He has home advantage...
But sheâs got a strong defensive play.
Hockey star Troy Green never gives up. Not on the ice. Not when he battled cancer last year. And not when it comes to his new neighbor, Michelle Robinson. Troy only wants to help the struggling single mom and her sweet kids, but soon heâs falling for her. Is Troy finally ready to trade in his bachelor life and become a family man?
KIM FINDLAY lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband, two sons and the worldâs cutest dog. When she can get time away from her accounting business, she can be found sailing, reading or writing, depending on the season, time of day and her energy level. You can find her at kimfindlay.ca, on Twitter, @missheyer74, or on Facebook.
ISBN: 978-1-474-08499-4
HER FAMILYâS DEFENDER
© 2018 Kim Findlay
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a âLicensed Deviceâ) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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âLet your mom have some caffeine first!â
Troy passed Michelle a cup of coffee. The tree had more presents underneath it now than it had when sheâd finally gone to bed last night. She glanced up at him. He met her gaze with a big grin and grabbed her free hand.
âI know you donât want charity, but Iâve got more money than I need and no one to spend it on. You guys have had a tough time, and I know you wanted to make this Christmas special for the kids.â
His eyes were warm, and his expression sincere.
âPlus, this should get me out of doing dishes, shouldnât it?â His eyes sparkled as he broke the serious mood.
Michelle took back her hand, reluctantly. It had felt better than it should have. Sheâd invited Troy for Christmas, thinking she was paying him back for all heâd managed to do for them. But somehow, heâd turned things around again, and she was even more in his debt.
Dear Reader,
Iâm thrilled to be here with my second Harlequin Heartwarming book, and that youâre here, as well!
We met Troy in my first book, Crossing the Goal Line. He wasnât exactly hero material. But what if he lost some of his macho attitude? What if he got sick, and couldnât have kids? How would that affect him?
Then I considered what kind of woman could match him. Sheâd need to be strong. And who would be stronger than an army veteran? Enter Michelle, widowed, newly discharged, with two kids. The trio push Troy out of his comfort zone, and inspire him to be a better man.
Iâd love to hear from readers. You can find me at kimfindlay.ca, on Facebook under KimFindlayAuthor or on Twitter, @missheyer74.
Kim
To Victoria, Claire, Adrienne and Jessica,
who have made me believe Iâm a writer.
CHAPTER ONE
TROY HAD NEVER realized that the carpet in the hallway of his condo building had green in the pattern. But then, heâd never had his nose shoved into it before. As he breathed in the musty odor, he tried to assess just how much trouble he was in.
A crazy fan had somehow flipped Troy over, pinned his arm behind his back and sat on him. Not good. On the other hand, he was bigger than she was, and he should be able to get free; he just didnât want to do any damage to his arm while he did so. Training camp was starting soon, and after missing all of last year, he needed to be healthy and ready to play.