by Debbie Mason
“You don’t really think she’s in danger, do you?”
“No, but try—”
“All right, let’s get the show on the road,” Chloe said as she strode toward them wearing a short-haired wig and a short pumpkin-orange dress. She winked at her sister. “Sounded just like you, didn’t I?”
“Shoot me now,” Cat muttered.
Vivi fought back a smile. Chloe was a better actress than she’d given her credit for. They were joined in the living room by Maddie, Skye, Lily with Evie in her arms, and Annie with Connor in hers. Maddie and Skye wiped at their eyes. “What’s wrong?” Vivi asked.
“Ethan and Liz just had a moment,” Skye said with a watery smile.
“Oh, and I missed it.” Chloe pressed her hands to her chest. “Come on, Kit Kat, let’s have a moment with Mommsy, too.”
“This should be an interesting day,” Maddie said once the two women were out of earshot. “I take it you heard what happened last night after you left?” When Vivi nodded, Maddie asked, “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, why…” Oh, right, she’d said she had a headache. “Yes, much better, thanks.”
Maddie’s and Skye’s eyes narrowed at her.
Thankfully, before they could question her further, Annie said, “I have to get out there,” and moved to hand Connor, who wore an adorable black tux, to Vivi.
“Wait.” Vivi held up a hand and fished an animal cracker from the box in her bag. “Okay, you can give him to me now.” Annie grinned and put Connor in Vivi’s arms. She handed him the cookie, and he gave her a drooly smile.
Evie grunted, holding her arms out to Vivi and making grabby motions with her hands. Vivi dug a couple more animal crackers from her purse.
“Vivi, do not feed them throughout the entire ceremony,” Maddie warned when Lily transferred Evie to Vivi’s other arm.
“Of course I won’t. Okay, babies,” she said, handing Evie her cookie and getting a wet kiss on the cheek in exchange, “wave bye to your mommies.” The kids did as she said, and she started for the door. “Ah, hang on. Lily, can you help me with my shoes?” She didn’t want to trip while carrying Connor and Evie. Lily took off her shoes and stuffed them in Vivi’s purse.
Matt Trainer, looking handsome in his black tux, opened the door for her. He smiled. “I think you forgot something.” He nodded toward her feet.
“Safer this way,” she said, looking to where the McBride men stood by a gazebo decorated in autumn leaves with black urns filled with orange and yellow flowers on either side.
Matt rested his hand on the small of her back. “I’ll take you to your seat.” He chuckled when Connor tried to shove a cookie in his mouth. “Thanks, buddy,” Matt said, “but I’m good.”
Black iron pots filled with tall grass and fall flowers sat on either side of the aisle. The wooden chairs were already filled with guests. As Matt guided Vivi onto the burlap runner decorated with orange and yellow rose petals, everyone turned in their seats.
Fred leaned into the aisle. “People are wondering where their papers are,” the older man stage-whispered.
Of course everyone heard him, and that started a chorus of, “I didn’t get mine. Me either. Are they coming today?”
Vivi forced a smile. “Problem with the printer. You’ll get it next week. Promise.” She walked faster, but they kept calling after her.
“But our sale’s this week,” someone yelled.
“Are you okay, Vivi? You’re flushed,” Matt said.
“Good. I’m good.” She furtively wiped her sweaty brow on Connor’s head.
“Thanks, Matt. I’ll take it from here,” Chance said, sliding an arm around her waist.
“What are you doing? Get up there with your dad and brothers.”
“No, not until you tell me what’s going on with you.” He guided her toward a seat in the front row. The one right beside his aunt Nell. Vivi dug in her heels. “No, I can’t sit there.”
“Slick, sit. You look like you’re going to—”
“What the Sam Hill is wrong with you, girlie? You’re all sweaty and flushed.”
“I’m warning you, Nell. Don’t talk to me. This is all your fault.”
“My fault? How is it—”
“I know what…” She leaned in and whispered so Chance wouldn’t hear her. “I know it was you who wrote the Dear Vivi letter. And it’s not going to work, so just stop it, okay?”
