A Very Merry Christmas
Lori Foster,
Gemma Bruce,
Janice Maynard
ISBN 0-7582-1541-X
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Though the weather outside is frightful, the hunky men are SO delightful. And three ladies are about to get their stockings stuffed with the season’s best cheer…
Do You Hear What I Hear, Lori Foster
Accused of stealing a donkey from the local nativity scene, pet psychic Marci Churchill is being watched by Sergeant Osbourne Decker, who can’t stop thinking about frisking her…
Bah Humbug, Baby, Gemma Bruce
The last thing ad exec Allison Newberry wants this year is to spend the holidays with her former flame, the unreliable-but-sexier-than-hell photojournalist Lee Simonson. But when a blizzard hits their ski lodge, there’s only one way to keep warm…
By Firelight, Janice Maynard
Madison Tierney is feeling anything but merry this Christmas. But when she gets stranded with mountain man Grant Monroe in his secluded cabin, she feels her Christmas spirit—and her temperature—start to rise…
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Chapter One
Do You Hear What I Hear
by Lori Foster
Osbourne Decker had no sooner pulled his truck into the frozen, snow-covered parking lot to start his night shift than his pager went off. Typical SWAT team biz—a barricade with three subjects holding two hostages. He’d grabbed his gear, run into the station to change so he could respond directly to the scene, and from that point on, the night had been nonstop. Being SWAT meant when the pager went off, so did the team.
After a lot of hours in the blustery cold that stretched his patience thin, they resolved the hostage situation without a single casualty. And just in time for his shift to end. He couldn’t wait to get home and grab some sleep.
He’d just changed back into his jeans, T-shirt, and flannel shirt when Lucius Ryder, a friend and sergeant with the team, strolled up to him. Osbourne saw the way Lucius eyed him, like a lamb for the slaughter, and he wanted to groan.
He fastened his duty firearm in a concealed holster, attached his pager and cell, grabbed his coat, and tried to slip away.
Lucius stopped him. “Got a minute, Ozzie?”
Shit, shit, shit. He already knew what was coming. Lucius would be on vacation for ten days—the longest vacation he’d ever taken. He’d be back in time for Christmas, but laying low until then, soaking up some private time with his new wife in Gatlinburg. But the wife was concerned about her loony toons twin sister.
And that’s where Lucius wanted to involve him.
“Actually,” Ozzie said, hoping to escape, “I was just about to—”
“This won’t take long.”
Ozzie thought about making a run for it, but Lucius would probably just chase him down, so he gave up. He dropped his duffel bag and propped a shoulder on the wall. “Okay. Shoot.”
“You think Marci is hot?”
Ozzie did a double take. “Is that a trick question?”
“No, I’m serious.”
Serious, and apparently not thinking straight. Marci and Lucius’s wife, Bethany, were identical twins. No way in hell would Ozzie comment on her appearance. Hell, if he admitted he thought Marci was beyond hot to the point of scorching, well, that’d be like admitting that Lucius’s wife was scorching, and his friend sure as hell wouldn’t like that.
If he said no, it’d be a direct cut to Bethany.
“She’s a replica of your wife, Lucius, all the way down to her toes.” Ozzie shook his head. “You really want to know what I think of her?”
Struck by that observance, Lucius said, “No. Hell no.” He glared at Ozzie in accusation, then slashed a hand in the air. “Forget I asked. I already know you’re attracted to her because you went out with her a few times.”
“No way, Lucius.”
Lucius warmed to his subject. “I thought you two had something going on for a while there.”
“No.”
“You were chasing her pretty hot and heavy—”
Ozzie forgot discretion. “She’s a fruitcake. Totally nuts. Hell, Lucius, she stops to talk to every squirrel in the trees.”
“She does not.” But Lucius didn’t look certain.
“She even chats with birds.” Ozzie nodded his head to convince Lucius of what he’d seen. “She gives greetings to dogs as if they greet her back.”
“She’s not that bad,” Lucius denied, but without much conviction.
“Not that bad? I’ve heard her carry on complete conversations with your dog!”
Lucius shook his head. “It’s not like that. Hero doesn’t talk back to her. She just . . . She’s an animal nut, okay? She’s real empathetic to them, so she likes chatting with them.”
“No shit. But she doesn’t chat the way most of us do. She chats as if she knows exactly what they’re saying, when anyone sane knows that they’re not saying a damn thing.”
Lucius paced away, but came right back. “It’s an endearing trait, that’s all.”
Because Ozzie loved animals, he might have been inclined to agree. But crazy women turned into insane bitches when things didn’t go their way, and he’d had enough of that to last him a lifetime. There was nothing more malicious, or more determined on destruction, than a woman who ignored logic. “No thanks.”
“Okay, look, I’m not asking you to marry the girl.”
“I’m not marrying anyone!” Just the sound of the “M” word struck terror in Ozzie’s heart.
“That’s what I said, damn it, and keep your voice down.”
Ozzie glanced around and saw that the others were watching them, their ears perked with interest. Dicks. Oh, yeah, they all wanted to know more about Marci. None of them would hesitate to go chasing after her. In the three months that they’d all known her, more than one guy on the team had tried to get with her.
Course, none of them had yet discovered her whacky eccentricities. Then again, maybe none of them would mind.
In a more subdued tone, now infused with annoyance, Ozzie said, “Any one of them would be thrilled to do . . . whatever it is you want me to do.”
“Bullshit. This is my sister-in-law we’re talking about. Any of them would be working hard to get in her pants.”
True. And it pissed Ozzie off big time, but rather than say so, he pointed out the obvious. “And you think I wouldn’t be?”
Lucius’s eyes narrowed. “Not if you know what’s good for you.”
Ozzie threw up his hands. “Great. Just friggin’ great. So what the hell am I supposed to do with her, if not enjoy her?”
Disgruntled, Lucius growled, “You talk about her like she’s a pinball machine.”
“Right.” Ozzie rolled his eyes. “With a few lights missing.”
Lucius drew a deep breath to regain his aplomb.
Ozzie watched him. He really didn’t want to get on his buddy’s bad side. Lucius stood six feet four inches tall, and though he was a good friend with a sense of style that leaned toward raunchy T-shirts, he also took anything that had anything to do with his wife very seriously.
“Nice shirt,” Ozzie commented, hoping to help Lucius along in his efforts to be calm. The shirt read: “World’s Greatest” and beneath that sat a proud-looking rooster.
“Forget the shirt.” Lucius glanced at his watch. “I need to get going. Bethany’s waiting for me. So do we have a deal or what?”
He had to be kidding.
On an exhalation, Lucius barked, “I only want you to keep an eye on her. There’ve been a few strange things happening—”
“Like her talking to turtles or something?”
