ONE CHRISTMAS WISH
Author: Brenda
Jackson
ISBN: 9781335201980
Publication Date:
October 26, 2021
Publisher: HQN Books
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Social Links:
Facebook: @BrendaJacksonAuthor
Twitter: @AuthorBJackson
Book Summary:
It’s Christmas in Catalina Cove, a time
of promise and second chances. But when you’re starting over, love is the last
thing you’re wishing for…
Vaughn Miller’s Wall Street career was
abruptly ended by a wrongful conviction and two years in prison. Since then,
he’s returned to his hometown, kept his head down and forged a way forward.
When he is exonerated and his name cleared, he feels he can hold his head up
once again, maybe even talk to the beautiful café owner who sets his blood to
simmering.
Sierra Crane escaped a disastrous
marriage—barely. She and her six-year-old goddaughter have returned to the only
place that feels like home. Determined to make it on her own, Sierra opens a
soup café. Complication is the last thing she needs, but the moment Vaughn
walks into her café, she can’t keep her eyes off the smoldering loner.
When they give in to their attraction,
what Sierra thought would be a onetime thing becomes so much more. Vaughn knows
she’s the one. Sierra can’t deny the way Vaughn makes her feel, but she’s been
burned before. With Christmas approaching, Vaughn takes a chance to prove his
love, and it will be up to Sierra to decide if her one Christmas wish—true
happiness—will come true.
Author Bio:
Brenda Jackson is a New York Times bestselling author of more than one hundred romance titles. Brenda lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and divides her time between family, writing and traveling.
EXCERPT
1
SIERRA CRANE CRINGED every time her
ex-husband called. Their marriage had ended almost two years ago, so why
couldn’t he get on with his life the way she had gotten on with hers? She
hadn’t heard from him since the divorce and now this was the second phone call
in a month.
And why did he always manage to call her
at the worst time? The dinner crowd was arriving at her soup café, the Green
Fig, and she was short a waitress tonight. The last thing she needed to be
doing was talking on the phone to her ex.
“What is it now, Nathan?” she asked,
trying to keep her voice low to avoid being overheard by the customers coming
in.
“You know what I want, Sierra. We rushed
into our divorce and I want a reconciliation. We didn’t even seek counseling.”
She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t as if
counseling would have helped their marriage. She had put up with things for as
long as she could, and had to remove herself from that toxic environment. His
infidelity had been the last straw, and then there had been his total lack of
sensitivity when her best friend Rhonda Andrews was dying.
“Why are we even discussing this, Nathan?
You know as well as I do that no amount of counseling would have helped our
marriage. You betrayed me. I caught you in the act. Look, I’m busy,” she said
when she saw customers waiting to be seated. “And do me a favor and don’t call
back. Our divorce is final, and I intend for it to stay that way. Goodbye.” She
clicked off the phone and, for good measure, she blocked his number.
Moving from behind the counter, she
assisted her staff in seating customers and taking orders. It was an hour later
when the dinner rush had ended that she found the time to go into her office
and work on tomorrow’s menu. The monitor screen on her desk was connected to a
video camera showing the perimeters of the dining area. If she was needed to
assist her staff again, she would know it.
She sat in the chair behind her desk
thinking about Nathan’s call. The nerve of him thinking they could get back
together. Not only had he cheated on her but he had resented all the trips
she’d taken from Chicago to Houston to spend time with Rhonda in her final
days. It hadn’t mattered to him that Rhonda was terminally ill and there had
been so much to do and so little time left.
The main focus had been the well-being of
Rhonda’s four-year-old daughter, Teryn, who’d lost her father two years earlier
in Afghanistan. Without family on both sides, Sierra was Teryn’s godmother and
Rhonda had made Sierra promise to take care of Teryn when the time came. Nathan,
who’d never wanted children, had been resentful of that, too.
It had been one of those weekends she’d
visited Rhonda in Houston and she’d returned home early to find another couple,
namely her neighbors, in bed with her husband. That’s when she’d found out
about his swinging lifestyle. He’d confessed it was something he had tried
during his college days but thought he had put behind him...until he had
discovered their new neighbors had enjoyed doing that sort of thing.
When Sierra had filed for divorce, Nathan
assumed if he kept sending her flowers, calling her all the time, and showing
up unexpectedly at her new residence with chocolates, designer purses and
jewelry, he could wear down her resistance and she would call off the divorce.
He finally saw that wasn’t happening.
An hour later Sierra left her office to
return to the dining area. It was time for her only waitress on the floor
tonight to take her break. Sierra had just stepped behind the counter when the
sound of the bell above the door alerted her that she had a customer.
