Return of the Christmas Bride

By Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

They fell in love as teenagers and became lovers, promised to wed. Delaney Sackett wanted to experience the wider world to attend college elsewhere but Guthrie Travis begs her not to go, afraid she won't come back. When she does, they plan a Christmas wedding.

She leaves again and doesn't return for a decade and by then, everything they once had is ancient history. When she returns to their hometown, their chance meeting ends in a kiss. They talk about what happened and realize that neither had known the full story. Within weeks, they're together again, planning another Christmas wedding that neither believes anything can stop.

When Delaney is abducted, however, their lives—and the wedding—are on hold and hers may hang in the balance. With days left until the planned Christmas Eve wedding, it will take a holiday miracle for Delaney to return and for the wedding to kick off the rest of their lives together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight
• Release date: Dec 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9780369507365

Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Growing up in historic St. Joseph, Missouri, Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy scribbled her stories from an early age. Her first publication – a poem on the children’s page of the local newspaper – seems to have set her fate. As a full time author, she has more than twenty full length novels published along with assorted novellas and short fiction. A contributor to more than two dozen anthologies, her credits include Chicken Soup For The Soul among many collections of short fiction. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Missouri Writers Guild, and the Ozark Writers League. Lee Ann earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Missouri Southern State University as well as an Associate Degree from Crowder College. She has worked in broadcasting, retail, and other fields including education. She is currently a substitute school teacher. As a wife and mother of three, she spends her days penning stories, cooking, reading, and other daily duties. She currently makes her home in the Missouri Ozarks, living in what passes for suburbs in a small town.

Book preview

Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2022 Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

ISBN: 978-0-3695-0736-5

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Lisa Petrocelli

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For my late mother, Carol Sontheimer, born on Christmas, who was my first beta reader and always encouraged me to pursue my dreams and write.

RETURN OF THE

CHRISTMAS BRIDE

Romance on the Go ®

Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Copyright © 2022

Chapter One

Ten Years Ago

August sunlight slanted through the curtain of trees above the old swimming hole on Hickory Creek as teenagers splashed and swam in the depths. A cooler filled with cheap beer and some soft drinks sat on the rocks at the edge of the water. Eighteen-year-old Delaney Sackett sprawled on a towel, sunning. In the heat, her scant spaghetti-string top and worn denim shorts had dried but her long hair remained damp. She sat up to comb it out as Guthrie Travis approached, dripping creek water. He sat down beside her and took the comb from her hand. Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she couldn’t breathe. As her boyfriend for two years, Delaney loved him more than she had words to say. He wanted her to stay in Missouri, go to college close enough to return home on at least some weekends, but that wasn’t her plan.

Delaney had been awarded a scholarship to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, a bedroom community for Washington, DC. She would pursue a bachelor of fine arts in creative writing there. Her work in the high school publications class earned a few awards and her work in the creative writing class brought praise. One of her short stories had earned a top award in the local community college’s annual literary magazine. Delaney planned to become a bestselling author and she couldn’t resist the lure Mason offered.

Let’s go out tonight, Guthrie said after the kiss. I’ll take you to eat steak if you want.

How about Greek? she replied. Preparing for her new life, she’d been trying different things, ones she thought were swanky and high class.

He made a face. If you want, sure. Me, I’d rather have a steak.

You can get a steak there, Delaney told him. And I can get mousaka.

All right. Guthrie caved too easily. Then I thought I’d get a hotel room out at the casino.

Delaney smiled. Perfect.

As her first lover, she’d yielded her virginity to him after prom, so cliché but it had been romantic too. With a week until she had to head east, she wanted to spend every possible minute with Guthrie. They weren’t engaged but she wore his promise ring, a beautiful little diamond surrounded with diamond chips in the shape of a heart. Two black diamonds flanked the center stones in a sterling silver band. Someday, they would be married, she knew it and so did he. First, Delaney had to test her wings and see if she could fly elsewhere.

At the hotel, he rented a beautiful room on the sixth floor with a king-sized bed and a view that overlooked a wide panorama of Oklahoma. The casino sat a few feet over the Missouri border to be legal. Although they could have idled time away gambling, they didn’t. Guthrie removed his jeans, his Western shirt, and his boots, then opened his arms. Delaney discarded her clothes with speed and came to him, nude and willing. His dark brown eyes lit at the sight and he took her into his arms. Guthrie buried his face between her breasts and sighed with delight.

Then he