by Sharon Kleve
Christmas Romances
Volume 2
Sharon Kleve
Marilyn Conner Miles
Addison James
Julie Kavanagh
Christmas Romances - Volume 2
Four Stories from your favorite holiday authors.
Brenda’s Christmas Desire - Sharon Kleve
Christmas approaches and Brenda has to decide if she’s going to let the past hold her prisoner for another year or if she can finally enjoy what Christmas used to mean to her—love. DEA agent, John Smith knows the significance of December fifteenth to Brenda, but when the head of the Nuevo Cartel escapes federal prison he’s forced to let her face the day without him, but not quite alone.
Can Daisy, a golden Labrador puppy, a huge sale on decorations at the hardware store, and a gift from her aunt restore her love of Christmas?
Holiday Heart - Marilyn Conner Miles
Christmas. It’s that time of the year again again and Brenda is alone, as usual. Everyone she knows is paired up except her. And now, she has to go to a wedding and pretend to be happy.
But, even worse, her ex-boyfriend will be there. It’s been six years since they broke up and she hasn’t seen or heard from him since. How will she handle seeing him again—especially if he has another woman on his arm?
Christmas Glove - Addison James
Leila Simmons must find one last Christmas present – for the wonderful man she’s been dating for the past three weeks. But what to get him? And the mall is closing early for a storm is coming. Can she find the right gift in time? Will he like it? Advice comes from an unexpected source in the nick of time.
The Bodyguard - Julie Kavanagh
Gwen is a highly successful Romance writer but runs her life with precision until she is left in the charge of Rob Denning, a driver/ bodyguard for a weekend. She is determined to continue her life in her usual manner which means what she says goes.
He is equally determined to keep her under his control, which means he gets his way. Although Gwen is frightened by the appearance of unexpected envelopes, she is single-minded when it comes to dealing with them. Rob is tall, handsome and very stubborn, and once he sees fear in Gwen’s face, he know he must protect her.
Rob begins to crawl beneath Gwen’s intense protection to discover her vulnerability and she, in turn, finds the perfect man in the bodyguard she hates. Gwen realizes that love can exist outside the pages of her romance novels but will Rob see beneath the bad-tempered facade Gwen uses to shield herself from the world and save her from the danger she refuses to admit to? Can they uncover enough to commence a love to last forever or will the past force them apart?
Christmas Romances Volume 2
A Books to Go Now Publication
Copyright © Sharon Kleve, Marilyn Conner Miles, Addison James, Julie Kavanagh 2013
Books to Go Now
Also published on Smashwords
For information on the cover illustration and design, contact [email protected]
First eBook Edition –November 2013
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.
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Brenda’s Christmas Desire
Sharon Kleve
Chapter One
December 2013
The weather forecast for the Western Washington area and specifically North Seattle, predicted a good five-to-six inches of snow. Brenda Skinner watched the flakes float like cotton balls from the sky as she dipped a tortilla chip into a bowl of thick and chunky salsa and popped the spicy mixture into her mouth.
Her boss, Corny Myers, tapped her pencil on Brenda’s reception desk and hummed to the beat of The Little Drummer Boy, which streamed from the Green Hornet Investigations’s Bose speakers.
“Hey, Brenda. I know that I have bad eating habits, but I’ve never started the day with chips and salsa. What’s up?” Corny asked.
“You know how I feel about all the holiday hoopla. I’d rather stick my head in the sand and pull it back out in January.”
“Do you really think Mexican food will make you feel better?”
“Probably not, but a couple margaritas might help.”
“True,” Corny agreed, while she sipped her morning peppermint and white chocolate mocha. “Hey, where’s your Santa hat?”
“Oh come on. Don’t make me wear the silly hat. The fabric doesn’t breathe and by the end of the day the hair on my head is shaped like a fruit bowl.”
“Too bad, because Green Hornet Investigations doesn’t employ scrooges. Now, put your hat on or I’ll make you to sing Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer with me,” Corny said with a big smile on her face.
“Ugh,” she shook her head. Because she loved Corny like a sister, she gave in and smiled. “Okay fine. I’ll put the furry thing on.”
Brenda reached down and opened her desk drawer and found Pete, Corny’s ferret, curled up in a circle in the red-velvet hat. You couldn’t tell where his head started or ended because his cream and brown fur blended together. “I don’t want to disturb Pete. I’ll put the hat on later,” she said as she stroked his soft fur.
Corny reached down and gently removed Pete from his resting place and held him against her chest. “Pete has plenty of places he can sleep. But he seems to like unusual hidey holes so I have to search for him.”
