Manic in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery (Christmas River Cozy Book 6) (25 page)

I walked around the truck, joining Daniel on the uneven dirt road. We walked a little ways, until we came to a familiar trail.

We hooked a right, following it through the woods.

It wasn’t long before I smelled something wholesome, greasy, and utterly intoxicating drifting on the air.

I stopped for a moment.

“Is that… is that
bacon
?”

“I was just gonna say,” he said with a rakish smile.

I grinned, all of it finally dawning on me.

“Those campers couldn’t have been
too
lost, after all,” I said.

“You know, if you ask me, I think they knew exactly where they were all along. They just got a little turned around for a bit there.”

We emerged from the woods just as the first rays of the sun glistened on the placid waters of Sparks Lake.

A couple of fishing poles sat ready and waiting beside a small fire and a pan filled with bacon and flap jacks.

“What’s all this?” I said, admiring the cozy scene that I’d been dreaming of all those hours slaving away in front of hot ovens this summer.

“I thought we could use a morning away together,” he said. “Just the three of us.”

“The three of us?” I said.

He smiled.

“You, me, and, if we’re lucky, a nice, juicy trout.”

I put my arms around his waist and stood on my tiptoes, planting a soft kiss on his lips.

He chuckled and I found that the chuckles had passed through his lips to mine.

“I love you more than anything in this world, Cinnamon,” he said.

“I think I might know something about the feeling.”

He rubbed my shoulders, and we watched as the sun turned the puffy clouds on the horizon to the color of roses.

I let out a happy sigh.

“What was your all-time record back in the day?” I said.

“Huh?”

“With the trout,” I said. “How many did you catch in one day?”

“I think it might’ve been 12.”

“Only 12?” I said. “That’s
nothing
. When Warren and I used to come up here, I’d get 20 in a single afternoon, easy.”

“Liar,” Daniel said with a wry grin.

“Cross my heart,” I said.

The way I saw it, it was the right of every fisherman to boldly exaggerate their catch. That was something Warren had taught me at a very early age.

“Well, I expect a full reenactment of that later, Mrs. Brightman,” he said. “But first—”

“
Breakfast
,” I said, finishing the thought.

“Why, you’re a mind reader, darling.”

We were two peas in a pod, me and Daniel Brightman.

He handed me a tin cup and filled it up with cowboy coffee, and we spent the morning watching the sun ascend over the lake, wrapped up in each other’s arms, listening to the happy, languorous mountain breeze run through the pines around us.

The future had never looked so beautiful.

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Continue on for an excerpt from Meg’s newest series,
Mutts & Murder: A Dog Town USA Cozy Mystery
.

Coming Soon To Amazon!

Bulldogs & Bullets: A Dog Town USA Cozy Mystery (Book 2)

Magic in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery (Book 7)

Murder in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery
(Book 1)

Mayhem in Christmas River: A Christmas in July Cozy Mystery (Book 2)

Madness in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery (Book 3)

Malice in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery (Book 4)

Mischief in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery (Book 5)

Roasted in Christmas River: A Thanksgiving Cozy Mystery Novella

Burned in Broken Hearts Junction: A Cozy Matchmaker Mystery
(Book 1)

Busted in Broken Hearts Junction: A Cozy Matchmaker Mystery (Book 2)

Mutts & Murder: A Dog Town USA Cozy Mystery

About the Author

Meg Muldoon loves writing cozy mysteries. A former small town news reporter, Meg has always had a special place in her heart for lost dogs, homeless cats, and feisty old locals. She enjoys bourbon bread pudding, red cowboy boots and craft glue guns.

Meg lives in Central Oregon with an Australian cattle dog named Huckleberry.

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