Away in a Manger: Poplar Ridge Ranch, #1

By J. C. Owens

A coming storm, a gift beyond price, and a love that must find its way...

A storm is headed toward the Poplar Ridge Ranch on Christmas Eve. But for Nathan, the storm has already arrived. His relationship with Malcolm, the man he's loved for years, is under threatening skies and a blizzard chill. Malcolm is a city boy, and he's always felt restless on the ranch. Nathan has done all he can to make Mal happy, but he can't escape the fear that their differences are slowly tearing them apart. As Nathan rides off to tend to an injured horse, he knows a turning point is coming fast. He feels helpless to save a relationship that means everything to him, and he knows time is running out.

Malcolm feels restless and doesn't know why. Nathan has done everything to make his life here on the ranch a good one, to make a home for them both. Yet, it doesn't seem to be enough for his creative soul. Maybe sometimes love isn't enough. But when he learns his nephew has gone missing, thrown out by his mother for being gay, Mal fears for the boy's safety. Especially since he might be making his way to the isolated ranch with the winter storm rushing down on them. But as the storm hits, his worries deepen. Nathan hasn't returned from the upper pasture either...only his ornery horse, Nutter, has come back with an empty saddle. Now it will take a holiday miracle to show two men that everything they are, everything they need, is tied up in a love that deserves a second chance.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wolf Hill Publishing
• Release date: Aug 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201004293

Book preview

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Look for these titles from J. C. Owens

Title Page

Copyright Warning

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

About the Author

Also by J. C. Owens

More Romance Available Now

Look for these titles from J. C. Owens

The Poplar Ridge Ranch Series

Away in a Manger (Book One)

Stormborn

The Gaven Series

Gaven (Book One)

Gaven: The Bonding (Book Two)

Draconian Measures (Book Three)

Parting Truth (Book Four)

The Siren’s Call Series

Siren’s Call (Book One)

King’s Bane (Book Two)

The Anrodnes Chronicles

Dark Rain (Book One)

Night of Rain (Book Two)

Drums in the Rain (Book Three)

Rainfall (Book Four)

The Taken Series

Taken (Book One)

Out of the Darkness (Book Two)

The Wings Series

Wings (Book One)

Wings 2: Dominion of the Eth (Book Two)

The Tarsus Series

Tarsus (Book One)

Fire and Ice (Book Two)

Wishes

The Ice Prince

Betrayal

The Falling

Soulseeker

The Chosen

Dragon Forge

Farfall

The Emperor’s Wolf

Deepwater

Atone

AWAY IN A MANGER

Poplar Ridge Ranch Book One

J. C. Owens

Etopia Press

Copyright Warning

EBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared, or given away. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is a crime punishable by law. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to or downloaded from file sharing sites, or distributed in any other way via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/).

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Published By

Etopia Press

1643 Warwick Ave., #124

Warwick, RI 02889

https://etopiapressblog.wordpress.com

Away in a Manger

Copyright © 2020 by J. C. Owens

ISBN: 978-1-949719-63-5

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Etopia Press electronic publication: November 2020

CHAPTER ONE

The alarm blared, and Nathan rolled to his side, hitting the sleep button with the mindless ease of familiarity.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes, trying to gain at least a semblance of awareness.

It got harder to wake every morning, what with his lack of sleep, and… He pushed those thoughts out of his head. It was Christmas Eve morning, but work on a ranch didn’t wait for holidays.

The warmth at his hip was both familiar and precious.

Malcolm was sleeping face down in his usual pose, sprawled utterly like an octopus across the king-size bed, leaving Nathan precious little room.

Just the way he liked it.

With newfound caution, he reached out to stroke through thick, golden curls, never tiring of the soft texture and the way the strands wrapped around his fingers, seeming to hold him close, even when Mal was sleeping.

He had woken just this way for all the fifteen years they had been together, and never did the sense of wonder lessen, that he had been gifted with such a soul to love, to hold, to have in his formerly barren life.

He swallowed hard, tears rising to blur his vision for a long moment before he blinked them away and slid from the bed with care, turning back to pull the covers up over Malcolm with loving hands. He gave a last stroke over the unruly hair, grimacing as his lover pulled away, even in sleep, to bury his head under a pillow before falling still once more.

He withdrew his hand, fingers curling in against his palm, a hard lump lodging somewhere deep in his chest, a lump that grew larger each day, with each new, small rejection, with each sign that their path, once something they walked together, bound by love, was changing into something he hardly recognized, something that drained his energy and made him drag through the day.

Nathan drew in a shuddering breath, then quietly searched for his clothing, creeping from the room to dress in the adjoining guest bedroom.

In sock feet, he made his way down the stairs, adroitly avoiding the two steps from the bottom that creaked hideously and could wake the dead.

In the kitchen, newly renovated and still strange to him, he opened the gleaming refrigerator door and contemplated the contents for some time before reaching for the milk. He took a box of cereal from the pantry, something Malcolm always said had no true nutrition.

In the old days…

In the good times, Mal had insisted on getting up with him, a sacrifice of great proportion when his lover was never a morning person. He had cooked Nathan a large, filling morning meal, an appropriate start to the day, especially in the cold of winter, when it was hard to step out the door and face the chores in the darkness of the short days.

He stood now at the large kitchen window, eating his cereal with blank indifference, staring out at the beauty that was their home.

Despite his pain, he could never see the view with anything but love.

He had been born on this ranch, raised here, took over when his father had finally died and his mother had moved into town.

He saw it as a slice of heaven on earth.

Malcolm increasingly saw it as a prison.

Nathan had spent a small fortune trying to upgrade the ranch house, make it into something that Malcolm could invite his friends to and be proud of.

It didn’t seem to be enough.

Nathan didn’t seem to be enough anymore.

He choked down the last mouthful of tasteless boxed cereal and carefully washed