Chance took Connor and Evie from her, handing them off to Gage and Easton, then he returned to crouch in front of her. “Vivi, look at me.”
“No, you don’t understand.” She shot a quick glance over her shoulder and groaned. “Chance, everyone’s looking at us. Get back up there with your dad and brothers. The wedding’s about to start,” she said, waving to where Annie stood at the microphone with strains of Train’s “Marry Me” playing in the background.
He took both her hands in his. “It wasn’t Aunt Nell, honey. It was me. I wrote you the letter.”
“No, you couldn’t have. You don’t want to get married. And Superman asked Lois Lane to marry her in the letter.”
Nell jumped to her feet. “Stop the wedding! Stop the music!”
“Nell, what are you doing? I thought you wanted me and Liz to get married,” Paul said.
At the same time Vivi was dying of embarrassment, Chance was going down on one knee.
Her head jerked up, her heart hammering in her chest. “It really was you. You want to marry me?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.”
“Aunt Nell,” Chance muttered as he reached into his pocket and took out a black velvet box. He shifted to look back at his father. “You okay with me doing this now?”
Paul beamed. “I couldn’t ask for a better wedding present, son.”
“Oh, God, Chance, I’ve ruined everything.”
He smiled at her. “The only way you could ruin it, Slick, is if you say no.”
“No, I mean yes… yes!” She launched herself into his arms.
* * *
Under the tent, Vivi swayed in Chance’s arms to John Legend’s “All of Me.” Her arms looped around his neck, she lifted her hand to admire her platinum, diamond, and sapphire engagement ring sparkling under the fairy lights. It was perfect, just like the man who held her in his arms.
He smiled down at her. “You like it?”
“No, I love it. Almost as much as I loved your proposal. It was beautiful and romantic. Everyone thought so.” And they’d all had the opportunity to read his proposal because Nell and her friends had snuck out to Vivi’s SUV during the dinner and unloaded the newspapers. Since Vivi had felt bad about hijacking the paper, she didn’t mind. She’d wanted everyone to read Natalee’s article. She was a fabulous writer, and the message of how harmful keeping secrets can be was an important one.
While editing the article, Vivi realized she had her own secret to deal with and had finally worked up the courage to contact Brooke and Finn. She didn’t know if they’d ever have a real sibling relationship, but at least they were communicating. And of course she’d wanted everyone to read Superman’s letter to Lois Lane.
“You don’t think your dad and Liz minded us stealing some of their thunder, do you?”
“Are you kidding? Look at them. They’re oblivious to anyone but each other.”
He was right. The couple were in the middle of the dance floor, staring into each other’s eyes. They looked beautiful and happy. And so did everyone else. Beside them, Maddie danced with Gage, Lily with her baby brother, Annie with Evie, and Skye with Ethan, and Lauren sat on Ray’s lap as he moved his wheelchair to the music.
And in that moment, Vivi realized she’d found everything she’d always dreamed of and never truly believed she’d ever have in the small town of Christmas. She supposed that shouldn’t come as a surprise after what she’d uncovered while researching Christmas’s history. There was a reason dreams came true in the small town. And if she didn’t think she�
�d ignite another feud between the Danes, O’Connors, and McBrides, she’d write a series of articles for the Chronicle.
She had no doubt those articles would bring her the journalistic attention she’d always craved. But the need for recognition in her chosen career didn’t drive her like it used to. No, for the first time she could remember, Vivi Westfield was happy with her life just the way it was. And she had her husband-to-be to thank for that.
“What are you thinking about?”
She smiled up at him. “You. Thank you for making me a very happy woman today. I love you.”
“It’s dangerous to give me the sweet in the middle of the dance floor, Slick. You know that, don’t you?”
“You love the sweet.”
“I do, and I love you,” he said, lowering his mouth to hers.
When several people laughingly shouted, “Get a room!” Chance broke the kiss. “Let’s go home.”
“I think your dad and Liz have the same idea,” she said as Paul walked off the dance floor with his wife in tow.
“Time to toss the bouquet, folks,” Paul announced, turning Liz’s back to the crowd. The dance floor cleared, then filled with the single women from town.