The Green Fig, which served lunch and
dinner Mondays through Fridays, had been open for business for only a year. The
restaurant closed every night at eight. Most of her customers were locals who’d
known her grandmother and were happy that Ella Crane had passed her delicious
soup recipes on to her granddaughter.
Sierra had a good staff. She’d hired
Emma, who’d been a friend of her mother’s for years, as head cook and Maxine,
who’d graduated from the New Orleans cooking school last year, as Emma’s
assistant. Normally there were two waitresses, Iris and Opal, who handled the
dining room, and Sherri took care of the take-out orders. On any given day
there were more take-out orders than sit-down orders, especially during lunch.
She’d hired Levi Canady as the assistant
manager. An ex-cop who’d retired early from the force due to an injury, he was
also a good friend of Sierra’s father from their elementary school days. Levi
was a godsend and would take over for Sierra whenever Teryn came home from
school. He managed the restaurant every night except on Wednesdays. He also
opened and closed for her on Saturdays, when the restaurant was open only for
lunch. Whenever Teryn had gymnastics practice Sierra would help out in the café
until she got home. Today was one of those days.
Sierra glanced at the door and saw Vaughn
Miller walk in, dressed in a business suit. On any other man the outfit would
probably look like just regular professional attire, but on him it appeared
tailor-made. He was a very handsome man and looking good in anything he wore
was just part of who he was.
Sierra didn’t know Vaughn personally,
although they had both been born in Catalina Cove and had attended the same
schools. She hadn’t had the right pedigree to be in his social circles since
his family had been one of the wealthiest in town. They had come from old
money, probably as old as it could get in the cove when you were a descendant
of the town’s founder.
When Vaughn Miller took a seat at one of
the booths, she grabbed a menu out of the rack and headed to his table. He’d
come in once or twice before, but it had always been for takeout. It appeared
that today he intended to dine in.
“Welcome to the Green Fig.”
He looked up when she handed him the
menu. “Thanks.”
This was the closest she had ever been to
Vaughn Miller and she couldn’t help noticing things she hadn’t seen from a
distance. Like the beautiful hazel coloring of his eyes. He had sharp
cheekbones and she liked the way his nose was the perfect size for his face and
the full lips beneath it. And speaking of lips...did his have to be of such
sensual perfection? And then she couldn’t miss the light beard that covered his
lower jaw and how it enhanced those lips but didn’t hide the dimple in his
chin.
Vaughn’s skin was a maple brown and he
wore his thick black hair long. It wasn’t down past his shoulders like Kaegan
Chambray’s, but it was long enough to touch his collar. To her the long and
tousled hairstyle did much to highlight his French Creole ancestry.
The Creoles derived from free people of
color from Africa, France and Spain, as well as other mixed-heritage
descendants. Those blended races and cultures were a large population of
Louisiana, and more specifically, New Orleans, Catalina Cove and other
surrounding cities.
Sierra had to concur with the feminine
whispers around town that Vaughn Miller was a very handsome man and a sharp
dresser, yet she noted he had a definite rugged masculine appeal. Even dressed
nicely in a suit, all you had to do was add a tricorne hat on his head and a
loop earring in his ear and he would instantly become a dashing pirate. A look
that no doubt would make his great-great-great-great-grandfather, the cove’s
founder, Jean Lafitte, proud.
She knew six years ago he’d been sent to
prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Three months ago, articles appeared in
numerous newspapers reporting on his exoneration and how those who were guilty
had been brought to justice. He had been cleared of all charges.
“What’s the special for today?”
She blinked upon realizing she’d been
standing there staring at him the entire time. Clearing her throat, she said,
“Today’s special is the broccoli and cheese soup and it’s served with a half
sandwich. Turkey or chicken.”
He smiled up at her and that smile made
his features even more beguiling and clearly showed that dimple in his chin.
“That sounds good. I’d like a bowl with a chicken sandwich.”
She wrote his order down on the pad and
noticed his French accent. She recalled overhearing her parents say that his
mother had been French and his father mixed French and African American, and
that French had been the primary language spoken in the Miller household. She
also remembered hearing while growing up he would spend his summers in France
as well with his grandparents. That was probably the reason the accent was
still strong after all this time.
“What would you like to drink?”
“Brown ale.”
Sierra nodded. “Okay, I’ll put in your
order and get your ale.”
“Thanks.”
She turned and walked toward the kitchen.
When she knew she was out of his sight and that of customers and staff, she
fanned herself with the menu. Vaughn Miller had definitely made every hormone
in her body sizzle.
One Christmas Wish by Brenda
Jackson. Copyright © 2021 by Brenda Streater Jackson. Published by arrangement
with Harlequin Books S.A.
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