I'm so excited as Release Day for Sweet Christmas Kisses 5 gets closer! Here's Chapter One of The Mistletoe Bachelor Auction, one of the nine sweet holiday romances in our box set which releases next Tuesday, September 25.
Rose
Silver surveyed the lobby as she made her way tentatively down the stairs. When
she stayed in hotels, she avoided the crowds, the photographers, the gaping
looks by ordering room service to her suite. But this was a bed and breakfast.
No matter how fancy the Green Pines B&B was, if she wanted nourishment she
was going to have to brave being seen in public.
The
lobby was quiet, however. Through the front windows, the postcard-perfect town
square glistened in the sunlight. An uncommonly warm winter notwithstanding,
holiday lights twinkled discreetly around the room, and a wreath made of bay
leaves and plaid ribbon hung on the wall behind the welcome desk. The woman at
the desk glanced up at her and smiled.
"Good
morning. Sleep well?" she asked Rose warmly.
Rose
nodded. "Very well, thank you." She smiled back and looked quickly
away. The woman — Julie, read her name tag — had checked her in the previous
day. She'd done a fast double-take when she'd seen Rose and checked her name in
the computer, but that was it. Except for that, Julie had treated her like a
normal, anonymous person. Still, Rose didn't want to push her luck. You never
knew when even the most perfectly nice people would suddenly start gushing. And
that always made Rose feel like an imposter.
"Breakfast
is in the dining room — through the lounge," Julie said.
"Thank
you." The dining room was a large space with individual small tables,
rather than one long one, as she had feared. Her sister, Dani, and their friend
Loren Bennett were seated by the window, having coffee. There were two or three
other guests, but not a photographer in sight. Three men dressed in black had
the table near the entrance. Rose ignored them and allowed herself to relax.
Along the wall, a buffet offered hot and cold assorted breakfast fare,
including gluten-free pancakes and wheatgrass juice. Rose smirked. She'd been
hoping for normal food. Real pancakes and maple sugar — that would have been
nice. But she dutifully piled a plate with scrambled eggs, filled a mug with
coffee, and headed to the table.
"Hey,
sleepyhead," Dani said, pulling out the chair next to her. Rose gave her a
kiss on the cheek, then hugged Loren, who stood up to greet her.
"Welcome
to Green Pines, sweetheart," Loren said. She held Rose at arm's length to
look at her. "You look worn out."
Rose
gave a small laugh. "Just what I want to hear. You, on the other hand,
have never looked better."
"True
love does that," Dani teased. "You're blushing!" she exclaimed,
still looking at Loren. "Rose, isn't that the most adorable thing? It must
be his magic way with words."
Rose
sat down, amused at Dani and Loren's banter. It was sweet how obviously in love
Loren was with her husband, even after five years of marriage. "He is
pretty hot," Rose said, winking at Loren, who promptly swatted her arm.
"He's
mine!" Loren warned. "Besides, Trey's too old for you."
"You
weren't too old for him," Rose pointed out.
Loren
put her hand to her heart and recoiled in mock horror at being reminded of the
five-year age difference between her and her husband. "Rose, you evil
girl!"
"See
how lucky you are to not have a little sister?" Dani interjected.
"Just
wait until you’re over thirty and see if you can still nab the hottest man in
town then," Loren retorted.
Rose
tossed her thick waves of ebony hair and batted her eyelashes teasingly. "Finally! I always knew the time would come when being younger than you
guys would have its advantages." She sobered quickly. "Of course, it
will all be wasted if Forrest has his way." She began eating her eggs
mechanically, not really tasting them.
Dani
sighed. "He just wants what's best for you," she said, not sounding
fully convinced that their brother knew what “best” was in this case.
"What's
best for the company, you mean. Forrest is setting up my new company and would
like me to date the man he's hired to run it," she explained for Loren's
benefit.
"Is
he cute?" Loren asked.
Rose
rolled her eyes. "Who cares? He's an old friend of Forrest's from Phillips
Exeter."
"If
he’s a friend of Forrest’s he’s probably a nice guy. Where is your brother,
anyway?" Loren asked. "I didn't invite the three of you for the
holidays so he could spend the whole two weeks holed up in his room
working."
"He's
holed up in his room working," Dani said. "I stopped by on my way
down. He had already gone for a run, had his coffee, and eaten a couple of his
employees for breakfast." Loren winced.
