By
K.M. Fawcett

Christmas is about to get Wilde!

All Lacey Wilde wants for Christmas is to open her long-awaited Bed & Breakfast. When her only guest is a sexy stranger who claims her adopted Military Working Dog is his, Lacey isn’t about to lose her fur baby—or her heart—to charming Marine veteran Dean Hunter.

But the K-9 controversy is the least of their troubles. Danger lurks in the shadows of Candlelight Inn, and someone will stop at nothing to steal Lacey’s heirloom ornaments. Can Dean protect the woman he’s fallen for against a deadly threat, or will this Christmas be their last?

Lacey was all ready for her bed and breakfast to open on New Year’s, but a storm came through causing a tree to fall on the gazebo part of the wraparound porch. She has to get fixed quickly in order to pass the final inspection prior to opening for guests.

She’s part of the Victorian Homes Christmas Tour this year even though she can’t have overnight guests. It’s a wild turn out with some interesting characters. One little old lady in particular, a Ms. Brandt, has some interesting recollections while on the tour.

Dean Hunter arrives at the B&B just as the tour does. He’s jumping the gun, not waiting for the military to inform Lacey her adoption of Remi is invalid. He joins the tour and admires the architecture since there’s no way to have a private conversation during it.

Needless to say, there is quite the confrontation when Sam returns with Remi after the tour. Dean does leave without his dog and promises not to be far away when she gets the paperwork. Unfortunately, he also discovers he has no wallet. He has to wait until morning to replace the cards he cancelled so finds a parking lot to sleep in, only to be confronted by the police.

That’s when Lacey calls about an intruder on her property and finding Dean’s wallet.

This is a favorite scene.

“I heard you and the cop talking. Any idea who might want to snoop around your house?”

“No.” She’d been pondering that question since Officer Foley told her Dean wasn’t her man. “I mean, I guess it’s possible that someone might’ve been sneaking into the orchard for Sam’s Happles.”

“Do people do that? Steal apples from orchards at night?”

“Happles.” She emphasized the ‘h’. “It’s short for Happy Apples.” His confusion prompted an explanation. “He’s a plant geneticist. He bred a mood-altering apple.”

“You mean like some kind of apple marijuana?”

She chuckled. “Not that kind of mood-altering. His Happles increase the brain chemicals that make you happy. You know, like chocolate makes you feel good? There was a big write up about it in the paper. Some people falsely believe his apples can cure depression. depression. They can’t. He’s been getting tons of calls about them. They’ve all been harvested weeks ago, but I guess if someone didn’t know that, they might sneak into the orchard to try to steal them.”

“Sounds like these Happles can invite trouble. You need a security system on your house and orchard.”

“Too much money.”

“You live alone?”

Why did he have to display genuine concern? She didn’t want another reason to like him. She was supposed to be angry with him, and yet a strong urge begged her to invite him inside for a nice cup of hot chocolate. He must be freezing without his jacket.

From the heat trapped inside of it, Dean generated a great deal of warmth. He made her hot, anyway.

“I live with Sam, but he’s staying at his girlfriend’s tonight. I have Remi to protect me, though.” Until you take her away.

“Sam’s your brother, then?”

“Yes.” Was it her imagination or did he seem relieved to know that? Her stomach fluttered like it used to right before a guy would ask her out, which was ridiculous under the circumstances. “Why were you sleeping in your car? There’s a hotel two towns over.”

“Had to cancel my credit cards.”

“Oh, right.”

He shrugged. “I’ve slept in worse places and under worse conditions.” The glow of the porch light caught a far off look in his eye as if he were remembering terrible things.

A little guilt crept into her heart. Sometimes she forgot other people had to deal with their own personal hells.

The officer returned to the porch, and she took a step back from Dean.

“I didn’t see any broken windows or tampering of the house,” he said. “There was nothing unusual in the yard or woods. Since there’ve been a few burglaries nearby in recent months, I’ll let the other officers know to increase patrols in the area.”

Increase patrols for what? Who were they looking for? A shadowy figure wasn’t much for the police to go on.

Officer Foley returned his flashlight to his duty belt. “There really isn’t anything more I can do right now. If you hear or see anything else, call us.”

“Thank you, officer.”

He turned to Dean. “There’s a hotel two towns over.”

“Thank you, officer, but Ms. Wilde owns a bed and breakfast.”

