The magic of Christmas...
Abandoned by his mother on Christmas Day, James Hammond wishes he could simply erase the date. So when his company buys a new toy store devoted to Christmas, he wants to seal the deal and get home. Until he finds himself injured and under the care of employee Noelle!
Nobody loves Christmas more than young widow Noelle Fryberg! But could she be the one to change his mind and melt the millionaireâs guarded heart?
The Men Who Make Christmas
Meet the Hammond brothersâwill they find their own happiness under the mistletoe?
For James and Justin Hammond, Christmas should be the most joyful time of year. Itâs might be Hammondâs Toy Storesâ most profitable time of the year, and their Christmas window displays are legendary. Yet it reminds them of the most heartbreaking event in their family history.
But when they meet two delightful women for whom the festive season means everything, the Hammond brothers canât help but be captivated by their infectious Christmas spirit! This year, can they make Christmas the most magical time of all?
Donât miss this sparkling Christmas duet!
Christmas with Her Millionaire Boss
by Barbara Wallace November 2017
Snowed in with the Reluctant Tycoon by Nina Singh December 2017
CHAPTER ONE
OH, WHAT FRESH hell was this?
A pair of ten-foot nutcrackers smiled down at him with giant white grins that looked capable of snapping an entire chestnut tree in halfâlet alone a single nut. Welcome to Frybergâs Trains and Toys read the red-and-gold banner clutched in their wooden hands. Where Itâs Christmas All Year Round.
James Hammond shuddered at the thought.
He was the only one though, as scores of children dragged their parents by the hand past the nutcracker guards and toward the Bavarian castle ahead, their shouts of delight echoing in the crisp Michigan air. One little girl, winter coat flapping in the wind, narrowly missed running into him, so distracted was she by the sight ahead of her.
âI see Santaâs Castle,â he heard her squeal.
Only if Santa lived in northern Germany and liked bratwurst. The towering stucco building, with its holly-draped ramparts and snow-covered turrets looked like something out of a Grimmâs fairy tale. No one would ever accuse Ned Fryberg of pedaling a false reality, thatâs for sure. It was obvious that his fantasy was completely unattainable in real life. Unlike the nostalgic, homespun malarkey Hammondâs Toys sold to the public.
The popularity of both went to show that people loved their Christmas fantasies, and they were willing to shovel boatloads of money in order to keep them alive.
James didnât understand it, but he was more than glad to help them part with their cash. He was good at it too. Some men gardened and grew vegetables. James grew his familyâs net worth. And Frybergâs Toys, and its awful Christmas villageâa town so named for the Fryberg familyâwas going to help him grow it even larger.
âExcuse me, sir, but the line for Santaâs trolley starts back there.â A man wearing a red toy soldierâs jacket and black busby pointed behind Jamesâs shoulder. In an attempt to control traffic flow, the store provided transportation around the grounds via a garishly colored âtoyâ train. âTrains leave every five minutes. You wonât have too long a wait.
âOr y-you could w-w-walk,â he added.
People always tended to stammer whenever James looked them in the eye. Didnât matter if he was trying to be intimidating or not. They simply did. Maybe because, as his mother once told him, he had the same cold, dead eyes as his father. Heâd spent much of his youth vainly trying to erase the similarity. Now that he was an adult, heâd grown not to accept his intimidating glower, but embrace it. Same way he embraced all his other unapproachable qualities.
âThat depends,â he replied. âWhich mode is more efficient?â
âTh-that would depend upon on how fast a walker you are. The car makes a couple of stops beforehand, so someone with...with long legs...â The soldier, or whatever he was supposed to be, let the sentence trail off.