And Melissa has learned to live with it, but it breaks her heart that her seven-year-old son, William, has had to live with it too. Whilst most little boys wait with excitement for the big day, William finds it difficult to believe that Father Christmas even exists.
But then Daniel McCormick comes into their lives. And with his help, Melissa and William might just be able to find their festive spirit, and finally have a Christmas where all of their wishes come true …
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A Little Christmas Faith
Is it time to love Christmas again?
Faith Watkins loves Christmas, which is why she’s thrilled that her new hotel in the Lake District will be open in time for the festive season. And Faith has gone all out: huge Christmas tree, fairy lights, an entire family of decorative reindeer. Now all she needs are the guests …
But what she didn’t bank on was her first paying customer being someone like Adam Hunter. Rugged, powerfully built and with a deep sadness in his eyes, Adam is a man that Faith is immediately drawn to – but unfortunately he also has an intense hatred of all things Christmassy.
As the countdown to the big day begins, Faith can’t seem to keep away from her mysterious guest, but still finds herself with more questions than answers: just what happened to Adam Hunter? And why does he hate Christmas?
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
Too Damn Nice
Do nice guys stand a chance?
Nick Templeton has been in love with Lizzie Donavue for what seems like forever. Just as he summons the courage to make his move, she’s offered a modelling contract which takes her across the Atlantic to the glamorous locations of New York and Los Angeles. And far away from him.
Nick is forced to watch from the sidelines as the gawky teenager he knew is transformed into Elizabeth Donavue: top model and the ultimate elegant English rose pin-up, seemingly forever caught in a whirlwind of celebrity parties with the next up-and-coming Hollywood bad boy by her side.
But then Lizzie’s star-studded life comes crashing down around her, and a nice guy like Nick seems just what she needs. Will she take a chance on him? Or is he too damn nice?
Read a preview here …
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READ ABOUT CHOC LIT NEXT ...
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Where heroes are like chocolate – irresistible!
Preview
Too Damn Nice
by Kathryn Freeman
PROLOGUE
Eight Years Ago
It was her eighteenth birthday and Lizzie had just signed with an illustrious modelling agency. Really, did life get any better than that? Following a gleeful pirouette she peered curiously at her reflection in the mirror. Silky blonde hair framing an oval face and a small straight nose. Definite plus points. She was also tall, a modelling prerequisite, and slender, another given. But then there was the pointy chin, the cheekbones that were too sharp and the blue eyes that were far too large for her face. Not beautiful then. If she was generous, she might say her looks were striking. She certainly wasn’t most people’s idea of a model, but then Lizzie had never cared much for what most people thought. If she had, she’d have let the taunts of the boys at school, Here comes Daddy Long Legs, crush her ambition a long time ago. Instead she’d laughed in their faces and continued to send her portfolio of photographs off to modelling agents. One day, she’d told herself, what her school friends thought of as ungainly and odd, a modelling agency would see as eye-catching and unusual.
And they had. Here she was, two years on, signed with a modelling giant because of those very same quirky features. Now, as far as Lizzie was concerned, anything was possible. And she was going to try her hand at it all.
With a final grin to the image in the mirror, she slipped on her favourite silver sandals. She’d practised walking in high heels since the age of five, so the journey down the stairs and into the garden in these five-inch sweeties was a doddle. She pushed open the back door and stared in delight at the large marquee in the garden, decorated with twinkling fairy lights and silver balloons, erected in her honour. Tonight was her night. Two celebrations in one. The first, reaching the landmark age of eighteen, her friends all knew about. The second, being signed by the modelling agency, was a secret to all but her family.
‘Hey, come and dance with us, Lizzie.’
Her eyes followed the direction of the voice, resting on a group of giggling girls shimmying on the dance floor. Her best friends. Lizzie waved and went to join them.
Nick hovered in the corner of the marquee, watching the girls on the dance floor. Or make that girl, because there was only one who caught his eye. Lizzie. She had done so ever since she’d hurtled into the world eighteen years ago. He knew her by virtue of her brother, Robert. Being best friends with Robert had meant spending a huge chunk of his childhood hanging round the Donavue family home. In the early days, Lizzie had been in the background: the cute baby he and Robert had laughed over as inquisitive five-year-olds; the long-limbed girl with pigtails and big blue eyes. But then she’d grown up. For the life of him he couldn’t work out how it had happened, but while he’d been working and touring round Europe with Robert in his gap year, she’d turned from gawky to pretty. Then, during his visits home from university, she’d gone from being his friend’s kid sister to the girl he most wanted to kiss. At sixteen she’d been too young for him to act on his feelings so he’d kept quiet, finished university, sowed some wild oats and unknowingly broken a few hearts. As he watched her on the dance floor, he was forced to acknowledge his own heart had been captured years ago.
Now he was back, settled in a job, living in his own place.
Now, surely, it was time to do something about his feelings for her.
