Sweet Blizzard, a Green Pines Small-Town Romance Novella: Green Pines Romance, #4

By Milou Koenings

Trey Bennett's an ex-con. Loren Williams is an East Coast socialite.

He saves her life when they're stranded in a blizzard, but she could make or break his.

Will love make it all right in time for Christmas?

A sweet romance about the healing power of love, this wholesome, clean-read novella is part of the Green Pines Romance series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Three Owls Media
• Release date: Jan 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386466482

Milou Koenings

Milou Koenings is an award-winning USA Today bestselling author who writes romance because, like chocolate, stories with happy endings bring joy to the world and so make it a better place.

Book preview

Three Owls Media

Copyright © 2015 by Milou Koenings.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Cover Design: Blue Valley Author Services

Book Layout ©2013 BookDesignTemplates.com

Book Title/ Author Name. Sweet Blizzard / Milou Koenings

Contents

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Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

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A Note from the Author

Contact Information

Reclaiming Home

Chapter one

To my family, for all the cherished memories of loving holidays spent together.

PRAISE FOR MILOU KOENINGS

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Milou Koenings ... writes about relationships and self-exploration. 'Oh rats! The book is over!' and you are sad and head directly to Milou Koenings’s website to see if she’s written anything else because she’s that good.

~ Bubble Bath Books

Ms. Koenings is a gifted author whom I look forward to reading again in the future!

~ Teresa Hughes

Chapter One

The Lear jet careened through thick clouds, buffeted by winds, dropping in sudden air pockets without warning. Only the occasional screams coming from the flight attendant, who was strapped in a seat somewhere at the back, punctuated the ride.

When the plane landed in Chicago, Loren could hardly move. The captain stepped out of the cabin. A little more turbulence than usual, eh? he commented, but she could see the strain around his eyes.

She was still shaking when she took the wheel of the rental Mercedes Benz waiting for her on the tarmac. She was glad she’d decided to drive rather than go by helicopter. She turned onto the highway. Two hours and she should be there.

It was snowing lightly and the setting sun turned the drifting flakes to magical gold. If not for the maelstrom she had just traversed, she’d never have known there was a blizzard coming.

Chapter Two

Trey froze as the alarm rang in the building. The sound bounced through the locker door he was holding. Throughout the building, other metal doors slammed shut. He bit the inside of his cheek and waited for it to end, forcing himself to breathe through it. Years, and it was still an assault on his system. The alarm stopped abruptly, pitching him into silence. Trey let out his breath slowly. Deliberately, he put on his parka. Closed the locker and spun the dial on the combination lock. Picked up his backpack. Willed the claustrophobia away.

In the lobby, Jim Courtland, the physician on call, was entering data at the reception desk terminal. The computer in his office had been vandalized the week before. It was a wonder this one was still intact, even with its chain of faded paper reindeer that sagged across the back of the monitor. Courtland glanced up as Trey came down the steps from the staff room. Hey, Skunk. Running late, tonight, he commented.

Trey nodded. He usually made it a point to leave before the lights-out bell. One of the kids had a breakdown. Breakthrough. Depends where he goes with it. He shrugged, the casual tone belying how much he hoped it would be the latter, how much he cared about that kid.

It’s looking bad out there, you know? Courtland nodded toward the door. You’re sure you don’t want to stay here tonight? There’s always the couch in the lounge.

Trey glanced through the barred window next to the front door. In the yellow puddle of a streetlight, fat snowflakes were coming down at a steady pace. He had a long drive home. He bit the inside of his cheek again. A prudent man would follow Courtland’s advice. But the staff room’s door locked automatically, even if he had the code. There would be the alarms, clanging in the morning, startling awake on an adrenalin rush of panic. The metal doors. Trey tasted blood – he’d bit down too hard. Forget it – he’d take his chances on the road. He wasn’t ever going to spend another night in a lockdown facility, not if he could help it.

I've got snow chains if I need them, he said. Thanks anyway.

Courtland looked after him doubtfully. See you tomorrow.

~*~

Trey hadn’t reached the end of the street before being pretty convinced he wasn’t going to be at work tomorrow. The snow was coming down hard. The road wasn’t too bad yet, not with his four-wheel truck, but once out of town, it was going to be hard to see. He was grateful for the chains. Although the road wasn’t icy, the snow was accumulating quickly, and the wind was pushing it around in large drifts.

Still, his hands gripping the wheel, Trey could feel himself relax as the distance between him and Spero House grew. Spero House was a lockdown drug rehab facility that tried to provide lower-income teens with the same services as a private clinic. Trey had been working there as a substance abuse counselor since getting his master's degree. He thought of the kids he counseled, confined to the building. For their own good or not, it wasn’t much different from prison.

Forcing himself to leave the kids’ problems behind him, Trey turned on the radio – anything to keep his thoughts out of there. The station was playing Christmas songs. Better than nothing, Trey reminded himself. After a few songs, however, the announcer began an interview and Trey smiled – Green Pines Radio was talking to his brother. Mac was probably the only person Sam, the DJ, had found to interview in this weather, seeing as Mac lived next door to the radio station. He worked as the concierge of the Green Pines Bed and Breakfast in exchange for free rent. He and Sam were discussing the potentially devastating effect the blizzard could have on the fragile Green Pines economy – with only a few more shopping days before Christmas, having the town snowed in was sure to put a damper on the area’s businesses.

Perhaps, but Trey welcomed the promise of a quiet day to write. The manuscript for his fourth novel was due at the publisher just after the holidays. Subconsciously, his hand patted his chest pocket, making sure the e-mail he'd printed out was still there. It was from his agent and he’d carried it around with him since it had come yesterday, quietly thrilled at the news. First the Man Booker Prize nomination, now this. Don't get too excited, Trey reminded himself – it was just a rumor his agent had overheard, nothing official, yet. There wouldn’t be,