Brenda Minton - The Rancher's Holiday Hope

She’s the gift he never expected...

He returned for his sister’s wedding...

Not a romance of his own.

Back in his hometown to help his family, rancher-turned-businessman Max St. James has no intention of staying beyond the holidays. But the more time he spends with his sister’s wedding planner, Sierra Lawson, the more the small town he left behind feels like home again. Falling for Sierra wasn’t part of his plan, but he’s never wanted anything more for Christmas.

Mercy Ranch

BRENDA MINTONlives in the Ozarks with her husband, children, cats, dogs and strays. She is a pastor’s wife, Sunday-school teacher, coffee addict and sleep deprived. Not in that order. Her dream to be an author for Harlequin started somewhere in the pages of a romance novel about a young American woman stranded in a Spanish castle. Her dreams came true, and twenty-plus books later, she is an author hoping to inspire young girls to dream.

Also By Brenda Minton

Mercy Ranch

Reunited with the Rancher

The Rancher’s Christmas Match

Her Oklahoma Rancher

The Rancher’s Holiday Hope

Bluebonnet Springs

Second Chance Rancher

The Rancher’s Christmas Bride

The Rancher’s Secret Child

Martin’s Crossing

A Rancher for Christmas

The Rancher Takes a Bride

The Rancher’s Second Chance

The Rancher’s First Love

Her Rancher Bodyguard

Her Guardian Rancher

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Rancher’s Holiday Hope

Brenda Minton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90066-3

THE RANCHER’S HOLIDAY HOPE

© 2019 Brenda Minton

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.

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“We have a wedding this weekend and today the caterer almost quit.”

“But you brought them back on board,” Max said.

Sierra nodded. “Yes, I did. I didn’t want this job. I’m not a romantic. I am the last person who should be planning other people’s happy-ever-afters.”

“Why’s that?” he asked.

She shrugged, unsure of how to answer him. She’d never been coveted, guarded, cherished.

“Until I came to Mercy Ranch, I didn’t know any happy marriages or couples who cherished each other. You have this lovely, kind and supportive family. You have the dream.”

“I do,” he admitted, looking somewhat shy. “I almost threw it all away. But about you. Now that you have the job and since you’ve been here, in Hope?” he asked. “Now do you believe in happy-ever-after?”

“Sometimes.”

She had never really thought about it, but deep down inside, she wanted to believe it existed.

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

—Lamentations 3:22–23

Dear Reader,

Sierra Lawson has been a favorite character of mine from the conception of the Mercy Ranch series. I loved her dry sense of humor, her angst, her heart that she kept safely hidden. While writing the previous books, it only made sense to make the less-than-romantic veteran a wedding planner.

As she continued to evolve, I knew she needed a hero to show her that she is both strong and that she can trust and find love. The perfect hero came along unexpectedly in Max St. James. Gradually love came to Mercy Ranch’s wedding planner. In the end she trusts that this man is hers, forever.

Thanks for reading The Rancher’s Holiday Hope . For more information on me and the Mercy Ranch series, find me on Facebook at Brenda Minton Author, or on Twitter at @brendaminton.

Happy Holidays!

Brenda

This book is dedicated to those looking

for love, for forgiveness, for healing.

I pray you find peace, forgiveness,

healing and a love that is enduring.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Bible Verse

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

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Standing in the middle of the Mercy Ranch Wedding Chapel, Sierra Lawson felt almost at peace, as if God was present and this was a real chapel, not just a wedding venue. The building looked more like a stable than a church, but there was something about the sun filtering through the stained-glass windows that touched her soul.

She’d never expected this to be her healing place. One year ago she would have denied she needed healing of any kind. Now she felt as if she was one step closer to being the person she’d always wanted to be. A person who didn’t allow others to control her happiness.

She moved to the row of windows that faced east and thought about those horrible days that had changed her life forever just four years earlier. For two weeks she had waited each morning for the sliver of sunlight to appear in her cell. Each of those precious sunrises had marked one more day, one more chance to be rescued, one more day of hoping God heard her feeble prayers as she huddled in an enemy prison in Afghanistan.