Leanne Banks: A Maverick for Christmas

“Take it,” she urged.

Her voice was too sexy to ignore. He grabbed her hand and drew it to his mouth. Cade enveloped the chocolate with his mouth and swallowed it down. The motion was both carnivorous and sexual.

Abby’s brown eyes widened in surprise.

“What did you expect?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Something more…”

“Polite?” he asked.

Her eyes darkened. “Maybe. If so, I’m glad I was wrong.”

His gut tightened. “You need to be careful. You’re asking for trouble.”

“Just from you,” she said.

His heart hammered against his rib cage. “This is a bad idea.”

“There are worse ideas,” she countered.

He felt himself begin to sweat. How could Laila’s little sister affect him this way? It wasn’t possible.

Dear Reader,

Have you ever felt invisible? Like you could jump up and down and scream and the person you’re trying to reach still wouldn’t see you? I have, and it’s a terrible feeling. It could almost make you feel like you need to do something desperate to get that person’s attention. That’s part of what’s happening to my heroine, Abby Cates. She has wanted to get the attention of the man of her dreams for what feels like forever. Now it looks as if she may finally get her chance.

In A Maverick for Christmas, we sled into the holiday season in Thunder Canyon with another couple ripe for romance. When Abby, “the invisible woman,” does everything in her power to turn Cade Pritchett’s head, he doesn’t know what hit him, but he sure does like it. Can a lifelong crush really lead to true love?

Curl up and enjoy the ride! All the Thunder Canyon Mavericks and I are wishing you the warmest, most loving and joyous holiday season ever!

xo,

Leanne Banks

www.millsandboon.co.uk

LEANNE BANKSis a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author who is surprised every time she realizes how many books she has written. Leanne loves chocolate, the beach and new adventures. To name a few, Leanne has ridden on an elephant, stood on an ostrich egg (no, it didn’t break), gone parasailing and indoor skydiving. Leanne loves writing romance because she believes in the power and magic of love. She lives in Virginia with her family and four-and-a-half-pound Pomeranian named Bijou. Visit her website, www.leannebanks.com

This book is dedicated to Susan Litman.

You know why.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

Abby Cates remembered the moment she fell for Cade Pritchett. She had been nine years old at the time, and he’d been giving swimming lessons at Silver Stallion Lake. At seventeen, Cade had been tall, strong and blond. He was nice to all the kids, but demanded they learn their strokes. Abby was pretty sure he didn’t remember scooping her out of some too-deep water when she’d choked and panicked. In her little-girl mind, Cade was a god.

Despite her best efforts, Abby had never found any man who could top Cade in her mind, not even now that she was twenty-two. And that was a terrible shame, especially since he’d never noticed her and, on top of that, wedding fever was running through Thunder Canyon like a bad flu.

Now that her older sister Laila was engaged to Jackson Traub, the discussions of weddings were nonstop. Her mother was usually so eager for Christmas that she began decorating plans in early November, but this year she was clearly distracted. If her mother didn’t take a little break from wedding talk, then Abby was going to explode through the roof of her family’s home. She tried not to listen to her mother’s phone conversation as she finished cleaning up the kitchen after dinner.

“A double wedding for Marlon and Matt,” her mother cooed. “Love is definitely in the air. And soon enough, there will be babies,” she continued, her tone giddy with delight. Abby glowered. Love is in the air. Yeah, for everyone except her. Her mother began to dig for more details on the double wedding of her cousins, and Abby turned the water on high as she washed the last pot. She wished she could wash out her brain as easily as she could clean the dishes.

Why in the world had she fallen for a man who couldn’t seem to even notice her? Talk about unrequited love. Then it had gone from bad to worse when he’d dated her beautiful oldest sister, Laila, the town beauty queen. Then it went from worse to tragic when he’d proposed to Laila. At least her sister had turned him down, but she’d hated the idea that Cade would suffer from Laila’s rejection.

The past couple of years it had been so hard to see Cade with Laila. Abby had felt as if she’d walked around with a permanent knot in her stomach. In love with her sister’s on-again, off-again boyfriend? It was like a bad soap opera. Although she loved Laila, Abby had been torn between guilt and resentment. She’d successfully kept it hidden, but she didn’t know how much longer she could manage it, especially since it felt as if everyone around her was finding love and getting married. And as far as Cade Pritchett was concerned, she might as well be invisible.

Irritated with her bad mood, she muttered to herself, “Suck it up. Wedding fever won’t last forever, and Christmas is right around the corner.”

One second later, the door opened and her sister Laila waltzed in wearing a smile and flashing a cover of a bridal magazine. “I guess I need to start planning for the big day.”

Abby felt something inside her rip. The beginning, she feared, of turning into a rocket and shooting through the roof. If she didn’t get out of here. “Gotta go,” she said, tossing the towel she held on the counter. “I’ll be back later.”

Laila shot her a bemused look. “Where are you going?”

“I need to do some research for a paper,” Abby manufactured, although it was partly true.

“Can’t you do it online?” Laila asked.

“Nope. Tell Mom when she gets off the phone,” Abby said and grabbed her coat. She jammed her hands through the sleeves and raced outside. Full of so many different emotions, she walked blindly away from the house. She skipped getting into her orange Volkswagen Beetle, hoping the cold air would freeze her feelings.

She was torn between swearing a blue streak and crying. She hated to cry, so she began to swear under her breath. Walking toward town, Abby whispered every bad word she could call to mind. At a younger age, she would have gotten her mouth washed out with soap, but there was no one to tattle on her unless she counted the bare November trees and whistling wind. Unfortunately she used up her repertoire very quickly, and despite her best efforts, her eyes filled with tears.

It had been a long day and it was colder than a well-digger’s backside. Cade had been working like a dog and wanted a little reward. He wouldn’t be getting it from a woman tonight, so Cade Pritchett looked inside the café, trying to decide whether or not to indulge in a slice of cherry pie.

Cade looked away. Since that insane moment he’d proposed to Thunder Canyon’s beauty queen, the woman he’d dated casually the past few years, he’d become all too aware of his burning need for a family of his own. It didn’t make sense because Cade wasn’t interested in falling in love. He’d done that once and lost the woman to an accident. He wasn’t interested in risking his heart, but he wanted more than what he had now. A partnership in his father’s business, his own spread just outside of town and his hobby rebuilding motorcycles. Oh, and his hound dog, Stella. He should have listed her first.