Chapter 1
“Christmas Eve is such a magical day, don’t you think?” Amber Evans asked with stars in her whiskey-colored eyes that glowed with love. She watched her jolly blond giant fiancé, Kip Covington, head to the bar to bring back champagne to toast their engagement. Tossing her long dark hair over her shoulder with a dreamy sigh, she looked blissfully happy.
Magical? Not so much, Ellen Patterson thought with a pout as she stared at her best friend with what she feared was happiness-envy.
Amber was Amazon tall and had been a volleyball MVP in college, while Kip was a retired NBA all-star with godlike looks. He could seriously be Thor’s twin. They were both competitive and stubborn and always followed the rules, playing fair. Thank God he’d thrown the book out the window and took a chance that she might do the same. They were perfect for each other. If she’d lost him, neither of them would have recovered. Now she stood among them as an engaged woman to a man who truly did love her.
Amazon Amber plus a reformed Scrooge McDunky equaled a perfect match.
“I couldn’t agree more,” said the blue-eyed, blonde Barbie doll, Mrs. Samantha Snow. She stared after her brand-new husband with his devilish dark looks, the reformed Nathan McScroogy, who stood beside Kip at the bar of their wedding reception. “Christmas Eve is special. ‘Tis the season of giving selflessly, and I intend to give my husband plenty of gifts starting tonight.”
“Easy for you two to say,” Ellen grumbled. “I know I’m whining, but I really thought I would meet someone tonight of all nights.” She held up her hands to ward off what she knew was coming. “Don’t even go there, you two. Scrooge McBoring doesn’t count, and no amount of work will reform that boy.”
Nathan’s friend, Jason Moore—of Moore and Griswold Attorneys at Law—was more boring than any single female should have to put up with. Of course, she’d gotten stuck walking down the aisle with him. Amber was the lucky one who scored big with Kip, although his seven-foot frame never would have worked with Ellen’s petite five-foot body. Still, at least he was fun. Getting snowed in for days with Jason at Kip’s romantic ski lodge had been pure torture. Now that they were rescued and the reception was in full swing, she’d seriously had high hopes.
“I don’t think he’s that bad. Maybe you just need to give him a chance,” Amber said with pity in her eyes.
“Um, that would be a negative,” Ellen countered. “Even I have my limits.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone else to call your own very soon,” Amber added encouragingly.
“Ha! Not likely,” Ellen sputtered, running a hand through her fiery red hair, probably ruining the sophisticated style Samantha had worked so hard to create, but Ellen couldn’t help it. She was terrified her best friends were going to move on without her, and then what would her life be like?
When Ellen got antsy, she tended to get into trouble.
The three of them had been friends forever and worked together at the same advertising firm in Boston, which Ellen was grateful for. They’d each bailed her out more times than she could count. She hated to admit it, but she was afraid to be alone. As one of six children, she came from a big family and didn’t know how to exist by herself. She’d never had to because she’d met Amber and Samantha in college and stayed close through work. But now all of that was about to change. They were going to leave her, and she didn’t know how to cope.
“I thought when we got here I would finally have some fun,” she said, as she shoved her depressing thoughts aside and did what she always did: stirred the pot. “There seemed like so much potential with all the single men here, but they’re stiffs. Not one of them wanted to kiss me under the mistletoe.”
“Imagine that,” Amber said dryly. “If I’m not mistaken, you don’t even know many of them.”
“We’re young, we’re single, we’re hot…what more do we need to know?”
“Maybe you need to tone it down a bit,” Sam added gently. “You have so much to offer, but most men can’t handle your, um, energy.”
“Then they’re not real men, are they?” Ellen said in frustration. “If only I could find a real man, maybe then I would finally have some fun.” Maybe then she could put her fears aside and stop worrying about what the future would be like as the last musketeer, the last amigo, the last everything.
Kip and Nate walked back to the women, carrying drinks for a toast. At least she would always have the Captain and Jack. They could be her new threesome.
“Where’s Jason?” Nate asked.
If you asked Ellen, Jason hadn’t been the best choice as a groomsman for Nathan. But poor Nate didn’t have any family and no other associates he really trusted, so Jason had been his last resort.
Doing what he does best, making himself scarce, Ellen thought, but said, “No idea.” Now, there was a wimp of a man if ever she saw one.
