A Stockingful of Joy by Hannah Howell

A Stockingful of Joy:
A Christmas in Paradise

Deidre Kenney made a deathbed promise to her father---shot in cold blood by two gunmen looking for land deeds he was hired to deliver to Paradise, Montana. Deidre and her cousin Maura vow to finish the dangerous job, each woman taking a different route West. What Deidre didn't count on was a bodyguard--but that's what she gets in Patrick Callahan. With his broad shoulders, steady gun, and crooked grin that's stirring secret
desires--and one very special Christmas wish--Deidre knows the real danger ahead lies in the uncharted territory of her own heart.

Maura's Christmas Secret

Maura Kenney hopes her cousin is having better luck making her way to Paradise. The tiny blue-eyed spitfire is too busy fending off drunken oafs and serious gunmen to have a lot of faith in her own success. But luck is on her side: his name is Mitch Callahan and he takes one look at lovely Maura and knows Christmas has come early. But convincing a prim-and-proper miss that a tough, tender-hearted rancher is the only man for her promises to be about as hard as keeping them both alive to share this very special Christmas together...

I have long been a fan of the work of Hannah Howell, and whether it is highlanders or cowboys, she never fails to create a steamy romance. In this two part book, fate brings four people together in time for Christmas as they risk their lives to stop a greedy, murdering enemy from gaining more power and influence in the small town of Paradise, Montana. The first story, A Christmas in Paradise, has Deidre traveling from her safe and simple life in Saint Louis to Montana after promising her father she would fulfill his promise to the Callahan brothers. The Martins will stop at nothing from gaining the Callahan lands, even murdering an innocent young woman. Tyrone journeys toward Saint Louis in hopes of crossing the path of Patrick Kenney and the elusive papers, but what he finds is a fiery redhead in distress. Danger follows them as they fight to reach Paradise in time, and steamy love scenes fill their nights. In the second story, Maura's Christmas Secret, Maura has taken a different route than that of her cousin to Paradise, Montana. A chance encounter and rescue from a handsome cowboy has her on a wild and dangerous journey to connect with her cousin, Deidre, in Paradise. Prim and proper on the outside, Maura hides her true emotions from those around her. And worse than the men chasing her and Mitchell Callahan, are Maura’s memories that haunt her, nearly costing her a life she never dreamed of and a true Christmas reunion with her cousin.