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.