Jennifer Snow - The Trouble with Mistletoe

She faked a smile.

She didn’t need or want any more time to get to know this man over again. What she wanted was for him to sign her contract so she could get out of Brookhollow. “I’ll have an offer by Wednesday, but we should go over the preliminary paperwork as soon as possible.” She scanned the store for a place to lay out her documents. “The major chain store interested in purchasing—”

Luke turned off the lights and unplugged the strand of multicolored Christmas lights draped across the window.

“Do … you prefer we do this in the dark?” she asked sarcastically.

He put his coat on and wrapped a scarf around his neck. “I have dinner plans.”

The familiar scent of his musky cologne made her pulse race. “Tomorrow, then.” She stepped out into the frigid air. “I’ll come by in the morning.” She pulled out a silver monogrammed cardholder. Her hand shook as she handed one of her cards to Luke.

“Your card?”

“It has my cell number on it.” Her teeth chattered.

“Victoria, this is Brookhollow.” He laughed. “I could stand in the center and call to you, and wherever you are, you’ll hear me.”

Dear Reader,

Everyone remembers their first love. Despite time, distance and future loves—that first experience of a spark or a connection seems to hold a special place in our hearts even as the memories fade. In this first book of my Brookhollow series, I wanted to write about what happens when that first love is so strong that it can never be replaced and how sometimes all it needs is a second chance.

My favorite romance stories have always been holiday-themed, as I feel that Christmas is the ultimate time to celebrate love and family and heart and home—the essence of this new Heartwarming series. I hope you enjoy losing yourself in this beautiful town as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Warmest wishes to you and your family this holiday season,

Jennifer

The Trouble with Mistletoe

Jennifer Snow

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JENNIFER SNOW

Jennifer Snow has been writing fairy tales with happy endings from a very young age, always with one goal in mind—to become a part of the Harlequin/Mills & Boon ®family. Living in Edmonton, Alberta, with her husband and three-year-old son, she is dedicated to creating lasting, heartfelt romances that readers can share with those they love.

www.JenniferSnowBooks.com

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my family—my beautiful creative mom, hardworking father, encouraging brother, amazing son and supportive husband for everything. I wouldn’t be living my dream if it weren’t for each of you. Also, thank you a million times to my agent, Stephany Evans, for taking a chance on this story and my talented editor, Victoria Curran, for offering me a home here at the Heartwarming series.

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 ONE

“Please don’t hit, please.” Victoria Mason closed her eyes as her tiny rental car slid into the parking space on Main Street. Parallel parking was not a skill she possessed and yet she was relieved to see she’d cleared the other cars. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and reapplied her lipstick. The pink, shimmery gloss did the trick of adding a touch of color to her pale complexion. The two-hour drive on the busy interstate from New York City to Brookhollow, New Jersey, had tested her already frazzled nerves. She prayed the unpleasant road trip, with its bumper-to-bumper traffic and icy road conditions, wasn’t a sign of things to come as she stepped out into the cold. The early-December wind whipped through her cashmere winter coat and her breath came in puffs of white clouds as she locked the car. An unnecessary gesture in her small hometown. This wasn’t New York. Anyone here for more than two minutes could see Brookhollow at rush hour was the opposite of Manhattan’s fast pace and crazy traffic.

The Christmas season was in full swing and all the small mom-and-pop shops lining both sides of the quiet street boasted holiday displays in their storefront windows. Kitty-corner from where she stood, Pearl’s Petals showcased a frosty winter wonderland with pale pink and white poinsettias lining the base of the window. The crystal snowflakes hanging from the ceiling glistened against the white scrim backdrop. Next door, the town’s secondhand bookstore, Dog-Eared Books, featured a selection of holiday cookbooks and children’s stories positioned under a Christmas tree decorated with crayons and bookmarks.

From here, she could also see Town Center Square in the distance. The twenty-foot Christmas tree had been put up the day before, as was the tradition for the first weekend in December. On the corner the town’s welcome sign was bordered with holly and twinkling white lights. Welcome to Historic Brookhollow, Population 10,810. According to her mother, that number had decreased in recent years. Victoria had certainly been eager to remove herself from the population count. Now here she was, for the first time in three years. Freezing her butt off.

Victoria shivered as she walked the short distance to Legend’s Sporting Goods. The quicker she started the acquisition process, the better. Her previous acquisitions had closed without the slightest hiccup, but she suspected this would be different. Why hadn’t she declined this one? Being back in her hometown was tough enough. Having to deal with this particular store owner would be torture.

Her gaze fell to the acquisition papers in her hand. Luke Dawson. She hadn’t seen or spoken to her ex-fiancé in twelve years. A different agent, a stranger in Brookhollow, may have had an easier time. Leaving town for a career in New York, abandoning the star quarterback and homecoming king two weeks before their wedding, hadn’t exactly put her on Brookhollow’s favorite people list. She bit her lip. Could she really be successful in a place she’d always considered a roadblock to her ambition?

She had to focus on what mattered: securing this purchase and getting out of Brookhollow before Christmas. Pausing in front of the store, she checked her reflection in the window, running a hand over her blond, shoulder-length hair. She forced several, slow deep breaths. It had been twelve years, how bad could this reunion be? She reached for the door handle.

“The store is closed for renovations,” a deep voice said to her right, several feet above her.

“Oh, well, I have a meeting with—” Victoria turned and took in the man on the ladder she’d walked right past without seeing “—Luke?” She placed a hand over her eyes to shield them from the low, setting sun glaring off the roof of Ginger Snaps, the bakery next door. She could barely make out his face in the blinding light, but the voice was unmistakable. “How long have you just been watching me from up there?”

“Long enough to enjoy that painful parking job.” He turned back to his work, placing a string of lights along the roof.

She glanced toward the rental car, parked on a slight angle in the space that now looked much larger than it had when she was trying to park in it. Squaring her shoulders, she moved closer. “Renovations? Didn’t you receive the letter from Clarke and Johnston Acquisitions earlier this week?”

“The one claiming you’d be here at noon today?” Luke asked.