Chance pulled out a chair at the friends and family table. Sitting down, he drew Vivi onto his lap. “My bet’s on Aunt Nell to catch the bouquet.”
“Sophia,” Skye said, and Vivi agreed, clinking their wine glasses together.
“Lily,” Maddie said.
“Well, it sure as hell won’t be Cat,” Ethan said, pointing to where his sister stood to the back of the crowd with her arms crossed. Chloe jumped up and down in front of her, waving her arms.
Liz tossed the bouquet. The mass of yellow and orange roses tied with champagne satin sailed over everyone’s heads… and hit Cat square in the chest. Since Cat didn’t make a move to grab the bouquet, her sister did.
They all laughed, and then Gage groaned. “Aunt Nell’s got that look in her eyes again.”
Vivi turned to see Nell standing to the side of the dance floor with her head cocked, studying Cat with a familiar expression on her face. As if Nell sensed their attention, she grinned in their direction and wiggled five fingers.
Easton, who’d hung out at the bar most of the night, joined them. Frowning at his aunt, he pulled out a chair. “Why’s Aunt Nell grinning like a loon and waving at you guys?”
“She’s not waving, little brother. She’s just set her sights on her victim for the next book in her series,” Gage said, and looked at Chance and Vivi. “Let’s hope there’s not as much excitement in that book as yours.”
“If the ending turns out as happy as ours, I hope there is.”
Maddie laughed. “Says the woman who didn’t believe in happy ever after.”
“Because there was only one man who could give me mine”—she cupped Chance’s face in her hand—“and I didn’t think he’d be willing to take a chance on me.”
“There you go giving me the sweet again.” He turned his face to kiss her palm, then raised his grass-green eyes to hers. “You may not have been my first love, but you are my last.” He stood with her in his arms. “Let’s go home, Lois.”
About the Author
Debbie Mason is the bestselling author of the Christmas, Colorado series. Her books have been praised for their “likable characters, clever dialogue, and juicy plots” (RT Book Reviews). She also writes historical paranormals as Debbie Mazzuca. Her MacLeod series has received several nominations for best paranormal as well as a HOLT Medallion Award of Merit. When she isn’t writing or reading, Debbie enjoys spending time with her very own real-life hero, their four wonderful children, an adorable grandbaby, and a yappy Yorkie named Bella.
You can learn more at:
AuthorDebbieMason.com
Twitter @AuthorDebMason
Facebook.com
Cat O’Connor is no actress, but she finds herself filling in for her identical twin sister—soap opera star Chloe O’Connor. Then Cat finds herself falling in love with her sister’s aristocratic British boyfriend…
Is it the role of a lifetime?
Please see the next page for a preview of
Snowbound at Christmas.
Chapter One
Sprawled in a white club chair in her sister’s bubblegum-pink dressing room, Cat O’Connor added up the numbers of the job-satisfaction quiz she’d just taken. It wasn’t like she needed a quiz to tell her that she was dissatisfied, but she didn’t have anything else to occupy her time. Whoever thought the entertainment industry was exciting had never been on the set of a daytime soap opera from seven in the morning until seven at night. Mind. Crushingly. Boring.
Okay, so sitting in an unmarked car on a stakeout had been kind of boring, too. But at least there’d been the potential for excitement. Nothing beat the thrill of taking some lowlife off the street. Of taking… She briefly closed her eyes. She couldn’t go there. Couldn’t think of the hell the FBI had put her through and what she’d been forced to give up.
Refocusing on the magazine, she read the level that corresponded to her score. “Danger Zone! You are burned out. Leave your job immediately before you destroy your mental and physical well-being.”
Cat tossed the magazine onto the table. It was true. She couldn’t put it off any longer. Working for Chloe was sucking the life out of her. She felt like she was fifty instead of thirty-one. She pinched her stomach through the I Love Tessa Hart T-shirt that Chloe insisted Cat wear to work and jiggled the quarter inch of fat between her fingers. Her identical twin wasn’t driving Cat to drink—she was driving her to eat donuts. Cat had consumed more donuts in the year that she’d worked for Chloe than in her five years with the Denver PD.
