Stella MacLean - The Christmas Inn

There’s room at the inn…but maybe not for long!

As a favor to her brother, Marnie McLaughlan has agreed to spend Christmas at the lovely Mirabel Inn—as a mystery guest. But Marnie knows this favor is bound to be complicated because the owners need a confidential report immediately. Marnie’s impressions could affect their decision to sell.

From the outset, the inn is not what she expects…and neither is the manager, Luke Harrison. She quickly develops a rapport with this very attractive widower and his adorable little boy. He knows something is up, yet she can’t tell him that the inn—which is home to Luke and his son—is in danger. Marnie’s torn between her obligation to her brother and her growing love for Luke. Fortunately, things have a way of working out at Christmas!

Luke sat at his desk, staring at Marnie McLaughlan’s reservation

It was made out to a Mr. and Mrs. Scott McLaughlan, and yet she’d shown up here alone…and without a wedding ring. Where was Mr. McLaughlan? Amanda at the front desk said he’d been very friendly on the phone and so disappointed when they didn’t have a vacancy that she’d offered him the room on the top floor. But why hadn’t he arrived with Marnie if he was so anxious to come here?

Luke tapped the desk, his mind running over the possibilities.

His concerns aside, he’d been surprised to find his son, Ethan, hanging off the woman’s leg when he got to the front of the house, but she seemed to take it in stride. What could have been an embarrassing situation had turned into a pleasant interlude with a beautiful woman. And with her heart-shaped face framed by dark curls and her well-toned body, Marnie McLaughlan was gorgeous and sexy….

Her husband probably planned to arrive later, a simple enough explanation, and Luke hadn’t given her much opportunity to explain why they hadn’t arrived together. He would simply come up with a diplomatic way to find out when her husband was going to join her. It was essential that there be no disruptions during the inn’s Christmas event for couples, and a woman as beautiful as Marnie McLaughlan could prove to be a serious disruption…

Dear Reader,

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love nothing better than to root around in my dozens of boxes of Christmas decorations, digging out all the ornaments, lights, wreaths and mantel decorations needed for every room. Each year my husband and I decorate two fir trees in our home, simply to be able to breathe in the scent unique to evergreens. Christmas for me is both a happy time with my family and also a sad time, as I recall one very lonely Christmas during which I spent hours caring for my sister Elizabeth as she made her graceful exit from this world.

This book is also based on my experience as a mystery guest for a hotel chain near my hometown. Being a mystery guest is a lot like living in a parallel universe, as you will see in The Christmas Inn.

But most of all, this story is about a man who’s surrounded by a self-made wall of loneliness and the inability to forgive, and a woman who has to overcome her fear of rejection to find that common ground called love.

I believe that inside each of us is a Luke or a Marnie waiting to be rescued from our insecurities and fears to find the one person who makes life truly worthwhile.

Please enjoy The Christmas Inn, and stay in touch by visiting my website, www.stellamaclean.com.

Thank you, and may your Christmas season be filled with love, hope and the spirit of giving.

Sincerely,

Stella MacLean

The Christmas Inn

Stella MacLean

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stella MacLean has spent her life collecting story ideas, waiting for the day someone would want to read about the characters who have lurked in her heart and mind for so many years. Stella’s love of reading and writing began in grade school and has continued to play a major role in her life. A longtime member of Romance Writers of America and a Golden Heart finalist, Stella enjoys the hours she spends tucked away in her office with her Maine coon cat, Emma Jean, and her imaginary friends while writing stories about love, life and happiness.

Books by Stella MacLean

HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

1487—HEART OF MY HEART

1553—BABY IN HER ARMS

1655—A CHILD CHANGES EVERYTHING

Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

This book is dedicated to all those people who serve the public as members of the hospitality industry. Thank you for being there and making the lives of people like me more enjoyable.

And thank you to Sharon Allaby, friend, reader and fabulous cook.

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 Eighteen

Epilogue

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

ELEVEN DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS and Marnie McLaughlan hadn’t finished her shopping, but that was the least of her worries. She eased open the back door of the salon. The only sounds were the comforting hum of the refrigerator in the staff room and the clacking of a keyboard in the office to her right. She waited for the familiar click telling her the door had locked behind her before she headed for the office.

This was the day she’d wished for and worried over.

She was about to sell her half interest in Total Elegance, the hair-and-aesthetics salon she and her partner, Shane Walker, had co-owned for the past ten years. Her brothers, the superachiever foursome, would jump out of their jock straps if they knew she was in the process of selling her part of the business without their input. She had come in today to get her copy of the agreement to go over with her lawyer before signing. She was quite proud of the fact that her brothers wouldn’t be involved. Their best-before date as inquisitive overseers had long since passed.

At the door of the office she had shared with Shane through all the growing pains of their business she hesitated. This was it. She would read the agreement one more time, then take it to her lawyer. She took a deep breath and tapped lightly. He glanced up, his spiked mullet bobbing like a rooster’s comb as he stood to greet her. “Hey, great to see you,” he said, all brightness and light. Marnie had only one wish where her soon-to-be-ex-partner was concerned. She’d like him to change his hairstyle. When she first met him he’d styled his dark hair to frame his face, softening his angular features, and now the vertical spike of hair only made his nose appear longer, his chin more pointed. Worst of all, his haircut made him look dated.

It was a word that everyone who was anyone in the beauty industry hated to hear, and Marnie didn’t have the heart to tell him. Then again, maybe he knew and just didn’t care. But why should she worry about it, anyway? In mere weeks, she’d be able to put Shane’s hair, and all the other issues that came with running a salon, out of her mind. “Freedom thirty-five,” she’d dubbed her decision.

“It’s great to see you, too,” she said, crossing the narrow space and sitting down in what passed for the guest chair—a warped, plastic lawn chair she’d pilfered from her parents’ garage.

“So, are we ready to sign?” he inquired, his eyebrows doing an odd dance over his forehead, a rather peculiar move for a man, and one that had left questions in the minds of some of their patrons as to his sexual orientation. But those in doubt didn’t know Shane’s history where women were concerned. He was a consummate professional at work and a regular tomcat at night—that is until a particularly clever feline had put an end to his roaming ways.