Unwrapping Scrooge

By Anne Holly

Bestselling author Kale McKinnon is a modern Scrooge – eccentric, misanthropic and reclusive, made bitter by the coldness of his wealthy family. But when optimistic Canadian graduate student Molly Gillis visits Oxford and invades his space, he realizes Christmas is about to change for him forever. But can he make her stay, and force himself to un-Scrooge enough to be the right man for her?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Decadent Publishing
• Release date: Dec 5, 2010
• ISBN: 9781936394500

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Unwrapping Scrooge

by

Anne Holly

Smashwords Edition Copyright © 2010 by Anne Holly

ISBN: 978-1-936394-50-0

Cover art by Dara England

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Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

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~DEDICATION~

"To Dec, Amanda and Trishy, and my encouragement gang. Thanks."

Chapter One

August

He stood at the window, staring down into the street with displeasure. Below him, two new university students were moving into his Oxford townhouse apartment complex.

Kale McKinnon sniffed with annoyance and flicked the curtain back into place, telling himself he was not interested in the goings on as the two young women navigated the antique stoop with their luggage. They had seemingly agreed that one would wait with the bags while the other carried their possessions up to the second floor flat they had sublet from Smithers, the young lecturer who had flown the coop for a year to teach in America. Pulling the curtain open a crack once more, he narrowed his eyes. If Smithers had told him his plan was to find sub-letters through the university, he would have willingly let him keep the place for a year without paying. Anyone but students!

Kale had lived in the top flat of the building for over ten years now, and it was his castle. At first, he had shared the floor with a young couple, but once his book had taken off, he had bought the whole building and had the two flats knocked into one large space. It was his sanctuary. Many people had commented on his decision to stay in the same place where he lived as a struggling young writer, often wondering why he didn't get the mansion he could likely now afford, but then someone would always reply that he was always a bit odd, anyway.

Kale saw nothing odd about wanting to remain in a place he knew, a neighborhood in which everything was accessible on foot, and a building he valued. And, without a family, a mansion would just be a lot of space requiring cleaning and maintenance. As it was, he had handpicked tenants who largely ensured the house paid for itself, and Mrs. McCardle, on the first floor, acted as housekeeper and manager, so he could continue to live in his familiar den largely uninterrupted.

His lip curled as he contemplated sharing the house with two university students—North American ones, at that—who would likely be in England more for adventure than serious studies. He again wondered if he could justify breaking Smithers' lease for subletting without permission. The two women would surely disrupt the rhythm of the place, and if there was one thing Kale valued, it was the familiar habits of his life.

For some time now, the population in the house had not changed. McCardle was on the first floor, along with Mr. Barry, a very quiet young library employee who had spent an improbable two years in the tiny bedsit room. Smithers was on the second floor in one flat, and Mr. and Mrs. Woods, a middle-aged childless couple, lived in the other. And himself on the top. He did not appreciate the threat the two young students posed to the building's peace.

Twitching the curtain aside so he could get a better view of the interloper waiting with the bags, he wondered if this was Ms. Bolton or Ms. Gillis. Both were graduate students from the University of Toronto—Smithers had informed him just a day before making his quick escape to Chicago—and had found the place through the housing office. They were only at Oxford for the year, which confirmed his suspicions they were here for a few months to spend daddy's money and carouse with young British men. Then they’d leave a mountain of broken furniture and noise complaints in their wake.

Yes, if Smithers weren’t usually such a reliable tenant, he’d have already padlocked the door. Even as it was, he was considering it strongly.

He watched the girl below seat herself on a suitcase as she waited. Uncharitably, Kale considered her a bit on the plain side, which might have caused him to reconsider his worries over her party girl status, had he not been aware of how quickly some girls went from inconspicuous to tart.

A meek appearance did nothing to reassure him.

***

Below him, the girl he was mentally maligning had no idea that someone was wishing her gone instantly, as she waited for her flatmate to return from carting her flotilla of luggage up to their second floor sublet.

Molly Gillis, to be honest, was what some people would call nondescript and not at all eye-catching. A little plump, even. The daughter of a hardworking single mother who taught high school history for twenty years, she had not been raised to spend her time or money foolishly, and that, according to her and her mother, included primping. She was the exact opposite of the flamboyant and redheaded Colby Bolton, the girl with whom