“Well, that’s what you do best—find missing animals. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me when you find a lost or stolen pet, theirs owners eagerly write out a hefty—well-deserved I might add—check to Green Hornet Investigations. And on every occasion I expect them to ask how you were able to find their beloved pet when nobody else could, but they don’t,” Brenda dipped another chip into the salsa. “Why is that?”
“I guess as long as they get their pet safely back home they don’t care. I’d be the same way,” Corny admitted. “You know, if you ask my parents, they’ll tell you that my unique psychic ability to communicate with animals is a curse, not a blessing.”
“I love your parents but there are hundreds of happy pet owners who think otherwise.”
Corny raised her eyebrow at her and pointedly looked down in the drawer. Brenda played along and grabbed the hat and yanked down on the fake white trim with both hands. She’d yanked a little too hard and the fur covered her eyes. “There. Are you happy now?”
“Yes, very.”
They both laughed. Corny gave her a one-armed hug, and kissed her on the head.
“Now if I could get you to keep that smile on your face all day, I’d be happy.”
“Corny, I can’t help myself. The holidays stress me out. December fifteenth is looming like an axe over my head. Once I get past that date I’ll be fine—maybe not normal, but fine,”
she joked trying to make light of her fear.
“I thought this year would be different, because you have John in your life.”
“John knows my Aunt Carol raised me but I haven’t told him about the accident. You’d think after all these years the pain would lesson and I’d be able to talk about what happened.”
“You will when you’re ready, Brenda.”
“I hope so. John keeps asking me when we’re going to get a tree and I keep putting him off. I guess he just assumed I’d get a tree and decorate because my house is bigger and we’d planned to have Christmas dinner at my place.”
“I know you care deeply about John. Maybe if you tell him how you feel about the season, it’ll help your anxiety. He’s a tough sucker; he can handle whatever you toss his way. He has to be to work as an agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration,” Corny said.
“His work is another example of me burying my head in the sand. He’s shared quite a bit about his work with me, but I chose not to think too much about what he does. He has a couple nasty scars that he said happened while working, but I never push for more details. Call me a coward.”
“Hey, you’re not a coward. You’ll ask John more about his job when you’re good and ready. And you’ll share your feelings about the holidays when it’s right for you.”
“Thank you. You always say the right things,” Brenda replied as she dabbed her eyes.
“I have another idea if you want to hear it, but this one might be a little harder.”
“Hey, you’re my best friend. Tell me what you have on your mind.”
“Well, have you thought of starting your own traditions with John, by toasting your parent’s full life, instead of stressing about the day?”
“That’d be a novel idea…wouldn’t it?” Brenda replied, while thinking the idea over in her head.
“When they died, bless her heart, your aunt thought it best to keep your holidays really low-key; no tree, no presents, and especially no lights. She told my parents, she thought those things would remind you of the crash,” Corny confessed.
“I know. My parents were set in their traditions. They did all their shopping—including the tree—on the fifteenth of December. It didn’t matter what day of the week the fifteenth fell on. They told me they met for the first time at a tree lot and wanted to make that day their special tradition. The drunk driver who killed them had a tradition too. He drank every night after work and drove home drunk.”
Pete broke the somber mood when he opened his beady eyes and yawned in Corny’s face.
“Eww, ferret breath,” Corny said as she kissed him on the head.
Pete chattered something. Brenda couldn’t understand him the way Corny could, but she could tell Corny tried to ignore him.
“You know what I remember most about your parents?” Corny asked.
Brenda recognized a distraction when she saw one and appreciated the gesture. “What? That they spoiled you rotten?”
“Hey, what’s not to love?” Corny replied and took another drink of her coffee. “My most cherished memory about your mom and dad was their outrageous enthusiasm for Christmas. Your Christmas tree was always the biggest in the neighborhood and your house had the most amazing lights. Your house practically lit up the whole block. You guys put the Griswold’s to shame.”
“We did, didn’t we? Remember the year my dad decided to put Santa and all his reindeer on the roof of our house instead of the front yard? Mom yelled for him to get down before he fell and broke his neck. He pounded on his chest when all the lights lit up and you could see Santa from the junior high school.”
“But Santa and his crew decided they’d rather be in your yard and slid off the roof in the middle of the night and crashed into Frosty the Snowman.” Corny continued to reminisce. “Your front yard turned into a tangled mess of plastic and lights. But, your parents laughed and spent the whole day repairing the carnage and by dinner time everything was fixed and shining bright again.”
Brenda laughed at the memory.
“Mom teased Dad endlessly because he refused to buy a new Frosty until they went on sale after Christmas. He used duct tape to plug Frosty’s side and nobody could believe that the sucker stayed inflated the whole month.”
