Christmas Magic

by Lucy McConnell

  Christmas Magic

  A MyHeartChannel Romance

  Lucy McConnell

  Orchard View Publishing LLC

  Copyright © 2019 by Lucy McConnell

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

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  Christmas Magic

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Now Available from Bestselling and Award-Winning Author Lucy McConnell

  About the Author

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  Christmas Magic

  MyHeartChannel Christmas Book

  Breck Mitchell is a street magician hoping for a Christmas miracle that would take his small MyHeartChannel to the next level. He's planned a series of Christmas themed magic tricks, but he needs an assistant to pull them off. When a woman volunteers to pick a card, he forgets about all his worries and focuses on helping her smile.

  Harmony Hall didn’t mean to stop at the magic show; but, she’s glad she did. Breck’s infectious smile and enthusiasm chase her holiday blues away. But, when he asks her to be his official assistant, she runs. Her record with handsome, charming men is disastrous. Later, she watches the episode on his channel and is reminded of the woman she used to be--the one who looked at the world like it was a big adventure. Something inside of her sparks back to life and she accepts the position.

  Breck's interest in Harmony quickly grows from wanting her as an assistant to wanting to kiss her under the mistletoe. But, she's locked her heart in a box and she doesn't have a key.

  Can this magician's love unlock the secret door to Harmony’s heart before she leaves town or will he be left on the outside when Christmas morning dawns?

  Chapter One

  December 1st

  Breck

  Breck Mitchell glanced around the busy street corner, looking for the best place to set up his camera. Filming in public without a script and without actors was a risk. At any point in time, someone could steal one of the three cameras he used to get different angles, heckle and completely ruin a good shot, or get angry that he was blocking foot traffic and drop a swear word that would take him off Santa’s good list. But the risks were worth the smiles on children’s faces and the brightness in people’s eyes as they were genuinely amazed by one of his card tricks.

  Hopefully, some of that wonder and awe would translate through the cameras, because he really needed this MyHeartChannel thing to work. There were dozens of magicians with their own channels. They explained how to do simple tricks and even showed the workings behind the curtain that made stage magic appear real. He had no desire to do any of that. What fun was there in a magic show if you knew how the trick was done?

  Breck blew on his cold fingers. The temperature had dropped overnight, turning the slush to icy crystals that crunched underfoot. It was the kind of day mint gum commercials were made of. He grinned and puffed air so it gathered around his head. In another half hour, the temp would reach its predicted high for the day and he wouldn’t be able to see his breath.

  He’d better be filming by then or he’d miss his window. Stepping up to the streetlight post, he secured the camera with a zip tie. The image on his phone showed the top of his head, so he moved aside and his small, hip-high table appeared. Perfect. The gold tinsel he’d wrapped around the edge of the table showed up well, and the mistletoe on the camera stand screamed holidays. He tugged on his fur-lined Santa hat. Yep, Christmas was in the air.

  He quickly checked the angles of the other cameras. One pointed down at the tabletop to allow the viewer a close-up of the cards. The third was pointed over his shoulder as he stood at the table to catch his volunteer’s reaction. He widened the lens slightly so that others could be seen as well. Not that there was a crowd—yet.

  They’d come. Three in the afternoon was the time when shift workers switched. It was also when school got out. Kids were good for the crowd because they were expressive and believed that magic was real. Well, it was real, at least at Christmas time.

  He pulled out a deck of Santa-themed cards and shuffled them in the air, then fanned them out and cut them one-handed to loosen up his fingers. He could sure use some of that Christmas magic this year.

  With a deep breath to calm the stage-frightened butterflies in his stomach, he called out to the silver-haired man in a camel-colored trench coat, “Pick a card!”

  Chapter Two

  Harmony

  Harmony Hall—no, Harmony Green—tightened her purple pea coat around her body to ward off the December chill. Who was she kidding? It wasn’t December that had left her cold to her bones—it was divorce mediation.

  There weren’t many things in her life that she’d like to go back in time and undo, but if she had to make a list, then marrying Sam would be at the top—even if she checked it twice!

  Before she knew they were having problems, before she understood that her husband wasn’t happy, he’d taken the money they’d saved for a house, $60,000, and run off to Barbados with their real estate agent. Bambi—what a name!—was a leggy blonde with brown doe eyes and a penchant for giggling. Harmony had given her heart to the man, and instead of protecting it, he’d tossed it to the wolves.

  She’d dealt with most of the pain. Looking back, she could see the warning signs were there all along, but she’d been too naïve to see them for what they were. Well, she wasn’t naïve anymore.

