November

MARRIED UNDER THE MISTLETOE
by
LINDA GOODNIGHT

MARRIED UNDER THE MISTLETOE tells the story of wild and rugged Daniel Stephens, illegitimate son of John Valentine, and tormented American beauty Stephanie Ellison, manager of the financially troubled Knightsbridge restaurant. When fate (and family) tosses them together in the same apartment, both Daniel and Stephanie must decide which is more important: continuing to seek refuge behind their painful pasts or taking a chance on the love and healing they both need so badly.


From Linda

Christmas. That magical, mystical season when the world seems a little more beautiful. What better time to fall in love? Well, to my two characters, no time was the right time for love. But did I have a surprise for them . . .

I enjoy digging into the issues that make characters tick and then pushing all the buttons that send them into fight or flight mode. For Daniel and Stephanie, each was the other’s button. Daniel bitterly resents his upper crust birth father, John Valentine, and as such despises what he sees as the false outer trappings of society. Stephanie has dark and terrible secrets she hides behind a cool, perfectionist’s façade. Appearances are everything. Who better to rattle her obsessively ordered world than Daniel?

I think readers are going to fall in love with the Valentine family, not once, but over and over again in each of the books, and I am truly blessed to have taken part in this wonderful new series.

REVIEW

ROMANTIC TIMES TOP PICK! 4.5*s

Having a temporary roommate doesn't thrill restaurant manager Stephanie
Ellison. But engineer Daniel Stephens is a member of the Valentine family --
and since her apartment's above their restaurant, she doesn't have a choice.
It's much better than she expects, though. Daniel's rough exterior hides a
thoughtful, sensitive man who's able to coax Stephanie out of her carefully
constructed shell. Scarred emotionally and physically by childhood abuse,
Stephanie fears intimacy. Can she accept Daniel's love? More intense than
most books in Brides of Bella Lucia, Linda Goodnight continues the series
with Married Under the Mistletoe (4.5), a powerful character study with a
lovely romance that unfolds at a believable pace.

EXCERPT

Obsessing. Stephanie Ellison was obsessing. And she had to get a handle on it fast. She glanced at the stylish pewter clock above the sofa. Five minutes.

“Oh, Lord.”

The pressure against her temples intensified.

She paced from one side of her apartment to the other, stopping to straighten every piece of framed art, two fresh flower arrangements and a pewter bowl of vanilla potpourri. All useless, obsessive gestures.


The living room, like every other room in the luxury Knightsbridge flat was immaculate. And why not? She had cleaned, re-cleaned, and triple cleaned today. Even the cans in the kitchen cupboards were organized into groups according to the alphabet.

And yet the throb in her temple grew louder and her gut knotted as if something was out of order.

Something was out of order. Seriously out of order.

“But I can do this.” she paced across the white-tiled floor and down the hall to her bedroom to assess her appearance--again. “Oh, why did John put me in this situation?”

Especially now, with the problems in the restaurant. Until the missing money was recovered, Stephanie needed to concentrate her attention there. After all, as manager she was ultimately responsible. But thanks to her employer, she had to deal with an even more dreaded scenario. An unwanted male roommate.

A shudder rippled through her.

John Valentine had no way of knowing that thrusting his son upon her as a temporary roommate had the power to push her over the edge. John, like everyone else, knew nothing of the hidden shame which caused her to keep people at arm’s length.

Oh, she was friendly enough. She’d learned from a master to put on a smile, keep her mouth shut, and play the game so that the world at large believed the masquerade instead of the truth.

That’s why she’d never taken on a roommate. Brief visits by girlfriends such as Rebecca Valentine, yes. But a roommate? Never. Having someone invade her space for a few days was bad enough. A roommate was sheer terror.

Anyone who got too close might discover the truth. And she couldn’t even face that herself.

Since hiring her a year ago as manager of the exclusive Knightsbridge restaurant, the Valentine family had given her carte blanche in remodeling and running the Bella Lucia. They’d even indulged her penchant for contemporary art décor. Her boss seldom interfered. Which was exactly why she couldn’t say no when he’d ask her to house the son who’d spent years doing charity work in Africa.

She chewed on that, allowing a seed of hope that Daniel Stephens was as noble as his work implied. From her boss’s enthusiastic description, Daniel was one minor step below sainthood.

She laughed, though the sound was as humorless as the hammering in her head.

“A saint. Sure, he is. Like all men.”

One other thing worried her. Actually, a lot of other things worried her. But in her flummoxed state, she’d failed to ask how long Daniel would be staying. With all her heart, she hoped not long. There was too much at stake to have him here indefinitely.

She swiveled around backwards, twisting her head to look at the slim, smooth line of her pale green dress. Everything was covered. Nothing showed. But she’d have to be extra careful with a roommate lurking about. She hated that. Hated worrying that someone would discover the secret she kept hidden away beneath designer labels.

Someone tapped softly at the door.

Stephanie jumped then gritted her teeth in frustration. She would not, could not, let anxiety take over. The willowy red-head staring back from the mirrored tub enclosure looked in complete control, unruffled, and well-groomed. Good. As long as the outside appeared in control, let the inside rage.

She smoothed newly manicured hands down the soft, flowing skirt, re-aligned the toiletries on the counter for the third time, and went to greet her boss’s son.

One look at the big, dark, wild-looking man filling up her foyer and Stephanie’s heart slammed against her ribcage. The throbbing in her head intensified. Fight or flight kicked into high gear. Escape lay past him and down the elevator to the restaurant below. She had little choice but to stand and fight.

There had to be a mistake. This could not be Daniel. Mr. Valentine had called him a boy, and even though she fully expected a grown man, she hadn’t expected this—this--barbarian!

“My boy,” John had said with an indulgent chuckle. “He’s a tad rough around the edges. Too much time abroad living without the amenities of the civilized world.”

A tad rough around the edges? A tad? That understatement was a record even for the British.

This was no boy. This was a motorcycle gang in battered jeans, bomber jacket and rough-out boots. A pirate with piercing blue eyes, a fu-man-chu and unruly black hair in need of a cut. She had expected him at the worst to resemble his twin brother, Dominic, who worked for her as a part-time accountant. But this man was nothing like harmless, middle-aged Dominic. There wasn’t a bald spot or an ounce of fat anywhere on this guy. And he was anything but harmless.

Surely there was a mistake.