Three Nights before Christmas (25 page)

And Lacey’s brother and lawyer get their own story, too. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read
His Christmas Gift
by Sarah Mayberry. Sarah has long been one of my favorite authors, and being able to work with her on these two stories has been a Christmas dream come true for me.

Thank you for reading
Three Nights Before Christmas
. I hope you loved it!

With very best wishes,

Kat Latham

Kat Latham is a California girl who moved to Europe the day after graduating from UCLA, ditching her tank tops for raincoats. She taught English in Prague and worked as an editor in London before she and her British husband moved to the Netherlands. Kat’s other career involves writing and editing for charities, and she’s traveled to Kenya, Ethiopia and India to meet heroic people helping their communities survive disasters. She loves to hear from readers!

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Books for Montana Born

One Night with Her Bachelor

(Bachelor Auction series—Gabriel Morales and Molly Dekker)

Two Nights with His Bride

(Montana Born Brides series—Wyatt Wilder and Nancy Parsons)

Three Nights Before Christmas

(Montana Born Christmas series—Austin Wilder and Lacey Gallagher)

London Legends Series

Knowing the Score

(Book 1—Spencer Bailey and Caitlyn Sweeney)

Playing It Close

(Book 2—Liam Callaghan and Tess Chambers)

Tempting the Player

(Book 3—Matt Ogden and Libby Hart)

Unwrapping Her Perfect Match

(Book 3.5—John Sheldon and Gwen Chambers)

Taming the Legend

(Book 4—Ash Trenton and Camila Morales)

Standalone Novellas

Mine Under the Mistletoe

(Nominated for a 2014 RITA® Award)

Want to read more about Lacey’s brother, Sawyer? Turn the page to read an excerpt from
His Christmas Gift
by Sarah Mayberry!

by Sarah Mayberry

J
enna stopped in
her tracks when she spotted the tall, dark-haired man standing talking to Lacey.

“Holy crap,” she whispered under her breath, so stunned she could do nothing but stare.

It was Sawyer Gallagher—the width of his shoulders and the straight line of his nose gave that away—but it was not the same Sawyer Gallagher she’d met when she was here three weeks ago. Instead of a long, overgrown mop, this man had a new short haircut that was crisp and stylish enough to make a
GQ
cover model green with envy. And instead of half his face being hidden behind messy facial hair, the clean, deliciously masculine angles and planes of his jaw and cheekbones were on display.

And he was gorgeous. Steal-your-breath, ruin-your-underwear, inspire-a-thousand-fantasies
gorgeous.
There was no denying or pretending or avoiding it.

He was that hot.

She felt as though someone had pulled out her seat just before she sat in it, leaving her to land on her ass on the floor. She hadn’t been prepared for this. Not by a long shot. She’d come here ready to deal with the wordless shrugs and silent disapproval of a shaggy mountain man. Instead, she now had to somehow get past the fact that she would be spending the next twenty-four hours under the same roof as the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on.

She was still trying to get it together when Lacey glanced across and spotted her.

“Jenna. You made it,” Lacey said, starting toward her.

Jenna tried to remember what it was a person normally said in circumstances like this. It took her brain a painful few seconds to supply the answer.

“Hi,” she said.

“You remember Sawyer, right?” Lacey said, glancing over her shoulder toward her brother, who had remained at the counter.

Jenna met Sawyer’s dark brown eyes. “Hi,” she said again.

Apparently it was her word for the day.

Then she did something she’d never done before in her life: she lifted her hand in a girly little wave, the kind the head cheerleader might give the captain of the football team as he ran onto the field for the big game.

Lacey’s gaze flicked from Jenna’s hand and then back to Jenna’s face, then her mouth curled up at the corners as though she was suppressing a smile.

“How was the drive down?” Sawyer asked. He moved closer, and she had to quell the urge to back away from his attractiveness. It was like a force field, bearing down on her, making her exquisitely aware of how tight her jeans were around her thighs and the cinch of her bra-band around her ribcage and the way she could feel her pulse pounding away in the pit of her stomach.

