A Christmas Temptation

Somewhere behind the expensive gifts and grand gestures...

was the man who had once been her whole world.

Sophie Eden refuses to sell her family’s legacy, especially not to Jake Wheeler. He and Sophie have history—a night of passion that first left her elated, then heartbroken. Now the New York heiress wants him to stay away. But when they’re snowed in for Christmas, they surrender to temptation. Meanwhile, a secret waits to tear them apart...

KAREN BOOTH is a Midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on ’80s music, Judy Blume and the films of John Hughes. When she takes a break from the art of romance, she’s listening to music with her nearly grown kids or sweet-talking her husband into making her a cocktail. Learn more about Karen at karenbooth.net.

Also by Karen Booth

The Best Man’s Baby

The Ten-Day Baby Takeover

Snowed in with a Billionaire

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

A Christmas Temptation

Karen Booth

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07693-7

A CHRISTMAS TEMPTATION

© 2018 Karen Booth

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Melissa Jeglinski,

my amazing agent and friend. I’m so thankful to have you on my side!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Extract

Extract

About the Publisher

One

Eden’s Department Store offered a dazzling array of merchandise, but in Sophie Eden’s mind, everything started with the shoes. Thus, she always began her workday in the shoe department, surveying the latest and chitchatting with the salespeople as they prepared for the day’s shoppers. Sophie often devoted ten or fifteen minutes to the pursuit before heading upstairs to her office. Some days she’d even try on something new. Not today. With less than a month until Christmas, and the vultures circling, getting right to work was the most pressing matter.

She bustled through the department down the wide center promenade, past the Lucite and chrome displays of sling-backs and stilettos, beneath the splendid crystal chandeliers that dotted the high coffered ceiling. Her delicate heels click-clacked on the gleaming white marble floor. Her shoes were particularly magnificent today—Manolo Blahnik pumps with a slim leather tie at the ankle, in Christmas red. The color choice was no coincidence. The holidays were Sophie’s favorite time of year, and she was going to sneak in every second of cheer she could. She already knew Christmas would be difficult this year. This would be the first without Gram, her grandmother, the founder of Eden’s.

Sophie rounded a turn as the aisle spoked off to the various sections of the department known to fashion editors all over the world as “shoe heaven.” Tucked back in the far corner was the vestibule with the private elevator that would take her upstairs to the true guts of the Eden’s operation. She sucked in a deep, cleansing breath as she took her short ride up one floor. Normally, she loved her job, but right now it was much farther from heaven than the number on the elevator door suggested.

“Good morning, Lizzie,” Sophie said, greeting her assistant. She shrugged off her cream-colored wool coat and slung it over her arm. Considering the dirt and grime of the city, such a light color was a stupid idea, but Sophie loved the way it showed off her red hair. It was one of her best assets.