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Winter Wedding Bells: The Kiss / The Wish / The Promise
Jennifer Snow
Karen Rock
Kristine Rolofson
But guests are expecting a Christmas Eve wedding…!What could be more romantic than a Christmas wedding at a ski lodge in Lake Placid? Well, if there actually was a wedding, for one thing! Three stories about getting love right over the holidays by USA TODAY bestselling author Kristine Rolofson and award-winners Karen Rock and Jennifer Snow.The Kiss: A bride runs into her ex…and takes the ultimate gamble!The Wish: An event planner sprains her ankle…and the chef asserts control.The Promise: A maid of honor dodges an ex-boyfriend out to right a past wrong…
But guests are expecting a Christmas Eve wedding...!
What could be more romantic than a Christmas wedding at a ski lodge in Lake Placid? Well, if there actually was a wedding, for one thing! Three stories about getting love right over the holidays by USA TODAY bestselling author Kristine Rolofson and award-winners Karen Rock and Jennifer Snow.
The Kiss: A bride runs into her ex...and takes the ultimate gamble!
The Wish: An event planner sprains her ankle...and the chef asserts control.
The Promise: A maid of honor dodges an ex-boyfriend out to right a past wrong...
USA TODAY bestselling author KRISTINE ROLOFSON has written more than forty books for Harlequin. She and her husband call Rhode Island, Texas and Idaho home, depending on the time of year. When not writing, Kristine quilts, bakes peach pies, and plays lap steel guitar and fiddle in a country blues band. She collects vintage cowboy boots and is learning to yodel in order to sing “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart.”
KAREN ROCK is an award-winning young adult and adult contemporary romance author. She holds a master’s degree in English and worked as an ELA instructor before becoming a full-time writer. Currently she writes for Harlequin Heartwarming and has published five novels with them. Her first novel for the line, Wish Me Tomorrow, won the 2014 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and the 2014 Golden Quill Contest. Her novel A League of Her Own is currently a finalist in the 2015 Booksellers’ Best and National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award contests.
JENNIFER SNOW lives in Edmonton, Alberta, with her husband and five-year-old son. She is a member of the Writers Guild of Alberta, the Romance Writers of America, the Canadian Author Association and shewrites.org. A regular columnist on Working Writers and Writer’s Fun Zone, she is also a contributing author to Mslexia magazine, WestWord magazine and RWR. Her Brookhollow series books have been finalists in the 2014 Golden Quill Contest, the 2014 Heart of Denver Aspen Gold Contest, the 2015 Booksellers’ Best Award, the 2015 Still Moments Magazine Review Awards and the 2015 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Check out jennifersnowauthor.com (http://www.jennifersnowauthor.com).
HEARTWARMING
Winter Wedding Bells
USA TODAY Bestselling Author
The Kiss
Kristine Rolofson
The Wish
Karen Rock
The Promise
Jennifer Snow
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#u27785211-fcf9-5dd0-b9d9-282068008470)
Back Cover Text (#u0c4ceb84-a04a-53ec-9937-a72af2021d45)
About the Authors (#u8ed4faf6-94f3-53c2-b110-f41c1017ef4f)
Title Page (#u06a86b81-d607-57c6-9de6-d550954e64b7)
Dedication (#u7860183c-afd4-5bc6-9d52-3a328e59962e)
The Kiss
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Wish
Dedication
Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
The Promise
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgments
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
To Greg, the one who didn’t get away. You’ve had my heart for twenty years and always will.
The Kiss (#u1ff3db30-969a-5950-83e6-c4fdcfdd7463)
Dear Reader (#u1ff3db30-969a-5950-83e6-c4fdcfdd7463),
At the end of fifth grade, my father got a promotion that meant relocating from our Long Island home to Rouses Point, a town in upstate New York. My teacher pulled down a map and grabbed her pointer. She said, “Let’s start where Karen lives now.” Our eyes followed along with the pointer as it trailed up, up, up along the Hudson River, didn’t stop at Albany and continued alongside Lake George and then Lake Champlain, stopping at the very top right corner of New York state.
The class gasped. I held my breath. “Whoa,” “Wow,” “Far out” (it was the late ’70s) exploded in the classroom as my friends crowded the map while I sat frozen at my desk. We weren’t just moving. We were falling off the face of the earth. Little did I know that my suburban sprawl of a life would be transformed into a lush, verdant wilderness filled with otherworldly outdoor beauty. I fell in love with the Adirondacks and have lived here ever since. When we contemplated where to set this anthology, a gorgeous hotel and spa, The Mirror Lake Inn, came to mind, as it’s a veritable winter wonderland on Mirror Lake complete with sleigh rides, skating on the lake, dog-sled rides, snow-covered spruce-tree-lined paths, a roaring fire and cocoa at the ready. I hope you enjoy “living” in my hometown while reading our stories as I do!
Karen Rock
CHAPTER ONE (#u1ff3db30-969a-5950-83e6-c4fdcfdd7463)
JULIE BARRETT STRUGGLED in a net of white tulle, snared like a winter rabbit.
