Sleigh Bells Ring by Sandra D. Bricker

Author:Sandra D. Bricker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Published: 2016-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter One

Sophie Tucker loosened her white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel of her 1999 white Ranger pickup as she gradually slowed to pull into the ice- and snow-covered driveway. Home . . . finally. She heaved a sigh of relief.

What should have been a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Nashville to Bluegrass Crossing outside of Lexington, Kentucky, had turned into six hours, and she’d spent another half hour creeping along the rural road to the horse farm where she’d grown up. As she gently turned the steering wheel to the right, the truck’s rear-end fishtailed. Panicked, she turned into the skid to stop her slide into a deep ditch. Instead of gaining control, her truck spun around, one wheel hitting the gravel shoulder. She gunned the engine, but that only made things worse.

Her anxiety level hit the stratosphere when she realized what she feared most was happening, almost as if in slow motion. Her Ranger slid sideways down the six-foot embankment, and she thought it might roll over. She screamed, “Jesus!” over and over again until she came to rest at a 45-degree angle, the downhill side of her truck buried in snow.

Breathing hard, her heart throbbing in her throat, Sophie shut off the engine and dropped her head on the steering wheel. When someone rapped hard on her side window, she whipped her head around, trying to see through the frost. Someone yanked on her door handle. She turned the key back on and rolled down her window, looking up into the bluest eyes she’d seen in a long time. Not since high school anyway.

Ice crystals pelted her face. “Matthew Weatherly, you scared the life out of me.”

“Right back at ya, Soph. I had just walked out of the stable when I saw you skidding into the ditch.”

“What are you doing here?”

Smiling in relief, he poked his head inside, his warm breath caressing her cheek. “Looks like I’m rescuing you, Peanut. We need to get you out of there before your pickup decides to roll. Unlock your door.”

Sophie’s heart slowed now that she was safe, and she felt the return of those melted-chocolate feelings she once had for her first real crush. Not that he’d ever known how she felt about him back when they goofed around in their church’s youth group and rode horses together. He was a senior when she was a lowly sophomore. He had all the girlfriends he wanted, and she didn’t qualify. Then he’d graduated and joined the military—traitor—just like his hero Tuck. Her father’s nickname stuck in her throat.

She broke his friendly stare and reached for her truck keys. “I don’t need rescuing. I push around thousand-pound thoroughbreds for a living, remember?”

“How could I forget, Dr. Sophia Tucker, equine veterinarian extraordinaire?” he drawled. “Your daddy was really proud of you.”

Sophie bit her tongue, aware of the cold steel door that slammed closed in her heart. What she wanted to say was, Oh, you mean the father who abandoned my mother and his four daughters and ran off to play war games? Like I care what he thought.

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