A Diamond For Christmas: Kisses on Her Christmas List / Her Christmas Eve Diamond / Single Dad's Holiday Wedding
Kisses on Her Christmas ListShannon Raleigh can’t believe that billionaire Rory Wallace dislikes Christmas so much! So when he saves her store, she’s determined to make the season as magical as possible…but soon finds herself longing for his Christmas kiss!Her Christmas Eve DiamondNurse Cassidy Rae is a stickler for rules, but even she revels in the magic of Christmas! This year however, new registrar Brad Donovan’s surfer-boy charm is testing her goodwill to all men. But during the festive season, miracles do happen… Single Dad’s Holiday WeddingWhen Lori Hutchinson inherits her father’s company, business partner Jace Yeager doesn’t think she’ll last long! But as Christmas approaches, the sweet woman behind Lori’s pinstripes begins to melt his heart…Perhaps it’s the season for second chances?
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A Diamond for Christmas
Kisses on Her Christmas List
Susan Meier
Her Christmas Eve Diamond
Scarlet Wilson
Single Dad’s Holiday Wedding
Patricia Thayer
Table of Contents
Kisses on Her Christmas List
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
EPILOGUE
Her Christmas Eve Diamond
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
EPILOGUE
Single Dad’s Holiday Wedding
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
EPILOGUE
Susan Meier
SUSAN MEIER spent most of her twenties thinking she was a job-hopper—until she began to write and realized everything that had come before was only research! One of eleven children, with twenty-four nieces and nephews and three kids of her own, Susan has had plenty of real-life experience watching romance blossom in unexpected ways. She lives in western Pennsylvania with her wonderful husband, Mike, three children and two overfed, well-cuddled cats, Sophie and Fluffy. You can visit Susan’s website at www.susanmeier.com.
For my friend Denise.
SHANNON RALEIGH turned to get a look at herself in the full-length mirror in the bathroom of her executive office suite and gaped in horror. The tall black boots and short red velvet dress she wore exposed most of her legs and the white fur-trimmed U at the bodice revealed a sizable strip of cleavage.
“I can’t go into a roomful of kids dressed like this!”
Even from behind the closed door, she could hear her assistant Wendy sigh heavily. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
“Because I know you’ll say I look fine, when I don’t. I can’t usher kids to Santa’s lap in a skirt so short I can’t bend over.”
“So don’t bend over.” Another sigh. “Look, Shannon, it doesn’t matter that you’re eight inches taller than Carlie. There’s nobody else who’s even remotely thin enough to fit into that suit. Carlie’s car is stuck in a snowdrift. If you don’t play Santa’s helper there’ll be no one to—”
The ring of the phone stopped Wendy midsentence. The next thing Shannon heard was Wendy’s happy voice saying, “Raleigh’s Department Store. Shannon Raleigh’s assistant, Wendy, speaking.”
In the lull while Wendy obviously listened to the caller, Shannon cast another critical eye over her reflection. The little red dress was kind of cute. The color complemented her long black hair and made her blue eyes seem bluer. If she were wearing it anywhere else, she’d actually think she looked pretty.
A long-forgotten ache filled her. It was the first time in a year she felt pretty, sexy. But sexy wasn’t exactly the way a grown woman should dress in a room filled with babies, toddlers and elementary school kids.
The ache was quickly replaced by fear—which was the real reason she didn’t want to play Santa’s helper. How could she spend four hours in a room full of adorable children? She wanted a baby so badly it hurt, but she couldn’t have kids. And seeing all those sweet faces, hearing their cute little lists, would crush her.
“Um, Shannon?”
“I’m not coming out.”
“Fine. That was Tammy in the shoe department. No one’s come into the store for the past hour and she could tell the storm was getting worse, so she checked the forecast on the internet. They have no clue how much snow we’re going to get, but they aren’t shy about suggesting we might get another foot.”
“Another foot!”
Shannon raced out of her bathroom and pulled back the curtain behind her huge mahogany desk. Thick fluffy snowflakes cascaded from the sky, coating the tinsel and silver bells on the streetlamps of Main Street, Green Hill, Pennsylvania. It blanketed the Christmas lights that outlined shop doorways, and sat on the roof of the park’s gazebo like a tall white hat.
“Holy cow!”
Her gaze on the little red Santa’s helper outfit, Wendy also said, “Holy cow.”
“Don’t make fun. We have a serious problem here.” Or maybe a way out. She turned from the window. “I think it’s time to admit that the storm is keeping shoppers away.”
“And most of the staff is scared silly about driving home. The longer we stay, the worse the roads get.”
“Okay, announce that the store is closing in fifteen and tell the employees they can go home. I’ll call the radio stations so they can add us to their list of closings. Then I’ll lock up.”
