Brendan Waddell needs a place to recuperate. Lauren Everman needs a place to hide. It s going to be an unexpectedly romantic Christmas at Bluebird Ranch.

Brendan Waddell has always considered Bluebird Ranch a little piece of heaven: an idyllic ranch that pairs abused children with abused horses, run by one of his old Marine buddies. Now, recovering from an on-the-job injury, Brendan thinks the ranch is the perfect place to spend Christmas healing up.

When Lauren Everman was a seventeen-year-old foster kid, Bluebird Ranch was the safest place she knew. Now it s the perfect hideout for a woman on the run. As the witness to a murder, Lauren needs somewhere to lie low, and her skill with horses means she ll be able to lend a hand with the troubled kids at Bluebird without answering too many questions.

Lauren s rich hair, high cheekbones, and dark eyes immediately get Brendan s attention but so does her secretive behavior. This Special Ops/Intel man knows a woman on the run when he sees one, and he s not about to let her put Bluebird Ranch at risk.

As Brendan and Lauren get to know each other, their suspicions evaporate and romance starts to sizzle. But this would-be couple has more to worry about than each other there s a killer on the loose who wants Lauren kept quiet.