“I can’t breathe.” She threw back her veil, avoiding her reflection in the hotel suite’s mirror as a local seamstress executed Julie’s final wedding-dress fitting. Everything about the gown seemed wrong. Too many seed pearls. Not enough lace. The satin section looked bare. It’d taken her forever to settle on this lace-sleeved, V-neck, princess dress. Was she having second thoughts again or was she cranky from food deprivation?
Her stomach rumbled as she stared at her kettle corn–munching bridesmaids. They lounged on the birch-post bed and wing-back chairs, French doors onto Mirror Lake Lodge’s wraparound porch behind them, icicles hanging from the gabled roof’s eaves. Their perfumes mingled in the rustic yet elegant room, and the floral mix reminded her of a botanical garden. In fact, in their ruby satin gowns, they resembled roses strewn about the floral-wallpapered room, brilliant splashes of color in what would be her wedding suite on Christmas Eve.
Only four days from now...
Her stomach cramped.
Definitely hunger, she reassured herself. She tamped down the jitters that’d become her constant companion lately. With so much going on, who wouldn’t feel nervous? And why, on top of every other bridal task ahead, had she agreed to participate in a winter charity run? Crazy. Or, as her MIA maid of honor, Alexis, would have said, overachieving.
Julie rubbed her throbbing temples. If only Alexis hadn’t missed her flight—she really needed her old college roommate right now. How lucky that Connecticut University had put them in the same dorm their freshman year. Once Alexis sprang into their room clutching an armload of prelaw books, a bag of dipped Oreos dangling from her clenched teeth, Julie’s doubts about leaving her nearby home for a small bit of independence had vanished. Would Alexis work her magic again when she arrived and erase Julie’s butterflies?
Meghan, Julie’s flower girl, bounced to a stop and held up a candy cane. “Want one?” When the little girl grinned, her lone front tooth made her resemble an impish elf. Too cute.
“Yes, but no,” Julie groaned. Her mouth flooded as she breathed in the peppermint sweetness. How long since she’d had sugar? Carbs? A Christmas cookie? She tried not to think about all the holiday treats she’d passed up this month while on her self-imposed wedding diet. If she never saw another salad again, she’d die a happy woman. Then again, with a vegan for a groom, odds were not in her favor. She predicted lots of quinoa in her future...and midnight raids for fast-food burgers, extra guilt on the side.
Julie’s friend and bridesmaid, Claire, joined her daughter, Meghan, and tucked pinecone barrettes in her hair. “You know how we don’t feed animals at the zoo?” Claire murmured. She shot Julie a cheeky grin. “It’s kind of like that.”
Meghan’s eyes widened and she clutched the bag to her chest.
Julie glared at her friend, then gave the little girl a reassuring smile. “Mommy’s kidding, sweetie. She just gets confused sometimes. Like when she doesn’t remember to put cars in Park and they roll into rivers...stuff like that.”
Meghan’s curls bounced around her shoulders as she looked from one woman to the other. Claire made a pfft sound and straightened Julie’s slipping veil.
“The car was twelve years old and insured. Get over it, girl.”
“All my music was in there,” protested Julie. She raised her arms when the seamstress tapped her elbows.
“Right. Like your boy-band collection was irreplaceable.” Claire pulled a tissue from her purse, revealing Meghan’s dimples as she wiped sticky streaks off her child’s face. “Next time I go to a garage sale, I’ll pick up a stack of CDs for a buck. Merry Christmas.”
“Too late. I already downloaded them.” Julie pointed at Laura, her oldest cousin and bridesmaid. “Can you get my iPod?”
“Nooooooo,” Claire moaned. She peered down at Meghan. “I apologize in advance for this, sweetheart.”
In a moment, Julie had the old tunes blasting. The girls giggled and stumbled as they imitated cheesy dance moves—even Claire joined in when Meghan dragged her into the fray. Julie wished she could be down there with them. Cut loose after these stressful months of wedding planning... If not for her hardworking seamstress, Julie would have leaped off the dais and busted a move.
“That has got to be illegal in some states.” Laura laughed. She pulled off her dress to reveal a tank top and shorts, then collapsed on the imitation bear rug in front of a natural-stone fireplace. Flames licked the large logs and shot sparks behind the ornate black grate.
“All the fun stuff is,” drawled Claire.
Julie faked a shocked look and crouched down to Meghan’s height. “I apologize for your mother. Should have done that while you were in her belly.”
“But I wouldn’t have heard you.” Meghan frowned then hugged her mother’s knees. “And I love Mommy.”
Claire shot Julie a triumphant look. “Winning.”
“You always do.”
Julie straightened. When the seamstress grasped the back of the gown and pulled, her lungs inflated, fighting against the unrelenting bodice.
“Tell me again why I picked this torture device in the first place,” she gasped.
“Because for you, making up your mind is, hmm...how shall I put it?” Claire tapped her chin and assumed a thoughtful look.
Meghan tugged at her mother’s bow, unraveling it at the waist. “You said that hockey-puck place would freeze over.”
“What are you teaching your children, Claire?” Julie smirked and tried to ignore the faintness stealing over her as her blood depleted of oxygen.
Claire covered her daughter’s ears. “Shut it, Julie.” She let go of her child. “I wasn’t about to let you walk out of your tenth bridal shop without something—not with the wedding only two months away. I was starting to think you were having second thoughts.”