  But finding out that Sam had cashed in his retirement and hidden it in an offshore account that her lawyer couldn’t get to was a blow she felt like an icicle to the chest. Half of that retirement fund should have been hers. The money was her ticket to Georgia, where she could start fresh. Tears formed as she thought of her parents’ warm fireplace, the stockings hung with care, the tree aglow with multicolored lights, and the scent of cinnamon and vanilla filling every breath. Home. How she longed to be in a place where people loved her and waved as they passed on the street. The big city was no place for a small-town girl, though she’d loved Baltimore when she’d first arrived.

  For a brief moment, as she crunched along the thin layer of ice on the sidewalk, she contemplated asking her parents for money to buy a train ticket, but her pride got in the way. They’d warned her not to marry Sam. Yes, they’d come to the destination wedding and been the perfect parents of the bride. But Mom had pulled her aside the night before and expressed her concerns over Sam’s “wandering eyes.” Harmony had brushed her off, saying that Sam may look, but he loved her with his whole heart and it didn’t bother her that he admired beautiful women. What man didn’t?

  Good men didn’t. Men who were faithful to their wives and their wedding vows. That’s who.

  Her steps slowed as the sidewalk grew more and more congested with afternoon traffic. She kept her eyes on the black boots in front of her as she waited for the light to
change.

  She was too raw right now, too broken to jump into a conversation about how right her mother was and how she should have listened. So asking her parents for money was not an option. Besides, she was embarrassed at how much Sam had taken from her.

  “You there—in the purple coat!”

  Harmony felt eyes on her and lifted her chin. The crowd waiting for the light to change all stared at her. The man in the black boots ducked his head and moved to the side, giving her a glimpse of his white hair under his black fedora.

  “Yes, you. Hi!”

  Her eyes found the source of the greeting, and her mind did a double take. A guy in a Santa hat and an ugly Christmas sweater waved. A quick assessment of the situation told her that no one was waiting for the light to change. She’d stumbled into a street show of some sort.

  “Me?” She pointed to her chest.

  His smile grew wider. “Yes, you. Come on over here and pick a card.” He fanned out a stack of white cards with a red-and-green decoration she couldn’t quite make out.

  The man in the black boots nudged her forward. “Go on.”

  A woman with two kids next to her nodded her head in encouragement.

  What the heck? She stepped through the path the onlookers made and ended up in the inner circle next to a table covered with red velvet and lined with gold tinsel.

  “Do I know you?” asked the performer.

  She balked for a moment, wondering if he was going to use some pickup line on her right there in front of God, angels, and these strangers. Finally, her brain caught on that it was part of the act. “I’ve never seen you before.”

  He frowned and placed a hand over his heart. “Ouch!”

  “Sorry?”

  “I guess that means you haven’t seen my channel, Christmas Magic?”

  “Sorry,” she mumbled. Here he was, working on his channel, and she’d bunked him down to unknown.

  His hands paused in their shuffling and cutting and reshuffling. “It’s okay.” His voice was low, and it made her look up. In that second, she was captured by his gorgeous gray eyes. They were like marble with flecks of white and silver and rimmed in black. More than that, they held something real that warmed her from her head to her toes.

  “Get on with it!” someone yelled from the crowd, breaking the feeling of intense connection they shared.

  Breck laughed. The sound was all for show, like the hat or his sweater. It was wonderful and brought a smile to her lips, but it wasn’t the real him. She shook herself. How would she know that? She’d only met the guy thirty seconds ago.

  “Okay, pretty lady, I have a present for you.” He pulled out a small, ring-sized box from his coat pocket. “You hold on to that, but don’t open it yet, okay?”

  “Okay.” Her anticipation of what Breck was going to do next outpaced her former melancholy and any shyness that would have normally kept her from looking around. Her problems were all right there, but they’d taken a back seat to her curiosity for the moment. If she could bottle this guy up and take him home, she would.

  She held the box in her left palm.

  He grabbed the corner of the deck. “I’m going to fan through the deck. You tell me when to stop.”

  She nodded, watching his every move. He began fanning, the cards clapping together as he went. When he was a little over halfway through, she said, “Stop!”

  He lifted his top hand to show her and the crowd the card. “Do you like that card?”

  She considered the king of hearts. Ironic that she’d end up with that one today. The picture wasn’t the normal king of the deck; instead, it was Santa holding a plate of cookies. “Sure.” Her voice was flat in her ears.

  He took the card out, making a show of not looking at it himself while he folded it in half lengthwise and then the other direction. “Some kids ask how Santa gets down the chimney to deliver presents—especially when there’s a fire.” He took out a lighter and lit the card on fire. “Well, it’s simple, really. He’s magic. And he loaned me just a little bit of that magic today.”

  Breck tapped the top of the present in her hand. “Open it.”

