Kat Brookes - Hometown Christmas Gift

About the Author KAT BROOKES is an award-winning author and past Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Award finalist. She is married to her childhood sweetheart and has been blessed with two beautiful daughters. She loves writing stories that can both make you smile and touch your heart. Kat is represented by Michelle Grajkowski with 3 Seas Literary Agency. Read more about Kat and her upcoming releases at katbrookes.com . Email her at katbrookes@comcast.net. Facebook: Kat Brookes .

Booklist Also By Kat Brookes Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Note to Readers Introduction Dear Reader Bible Verse Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Extract About the Publisher Bent Creek Blessings The Cowboy’s Little Girl The Rancher’s Baby Surprise Hometown Christmas Gift Texas Sweethearts Her Texas Hero His Holiday Matchmaker Their Second Chance Love Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk .

Title Page Hometown Christmas Gift Kat Brookes www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright ISBN: 978-1-474-09924-0 HOMETOWN CHRISTMAS GIFT © 2019 Kimberly Duffy 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. 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. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. www.millsandboon.co.uk Version: 2020-03-02

Note to Readers

Introduction “Do you think we could do this again sometime?” “Hmm...I’ll have to think that one over a bit,” Jackson said, pretending to contemplate her question. “Getting you back behind the wheel would mean I would no longer be needed to take you and Lucas here and there. I’m not so sure I’m ready to give that up.” “I would think you would be relieved,” she told him with a smile. “You’d be wrong.” Her smile softened with his admission. “I’m realistic if anything. I know I have a long way to go before I’m going to be comfortable behind the wheel, but I want my independence back. Want to be the kind of mother Lucas deserves.” His expression softened even more. “Your son is already blessed to have you for his mother, whether you drive or not. He’s just too young to really appreciate what he has, but that will come. Right now, he’s still working through a lot of pain and grief.” Reaching over, she covered his hand with hers, giving it a squeeze. “I’ve missed you, Jackson Wade.”

Dear Reader Dear Reader Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Note to Readers Introduction Dear Reader Bible Verse Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Extract About the Publisher , I really hope you’ve had a chance to read the first two books in my Bent Creek Blessings series— The Cowboy’s Little Girl and The Rancher’s Baby Surprise . Hometown Christmas Gift is the third and final book in this Love Inspired series, giving the last of the Wade brothers, Jackson, his very own happily-ever-after. It’s a story of healing and second chances for both my hero, Jackson, and Lainie, his first love. It’s about turning to one’s faith to help carry us through the hard times and knowing that God has a plan for us all. It’s also discovering that not all Christmas gifts are ones you can hold in your hand, like the gift of forgiveness, the gift of hope and the gift of happiness. Things that both Lainie and Jackson gift each other with in Hometown Christmas Gift . I hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I enjoyed writing it. For updates on my upcoming releases, you can go to my website at www.lindseybrookes.com or follow Kat Brookes on Facebook. The link to my homepage is https://www.facebook.com/kat.brookes.5 . Happy holidays! Kat

Bible Verse But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. —James 1:6

Dedication This book is dedicated to my cousin Kathy Dillan and to my good friend Melissa Huddleston. Two women very near and dear to my heart. I’m so grateful to have you both in my life.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Extract

About the Publisher

Lainie Michaels lifted the snow-dusted doormat again, thinking she might have missed the house key her brother was supposed to have left there for her. Nothing. She tried the door again, but it was locked up good and tight. Straightening, she blew on her chilled fingers to warm them and then slipped her gloves back on. At least she’d had the forethought to purchase winter coats for her and her son before moving back to Wyoming.

“I don’t want to be here!” Lainie’s seven-year-old son, Lucas, bellowed behind her, stomping his tiny foot in defiance.

Lainie turned from the locked front door and forced a smile as she prepared to face yet another one of her son’s emotional thunderstorms. “Honey, you’ll like living here in Bent Creek.” At least, she prayed he would. More than anything, she wanted her son to be the sweet, loving little boy he used to be before she’d taken his joy away.

“It’s cold here. I wanna go home,” he replied, his tiny brows furrowed into a deep-set scowl.

Early December in Bent Creek could be cold. Especially when her son was accustomed to California winters, but it was a little soon for any real snow accumulation. Lainie’s gaze moved past Lucas to the large, white flakes coming down from the wintry sky above. Then again, maybe it wasn’t. Cold or not, while living in California, she’d missed the beauty Wyoming winters could bring, the sight of the distant mountains and vast land surrounding her brother’s place, the home she had grown up in, glistening with newly fallen snow. Especially during the holidays.

Looking down at her son, Lainie suddenly felt overwhelmed by emotion and exhausted from having gotten up before dawn that morning to catch their flight. And then, after a three-hour layover in Denver before finally landing in Rock Springs, Wyoming, the nearest airport to Bent Creek, they’d had to take a taxi to her brother’s place a good fifty-minutes away.