Love Inspired December 2013 - Bundle 2 of 2: Cozy ChristmasHer Holiday HeroJingle Bell Romance

by Valerie Hansen

  Her delighted heart was lodged firmly in her throat, but she decided to play along with his cool-kid demeanor. Rearranging the treats to make room for the fudge, she asked, “You came all the way from Virginia for this?”

  “Actually, I came all the way from Virginia for you.”

  His nonchalant tone did nothing to mask the emotion humming in those words, and Julia glanced up to find him gazing at her with the adoring look she’d missed so much. Holding out his hand, he smiled. “Dance with me?”

  From out of nowhere, Lainie popped into the scene. “You two go on. I’ll take over here.”

  While Nick led her out to the floor, Julia eyed him suspiciously. “You set me up.”

  “Well, yeah. I knew you’d be helping out, ’cause you always do, so I had to cover my bases.” As he settled his arms around her, he said, “It feels good to do this again.”

  She agreed wholeheartedly, but she wasn’t letting him off the hook quite that easily. Squirming free, she took his left hand and guided his right to her waist in proper ballroom form. “Tell me what you’ve been up to the past few weeks.”

  Understanding flashed across his features, and his expression dimmed considerably. “Being miserable, mostly.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because you weren’t there.”

  “Nick, we discussed this—”

  “I know,” he interrupted, “and I didn’t mean that the way it came out. I don’t expect you to drop everything you’ve got here for me.”

  “Good, because that’s not happening.” Hearing the uncharacteristic bite in her voice, she softened her approach. “But I missed you, too, more than I can say. By the way, you did a wonderful job with the ending of my story. It was perfect.”

  “With such a great subject, how could I go wrong? I enjoyed it so much, I’m thinking of hiring an assistant so I can write more of my own pieces.”

  That sounded nothing like the man who’d first landed in town back in November. “Really? What happened to running the show?”

  “Oh, I’ll still be in charge. But I have to admit, those few days I took off at the end of the year were kinda nice, and I wouldn’t mind doing that more often.”

  “Good for you.” She approved heartily. “So what are you planning to do with all your spare time?”

  “Is that a new dress?”

  She recognized the sidestep but decided to let him get away with it for now. “Mom sent it from Milan. She said it was new silk for spring, but I couldn’t wait. Do you like it?”

  With his finger, he motioned for her to spin so he could get the full effect. When she stopped in front of him, his grin widened as he resumed his very proper dancing pose. “Fantastic. Were you able to send them that first payment check you were talking about?”

  The memory of that conversation made her feel more than proud. It reinforced her belief that she had the skill and determination she needed to make her own way in the world. As their only child, Julia knew she’d have to continue pressing her parents to accept her newfound independence. But in the end, they’d understand why it was so important to her and would go along. It might take them a while, and would be much harder on them than on her. Fortunately, she was a very patient person.

  “Dad wanted to rip it up, but I told him I’d just keep sending them until he gave in and cashed them. I did my books beforehand, so I also sent them my profit and loss statement for last year. It felt so good to start paying them back and prove to them that Toyland is doing really well, even now that the holidays are over. You were right about the articles being good for business.”

  “You’ve accomplished a lot since moving here. I’m sure you’ve impressed a lot of people.”

  “Including you?” When he didn’t answer, she nudged. “Be honest, now. When you first met me, you probably thought I’d be out of business in a month.”

  He held up two fingers in a V, and she gasped in dismay. “Two months?”

  “Well, you opened just before Christmas. How hard can it be to run a toy store that time of year?”

  She opened her mouth to inform him that it had been incredibly difficult, but the humor gleaming in his eyes told her he was ribbing her. “I’ll get you for that one.”

  “Really? How?”

  Retaliation wasn’t really her strength, but she glowered at him for all she was worth. “I’ll think of something.”

  Clearly unfazed, he threw his head back in a carefree laugh that turned more than a few heads. One of them was Bree’s, and she promptly snapped a picture of them with her phone.

  “Landry,” he threatened her with a stern finger, “if that ends up online, you are so fired.”

  “Whatever.” Flouncing a shoulder, she sashayed away with Cooper, who sent his buddy a sympathetic look over his shoulder.

  “You have such a way with people,” Julia teased. “What’s your secret?”

  “Always keep ’em guessing.” The band started the opening chords of a classic waltz, and she finally let him draw her into his arms. Looking down at her intently, he said, “I have a confession to make.”

  His sudden shift in mood was unsettling, to say the least. “It must be important.”

  “It is.” After a moment, he said, “I talked to your dad yesterday.”

  “Oh, no.” She hadn’t mentioned Nick’s leaving to her parents, so her mother probably still thought they were an item. “He didn’t have you put under surveillance, did he?”

  “No.” Thinking it over, he chuckled. “At least, I don’t think so.”

  Just in case it occurred to him, Julia made a note to speak to her father directly about not interfering in Nick’s life. “Then what did he call you about?”

  “He didn’t. I called him.”

