Best friends go their separate ways, only to end up on the same Montana ranch at Christmas 10 years later. This inspirational, heartwarming romance will take you to a place where holiday traditions are deeply rooted institutions and where love can heal all wounds.
Jessica James
Give us the one to two sentence tagline for your book.
Best friends go their separate ways, only to end up on the same Montana ranch at Christmas 10 years later.
What is your favorite scene/moment in your book?
When they first see each other after a ten year separation
Does your heroine prefer a real or artificial tree for Christmas?
Real
Would your hero hang mistletoe?
No
What scene did you adore writing in this book?
The final one where everything comes together!
What is your heroine’s favorite Christmas tradition?
There are lots of family traditions in Sleigh Bells Ring, but the heroine loved that her father hid a sleigh bell for her to find every year.
Does your hero love or hate snow?
Loves
For Christmas, will you be having turkey, goose, ham, prime rib, or something else?
Venison
What’s the strangest Christmas tradition your family does to celebrate?
We do most of our family celebrating on Christmas Eve because it was my grandparent’s anniversary.
Excerpt from Sleigh Bells Ring
Chad Devlin leaned one broad shoulder against the porch post of the bunkhouse as a limousine pulled through the elegant arched gateway. “Another guest just arrived for the Christmas gala,” he said to no one in particular.
“Another city slicker you mean.” The man standing beside him sent a slug of tobacco onto the dirt near the steps as the car drove slowly up the gravel driveway to the main house about a hundred yards away.
Chad lifted the hat off his brow and scowled at the brown smudge on the ground, but didn’t say anything. Judd had been warned by Mrs. Dunaway about spitting anywhere he pleased, any number of times. It wasn’t exactly the type of thing that wealthy folks wanted to see when they were getting away from it all on this high-priced luxury ranch in the middle-of-nowhere, Montana. And it wasn’t behavior that one would expect from a man who was in charge of dozens of ranch hands.
With his eyes glued on the woman getting out of the car, Chad took a step forward, causing the coffee in his mug to slurp over the top. “Is that Jordyn Dunaway?”
Judd let out a whistle as the long-legged blonde accepted the suitcase handed to her by the driver. “I’ve only seen pictures.” Judd leaned forward and squinted as if to lessen the distance between them. “You know her?”
Chad grew silent and merely shrugged, angry that he’d expressed any emotion and let down his guard. He hadn’t seen Jordyn Dunaway since she’d left for a job in New York City more than a decade ago. Was that really her? Had she really come back home after all this time?
The woman paused on the porch and swept the golden tumble of hair off her shoulders, an action that flaunted a regal confidence and stately poise. Chad mumbled under his breath as another splash of hot coffee breached the top of the trembling mug, burning his hand.
Trying to slow the pace of his heart, Chad looked away and took a deep breath. Would Jordyn remember their last night together? Would she even remember him after traveling around the world and being away from the ranch for so long?
His gaze went back to the main house, but the door had already closed behind her.
Squeezing his temples, Chad tried to stop the memories. He even closed his eyes in a futile attempt to block the images that were branded in his mind as the best—and the worst—moments of his life.
Jessica James believes in honor, duty, and true love—and that’s what she writes about in her award-winning novels that span the ages from the Revolutionary War to modern day.
She is a four-time winner of the John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction, and has won more than a dozen other literary awards, including a Readers’ Favorite International Book Award and a Gold Medal from the Military Writers Society of America. Her novels have been used in schools and are available in hundreds of libraries including Harvard and the U.S. Naval Academy.
Ellen Mint 