It's the perfect time of year for a little Christmas and a lot of romance. Here's a sneak peek at Christi Barth's holiday release.
About Ask Her at Christmas
Caitlin McIntyre's
heart stops when her best friend drops to one knee and proposes. Kyle Lockhart
never once hinted over the years that he has any idea she's in love with him.
Not wanting to jeopardize their friendship, she's never let it slip. Good
thing, too, since it turns out he's only practicing—he's about to propose to
someone else.
A business merger
might not be the most romantic reason to propose to a woman he barely knows,
but Kyle's determined to win the respect of the dying father who's never seen
him as quite good enough. Kyle's always depended on Caitlin's friendship, while
trying to ignore the physical response she arouses. So he turns to her when it
comes time to craft his proposal, not realizing his decision will affect their
relationship, forever.
This Christmas, Kyle
and Caitlin get one last chance to admit their feelings for each other, and
find a mutual happily ever after, before he commits his life to another woman
and Caitlin leaves town and him…for good.
An Excerpt
from Ask Her at Christmas
“Caitlin
McIntyre, will you marry me?”
Her heart didn’t pound, it slammed to a
standstill. It probably left thick red skid marks all over her lungs from how
fast it threw on the brakes. Kyle Lockhart, her best friend in the world, was
down on one knee in front of her station at the gift-wrapping booth. Which
meant it was okay her heart had stopped, because she had to be dreaming. Her
heart didn’t need to pump in a dream, right?
There was no other explanation for why Kyle
would propose to her. Not that she objected in the least. He was super
handsome, in a casually elegant yet decidedly sexy manner. His designer suits
covered a body like those of the models in perfume ads, the toned and tanned
men who dove into swimming pools shaped like a perfume bottle and came up
glistening and wet. Thick black hair set off his blue eyes, and you could
probably chisel a sculpture off his sharp cheekbones and jaw. Kyle was yummy
from head to toe, and Caitlin had wanted him almost her entire life.
Of course, he didn’t know about her massive
crush. She’d never hinted, never let her hands linger for an extra second on
his abs when they shared sunscreen at the tiny strip of sand along Lake
Michigan they called a beach. She’d never leaned over after splitting a bottle
of wine and trailed a finger across the lips she would kill to have touch hers.
No, Caitlin played the part of the best-friend-and-nothing-more-than-a-friend
to the hilt. Because it would absolutely devastate her if she revealed her
longing and he didn’t feel the same way. In a perfect world, guys always made
the first move. In Caitlin’s world, it was the only way not to jeopardize the
most important relationship in her life.
But how on earth did he leap from never once
looking at her with a sexy gleam in his eye to going down on one knee in the middle
of the Water Tower Place mall? If all the planets had magically aligned, all
the gods smiled down on her and all her karmic balance suddenly tipped to one
side, then Kyle might, just might finally see her as a woman and ask her out.
Proposing marriage, though, was impossible. Which meant she was either fast
asleep in her bed, or she’d slipped and hit her head getting off the El this
morning. Ice coated the Chicago sidewalks from an early December sleet storm. A
concussion would explain this. Or a hallucination from a brain hemorrhage. That
would definitely explain the impossibility of Kyle’s proposal.
So if it was nothing more than a dream, why not
enjoy it? Caitlin looked around, but all the other volunteer wrappers were busy
putting away their supplies for the night. The wrapping booth was a fundraiser
to purchase art supplies for local high schools, so the volunteers ran the
gamut from tweens to grandparents. Crowds had finally thinned once it hit eight
o’clock. Closer to Christmas that wouldn’t be the case, but with eighteen
shopping days left, people weren’t yet panicked. She put down her roll of
wrapping paper and looked at Kyle’s beaming face.
“This is so sudden.” She made a point of
switching her gaze to his empty hands, folded on top of his knee. “How am I
supposed to take your question seriously without a huge, shiny diamond ring to
seal the deal?”
The smile disappeared faster than the stack of
cashmere sweaters she’d seen on sale at Macy’s this morning. “You are so right.
I’m an idiot. Of course, I should’ve brought a ring. But I’ll get one. Pretend
I have a ring. Will you marry me?”
It sounded just as magical—and unbelievable—the
second time he asked. If this was really a dream, wouldn’t her subconscious
have made sure he brought along a one-carat, cushion-cut solitaire in a robin’s
egg blue box? Now she leaned more toward concussion as an explanation. Clearly
the drugs the hospital gave her must be interfering with her creative juices.
“Kyle, you’re my favorite person in the world.
You’re smart and funny and movie-star handsome. What girl in her right mind
wouldn’t want to marry you?”
“I agree.” He flashed her the smile that always
turned her knees into pudding for a second and stood, brushing off his
trousers. “But I’m worried that Monica might not be as cognizant of my charms
as the two of us are. That’s why I need you to help me with my proposal. This
was a test run.”
Oh. Not a dream after all.
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You can purchase Ask Her At Christmas by itself, or as part of the anthology, Romancing the Holiday.
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