better. I loved that. It made me want to know you.”
“I was talking to Anna.”
“Yes. I didn’t know who it was then—Marie told me later what had happened. If I’d only known it was her, I could have stepped in and been the big-hero uncle.” He smiled ruefully. “I didn’t see her face, but I saw yours.”
“She was crying into a corner when I found her. It took a few minutes to get her to tell me what was wrong.”
“I waited around until you came back, to ask you out. I was desperate to impress you, to convince you to talk to me.”
“You were flirting.” And she’d thought he was a well-practiced charmer and would have none of it. “I was a tongue-tied mess,” he confessed. “I’ve been trying to get your attention ever since.”
“You have not.”
“I have,” he insisted. “Ask Patsy. She arranged the Secret Santa gift. I bought the birdseed as a cover.”
“It worked. I was totally fooled. She set it up so I got your name, you know.”
“I suspected from the way you blushed.”
“I did not.”
“You did.” He slipped his arms around her waist. “Could we start over? I rushed things, I know. I scared you.”
“Only because I thought you seemed so...distant yesterday. I thought you were embarrassed that your family thought we were serious. The guys were teasing you about changing diapers and having kids.”
“I was afraid they’d know how very serious I am,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to scare you off.”
He kissed her then, and it was definitely not the kiss of a man who was just looking for a friend.
“Can we start over?”
Grace looped her arms around his neck, letting her crutch drop to the floor. “What did you have in mind?”
“We could go out on a date. To the movies. Eat popcorn. Hold hands.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll have Sunday dinners with the family once in a while. Watch the Super Bowl. Emily has a dance recital coming up. We could go and cheer.” His hands tightened around her.
“We could.”
“Then on Valentine’s Day I come up with some clever way to surprise you with a great big diamond ring. I get down on one knee and beg you to marry me.”
Grace blinked back tears as she looked up at him. He was serious. And he was nervous. “And when I say yes?”
He broke into a smile. “We plan a Christmas wedding, which I know from experience you are very good at.” Nico pulled back from her, reached into his pocket and pulled out a little bundle of jingle bells. “I kept them for luck. What do you say?”
“They’ll be perfect in the bridal bouquet,” she managed to say.
“And we’ll live happily ever after?”
“Of course we will.” She sniffed. “You, me and Al.”
“And maybe a couple of little Vitellis.” His lips skimmed her mouth.
“The more the merrier,” Grace whispered before she kissed him.
Christine Flynn
Can a single mom and a Scroogelike self-made millionaire find their fairy tale for Christmas? Christine Flynn delivers a tale of holiday magic in the latest installment of The Hunt For Cinderella!
All Rory Linfield wants is to give her little boy a perfect Christmas. A new job and new home would be nice, too! So when a mysterious benefactor asks her to manage a shop in a picturesque seashore town, she eagerly accepts. The only catch? Her supergruff—and supersexy!—new boss.
The last thing bachelor Erik Sullivan needs to deal with is an inexperienced “businesswoman.” Especially one whose gentle manner and vulnerable allure awaken feelings he’d rather let lie. No, it would be easier to keep his distance, because Rory and her son remind him all too much of things he once wanted, but couldn’t have. But then, this holiday season seems to be full of surprises…perhaps even a family under his tree?
For the lovely ladies
who have made the “Hunt” happen,
and everyone who believes in the fairy tale.
“What’s on your Christmas list this year? No matter how big or how small, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for at Seattle’s one-stop answer to all your holiday—”
With a quick flick of the dial, Rory silenced the cheerful voice suddenly booming from her car radio. In an attempt to drown out her worries while she waited to pick up her son from kindergarten, she’d turned the music to a decibel she’d never have considered had her five-year-old been in the vehicle.
The ad had just brought to mind the one thing she’d been desperately trying not to think about.
She’d hoped to make the holiday special for her little boy this year. Not just special, but after last year’s unquestionably awful Christmas, something wonderful. Magical.
As of three days ago, however, she was no longer sure how she would keep a roof over their heads, much less put a tree under it. Due to downsizing, her telecommuting services as a legal transcriptionist for Hayes, Bleaker & Stein were no longer required. She’d needed that job to pay for little things like food and gas and to qualify for a mortgage.
Without a job, she had no hope of buying the little Cape Cod she’d thought so perfect for her and little Tyler. She had no hope of buying or renting any house at all. Since the sale of the beautiful home she’d shared with her husband closed next week, that left her four days to find an apartment and a job that would help her pay for it.
A quick tap ticked on her driver’s side window.
Through the foggy glass, a striking blonde wearing studious-looking horn-rimmed glasses and winter-white fur smiled at her. The woman didn’t look at all familiar to Rory. Thinking she must be the mom of an older student, since she knew all the moms in the kindergarten class, she lowered her window and smiled back.
Chill air rushed into the car as the woman bent at the waist to make eye contact. “You’re Aurora Jo Linfield?”
