by Sarah Morgan
And finally, she allowed herself to believe it. “I love you, too. I always have, and I always will.”
His fingers tightened on her face, and he leaned his forehead against hers, holding her gaze with his. “Enough to marry me?”
Her stomach dropped. Her heart flew. “Tyler—”
“I once asked you what you wanted, and you said these mountains. This life. It’s what I want, too, but I want to share it with you. Say yes.”
“Yes.” She was laughing and crying at the same time. “Yes, yes, yes.”
“Good. So let’s do it right now.”
She eased away from him, elated, thrilled and confused. “How can we do it right now?” And then she heard Jess gasp and turned her head to see what had caught the teenager’s attention.
“Is that—Grandma?” Jess was staring at the snow-covered deck of the restaurant. “What is she doing up here? And Élise. I thought she was really busy in the restaurant today. And Uncle Jackson—Dad—” she turned to Tyler “—what is going on? Are we all having lunch?”
“No, that comes afterward.” His gaze was fixed on Brenna, and she glanced from him to Elizabeth and then noticed Alice and Walter, wrapped up in layers to keep out the cold, and behind them Sean, Kayla and—
“Mom?” Startled, Brenna stepped forward. “What are you doing here?” And if seeing her mother was a surprise, it was nothing compared to the sight of her mother smiling at Tyler.
“I’m here in my official capacity.”
“Official?” Brenna caught sight of her father standing next to Walter and only then did she notice that her mother was holding something in her hand. “What is that?”
“It’s a marriage license. I thought about what your perfect wedding would be,” Tyler said, “and I thought you’d want it to be in the mountains with snow, trees and family. You once told me that the things that are important to you are outside, not inside. Blue sky and fresh snow.”
Brenna looked at him and then her mother. “You went to visit my parents?”
“Yesterday. After I told them how I felt and what I wanted to do, they stopped wanting to put dents in me. We talked for a long time and then we spoke to my family, trying to find a way to make this happen.”
“Mom?” Brenna saw tears in her mother’s eyes and then the smile.
“This is the first time I’ve been asked to bring a marriage license to the top of a mountain, but given the rest of your relationship has been conducted here, it seems right to do this part here, too. We’re happy for you, Brenna. So happy.”
Still dazed, Brenna turned back to Tyler. “You want to get married here?”
“Yes. If that’s what you want.”
She couldn’t see properly through the tears. “I do, but—what about clothes? Hair? I’m not even wearing makeup.”
“You couldn’t look more beautiful.” With a rough exclamation, he took her face in his hands, but before he could kiss her she heard Kayla’s voice.
“Wedding planner coming through, excuse me—”
With a soft curse Tyler released her. “You’ve worked hard enough to get us to this point, and now you’re going to stop me?”
“Not stop, but delay long enough to make sure the bride is looking her best.” Kayla whipped makeup out of her purse. “Hold still.”
“She looks great.” Tyler gritted his teeth. “This isn’t necessary.”
“You made her cry, Tyler, and it doesn’t matter that they were happy tears—no woman wants to look like crap in her wedding photos.” Kayla worked quickly, using concealer, a little blusher and a touch of lip gloss. “There. You are so pretty. Élise?”
“Oui, j’arrive. Take your jacket off, Brenna.”
“I can’t take my jacket off! I’ll freeze!” And then Brenna noticed her friend was carrying a large bag. “What’s in there?”
“Something to stop you freezing.” Élise dug her hand into the bag and pulled out a white ski jacket with a soft faux fur hood. “We wanted you to have a white wedding. You have no idea how hard it was to find a white ski jacket on Christmas Eve.”
Brenna started to laugh while Jess looked on, wide eyed.
“That jacket is so cool. Where did you find it?”
“New York.” Kayla eyed Jackson, who rolled his eyes.
“I don’t want to know the details.”
“Good. Because I’m not telling you. A girl needs some secrets. And talking of secrets—Sean?” Kayla beckoned, and Sean stepped forward, a small bunch of white roses in his hand.
“You don’t want to know how far I had to drive to find these, either. You owe me big-time for this one.” He slapped Tyler on the shoulder and bent to kiss Brenna. “You’ve been like a sister to me all my life. I’m happy you’re going to make it official.”
Brenna tugged one of the roses out of the bouquet and handed it to Jess. “Will you be my bridesmaid?”
Jess turned pink with pleasure. “I will. I mean I do.” Everyone laughed, and Maura Daniels cleared her throat.
“Are you both going to sign this license? It was kind of Paul to agree to officiate, but I’m sure he’s looking forward to enjoying Christmas lunch with his family, and I know Tyler has plans for you, Brenna, so let’s get this done.”
Plans?
Snug and warm inside her jacket, the roses in her hand, Brenna looked at Paul Hanlon, the local justice of the peace. She’d known him since she was a little girl, and she hadn’t even noticed him standing there, hidden behind her father and Walter. “I’ve spoiled your Christmas Day.”