"Yeah,
don't feel bad for him. It's his idea of heaven." Just to spite her
brother, Rose reached for one of the warm whole-wheat rolls in the basket on
the table. "Oh!" she moaned at the first bite. "That is so good!
I'd forgotten what carbs tasted like."
Loren
laughed. "You could use a few more pounds on you."
Rose
shook her head. "Don't tell Forrest." She wolfed down the roll
hungrily. "Do you know how tired I am of being hungry all the time?"
She took another roll. "I can't wait for this contract to end. One more
photoshoot and then I'm free. Or at any rate, sort of free."
Loren
tilted her head. "Forrest told me about the new makeup company you want to
launch. I think it’s great. But you don't sound excited."
"The
company that Forrest is launching, you mean," Rose said bitterly.
"With my ideas. And a huge publicity campaign — with my name and face on
it, and me going on promotional tours everywhere. It's not exactly what I had
in mind when I said I wanted to stop modeling, get out of the public eye, and
live a normal life." Rose picked up her coffee cup, then changed her mind.
"And to tell you the truth, it's a bit insulting. As if he doesn't think
my products will be good enough to stand on their own, and that people will
only buy them if they have the Silver name on it."
"It's
not all bad, Rose," Dani interjected. "Forrest did the same for me
when I stopped modeling. He's very good at launching businesses — he has
vision."
"But
I'm not you. You don’t mind having your face and name associated with your
brand."
"True
enough," Dani admitted. "That's because I never got as famous by
modeling as you. And I haven't the faintest clue how to make bedsheets or style
a room. I just know how to sell stuff."
Loren
and Rose laughed. “I think you do a little more than just sell stuff,” Rose
said. Dani’s sense of style and her interior design skills were legendary.
“I,
on the other hand, still have to come up with a decent product, and Forrest is
already planning huge publicity campaigns around something that doesn’t even
exist yet. I don't want people to buy my makeup just because the packaging has
the name of someone who's famous for being famous on it. I want to know they
appreciate it on its own terms. Plus, Forrest is already talking big — Macy's
and Bergdorf — while I'm thinking of supplying hospitals at a discount. Without
my name on the boxes," she clarified.
"You
could say that you and Forrest have slightly different visions." Dani
broke a roll in half and buttered it.
“Bottom
line: it’s my idea,” Rose said simply. “And, as soon as I knew we were coming
here for Christmas, I spoke to Tony Black, and he’s set up meetings for me with
one of the scientists at the medical center whose research I’ve been reading.
So, thank you for inviting us, Loren!”
"Fantastic!"
Loren exclaimed. "Oh, I almost forgot. I have something for you."
She
reached into the handbag slung over the back of her chair. "Your belated
birthday present, Rose." She handed Rose a flat, soft package wrapped in muted
colors, tied with twine and a miniature pine cone.
"I
love it already," Rose said, fingering the wrapping paper. "It's
handmade, isn't it?"
"Uh-huh.
Go on, open it."
Rose
carefully undid the knot, rolled up the twine like a precious jewel, and only then
did she unfold the paper. She lifted out a river of silk. "Oh, Loren, it's
gorgeous!" She examined the fabric, which was printed with swirls of
earthy tones, then opened the scarf and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"I don't think I have anything in quite these colors. What do you
think?"
"Beautiful,"
Dani agreed. "It brings out the green in your eyes."
"It's
made by a woman who makes her own dyes with plants she collects in different
areas of the country. She comes here at the end of the summer every year to go
hiking and collect plants. This is her Midwest range — dyes from around right
here in Green Pines."
"Thank
you, Loren." Rose leaned over and kissed her.
"Now
that that’s taken care of," Loren said briskly, handing each of them a
brochure, "this is the schedule for the Green Pines Winter Carnival. Dani,
you are going to love the carpentry exhibit. Hire a moving van for the trip
home right now because Mac Bennett's handmade furniture is unbelievable. I bet
you’re going to want to do a feature about him in your magazine. And Rose,
thank you so much for volunteering to do the kids' story hours at the library —
I hope you don’t mind, I scheduled an hour each day until Christmas Eve,
okay?"
"Sure,
it’ll be fun. " Rose hesitated. “You didn’t tell anyone who I am, right?”
“I
promised not to, didn’t I?” Loren reassured her.
“Then
just tell me where and when to show up.”
"At
the library, next door to the restaurant. I'll give you the tour of Green Pines
after breakfast."
