Danica Favorite - His Christmas Redemption

About the Author DANICA FAVORITE loves the adventure of living a creative life. She loves to explore the depths of human nature and follow people on the journey to happily-ever-after. Though the journey is often bumpy, those bumps refine imperfect characters as they live the life God created them for. Oops, that just spoiled the ending of Danica’s stories. Then again, getting there is all the fun. Find her at danicafavorite.com .

Booklist Also By Danica Favorite 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 Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Epilogue Extract About the Publisher Three Sisters Ranch Her Cowboy Inheritance The Cowboy’s Faith His Christmas Redemption Rocky Mountain Dreams The Lawman’s Redemption Shotgun Marriage The Nanny’s Little Matchmakers For the Sake of the Children An Unlikely Mother Mistletoe Mommy Honor-Bound Lawman Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk .

Title Page His Christmas Redemption Danica Favorite www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright ISBN: 978-1-474-09923-3 HIS CHRISTMAS REDEMPTION © 2019 Danica Favorite 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

Note to Readers

Introduction “You’d make a good dad. “Why didn’t you and Aunt Erin have more kids?” If it hadn’t been a nine-year-old kid asking him that question, Lance might’ve lashed out. Instead, Lance gave him a squeeze, trying to find the right words without breaking down. Out of the corner of his eye, Lance glanced at Erin. A tear ran down her cheek, and he watched as she quickly brushed it away. Lance gave Dylan another squeeze. “Thank you. That’s high praise, coming from a wise kid. I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you leave these grown-up matters to the grown-ups?” When he’d come to the ranch, he’d been angry with Erin for suggesting that she might find love again and start a new family. But the longing on her face after Dylan’s comment was real. He’d made Lily’s loss all about him, but after last night, and now, he could see how wrong he’d been. But he hadn’t been able to be the man she’d wanted then...needed then. So what made him think he could be now?

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

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Lance Drummond had never expected to find himself on his ex-wife’s doorstep. But he’d also never expected that his entire future would hinge upon her. At least not since their divorce. After all, they’d divorced for a reason. Not his reasons, but when someone told you they didn’t want to be married to you anymore, and counseling wasn’t working, the gentlemanly thing to do was to let that person out.

Besides, wasn’t there a saying that if you loved someone, you should set them free? He’d set Erin free, but sometimes his heart told him he was the biggest of all fools. Not just in letting her go, but for still wanting her in the first place. He’d had reasons of his own to want out of the marriage. But where he came from, when you made someone a promise before God and your family, you kept it. He might not have a great relationship with God these days, but he still didn’t think it was a good idea to break the promises you made Him. So here he was, knocking on the front door of a woman who’d given up on him, needing her help and not sure how to ask for it.

The door opened and a familiar but much more mature face peered out. “Uncle Lance? What are you doing here? Aunt Erin said you guys got divorced.”

That was one of the worst things about divorce. It wasn’t just about losing the partner who promised to stand by you, no matter what, but also losing extended family you’d grown to love. Like his nephew Dylan. He and Dylan had spent a lot of time together in the past, and the little guy, though not so little anymore at nine years old, used to follow him around.

Lance shook his head. He couldn’t think about those happy times. Not when they were lost to him and he would never get them back.

“We did, bud. But I need to talk to Erin about some things. If she’s home.”

The details were fuzzy when it came to what was going on with Erin and her sisters, Nicole and Leah. Based on the few conversations he’d had with her, they’d inherited some ranch from a relative he’d never heard of and moved to this tiny town of Columbine Springs, in the middle of nowhere Colorado, to make a go of ranching. It had been none of his business, but it seemed kind of foolish for them to pursue something like that when none of them knew the first thing about ranches. But here they were, a year and a half later, and they’d stuck it out.

How they were making it, he wasn’t sure. Erin had called him a few times since their divorce, asking if they could revisit the idea of selling the house they still jointly owned because she needed the money. The most recent call came a couple of weeks ago, but he’d refused, as always.

Why would she think he’d ever be willing to sell?

The house was technically marital property, which the court said had to be split evenly between them, even though he’d paid for most of it. Erin had said he could take his time with either selling the house or buying her out.

One day he’d have the money to buy her out and then his last tie to Erin would be severed.

Dylan held the door open wider. “She’s in the kitchen.”

Leaving the door open, Dylan ran in the direction of the other room. Though the outside of the house wasn’t yet decorated, stepping inside was like entering a Christmas nightmare. Erin and her sisters had always loved the holiday and, when they’d been married, her need to decorate to the hilt had been one of their common disagreements. He hated the commercialism and constant need for more, and she bought every sparkly Christmas item she set her eyes on. She used to want to start decorating as early as possible, but he’d always made her wait until after Thanksgiving.