A mud-slinging battle ensued until every inch of their clothing was covered in smelly muck.
âEnough!â Logan hollered, collapsing on the embankment, sides heaving with laughter.
Fletcher fell down next to him, chuckling. âMan, I havenât heard you laugh like that in a long time.â
His friendâs words sobered Logan. He struggled to catch his breath.
A long silence stretched between the men, then Fletcher spoke. âYou think I should have given Sandi a second chanceâfor Dannyâs sake?â
The two men were thirty years old, their birthdays two weeks apart in July. Theyâd been friends since kindergarten and had stuck by each other through thick and thin. Through divorce and death.
âDid Sandi want a second chance?â Logan asked.
âNo.â
âDid you want a second chance with her?â
âNo.â Fletcher released a loud gust of air from his lungs. âIf Bethany had cheated on you, would you have divorced her?â
âI donât know.â Logan wished Bethany had cheated, instead of dying. âWeâre a real pair, arenât we?â
Dear Reader,
I love writing about cowboys and what a treat itâs been writing not one but two cowboy Christmas stories. In A Cowboy Christmas best friends Logan Taylor and Fletcher McFadden have each recently struggled through hard times and theyâre hesitant to give love a try again. Logan must find the courage to move on after his wifeâs death and Fletcher struggles with dating and single fatherhood after his recent divorce.
Christmas isnât just a holiday for presents and parties. Itâs also a time for forgiveness and new beginnings. I hope you enjoy reading how Logan and Fletcher find their happy-ever-afters with the women they least expected to.
May the spirit of Christmas fill your heart and bring many blessings to you and your loved ones.
For more information on my books visit www.marinthomas.com. For up-to-date news on Harlequin American Romance authors and their books visit www.harauthors.blogspot.com.
Happy reading!
Marin
A Cowboy Christmas
A Christmas Baby
Marry Me, Cowboy
Marin Thomas
Marin Thomas grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Arizona in Tucson on a Division I basketball scholarship. In 1986 she graduated with a B.A. in radio-television and married her college sweetheart in a five-minute ceremony in Las Vegas. Marin was inducted in May 2005 into the Janesville Sports Hall of Fame for her basketball accomplishments. Even though she now calls Chicago home, sheâs a living testament to the old adage âYou can take the girl out of the small town, but you canât take the small town out of the girl.â Marinâs heart still lies in small-town life, which she loves to write about in her books.
A CHRISTMAS BABY
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
MARRY ME, COWBOY
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Epilogue
To my son, Thomasâ
congratulations on your high school graduation! Iâm proud of the wonderful young man youâve become. Whatever path you choose in life I hope it brings you happiness, joy and most of all love.
Go get âem, Dude!
âHow the hell did your bull end up in my mud bog?â Logan Taylor asked his best friend and neighbor, Fletcher McFadden. Fletcher had called Logan a half hour ago requesting help. Luckily Logan had his cell phone with him in the barn where heâd been mucking out stalls.
âDanny left the gate open again.â Danny was Fletcherâs seven-year-old son. The kid was a handful.
Logan didnât comment on the boyâs carelessness. Danny was going through a rough patch after Fletcher and the boyâs mother divorced. Come to think about it, all three of themâDanny, Fletcher and himselfâhad seen better days. âI brought a sling,â Logan said. Heâd also loaded a few hay bales into the truck bed. Heâd spread the hay around the edge of the bog to help the bull gain its footing after the animal was freed. He motioned to Fletcher who stood knee-deep in muck. âWhat do you plan to doâpush the bull end over end until he rolls out of there?â
âHa, ha. Hurry up, hoss. My feet are numb.â
Logan tossed two ends of the sling through the air. A warm spell had ushered in the first week of December, but a chill hung in the early-morning air and white clouds puffed from Fletcherâs mouth as he struggled to work the harness beneath the ten inches of space between the bullâs belly and the mud.
âYou ever think about fixing this bog?â Fletcher grunted.
Granted, Logan should have filled the mud hole long ago. The problem was he didnât give a crap about much anymore. After Bethany died everything had lost its urgency. He was marking time. Waiting for something to change his life. Waiting forâ¦just waiting.
Although Fletcher had his share of troubles recovering from a divorce and raising a son, heâd tried to drag Logan back into the world of the living after Bethanyâs death. Logan appreciated his friendâs concern but preferred a solitary existence.