Yes, she was eighteen to his twenty-three, but this was Lizzie he was talking about. A girl far older than her years.
Tonight, he was going to ask her out. He was happy to take things slow – the last few years had given him a lot of practice at slow – but he needed her to know his feelings went beyond those of an honorary big brother. Quite how he was going to do that was another matter. If he didn’t know her so well, if she’d simply been a girl who’d caught his eye tonight, he’d know the moves. Oh he wasn’t smooth – if only – but he’d acquired a fair bit of experience with the opposite sex. Enough to know how to buy a girl a drink. And, if he liked her, how to move onto stage two. He’d taken a few knock backs over the years, but other than a bruise to his ego, it hadn’t really mattered.
With Lizzie, it mattered, and not just because he loved her. Her friendship was as important to him as Robert’s, and tonight he could seriously screw up both. He had no clue wh
at Robert would think of him fancying his sister. And he had no clue how Lizzie felt, either. She liked him, sure. But liked was a long way from how he wanted her to think about him.
Nick took a final swig of beer, straightened his back, and walked purposefully towards her. He was willing to risk Robert’s wrath if it got him Lizzie.
She was dancing with her friends, lost in the music, totally unaware of his approach. He watched, mesmerised, as her tall, sinuous body twirled to the beat. God she was gorgeous. The most stunning creature he’d ever seen, or was ever likely to see. And it wasn’t only he who saw it. Scanning the room he noticed other men watching her, young and old alike. She stood out from the crowd. She was unique.
‘Nick, there you are,’ she said with a smile, holding out her hand to drag him onto the dance floor. ‘I wondered where you’d got to.’
He allowed himself to be pulled towards her. Hell, he was so besotted he’d follow her wherever she led him. Off a hundred foot high cliff? No problem. Across an alligator infested river? Bring it on. Even onto a blasted dance floor. Never his forte. Getting his body to dance to a rhythm was well nigh impossible. Call it his reserve, or shyness, or maybe his total lack of musical ability. Whatever it was, next to her he looked stiff and awkward.
‘I was trying to avoid dancing,’ he replied, shouting to be heard above the sound of the music. ‘But it seems if I want to talk to you, I have to dance.’
She laughed, the soft, rich sound rippling through him. ‘We can talk anytime. Today I turn eighteen and I want to dance all night.’
He nodded back, though his heart sank in his chest. If she planned on fixing herself to the dance floor all evening, how on earth was he going to get her to himself?
The music moved on to the next track and still they danced, Nick doing a kind of shuffle to the beat while Lizzie whirled around him, her movements graceful and fluid. She danced in the same manner she did most things in life, vivaciously, possessing the confidence of someone twice her age. In contrast he danced awkwardly. He could manage a formal fox trot – set steps that could be learnt – but the loose-limbed gyrating of disco was beyond him. Aware of this he hung back, desperately hoping the music would turn slower. He’d have no problem holding Lizzie in his arms and gliding slowly around the dance floor. No problem at all.
His hopes were dashed as the next high tempo song blasted through the speakers. ‘I want to talk to you,’ he shouted across at her.
She smiled over at him, her blue eyes glittering and he felt his heart flip in his chest. ‘Go ahead, I’m all ears.’
He shook his head. ‘No, later. Somewhere quieter.’ Declaring his love for her in the middle of a crowded dance floor wasn’t what he had in mind. It had an advantage – it would be pretty easy for her to pretend not to hear him. Save them both the embarrassment of her turning him down. But shouting out his intimate feelings on a noisy dance floor wasn’t his style. No, he’d take the hit in private, thank you. That’s if she ever got off the ruddy dance floor.
The song ended and the music stopped altogether. With a surge of anticipation Nick reached for her hand and gave her a light tug. When she didn’t move, he stared at her, puzzled. Then he followed her eyes, catching sight of her father striding towards them, his handsome face beaming. As Nick looked on, the older man whispered something in Lizzie’s ear. She grinned in reply, nodding enthusiastically. With a wink at Nick, she let go of his hand and linked arms with her father. Together they walked towards the disc jockey and his microphone.
‘Friends,’ her father began. ‘As you know, we’re here today to celebrate my darling Lizzie’s eighteenth birthday.’ He looked over at Lizzie with the adoration only a doting father can bestow on his most precious daughter. ‘What you don’t know is we also have something else to celebrate. This afternoon Lizzie received a call from a modelling agency in New York. They want to sign her up.’ There was an awed hush as the crowd took in his words. ‘Yes, that’s right. My daughter is about to go and live her dream. New York here she comes!’
Nick stood, dazed, as Lizzie was besieged by cheering friends, all clamouring to congratulate her. He felt as if he’d been hit in the solar plexus by something large and solid. New bloody York? Could she go much further away? Numbly he watched as she revelled in the attention. He wanted to be happy for her. He really did. But the only feeling he could summon was anguish. There was absolutely no point in spilling out his feelings to her now. Not when she was off to start a shiny new life in America.
