Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A Creed Country Christmas-Linda Lael Miller

A Creed Country Christmas
Linda Lael Miller
Harlequin HQN, Oct 27 2009, $16.95
ISBN: 9780373774050

In December 1910 her Denver based family disowned Juliana Mitchell for refusing to marry because they demanded she do so. Instead she obtains work as a teacher at an Indian school in Stillwater Springs, Montana. She takes it personally when the school is shut. She worries about the welfare of her four students, but has no funds and her pompous brother refuses to send what is legally hers.

Widowed cowboy Lincoln Creed has failed to find a governess or for that matter anyone to care for his seven year old daughter Gracie. He knows of Juliana’s plight so offers her a deal that he assumes she cannot refuse. Juliana accepts his offer to stay at the Stillwater Springs Ranch with her students and his daughter for Christmas. As the two adults are caught in a compromising situation that forces them to marry, each wonders whether it will prove a Yuletide gift wrapped in love or otherwise.

The latest tale in the Creed saga is a terrific entry starring the legendary Lincoln and the Indian School teacher who proves to him the lightning of love can strike twice. The lead couple makes the story line starting in the general store in which Lincoln reprimands the owner for his nasty treatment of the children and his buying the tin. Although the kids especially Gracie are a bit too precocious, the audience will appreciate this strong character driven Big Sky early twentieth holiday romance.

Harriet Klausner

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