Hill Country Christmas

Laurie Kingery

Indulge your fantasies of delicious Regency Rakes, fierce Viking warriors and rugged Highlanders. Be swept away into a world of intense passion, lavish settings and romance that burns brightly through the centuriesOvernight, Delia Keller went from penniless preacher's grdaughter to rich young heiress.She's determined to use her money to find the security she's always lacked. building herself a new house by Christmas is her first priority. But hsome Jude Tucker is challenging her plans her heart. . . .The former Civil War chaplain hasn't felt peace in a very long time, he has a hard time letting go of his past. But as Jude gets to know the spirited Delia, he longs to show her what true Christmas joy means.In the rugged Texas Hill Country, he'll reach for a miracle to restore his faith. . . give Delia his love for all seasons.

“Are you Miss Delia Keller?”

She nodded. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Tucker—Jude Tucker, and I’m here because your father wanted me to come see you.”

Delia could hardly believe her ears. “My father? You know my father? When will he be here? Oh, I knew he’d be back some day!”

A cloud seemed to pass over his face. “He…he’s not coming, Miss Keller. I’m sorry to have to tell you he’s dead.”

Delia felt the earth shift beneath her feet and she would have fallen if the stranger hadn’t steadied her. “What…what happened to my father?” she asked.

“He died mining silver out in Nevada. There was a mine collapse….”

“Thank you for coming to tell me about my father’s death, Mr. Tucker.”

“But I didn’t travel all this way just to inform you of his death. I came to bring you something. You’re his only living heir, after all.”

“Heir?”

“Well, I suppose heiress would be the proper word. Your father died a rich man, Miss Keller. And now all his wealth is yours.”

LAURIE KINGERY

makes her home in central Ohio where she is a “Texan-in-exile.” Formerly writing as Laurie Grant for Harlequin Historicals and other publishers, she is an author of sixteen previous books. She was the winner of the 1994 Readers’ Choice Award in the short historical category, and was nominated for Best First Medieval and Career Achievement in Western Historical Romance by Romantic Times BOOKreviews. When not writing her historicals, she loves to travel, read, read her e-mails and write her blog on www.lauriekingery.com.

Laurie Kingery

Hill Country Christmas

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

—Psalms 37:4

To the beautiful Hill Country of Texas,

the place my soul feels most at home this side

of Heaven, and to all my relatives in Texas,

especially Aunt Joann.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Epilogue

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Llano Crossing, Texas—August 1867

“He was a good man, Miss Delia. He’s certainly in the arms of Jesus now.”

“God rest his soul.”

“God bless you in your time of sorrow, Miss Delia.”

The hillside that had been covered in the golden glory of a Texas spring when Reverend McKinney had begun to fade—primroses and coreopsis, gaillardia and red-centered Indian blanket, punctuated here and there by bluebonnets lingering from the month before—was now, after the summer sun had done its work, sere and brown. It seemed a fitting backdrop for the unrelieved black garments of the figures in the valley who stood around the deep rectangular hole into which a coffin had just been lowered.

Sorrow didn’t begin to name the endless depth of Delia’s grief. Her grandpa had been the only element of stability she had experience