“It was okay. No snow, so that was a bonus,” she said. “Although I’ve got my snow tires on, obviously, so even if it had snowed, it would have been fine.”

She bit her tongue to stem the flow of nervous words that was suddenly pressing at the back of her throat. The hand wave had been bad enough. She would not make this any worse by babbling like an idiot.

“I’ll grab your luggage and take it inside,” Sawyer said, holding out his hand.

She stared at his open palm blankly, noting the ridge of calluses at the base of his fingers. Then she realized he was waiting for her to hand over her keys so he could unlock her car.

“Oh. It’s no bother. It’s just an overnight bag.”

“I’ll take care of it for you,” Sawyer said.

There was something about his tone and the way he was looking at her that told her he was determined to perform this small service for her.

“Well, okay. Thanks. It’s in the back,” she said, pulling her keys from her purse and handing them over.

His hand closed around the keys, his fingers brushing hers as she withdrew, and a ripple of pure, animal awareness washed through her.

Oh, boy.

Without another word, Sawyer walked past her, exiting to the yard.

“He scrubs up pretty good, doesn’t he?” Lacey said.

Even though she could feel how pink her cheeks were, there was nothing for Jenna to do except play innocent.

“Sorry? Oh, Sawyer, you mean?” Jenna said in her best I’m-not-interested tone. She augmented her performance by flicking at some imaginary lint on the thigh of her black denim jeans. “I guess he does look a little different with his hair cut.”

“He definitely does.”

Lacey still looked as though she was trying not to smile and Jenna rolled her eyes, finally dropping her indifferent act.

“Okay, he scrubs up extremely well. Can you stop laughing at me now?” Jenna said.

“Sure. I just think it’s cute, that’s all. I’ve never seen you flustered before.”

“That’s because it doesn’t happen very often.”

It definitely didn’t happen very often with men. She’d never been the kind of woman who got giggly and silly over a good-looking guy. There’d been plenty of them in her classes at law school, but she’d never been even remotely tempted by their polished confidence and undeniable physical appeal.

Sawyer, on the other hand, wasn’t even close to being polished, and he didn’t strike her as being cocky or arrogant, either. He was that most elusive of male specimens: the strong, silent type. And apparently it was her personal brand of catnip.

Not exactly the best time to discover she had a thing for beautifully built men who worked with their hands for a living.

“Come on up to the house and I’ll show you your room,” Lacey said.

Jenna fell into step beside the other woman as they exited the barn and headed for the cabin.

“He’s single. Just in case you were wondering,” Lacey said.

“I wasn’t.”

“You sure?”

Jenna shot her client a look. “I thought you were done with laughing at me?”

“Sorry. It’s kind of irresistible.”

Jenna made a noncommittal sound as they mounted the steps to the front porch. She braced herself for the impact of being in the same space as Sawyer again, but there was no sign of him, and when Lacey showed her to the guest room, her bag was sitting on the end of the bed with her car keys resting on top.

“Bathroom is down the hall. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, and feel free to put on fresh coffee or whatever. Sorry to abandon you, but I need to get back out there—a lot of people come up after school to pick out trees with their kids.”

“Maybe I could come with you and we could talk in between customers?” Jenna suggested hopefully.

“Sure, if you don’t mind hanging around while I’m serving people.”

“I can help packs bags or whatever,” Jenna offered.

“That would be awesome, but please don’t feel obligated.”

“No obligation. It’ll be fun.”

They stopped by the kitchen on the way out to grab a mug of fresh coffee each, then Lacey led the way back to the sales barn. A woman Jenna didn’t recognize was behind the counter serving, and a line of people was waiting patiently.

“Better jump in,” Lacey said, lengthening her stride as she headed for the second register set up on the rustic counter.