“You’ve made my Christmas Day, Brenna.” He stepped forward and faced the two of them, and after that everything blurred.
She remembered exchanging vows with Tyler, speaking words not from a piece of paper, but from her heart. She barely heard the words he said back to her because she was hypnotized by the look in his eyes, a look she’d waited her whole life to see.
And then he was sliding a ring onto her finger and kissing her as if he never intended to stop.
They were oblivious to their family, oblivious to everyone until Jess tugged at Tyler’s shoulder.
“Dad. Enough. We’re all getting frostbite.”
“C’est vrai!” Élise nodded agreement. “Me, I love romance more than anyone but I am cooking Christmas lunch for half of Vermont so now I need to go, and I don’t want to miss anything. Tonight we celebrate. There will be champagne.”
“Better order plenty of it because we have lots to celebrate.” Kayla was holding Jackson’s hand. “Not just that Tyler has finally seen sense, but also that we’re fully booked until March.”
Tyler smiled against Brenna’s mouth. “Good thing you’re going to be living in Lake House.”
“Come down to the house when you’re ready.” Elizabeth urged everyone back toward the lift. “Your parents are joining us for lunch. I’ve invited Tom, too.”
A new phase, Brenna thought, as one by one they melted away, leaving her alone with Tyler.
“This is surreal. A few hours ago I was wondering how I was ever going to make it through today. It’s gone from the worst day of my life to the best.”
“The best hasn’t happened yet. I saved that part until last. It snowed last night.” He lifted the hood of her jacket to keep her warm, and there was a wicked look in his blue eyes. “I happen to know where we can find untracked powder.”
“Now? The others are waiting for us.”
“We’ll join them for champagne later. It’s our wedding day. We should spend it doing the things we love.”
“Really? In that case—” Brenna locked her hand in the front of his jacket, and he gave a slow, sexy smile.
“Yeah, that, too.”
They kissed until she wasn’t sure her legs were capable of carrying her down the mountain, u
ntil she was dizzy with the excitement.
“You have to stop now.” She spoke the words against his lips and felt him smile.
“I’m never going to stop, sweetheart. I’m going to be kissing you for the next sixty years.”
“That would make you more than ninety.”
“So? Gramps is still going to be kissing Grams when she’s ninety. Probably at the kitchen table. You’re an O’Neil now. You need to learn that displays of affection are mandatory at family gatherings to nauseate the opposition.”
They skied down into the trees, through deep snow, and this time she led, skiing fast, challenging him as only she could, all the time aware of the unfamiliar weight of her ring inside her glove.
Brenna O’Neil.
She felt the warmth of the sun on her face and stopped in a glade because with a day of celebration ahead, she wanted this moment alone with him.
Tyler stopped next to her, sinking into the snow. “Something wrong?”
“Not anymore.” She looked at the trees, cloaked in snow, dazzling in the sunlight. “We spent so much time here growing up, it’s perfect to be here today. I can’t believe you arranged all this. I can’t believe you visited my parents.”
“I needed a marriage license. And I needed your parents to know how I felt about you. I didn’t want a lifetime of awkward duty visits. I needed to convince them I was serious. That I wasn’t playing around.”
“Knowing my mother, that must have taken some time.”
He laughed. “Most of the morning and part of the afternoon. It helped when I showed her the ring.”
“It’s beautiful.” She pulled off her glove and took another look at it, sparkling on her finger. “I didn’t want to leave this place. I didn’t want to leave you.”
“I wouldn’t have let you. We’ve been part of each other’s lives for too long.”
She turned her head and looked at the beauty of the snowy forest. “Somewhere around here is a tree with my name carved on it.”
“There’s a tree called Brenna Daniels?”
“Brenna O’Neil.”
Something flickered in his eyes. “You carved that on a tree?”
“I was dreaming, and I wanted to see how it looked.”
He lowered his head. “And how did it look?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “It looked perfect.”
* * * * *
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THANKS, HUGS AND KISSES go to my talented editor Flo Nicoll who has worked with me on all three O’Neil Brothers books and sprinkled her own special brand of editorial magic over each story. Thanks also to Harlequin HQN in North America and Harlequin UK for all their hard work in putting this series into the hands of readers, and to my agent, Susan Ginsburg, for her invaluable advice and input.
Right from the start I knew how I wanted Maybe This Christmas to end. I’m indebted to Alison Kaiser, Town Clerk from Stowe, Vermont, for her guidance on the marriage license laws in the state of Vermont and for her patience in answering my many questions as I tried to find a way to make my dream ending a reality.
The process of writing this series has frequently slipped into family time, and without the endless support and encouragement from my husband and two sons I would have starved and been found buried under several months’ worth of laundry. They are nothing short of brilliant (and I mean that even though they washed a red sock with my white shirt).
I owe the biggest debt of gratitude to my readers who continue to buy my books, thus ensuring I can continue with my dream job, writing them. Thank you. You’re the best.
