Page 1 of His Ski Resort Overrun for Christmas

ChapterOne

Jace Jardine strode from his office and stopped next to the reception desk. He looked over the entryway and massive gathering area of his ski resort’s lodge. He smiled. The new additions to expand the open area to host weddings and parties and the ten new two-bedroom suites off the other side were already paying off. They could now boast twenty standard hotel rooms as well as the ten suites for rent, their restaurant and room service were delicious and run well by his mom’s best friend Shanna, and the resort was bringing in guests from not just nearby Denver but all over the country. They’d even had their first international guests from Switzerland last week. The guests loved the quaint town, the gorgeous views, and of course the best ski runs and snow on earth, despite what the Utahns thought.

People were lounging on the couches spread out in the open area, enjoying the warmth of the seven fireplaces, the view through the two-story windows of the beautiful Summit Valley below and the pine-tree and snow-covered mountains circling the valley, or waiting for a table in the restaurant for an early dinner. It was perfect, and Jace loved seeing his and his brother’s dreams coming to fruition.

A woman with flowing blonde hair glided through the lodge’s double front doors. She was dressed in a white dress coat with high-heeled—very impractical for Colorado winter—boots. No ski boots or gear in sight.

She looked like an angel straight from heaven.

Jace pushed that thought away and tried to focus on practical matters. She wasn’t a skier. A guest checking in. He could go greet her and see if she was as angelic up close. He hoped she’d packed better boots. They tried to keep the walks clear, but it snowed often and the skies could dump a foot in a few hours in their high mountain valley.

The lady glanced Jace’s direction and he stopped moving. There was no possible way he could walk a straight line with eyes that incredible honed in on him.

She stopped as well, and her blue eyes lit up like the most glorious clear sky he’d ever seen. Her full lips curved in a happy smile and the smooth skin of her cheeks and next to her eyes crinkled. She was incredibly and naturally attractive, but he liked her laugh lines and the defined look to her face showing she had to at least be mid to late twenties. He’d had far too many eighteen-year-olds hitting on him lately.

Her blue eyes became even more irresistible… and that smile. It was a welcoming, happy smile, as if they were long lost friends meeting again and they shared inside jokes and secrets unique to the two of them. Though he knew he’d never laid eyes on her before, that smile seemed to say this was the woman for him.

Jace had seen a lot of beautiful women in his thirty years, but this woman … she glowed.

Tilting her head to him, her smile changed from happy to see him to challenging him to cross the lobby and get to know her.

Jace should’ve turned away. Seeing the most appealing woman of all time should have him running the other direction. He hadn’t felt a connection and spark like this since he first met Iluminada. Unless his memory was faulty, this was stronger than anything he’d ever felt.

Usually all he needed to cool the desire to pursue a woman was thinking of Iluminada’s name. Instantly the remembrance of his now-famous ex-wife’s betrayal would clear his head. He thought he was over the hurt and bitterness, but the lessons learned kept him and his heart safe.

It didn’t work today. Instead of dwelling on Iluminada, he was a hundred percent focused on the incredible blonde. She gestured with her hand, beckoning him to her, and Jace threw caution to the wind. He strode toward her, captivated by those bright blue eyes. An odd buzzing in his head told him he should take note. This was going to be an important first meet for him.

It was Christmastime and his mom had blatantly admitted she was praying for the Christmas miracle of both Ammon and Jace finding the love of their lives. He and his brother had laughed at her. Him to hide his angst, and Ammon because he laughed at everything and took nothing but skiing technique and their business seriously. Actually, that wasn’t true. Ammon had taken Ivy Collier very serious, ten years ago, but she’d hightailed it out of the valley and never looked back. Now Ammon dated a lot and didn’t get close to any unrelated woman.

He and his brother were successful, busy, and only twenty-eight and thirty. Jace doubted there was a “love of his life” out there who could overcome his trust issues and would also want to settle down in this small town. He knew every woman in town from birth on up. Alivia Delta had captured his interest for a minute, but she was happily married to his friend Klein Vance and they were perfect for each other. Though he met a lot of intriguing and beautiful out of town guests, they were here for a weekend or at longest a week and then gone. He’d tried marriage as a stupid twenty-year-old. It hadn’t worked out—had been the polar opposite of working out. He would never rush into another relationship.

Why, then, was he rushing across the burnished concrete floor to an out-of-towner who would be gone by the end of the weekend?

The woman grinning at him seemed more than worth throwing caution to the wind, acting like a reckless fool, and rushing at her faster than he could fly down a mountainside on his downhill skis.

Jace had almost reached her, and that smile on her face went from the sassy challenge to thrilled he was coming. He’d never seen a more expressive or appealing face. He knew in the back of his mind she’d disappear before he could get to know her or trust her. That should stop him dead in his tracks. Here and gone like Iluminada. At the moment, though, he couldn’t force himself to dwell on what his ex-wife had done to his young, trusting heart. He was smart and careful now.

Well, maybe notrightnow.

Something darted in front of him.

The woman’s brow wrinkled and she cried, “Oh, watch out!”

Jace broke concentration on the blonde to glimpse a small girl running smack dab in front of him. He instinctively leaped as if he were doing a box jump or clearing an obstacle on his skis and hurdled the little one. He cleared the toddler easily; the problem was his leap was too ambitious and as he landed, he skidded on a patch of melted snow left from some skier’s boots and plowed straight into the woman.

She cried out in surprise as he knocked her off her high heels. He wrapped his arms around her and twisted, taking the impact of the wood floor on his shoulder and side. It stung, but nothing broke. The momentum rolled them onto his back where they skidded a foot before stopping.

He could hear shouts of surprise and concern around them as his staff and other guests rushed to make sure they were okay. Jace couldn’t concentrate on anything but the pressure of this woman in his arms. It wasn’t about how obviously firm and yet womanly soft she was in his embrace. She just felt … right. As if this friendly stranger had been created for him to hold close. He’d been married for seventeen months, to the day, but had only spent a week with his wife. He couldn’t recall if Iluminada in his arms had felt this … intoxicating.

The blonde smelled delicious, like cinnamon and vanilla. Like coming home for Christmas and knowing you were going to get the most exciting present of your life, that present you’d always longed for. Her beautiful face was even more lit up, as if being tackled by the ski resort owner was thrilling.

“That was incredible,” she breathed out. Out of breath because she was pressed against him or because she shared the same feelings that were stirring inside of him? “I’ve never seen such an athletic and gentlemanly move in my life. You leapt over that little doll, took me down, but somehow turned to take the brunt of the fall. You’re like a real-life superhero.”

Jace chuckled in surprise, his cheeks hot from her overinflated praise. He was as athletic as anyone he knew besides the famed Hudson “Death Wish” Delta. He would’ve qualified for the Olympics in at least two downhill events if he hadn’t chased after Iluminada and ruined his own hopes and dreams. He didn’t mind being this angel’s superhero, but he shouldn’t have gotten close enough to knock her down. “If I wouldn’t have misjudged my leap, I wouldn’t have taken you down at all.”

“Now where would be the fun in that?” She grinned as if this were the best time of her life. He’d show her the most incredible experiences that could beat this one hands-down—heli-skiing, flipping off a forty-foot cliff, racing down his slopes on skis or a mountain bike.

But actually, as he thought about it, the thrill of holding her close surpassed even those breathtaking experiences. What was happening to him? Should he let it happen or distance himself like he usually did when a woman breached his defenses? No woman had gotten through to him this quick. He should be terrified. He knew how low he could get when it all crashed down. At the moment all he could feel was exhilaration.

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