The Maverick's Holiday Surprise. Karen Smith Rose
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A Wedding In The Works?
RUST CREEK RAMBLINGS
We here at the Gazette are amazed to report that trust-fund cowboy Hudson Jones may soon be off the market. The boyish billionaire has been spending more time than ever with Bella Stockton, who manages his day-care center. It seems impossible that quiet, reserved Bella would have captured the fancy of such an alluring specimen of manhood.
Bella finds it hard to believe herself, and she keeps pushing Hudson away. What are the odds the footloose cowboy will stick around once he finds out she can’t have kids? Don’t tell Bella, but our sources report Hudson has his heart set on a Christmas proposal. When he finds out the truth, will it still be a holiday to remember?
“You went to an awful lot of trouble for me today. I guess I have to wonder why.”
“I didn’t want you dropping from exhaustion at the day care center,” Hudson said wryly, skirting the question.
Still, she kept her gaze on him. “So you’d do this for any of your employees?” She motioned to the meal and the house and he knew what she meant.
“No, I wouldn’t. You’re special, Bella.”
Her pretty brows arched. “Usually when a man does something like this, he wants something in return.”
He put down the wing he was about to eat. “Maybe I do. That kiss just didn’t happen out of the blue. There’s been something simmering since we met. Don’t you agree?”
She looked flustered. “I don’t know what you mean. I—”
“Bella, tell me the truth. If you can honestly say you don’t feel any sparks between us, I’ll drop the whole thing, take you home, not approach you again with anything in my mind other than a boss-and-employee relationship.”
“That’s what we should have,” she reminded him.
“Maybe. Are you going to answer my question?”
* * *
Montana Mavericks:
The Baby Bonanza—
Meet Rust Creek Falls’ newest bundles of joy!
The Maverick’s Holiday Surprise
Karen Rose Smith
USA TODAY bestselling author KAREN ROSE SMITH’s eighty-seventh novel was released in 2015. Her passion is caring for her four rescued cats, and her hobbies are gardening, cooking and photography. An only child, Karen delved into books at an early age. Even though she escaped into story worlds, she had many cousins around her on weekends. Families are a strong theme in her novels. Find out more about Karen at www.karenrosesmith.com.
To my dad,
who would have been 100 years old this year.
With his 35 mm camera, he gave me my love
of capturing memories with photography.
I miss you, Daddy.
Contents
Hudson Jones was used to getting his own way. But as he stood in the doorway of his office at the Just Us Kids Day Care Center, he had a feeling he wouldn’t get his way this time. Bella Stockton had him stymied.
The day care manager was beautiful—tall and willowy with wispy short blond hair. He’d tried to flirt with her over the past month that he’d been here to see to the day-to-day running of the center. After all, a cowboy could get lonely underneath the big Montana sky. But unlike the other pretty women he’d flirted with over his thirty years, Bella didn’t respond to him.
He studied her as she talked with a mother, one who’d apparently been involved in the parent-teacher conferences scheduled at Just Us Kids after normal business hours. Hudson recognized the expression on the parent’s face. Over the last couple of months, he’d dealt with his share of upset parents. An outbreak of RSV—respiratory syncytial virus—had hit Just Us Kids, sending one of the children to the hospital, which had prompted her parents to file a lawsuit. The day care had been cleared, but the damage to its reputation had been done.
He moved a little closer to the main desk in the reception area where Bella sat.
Marla Tillotson was pointing her finger at Bella. “If I even see another child here with sniffles, I’m pulling Jimmy out and enrolling him in Country Kids.” She