Jenna watched from one side as Lacey dealt with tree sales. The third customer had a basket full of decorations, and Jenna stepped forward to help wrap them in tissue and place them in brown paper carrier bags with the Gallagher Christmas Tree Farm logo printed on the side.

Lacey caught Jenna examining one of the bags as the glut of customers eased.

“Pretty cool, huh? Sawyer had them made this year. And he added all the decorations, too. We never used to sell anything except for trees and stands. But all this stuff has been going gangbusters.”

“I’m not surprised, it’s so pretty in here, even I want to buy something, and I am not a Christmas person,” Jenna said.

Lacey’s gaze went over her shoulder and the small hairs on the back of Jenna’s neck stood on end. She didn’t need to turn around to know that Sawyer was standing behind her.

“What did Christmas ever do to you?” he said, and she realized he’d overheard her comment.

“Nothing. I’m just not a festive celebration type person,” Jenna said, trying not to stare at the cheekbones that had been revealed now he’d shaved off his scruffy beard.

“Sure there wasn’t an ugly incident with Santa Claus? Some kind of dispute with Rudolph?” Sawyer asked.

His tone was dry and so matter of fact it took her a second to understand he was teasing her.

Sawyer Gallagher, of the please-leave-my-house vibes and glowering frown.

“No Christmas trauma to speak of, no,” she said.

“Interesting.” His gaze flicked down her body and Jenna’s toes curled inside her boots. There should be a law against men as good looking as he was growing beards. Hiding his undeniable masculine beauty was a crime against nature.

“We’re almost out of those mercury glass stars,” Lacey said. “Might want to double up on them next year.”

Sawyer nodded as though he was making a mental note. “Good call.” His glance shifted to Jenna again. “Don’t tell me Lacey roped you into helping out?”

“Don’t look at me, she roped herself,” Lacey said.

“I have an ulterior motive,” Jenna said. “I’m desperate to talk to Lacey about our strategy for the new trial, and I didn’t want to wait till after she’d finished for the day.”

He frowned, his gaze going to his sister. It only took one glance at Lacey’s guilty-defiant face for Jenna to know that Lacey hadn’t kept her brother abreast of the developments in her case.

“I didn’t want to say anything until it was certain,” Lacey said.

“Until
what
was certain?” Sawyer asked.

“Dave has recanted his testimony and given a new statement,” Lacey said. “Jenna’s been working with the D.A. to get me a retrial based on new evidence.”

Sawyer’s gaze remained on his sister, and even though Jenna barely knew him, even though his face was carefully neutral, she understood that he was both hurt and offended by his sister keeping such important news to herself.

“We just squeaked in under the wire to appeal based on new evidence,” Jenna said.

Sawyer shifted his weight. “You think she’s got a chance of getting her conviction overturned?”

“That’s what we’ll be aiming for, yes,” Jenna said.

“That’s great news. Good to hear,” he said.

He flicked Lacey one last look before pivoting on his heel and walking away.

Lacey made a frustrated noise and thunked her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Damn it.”

“I wish you’d told me you hadn’t said anything about the new trial,” Jenna said. “I would have kept my big mouth shut.”

“This is not your fault. It’s mine. As usual.”

Lacey looked like she wanted to kick something, and Jenna slipped an arm around her shoulder. “As your lawyer, I feel honor bound to tell you you’re being a little hard on yourself.”

Lacey’s forehead was creased with worry. “He’s going to go all hurt and quiet now.”

It was on the tip of Jenna’s tongue to ask how Lacey would possibly discern one brand of quiet from another, given they were dealing with the world’s most taciturn man, but she stopped herself. Lacey and Sawyer were brother and sister. They understood each other’s little signals and silences without even having to think about it.

It had been like that with her and Cassie. All her little sister had had to do was look at Jenna and Jenna had known what she was thinking.

For the second time that day, grief tightened Jenna’s chest. Freaking Christmas—this was why she hated the festive season. Too many memories hiding around corners, waiting to ambush her when her guard was down.

Read more in
His Christmas Gift
by Sarah Mayberry!