An Unexpected Kiss: A Christmas in Snow Valley Romance Read online

  For my granddaughter Brooklyn who thinks superheroes are cooler than princesses, but still likes to wear sparkly high-heels with a dress.

  Acknowledgments

  First let me say that I could not have completed this book without the love and support of my family. My husband, John, did the dishes almost every night, and frequently took the boys out to eat so I could write. When the laundry piled up, John took care of that as well. He also took the time to read over the manuscript to look for any inconsistencies.

  This has been a fun book to write, and I enjoyed working with such gifted authors to complete this Christmas romance anthology. Thank you Cami, Christina, Taryn, Janet, and Kimberly for including me.

  I want to also thank Sadie Anderson, my talented editor, typesetter and formatter. There is nothing she can’t do. She’s my superhero!

  A special thanks to Casey Harbertson for the cute cover. He is so talented and I’m lucky to have him as my exclusive book cover guy.

  Lastly, I need to thank Valerie Bybee who dropped everything she had going on to read through the manuscript in one day. I couldn’t do it without her help.

  An Unexpected Kiss

  Cindy Roland Anderson

  ©2014 Cindy Roland Anderson

  Published by Winsome Press Publishing

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places, incidents and dialogue are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without prior written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles.

  Published by Winsome Press Publishing, Farmington, UT

  1. Fiction. 2. Women’s. 3. Romance

  Editor: Sadie L. Anderson

  Typeset and Formatting: Sadie L. Anderson

  Cover design: Casey Harbertson of Zulu Six

  Cover photo: Gpointstudio from iStock and www.gpointstudio.pl

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without permission in writing from the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Thank you for supporting the author’s rights.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgement

  Additional Works

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter One

  Lucy Phillips read the text from her mother and stifled a frustrated groan.

  Lance will be picking you up at the airport. Make sure to wear something nice. And don’t forget to bring a coat.

  Really? Her mother was already telling her what to do and she hadn’t even boarded the plane yet. If it weren’t for the Christmas season, she’d send a sarcastic reply.

  Not that it would do any good if she did. Her mom was determined to marry Lucy off to her old high school boyfriend. It didn’t matter that Lance still wished he were in high school. Her mother wanted grandchildren, and apparently Lance was willing to help her get them. If only Lucy would cooperate.

  “Hey, could you move ahead?” an irritated voice said from behind her.

  Lucy shoved her phone in her pocket and took one step forward to close the gap in front of her. She resisted the urge to turn around and say something sarcastic to the grumpy lady. The way this week had gone, Lucy would end up sitting by the woman.

  Her phone vibrated another incoming text. Lucy loved her mother. She really did, but she didn’t like her meddling with her life. Her two teenage brothers were still at home. Couldn’t her mother focus on them?

  The line inched forward, and Lucy quickly moved ahead. No need to tick off the grumpy lady again. She really hoped her seatmate was someone nice. The flight from Southern California to Montana wasn’t a long one, but when you are seated by the wrong person it can seem interminable.

  Her phone buzzed again, and Lucy ignored it. It had to be her mother again, wondering if she’d gotten her first text. Just knowing Lance was going to be waiting for her at the airport put a damper on her Christmas spirit.

  Without looking at the new messages, Lucy turned off her phone. She’d deal with her mother and Lance when she absolutely had to. She wasn’t going to let them ruin her favorite holiday.

  Lucy loved Christmas, and nobody did Christmas better than Snow Valley, her hometown in Montana. Since her managing director decided to take his family on an extended Caribbean cruise over the holidays, Lucy had a full two weeks of paid time off to enjoy the town’s festivities.

  Finally, it was her turn to board the plane. She envied the lucky people traveling in first class. They were settled in wide, comfortable looking seats, and already had been served the beverage of their choice. Lucy wondered if they offered hot chocolate. There was nothing more soothing than a cup of hot cocoa topped with a dollop of thick whipped cream. If she got the promotion she’d been slaving away for over the past year, maybe she’d be able to afford traveling first class. But for now she was stuck in the back of the plane.

  The flight was full, and by the time Lucy made her way toward her assigned seat, the flight attendant warned her there might not be any room left in the overhead bins. She offered to check her bag for free, which Lucy gladly accepted.

  With only her messenger bag to carry, Lucy squeezed through the aisle, counting the seats until she reached row twenty-six. A man stood with his back to her, trying to shove his carry-on bag into the overhead bin. He was a big guy, not fat but certainly not toned.

  While she waited, she glanced back down at her ticket and saw she had the middle seat, which meant she was going to be squished in between this guy and…the grumpy lady. Seriously? First, Lance would be waiting for her at the airport, and now this?

