Melody's Next Christmas — George H. McVey

Melody Hughes is not having a good year. Having her father die on Christmas Eve was bad enough; knowing he couldn't leave his ranch to her, he left it to his foreman. The foreman was to marry Melody and allow her to continue raising and training horses like always. Instead, he informs her she will have to become a proper ranch wife, overseeing the home and having children, or leave the ranch. When a traveling Reverend tells her of a man wanting to learn how to ranch like her father, she takes the job, not realizing its 147 years in the future. Tallis Colton Ryder, a descendant of Nugget Nate and Nathan Ryder, is enamored with ranching like they did it in the 1800s and thinks tourist will be too. His only problem: he needed someone to be sure he was being historically accurate. When a mysterious reverend tells him he has such an expert; Tallis agrees to interview them. When the young woman arrives, Tallis knows she was created to be his wife. However, there's a complication; the Reverend informs him that Melody Hughes can only stay for six months, after which she has another unbreakable contract. Can Tallis convince Melody to take a chance on love? Can they find a way to break Melody's unbreakable contract? Will Melody's Next Christmas be filled with sadness in 1871, or will she find her Happily Ever After as the wife of a Ryder in the present?