by Lisa Plumley
“Well…Thank you!” Karina boomed. “It’s wonderful!”
With her smile wobbling, she glanced up…all the way into Reid’s sparkling eyes. He laughed. “Nice try. Very convincing.”
“What do you mean?” Rats. Desperately, she tried to feel thrilled about her new compass. Karina grabbed it. “It’s great!”
“It’s only part of your gift.” Reid raised his cupped hand. “This is the other part.” He spread his fingers, revealing the modest gold and sapphire ring nestled in his palm. “If you want it. It’s not fancy, but it’s a family heirloom. I want you to have it.”
Karina gasped. She gazed into his face. “Is this…?”
Patiently, he waited for her to finish. Of all the times when Reid might have agreeably interrupted, this was one of them.
Excitedly and nervously, Karina tried again. “Is this”—another tentative glance—“an engagement ring?”
“Only if you take it.” Reid held it closer. “But I have it on good authority that when it’s right, it’s right. And that sometimes you just have to follow your heart.”
Belatedly, Karina recognized Amanda’s impassioned arguments in favor of her and Rodrigo’s whirlwind romance.
“I love you, Karina,” Reid said. “Will you marry me?”
She didn’t waste an instant. “Of course I will!”
Laughing, Karina flung herself across the bed and into his arms. Reid collapsed beneath her onslaught, holding her to him, laughing too. When Karina finally looked down at him, then framed his face in her hands and kissed him, she knew exactly how right she’d been to come to Kismet for Christmas this year.
The Christmas House had definitely made all her holiday dreams come true. That was why she could honestly say, “We can’t let Amanda and Rodrigo have all the fun, can we?”
With her Rudolph-knockout breath and all, she kissed him. It was only a small kiss—a sensibly closed-mouth kiss, the only kind even remotely suitable for a postdawn lip smack—but it was a celebratory kiss, all the same. Joyfully, Karina smiled.
“I love you, too, Reid. Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas!” Looking dazzled, Reid shook his head. “You know what? I’ve never been happier to say those two words. I thought they were lost to me forever.” He brought his forehead close to hers, then smiled at her. “But you brought Christmas back to me, Karina. If not for our holiday affair—”
“Holiday love,” she corrected.
“—then I wouldn’t have found any of this.”
Reid spread his arms, indicating their togetherness, their cozy B&B room, their close-knit, laughter-filled Christmas morning…and their children, all of whom sat waiting, with palpable impatience, for them to be finished canoodling.
Olivia crossed her arms. “Are you guys done yet?”
“Yeah.” Josh made a face. “We’re still missing Christmas!”
“Don’t mind us.” Michael waved them off. “I can wait after all. I’m pretty sure I already guessed all my gifts, anyway.”
At his cocksure tone, Karina laughed. So did Reid.
“Oh yeah?” Reid asked, getting to his feet. He extended a hand to Karina, helping her get up too. “We’ll see about that.”
“Does that mean we’re going downstairs?” Nicole asked.
“You’ve been telling us that Christmas Day at The Christmas House is awesome ever since we got on the plane to come here,” Alexis added. “It’s about time we found out if you were right.”
Wearing a heartfelt smile, Reid examined them all. He nodded. “Oh, I’m right. No doubt about it. Christmas Day at The Christmas House really is awesome.”
At his wave of permission, all the children raced for the door. Alexis took the lead, followed by Olivia and Nicole. They were pursued by Josh, then by a barking, sweater-wearing Digby the dachshund, and then (laggardly) by a nonchalant Michael.
“I’m pretty sure I’m getting that Transformers toy I asked Santa for,” he informed Karina and Reid as he passed them. “It weighs two-point-one pounds, and so did one of the packages I found.”
“One of the packages you—” On the verge of offhandedly dismissing her son’s boast, Karina realized what he’d said. “Found?” she repeated. “You found the gifts I hid?”
“Mom.” Wearily, Michael shook his head. “I am me, you know. Of course I found them.” In the doorway, he tossed her a grin. Then something else seemed to occur to him. “Next time, though, you should let Santa have some of the glory, okay?” Michael shook his head. “You don’t have to steal Santa’s thunder every year by getting the best gift for me yourself.”
Duly chastened, Karina nodded. “I’m sorry. I’ll try.”
“If it’s not you doing it,” Michael elaborated with a trace of chagrin, “it’s Dad. You guys have got to stop. Poor Santa!”
Beside her, Reid agreed. “We don’t want to upset Santa.”
“Okay. Good.” Michael nodded, then left.
As her younger son followed the others downstairs, Reid smiled at Karina. She smiled at him. In mutual accord, they linked hands, then headed downstairs too, ready to embark on the first of many Christmases they’d spend together—trying not to upstage Santa, taking sleigh rides, baking pfeffernüsse, singing Christmas carols…and figuring out where all the best gifts were hidden.
Sometimes finding the true gifts in life wasn’t easy, Karina thought as she trundled to the upstairs landing with Reid. Finding and keeping love wasn’t always easy either; she and Reid both knew that. But with a little diligence—and a lot of love—she expected the effort of doing so to keep them happily engaged for years to come…and a lifetime of Christmases too.
Gazing down as their children ran pell-mell to the piles of gifts under the sparkling, fully lit, popcorn-and-cranberry-garland-embellished trees, Karina drew in a deep breath.
“Here we go,” she told Reid. “Are you ready for this?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “As long as you’re by my side.”
“Forever,” she promised. Then, with Christmas carols and gleeful children’s shouts ringing in their ears, Karina and Reid went to start their lives together—for this Christmas, for next Christmas, and for every day in between…now and forever after.
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Holiday Affair.
As you might have guessed already, I truly love this time of year. The Christmas carols, the sparkling lights, the gingerbread, the togetherness, the traditions, the surprises—they all mean so much to me…as do you, for allowing me to be a part of your holiday season! I hope you enjoyed Karina’s and Reid’s story. I was delighted to return to Kismet, and I did my very best to bring you another fun read. If this was your first visit to Kismet, you can find out more about the “merriest town in Michigan,” Nate and Angela, and Reno and Rachel, in my previous book, Home for the Holidays. I hope you’ll check it out soon.
In the meantime, please drop by my Web site at www.lisaplumley.com, where you can read free first-chapter excerpts from all my books, sign up for my reader newsletter or new-book reminder service, catch sneak previews of my upcoming books, request special reader freebies, and more. Or visit me on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace, and “friend” me on the service of your choice! The links are available on lisaplumley.com.
As always, I’d love to hear from you! You can send e-mail to [email protected] or write to me c/o P.O. Box 7105, Chandler, AZ 85246-7105.
By the time you read this, I’ll be hard at work on my next Zebra Books contemporary romance. I hope you’ll be on the lookout for it. Until we meet again…Merry Christmas!
Lisa Plumley
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
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New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2010 by Lisa Plumley
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in re
views.
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ISBN: 978-1-4201-2042-4
