A Knight Before Christmas

by Alicia Dean

here to protect you."

  Nicolette shook her head. "You had no idea. None of us

  did. If not tonight, then some other time, I'd have been alone

  with Donovan. We thought he was a friend. Thought he was

  harmless." She lifted a hand and stroked Heath's cheek. "I'm

  not going to let you take the blame for this, hear me?"

  He jerked a short nod. "If you say so."

  "I do. Besides, truth is, this is my fault. It never would

  have happened if I hadn't sent you away. I'm so sorry for the

  way I treated you this morning. I've been so mean to you. I

  think my emotions just exploded, and I wasn't thinking

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  straight. All you were doing is exactly what you said,

  protecting me, just like I tried to protect Louisa, out of love.

  And even how I protected Rudy, although he was gone and as

  it turned out, didn't necessarily deserve my protection, my

  loyalty."

  "It's okay. That's all behind us now."

  He removed one arm and dialed his cell phone. He spoke

  to Detective Patella, explaining what happened. He hung up

  the phone. "They're on the way."

  She laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms

  around his waist. "I don't care," she whispered. "All I need is

  you."

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  Chapter Twenty-Two

  "The wife had already called us." Patella scowled at

  Donovan as a patrol cop hauled him, handcuffed, out the

  front door. "Been looking for this joker a couple hours."

  "Marla called you?" Nicolette asked. The last time she'd

  spoken with Marla, nothing had been said about her suspicion

  that Donovan killed Rudy. Of course, once Nicolette learned of

  the affair, she hadn't wanted to hear anything else from

  Marla, not the explanations, not the apologies.

  "Yeah. She told us everything she knew about her

  husband's involvement with Mr. Morgan's death."

  "She damned sure took her time about it." Heath's eyes

  blazed, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. "She almost got

  Nicolette killed. Not to mention arrested for murder."

  Nicolette reached out and squeezed his hand in a

  comforting gesture.

  "Yeah." Berry nodded as he gazed at Nicolette. "No hard

  feelings, right? Just doing our job."

  "I know." Nicolette didn't care anymore. All that mattered

  was that she was no longer under suspicion, and that the

  blackmailer and Rudy's killer had been caught. Then, of

  course, there was Heath. She pushed back the smile working

  its way to her mouth. Now was not the time to let her joy

  burst forth.

  "Course, there's a good possibility we'll file charges against

  Mrs. Sussman for not coming forward," Patella said. "She

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  knew her husband had the cell phone all along. That alone

  might have been enough to file murder charges against him."

  "He kept the phone in his car all this time?" Heath asked.

  "Kept it charged and ready?"

  Patella shook his head. "Apparently he'd kept it hidden at

  the house, but this morning when Mrs. Sussman came home

  from her visit with Mrs. Morgan, her behavior made him

  nervous. He was afraid she was going to spill the beans, so he

  took the phone with him. I guess he's kept it off all this time.

  Phone still had enough charge for Mrs. Morgan here to do

  what she did." He grinned and a glint of admiration entered

  his eyes. "Smart move, by the way."

  Nicolette grinned back. "Thanks."

  It took nearly two hours for the police to finish the

  questioning and for the techs to go over the crime scene.

  Yellow police tape surrounded the area where Nicolette had

  nearly taken Donovan's head off. The police had seized the

  chipped Santa workshop figurine as evidence.

  After the police left, Heath took Nicolette by the shoulders

  and looked down into her face. "Did you mean it when you

  said you loved me, or was that just a way to get me to sex

  you up?"

  She laughed. "Oh, I meant it. Maybe I wasn't convincing

  enough, but I can show you again."

  He smiled. "Is that a threat or a promise?"

  "Both."

  "Okay, but one favor after I allow you to ravish me."

  "What's that?"

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  "I'd like for you to go with me and stay at Mom's tonight.

  Not only is this place a mess and a lot of bad shit went down

  here tonight, but I'd like to wake up there on Christmas

  morning. I mean, we've had so many additions to the family

  that it would be kind of cool to be with them all on our first

  Christmas as a family."

  "Are you including Keeley Jacobs?"

  "I am."

  "See, Heath King, I knew you couldn't be an asshole for

  long."

  He laughed. "That may have earned you a spanking."

  She gazed at him from beneath her lashes. "Is that

  another promise?"

  He placed a lingering kiss on her lips. When he came up

  for air, he said, "There's something you should know. I'm not

  going to let you use me and not make an honest man out of

  me. I want to marry you, Nicolette."

