Snowbound Surprise for the Billionaire
All she wants for Christmas... After a difficult year, and the loss of her father, festive cheer is the last thing Addie Ramsey is feeling. She’s just planning a quiet one on her Outback farm. Until her new boss, billionaire Flynn Mather, offers her the perfect distraction—to spend the holiday with him in Europe as his temporary PA! Christmas hasn’t always been magical for Flynn, either, yet with vivacious Addie by his side, and seeing the joy through her eyes, things feel different this year. Could Addie be the Christmas present Flynn never knew he needed?
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“Where do I sign? Mr Mather, you have yourself a deal.”
“Flynn,” he found himself saying. “Call me Flynn. And I have another offer-slash-request to run past you as well.”
She blinked. How on earth hadn’t he noticed those eyes earlier?
“Which is…?”
“I have business in Munich later this month.”
“Munich? Munich in Germany?” She rubbed a hand against her chest as if to ease an ache there.
“The same. The business that calls me there is moving more quickly than originally anticipated so I find myself in a bit of a bind. I promised my PA that she could have several weeks leave over Christmas, you see?”
“Your PA?” Addie said.
He could tell she only asked from politeness and had no idea where he was going with this. He straightened. “Would you consider accompanying me to Munich and acting as my assistant for three or four weeks?”
Her jaw dropped.
“I loved the shimmering sensuality just beneath the surface. Author Michelle Douglas once again brings charm, innocence and romance with tenderness and blends them together spectacularly in this new story of hers.”
—Goodreads.com on ROAD TRIP WITH THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR
“Douglas’s story is romantic, humorous and paced just right.”
—RT Book Reviews on BELLA’S IMPOSSIBLE BOSS
“Laughter, holiday charm and characters with depth make this an exceptional story.”
—RT Book Reviews on THE NANNY WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS
“Moving, heartwarming and absolutely impossible to put down, THE MAN WHO SAW HER BEAUTY is another stunning Michelle Douglas romance that’s going straight onto my keeper shelf!”
—CataRomance on THE MAN WHO SAW HER BEAUTY
At the age of eight MICHELLE DOUGLAS was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She answered, “A writer.” Years later she read an article about romance writing and thought, Ooh, that’ll be fun. She was right. When she’s not writing she can usually be found with her nose buried in a book. She is currently enrolled in an English Masters programme for the sole purpose of indulging her reading and writing habits further. She lives in a leafy suburb of Newcastle, on Australia’s east coast, with her own romantic hero—husband Greg, who is the inspiration behind all her happy endings.
Michelle would love you to visit her at her website: www.michelle-douglas.com.
To my Romance Authors’ Google Group—thank you, ladies, for your wisdom, your support and your friendship.
Contents
ADDIE SAUNTERED DOWN to Bruce Augustus’s pen, keeping her head high and her limbs loose while her lungs cramped and her eyes stung. There was probably no one watching her, but just in case.
She rounded the corner of the pen where the galvanised iron shelter finally hid her from the homestead. Pressing the back of her hand to her mouth, she swung herself over the fence, upturned the feed bin, collapsed down onto it and finally gave way to the sobs that raked through her.
The huge Hereford stud bull—ex-stud bull, he’d been retired for a few years now—nuzzled her ear. She leant forward, wrapped her arms around him and cried into his massive shoulder. He just stood there, nuzzling her and giving off animal warmth and a measure of comfort. Eventually though he snorted and stamped a foot and Addie knew it was time to pull herself together.
She eased away to rest back against the wooden palings behind and scrubbed her hands down her face. ‘Sorry, Bruce Augustus, what a big cry baby you must think me.’
He lowered his head to her lap and she scratched her hands up his nose and around his ears the way he loved. He groaned and rocked into her slightly, but she wasn’t afraid. He might be twelve hundred pounds of brute animal strength, but he’d never hurt her. They’d been hanging out since she was eight years old. She’d cried with him when her mother had died two years ago. She’d cried with him when her father had died four months ago.
And she’d cried with him when her best friend, Robbie, had died.
She closed her eyes. Her head dropped. Robbie.
Finally she’d thought she’d be free to keep her promise to Robbie, had practically tasted the freedom of it on her tongue. But no. Flynn Mather in his perfect suit and with his perfectly cool—some might say cold—business manner had just presented his contract to them all. A contract with an insidious heartbreaking condition.
She stood and turned to survey the fields that rolled away in front of her, at the ranges way off to her right, and at the stands of ancient gum trees. She propped her arms on the fence and rested her chin on them. In early December in the Central West Tablelands of New South Wales, the grass was golden, the sky was an unending blue and the sun was fierce. She dashed away the perspiration that pricked her brow. ‘How long do you think Robbie would’ve given me to fulfil my promise, Bruce Augustus?’
