All Is Calm: A Lonestar Christmas Novella by Colleen Coble

Author:Colleen Coble
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2014-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

It was going to be hard to hide the puppy for another week. The poor thing didn’t leave Lauren’s side, so she put him in her bed and turned out the light. He snuggled against her, and she rested her chin on top of his soft head.

What a lovely, lovely day. She liked Brendan entirely too much. Even her reckless heart recognized the danger. Before long, he’d recover from his injury and he’d be off on another adventure. She didn’t want the kind of man who left her worried and anxious. What kind of life would that be? And he might die and leave her, just like Mom.

Even if he had feelings for her, and there were no guarantees about that, she was treading on dangerous ground. There seemed to be some kind of attraction between them, but her naïveté could lead her to read more into his intense glances than he intended. She wasn’t a good judge of what men thought.

What if he is looking to add me to his conquests?

She rejected the thought immediately. He wasn’t that kind of guy. Integrity resided in every cell of his body. She would bet her life on that. Besides, Rick and Allie adored him.

So what did those warm glances and the tension between them mean? And did she want it to lead to anything at all?

She inhaled the good scent of new puppy and closed her eyes only to open them at a sound outside her door. It might have only been one of the horses moving about, but something about the sliding, muffled noise sounded furtive. Maybe it was just Brendan coming to check on her and the puppy.

Cradling the little dog against her chest, she slipped out of bed and stepped to the door. She put her ear against the door but heard nothing. She opened it a crack and peered out. The inside of the barn was dark, illuminated in spots by the moon shining through the windows.

“Hello? Anyone there?”

A horse snuffled in answer, but there was no other sound. She shut the door and went back to her room. Her imagination again. She climbed back into bed and slid under the sheet. Her pulse finally slowed, and she closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed, and she began to drift toward sleep.

In her dream she was struggling with a dark figure in the bed who was choking her. She couldn’t breathe. She slammed her hand against his head, and when her fingertips scratched against rough beard—This was no dream! Her eyes flew open, but it was too dark to make out more than a figure looming over her with his hands on her neck.

Gasping for air, she kicked the sheet away from her and shoved her hands upward. His fingers around her neck didn’t budge. The puppy yapped as she struggled harder, and she felt him lunge away from her.

The man cursed, and the puppy yelped but didn’t come back to her for shelter. She had to help him.

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