Harlequin Holiday Collection - Four Classic Seasonal Novellas

been simply enjoying each other’s company. And the tree they’d decorated together.
    “We should eat that amazing dinner we prepared,” he suggested.
    Something else they’d done together, but she didn’t want to move. She liked it right here in his arms.
    Her body warmed, melted as she thought of all the kisses they had shared. Lots of slow, lingering kisses. She smiled against his chest. She loved the way he kissed.
    “I’m not hungry,” she confessed. She wanted to sit here like this, in his arms, until one of them had to move.
    They’d talked about their pasts, their hopes and dreams. Everything. It was like fate had had this plan all along. She understood in the deepest, farthest reaches of her soul that this was the man she’d been waiting for.
    The man who would treat her with the respect and admiration with which her father treated her mother.
    Who could ask for more?
    “There are ways to work up an appetite,” he suggested.
    Another smile pulled at her lips. “We could take a walk.”
    “There is that.”
    “Or we could open those presents under the tree.” She’d bought a very special gift for him. One she hoped would show him just how much she wanted to get to know all of him. She had bought him a scrapbook for their mementoes, a framed photo of her to sit on his bedside table and a duplicate of the key to her apartment. For him. His own key to her place. And a slinky negligee for their first night together.
    Which just might be tonight. Excitement whirled beneath her belly button.
    “We could,” he agreed, “but then you’d only get distracted with your gift.”
    She raised her head to look at him. “Just give me one hint.”
    He shook his head. “You have to wait.”
    He’d been saying that all day.
    She sighed and collapsed against his muscled chest once more. “In that case, I can’t think of a thing else to do.”
    “Actually.” He wiggled free of her, stood. “I can think of lots of things.” He picked her up and carried her to his room.
    He kissed her in that slow, sweet way of his and she forgot all about the negligee. She just wanted him to keep kissing her.
    Frantic hands tore at clothes until they were skin to skin. She couldn’t catch her breath. Didn’t care. She just wanted to be with him…in every way.
    Hours later, as they lay completely sated on his tousled bed, she announced, “I’m starving.”
    He rolled onto his belly, propped up on his arms and smiled down at her. “Shall we have dinner in bed?”
    “That would be amazing.”
    He kissed the tip of her nose. “Promise me you won’t move.”
    “Promise.”
    He was gone long enough to make her want to break her vow. When he finally returned, he carried a tray laden with the exquisite dinner they had prepared together.
    “Dig in.” He backed toward the door. “I just have to get one more thing.”
    She nibbled on a slice of turkey breast. He was back in a flash, the elegantly wrapped gift in his hands.
    He sat it on the bed in front of her. “Open it.”
    Anticipation searing through her veins, she bit her lips, searched his eyes for some hint.
    “Open it,” he urged.
    She released the silky red ribbon, let it fall around the box. She lifted the lid and frowned at the mounds and mounds of paper inside. “What’s this?”
    “You’ll see.”
    She dug through the paper, finally found a long, slender box. Her heart bumped hard. “You shouldn’t have,” she warned.
    “Just open it already.”
    She opened the box. Inside was a dazzling diamond necklace. She gasped. “Jacob, you really, really shouldn’t have.”
    He pressed a fingertip to her lips. “Look under the necklace.”
    She pulled the velvet liner from the box. Another gasp stole her breath.
    A shiny brass key.
    “My home is your home.”
    That dark gaze meshed with hers and in that instant she knew that their future together was set.
    But, for now, it would be their secret.
    It would be better if no one at work knew. Plus, there was just something wickedly sexy about the forbidden.
    She tugged him down onto the bed. Forgot about the food. And her presents for him.
    She hugged him, silently thanking her lucky stars she had found him.

Season of Wonder
    By Marta Perry

Chapter One
    It was his angel-girl. David Caldwell stopped dead, letting the waves wash over his feet. He hadn’t seen Allison March in fifteen years, but he knew her instantly, with the kind of bone-deep knowledge that didn’t require explanation. Once again,