Joanna Sims - High Country Christmas

London spun around to look at him.

She crossed her arms in front of her body protectively. “Why do you think you want to marry me, Tyler? You don’t even know me.”

Tyler stood up and walked over to where she was standing.

“I know you.” He took off his hat and placed it on the rectangular preacher’s podium. “I’ve known you since the moment I saw you.”

He put his hands on her upper arms. “No matter how hard you tried to hide from me, I always saw you.”

Staring into his eyes, it seemed to London that she could see directly into his soul. He was standing before her, unguarded, baring himself to her, and she could see the goodness in him. She could see beyond the dashing bachelor cowboy exterior to the true man he was inside. And he wanted her, pregnant or not.

* * *

The Brands of Montana:Wrangling their own happily-ever-afters

High Country Christmas

Joanna Sims

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JOANNA SIMSlives in Florida with her awesome husband, Cory, and their three fabulous felines, Sebastian, Chester (aka Tubby) and Ranger. By day, Joanna works as a speech-language pathologist, and by night, she writes contemporary romance for Mills & Boon Special Edition. Joanna loves to hear from Mills & Boon readers and invites you to stop by her website for a visit: www.joannasimsromance.com.

Dedicated to Gail Chasan …

Thank you for taking a chance, giving me a shot and making me a better writer.

Contents

Cover

Introduction London spun around to look at him. She crossed her arms in front of her body protectively. “Why do you think you want to marry me, Tyler? You don’t even know me.” Tyler stood up and walked over to where she was standing. “I know you.” He took off his hat and placed it on the rectangular preacher’s podium. “I’ve known you since the moment I saw you.” He put his hands on her upper arms. “No matter how hard you tried to hide from me, I always saw you.” Staring into his eyes, it seemed to London that she could see directly into his soul. He was standing before her, unguarded, baring himself to her, and she could see the goodness in him. She could see beyond the dashing bachelor cowboy exterior to the true man he was inside. And he wanted her, pregnant or not. * * * The Brands of Montana: Wrangling their own happily-ever-afters

Title Page High Country Christmas Joanna Sims www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author JOANNA SIMS lives in Florida with her awesome husband, Cory, and their three fabulous felines, Sebastian, Chester (aka Tubby) and Ranger. By day, Joanna works as a speech-language pathologist, and by night, she writes contemporary romance for Mills & Boon Special Edition. Joanna loves to hear from Mills & Boon readers and invites you to stop by her website for a visit: www.joannasimsromance.com .

Dedication Dedicated to Gail Chasan … Thank you for taking a chance, giving me a shot and making me a better writer.

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

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

At the front door of Tyler Brand’s cabin, London Davenport paused to slip off her cowboy boots and tuck them under her arm. There weren’t any lights on at the main house, just as there weren’t any lights on in the cabin. It was summertime, and life on the Brand family’s Montana cattle ranch typically started before sunrise; it appeared that she was the only one foolish enough to be sneaking around after midnight.

This is crazy.

That was the loudest thought in her mind when she reached for the doorknob and slowly opened the door. The large open living space of Tyler’s rustic log cabin was dimly lit by a night-light in the hallway that led to the small cluster of secondary bedrooms. Tyler’s room, the master bedroom, was on the other side of the cabin. And that’s where she was heading.

As quietly as she could, she made her way to Tyler’s bedroom. Tyler’s sister was getting married, and the best man, Logan Wolf, a police officer from San Diego, was bunking in the cabin. The last thing she wanted was to get caught sneaking into Tyler’s bedroom like a horny teenage girl. When she reached her destination, she stood in the dark, debating whether or not to even try the door. If it was locked, she would be able to chicken out gracefully and no one would be the wiser. But she did try the door, and the door was unlocked.

Instead of turning around as she knew she should, London slipped into Tyler’s bedroom and shut the door behind her. She leaned back against the door, her hands behind her body and her fingers still on the cool doorknob. Tyler was sound asleep on his back, covers kicked off his body, pillows on the floor. His Stetson hung on one of the short bedposts at the foot of the queen-size bed.

“Tyler...” She whispered his name from her spot at the door.

He didn’t budge.

“Tyler...”

When he still didn’t budge, London moved away from the door, toward the bed, and promptly tripped over his boots.

“Ow!” She had to drop her boots on the floor in order to catch herself on the edge of the bed. “Darn it!”

She had managed to stub her toe in the process. It wasn’t how she had played this out in her mind, but her exclamation of pain had done the job—he was awake now. Tyler rolled out of bed as if he was under attack, grabbed something off the nightstand and switched on the light.

“Jesus, London...” Tyler lowered the revolver he had aimed at her. “I could’ve shot you!”

London stopped rubbing her toe and stood upright. “Well, why’d you leave your stupid boots in front of the door for me to trip over?”

“I didn’t know you were coming, now did I?”

“You invited me!”

“I’ve invited you a hundred different times, in a hundred different ways, and you’ve never taken me up on it before.”

He had a point. She was embarrassed about her klutzy tumble over his boots and she was taking it out on him. This wasn’t the sexy scene she had imagined when she first decided to surprise him with a midnight rendezvous.

“Why don’t you put your gun away, cowboy?” She nodded toward the revolver aimed down at the ground. “It’s starting to feel more like a hostage crisis and less like a seduction.”

When he heard the word seduction , Tyler couldn’t get the gun out of his hand fast enough. He set the gun back in the nightstand drawer and pulled on a pair of jeans. He felt at a disadvantage standing in front of London in his boxers. He zipped up the fly but didn’t bother with the top button or a shirt. He didn’t want to risk the chance of London changing her mind while he was stumbling around trying to pull himself together.

“I didn’t exactly think this through...” she said, watching him zip up his jeans.

“I’m glad you didn’t.” Tyler walked over to her. “You wouldn’t be here if you had.”

London was finally, unbelievably, in his bedroom. Over the years, his father had provided internships to Montana State University students who were majoring in agriculture or animal sciences. Most had been men, some had been women, but none of them had been like beautiful London Davenport. He had thought about this moment ever since he had first met her. But after she had rebuffed his every attempt to get to know her better, he hadn’t really believed that she would ever seek him out. And yet here she was—a Nordic beauty, six feet tall in her bare feet, with thick blond hair that fell all the way to her waist. Her oval face with its prominent cheekbones was scrubbed clean with soap and water. He’d never seen her wear anything more than sunscreen on that beautiful face of hers; makeup couldn’t enhance what nature had already blessed her with, anyway. She wasn’t girlie or prissy or squeamish; she was athletic and she worked the ranch as though she’d been born to it. And more often than not, she was just as covered in mud and manure as the men. He admired that about her.