  Reaching into his pocket, Nick took out the sort of blue velvet box every girl hoped to get someday. He flipped it open with his thumb, and the diamonds inside sparkled in the lights from the mirrored ball spinning overhead. “I’m not the down-on-one-knee kinda guy, but I love you, Julia. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” she breathed instinctively. It felt so wonderful she repeated it, feeling a little light-headed as Nick slid the beautiful setting onto her finger.

  She held it out for him to see, and he took her hand in his, brushing a kiss over the back. “Gorgeous.”

  Unable to speak, she simply nodded, smiling as he sealed his proposal with a kiss. After being cautious for so long, it felt wonderful to throw all that aside and jump into the future.

  With Nick.

  *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from COZY CHRISTMAS by Valerie Hansen.

  Dear Reader,

  I absolutely love the holidays! Hectic as they can be, I enjoy having everyone together at home and visiting both sides of our extended family. We haul out those old movies, cue up the Christmas music and make sure there are plenty of everyone’s favorite goodies on hand. Even though the kids are older now, they still have fun cutting down a tree and pulling their collection of ornaments out of the bins. To my amazement, they still remember where each one came from. Those moments are precious, and I know they won’t last forever. I always make it a point to take time off at the end of the year to just relax and soak everything in.

  Besides the traditional family surroundings of Holiday Harbor, this story includes some elements from one of my favorite classics A Christmas Carol. Whether it’s the original or a modern adaptation, I adore the concept that no matter how curmudgeon-y you are, with a little help you can change your perspective and embrace the joy that’s going on all around you. Fortunately for Nick, Julia isn’t nearly as scary as Scrooge’s ghosts.

  If you’d like to stop by for a visit, you’ll find me online at www.miaross.com, Facebook and Twitter. It would be great to hear from you, so while you’re there, send me a message in your favorite format.

  Merry Christmas!

  Mia Ross

 
Questions for Discussion

  At the beginning of the story, Nick and Julia are familiar with each other but have never met. If you’ve been in a similar situation, what perceptions had you and the other person formed before meeting? Were they accurate?

  Julia loves Christmas, and she’s excited to be part of the festivities in Holiday Harbor. Thinking back to your first Christmas in a new home, what are your favorite memories?

  Nick has avoided coming home for many years but finally gives in and returns for Thanksgiving. Have you known anyone in this kind of situation? How did they handle it?

  Because he lives alone and works so much, Nick is far removed from the holiday whirl. His niece’s excitement about decorating gets to him, and he reluctantly agrees to participate, then ends up enjoying himself. Do you know someone who shuns this part of Christmas? Why do you think that is?

  Even though Nick isn’t fond of children in general, he can appreciate the fanciful holiday setting Julia chose for Toyland. Are you inspired by seasonal decorations and music? Which do you like the best?

  Julia’s last relationship ended in disaster, both personally and financially. Do you know anyone who was betrayed by someone they trusted? How did they handle it?

  For years Nick has blamed himself for his brother’s death, and it’s altered his own life. Have you ever done something that haunted you for a long time? What did you do to get past it?

  At the beginning of the story, Nick believes that God no longer cares about him. Do you know anyone like that? What do you think it would take to convince them otherwise?

  Julia admires her mother’s ability to be her bright, bubbly self, no matter what anyone else might think of her. Most of us aren’t quite that confident, but what could you do to be more like that?

  Despite the fabulous life she’s led, Julia has always longed for a place to call home. Do you know someone who seems to have everything but wants something just out of reach?

  During the Christmas pageant, world-traveler Julia is touched by the honest, down-to-earth nature of the Safe Harbor Church and its congregation. What are some of the impressions you get in your own church during this season?

  Nick and Julia’s Christmas gifts to each other come straight from the heart. Can you think of gifts you’ve received that made the same kind of impact?

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired story.

  You believe hearts can heal. Love Inspired stories show that faith, forgiveness and hope have the power to lift spirits and change lives—always.

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  Chapter One

  Whitney Leigh rolled her eyes. “Romance! It’s getting to be an epidemic.”

  Because she was alone in the car she didn’t try to temper her frustration. Fortunately, the editor of the Bygones Gazette had instructed her to use a different approach this time. He wanted her to praise the progress of the stores involved in the Save Our Streets redevelopment project to commemorate their sixth-month anniversary. If he had asked her for one more fluff piece about all the engagements, and even a recent marriage, involving those new businesses, she would have screamed. Just thinking about it made her want to.

  Parking in front of the Cozy Cup Café and pausing behind the wheel of her vintage, yellow Mustang convertible, she shivered. A warm, wool coat, scarf and gloves were not enough to make up for the lack of insulation provided by the cloth-topped car. Although it was dear to her heart, there was a lot to be said for a thick, solid roof during the winter, particularly in Kansas.

  She pulled the ignition key, set the brake and slid out. Myriad Christmas lights twinkled around nearby shop windows and hung from the colorful awnings that fronted the block of renovated stores.

