A contemporary Christmas novella
Tiffany Elwood’s small-town gift shop has become her refuge. The quiet ambiance she created there helps her find peace after losing her father to cancer and her boyfriend to the sophisticated lures of California. Now, with Christmas fast approaching, she has high hopes that the profits from her annual open house will help her support her mom and little sister through the coming year.
But her peace is disrupted when her tiny shop is inundated with ten times the number of ornaments she’d ordered, not to mention the return of that old boyfriend, Bain Lyndhurst. Every time she turns around, the former man of her dreams is in her shop, and there’s no accounting for his sudden affinity for purchasing Christmas decorations.
With the magic of the Christmas season to aid them, can the two star-crossed lovers rediscover the passion of their youth and establish the trust they need to face the future together?

When her parents, the Earl and Countess of Ravingate, inform Elizabeth that her father has made arrangements for her to marry the embittered Marquess of Kenrick, she knows she must try to explain to the marquess that she is not the person her father has portrayed her to be. In other words, she is not simpleminded. But unforeseen events not only prevent her from enlightening the marquess but also conspire to convince him that she is, indeed, a simpleton. Following a horrendous betrayal by his late wife, the Marquess of Kenrick has vowed never to wed again. And he would not have done so had his father not reached back from the grave to force his hand. Facing a deadline not of his choosing, he agrees to marry and provide for the Earl of Ravingate’s simpleminded daughter after being assured that she will never make any demands on his time. To Kenrick’s disgust, his new wife turns out to be anything but a simpleton, leaving him with no alternative but to assume she’s a liar and a manipulator. Furious, he installs her in a small cottage in the country and tells her he never wants to see her again. To his chagrin, his mother has other ideas. Forced to spend time in each other’s company, Kenrick and Elizabeth discover a growing regard for each other. However, misadventures, misunderstandings, and the machinations of Kenrick’s cousin and heir presumptive threaten the tenuous trust that has been building between them. Can their fledging love survive when each is asked to believe the very worst about the other? **

Abigail loved Derek long before she married him, but his betrayal and her doubts threaten their future. Can a secret Christmas cipher help heal their wounds and allow them to believe in each other again?

About the Author

Carolynn Carey is an award-winning author of both contemporary and historical romance novels. Her historical romances are set in the Regency period in England and include My Elusive Countess and Compromising Situations, winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award in the Regency category. Carolynn was born and raised in a small town in Tennessee, and, not coincidentally, her contemporary romances are set in small towns. These include Dealing with Denver, which received an Award of Merit in the HOLT Medallion contest in the Southern fiction category. Her most recent contemporary romance is Prognosis for Happiness.