CHAPTER ONE

“MOM, EVEN THOUGH I know there’s no Santa, is it still okay to have a stocking?”

Bailey Voss smiled at her daughter. Being a single mom was often a challenge, but every now and then she thought maybe, just maybe, she was getting it right.

“Of course,” she told her seven-year-old. “Christmas is about being with the people we love and sharing our traditions. A stocking is a tradition.”

Chloe beamed. “When can we put out our stockings? And decorate the house?” Her bright, adorable girl paused. “When we move, right? Can we put up our Christmas tree the very first night?”

“We can,” Bailey promised, confident she was going to be exhausted after a long day of moving, but determined to make this the best Christmas ever for her little girl.

Chloe had already been through so much, most especially the loss of her dad over a year ago. But she was happy and thriving now. Bailey and her daughter had made a place for themselves in Fool’s Gold and they were less than a month from moving into what Bailey hoped was their forever home. Bailey had a great job she loved, Chloe had friends and was doing well in school. A wonderful holiday season was exactly how she planned to finish up her year.

Chloe walked to the calendar attached to the refrigerator and counted out the days.

“Seventeen days until Thanksgiving,” she said excitedly. “Then twelve more days until we move and get our tree and stockings.” She hurried over to her mother and hugged her. “It’s almost Christmas!”

Bailey held her tightly, then stroked her hair. “I’m proud of you, honey,” she said, trying to keep from sounding too emotional. “You’re working hard in school and you’re a big help to me.”

Her daughter looked up her. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too, sweet girl.” She glanced at the clock on the stove and held in a shriek. “We are so late!”

Chloe laughed and pulled back, then ran out of the kitchen. “I’m ready. I just need my coat.”

Five minutes later the Voss women were walking briskly toward Chloe’s school. After dropping off her daughter, Bailey continued on toward city hall, where she worked as Mayor Marsha Tilson’s assistant.

Mayor Marsha was the longest-serving mayor in California. She ran her town with an impressive combination of carrot and stick. Bailey was pretty sure Mayor Marsha could twist the devil himself to her bidding. Today was no exception.

Only it wasn’t going to be the devil walking through the mayor’s office doors. Instead they would be visited by a tall, broad-shouldered man who got Bailey’s heart to fluttering in a way that really couldn’t be healthy.

“It’s just a crush,” Bailey told herself as she waited in line at Brew-haha for her morning latte, then realized that talking aloud in a crowd was a sure way to get her neighbors and friends to worrying about her. She pressed her lips together, then felt them curve into a smile as she thought about how being around Kenny Scott made her feel sixteen again.

She knew that having a crush was no big deal. It was a part of life. As long as she didn’t act on it, she would be fine. Because throwing herself at the muscular, former NFL player, and Super Bowl-winning receiver, would be foolish and possibly pathetic.

There was no way she was Kenny’s type. Not that she’d ever seen him with a woman, but still. He was gorgeous. Dark blond hair, big blue eyes. He was built like a superhero and strong. A gentle giant of a man. And speaking of big, his hands...

She held in another sigh, placed her order, waved at her friend Patience, who was manning the espresso machine, then moved to wait for her drink.

The truth was that famous former NFL stars didn’t date small-town single moms. Especially not those who were battling an extra twenty pounds. Bailey figured she was attractive enough. She’d been blessed with thick red hair and nice skin, but she wasn’t like those women in the gossip magazines. She was pretty much the same as everyone else in the normal world. She had a job, she worried about her daughter and much of the time her paycheck barely stretched to cover her bills. She wasn’t exactly a hunky-guy magnet.

But that was the beauty of a crush. She could look and dream all she wanted, for free. And if the man in question happened to be coming in for a meeting that very morning, then she was simply going to have more to sigh about later. Which made today a very good day.

* * *

AS KENNY SCOTT’S friend Jack had once admitted, going to see Mayor Marsha was a bit like visiting the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. But without the flying monkeys or the man manipulating things behind the curtain. Unfortunately for Kenny, Mayor Marsha came by her power the old-fashioned way, and not through smoke and mirrors. If it were the latter, she would be so much easier to refuse.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of the woman, he told himself as he walked toward city hall. It was that he didn’t like situations where he couldn’t say no. And with Mayor Marsha, no wasn’t a word people generally uttered.

He knew he could tell himself to be strong. That she was merely an old woman. But the truth was far more complex than that. Mayor Marsha knew things she shouldn’t, and no one could figure out how. Kenny assumed she had a network of accomplices who fed her tidbits of information. She put them all into some retired NSA computer program that predicted behavior or something. He shook his head as he climbed the steps to the main entrance. Maybe he should simply accept the prevailing wisdom that the mayor wasn’t of this earth. Or had precognition. Regardless, she had summoned him and here he was.