The Loner's Thanksgiving Wish. Roxanne Rustand

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      With thanks and appreciation

      to all of the wonderful authors who were

      part of the Rocky Mountain Heirs series.

      Chapter One

      Mei Clayton veered off the trail near the summit of Belle’s Peak, found the edge of the cliff where she’d often picnicked as a teenager and surveyed the panorama of rugged ranching country below.

      To the west, shadowed by the massive, snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains, lay the distant, rustic cowboy town of Clayton, Colorado. Her hometown, named after a great-grandfather she’d never met. The last place she wanted to be.

      Especially for an entire, interminable year, though that’s exactly what she had to do, thanks to a stipulation in her grandpa George’s will.

      A year—but not one day more.

      Mei and each of her five cousins all had to comply, or none would receive a single penny. And though Mei would have preferred to continue teaching in San Francisco, she just couldn’t let the others lose out on the inheritance some of them badly needed.

      Delaying her inevitable, awkward arrival, she’d parked along the highway to hike one of the easier trails in this part of the Rockies, just to savor one of the few good memories she’d kept close to her heart during her years away.

      Maybe she’d never felt accepted by the Clayton family, but she’d loved every moment that she spent hiking and climbing these rugged peaks.

      Yet even up here, she hadn’t found a sense of solitude and peace. The snow-dusted trail offered an easy climb and breathtaking vistas, and she’d already run into several other local hikers taking advantage of the bright sunshine on this first weekend of November.

      She’d hoped to do a little climbing and had brought her gear in a backpack. But the snow was deeper at this higher elevation, and she needed to turn back. Get in her car. And face her return to the town she’d so desperately wanted to leave as a teen.

      Though it was her impending conversation with her widowed mother that truly had her stomach tying itself in a tight knot. How would Mom react when she heard the news about her son? Lucas had been in a few scrapes when he was a teenager, but nothing like the one he was in now.

      At the sound of voices and the merry jingle of bear bells, she stopped at one side of the trail to let a pair of hikers pass.

      One of them continued on, but the girl pulled to a stop. “Mei?”

      Mei looked up in surprise at the pretty teenager standing in front of her in a puffy pink down jacket and jeans. “Jasmine?”

      Her cousin Arabella’s ward tucked a long strand of silky brown hair behind her ear, her eyes sparkling. “What are you doing back in Colorado so soon? We didn’t expect you until Christmas.”

      Warmed by the girl’s obvious happiness, Mei felt some of her tension ease. “I … had a change of plans.”

      “Well, I think it’s great you’re here. Arabella has been looking forward to you living in town again, and now you’ll be here in time for the wedding!”

      “Whose?” Mei recalled her mother’s last email—a rare event in any case—that had mentioned the latest romance involving Jasmine’s foster mother, and smiled. “Arabella and Dr. Turner? Already?”

      A flash of confusion crossed the girl’s face. “Mine. You didn’t hear about it?

      “Yours?” Mei asked faintly.

      Jasmine had lived with Arabella for a couple years and had graduated from high school this past spring. Maybe she was of legal age, but …

      “We’re getting married on Christmas Eve.” Jasmine’s smile widened as her hiking partner turned back to join her. “You remember Cade, right?”