by Brenda Novak
“Only because—”
“Please…let it go,” she broke in. “He did not hurt me. You see I am fine.”
He blew out a sigh. “I’ll think about it.”
She tilted her head. “Please?”
Finally, he jammed his hands in his pockets. “I’ll try.”
“Thank you.”
“You like it here okay?”
“Yes. This is a good place, a good job. And I thank you for it. You have been very kind. I will send the money for this dress and these shoes and the other clothes. Please thank your mother, too.”
He cupped her face. “This isn’t goodbye, Cierra.”
He said that now…. “Sí, but…even if it is, I want you to know that…I understand. There is no—how do you say—obligation? It is okay if you do not come back. Just…be happy. Always.”
The wind had picked up. When she shivered, he pulled her into his arms to warm her, and she felt his lips brush her temple. “You know what would make me happy?”
Unable to resist, she rested her cheek against his chest. “What?”
“Knowing you’ll be here waiting, excited to see me when I return.”
She angled her face up. “You think I should wait? For how long?” she teased.
“You don’t believe I’ll come.”
“I am sure you mean to. But…who knows what will happen on the ski trip? You might change your mind, eh?”
He touched the tip of her nose. “I’m not going on the ski trip.”
“Why not?”
“Because I asked Brent to take my place, and Tiffany agreed. I’m not interested in her.” Chills traveled down her spine as he pulled her even closer and his lips moved against the rim of her ear. “I’m interested in you.”
Was he making fun of her? If so, it was cruel. “An illegal immigrant from Guatemala?” she said doubtfully.
“I might be a dumb jock but I know when I’ve found someone special,” he said, then he kissed her like he meant it. “When I’m with you I don’t miss football. I don’t miss other women. I don’t miss anything. I feel…content. I’m coming to take you to Dundee for Christmas, Cierra, so be ready.”
As he left her standing on the stoop, even the chill wind couldn’t diminish the warmth that radiated from somewhere deep inside her. He was coming back. She could trust him. But she wasn’t sure she really believed that until he turned around.
“Oh, you dropped this.” Reaching into his pocket, he held something out to her.
Curious, she met him halfway down the walk to see what he could possibly mean.
Tears filled her eyes when he set the Christ child in her palm and closed her fingers around it. “We’ll need that for the manger, so don’t lose it.”
“I won’t,” she breathed, and she didn’t. She kept it safe in a drawer in her new bedroom until he returned for her on Christmas Eve. Just like he promised.
Dear Reader,
I grew up on a street famous for its Christmas Card Lane. Every year the city created dozens of gigantic “cards” and displayed them for miles along the bay walk, complete with lights and music. Hundreds of cars rolled down the street each night, curly-topped heads thrust out the windows to get a closer look.
It was sheer magic. Or so I thought at the time. I was too young to ask how the cards were created, much less how they were trucked out and erected and electrified, taken down, stored or paid for.
Later, when I had my own home and saw how vexing even a few icicle lights could be, I looked back on Christmas Card Lane with new eyes. I understood that real people gave up their holiday time to create that wonderland for us. And the idea for this story was born.
Old Duke Araby’s Christmas Joyland is beloved by all in his little Virginia town—all but his own two grandsons, who always hated the festival that cheated them of the attention they craved.
Nate has been estranged from Duke for twelve years. When he hears Annie Browning’s radio SOS for help at Joyland, he returns to the ranch to check things out. He’s not looking for reconciliation, and he certainly isn’t looking for love. But, as we all know, you can’t ever tell what you’ll get for Christmas.
I hope you enjoy their story. And I hope your Christmas is full of love and unexpected gifts of joy.
Warmly,
Kathleen O’Brien
P.S. I love to hear from readers! Visit me at
www.KOBrienonline.com, or write me at
P.O. Box 947633, Maitland, FL 32794.
New York Times Bestselling Author
BRENDA NOVAK
takes you home for the holidays in a heartwarming new Whiskey Creek tale.
Everyone in Whiskey Creek remembers Sophia DeBussi as the town’s Mean Girl. Especially Ted Dixon, whose love she once scorned.
But Sophia has paid the price for her youthful transgressions. The man she did marry was rich and powerful but abusive. When he goes missing during an FBI probe of his investment firm, Sophia is left penniless and forced to face all the townspeople he cheated….
With no other options, she becomes housekeeper for none other than Ted, now a successful suspense writer. He can’t turn his back on her, but he refuses to get emotionally involved. Will Christmas, the season of love and forgiveness, bring them another chance at happiness?
Available wherever books are sold.
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ISBN: 978-1-4603-2821-7
Copyright © 2013 Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
Just Like the Ones We Used to Know
Copyright © 2006 by Brenda Novak
On a Snowy Christmas
Copyright © 2009 by Brenda Novak
A Dundee Christmas
Copyright © 2010 by Brenda Novak
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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