Page 2 of Italian’s Christmas Acquisition

But she would take it. Because she needed every penny that she could scrape up. She needed this year to be good.

That was the difficult thing. She needed the tourism. She realized that feeling grim and broody about advancements made in the town was... Ungrateful in a way. She needed people to want to come and stay at Holiday House. She needed an influx of travelers coming for Christmas. People who wanted Christmas trees, who wanted sleigh rides and to go through the elk preserve in wagons, she needed those people.

Because it was how she made money. It was how she continued to pay her employees. She might not be the owner of the B and B, but she managed it, taking a paycheck like everyone else with the rest of the earnings going to her mom.

Christmas was her stock in trade.

And the ski season was her best for obvious reasons.

But none of it mattered if everything she loved got leveled to make a new fancy hotel.

A strip mall.

The very idea. Strip malls in Snowflake Falls. What next?

The end of days.

She walked out of the coffee shop after bidding Melody a farewell, and looked down the festive main street again. And that was when she saw him.

He was taller than anyone else on the street, and he was dressed in black.

It felt like an aggressive block of darkness, right there in the middle of the well-lit street.

People bustled around him, in brightly colored knits, talking and laughing. In groups. He was singular, and there was nothing merry or bright about his expression.

But he was... He was the most beautiful man Noelle had ever seen. His hair was jet-black, as dark as midnight without stars. His eyes were the same sort of coal color, his jaw square, his mouth flat and severe. His shoulders were impossibly broad, and as he moved toward her, she felt her heart leap into her throat. Of course, he didn’t see her. She was tucked beneath the awning of the coffeehouse, and she was... Well, she was a reindeer.

A brown blob in the midst of the seasonal glory.

He cut through the people like a blade, his every move efficient. Black jacket, black tie, black gloves, black pants, black shoes. She took in each and every detail as he moved closer and closer. Her heart felt like it would burst when he walked past. He didn’t even flicker a glance.

She remained an unseen reindeer, standing there and sipping on her gingerbread latte.

Whowashe?

She immediately started writing stories about him in her mind—how could she not. The town itself, and the citizens in it were always the same. Tourists were an endless source of fascination, but this man...even more so. Was he a man with a tragic backstory here to find his Christmas spirit. A widower? An investment banker from New York City who’d lost his way and needed a woman filled with the spirit of small-town Christmas to show him the right path?

Ha. Right.

He must be here with a wife, children. He was wearing gloves so she couldn’t see whether or not there was a gold band on one of his large hands.

In many ways, he should look like anyone of the innumerable important executives who came to Snowflake Falls to ski, to eat local cuisine like bison Wellington and elk tenderloin. And yet, he didn’t. There was something singular about him, and she couldn’t put her finger on it.

You think he’s hot?

She shimmied. She didn’t think it was that. That would be very basic of her. Maybe she was basic.

She frowned into her latte. Then reached up and touched her antlers. She didn’t think she was basic.

She cleared her throat and moved away from the entrance to the coffeehouse. She had to get back to Holiday House. Because the madness would be starting soon. She was manning the Christmas trees today, as that’s where all the action would be. She did have new guests arriving, but the staff at the inn would be managing most of that.

Often, the running of the inn was her primary responsibility, as she lived in the house year-round. But when the festivities picked up around the rest of the property, she relied more heavily on her seasonal support staff.

Many of whom had been working at Holiday House for years.

The idea of them not having jobs anymore, the idea of them not being part of her life, it was absolutely unconscionable. Surreal.

She wouldn’t let that happen.

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