The Power of Christmas…
When I close my
eyes and think about Christmas, I see my parents’ dark living room.
In the corner is the biggest tree they could get through the front
door and it’s covered with twinkling lights and tinsel that catches
that light and spins it around, reflecting it to the ornaments where
it sparkles and shines. I can almost smell the baking ham, homemade
bread, cookies and pies.
If I blink, I’m
older. The tree is mine, the one I decorated with my husband. I’m
the one baking the ham, cookies and pies. It’s my kids who are
ooohhhing and aaahhhing at the sparkling tree.
If I blink
again, I’m in my son’s house. The tree is his, though the whole
family has decorated it with ornaments passed down to his wife from
her grandparents. His kids are ooohhhing and aaahhhing at the tree,
chattering about Santa, eager to go to bed so morning will come
sooner.
There is
nothing that speaks to the continuity of life the way Christmas does.
In STOLEN KISS WITH HER BILLIONAIRE BOSS that’s what breaks Hugo
Harrington’s heart. He feels he was betrayed by his family, yet
longs to bring them back together when he buys the family’s hotel.
The hotel had hosted London’s grandest Christmas Eve celebration
and he wants it back. He wants the feeling of being surrounded by
family. He wants old wounds healed. Most of all, he wants the
misunderstandings and misconceptions to be discussed and cleared up.
He chooses Erin
Hunter to help him get the Christmas Eve party details right and she
does because she’s the best. But she’s only the best because she
has an intuition about people, and she soon realizes the façade of
perfection that Hugo presents to the world has a chip. There’s
something wrong with this little family. A secret. Some betrayal. And
no one wants to talk about it.
Her own past is
checkered. Her husband died far too young, but there was a betrayal
there too. Something far worse than an affair. He had confided his
cancer diagnosis to a female coworker though he never told Erin he
was dying, leaving her to feel she wasn’t his partner or even a
real friend, and making her a washout as a wife.
She has their
son after Josh dies and builds a life for herself, not willing to
risk her heart again. But fate has a way of testing a person’s
resolve. In Erin’s case, it tempts her with the most untrustworthy
man around, a guy who – rumor has it – betrayed his own family:
Hugo Harrington. He wants Christmas with all the trimmings, but his
brother and sister can’t forgive him for breaking up their family.
Erin doesn’t
want to like him – he’s the Grinch in Gucci – but he’s as
sexy as a brooding stare or an unexpected first kiss.
And something
seems off with the story the tabloids keep repeating.
Christmas past
clearly haunts him. He hasn’t celebrated the holiday since “that”
night. She should leave him alone. She should do her job and go back
to Manhattan when the big party is over.
But Christmas
has a way of softening people’s hearts, of building continuity from
one generation to another, of reminding us of what’s important.
And this
Christmas might just be the one when Hugo Harrington gets his all his
wishes. Even a few he didn’t know he had.
This is why I
love Christmas and Christmas stories. When I was a kid the world was
a bright, shiny place at Christmas time. When I had my own kids, the
world became even brighter. If there are miracles to be had they
can’t help but pop up when the world is so filled with love.
Stolen Kiss with her Billionaire Boss
Christmas
has arrived…
And
she’s spending it with her boss!
New
Yorker Erin is intrigued when Hugo Harrington asks for her help on a
hotel renovation in London, just weeks before Christmas! But Erin
soon discovers how personal this project is to her brooding boss.
Watching him wrestle with the memories of his past uncovers a side to
Hugo she’s never seen. And then a stolen snowbound kiss changes
everything…
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Susan Meier is a
lover of a great story and a fabulous turn of phrase. What better
home for her than Mills and Boon where stories touch the heart? She
found her bliss when Harlequin published her first book and hasn’t
looked back. A mom of three and wife to the best guy on the planet,
she loves reading almost as much as writing, and thanks the heavens
for the internet and YouTube which have made research so much fun.
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