Marketing for Romance Writers Magazine May, 2018 Volume # 1, Issue # 5 | Page 8

LAURA HALEY McNEIL (Cont.)
CRYSTAL CREEK CHRISTMAS
BLURB EXCERPT
On Noelle Beaupré‟s wedding night, her life turns
into a nightmare when she discovers the man she prom-
ised to love unto death smuggles blood diamonds. Now
that she knows his secret, her husband has only one
goal—kill Noelle. Noelle has only one option—run for
her life.
For Dr. Jake Whitloch, there‟s too much activity at
the Crystal Creek Ranch. Christmas is coming, the family
is in chaos planning his half-sister‟s Christmas Eve wed-
ding, and a blizzard has socked in the ranch. Jake came to
Crystal Creek to find peace. He ended a relationship that
promised no future. Now he needs time to think. Rather
than become caught up in the wedding and Christmas
festivities, Jake helps the ranch hands rescue cattle from
the snow. But the form he finds lying in a snowdrift is no
cow. It‟s a woman. Dr. Jake Whitloch white knuckled the steering
wheel of the old ranch truck and squinted through the
windshield. The truck‟s bumper crunched through hub-
cap-high snow covering the service road. At ten o‟clock
in the morning, the heavy snowfall had shrouded Crystal
Creek Ranch making the day as dark as night. He flipped
on the headlights.
It was crazy to be out in this blizzard. Hunting for
stranded cattle made the risk a priority.
The Whitloch‟s hired hands corralled together their
duallys and SUVs and headed out to the back pastures,
doing what they did best--risking their lives for the good
of the ranch and for the owner they admired—Rose
Whitloch, Jake‟s step-mother.
Jake couldn‟t let the ranch hands do it alone. He
volunteered to check the south pastures.
He was out in the blizzard for a reason he pushed
out of his mind. In this weather, he focused on the truck
and on the road. No time to think about why he left
Philadelphia.
The windshield wipers kicked back and forth like the
Rockettes performing their Christmas finale. The wipers
flipped the snowflakes right, then left. Faster, faster, but
not fast enough.
Reviews Welcome.
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