Boulder Creek Christmas

By Mary Manners

Alani O'Dwyer offered her heart to Ryan Connolly years ago, and he tossed it aside without so much as a backward glance. Though the town of Boulder Creek dubs him a hero, she vows she'll never again fall victim to his charms. Ryan Connolly captains a raucous crew of firefighters at the Boulder Creek Fire Department, yet he's unprepared for the adventure of falling in love with beautiful and headstrong Alani O'Dwyer. But when a meddling angel at the annual Fighters for Hire charity auction brings Ryan and Alani together, even regrets from the past can't thwart Ryan's plans to make her his own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pelican Book Group
• Release date: Dec 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781611165395

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A Boulder Creek Christmas

Mary Manners

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

A Boulder Creek Christmas

COPYRIGHT 2015 by Mary Manners

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Pelican Ventures, LLC except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version(R), NIV(R), Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Cover Art by Nicola Martinez

White Rose Publishing, a division of Pelican Ventures, LLC

www.pelicanbookgroup.com PO Box 1738 *Aztec, NM * 87410

White Rose Publishing Circle and Rosebud logo is a trademark of Pelican Ventures, LLC

Publishing History

First White Rose Edition, 2015

Electronic Edition ISBN 978-1-61116-539-5

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

To Jeff and Trish Manners...angels on earth.

Praise

When Mary Manners writes a story, you know you're in for a treat. She really knows how to deliver an emotional punch.

~Marianne Evans, A Splash of Christmas

A heartwarming Christmas story all about family and love.

~Sharon Dean, Evergreens and Angels

A sweet story of love and forgiveness.

~Susan Johnson, Christmas Wishes...Special Delivery

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

~ James 2:14-17 ~

1

Alani O’Dwyer swept locks of trimmed hair into a pile on the tile floor as she hummed along to the melody of White Christmas that drifted from the salon’s surround-sound speakers. Outside the shop’s front window, snow flurries danced through the air as traffic eased along Main Street. With Thanksgiving a mere memory, December had pranced in and Christmas now perched nicely on the holiday horizon. The increase in clientele at Lani’s Styles and Smiles Salon over the past several days claimed proof of Boulder Creek’s excitement over the impending celebration.

Here comes your five o’clock, Chloe Connolly called from the wall-length front display window as she laced a strand of mini-lights around a showcase of upcoming advertised products. And he looks like he can use a bit more than a trim and shave.

He? Though it was not unusual for men to frequent the salon, Alani didn’t recall adding anyone of the male persuasion to the appointment register for this afternoon, nor did she remember penciling in any clients past the four-thirty slot. Friday evenings were usually light as far as customers went, and she could almost always count on closing up shop before dark. Who booked him?

I did. Chloe positioned the last of the lights around a pair of jumbo-sized color-shield shampoo and conditioner pump bottles and then turned from the window to face Alani. Her dangly earrings caught the overhead light, enhancing wide set eyes the color of faded denim. Dark, choppy bangs slipped across her forehead to frame an oval face. He called in a few minutes ago, and I just couldn’t say no. He’s a hardship case.

A hardship… Alani lifted her gaze to the glass and her breath caught at the sight of Ryan Connolly loping along the boulevard. Long limbs moved fluidly as he slanted his head slightly right, then left and right once more in a cursory check for oncoming traffic before he stepped from the curb and crossed over to the salon’s walkway. Midnight-black hair—a little too much on the longish side for Alani’s taste, peeked from beneath a toboggan that set off the electric-blue of his eyes. "Oh, no…you’ll have to take this one, Chloe. After all, he’s your brother."

No can do…not today. She shook her head as she glanced toward the closest mirror, briefly studying her reflection. I’m expected at the convention center in an hour to prep for the fundraiser tonight, and I still have to head home first to get glammed up.

But you can’t leave me in a lurch. I can’t…I won’t—

It’s a haircut and a shave, Lani. Chloe shook her head as she lifted a hand to inspect the shimmery-red polish on her nails. "Good grief, I don’t