Title: Christmas Reunion
Author: Sue Ward Drake
Genre: Holiday Romance
Book Blurb:
Once upon a time in the remote mountain town of Angels Glen, the town fathers, intent on reviving business, created their own version of the worldwide custom of couples locking their love.
In this second chance, enemies to lovers romance, city-girl and dedicated Christmas-aholic, Rebecca MacDonald returns to Angels Glen to operate her family’s inn over the Christmas holidays. After a mistake costs her family’s hotel chain thousands, she needs to create the perfect holiday for visiting VIP guests. The last person she wants to meet is Alec Stewart, her gorgeous, childhood nemesis.
Alec, retired dot-com millionaire turned fishing guide and dedicated Scrooge, loves his uncomplicated life in his small hometown. When his best friend enlists him to keep his baby sister safe while she’s in Angels Glen, Alec knows he can’t do that without spending time with her. Trouble is, he’s always had a thing for Becca.
As they work together to get the inn decorated for Christmas, can they admit the real magic of the season is love…and lock their own in time for Christmas Eve?
Excerpt:
“After you.” Alec held the Nugget’s outside door open and clicked his key fob. The lights on his pickup truck flashed in recognition.
Becca walked past, and he caught a whiff of something floral and exotic. Becca had never been a perfume kind of girl before, but she’d obviously changed. He recognized the scent as the one he’d chosen once as a gift for a girlfriend, which meant absolutely nothing. He shouldn’t even be noticing, because now he wanted to lean in closer.
“What happened here?” Becca gestured to the passenger door secured with tape and rope to the frame.
“A bear broke in. I haven’t had time to get the door replaced.”
“A bear.” Alarmed, she looked up at the forested slopes rising behind town. “Ugh. I forgot about all the wildlife around here.”
“We’re in the mountains. How is it possible you forget?” He distinctly remembered the time he and her brother had let Becca come exploring with them up a trail, and she’d freaked when they’d passed a posted notice about bears in the vicinity.
She hitched her purse strap higher. “Bears aren’t something I worry about on a day-to-day basis in San Francisco.”
“You don’t need to worry about them here, either. Bears hibernate in the winter.”
“Will you stop over-explaining, Alec? I am not an imbecile.” She gave him a disgusted look. “What did you leave inside your truck that was so enticing to the poor animal?”
“Groceries. I had to take care of an emergency before I could get home and unpack.”
“When was this?”
“A couple of months ago.” He set his toolbox in the truck bed.
Becca lifted her chin. “From what I understand, bears eat everything they can find before hibernating.”
Now who was over-explaining? Alec shook his head. “It wasn’t one of my better moves.”
She nodded, her expression smug. “But you had to take care of someone’s overflowing sink or lose the job.”
In fact, he’d helped search for a lost hiker, but he let Becca think whatever she wanted. He didn’t care. So why were his shoulders clenching as if bound together by a rubber band?
“Come on.” He walked around to open the driver’s door, forcing himself to take a deep breath. “You have to get in from this side.”
She minced her way up to him in her high-heeled boots and rose on tiptoe to peer inside.
“You want a boost up?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know if you remember, but I ran the high hurdles in high school.” She gripped the arm rest and lifted a leg.
“There’s nothing wrong with my memory.” He could recite almost every detail of their various interactions, but, if he’d been smart, he would have filed those in the Forget folder. “Put your foot in my hands.” He bent and made a stirrup. “No spiked heel, please.”
She gave him an exasperated look but settled the sole of her left boot against his fingers. He lifted her, noting the way her black stretch pants curved over certain intriguing parts of her anatomy. She made it into the driver’s seat, and after she crawled over the console, he climbed behind the wheel. “You passing through?”
He expected an immediate comeback, but she must have mellowed. Twelve years would do that to a person. You either mellowed, or you had a heart attack. He waited for the engine to warm and backed into the street and looked her way, waiting for an answer.
“My car battery’s dead, Alec. I can’t go anywhere. How can I be passing through?”
“I didn’t mean right this second.” Was she teasing him again? “What are you doing in Angels Glen in the first place? If you don’t mind my asking.”
She straightened her legs into the footwell, eyes straight ahead. “I’m staying a few days at my dad’s inn.”
He headed down the street to the mini-mart. “Only a few?”
She turned his way, the smile flirting with her pretty mouth a match for the glint in her gaze.
Darn it! She was playing him, exactly the way she had as a teenager. That made sense in a perverse way, but he didn’t care, right? He cleared his throat. “My inside source says you swore you’d never return to this place.”
She flashed those sassy blue eyes at him. “You can’t believe everything you hear, Alec. I’m surprised you don’t know that by now.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Amazon Kindle; https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJ97DGZV/
Barmes&Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-reunion-sue-ward-drake/1142525585?ean=2940166543936
Bookbub: https://bit.ly/3hZh1Mz
Share a holiday family tradition:
I don’t know if we had what I would call traditions, but we always filled in our gift requests on a sheet on the side of the refrigerator, and, after all under-the-tree presents were distributed on Christmas Day, each of us would open a present in turn. But as kids, my dad always put a silver dollar in the toe of our stocking.
Why is your featured book perfect to get readers in the holiday mood?
The characters in my book spend most of their time decorating Becca’s new family inn which also happens to be Alec’s old childhood home. They cut a tree in the forest, decorate the porch with lights, hang a wreath on the front door, and make a gingerbread house. And then snow begins to fall, creating the perfect Currier and Ives print and giving every reader a share in a perfect, snowbound holiday.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $75 Amazon (US or Canada) Gift Card.
You must have an active Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to be eligible. Open internationally.
Runs December 1 – 31
Drawing will be held on January 3, 2023.
Author Biography:
Award-winning author, Sue Ward Drake, loves using her experiences living in a farmhouse in Greece and her years in the French Quarter as fuel for her stories as often as possible. She writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense and speaks at conferences on writing suspense and disabilities. For news of the next thrilling Big Easy Brothers romantic suspense and other romances, visit www.SueWardDrake.com or sign up for her newsletter and get a free story: https://suewarddrake.com/sign-up-for-my-newsletter/
Social Media Links:
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