Christmas Down Under: Six Sexy New Zealand & Australian Christmas Romances
Page 118
He ran a light finger down her nose and tweaked the tip. “You’re saying there’s room for me in your house?”
“There’s not only room in my house, there’s room in my life, and there’s a room in my heart reserved for you, only. Drew and I desperately want you to come home.”
“There’s just one more thing and it’s a deal-breaker.”
“Okay.” Her stomach clenched tight until she spotted the corner of his mouth twitch.
“Your station wagon,” he said. “It’s a piece of junk, and it’s got to go. There’s a Land Rover for sale in Bounty Bay. It’s a bit of a fixer-upper, but I figure Drew and I could give you a hand with it. Kind of a new family project.”
“A family project, huh?”
“I can’t have my wife and son getting stuck in the mud again, can I?”
She couldn’t stop herself from squeaking out, “Wife?”
“I love you, Lauren. Marry me, share your son with me and be my family.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and covered his face with “yeses” and kisses. One thought resonated through every part of her being, swelling her heart to overflowing.
Nate loved her, and Nate loved Drew.
And Nate was coming home to where his heart was, with his new family who treasured it, oh so much.
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Know Your Heart (Far North Book 2)
He is the one she couldn’t remember. She is the one he couldn’t forget…
After being unexpectedly kicked off a movie set, her part given to a younger actress, Savannah Payne flees to her holiday house in Bounty Bay. There, in her little hideaway managed for her by her older cousin, she’ll be able to lick her wounds privately, and prepare for an audition of a lifetime in L.A. Only her cousin has rented the place out to an old friend for the next month. A friend whose knowledge of the law means she has no easy way to evict her stop-the-heart sexy tenant. He tempts her, challenges her, and sees to the heart of who she is with knowing ice-blue eyes.
Glen Cooper has woken up and smelled the decaying roses. Working in his father’s law firm is murder on his creative heart. A month in New Zealand’s sub-tropical Far North without the distraction of family and work is what he needs to finally complete writing the book he’s worked on for years. He hadn’t anticipated the woman who’d haunted his university days arriving on his doorstep, demanding her house back. But the distraction of her close by must stop. With a literary agent’s deadline approaching, he has to ignore his growing attraction to Savannah or his dream may never become a reality.
Something about Glen stirs Savannah’s blood and the slippery memories of a quiet young man she glimpsed in the background of her tumultuous teenage years begin to return. But how can they make the sacrifice love requires when she has one foot out the door—ready to walk away from him a second time?
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EXCERPT OF KNOW YOUR HEART
Chapter 1
“I know who you are. What do you want?”
Savannah Payne blinked at the scruffy man in blue jeans filling up the front door of her hideaway house in Bounty Bay.
Granted, she hadn’t expected a warm Far North welcome, considering she planned to kick him off her property. She’d had an a-ha moment back home in Auckland yesterday as she packed her suitcases. Her cousin, Nate, had called a month ago when she was on location in the States, asking if an old university friend could stay in her house for six weeks to write his book. She’d agreed with a mi casa es su casa sort of thing, impatient to get back to filming the movie which would catapult her back into the limelight.
But now she was twenty-seven years old and effectively unemployed. And Nate’s friend was in her house.
A house she desperately wanted to curl up in and hide from paparazzi who’d love the chance to snap a photo of Savannah Payne, failing actress.
Is there any truth to the rumors about the last years of your marriage? And Savannah, Savannah! How do you feel about being kicked out of your comeback movie role by an actress five years younger and twenty-five pounds lighter?
Karma, maybe?
Cue slathering on the charm, in order to get Nate’s friend out.
“Oh.” She slid up the oversized sunglasses onto her head and bared her teeth in what she hoped was an irresistible smile with enough wattage to turn the man’s frown upside down. “I’d like to have a little chat with you—I’m the owner of this property.”
“As I said, Savannah, I know who and what you are.” The man lounged in the doorway, making no move to invite her in or to come out to chat with her.
His pale blue gaze skipped coolly up her length, from the tips of her suede boots to the long hair spilling over her silk shirt. Good thing after her latest humiliation she hadn’t succumbed to the ranks of the Sweatpants Brigade. Yet. Peering in the rear-view mirror a few minutes ago she’d taken the time to apply another coat of mascara and fluff up her travel-weary hair. If you look confident, her mother’s voice instructed in Sav’s inner ear, you’ll be confident—and when you were about to evict a stranger from your house, it seemed pertinent to use every weapon at your disposal.
“So, Nate told you I owned the place?”
“Yeah.” Muscles flexed beneath his long-sleeved, grey Henley as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
The muscles were a surprise, but the tortoiseshell, hipster-style glasses on a guy supposedly writing a book? Please. What a stereotype.