  "Any time, any place."

  "Yeah? You're easy. There is one problem, though. Mom

  has her heart set on her sons following hers and Dad's

  tradition of getting married on Christmas Eve."

  "I thought you resented your dad so much you wouldn't

  care about something like that."

  "I've been an unreasonable dick head. People make

  mistakes. Besides, something pretty special came out of it."

  "What's that?"

  "My sister."

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  "You have matured in the past few days. But there's only

  one problem about that tradition. Christmas Eve is almost

  over, and I don't want to wait a whole year to be your wife."

  Heath moved his hands, tightening them around her waist.

  "I have a solution. We'll get married right away, maybe New

  Year's Eve, then next Christmas Eve, we'll renew our vows at

  Mom's house."

  "Wow, you're Mr. Problem Solver, aren't you? What are we

  going to do about where we live?"

  "Damn, woman. One problem at a time. I don't care where

  we live as long as I can look into your beautiful face every

  morning. Now, enough talking. Let's get to Mom's house. I

  have a fiancee to ravage."

  On Christmas morning, Amelia's living room looked like an

  army of giant rats had invaded it...rats with a taste for

  wrapping paper.

  Discarded bows and paper littered the floor and three very

  happy little girls flitted from one gift to the other, seeming to

  be bothered only by the fact that they couldn't play with all of

  them at the same time.

  Stockings were strewn among the other debris. In the past

  wee
k, four had been added. One for Keeley, who had the

  advantage in that she'd been the only one who was an adult

  at the time the stocking was created, and therefore,

  compared to the others hers looked like it had been done by a

  professional artist. Each of the triplets had also made their

  own glitter-name stocking, but to be honest, Heath couldn't

  tell whose was whose. The lettering all looked the same.

  Uncle Heath had added a Pez dispenser to each stocking—one

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  Santa, one snowman, one Rudolph—with extra candy refills

  for each of them, earning a mock disapproving frown from

  Zoe.

  He supposed that now there would be one for Ethan,

  Jesse's son who Heath had only met that morning. Then,

  sometime in the future, his and Nic's children would make

  their stockings. A fissure of contented delight moved through

  his body.

  The family had just finished a late Christmas breakfast that

  Amelia had decided to make instead of an early Christmas

  lunch, and were lounging around the living room.

  Heath stood. "Sorry to end the party, but we have to run."

  "Where are you going?" Amelia asked. "I thought you

  canceled your appointment with that client, and you didn't

  have to go back today."

  "I'm not going back to Oklahoma. We'll be back here later

  this evening. We told Louisa we'd have a late meal with her."

  "You should have asked her to join us," Amelia said.

  "We did, but she didn't feel like getting out."

  "Heath?" Nic said. "We're not supposed to be at Louisa's

  for a couple more hours."

  "I know, but we have to make a stop on the way."

  "What stop?"

  "You'll find out soon enough."

  "Yeah, what stop?" Zoe and Keeley asked at once.

  Alex chimed in, "Spill it, bro. What's up?"

  "You people are nosy as hell." Heath took Nic by the hand

  and led her to the door, calling over his shoulder, "We'll be

  back later."

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  Nicolette frowned as she followed Heath to the Tahoe.

  "Stores are closed, so it's too late to buy me a gift. By the

  way, don't think I've forgotten you owe me one."

  "Greedy, aren't you?"

  He closed her door once she was seated, then climbed in

  on the driver's side and headed out of his mom's driveway.

  Heath drove in silence and Nic cast confused glances his

  way the entire time. What was he up to?

  When he took the exit for the airport, she scowled. "If

  we're going on a surprise trip, that's really sweet, but unlike

  you see in the movies, I'm not crazy about the idea of an

  impromptu vacation where I don't even have a chance to

  pack. I need clothes, my makeup, my nighties, my own

  pillow, toiletries—"

  He pulled into short-term parking and reached over to

  plant a kiss on her mouth.

  "Good grief, woman, do you ever shut up?"

  "Hey!" she shouted, but her protest was cut short as he

  climbed from the Tahoe and came over to open her door.

  She clamped her lips together to stop the flow of

  questions. It was obvious Heath wasn't going to let her know

  what the hell was going on.

  MCI was nearly dead. On Christmas morning, people would

  have already come in and wouldn't be leaving until later

  tonight or tomorrow. Heath strode down the terminal and she

  hurried to keep up.

  He stopped by a row of plastic chairs against the wall

  outside an American Airlines gate.

  "Have a seat," he said as he settled into one of the chairs.

