plunged a large hunting knife into it.

The threat was clear. Someone wanted her dead. And that someone had to be the man she’d recently broken up with. Grady Harmon.

He’d finally lost it. Taken his obsession with her too far. They’d dated for months and all was good, but then he’d turned angry and controlling, and she’d dumped him before he could hurt her or sweet Emilie. But that didn’t matter to him.