Dani
grinned. "That should take all of five minutes."
"Hey,
this is my hometown now. Just because it isn't Fifth Avenue —"
"—but
it all looks so quaint," Dani amended quickly. "I'm so glad you
invited us, Loren."
Loren
looked slightly mollified. "I figured you two could use a little peace and
quiet."
"It's
been a little nutsy," Dani admitted, glancing at Rose for confirmation.
"But Rose's press agent says it's the second day without a new article
about those pictures. It will all die down soon."
There
was a chime from Rose’s phone. "Could we not talk about this,
please?" she asked, pulling the phone out of her pocket. She glanced at
the screen and quickly typed a message back.
"Who
was that?" Dani asked.
Rose
hesitated. "Alec."
Dani
rolled her eyes. "Rose, please, not again. What is it with you and your
recycled boyfriends?"
"Recycled?"
Rose sputtered.
Dani
turned to Loren. "Rose only goes out with guys she's gone out with
before."
"At
least it isn't like starting all over from scratch every time, like you. "
"That's
because if things didn't work out the first time with an ex, I'm smart enough
not to go back for more. People don't change, Rose."
"Well,
he knows how I like my eggs and why I hate shopping, and he liked Mrs.
Hennessy. No one else liked Mrs. Hennessy."
"Ms.
Hennessy was your tenth-grade English teacher! Who cares? So what if he can
order your eggs for you? How's that going to help the next time he's dragging
you from one bar to the next all night long just so he can be seen and
photographed with you?"
"So
at least I know what to expect. He's familiar," Rose snapped. "No
surprises." Although wouldn’t it be nice to be pleasantly surprised
by a man, for a change? Rose pushed the thought away — like that was likely.
"Right,
no surprises, not until he also digs up some half-naked shot of you at some
high school party and sells it to the press, just like the last guy," Dani
snorted. "Having known a guy in high school should not be the reason to
date him — if anything, that's a reason for any grown woman not to date a guy."
"They
knew me back when. They know me as a person."
"They
knew you when you were a foolish fifteen-year-old going off the rails. That
doesn't mean they know who you are now," Dani replied calmly, refusing to
get worked up over what was by now an old argument. She flipped through the
Green Pines Winter Carnival brochure.
Rose
tossed her napkin on the table angrily. "Well, between your disapproval
and Forrest’s matchmaking, I might just go off the rails again!"
Loren
reached over to grab Rose's hand. "And that's why you're here. So you can
get away from it all, relax, and think about the next chapter in your life in
peace. No one here is going to be looking at or even care about those old
pictures of you. But Dani does have a point. Not every man out there is a
sycophant trying to use your public image to his own benefit. Believe it or
not, there might even be a male or two left on the planet who doesn't know who
you are."
"I
could run a contest!" Rose joked. "Prove you don't know Rose Silver
and win a date with her."
"Forrest
would love it," Dani noted. "Great publicity."
"It's
too bad it isn't colder this winter," Loren pointed out. "Normally
it's so cold you could wear a baklava and no one would notice. You'd blend
right in."
Rose
smile despite herself. She squeezed Loren's hand and glanced at the three men
in black at the corner table. "Except for the bodyguards, you mean."
Loren
looked over her shoulder. "They'll keep the kids in line when you do story
hour. Very useful."
Rose
shook her head. "Uh-uh — I'm ditching them. They can stay and protect
Forrest." She pushed her cup away. "How about we start the
tour?"
"Hey,
look at this—" Dani said suddenly, running her finger along a notice in
the brochure. She glanced up at Rose with a wicked gleam in her eye. "I'm
signing you up right now!"
"What?"
Rose leaned over, but Dani moved the brochure out of her grasp.
"It's
for charity!" Dani said, smirking. "It's a fundraiser. For Loren's
literacy project. No choice. We have to go."
Loren's
face lit up in comprehension. She started to chuckle. "Of course
— you have to come!"
Rose
looked from one to the other, confused. "What is it?" she asked
suspiciously.
Dani
handed her the program with a triumphant smile. "The Mistletoe Bachelor
Auction. My Christmas present to you."
Rose
stared at her in shock. "You are not buying me a guy for Christmas!"
Dani
smiled sweetly. "Oh, you bet I am."
~*~
And mark your calendars for our September 25 Book Launch Facebook Party, from 2:00-7:00 p.m. EST. We hope to see you there for lots of fun, games, and giveaways!