“You’re friends from university days, aren’t you?” She kept her tone light and easy. A determined we’re having a nice, friendly chat kind of tone. “Nate and I spent a lot of time together back then, but I don’t remember you.”
Three years younger than her cousin, Savannah was still in high school while Nate slogged away at his journalism degree. She’d often hang with him and his mates at his student flat. Another quick peek of impressive biceps as the man folded his arms. Wouldn’t she remember such a hottie amongst Nate’s friends?
“Why would you?” He huffed out a sigh. “Look, I’m right in the middle of something, so can we skip the school days memories?”
Behind her, in the thousands of acres of native bush surrounding the house, wind soughed through the trees, bringing with it the kiss of rain. She shivered in the spring air. She should’ve brought her coat from her hired four-wheel-drive, since apparently this guy had the manners of a man raised by jackals.
Savannah’s smile wavered. “Can I at least come inside? Gavin, isn’t it?”
A long pause. “Glen. Glen Cooper. And no, I’d rather talk to you out here.”
“But it’s my house.”
“Yep, it is.”
Yep? Yep, with folded arms and a thousand-yard stare? Surely, a guy supposedly writing a book could be a little more verbally forthcoming. “I’d like it back. My house, that is.”
“You’re asking me to leave?”
He had a voice like melted chocolate, the expensive Swiss kind. Rich, sinful and liable to make a woman forget she was on a diet. Not this woman.
Obviously, she’d have to spell it out. “Yes. I’m asking you, very nicely, very politely, to leave my house. I need it.”
“Don’t you have a house in Auckland?”
“I’ve just had a hellish five-hour drive north to get away from it. I want to stay here.”
“I see. Unfortunately, there’s a problem with what you want. I’m legally your tenant.”
“Legally?” Oh, hell. What had Nate agreed to? “What are you, a lawyer?”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Yes, as a matter of fact.”
It figured. Just as she figured
most female clients would simper at his pretty baby blues and sexily tousled brown hair and concede to whatever up-tight lawyerly demands he’d have in the courtroom…or in the bedroom.
“I drew up a fixed-term tenancy agreement with Nate before I moved in a week ago,” he said.
Spots of rain peppered her head, splattered the deck around her. Sav inched a step toward the door then froze at the nearness of Glen’s bulk. She crossed her arms over her breasts, her nipples tightening to tiny dart points as the spots turned into cold drips.
“You did what?”
Nate conveniently hadn’t mentioned that on the phone. Or maybe he had, and Sav hadn’t paid attention…
“Nate thought it was a practical thing to do, as he was acting on your behalf.”
All very thoughtful of her big cousin, but what did it mean in the scheme of getting Glen out of her house? “And this agreement states what?”
“That I am leasing your house for six weeks. According to the law, both parties must agree if they wish to terminate the agreement. I don’t agree; therefore, you have a problem.”
Sav uncrossed her arms and fisted her hands on her hips. The man was turning out to be a giant pain in the backside. “You’re refusing to leave?”
“I’m refusing to leave before the date on the contract.”
He uncoiled from the casual lean and braced both hands high on either side of the doorframe, all refined power in strong, toned limbs. Sav backed up a step, heels clicking hollowly on the deck. Then she stiffened her spine. No man would make her cower again.
“I want you out of my house.”
“Not happening. I’ll leave on October eighteenth and not a day before. If you want to check the contract, Nate has a copy.”
Blood surged up her neck in a scalding tide, the now-steady patter of rain dribbling through her hair, soaking through her thin shirt and doing nothing to cool her down. “I’m calling my lawyer.”
“Try the front of the deck; it’s the only place to get cell coverage.”
When she gritted her teeth and almost snarled, his stubble-surrounded mouth peeled back in a grin full of straight white teeth.
Breathe. Focus. Switch tactics.
Sav donned her patented Savannah Payne smile again, complete with two cute-as-a-button dimples. “Maybe we got off on the wrong foot.”
“Maybe we did.” He slid the glasses off his nose, folded the arms in carefully, and hooked them over the Henley’s pocket.
There—his tone sounded a lot more reasonable. She smoothed her damp shirt over her hips, and his hooded gaze tracked her movements. Like a big, blue-eyed cat about to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse. Hah. She was no timid mousy.
“Can’t we work out a reasonable solution? You’re paying rent, of course.”
“Four hundred a week, plus two weeks in advance.”
A bargain. Nate had nearly sold the property to a developer planning to turn the house overlooking Bounty Bay into a celebrity resort, probably charging at least that a night to stay there. Then Nate had fallen in love with Lauren Taylor who owned the land next door. Nate had decided to sell the house to Savannah and keep the love of his life.