Keep reading for an excerpt from SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER by Sarah Morgan.
“Morgan’s brilliant talent never ceases to amaze.”
—RT Book Reviews
If you loved Maybe This Christmas, be sure to also check out Sleigh Bells in the Snow and Suddenly Last Summer by USA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan. Available today in ebook format.
Order your copies today!
And don’t miss the first two titles in Sarah’s Miller Sisters series, only from Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin:
Ripped
Burned
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CHAPTER ONE
“PHONE CALL FOR YOU, Dr. O’Neil. She says it’s an emergency.”
Sean rolled his shoulders to ease the tension, his mind still in the operating room.
His patient was a promising soccer player. He’d torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, a common enough injury that had ended plenty of sports careers. Sean was determined it wasn’t going to end this one. The procedure had gone well, although surgery was only the beginning. What followed would be a lengthy rehabilitation that would require dedication and determination from all involved.
Still thinking about how to manage expectations, he took the phone from the nurse. “Sean O’Neil.”
“Sean? Where the hell were you last night?”
Braced for a different conversation, Sean frowned with irritation. “Veronica? You shouldn’t be calling me here. I was told this was an emergency.”
“It is an emergency!” Her voice rose along with her temper. “Next time you invite me to dinner, have the decency to show up.”
Damn.
A nurse came out of the operating room and handed him a form.
“Veronica, I’m sorry.” He tucked the phone between his cheek and his shoulder and gestured for a pen. “I was called back to the hospital. A colleague had problems with a patient. I was operating.”
“And you couldn’t have called me? I waited in that restaurant for an hour. An hour, Sean! A man tried to pick me up.”
Sean signed the form. “Was he nice?”
“Do not joke about it. It was the most embarrassing hour of my life. Don’t ever, ever do that to me again.”
He handed the form back to the nurse with a brief smile. “You’d rather I left a patient to bleed to death?”
“I’d rather you honored your commitments.”
“I’m a surgeon. My first commitment is to my patients.”
“So what you’re saying is that if you had to choose between me and work, you’d pick work?”
“Yes.” The fact that she’d asked that question showed how little she knew him. “That is what I’m saying.”
“Damn you, Sean. I hate you.” But there was a wobble in her voice. “Tell me honestly, is it just me or is it all women?”
“It’s me. I’m bad at relationships, you know that. Right now my focus is my career.”
“One of these days you’re going to wake up alone in that fancy apartment of yours and regret all the time you spent working.”
He decided not to point out that he woke up alone through choice. He never invited women back to his apartment. He was barely ever there himself. “My work is important to me. You knew that when you met me.”
“No, important is being dedicated to what you do but still having a personal life. What work is to you, Sean O’Neil, is an obsession. You are single-minded and focused to the exclusion of everything else. That might make you a brilliant doctor but it makes you a lousy date. And here’s a news flash—being charming and good in bed doesn’t stop you being a selfish, workaholic bastard.”
“Sean?” Another nurse appeared at his elbow, her pink cheeks and awkward demeanor suggesting she’d overheard that last sentence. “The team coach is waiting outside for news along with the boy’s parents. Will you talk to them?”
Hell.
Sean closed his eyes. “I’ve just come out of the operating room.” He rubbed his fingers over his forehead. “I need to speak to the relatives.”
“They can wait five minutes!”
“They’re worried. If that was your kid in recovery, you’d want to know what was going on. I have to go. Goodbye, Veronica. I really am sorry about last night.”
“No, wait! Don’t go!” Her voice was urgent. “I love you, Sean. I really love you. Despite everything, I think we have something special. We can make this work. You just need to flex a little bit more.”
Sweat pricked at the back of his neck. He saw the nurse’s eyes widen.
How had he got himself in this situation?
For the first time in years he’d made a misjudgment. He’d thought Veronica was the sort of woman who was happy to live in the moment. Turned out he was wrong about that.
“I have to go, Veronica.”
“All right, I’ll flex. I’m sorry, I’m being a shrew. Let me cook you dinner tonight, I promise I won’t complain if you’re late. You can show up whenever. I’ll—”
“Veronica—” he cut across her “—do not apologize to me when I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. You need to find a guy who will give you the attention you deserve.”
There was a tense silence. “Are you saying it’s over?”
As far as Sean was concerned it had never started. “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. There are hundreds of guys out there only too willing to flex. Go and find one of them.” He hung up, aware that the nurse was still watching him.
He was so tired he couldn’t even remember her name.
Ann? No, that wasn’t right.
Angela. Yes, it was Angela.
Fatigue descended like a gray fog, slowing his thinking. He needed sleep.
He’d been called to an emergency in the night and had been on his feet operating since dawn. Soon the adrenaline would fade and when it did he knew he was going to crash big-time. Sean wanted to be somewhere near his bed when that happened. He had the use of a room at the hospital but he preferred to make it back to his waterside apartment where he could nurse a beer and watch life on the water.