Once upon a Christmas...
As settlement for her father’s debts, Caitlyn
Hosier is forced into a marriage with the village recluse—a man no one has seen
all the years he's lived in the manor house. A man surrounded by rumours. A man
with a vicious temper. A man said to be a monster. A man who hates Christmas.
Hayden Shade hides his scars
behind a mask, but the past never ceases to haunt him. A new life and a new
start seem too much to hope for. Does he even deserve one? Surely not with a
woman so wholly beautiful as Caitlyn. He longs to build a life-long
relationship, but he daren’t allow her to see the real him until he knows for
sure she loves him.
Desperate to find happiness with
the man she's fated to marry, Caitlyn determines to uncover the real Hayden
Shade. There must be something good behind the mask. But what if there's
nothing more to him than the monster she could never love?
Extract:
Carols played in
the background. Caitlyn Hosier grinned at best friend Meredith Mantle. “Who’d
have thought this time last year we were preparing for the Paradise Christmas
Ball, and here you are married.” She paused. “And here I am, not. And neither
of us are going to the ball, either.”
“It’s a shame
things didn’t work out with Ty.” Meredith hung another ornament on the tree.
“We’d have been related.”
Caitlyn shook
her head. “Ty’s a nice enough bloke, but we have nothing in common. And I’m
beginning to lose hope in David as well. He still hasn’t called since that one
date he took me on. I know he’s far older than me, but age is simply a number,
right?”
The door opened
and her father and step-mother came in. Father cleared his throat, his face
serious and pale. “Caitlyn, I need to speak with you. It’s urgent.”
Meredith stood.
“I should be getting back. I promised Grannie I’d call in on my way home. She’s
coping OK on her own, but she’s finding it hard with the anniversary coming
up.”
Caitlyn walked
Meredith to the door. “I’ll call later this evening. Bye.” She closed the door
and headed back into the lounge. “So what’s wrong?”
Her father took
a deep breath. “I got called in to see my boss. He made me an offer for your
hand in marriage.”
Caitlyn’s
stomach knotted and threated to eject her lunch over her feet. She pushed her
hands through her hair. She must have heard wrong. “He wants to what?” she managed, reaching out a hand
to turn off the music, the carols incongruous now.
Her father’s
agonized gaze hit the floor, as if couldn’t quite bear to look at her. He
seemed as if he’d aged fifty years since he’d left home a few hours ago. “He
wants to marry you.”
“He doesn’t know
the first thing about me. Why would he want to do that?”
“Because I
messed up. I did something I shouldn’t have and this is the only way he won’t
press charges.”
Caitlyn
swallowed hard. “Press charges?”
“I broke the
law. I’d go to prison for a long time, possibly the rest of my life.”
Shock turned to
horror. “So you traded me for your freedom?”
Her father shook
his head. “No. I’d never do that to you. This is your choice and yours alone.
He granted me that much.”
Caitlyn turned
to her step-mother. She didn’t really remember her birth mother, only a faint
recollection of perfume. Naomi had never wanted to replace Mum, opting instead
for the term Auntie. “Auntie Naomi…”
“I’ve spoken to
Naomi,” Father interrupted. “She’s in agreement with me.”
She turned away,
her eyes burning. Marriage was something she’d always dreamed of, but not to
her father’s mysterious boss, who had a reputation for being a hard liner.
Caitlyn’s dreams lay with David, a local man from the same church. He’d told
her he worked in an animal shelter, which she’d found adorable. They’d been on
one date and got on pretty well. But this? This would end all that. Now her
dreams lay shattered at the foot of the half-decorated Christmas tree.
Scattered like the box of baubles she’d dropped, sparking in the light, yet out
of reach.
“How…how long
have I got to think about it?” she whispered.
“I have to let
him know by three.”
She gasped as
she glanced at her watch. “That’s only an hour away.”
Her father
hurried over to her and gripped her hands. “I’m so sorry. If there was a way
around this, some other way I could make amends, I’d do it, but there isn’t.”
His gaze held hers. “If you can’t do this, if you don’t want to, then don’t
worry. I’ll face up to what I’ve done and accept the consequences.”
Caitlyn pulled
her hands away. “I need time to think. I’ll be in my room.” She dashed from the
room, before she really did cry. She shut the bedroom door and leaned against
it. “Oh, Lord, what do I do?” she whispered. “I can’t let Father go to prison,
but to marry someone I don’t know? Someone no one has ever seen or really
knows? Someone with a reputation like Mr. Shade has? Even the name makes him
seem dark.” She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself as she paced to the
window. “I wanted a future with David. He’s tall, charming, handsome, and he
likes me. He took me to the most expensive restaurant in town, and then kissed
me on the doorstep when he dropped me home. OK, bells and whistles didn’t go
off and the stars didn’t explode, but for a first kiss I wasn’t expecting
that.”
Caitlyn sighed,
studying the view of her garden. “I have to do this. Please promise me I’m not
doing this alone. I have no idea if this Mr. Shade is a Christian or not. So I
may well end up unevenly yoked. If I can ask one favour, Lord, please let it be
a church wedding. Work this horrid situation for good.”
Her gaze fell on
the verse-of-the-day calendar on her desk. The one for today was Joshua 1:9. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and
courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will
be with you wherever you go.”
“Thank you,
Lord. OK, let’s do this.” She rubbed her hands over her eyes and sucked in a
deep breath. Should she take everything? Would she be allowed home to get
things she forgot? What did she do now?
Her hand rested
on the locket her birth mother had left for her, along with a note saying
‘sorry’. The note had long since been discarded, but the necklace she’d kept.
Not that it was ever worn—it didn’t really go with the jeans and baggy sweaters
she preferred—but she’d take it with her. Decision made, there was no time to
waste on questions she couldn’t answer.
Father paced the
living room floor. He stopped mid-stride as Caitlyn entered the room. “What did
you decide?”
“I’ll do it.
I’ll marry Mr. Shade.”
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