  She bit her bottom lip and tugged at the ribbon and then tore through the wrapping paper. Inside the small box was a white card with red and green Christmas decorations. “No way,” she said.

  Breck chuckled. The warm sound reverberated through her. That was the real him. She paused, locking eyes once more. His eyes danced like sugarplum fairies. Her smile widened.

  She set the box on the table and pulled out the card, holding it up for the crowd to see. They all leaned in for a better look as she unfolded it once, then twice, to reveal … “It’s the king of hearts!”

  The crowd clapped eagerly. Breck bowed. “Thank you all for stopping by. Don’t forget to check out my channel: Christmas Magic!”

  They slowly dispersed, the children exclaiming over the last trick.

  Harmony turned to Breck. “How’d you do that?”

  He wagged his finger, his smile flirtatious. “I’ll never tell.”

  She laughed. It was nice to know that a man found her attractive and interesting—even if it was just for a few minutes. “Because a good magician never reveals his secrets.”

  He laughed too. “Can I get your name and number?”

  Her happy, airy feelings came to a screeching halt. Flirting on the street was one thing; getting involved was a whole other level that she wasn’t ready for—might never be ready for. “Uh, I don’t think—I mean, you’re cute and all, but—”

  He cocked his head. “You think I’m cute?”

  Did she? That had sort of slipped out. She looked him over. The hat covered his hair, so she had no idea what was under there. His eyebrows were dark, expressive as they moved constantly during his show and even now as they talked. His nose was straight and just the right size for his face. His lips were nice, the bottom one just a bit plumper than the top one, and his jaw was covered in three-day stubble that was super sexy.

  “Like you don’t know you’re cute.” She took a step back to create some space between them. Part of her wanted to run away from Breck’s easygoing posture and confidence. He was everything she didn’t feel at the moment.

  “Well, my mom used to tell me that I was adorable, but don’t all mothers say that?”

  If he was affected by the space she’d put between them, he didn’t show it. She released the breath that had tightened her chest. Holding a conversation with a man was a baby step on her long road to healing her heart. Breck was friendly and an entertainer. That was all he was doing—providing her with a much-needed distraction from her very bad, no-good day. “It’s part of the job description,” she teased back.

  He nodded while reaching under the tabletop and coming up with a piece of paper. “You’re probably right. And I’d believed her all these years …”

  His mock sorrow tugged at her silly side. “Maybe you should get a second opinion.”

  He brightened like a kid who’d asked for a friend and found one on the playground. “I thought I just did.” He winked and waved the paper. “I need your name and number for the release form. I’d like to use this segment on my channel.”

  Despite the cold nipping at her nose, her cheeks grew warm. “Of course. Sure.” She took the proffered pen and filled out the appropriate lines. “When will this post? My family will get a kick out of it.”

  “In a couple days. I’ll need time to edit.” He whisked away the form and folded it in four.

  Careful, her heart whispered. Sam was razzle-dazzle in the beginning too.

  The magic show, the connection she’d felt with Breck in those few seconds, couldn’t be real … He could be a scam artist, and she’d just handed over her personal information. Not that she had anything worth taking. Still, she had her identity. Panic coursed through her blood. She’d trusted her husband and been sideswiped; what was to prevent a stranger from doing the same? “Wait! I should have read that.”

  With a flo
urish of his hands, the paper disappeared. “Too late—you just promised me your firstborn son.”

  Her hands began to shake. “If that’s the case, then you’ll need to spin straw into gold, Rumpelstiltskin.” She practically spat the words out, angry that she played his game.

  “Drat!” He snapped his fingers and the paper appeared again. “That’s one magic trick I haven’t figured out yet.” He handed her the sheet with a smile. “Take your time. I’m going to get my cameras before they disappear and I can’t bring them back.”

  Her eyes followed him as he went to the street sign where a small camera was zip-tied to the metal. She hadn’t seen it there.

  Breck was full of surprises. For one, she hadn’t expected him to give her the release form back. If hadn’t, she would have called the police and hoped he didn’t make a run for it.

  For two, he didn’t get defensive at her tone. Sam always said she’d been mean to him, claiming she’d spoken harshly from day one. She didn’t realize she sounded caustic, but she’d heard it when she’d spoken just now. Maybe Sam was right. Or maybe she was stressed out and unsure of herself. Ugh! She hated that feeling. Of all the things Sam had taken from her, her confidence was the one she missed most.

  Harmony glanced over the document, finding it … typical … and rather basic as far as release forms went. If Breck was out to steal her identity, he wasn’t very good at it. What he had stolen for the last fifteen minutes was her attention. If Breck was a good guy, then he was even more dangerous, because her heart yearned for a good man.