He’d lost her before he’d even had the chance to let her know how he felt. Later he’d tell himself it was for the best. That actually the announcement had saved him from almost certain humiliation, because he doubted she saw him as anything other than a friend.
But right now he felt as if life had turned around and spat in his face.
Lizzie couldn’t have been happier. She’d had to pinch herself several times tonight to make sure it wasn’t all one incredible dream. Going off to New York to model? Wasn’t that just a foolish fantasy? How could it actually be happening to her? Of course being signed by a major New York agency didn’t automatically mean she’d make it. She had years of hard graft ahead of her. An endless succession of go sees, hoping for the elusive contract, the chance to burst out of the pack of unknowns. That great big dollop of luck all top models needed. So no, it wasn’t going to be all fun and excitement. There would also be disappointment. And loneliness.
She was going to have to say goodbye to everyone here tonight. To her parents, her brother. To Nick. At the thought of the last name, her heart skipped a beat. Could she really leave him behind, without ever finding out what they would have been like together? God, she’d had a crush on Nick for … well, forever. While her teenage friends had been idolising pop stars, she’d gone to bed dreaming of Nick Templeton, with his tall, lanky frame, floppy dark hair and steel-rimmed glasses that framed soulful brown eyes. Then he’d disappeared. First had been the year away with Robert, then university. She’d only been thirteen when he’d left, yet she’d believed her life was over. Certainly it had been so much duller without him. As she’d grown older, modelling had become a new outlet for her dreams, but it hadn’t stopped her heart lifting each time Nick came home from university to visit her brother.
She watched him now, talking to Robert. At first glance Nick wasn’t an obvious choice for a girl’s first teenage crush. He didn’t have the dashing good looks and easy charisma that caused her friends to fawn over her brother. Neither was Nick gregarious and fun loving. He was far more of an enigma. With Robert, what you saw was what you got. With Nick, every time she looked, she saw a little more. And each bit she saw was even better than the last. He stood taller than Robert and broader, but leaner. The glasses he wore gave him an air of intelligence that wasn’t superficial. His first at Cambridge was proof of that. He was the quiet one. Reserved, often serious, but with a dry sense of humour that stopped him from being dull.
Above all, Nick was a strong, stabilising presence. She loved that about him, just as she loved the way his warm brown eyes had watched her tonight. As if she was the only person in the room. Was it possible Nick was finally starting to see her as a woman? God, she hoped so, but if she didn’t do something about it now, tonight, she’d be on her way to New York without ever knowing.
Taking a deep breath she walked over to the two men, putting an arm around them both. ‘Two of my favourite people.’
Robert tugged at her hair. ‘My baby sister, the glamorous model.’ He shook his head. ‘It doesn’t seem possible.’
‘Well start to believe it big brother.’ She gave him a playful dig in the ribs, making him grunt. ‘I won’t be around to tease for much longer.’ She turned to Nick. ‘You wanted to talk? Is now a good time?’
For a brief moment his expression froze, as if in shock. Then he vehemently shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he replied hastily, averting his eyes to scan the crowd. They rested on the bar. ‘I’m going to grab a drin
k.’ Leaning forward, he planted a kiss on her cheek. ‘Congratulations, Lizzie. I pity the New York modelling scene.’ He gave her a slightly wonky smile. ‘They don’t know what’s about to hit them.’
Confused, Lizzie watched as Nick was swallowed up by the crowd. ‘Was it something I said? Why is he shooting off so quickly?’
Robert narrowed his eyes and regarded his sister. ‘If you don’t know now, Lizzie, I don’t think you ever will.’
‘What do you mean? Don’t talk in riddles; you know how I hate that.’
Robert simply grinned. ‘And you know telling me you hate me doing something is only going to make me do it more.’ He grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the dance floor. ‘Come on, baby sister. I’ve always wanted to dance with a model. It’s every man’s fantasy. I can’t wait to be introduced to all your new model friends.’
She danced with her brother, staying on when others joined them. Only when her feet throbbed and her throat felt sandpaper dry did she finally give in and head towards the bar. That was where she found Nick, drinking beer and looking far too glum for a night like tonight. She walked purposefully towards him. Now was her chance. If what she’d read in his eyes earlier was real, and not just wishful thinking on her part, what she had in mind would put a smile on his face.
‘What are you doing all alone at the bar?’ she asked, draping what she hoped would look like a casual arm around his shoulders. He felt different now. His shoulders were broader and his body stronger than the last time she’d seen him. Every inch a man’s body. No doubt with a man’s passions. A man’s desires. Nerves fluttered in her stomach. Next to him, she still felt very much a girl. Which was exactly why she needed to be strong, she berated herself. A girl would chicken out now. A woman would go after what she wanted.
‘I’m drinking.’
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