Lilian Darcy - The Baby Made at Christmas

Good things do come in small packages in the latest book in Lilian Darcy’s new miniseries, The Cherry Sisters!

Independent Lee knew she had a cushy life in Aspen. A great job as a ski instructor, a luxury home (well, the caretaker’s apartment, but it was right on the slopes). And a new fling with new coworker Mac Wheeler. He was handsome, athletic, sexy—the après-ski had just gotten a whole lot better!

Only it was never meant to get serious. She’s pregnant. Mac’s baby, conceived at Christmas. Overnight, her plans change: she’s moving back East to work at the family hotel with her sisters. But the real shock is…Mac has followed her. Yes, 1,700 miles, determined to be…what? Angry? Sure. Daddy? Guess so. Husband…? Who knew…

He might be packing up to move back to Idaho. He would surely have heard about the job at Barrier Mountain by now. What had they ever had together that could make her believe in this kind of a future? Flowers and a veil and the promise of undying love… No. They hadn’t been heading in that direction at all. They’d said nothing to each other about anything like that.

“But we never actually ended it,” he repeated now.

“No, we didn’t.”

“And if you hadn’t gotten pregnant, what would have happened? Were you planning to end it, before that happened?”

“Not at that point, I—”

“Not at that point?”

“We met at a bar in a resort town, Mac. In that situation, you’re not looking for something long-term, and you kind of assume the other person isn’t, either.”

“Right.” After a moment, he added quietly, “Are you really that cynical and hard-edged? You were that ready to dump the whole thing the moment it threatened to go deeper?”

“No! I was…really enjoying it, if you want the truth. Every bit of it.”

Scaring myself a little bit, wondering once or twice if I was being played .

The Cherry Sisters: Three sisters return to their childhood home in the mountains—and find the love of a lifetime!

Dear Reader,

Would you describe yourself as the outdoorsy type? Or are you someone who much prefers to tuck yourself cosily away indoors during the cold of winter?

Like my heroine in this story, I’m a mix of both. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing like fresh air and beautiful views and a good hike or swim or ski. There’s also nothing like that delicious feeling of coming back to a warm house and something good to eat after a bracing few hours in the open.

Lee has her life set up exactly the way she wants in this area. She’s a ski instructor in Colorado by day, with a very nice arrangement as live-in caretaker for an eleven-million-dollar mansion that occupies much of her free time but gives her access to an open fire, a Jacuzzi and seven bathrooms.

Yet when the story opens, she’s not in Colorado—she’s back home in upstate New York, staring down a very angry Mac Wheeler, who has followed her halfway across the country to say his piece. What has happened to throw both of these characters so far beyond their comfort zone?

Well, you’ve probably guessed the answer to this from the book’s title. More important, however, how did it happen, and what are they going to do about it?

I hope you enjoy Lee and Mac’s tumultuous relationship, and their equally tumultuous journey.

Lilian Darcy

The Baby Made at Christmas

Lilian Darcy

www.millsandboon.co.uk

LILIAN DARCYhas written nearly eighty books for Mills & Boon. Happily married with four active children and a very patient cat, she enjoys keeping busy and could probably fill several more lifetimes with the things she likes to do—including cooking, gardening, quilting, drawing and traveling. She currently lives in Australia but travels to the United States as often as possible to visit family. Lilian loves to hear from readers. You can write to her at PO Box 532, Jamison PO, Macquarie ACT 2614, Australia, or email her at lilian@liliandarcy . com.

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Contents

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 One

Upstate New York, March

“I am so angry with you, Lee.” Mac stood there at the bottom of the porch steps, against a backdrop of blooming crocuses in bright yellow and purple, while the still-bare trees gleamed with a coating of ice against a perfect late-March blue sky.

His hair was getting a little long, and he must have combed it back with his fingers because it lay in untidy, slightly wavy strands along the top of his head and down the back of his neck. A glint of sunlight caught his cheekbones, and the shadow above them made his dark eyes seem even darker. His shoulders looked strong and square under his shirt, and he stood with his feet planted on the ground as if ready for a fight with a grizzly bear. He was so gorgeous it almost hurt to look at him.

He hadn’t told Lee he was coming, and he’d driven here, he hadn’t flown. His familiar dark blue pickup was parked right there, still muddy and speckled with splashes of Colorado mountain road salt even after a journey of two thousand miles.

It spooked Lee that he’d driven all this way without a word of warning. Rattled the cage of her catlike independence, and made her very wary about his reasons. There was a statement in what he’d done. He’d ambushed her deliberately, and she didn’t know whether to be angry right back, or fall into his arms, or some third alternative that for the moment she couldn’t bring to mind.

It was never meant to get serious....

It was ten in the morning and Lee was still wearing her thick, fluffy, blue robe, wrapped in it for comfort as much as for warmth, because she’d felt disgustingly sick to her stomach since first rolling over in the glorious coziness of her bed at seven.

Her hair hung down around her face in a mess, and she could see it in the corner of her vision, like ropes of caramel taffy. Her mouth still tasted too strongly of mint toothpaste, and of the sweet grapes she’d eaten to mask the mint. When she’d come down to answer the knocking at the office door, she’d expected a delivery of clean linen or liquor supplies or bulk groceries, all of which were due sometime over the next couple of weeks.

Spruce Bay Resort was currently closed, in preparation for the coming spring and summer seasons. It was Monday, but the landscaping crew wasn’t here today, thank goodness. Mom and Dad were on the way back to their new home in South Carolina, her sister Daisy and new husband, Tucker, had left for their honeymoon after Saturday’s small wedding, and her other sister, Mary Jane, the eldest, had gone away yesterday afternoon for three days of indulgence at a spa in Vermont.

“You’d better come inside,” Lee said. Mac was wearing jeans and a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled, comfortable for driving, but not warm enough in the open air chill.