“Your dad was a master with duct tape. Do you know if your Aunt Carol kept any of your family decorations? Maybe this is the year both of you can start to celebrate again. Whaddya think?”
“I’ll think about asking her, but I’m afraid she’ll get upset,” Brenda confided.
“She’s an adult. You don’t always have to protect her.”
“I never told you this, but a couple years after their death, I asked Aunt Carol if we could have a tree and she broke down and cried. She took my hand and led me up into the attic where she showed me pictures taken after the wreck. I never asked where she got them, but the site was horrible. Wrapped packages with their torn colorful bows and ribbons scattered over the road. The Christmas tree shot off the roof of their car and embedded itself into the radiator of another car. She told me if they hadn’t insisted on keeping their stupid tradition, they’d still be alive.”
“Oh, Brenda. How could she do such a thing to you? You were traumatized enough without her showing you those pictures.”
“Aunt Carol isn’t the happiest soul on a good day. Blaming Christmas traditions seemed to be an easy leap for her, when it came to her only sister’s death.”
“That’s not an excuse for her cruel behavior toward you and you know that.”
The phone rang. Brenda took a deep breath, forced a smile on her face and answered.
“Green Hornet Investigations. How may I help you?”
“Is Corny Myers available? This is Mr. Jones.”
“Yes, she’s available. I’ll put you right through.” Brenda put him on hold.
“Corny, Mr. Jones is on line two.”
“Thank you. We’re not done talking about this yet,” Corny said as she headed toward her office.
Another line rang and Brenda answered. “Green Hornet Investigations. How may I help you?”
“Hey, sexy. What are you wearing?” John asked in his huskiest voice.
Her boyfriend, John Smith called almost every day to say hello. “All I’m wearing is a Santa hat. What about you, Stud?” she replied in a sultry voice.
“Only my gun and badge, babe,” John replied.
Brenda fanned her face and stuttered, “Well… Uh… Where are you? I can be there in a flash.”
“Unfortunately, I have meetings all day, which I detest. I’d rather be out in the field. But I’d be happy to strip down for you tonight though.”
“You? Naked? Now that sounds yummy.” Brenda felt heat creep up from her neck to her face. John could get her hot and wet in five seconds flat.
“You can have all of me. See you tonight,” John said and disconnected.
Brenda looked up when Corny walked back out and sat on the corner of her desk.
“That must’ve been John on the phone,” Corny said with a smirk on her face.
“Why?”
“Let’s just say your face exhibits a warm glow after you talk to him.”
Brenda’s emotions got the better of her and she grabbed a tissue and blotted her tears. “Corny, I think I’m in love with John. That scares me. I’ve never looked into a man’s eyes and knew I could spend the rest of my life with him.”
“Love is scary, but absolutely wonderful. Steve and I can attest to that,” Corny said as a silly grin appeared on her face.
“You three make the perfect couple.” Brenda grabbed another tissue and dabbed at her nose, not wanting a red, blotchy face. Pete chattered, jumped out of Corny’s arms, and ran a lap around her desk, then sat back on his haunches and chattered some more. They both laughed at him.
“Yep. Pete makes three,” Corny agreed.
“Did Pete run around and chatter for my benefit?”
“Oh, of course. Pete’s a big ole’ softy who doesn’t want you to be sad,” Corny replied.
“We wouldn’t want Pete to be upset would we?” Brenda asked and laughed.
“You got that right.”
Corny walked back to her office with Pete wrapped around her neck. She should get herself a pet. A puppy would be wonderful to cuddle and play with.
****
Pete jumped off Corny’s shoulder and landed on her desk with a thump.
Seriously? You think I have bad breath? Let me tell you what bad breath smells like—morning after margaritas, that’s what, Pete ranted.
“Settle down, Pete. Your breath smells like a summer breeze,” Corny said, sarcasm dripped from her voice.
That’s better… I think. Now, sit your butt down. We need to talk about Brenda.
“What about her?”
For starters, she talks to herself. And while I’ve been relaxing in her desk drawer I’ve learned some interesting things.
“Relaxing? I call that spying.” Corny shook her head at Pete.
Did you know she really wants a Christmas tree and her house full of decorations, but she feels guilty for wanting those things?”
“Yeah. Her aunt did an emotional number on her. I think John can heal those wounds though. Give her time.”
Brenda already called her aunt to ask about some decorations and the aunt went ballistic. I could hear her yelling through the phone. She reminded Brenda that her parents were out buying presents for her—things they couldn’t afford and things she didn’t need—when they were killed. No wonder she freaks out this time of the year. I’d commit hara-kiri if I lived with that woman. Pete ran his little paw across his neck.