The Christmas Game

By Alyssa Linn Palmer

Alone in London on business just before Christmas, Marc Perron meets an intriguing young woman working at a bookshop. A light flirtation seems to lead nowhere, but the night before he returns to Paris, she knocks on his hotel room door.

Madelaine’s taking a risk, but no one’s ever looked at her the way Marc does, and she’s not about to pass up a chance to get to know him better. When he suggests a game of wagers, she can’t resist challenging him. And herself.

Their matchup is a fiery one and each wager tops the last, the sexual heat between them crackling. Neither want to lose the game, but Madelaine fears she might be losing her heart as well.

This novella is a part of the Le Chat Rouge series, but can be read as a stand-alone story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alyssa Linn Palmer
• Release date: Nov 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9780992006570

Alyssa Linn Palmer

Alyssa has many passions. Fortunately, none of them are prohibited. When she isn’t working, she’s writing dark tales inspired by mid-20th-century noir books and films, cooking up a storm in her kitchen, and reading.

Book preview

THE CHRISTMAS GAME

(The Le Chat Rouge Series #0.5)

by

Alyssa Linn Palmer

Copyright 2013 Alyssa Linn Palmer

ISBN-13: 978-0-9920065-7-0

Smashwords Edition

Cover design by The Killion Group, Inc.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

DEDICATION

To London, one of my favourite cities.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Synopsis

The Christmas Game

Excerpt: The Paris Game

About The Le Chat Rouge Series

Acknowledgements

About the Author

THE CHRISTMAS GAME

Alone in London on business just before Christmas, Marc Perron meets an intriguing young woman working at a bookshop. A light flirtation seems to lead nowhere, but the night before he returns to Paris, she knocks on his hotel room door.

Madelaine’s taking a risk, but no one’s ever looked at her the way Marc does, and she’s not about to pass up a chance to get to know him better. When he suggests a game of wagers, she can’t resist challenging him. And herself.

Their matchup is a fiery one and each wager tops the last, the sexual heat between them crackling. Neither want to lose the game, but Madelaine fears she might be losing her heart as well.

This novella is a part of the Le Chat Rouge series, but can be read as a stand-alone story.

Praise for The LE CHAT ROUGE series:

The Paris Game is a sexy noir romance--a gritty, thrilling peek between dangerous Parisian sheets. -Tiffany Reisz, Award-Winning and International Bestselling Author of The Original Sinners series (Mira Books)

They call Paris The City of Light, but Alyssa Linn Palmer reveals its darker side in Moonlight & Love Songs. She pulls no punches in this noir romance. Damaged people meet and fall in love, but some cravings are too powerful to resist, and sometimes love alone isn't enough to quell them. Classic jazz tunes and French chansons provide the soundtrack to a story that hits you in the gut and in the heart. You'll never see Paris the same way again. -Cathy Pegau, author of Rulebreaker and Caught In Amber

Gritty and romantic, Moonlight and Love Songs will steal your heart, sell it for drugs, and leave you with a song. It’s dark and sexy, an unflinching portrayal of two soul mates discovering in each other the foundation upon which all love depends—hope. — Miranda Baker, author of the Come Again series

THE CHRISTMAS GAME

No calls.

Not a one.

Marc slipped his phone back into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and sat back in the black London taxicab. Sera rarely called him now; their relationship, such as it was, had deteriorated to this. But he would be back in Paris for Christmas, and he didn’t want to spend it alone. He’d hoped she would return his call, at least this once.

The cab idled in the heavy traffic of the early evening, the chill rain lashing its windows. Marc glanced outside. They had nearly reached Charing Cross Road, but in this traffic it would be another fifteen minutes before they could make the turn. The red double-decker bus ahead of them inched forward. He buttoned his trench coat and took his umbrella from his bag. Even if he had a broken leg, he could walk faster than this traffic.

I’ll get out here, he told the driver, handing him enough for the fare, plus a generous tip.

Stay dry. The cabbie laughed at his own joke.

Easier said than done. By the time he reached the sidewalk and could raise his umbrella, he was thoroughly damp and just about chilled through. He walked briskly to the intersection and waited for the light to change. When it did, he crossed over Oxford Street and cut down Soho Street and across the square. The rain seemed to ease as he reached the glass doors of the bookshop on Charing Cross Road, and he took down his umbrella, shaking the rain from the nylon before he closed it up completely.

A clerk greeted him as he entered and he returned her smile. Pretty, with her short, pixie-blonde hair, but far too young. Barely old enough to vote. He turned his attention to the books, what he’d come for.

The first floor held fiction, and though Marc was famished and ready to go back to Claridge’s for supper, he took his time among the shelves. An English bookshop this size didn’t exist in Paris and he didn’t intend to pass up this opportunity. But though the shop seemed to have miles of shelves, he couldn’t find anything to his taste. He was impatient, particular, and the damp had crept down his collar and soaked through the seams of his black brogues and into his socks.

He found the stairs to the upper floors, noting the white A4 taped to the elevator door: Out of Order. An older man squeezed past him, wearing