  The Save Our Streets merchants’ decorating committee had wound garlands of holly, tinsel and shiny ornaments around the old-fashioned-looking light standards and topped them with banners heralding the holiday season. Coordinated wreaths decked every store entrance while bouquets of silk poinsettias had replaced real flowers around the bases of the evergreens in the quaint planters along the refurbished street. The whole effect was charming. Welcoming.

  However, it was also freezing outside. Whitney leaned in to grab her tote bag, slammed the car door and picked her way cautiously through the dusting of fresh snow toward her current assignment.

  As a lifelong citizen of Bygones she was supposed to have been perfect for the job of ferreting out the hidden facts concerning the town’s mysterious windfall. Too bad she had failed. Instead of an exposé, she’d ended up filling her column with news of people’s love lives, when what she needed were reasonable, definitive answers to her more serious queries. But she was not going to quit investigating. No, sir. Not until she’d uncovered the real facts. Especially the name of Bygones’s secret benefactor.

  A few things were already known, not that that helped much. First, a mysterious philanthropist had bought a whole block of empty buildings on Main Street, then bankrolled a group of merchants from other places to open new businesses in every available location except the old movie house. Only outsiders could apply.

  “What was that all about?” Whitney murmured to herself. Some former shopkeepers had fled when Bygones had started to die but that didn’t mean there were no other folks capable of stepping in. If some wealthy person had really wanted to help the town recover and survive after the disastrous downturn in the economy and the permanent closing of Randall Manufacturing, the least he—or she—could have done was relegate the grant money to locals.

  The legal arrangement had included them as employees, yes, but never as bosses. That point, alone, was enough to convince her that the anonymous benefactor was not from a small town. He or she obviously had no earthly idea how the minds of country people worked—or how they looked after their own.

  She slipped and slid the last yard to the Cozy Cup Café, used the door handle to regain her balance, stepped inside and wiped her boots on the mat, stomping off globs of wet snow as she admired the delicate wreath that hung just inside the glass door. It wasn’t the customary green and red colors. Instead, it had been fashioned of brass and gold ribbons and ornaments with snowy accents that perfectly picked up the mocha and cream motif of the shop.

  And speaking of coffee… Hearty aromas of freshly ground beans and warm drinks like cider and hot chocolate, as well as the shop’s trademark specialty brews, washed over her. If she had not been worried that the handsome barista greeting her with a smile would misinterpret her overt expression of bliss, she might have sighed audibly.

  “Cold out there?” Josh Smith asked Whitney.

  “Not as cold as it will be in another month.” She removed her teal-blue gloves and matching scarf and dropped them into the tote, then began to unbutton her cream-colored coat.

  “What can I do for you?”

  Whitney was tempted to launch right into her real reason for being there. Instead, she merely said, “Fix me something warm?”

  “Like what?”

  “Surprise me.”

  Judging by his lazy smile and the twinkle in his greenish-hazel eyes, she decided she had made a mistake by giving him too much leeway so she added, “As long as it’s mostly chocolate.”

  “Picky, picky, picky.”

  She couldn’t help smiling in return as she settled herself at one of the small, round, glass-topped tables and hung her coat over the back of the wrought-iron chair. There was something unique about this place. And, truth to tell, the same went for the other new businesses on Main. Each one had filled a need
and become an integral part of Bygones in a mere five or six months. That, alone, was amazing, particularly given the townspeople’s original negative reaction to the so-called invasion.

  Josh Smith was a prime example. He was what she considered young—twenty-eight to her twenty-five, according to his original business application—yet he had quickly won over the older generations as well as the younger ones. Some of the retired citizens had begun to make his shop their go-to place for morning coffee, gossip and camaraderie, while teens had adopted his internet cafe as if they had been waiting for it all their lives.

  Perhaps they had. Josh’s computers were state-of-the-art, with game-playing capabilities far beyond anything she had ever seen.

  Wearing a brown-and-white-striped apron over jeans and a polo shirt, he stepped out from behind the counter with a steaming cup in one hand and a taller, whipped-cream-topped tumbler in the other.

  “Your choice,” he said pleasantly, placing both drinks on the table and joining her as if he already knew this was not a social call.

  “I see you’re not too busy this afternoon. Do you have time to talk?” She reached into her tote for her digital recorder, notepad and a pen.

  “I always have time for my favorite reporter,” he said.

  “How many reporters do you know?” She took a cautious sip from the cup, holding it in both hands to warm her icy fingers.

  “Hmm, let’s see.” A widening grin made his eyes sparkle. “One.”

  Whitney felt a frisson of energy zing up her spine. Of all the new folks, he was the only person whose teasing set her on edge and sometimes made her tremble like dry autumn leaves in a gale.

  Trying to mask her nervousness she put down her cup and tucked stray strands of blond hair behind her ears before donning her glasses and picking up the pen.

  “Mind if I ask you a question first?” Josh said amiably. “Sort of turnabout’s fair play?”

  “I guess not. I have a whole list for you.”

  He rested his elbows on the table, leaned forward and studied her for a moment. “Why do you wear those glasses instead of contacts?”