“So?” Lacey said. He wasn’t about to stay here.

“So, I need a bed. And breakfast.”

Why did her thoughts turn to her four-poster mahogany queen with shirtless Dean—all sexy and tempting—lying beneath her covers? Her breath hitched and mouth dried. She hadn’t thought of a real-life man in that way in a long time. Her fantasies had been reserved for completely unattainable men like actors and musicians. Good to know that her libido had returned to normal.

Remission had many perks.

Remembering that she didn’t have a certificate of occupancy yet and that she stood in front of an officer of the law, she cleared her throat. “I’m not open for business. Especially not to men looking to take my dog.”

“Then you’re in luck. I’m not taking your dog. I’m taking mine. But not until Christmas Eve.”

She gritted her teeth. “Well, I don’t have my CO yet.”

“Then how were you able to have a houseful of guests this afternoon?”

“The quirks of a small town. I can’t open my business to paying customers, but I can have guests visit my residence like anyone else in town can.”

“Then consider me a guest.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a pointed glare. “Guest would imply you’re welcome here.”

“Come on, Lacey. I need a place to stay.” He snapped his finger as if remembering something. “And you need a carpenter to fix your porch. That’s a win-win situation, right there. Plus, it gives me a chance to visit with Remi.”

That was the whole point wasn’t it? She didn’t want Dean hanging around Remi. What if the dog wanted to be with him over her? She didn’t think she could handle that on top of everything else.

The look on officer Foley’s face said he wasn’t getting involved but was monitoring the situation in case of trouble.

Except for demanding his dog back, Dean didn’t seem like the trouble-causing type. Men who caused trouble don’t offer up their jackets or help elderly women or politely admire her ornaments.

Why did that sound dirtier than it should have?

Plus, if he fixed the porch, Sam could go to Vermont with Faith and Lily tomorrow. She really wanted to give that to Sam. Besides, letting Dean Hunter stay the week wouldn’t sway her from meeting with Carter River to explore her legal options regarding Remi. “Fine. You can stay. But you can’t be with Remi all day. I want to spend as much time with her before you take her. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Alright then. Should we shake on it?” She offered her hand.

“We can if you’d like, but I always keep my promises.”

“You’d better.” His hand slid into hers like the first time they’d shook hello. He had piqued her interest then, an attractive stranger with a sexy accent. And wouldn’t you know it, he still piqued her interest. Why couldn’t they have met under different circumstances? If he hadn’t come for Remi, she totally would have fallen for this guy.

“You good, Ms. Wilde?” Officer Foley said.

“I’m good. Mr. Hunter will stay in the carriage house.” Away from her and away from Remi. “Thank you for coming out and checking on the place.”

He nodded and then left them alone on the porch.
Fawcett, K.M.; Falls, Candlewood. Wilde Christmas: A Candlewood Falls Novel (Small Town Wilde Romance Book 2) (Kindle Locations 710-762). Kindle Edition.

With Dean fixing her porch, Sam leaves for Vermont with Faith and Lily.

It seems that’s when things start getting a bit crazy. First Lacey’s ex shows up wanting his cut of her Christmas ornaments. He seems to think they are actual Ulbrichts and worth a lot of money. Not that he has any rights to anything in her home since the divorce is final.

Plenty of suspense and intrigue as Lacey and Dean try to figure out how Lacey’s family came to have the ornaments and some action as someone tries to get their hands on them.

All while Dean and Lacey start down the path of romance.

I look forward to the next books in this series.

5 Contented Purrs for K.M.!

K.M. Fawcett

K.M. Fawcett is the author of the thrilling science fiction romance series, The Survival Race and is one of 3 authors in the small-town contemporary romance shared world series of Candlewood Falls. She writes stories featuring underdogs and fish-out-of-water characters who find their place in the universe. She believes in happy endings and true love conquering all.

She and her husband—the inspiration for all her heroes (and some of her villains)—own Tenchi Dojo in NJ, where they teach traditional Okinawan karate and kobudo (weapons). K.M. incorporates two decades of martial arts experience into her stories to create strong, kick-ass characters who aren’t afraid to fight for the life and love they deserve.

Wielding the world as her office, K.M. exhausted many hours writing in parked cars (waiting for kids at drum lessons and ballet classes), on airplanes, at a local coffee shop, outdoors, and in her home library with two mischievous cats vying for attention.

