Two classic Stone Creek tales from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Linda Lael Miller
A STONE CREEK CHRISTMAS
Stone Creek veterinarian Olivia OâBallivan communicates easily with animals, but men are another story. Especially rugged architect-turned-rancher Tanner Quinn. Oliviaâs uncanny bond with his daughter Sophieâs pony has him questioning her sanity, while she wonders if heâs not just a drugstore cowboy. Then twelve-year-old Sophie conspires with Olivia to get Tanner into the spirit of Christmas. But will a holiday miracle transform the globe-trotting Tanner into a rancherâand family manâfor all seasons?
AT HOME IN STONE CREEK
Everyone in Ashley OâBallivanâs life is marrying and starting familiesâexcept her. But why bother dating when no one can compare to Jack McCall, the man who left her heartbroken years ago? Now heâs back in townâand maybe he isnât who she thinks he is.
While recovering from a dangerous mission for the DEA, security expert Jack rents a room in Ashleyâs bed-and-breakfast. For both their sakes, he tries to keep his distance, though neither can deny the growing spark between them. But when his past catches up with him, heâll have to leave againâ¦just as he realizes where heâs always belongedâin Stone Creek.
Praise for the novels of #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Linda Lael Miller
âMiller tugs at the heartstrings as few authors can.â
âPublishers Weekly
âLinda Lael Miller creates vibrant characters and stories I defy you to forget.â
â#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber
âMillerâs attention to small details makes her stories a delight to read. With engaging characters and loveable animals, this second story in the Creed Cowboys trilogy is a sure hit for the legions of cowboy fans out there.â
âRT Book Reviews on Creedâs Honor
âMiller once again tells a memorable tale.â
âRT Book Reviews on A Creed in Stone Creek
âCompletely wonderful. Austinâs interactions with Paige are fun and lively and the mysteryâ¦
adds quite a suspenseful punch.â âRT Book Reviews on McKettricks of Texas: Austin
âMiller is the queen when it comes to creating sympathetic, endearing and lifelike characters. She paints each scene so perfectly readers hover on the edge of delicious voyeurism.â
âRT Book Reviews on McKettricks of Texas: Garrett
âA passionate love too long denied drives the action in this multifaceted, emotionally rich reunion story that overflows with breathtaking sexual chemistry.â
âLibrary Journal on McKettricks of Texas: Tate
âStrong characterization and a vivid western setting make for a fine historical romance.â
âPublishers Weekly on McKettrickâs Choice
Chapter One
SOMETIMES, ESPECIALLY in the dark of night, when pure exhaustion sank Olivia OâBallivan, DVM, into deep and stuporous sleep, she heard them callingâthe finned, the feathered, the four-legged.
Horses, wild or tame, dogs beloved and dogs lost, far from home, cats abandoned alongside country roads because theyâd become a problem for someone, or left behind when an elderly owner died.
The neglected, the abused, the unwanted, the lonely.
Invariably, the message was the same: Help me.
Even when Olivia tried to ignore the pleas, telling herself she was only dreaming, she invariably sprang to full wakefulness as though sheâd been catapulted from the bottom of a canyon. It didnât matter how many eighteen-hour days sheâd worked, between making stops at farms and ranches all over the county, putting in her time at the veterinary clinic in Stone Creek, overseeing the plans for the new, state-of-the-art shelter her famous big brother, Brad, a country musician, was building with the proceeds from a movie heâd starred in.
Tonight it was a reindeer.
Olivia sat blinking in her tousled bed, trying to catch her breath. Shoved both hands through her short dark hair. Her current foster dog, Ginger, woke up, too, stretching, yawning.
A reindeer?
âOâBallivan,â she told herself, flinging off the covers to sit up on the edge of the mattress, âyouâve really gone around the bend this time.â
But the silent cry persisted, plaintive and confused.
Olivia only sometimes heard actual words when the animals spoke, though Ginger was articulateâgenerally, it was more of an unformed concept made up of strong emotion and often images, somehow coalescing into an intuitive imperative. But she could see the reindeer clearly in her mindâs eye, standing on a frozen roadway, bewildered.
She recognized the adjoining driveway as her own. A long way down, next to the tilted mailbox on the main road. The poor creature wasnât hurtâjust lost. Hungry and thirsty, tooâand terribly afraid. Easy prey for hungry wolves and coyotes.