Santa's Plus-One Surprise
~ Chapter 1 ~
Felicity, I just met the man I’m going to marry!”
Felicity Walsh smiled at her twenty-two-year-old cousin Georgina, who she hadn’t gotten to talk to until now at her aunt’s huge birthday bash. They sat on a love seat tucked into a corner of the living room at her grandmother’s Wyoming dude ranch, guests mingling, talking, eating and drinking across the vast home.
“Here? At the party?” Felicity asked, taking a sip of her white wine. There had to be hundreds of people here, relatives and coworkers and friends going back fifty years.
Georgina nodded. “The most gorgeous guy was right behind me in the long buffet line, so I said something about hoping Grammy’s famed barbeque wasn’t all gone by the time we got to the front. We talked up a storm and then ended up sharing the last of the barbecue.” She smiled, and Felicity could swear there were cartoon hearts coming out of her chest. “I’m telling you, within five minutes of looking into that man’s eyes, I knew. And I could tell he felt it, too. Love at first sight!”
Felicity grinned. She knew all about love at first sight. She’d felt that way only twice before, once with a schoolgirl crush and now with Wyatt—her new boyfriend. Tall, dark and ruggedly good-looking, Wyatt was a resident in pediatrics at the county hospital and everything she was looking for. Kind. Smart. Funny. A good person. Spoke well of his mama. Amazing kisser.
Felicity might have finally found her Mr. Right—and just in time for Christmas next month. All year, her big, nosy family had been reminding her that she was twenty-nine and a half, her mother sending her emails with links to age-related fertility issues and other links to dating websites and matchmakers. Texts from aunts about blind dates with cousins’ coworkers. Felicity always smiled it all off; she was perfectly fine on her own and knew her family just wanted to see her happy, but honestly, all the attention on what she was lacking made her want to screech, Back off, people!
So she’d been thrilled to arrive at the family shindig with hot Wyatt on her arm, just to finally show up with a plus-one. She’d lost track of him for a while as she’d reconnected with her cousins and aunts, but Wyatt was social and she was sure he was deep in conversation with an uncle or one of her brothers.
“I’d love to meet your future husband,” Felicity said. “We could double date!”
“Ooh, there he is,” Georgina said, pointing to a good-looking dark-haired guy who was talking to their uncle Harry across the room. “Isn’t he gorge?”
Yes. He was. He was also Wyatt. Felicity’s boyfriend.