Mrs. Roth’s Merry Christmas
All Gillian
wanted was to pick up a third job so she could buy her preschool students
Christmas gifts. She didn’t think she’d be the one getting picked up instead.
Her new
boss, Nicholas Roth, is the big man in charge at Santa Incorporated—what
Gillian thought was a seasonal staffing agency. But the sexy CEO has a holly
jolly secret; he’s an equal opportunity employer and most of his staff are
elves.
Santa has
another secret. When he’s not delivering toys for his charity, he’s contending
with political unease in the magic realm. To take his father’s throne as king
of the elves, he has to get married…and only magic-proof Gillian will do.
Gillian agrees thinking Nick will cut her loose after the busy Christmas rush,
but he has other ideas.
Nick wants a
permanent Mrs. Roth but Gillian doesn’t think she’s it.
Excerpt
He
dropped the smirk and stood with a preternatural speed. I blinked, and the next
thing I knew Nick was in front of me with his hands clamped around my arms. His
expression was dark—more Krampus than Saint Nicholas. When he spoke again, his
voice was completely without mirth. All joking aside, literally.
“Gillian,
your mouth is going to get you in trouble.”
I
squirmed beneath his strong grip, which only caused him to pull me in tighter.
My heart pounded so hard that my pulse thrummed in my ears, blocking out all
other sound. With a great deal of apprehension, I looked up into his face
expecting to see anger, but instead read something else in the hard set of his
jaw and the icy blue gaze: a kind of neediness that seemed untouchable. Or at
least Nick thought it was.
I
looked away. He may have had magical insight to my desires, but I felt invasive
reading the emotions he thought he had so locked down off his face. They were
private things I didn’t want to concern myself with.
When I looked up again his face was softer, giving less away. He really was handsome, especially when he wasn’t acting like he knew it. I cleared my throat and averted my gaze to his chest. “If you dislike my mouth so much, fire me.”
When I looked up again his face was softer, giving less away. He really was handsome, especially when he wasn’t acting like he knew it. I cleared my throat and averted my gaze to his chest. “If you dislike my mouth so much, fire me.”
“You
don’t want that.”
“It’s
just a job, Nick.”
“You’re
lying. You know and I know there’s something going on here.”
I
finally shrugged off his arms and backed up a few paces…or I should say, Nick
let me. Nick didn’t let anything happen he didn’t want. “I’m in a North Pole
dormitory and being hit on by a six-foot elf.”
He
scoffed, that smarmy demeanor of his having returned, and jammed his hands into
the pockets of his slacks. “You think this is mere flirting?”
“Isn’t
it?” I knew better. My body knew better. His did too, obviously, judging by how
happy he was about having me pressed against him moments before.
“No.
There’s a lot at play you don’t understand.”
“So
explain it to me.”
Nick
shook his head and turned his back to me as he walked out of the kitchen and
toward the outer door. “Get some sleep. I’m sure the girls won’t bother you on
the sofa. There should be some spare blankets around somewhere.”
“I’m—”
“Goodnight,
Gilly,” he said without meeting my gaze again. The moment he shut the door, the
elves came out.
Purchase Links
Musa Publishing (for Kindle, Nook, Mobi, PDF), Amazon (Kindle), All Romance eBooks, iTunes, Smashwords,
and B&N.
Bio
Author
Holley Trent is a Carolina girl gone west. Raised in rural Eastern North
Carolina, she currently resides with her family on the Colorado Front Range.
She studied fine English literature at the University of North Carolina, but
prefers reading and writing popular fiction much more.
Holley
writes romance because readers are guaranteed optimistic, upbeat endings, and
in her books, she strives to blend Southern love with laughter. Her comedic
influences include Lucille Ball, George Carlin, and Richard Pryor. She may be a
Southern girl, but she’s not too genteel to tell a dirty joke (just ask her
mother).
Her
contemporary and paranormal romances are published by Crimson Romance, Musa
Publishing, and Lyrical Press. Please visit holleytrent.com to see her full
list of fiction works.
Recipe – Raspberry-Almond
Sandwich Cookies
(Adapted from The Cook’s Encyclopedia
of Cookies)
Ingredients
(for 32 2” round cookies)
-1
c blanched almonds + 1/3 c chopped
almonds
-1 ½
c all purpose flour
-3/4
c butter, softened
-1/2
c granulated sugar
-Grated
rind of 1 lemon + 1 tbsp lemon juice
-1
tsp vanilla extract
-1
egg white
-salt
-1 c
raspberry jam
*Grind
the 1 c of blanched almonds with 3 tbsp of the flour.
*Cream
the butter and sugar.
*Add
lemon rind and vanilla extract, stir.
*Add
the ground almonds, the rest of the flower, and mix to form a ball.
*Wrap
dough in plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
*Preheat
over to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
*Separate
the dough into four equal parts, and flour a board. Roll each ball into a sheet
1/8” thick.
*Use
a pastry round or biscuit cutter (or even an overturned glass) to cut circles
from dough. Use a smaller cutter to remove circles from the centers of half the
rounds. The ones without the holes will be the bottoms. Be sure you have an
equal amount of tops and bottoms.
*Arrange
the cookies on wax paper-lined cookie sheets 1/2" apart.
*Beat
egg white with a pinch of salt and brush only the top halves of the cookies
(the ones with the holes) with the mixture. Sprinkle rings with chopped
slivered almonds.
*Bake
cookies 12-15 minutes or until tan (you don’t want them too brown). Cool on pan
a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
*Simmer
jam and lemon juice in a saucepan until well combined, and brush the mixture
over the bottom halves of cookies.
*Top
jam circles with cookie rings.
*Store
cookies between layers of waxed paper in a sealed container.
