Elle James - Christmas at Thunder Horse Ranch

She blurted out, “I’m not afraid of either.” Her head dipped and she stared at her boots. “I’m afraid of me.”

His heart melted at the way her bottom lip wobbled. “Why?”

Her glance shifted to the corner of the room and she didn’t say anything for a full ten seconds. “I’ve been independent for so long, I’m afraid of becoming dependent on anyone.”

“Relying on someone else doesn’t have to be a bad thing. And it’s only temporary, then you can go back to being independent.”

She didn’t throw it back in his face, so he figured she was wavering. He went in for the clincher.

“Besides, you saved my life twice.” He lifted one of her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss there. “I owe you.”

www.millsandboon.co.uk

A Golden Heart Award winner for Best Paranormal Romance in 2004, ELLE JAMESstarted writing when her sister issued a Y2K challenge to write a romance novel. She has managed a full-time job and raised three wonderful children, and she and her husband even tried their hands at ranching exotic birds (ostriches, emus and rheas) in the Texas Hill Country. Ask her, and she’ll tell you what it’s like to go toe-to-toe with an angry three-hundred-and-fifty-pound bird! After leaving her successful career in information technology management, Elle is now pursuing her writing full-time. Elle loves to hear from fans. You can contact her at ellejames@earthlink.netor visit her website at www.ellejames.com.

This book is dedicated to my fans who kept writing, asking when Dante would have his book.

Without my fans I wouldn’t be pursuing the career I love. Thank you for reading and falling in love with my characters. May all your lives be blessed!

Contents

Cover

Excerpt “Emma.” Dante’s grip tightened on her hands. “What are you afraid of? The bad guy or me?” She blurted out, “I’m not afraid of either.” Her head dipped and she stared at her boots. “I’m afraid of me.” His heart melted at the way her bottom lip wobbled. “Why?” Her glance shifted to the corner of the room and she didn’t say anything for a full ten seconds. “I’ve been independent for so long, I’m afraid of becoming dependent on anyone.” “Relying on someone else doesn’t have to be a bad thing. And it’s only temporary, then you can go back to being independent.” She didn’t throw it back in his face, so he figured she was wavering. He went in for the clincher. “Besides, you saved my life twice.” He lifted one of her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss there. “I owe you.”

Title Page Christmas at Thunder Horse Ranch Elle James www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author A Golden Heart Award winner for Best Paranormal Romance in 2004, ELLE JAMES started writing when her sister issued a Y2K challenge to write a romance novel. She has managed a full-time job and raised three wonderful children, and she and her husband even tried their hands at ranching exotic birds (ostriches, emus and rheas) in the Texas Hill Country. Ask her, and she’ll tell you what it’s like to go toe-to-toe with an angry three-hundred-and-fifty-pound bird! After leaving her successful career in information technology management, Elle is now pursuing her writing full-time. Elle loves to hear from fans. You can contact her at ellejames@earthlink.net or visit her website at www.ellejames.com .

Dedication This book is dedicated to my fans who kept writing, asking when Dante would have his book. Without my fans I wouldn’t be pursuing the career I love. Thank you for reading and falling in love with my characters. May all your lives be blessed!

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

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Big sky...check. Flat plains...check. Storm clouds rolling in...check.

Like ticking off his preflight checklist, Dante Thunder Horse reviewed what was in front of him, a typical early winter day in North Dakota before the first real snowstorm of the season. It had been a strange December. Usually it snowed by Thanksgiving and the snow remained until well into April.

This year, the snow had come by Halloween and melted and still the ground hadn’t yet grown solid with permafrost.

Based on the low temperature and the clouds rolling in, that first real snow was about to hit their area. The kids of Grand Forks would be excited. With the holidays just around the corner, they’d have their white Christmas after all.

A hundred miles away from base, flying the U.S.-Canadian border as an air interdiction agent, or pilot, for the Customs and Border Protection, Dante was on a mission to check out a possible illegal border crossing called in by a concerned citizen. A farmer had seen a man on a snowmobile coming across the Canadian border.

He figured it was someone out joyriding who didn’t realize he’d done anything wrong. Still, Dante had to check. He didn’t expect anything wild or dangerously crazy to happen. The Canadian border didn’t have near the illegal crossings as the southern borders of the United States. Most of his sorties were spent enjoying the scenery and observing the occasional elk, moose or bear sighting.

Chris Biacowski, scheduled to fly copilot this sortie, had come down with the flu and called in sick.

Dante was okay with flying solo. He usually liked having the quiet time. Unless he started thinking about his past and what his future might have been had things worked out differently.

Three years prior, he’d been fighting Taliban in Afghanistan. He’d been engaged to Captain Samantha Olson, a personnel officer who’d been deployed at Bagram Airfield. Every chance he got he flew over to see her. They’d been planning their wedding and talking about what they’d put on their dream sheet for their next assignments.

After flying a particularly dangerous mission where his door gunner had taken a hit, Dante came back to base shaken and worried about his crew member. He stayed with the gunner until he was out of surgery. The gunner had survived.

But Dante’s life would be forever changed. When he had left on his mission, his fiancée had decided to go with a few others to visit a local orphanage.

On the way back, her vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. Three of the four people on board the military vehicle had died instantly. Samantha had survived long enough to get a call through to the base. By the time medics arrived, she’d lost too much blood.

Dante had constructed images in his mind of Samantha lying on the ground, the uniform she’d been so proud to wear torn, a pool of her own blood soaking into the desert sand.

He’d thought through the chain of events over and over, wondering if he’d gone straight from his mission to Bagram, would Samantha have stayed inside the wire instead of venturing out? Had their talk about the babies they wanted spurred her to visit the children no one wanted? Those whose parents had been collateral damage or killed by the Taliban as warning or retribution?

Today was the third anniversary of her death. When Chris had called in sick, Dante couldn’t cancel the flight, and he sure as hell couldn’t stay at home with his memories haunting him.

For three years, he’d pored over the events of that day, wishing he could go back and change things so that Samantha was still there. How was he expected to get on with his life when her memory haunted him?