Small Town Wilde Romance Book 1
A Candlewood Falls Novel

By
KM Fawcett

Plant geneticist Sam Wilde has spent his life savings engineering a unique apple variety that increases happiness. But when fortune-teller Faith Shields mixes Sam’s new apples into an Old World recipe, the result does more than make people happy—it makes them hot for love!

As Candlewood Falls hungers for the forbidden fruit, Sam and Faith experiment with their arousal hypothesis and soon discover their test subjects aren’t the only ones tempted by desire. Is the impassioned pair’s attraction a byproduct of the aphrodisiac or do they have true chemistry?

Add into the equation the only investor who could save Sam’s orchard from foreclosure—Faith’s jealous ex-boyfriend—and Wilde Orchards is about to live up to its name.

After a customer is unsatisfied with her taro reading Faith’s grandmother encourages her to relax and instead of trying to push for a vision. What she sees is blurry and confuses her, but at least something came through. She is however skeptical that her gift will ever fully return.

Her daughter Lily is the first of this little family Sam Wilde meets. She’s at his family’s orchard with her science class and disappears while the others are picking apples. His grandfather apparently sent her to an area he has marked off-limits. The apples there are genetically altered with amino acids to increase happiness. A side effect of this is red pulp and a bitter taste, but he’s hoping for a contract with a hard cider company.

He returns Lily to her group just as her mother arrives. The teacher’s assistant, Laurel jumps on her about being late, and accuses her of making up the story of an alpaca in the road making her late. This woman clearly has some bitter feelings toward Faith and her daughter.

After he introduces himself to Faith, he explains about his grandfather sending Lily to the off-limits section and tells her he’s going to fix Lily’s necklace and return it at the end of the tour at the gift shop.

When Sam returns the necklace, he also invites Faith to rent a booth at the Haunted Orchard. Then the topic turns to Lily needing a tutor for science and math, her old school didn’t have the challenging curriculum the one here in Candlewood Falls does. Sam offers to tutor her, but Faith won’t commit until she speaks with Lily.

Lily agreed to Sam tutoring her and while he’s there Faith talks to him about his apples and her participating in the Haunted Orchard. She manages to talk him into selling her some of his happy apples to do readings. She also decides to make her family’s apple and chili chutney to sell. However, she doesn’t have enough granny smith apples, so she adds a few of Sam’s new variety. Neither Sam nor Faith could anticipate the outcome of that combination. While Faith had tasted the chutney, Sam didn’t get a chance to taste and when he does, he’s skeptical. The two of them plan a blind study at the Haunted Orchard to test with different amounts of the ‘Happy’ apples.

This is a favorite scene.

Over the course of the night, they administered three more tests for a total sample size of seventy-four people. Five more people had approached him. A woman complimented his clothes and asked where she could buy his sweater for her boyfriend. An older man wanted advice on what kind of flowers from the cutting garden he should snip and bring home to his wife. Another guy who graduated high school two years before him asked if he’d like to join a poker game this weekend because they were a man short.

He didn’t even realize the guy knew who he was.

Plus, two more interested women gave him their phone numbers.

What was going on? Why were these people suddenly interested in him? He’d never been popular before. He’d never been popular ever. Why did they all want his advice or attention?

After the last of the subjects filed out of the barn, Sam collected the questionnaires and quickly skimmed through them.

Faith cleaned up the paper cups and wiped down the tables. “Did you notice anything unusual tonight?”

“Everything about tonight was unusual. Did you see how many people wanted to talk to me?”

“Actually, I was referring to Mr. and Mrs. Cummings.”

“What about them?”

“Did you notice how cold they were to each other when they arrived? They stood on the opposite sides of the room. By the time their experiment ended, they were together laughing. Mr. Cummings apologized for being distant lately. Mrs. Cummings apologized for saying she wanted a divorce. She doesn’t. She wants to work out their problems. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“You were eavesdropping?”

“I couldn’t help it. I was standing right next to them. Besides it isn’t eavesdropping; it’s research. Did you read their survey?”

Sam shuffled through the papers until he found Mr. Cummings’ name.

“Is this correct?” He read it over more carefully the second time.

As the experiment had progressed, Mr. Cummings reported his mood had changed from annoyed to relaxed and happy by the end. The paper beneath was Mrs. Cummings’ who also reported a dramatic change in mood over the course of the experiment. She started out angry and progressed to neutral, happy, and then giddy like a schoolgirl in love—her words.