The door to the reception hall burst open, and a guy around six-feet-tall stepped inside. He had dark eyes and a dark buzz cut, wearing jeans and a black leather jacket. He slipped off his coat and slung it over his shoulder, revealing a heavily muscled frame with tattoos on his arm. His five o’clock shadow was actually the length of a short beard, and a small scar marred his forehead just above his thick black eyebrow. He looked tough and serious and a little angry as he scanned the crowded room. His whole aura screamed wounded soul; hell bent on revenge. There was something so familiar about him, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
As maid of honor, Ellen knew Amber wasn’t about to let anyone ruin her best friend’s day. Amber’s radiant smile transformed into a firm line as she narrowed her eyes at the uninvited guest and stepped forward, ready to run interference. Kip grabbed her arm and shook his head, and she reluctantly backed down. He studied the man as though he sensed something familiar as well.
Ellen shrugged. Familiar or not, he sure seemed interesting. “Now there’s a man who looks like he knows how to have fun,” she said, unable to help herself. “Time to get this party started.”
McMuscles appeared to be the exact kind of challenge Ellen needed right now to take her mind off her worries.
“Ellen, I don’t think…” Amber’s voice trailed off as the room grew quiet as a morgue.
The man searched the crowd until he found Nathan’s father, then his eyes filled with satisfaction as he said in a deep gruff voice, “I’ve waited a lifetime to do this. Alexander Snow, you’re under arrest.”
Nathan stepped forward. “Who the hell are you?”
The man’s intense gaze met Nathan’s and hardened as he said bitterly, “I’m Detective MacKenzie Johnson … your long-lost brother. Merry Christmas.”
***
Mac scanned the crowd that had erupted into frenzied shouts and accusations after he’d dropped the bomb. He’d waited so long for a little payback … a little justice. Alexander Snow was his father. His biological father, anyway. Mac and Nathan both looked exactly like their father, rather than their mothers, but that was as far as the connection went. Alexander had never laid claim to Mac, or so much as acknowledged he even existed. Mac’s poor mother had been a young college intern in Snow’s business when he’d cheated on his wife and knocked her up just one month before he’d gotten his wife pregnant with Nathan. Once he found out his wife was pregnant, he fired Mac’s mother and never looked back.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Alexander Snow sputtered, looking pale and distraught as Mac cuffed him in front of his scandalized wife and all their friends.
“Locking you up and cutting off the outside world,” Mac growled, nailing him with as much venom and hatred as he could muster, “same as you did to me at the tender age of ten.” Alexander paled even more, which Mac hadn’t thought possible, and his wife looked ready to swoon.
Mac was Snow’s firstborn, his rightful heir, yet he’d grown up in an orphanage while Nathan had everything handed to him on a silver platter, none the wiser. When Mac’s mother died unexpectedly in a car crash when he was ten, he’d had no one else to claim him. He’d tried to say Snow was his father, but Alexander denied the claim and turned his back on him, knowing he was too old for anyone else to adopt him. A year later, Snow started donating money to the orphanage, probably out of guilt. The same orphanage his “real” son Nathan now donated to, but it was too late. Mac had grown up alone, without anyone. Needless to say he didn’t trust easily. He hated his father—hated them both—for all they stood for, vowing one day to make them pay.
That day was today.
“You can’t do this.” Nathan stepped forward. “It’s my wedding day.”
Mac had spent his life relying on no one, working hard, putting himself through college, and earning the respect of his colleagues in the Boston Police Department. They were all the family he would ever need, and even with them, he never truly let anyone in. Because when you let someone in and gave yourself hope, you got burned.
“I can and I did, so get over it.” Mac stared his brother—who looked so much like him it was uncanny—down and shrugged as though he didn’t give a damn, even though the child within him still did. “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
“Why are you arresting him?” His brother’s lovely blonde wife asked in a sweet voice.
Mac felt a twinge of regret at the sadness he’d obviously caused her.
Nathan placed a protective arm around her bare shoulders, drawing her close as if shielding her from Mac. “It’s all right, darling, I’ll get to the bottom of this,” Nathan stated with a black glare which would make a normal man cringe. Only Mac wasn’t normal, he was blood, and more like him than he cared to admit. “Do not remove my father until you tell me the charges.”
“You may not want to claim him once you know the true Alexander Snow. The lying, cold-blooded, uncaring bastard he really is.” Mac was finding it hard to remain in control as people whispered around him.
“I asked what you’re charging him with.” Nathan’s voice sounded as lethal as Mac’s, and his brother moved so his body was now in front of his wife’s.
“Importing illegal drugs through his company.”
The crowd gasped, and Nathan frowned. “No way. The old man might do a lot of things I don’t approve of, but drugs? I’m not buying it, and I’m guessing you can’t prove it.”