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  She huffed and fell into the seat beside him. In moments,

  through the glass door, passengers disembarked.

  Among the sea of people, one man seemed vaguely

  familiar. Nicolette stood and craned her neck. He

  intermittently disappeared as other passengers moved in

  front of him. Her heart started to pound as the man came

  closer. People continued to exit, each filing away until the

  familiar stranger was the next one out the door.

  She squinted, then feeling as though she were in a dream,

  she slowly moved toward him. He saw her and dropped his

  bag, his eyes moving over her.

  "Daddy?" she whispered, then she was in his arms,

  laughing and crying and hugging.

  "My baby girl." His voice was muffled against her hair.

  "God, I can't believe it's really you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

  She finally pulled away and turned to see Heath watching

  them, a smile bigger than a 747 plastered on his face.

  "You did this?" Nic asked

  "I figured you'd need someone to walk you down the

  aisle."

  Tears flowing, she went into his arms. "Thank you," she

  whispered, but the words seemed so inadequate.

  Pulling away, she looked into his face. "Not only did Rudy

  cheat on me," she said quietly. "He didn't love me enough to

  make this happen. No one has ever done the things for me

  that you have."

  "You're special. You deserve this and more. I want to

  spend the rest of my life putting that beautiful smile on your

  face. Maybe without the tears, though."

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  She laughed. "I guess fifteen years ago, I didn't make the

  right choice. We've lost so much time."

  "Maybe we had to go through all that to get where we are.

  If that's true, it's fine by me. Because I really, really like

  where we are."

  "Yeah? Me too."

  "Hey, remember me?"

  She turned at her father's voice. His smile was as broad as

  Heath's had been. He looked the same as she remembered,

  tall and handsome, although the full head of blond hair had

  started to thin and was now gray.

  "Let's get your father's luggage," Heath said, clapping her

  dad on the shoulder.

  Nicolette linked her arm in her father's as they headed

  toward baggage claim.

  She placed her free hand in Heath's and squeezed tightly.

  Looking up into his sexy, golden eyes she winked at her

  knight in shining armor, who'd given her by far the best

  Christmas of her life.

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  A word about the author...

  * * * *

  Author Alicia Dean has had a love for reading since she was a small child. That love morphed into a desire to write,

  and she was thrilled when she finally realized her dream of

  publication.

  There is nothing she enjoys more than creating stories to

  share with others. Her favorite genres are suspense,

  paranormal, horror and contemporary romance. She has been

  inspired by such authors as Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly,

  Lisa Gardner, Jordan Dane, Tess Gerritsen, Sharon Sala,

  Merline Lovelace, Mel Odom, and Stephen King, to name a

  few.
>
  She resides in Oklahoma City and has three beautiful

  grown children and a multitude of amazingly wonderful and

  supportive friends and family.

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  Turn the page

  for an exciting preview

  of Alex King's story

  in the first Three Kings novel

  from author Dyann Love Barr

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  A Perfect Bride for Christmas

  The Three Kings, Book I

  * * * *

  Available now from The Wild Rose Press [Back to Table of Contents]

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  Chapter One

  December 2005, Kansas City

  Scrooge had it right. Bah, humbug! Christmas sucked long

  and hard.

  Lights twinkled on the tree, reflecting off the windows of

  the darkened office. The smell of holiday spices wafted from

  the potpourri dish on Zoe Hillman's desk, filling the room with

  false cheer. It was Christmas Eve, and not even the large,

  make that huge, bonus check lifted her spirits.

  "Bah, humbug." She sniffed, wiped her tears for the

  umpteenth time before she checked her resignation letter to

  Cox, Zuckerman, Howe and Stanford. No matter that her

  heart was shattered, her life over, it wouldn't do for her last

  act as Alex King's personal assistant to be sloppy and

  unprofessional.

  She reached into the candy dish on her desk,

  absentmindedly unwrapped one of the truffles, and popped it

  into her mouth. The chocolate melted in a creamy, dark

  lushness designed to put a Band-Aid on her broken heart, but

  tonight her drug of choice didn't work. Candy wrappers

  littered the floor, along with half a box of used tissues. The

  clock on her computer read seven p.m. Alex would be married

  and on his way to Las Vegas by now. Bianca Freemont would

  be his bride. Zoe's brain whipped up an X-rated vision of the

  wedding night, and she grabbed another tissue to wipe her

  red nose and puffy eyes.

  Her breath hitched, and she hit the SEND key before she

  could change her mind.

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