  Dismayed, she tucked a strand of her long, blonde hair behind her ear. Glancing to her right, she found herself staring into the most unbelievable blue eyes she’d ever seen. She blinked and the owner of the eyes came into full focus. He had thick, light-brown hair that was slightly tousled, a look she was sure hadn’t come from using any special hair product. His tanned skin only emphasized the electric blue color of his eyes. Two tiny lines creased between his eyebrows, and Lucy realized the man was scowling. At her?

  “Is this your seat?” he asked, pointing to the empty spot next to him.

  Hope flared in her chest. Maybe she’d read her ticket wrong. “I’m in twenty-six E.”

  The man’s face relaxed and the slightest smile appeared on his handsome face. “This is seat B. You’re on the other side.”

  Of course she couldn’t be that lucky.

  “That’s right, sweetheart,” a booming voice said from her other side. “Slide on in here.”

  Lucy noticed a spark of compassion in the blue eyes before the man dropped his gaze to study his smart phone. Slowly, she turned and offered her seatmate a warm smile.

  “Hello, I’m Lucy.”

  “Howdy, Lucy.” The jovial man stuck out his hand. “I�
�m Jed Harrison.”

  Lucy shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.” She slipped past him and took her seat. Right away she noticed both of the arm rests were lifted, which allowed the passengers on either side of her to encroach on her space, leaving her very little room to sit.

  “Hi, I’m Lucy,” she said to the grumpy woman.

  “Maxine,” the woman said, eyeing Lucy with a frown as she buckled her seatbelt. “I suppose you want the arm rest down.”

  No, what Lucy wanted was to be seated across the aisle next to the cute guy with the blue eyes.

  “If you’d prefer it up, I don’t mind.”

  That at least won her a smile.

  Jed took his seat and fumbled with the seatbelt. His elbow caught Lucy in the chest. “Oops, sorry about that. Didn’t mean to touch you there.” He grinned. “I’m not trying to get fresh with you. It’s just these seats are awfully close together. Besides, I’m a happily married man.”

  Lucy thought she heard a muffled laugh from across the aisle, but she wasn’t about to try and see who might find this so funny, although she guessed it was the blue-eyed stranger. If she moved at all, Jed was sure to get another feel of her womanly curves, and she did not want that to happen again.

  The last of the remaining passengers found their seats, including a bedraggled looking mother who was holding a crying toddler. Lucy found herself smiling when the woman declared she and her son were in seats twenty-six B and C.

  She bet Mr. Blue Eyes wasn’t laughing now.

  The flight went by slowly. Maxine had fallen asleep, and while she didn’t exactly snore, her breathing was noisy. But not noisy enough to drown out Jed who insisted on chatting the entire time. By the time the plane landed in Billings, Lucy felt like she knew the man’s wife and children intimately, not to mention his stellar sales record.

  Her head hurt, and she’d been unable to come up with a plan to avoid Lance, or at the very least come up with a speech that would finally get it through his head she was not interested in having a relationship with him, let alone have children with him.

  While waiting for people to deplane, Lucy overheard the mother of the toddler thank the man sitting next to her for being such a big help. Although mildly curious about how the guy had helped the young mother out, Lucy didn’t move. Jed was attempting to unbuckle his seatbelt, and had already made bodily contact with her far too many times.

  Finally, Jed had his bag and moved out of the way, talking loudly on his cell phone.

  Lucy stood up, feeling a little disappointed the cute guy had already vacated his seat. She glanced down the aisle just in time to see him disappear through the passageway to the terminal. She wondered where he was going from here. Maybe he had a girlfriend or wife waiting to meet him. Or he could be catching another flight to someplace else.

  “Are you going to stand there and gawk all day?” Maxine said.

  Lucy snapped to attention and grabbed her messenger bag. “Sorry.” She got in the dwindling line and made her way to the terminal. And to Lance.

  What to do about Lance?

  No matter how many times Lucy told him she just wanted him for a friend, Lance held onto hope—no doubt fueled by Lucy’s mother—that they would rekindle their high-school romance.

  Lance Christensen had been her boyfriend her senior year in high school. It was the typical high-school romance that ended when Lucy went to the University of Montana in Missoula on a full-ride scholarship. Lance was supposed to attend Montana State on a football scholarship, but he blew his knee out before they graduated, ending his football career. After washing out his first semester at Montana State, Lance returned home to Snow Valley to continue working on his dad’s ranch.

  Lucy didn’t look down on Lance for his vocation in life. Ranchers made a good living, were hard workers, and she respected them. What bothered her about Lance was his desire to live in the past. Even though they’d graduated seven years ago, it seemed like he wanted to stay a senior in high school the rest of his life. And he wanted Lucy to be a part of that fantasy.

  As Lucy passed through the portal of the plane to the walkway, she shivered from the noticeably lower temperature. While she enjoyed the weather in Southern California, Lucy loved snow. It was one of things she missed most about home. Winter in Snow Valley, especially during the Christmas season was like stepping inside a snow globe. The entire town was decorated for the holiday, making her homecoming even sweeter.

