A WOMAN'S WISH...Maggie Thorne and her daughter Holly want the same thing for Christmas: the return of Holly's father, a man who left Maggie alone and pregnant seven years ago, with a promise to return. This year they might get their wish; Maggie's hired a Texas ranger to find Rafe Hollister and bring him home for Christmas. It didn't take Matt Weston long to find his quarry and nail him for a scoundrel who no more deserved Maggie's devotion than he did a second chance. But it's Rafe Maggie wants and no matter how desperately Matt would like to claim her for his own, it's Rafe she'll get-after Matt's made an honest man out of him. A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE TO LAST A LIFETIME...true to his pledge, Matt does his best to turn this deadbeat father into something decent for Maggie and Holly, while secretly hoping that Rafe will fail to win Maggie's heart. What Matt doesn't know is that Maggie shares his desire. For how can she explain to the man working so hard to make her 'almost' husband presentable that she has fallen impossibly in love with him-and only him.