Publication date: September 29th, 2020
Publisher: Kensington
Synopsis:
The Purrfect holiday awaits...
Snowball--an aptly named bundle of feline fluff--is thankful to be spending her first Christmas in the comfort of Weber Haus, the Victorian B&B run by Miss Tilly. Emily Diemer, who cooks for the guests, dotes on Snowball, but she's not thrilled about another new arrival at the B&B: Miss Tilly's nephew, Lukas. Which is odd, because Snowball's animal instincts tell her that Lukas and Emily should definitely be friends.
Everything Emily needs is in this quaint community--including, she hopes, the chance to open her own bakery one day. She doesn't think much of Lukas for leaving his aging aunt to struggle while he jets around the world taking photographs. But now that he's here, helping to spruce up the property and getting mixed up in Snowball's antics, she begins to soften a little. Until she learns what he has planned...
Lukas is going to sell Weber Haus so that Miss Tilly can retire. But Snowball is certain that this B&B, and these people, are supposed to be her forever home. Somehow she has to get these stubborn humans to see things through the wisdom of a cat's eye and a kitten's loyal, loving heart...
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Excerpt
The sight that greeted his curious gaze upped the kitchen a few more notches in his estimation.
Christmas music piped softly from a cell phone on the counter, an oldie, painting images of cold winter nights and cozy fires... and family.
He ignored the familiar, old pinch in the region of his heart that seemed to get worse this time of year and focused on the woman humming to herself.
Emily stood at the large butcher-block table in the center of the room. She had her back to him, but her long dark hair, pulled back in a ponytail, was unmistakable. Not to mention those legs. Encased in jeans and topped with a formfitting, pale blue sweater, the woman was a knockout in that freckled, sweet, girl-next-door way that managed to hit the right chord with him.
Except she didn't like him. At all. For a reason he had yet to unearth.
Meow.
He'd forgotten the darn cat, who now sat at his feet.
"Morning, Snowball--" Emily turned with a smile on her lips that froze the second she spotted him.
Jack Frost had nothing on Emily Diemer for chill factor.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. Granted, she attempted to rearrange her features to a more neutral expression, but the pinching around her lips didn't ease any.
Amusement and the strangest urge to win her over had Lukas affecting his most charming smile. "Good morning, Emily."
She lifted her eyebrows, visibly unmoved. "Not for any decent person," she commented wryly with a pointed glance at the microwave clock. "I came down to bake and get ready for the day. Plus, Christmas Eve isn't that far off, and we're hosting a large group, which takes early preparation. I'm freezing a few things ahead of time. What about you?"
Lukas didn't want to explain that Snowball had woken him up and insisted he come down here. He'd sound crazy. "This is my house."
The second the words left his lips he wanted to snatch them back out of the air. Definitely not the right way to go.
Emily turned her back on him, returning to the dough she was kneading, but not before he caught her scowl. "Technically, it's Miss Tilly's house. You moved away years ago," she pointed out.
She mumbled something else that sounded a bit like "And haven't bothered to come back all that often."
Was that what she was holding against him? Because he would've sworn she'd been interested in the parking lot when they first met. But the second she walked in the door and figured out who he was, she'd been frostier than the North Pole. Might as well get it out in the open. "I get the impression you don't like me much."
She paused, hands sunk deep into the dough. "I don't know you."
Right. An evasive answer if he'd ever heard one. "After you flirted in the nicest way at the sledding hill--"
She jerked her head up. "That was not flirting."
"That's too bad," he murmured, earning a scowl before she went back to her dough. "But then you found out my name, and, poof, no more flirting."
"I wasn't flirting," she grumbled.
He hid a smile and crossed his arms. "But you don't like me."
Emily blew out a frustrated breath.
Sweet contemporary and Amish romance Kristen McKanagh grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. She attempted to find a practical career by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing) and an MBA. However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it. Kristen also writes award-winning steamy contemporary romance as Kadie Scott, and award-winning paranormal and YA fantasy romance as Abigail Owen. No matter the genre, she loves to write happily-ever-afters that shine with home, heart, and humor. Kristen currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own swoon-worthy hero husband and their two children, who are growing up way too fast.
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