“I’ll refund everything you’ve paid. I can transfer the money right now.” Sav tossed her hair over her shoulder. It hit the back of her shirt with a wet slap. She swiped at her face again, and her fingers came away with black smears. Non-waterproof mascara—bane of her existence. So much for deciding she wouldn’t need it, thinking her tears, after slinking back to New Zealand, were all over.
“You’ll transfer the money, and I’ll just pack my bag and vacate the premises?”
“Most guys travel light.”
“True. I’ve barely unpacked.”
“Wonderful. I’ll pay for you to stay at the Sea Mist Resort in Bounty Bay tonight—with dinner at Kai Moana thrown in.”
He dropped his hands from the doorframe and stepped forward. Skin prickling, boots glued to the decking, Sav tilted up her chin to counteract the height difference.
“Sea Mist Resort, you say? Fancy.”
“Four stars.” The scent of him—warm male with the slightest hint of some spicy, exotic cologne—drifted into her nose. “Being still off season, I’m sure it won’t be busy.”
He smiled again, and her pulse danced a jig. Nate’s old buddy really did have a gorgeous smile. Not that she was noticing. His gaze swept down the length of her once more, but there was nothing heated or sensual in his examination. It was the indifferent study of a doctor—no, a surgeon—who’d seen women of countless shapes and sizes, and nothing about her slightly hourglass figure elicited an excited response.
He dragged two fingers and a thumb up and down his scruffy jaw. “You really don’t look like a movie star.”
“Because I’m standing in the rain, freezing.”
“Guess under these circumstances, you’d usually have some poor sap holding an umbrella over your head?”
“In these circumstances, I’d expect a man to have some manners and invite a lady in out of the rain.” She passed an irritated hand over her hair, which instead of being its usual bouncy, toffee-colored self, now had the texture of wet string.
“Used to men saying ‘yes’ to you, aren’t you, Savannah Payne?”
Something in Glen’s edgy tone lifted the fine hairs on her nape. What, exactly, did that mean? People often assumed they knew her from the big screen—and now, because of her debut in the New Zealand TV drama, High Rollers, people assumed they knew her intimately, as if the small screen made her that much more accessible. People would be wrong.
Blue eyes drilled into her, the mocking angle of his jaw eliciting a flicker of memory… nope. Nothing. She must be getting paranoid.
Savannah cocked her head. “I’m trying to negotiate a deal.”
“There’s no deal to be negotiated. I’m not one of your yes men.” He made the words yes men sound as if they were interchangeable with the words man whores. “And since you were so generous with your offer of a night at Sea Mist, I’ll give you some legal advice. On the house. Unless you want to drag this through the Tenancy Tribunal court, by which time the fixed-term agreement will already be over, you’re best to turn around and go back to the city. I’m not leaving until the eighteenth.”
Then he sauntered back inside, flicking a hand behind him to slam shut the door.
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Glossary of Maori Words
These are simplified for the sake of brevity.
aroha – love
hangi – traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven
kai – food
kai moana – seafood
kauri – largest forest tree in New Zealand
kererū – New Zealand wood pigeon
kia kaha – be strong/stay strong
manuka – a common native bush/small tree
pohutukawa – Evergreen tree that produces brilliant crimson flowers around Christmas time in New Zealand
teina – younger sister
whānau – family
Table of Contents
Six Sexy New Zealand & Australian Christmas Romances
A Festive Treat
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
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Tw
enty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
More Christmas stories by Serenity Woods
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About the Author
Christmas with the Boss
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
About the Author
Christmas Holiday Hearts
Chapter One—Consternation
Chapter Two—Stuck in the Bog
Chapter Three—Family Photos
Chapter Four—Round One
Chapter Five—Open to Negotiation?
Chapter Six—Sunscreen
Chapter Seven—Digging Up the Past
Chapter Eight—Mercy Dash
Chapter Nine—Honeymeade Lodge
Chapter Ten—Fun to Play With
Chapter Eleven—Pretties From Melbourne
Chapter Twelve—Party and After
Chapter Thirteen—Pride and Prickles
Chapter Fourteen—Photographic Evidence
Chapter Fifteen—Kidnapping Callum
Chapter Sixteen—Impossible to Accept
Chapter Seventeen—Red for Rescue
Chapter Eighteen—Fairytale Prince
Just for Now: Escape to New Zealand
Prologue
The Dog Lover
No Prize
Brontosaurus in the Water
Barbie and Cricket
Wombat Bottom
An Elephant Never Forgets
Lean Cuisine
Daddy’s Ladies