She stood up and bounced on the balls of her feet, shaking out her hands. She’d do it today. As soon as Chloe returned from blocking out her scene, Cat would tell her. She’d been protecting Chloe since they came out of the womb five minutes apart. Something her sister would no doubt deny, but it was true. Pudgy, with an overbite and a lazy eye, her nose always buried in a book, her head in the clouds, Chloe had needed Cat’s protection from grade school through high school. She didn’t need it now.
Cat tensed when the door opened and Chloe swept into the dressing room wearing a ruffled peach dress and matching high heels, her long, wavy dark hair flowing down her back. Sinking gracefully onto the chair Cat had just vacated, Chloe brought the back of her hand to her brow with a dramatic sigh.
Cat opened her mouth to say I quit at the same time her sister said, “Kit Kat, I need my pills. Get me my pills, please.”
What she needed was a swift kick in the derriere. But instead of acting on the thought, Cat retrieved the prescription bottle from her sister’s makeup table. Calm Chloe was easier to deal with than Dramatic Chloe. Unbeknownst to her sister, they were sugar pills. Their sister-in-law Skye had come up with the idea as a way to deal with Chloe’s panic attacks. Or as Cat privately referred to them, her Scarlett O’Hara act. Most of the time they worked.
Cat opened the bottle and shook two pills into her sister’s waiting palm. Chloe raised a perfectly plucked brow. “I need something to wash them down. Did you get my tea?”
Oh, she got her tea, all right. She’d scoured the streets of LA looking for her Anglophile sister’s special British brew. Thanks to gridlock traffic, it took Cat three hours to get back to the studio in Burbank this morning. Stifling a sarcastic retort, Cat poured the freshly steeped tea, timed as always to be ready for Chloe’s return, into the Royal Doulton teacup.
Her pinky raised oh-so-daintily in the air, Chloe took a sip, then pulled a face. “Kit Kat, this is not the brand I asked for.”
Silently counting to ten as she retrieved the yellow box from the shelf, Cat held it up. “This is what you told me to buy.”
And this was why she had to quit. Not only was she bored, Chloe was driving her insane. At times, Cat wanted to strangle her. She wouldn’t, of course, but their relationship had suffered. Cat lo
ved her sister, but lately she didn’t like her very much.
“Well, it’s not the one I want.” Chloe pursed her peach-glossed lips, then waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I have an hour until I have to be on set. You have time to get me the right—”
“I’m not going to buy you more tea.” Cat rubbed her sweaty palms on her jeans. It was now or never. “Chloe, I have something important to talk to you about.”
“Me too.” Chloe cast her a sidelong glance, then popped the pills in her mouth. She took a sip of tea.
“I’m quitting.”
Chloe choked, motioning for Cat to pat her back. Cat sighed and leaned over, doing as her sister directed. Chloe’s rapid blinking caused her bottom and top false eyelashes to stick together. While tugging her lid from her eyeball, she squinted at Cat. “You’re quitting? But you love working for me.”
It wasn’t an act. Chloe saw what she wanted to see. And the genuine confusion on her sister’s face only added to Cat’s guilt. Which Chloe erased with the next words out of her mouth. “Is it because I get all the attention?” She gave Cat a commiserating smile. “I understand how difficult it is to feel invisible, you know. But where else would you make the kind of money I’m paying you for doing, well, nothing?”
There was so much Cat could say to that, but it wouldn’t do her any good. Better to leave with their relationship somewhat intact. “Since I don’t do anything, you shouldn’t need two weeks’ notice.” She headed for the door before her sister inserted her foot in her mouth again, and Cat said something she’d regret.
“You’re leaving now?” Chloe asked, a hint of panic in her voice.
“I thought I’d go home and start packing. Book my flight. Don’t worry, I’ll be back in time to pick you up.” Just one more of her duties. Cat was Chloe’s chauffeur as well her bodyguard, manager, and gopher. A smile played on her lips. Not anymore she wasn’t. Warm, giddy relief flooded her body. She’d bask in the freedom for a few days before facing the reality of finding a job.
Chloe flapped both hands in front of her face. “Kit Kat, I don’t think the pills worked. I feel faint.”