  Christmas music played over the speakers as she stepped into the busy terminal and made her way to the baggage claim. She was so torn about what to do. If she did ride home with Lance, maybe he would finally listen to her and accept that they could never be anything more than friends.

  She needed to make it clear to him that as much as she loved Snow Valley, she wasn’t moving home. After graduating cum laude from the University of Montana with a degree in computer science, she’d landed her dream job with one of the top internet companies in the heart of silicon valley. During her first year with the company, she’d worked hard and earned her MBA while also climbing the ranks in her department for her part in successful projects.

  Just before leaving on his cruise, the managing director announced when the new year rolled in he would be appointing a new manager over an upcoming project that would explode the company’s presence into worldwide markets previously untapped. Lucy’s name had been on the list, along with seven other candidates who were being considered.

  Still, she and Lance had had this conversation before, and it hadn’t gotten her anywhere. Her other option would be to rent a car and drive to Snow Valley herself. While Lucy loved the snow, she didn’t like driving in it. Her dad knew that, and usually picked her up. If her mother would’ve given her more of a heads-up about Lance, Lucy could’ve made sure her father was the one waiting for her.

  Digging her phone out of her pocket, she powered it up and stepped onto the escalator. She wanted to check out the local weather. If the roads were clear then she would rent a car. Her phone vibrated to life. There were seven text messages. All from her mother.

  Ignoring the messages, she tapped the weather app and waited for it to update her current location. Relief washed over her when she read the forecast. There was a forty percent chance of snow, but it wasn’t until after midnight. She could easily make the two hour ride home long before that.

  The baggage claim area was abuzz with people. She scanned the faces, looking for Lance as she made her way to the carousel for her flight. Her stomach twisted with anxiety over the inevitable confrontation with Lance. If only she could avoid seeing him in the first place. Since she’d been squished between Jed and Maxine on the flight, maybe she’d luck out and Lance would show up late, or even better, not show up at all.

  Speaking of her seatmates, Lucy spotted Jed standing in the front of the crowd, still talking on his cell phone. She couldn’t see Maxine, which meant she either got on another flight or hadn’t checked any luggage.

  With no sign of Lance, Lucy eased into the milling people to wait for the luggage conveyer belt to start moving. That’s when she spotted Mr. Blue Eyes.

  He was taller than she’d realized. Probably at least six two. She wouldn’t have to worry about wearing too high of a heel if she went out with him. At five six, she could wear her favorite four inch stilettos and still have to look up into his eyes.

  What was she doing? The odds of her ever getting a date with the handsome stranger were about as good as her mother not telling her what to do. Besides, the guy was probably married or had a girlfriend. Although… her eyes dropped to his left hand, and she could see he didn’t have a wedding ring on. She squinted, and couldn’t see any telltale signs of a ring having ever been there.

  As if he could feel her checking him out, he turned his head slightly and their eyes met. Oh wow. A girl could get lost staring into those pools of blue. Sort of like she was doing right now. She felt herself smile at him. It was kind of like sending a wink on the online dating
service she’d signed up for and then quit a few weeks later after some weird guy started stalking her.

  His mouth quirked up for only a second before he looked away as the conveyor belt came to life. That counted as a smile, right? It was better than the scowl he’d given her on the plane. If only she could’ve sat beside him instead of Jed. She would’ve found out if he lived in California or Montana, and whether or not he was single.

  Not that any of that mattered. She didn’t have any luck when it came to men. They were either workaholics or liked to party. Lucy was looking for someone like her daddy. A hard worker who loved God, his family and his country. They didn’t make men like her daddy anymore.

  Sighing, Lucy focused on the carousel, hoping to spot her luggage so she could retrieve it and then rent a car. All before Lance arrived.

  She inched closer, still scanning the surrounding area for any signs of her old boyfriend. Finally, she spotted her bag. She moved forward and grabbed her carry-on and then her larger boarding case. Just as she extended the handle, she saw Lance coming toward the carousel.

  Stifling a moan, she watched him in disbelief. In one hand he held a bouquet of red roses, in his other hand he carried a small wrapped package. Panic engulfed her. What if her mother had somehow talked him into proposing to her at the airport? Worse, he wore his high school letterman jacket.

  She did not want a proposal from a guy wearing his high school letterman jacket.

  It didn’t look like he’d noticed her yet. Maybe she could duck through the crowd and hide out in the women’s bathroom until he left. Slowly, she backed up a few steps, all the while keeping her eyes pinned on Lance. Just before she made it out of his line of sight, Lance saw her. He smiled and made a beeline straight for her.

  Lucy froze, desperately trying to come up with a plan. Why couldn’t she have a boyfriend with her?

  From the corner of her eye, she saw the cute guy with the amazing blue eyes grab his luggage from the moving conveyor.