Goosebumps prickled his arms like they always did when something exciting happened. “It worked on them. Mr. Cummings was in the twenty-five percent group and reported being happy, but not aroused. Mrs. Cummings was in the fifty percent group and reported arousal.”

“I bet it worked on many others, too.” Her voice, lively and bubbly, matched the lightness in his chest. “Didn’t you notice how the vibe in the room changed from the start of each experiment to the end?”

“I did.” Spirits soaring, Sam handed her half of the papers. “Give these a quick scan and see if there are any outliers. We’ll learn more after inputting the data and taking a closer look.”

As he skimmed through the findings, one interesting thing tickled his thoughts. Every person who had engaged him in friendly or flirty conversation had been in the seventy-five or hundred percent group.

“You have a strange look on your face. You okay?”

“This is my pondering face.”

“What are you pondering?”

“Everyone who tried to engage me in more than conversation came from the seventy-five to hundred percent groups.”

“So?”

“So according to their papers, they were feeling aroused.”

“Isn’t that the point?”

“Yes, but if the chutney made them horny, why did they talk to me instead of someone else? They had plenty of people sitting closer to engage with.”

“I’m not following you. Why are you surprised they talked to you?”

“I’m not exactly”—popular, sexy, charming—“sociable.”

“You’re not unsociable, either.”

No. But he could be. Large groups tended to exhaust him, which was why he always needed to escape from his extended family for fifteen to twenty minutes during gatherings. But this was different, this was about aroused women wanting to give him their phone numbers.

Why him?

He shrugged. “Maybe I was the only single guy in the room. I don’t know.”

“Sam.” Her serious tone of voice caught his attention. He met her gaze, concern filling her eyes. “Have we made a drug? Can our chutney be used in a negative way?”

“It’s understandable why you’d think that. But no. There is nothing unnatural in our product. The increase in neurochemicals make people feel good. The capsaicin from the chili makes them warm and flushed and the other things we read about. All that together simulates feelings of arousal. But it doesn’t alter who you are. It won’t make someone tear off their clothes if they don’t want to. It won’t turn someone into a rapist. Just because someone is aroused doesn’t mean they can’t control their urges.”

“It can’t be used as a date rape drug?”

“Absolutely not. Consumers will have all their faculties and can choose how to behave. If not, tonight would have been much more interesting and X-rated.”

“Don’t people tend to be bolder when aroused?”

“You may have a point there. Maybe that’s what gave those people the courage to approach me. But I think the point is moot. As long as we don’t add more than twenty-five percent of my apples to your chutney, then we don’t have to worry about unnecessary consequences.”
Fawcett, K.M.; Falls, Candlewood. Wilde Temptation: A Candlewood Falls Novel (Small Town Wilde Romance Book 1) (Kindle Locations 1505-1550 ). Kindle Edition.

The sudden popularity leads to a newpaper article that is going to change things for Sam and not in a good way. His first date with Faith includes the news he lost the hard cider bid, and in turn he’s going to lose his portion of the Orchard, his home and his sister’s dream of a bed and breakfast.

Lots of intrigue here as Faith’s ex, Penn shows up and with that follows offer that could save Sam’s property.

There are plenty of twists and turns as Faith becomes more secure in herself with regard to relationships and business. I love Lily and her bluntness so typical of a child, and Lacey, Sam’s sister is quite outspoken as well.

Definitely a fun and interesting read with more than a couple surprises.

I’m already reading the next book, with a Christmas theme.

5 Contented Purrs for K.M.!

K.M. Fawcett

K.M. Fawcett is the author of the thrilling science fiction romance series, The Survival Race and is one of 3 authors in the small-town contemporary romance shared world series of Candlewood Falls. She writes stories featuring underdogs and fish-out-of-water characters who find their place in the universe. She believes in happy endings and true love conquering all.

She and her husband—the inspiration for all her heroes (and some of her villains)—own Tenchi Dojo in NJ, where they teach traditional Okinawan karate and kobudo (weapons). K.M. incorporates two decades of martial arts experience into her stories to create strong, kick-ass characters who aren’t afraid to fight for the life and love they deserve.

Wielding the world as her office, K.M. exhausted many hours writing in parked cars (waiting for kids at drum lessons and ballet classes), on airplanes, at a local coffee shop, outdoors, and in her home library with two mischievous cats vying for attention.