Kristin Hardy - Under The Mistletoe

When Hadley shook her head, Gabe shifted closer to her and tucked in the blanket more tightly. Even through the thick wool, his touch made her dizzy.

Gabe leaned closer to her. “It’s your call. Do we go on, or do we stop here?”

She needed to tell him to go back. But when he reached out to trace his fingertips up the line of her jaw and curl them around the nape of her neck, it was already far too late.

She was sinking slowly. There was every reason to avoid this, and she couldn’t make herself even try. She felt his breath before she ever felt a touch. When his mouth fused to hers it seemed inevitable. His lips were cool at first from the frozen night, and then she felt the heat. She could have held out against demand, but his touch was more an invitation.

And it made her want more.

Dear Reader,

If you’re eagerly anticipating holiday gifts we can start you off on the right foot, with six compelling reads by authors established and new. Consider it a somewhat early Christmas, Chanukah or Kwanzaa present!

The gifting begins with another in USA TODAY bestselling author Susan Mallery’s DESERT ROGUES series. In The Sheik and the Virgin Secretary a spurned assistant decides the only way to get over a soured romance is to start a new one-with her prince of a boss (literally). Crystal Green offers the last installment of MOST LIKELY TO… with Past Imperfect, in which we finally learn the identity of the secret benefactor—as well as Rachel James’s parentage. Could the two be linked? In Under the Mistletoe, Kristin Hardy’s next HOLIDAY HEARTS offering, a by-the-book numbers cruncher is determined to liquidate a grand New England hotel…until she meets the handsome hotel manager determined to restore it to its glory days—and capture her heart in the process! Don’t miss Her Special Charm, next up in Marie Ferrarella’s miniseries THE CAMEO. This time the finder of the necklace is a gruff New York police detective-surely he can’t be destined to find love with its Southern belle of an owner, can he? In Diary of a Domestic Goddess by Elizabeth Harbison, a woman who is close to losing her job, her dream house and her livelihood finds she might be able to keep all three—if she can get close to her hotshot new boss who’s annoyingly irresistible. And please welcome brand-new author Loralee Lillibridge—her debut book, Accidental Hero, features a bad boy come home, this time with scars, an apology-and a determination to win back the woman he left behind!

So celebrate! We wish all the best of everything this holiday season and in the New Year to come.

Happy reading,

Gail Chasan

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Paul Ronty Jr. and Martha Wilson

of the Mount Washington Hotel

for their time and generosity

and

to Stephen—

this love will last

has always wanted to write, starting her first novel while still in grade school. Although she became a laser engineer by training, she never gave up her dream of being an author. In 2002, her first completed manuscript, My Sexiest Mistake, debuted in Harlequin’s Blaze line; it was subsequently made into a movie by the Oxygen network. The author of nine books to date, Kristin lives in New Hampshire with her husband and collaborator.

Dear Reader,

I first got the idea for Under the Mistletoe a couple of years ago while taking my parents on a leaf-peeping trip through northern New Hampshire. I brought them to one of my favorite places, the Mount Washington Hotel, a hundred-year-old grand resort hotel in the White Mountains. One night, I was walking through the lobby past the walk-in granite fireplace and I had this flash of a couple in love, waltzing before the fireplace on Christmas Eve—and Under the Mistletoe was born.

I modeled the Hotel Mount Jefferson in Under the Mistletoe on the Mount Washington. You can see for yourself, if you’re lucky. Please see my Web site—www.kristinhardy.com—for details about an exciting contest I’m holding!

I’d love to hear what you think of Hadley and Gabe’s story, so please drop me a line at kristin@kristinhardy.com. And stop by my Web site for future contests, details on upcoming books, recipes and more.

Happy holidays.

Kristin Hardy

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Manhattan, August 2005

“Because I didn’t meet the Wall Street number?” Hadley Stone stared at her father incredulously.

Robert Stone looked back with the same mix of dispassionate censure he’d offered her most of her life. “The stock price of Stone Enterprises has dropped two dollars since the earnings release for Becheron Minerals. That division was the highest profile buy we made last year. Your job was to turn it around.”

“I did turn it around,” she protested. “We beat our in-house earnings target.”

“But Wall Street expected you to do better.”

What the hell did a bunch of Wall Street analysts know about the inside dealings of their company? Hadley thought furiously, remembering the hours she’d spent flying halfway around the world to various Becheron facilities, the countless jet-lagged meetings while she struggled to bring the shaky mining company back from the brink of bankruptcy to meet the punishingly high profit margins demanded by Stone Enterprises. And now, to be told that the division was being taken out of her hands because she hadn’t met the inflated expectations of Wall Street analysts?

Grimly, she shoved the frustration down. Showing emotion to Robert Stone was an invitation to be totally discounted. “I know Becheron inside out,” she said instead. “You put someone else in there, it’ll take them a month just to get up to speed.”

“Eliot Ketchum’s taking over. I’m sure he’ll be quite capable.”

“So I’m demoted?”

“Think of it as a reassignment. It was my error to push you too far, too fast.”

Protesting that it wasn’t fair would fall on deaf ears, she knew from experience. Her big opportunity, she’d delivered the goods and all she’d earned was a smack down.

The frown on Robert’s face softened. “It’s not your last chance, Hadley. You know I have big plans for you at Stone. I always have.”

Since toddlerhood, to be exact. For as long as she could remember, he’d orchestrated her life—her school, her friends, her career. Relentless standards, unyielding discipline and occasional and unpredictable praise, doled out just often enough to make her knock herself out to earn more. Another child might have rebelled. Hadley only worked harder to be the heir Robert wanted, a stand-in for the son he’d never had.

To be what he wanted? For the umpteenth time of late, she wondered if that were even possible. She didn’t want to go there, though—couldn’t, not after spending twenty-eight years of her life trying to please him.

Robert’s intercom buzzed. “Who is it, Ruth?” he asked.

“Justin Palmer, to talk with you about the W. S. Industries restructuring.”

“Send him in.” Robert clicked off the intercom and looked at Hadley. “I’ll be with you in just a minute. WSI takes precedence.”