Triple M Ranch, Indian Rock, Arizona

THE WHOLE CLAN HAD GATHERED at the main ranch house, where Angus McKettrick officiated, from his wheeled chair, over a busy and memorable Christmas Eve. Even Clay and Dara Rose were there, with the children, having traveled all the way from Texas on the train.

Since all the McKettricks would have separate celebrations for their own families the next day, gifts were exchanged after supper, and even after months spent with these people, Piper was amazed by the rough-and-tumble love they bore each other. They'd taken her into their lives and hearts back in June, when Sawyer had returned, bringing a new wife with him, and she'd fallen in love with them, too.

She and Sawyer had stayed with his mother and father, Kade and Mandy McKettrick, at first, while they were building their own house and barn on a little rise with a spring and a broad view of the ranch. Mandy was still trim and agile, though she'd long-since given up sharpshooting to reign over her children and grandchildren, as well as her adoring husband.

Besides aunts and uncles, there were sisters, too, and brothers, and cousins galore.

Piper was still getting to know them all. Sawyer's Aunt Katie, Angus and Conception's late-life daughter, a particular favorite of Piper's, was married to a United States senator and divided her time between Arizona and Washington. She was bound and determined to see that women got the vote and constantly pestered her husband and his a.s.sociates to "catch up with the modern world" and do something about the problem.

On this sacred night, Mandy approached her newest daughter-in-law and gently touched her protruding stomach. Piper and Sawyer's first baby was due soon-she'd been hoping for a Christmas birth-but that didn't seem likely, since there hadn't been so much as a twinge of a contraction so far.

"You mustn't overdo, now," Mandy counseled. "We're a pretty overwhelming bunch, we McKettricks, especially when we're all in the same place."

Piper smiled, caught Sawyer's eye and received his smile like a blessing. He was standing next to Angus's wheeled chair, listening while the older man went on about the unfortunate changes statehood had brought.

None of them, in Angus's view, were good.

Sawyer winked, and Mandy, seeing the exchange, smiled at Piper again. "At least sit down," she said, steering Piper toward one of the few unoccupied chairs.

Chloe, a lovely red-haired woman and a teacher, like Piper, approached them, having taken a large and gaily wrapped package from beneath the towering Christmas tree. Katie and Lydia and Emmeline, the other aunts, found their way over, too, all beaming proudly.

Chloe handed the parcel to Mandy, who gently laid it in Piper's lap.

Dara Rose joined them, too. From her smile, she was in on the surprise.

"What on earth-?" Piper asked, near tears.

"Open it," Mandy urged eagerly.

Carefully, her hands trembling a little, Piper removed the ribbon, draping it over the arm of her chair for safekeeping, and then smoothed back the tissue paper.

Inside was a quilt, as wildly colorful as the northern Arizona landscape surrounding them all, exquisitely pieced.

"We all worked on it," Katie said.

Lydia and Dara Rose took the quilt by its ends and unfurled it, so Piper could get a good look at the design. The Blue River schoolhouse had been faithfully reproduced in fabric and appliqued to the center of what, to Piper, was a work of art. There were children embroidered here and there, frolicking in the schoolyard, and she saw herself standing in the tiny doorway, with Sawyer beside her.

"Sawyer told us he ruined your trousseau quilts by bleeding on them," one of the women said.

Piper's vision was blurred, but she could still make out the words st.i.tched, sampler style, in a rainbow arched above the schoolhouse.

"Piper and Sawyer McKettrick," the thread-letters read. "Blue River, Texas, 1915."

"It's so lovely," Piper whispered. "Thank you."

Mandy leaned down and placed a kiss on her daughter-in-law's forehead. "No, Piper," she said. "Thank you, for saving Sawyer's life and for being precisely who you are." Mandy's gaze took in the entire gathering in one swift sweep before returning to Piper's upturned face. "Welcome to the McKettrick family," she finished.

Look for Linda Lael Miller's next original novel, BIG SKY RIVER, on sale from

Harlequin HQN Books in January 2013

at your favorite retail outlet.

Keep reading for an excerpt of Big Sky Mountain by Linda Lael Miller!

Meet the McKettricks If you loved An Outlaw's Christmas, don't miss the rest of this New York Times bestselling series featuring the brooding McKettrick cowboys and the feisty women who lay claim to their hearts. Available wherever ebooks are sold!

McKettrick's Choice Sierra's Homecoming

McKettrick's Luck

McKettrick's Pride

McKettrick's Heart

The McKettrick Way

A McKettrick Christmas

McKettricks of Texas: Tate

McKettricks of Texas: Garrett

McKettricks of Texas: Austin

A Lawman's Christmas

McKettrick's Heart

Don't miss the first two t.i.tles in a brand-new series from Linda Lael Miller.

Love awaits in Parable, Montana...

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CHAPTER ONE.

A FINE SWEAT broke out between Hutch Carmody's shoulders and his gut warned that he was fixing to stumble straight into the teeth of a screeching buzz saw. The rented tux itched against his hide and his collar seemed to be getting tighter with every flower-scented breath he drew.

The air was dense, weighted, cloying. The small church was overheated, especially for a sunny day in mid-June, and the pews were crammed with eager guests, a few weeping women and a fair number of skeptics.

Hutch's best man, Boone Taylor, fidgeted beside him.

The organist sounded a jarring chord and then launched into a perky tune Hutch didn't recognize. The first of three bridesmaids, all clad in silly-looking pink dresses more suited to little girls than grown women-in his opinion anyhow-drag-stepped her way up the aisle to stand beside the altar, across from him and Boone.

Hutch's head reeled, but he quickly reminded himself, silently of course, that he had to live in this town-his ranch was just a few miles outside of it. If he pa.s.sed out cold at his own wedding, he'd still be getting ribbed about it when he was ninety.

While the next bridesmaid started forward, he did his distracted best to avoid so much as glancing toward Brylee Parrish, his wife to be, who was standing at the back of the church beside her brother, Walker. He knew all too well how good she looked in that heirloom wedding gown of hers, with its billowing veil and dazzling sprinkle of rhinestones.

Brylee was beautiful, with cascades of red-brown hair that tumbled to her waist when she let it down. Her wide-set hazel eyes revealed pa.s.sion, as well as formidable intelligence, humor and a country girl's in-born practicality.

He was a lucky man.

Brylee, on the other hand, was not so fortunate, having hooked up with the likes of him. She deserved a husband who loved her.

Suddenly, Hutch's gaze connected with that of his half brother, Slade Barlow. Seated near the front, next to his very pregnant wife, Joslyn, Slade slowly shook his head from side to side, his expression so solemn that a person would have thought somebody was about to be buried instead of hitched to one of the choicest women Parable County had ever produced.

Hutch's insides churned, then coalesced into a quivering gob and did a slow, backward roll.

The last bridesmaid had arrived.

The minister was in place.

The smell of the flowers intensified, nearly overwhelming Hutch.

And then the first notes of "Here Comes the Bride" rang out.

Hutch felt the room-h.e.l.l, the whole planet-sway again.