“Like hell I can’t, and I don’t answer to you.” Mac glared at him. “Trust me, brother, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have proof.” He leaned forward just as menacingly. “By the way, you can stop being a hypocrite and writing checks to the orphanage…my home.” Then he pulled on Alexander and started dragging him to the door. “They have me,” Mac called over his shoulder and finished with, “and that’s all they need.” Then he walked outside, shoved his father in the back of his unmarked squad car, and drove away.
***
“What the hell was that?” Nathan asked, looking ashen and visibly shaken.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Ellen said. She was on a mission, and once she set her mind to something, there was no stopping her, regardless of the consequences. She was a sucker for taking in lost strays and trying to heal them. McMuscles needed healing for sure, but that wasn’t the mission she was on. No one hurt her friends. The man looked dangerous. Like the kind who could inflict a whole lot of hurt without an ounce of remorse. She wouldn’t put it past him to fight dirty to get what he wanted. He just had no idea she was the queen of dirty.
“No!” Sam chimed in, an alarmed look on her face as she grabbed Ellen’s arm.
“Uh, yeah, no. I’m with Sam here, Ellen,” Amber chimed in. “You’re not exactly the most ‘judicial’ one of our group.”
“But I am the most free at the moment,” Ellen said. “You and Nate—no matter what you say—are about to go on your honeymoon. And you are going! You have worked too long and hard for this, and you owe it to Sam, Nate. Besides, your father has a whole team of attorneys and more than enough money to bail himself out.”
Nathan and Samantha just blinked at her.
“Amber, you and Kip just got engaged,” Ellen continued. “You two need to start massive wedding planning if you’re going to succeed in getting married on Christmas Eve next year as well. You of all people should know how long it takes to book places for a wedding and reception.”
Kip and Amber looked thoughtful, as though considering her words.
“Look, guys,” Ellen hammered her point home. “I am the only one who is single and frankly doesn’t have a whole lot to do these days. I need this. Please trust me and let me take care of this little problem.”
“I don’t know, El,” Sam said. “It’s a lot of responsibility to take on. Nathan’s father’s freedom is on the line.”
“I know. But we all know he’s a big boy and more than capable of taking care of himself. I will be sure to follow up with him as well as his attorneys in Nathan’s place to make sure everything goes smoothly. You can count on me. I’m up for it.”
“I have to say I’m with Sam on this,” Amber added. “It’s a lot of responsibility.”
“Which I am more than capable of handling,” Ellen stated firmly. “For crying out loud I handle million dollar campaigns on a daily basis. I know I sometimes bend the rules a bit and get into trouble, but you girls are always the ones to bail me out and take care of everything. I think it’s time I proved myself.”
They still looked doubtful.
Ellen looked them each in the eye and tried honesty. “I need to be the one in charge, saving the day. I need to know you trust me to be an adult. I am a smart, savvy, advertising executive. I think I can handle one disgruntled, unexpected, secret half-brother and his plans to ruin your life.” She sent Nathan and Kip a pleading look, knowing her chances of winning the men over were much more favorable than winning over her best friends.
“Okay,” Nathan said. “On one condition.” He gave Ellen a no-nonsense look. “You let Jason help.”
Ellen opened her mouth to object but thought better of it. It wouldn’t be too hard to lose McBoring. “Deal,” she said.
Sam blinked, looking shocked. “Nate, sweetheart, are you sure? We don’t have to do this.”
“Yes we do, my love,” he said, taking her hands. “I don’t know who this MacKenzie Johnson really is, but if what he says is true, then it doesn’t surprise me. My father is a piece of work. If he truly left my brother—who is basically my twin—to fend for himself since the age of ten, then so help me God if I stick around, I’ll kill the old man myself. I might have grown up privileged, but you and I both know I might as well have grown up in the orphanage I so love. And to think I had a brother my age there all along is just unfathomable. And the obvious fact that he hates me breaks my heart.”
“All right then, darling, honeymoon it is,” Sam said with love and understanding and fierce protectiveness shining bright within her eyes as she cupped his face and kissed him tenderly.
“I can still help if you need it, El,” Amber said.
“While I appreciate that, Amber, I’ve seen you and Kip in action,” Ellen said. “I know you guys are in love, but trust me, it’s going to take a miracle for you both to work out the wedding plans in one year’s time without killing each other.”
“She does have a point,” Kip interjected, earning Amber’s scowl. “Awww, come on, baby,” he said softly, drawing her into his arms. “Half the fun is sparring with you, but we really do need to get moving if we’re going to set the date for next Christmas Eve. I know exactly how we should plan the wedding. Do you know how soon places book?”
“I have a few plans of my own. Do you know who you’re talking to?” Amber snapped, stubbornly refusing to cave.
“Oh, just the love of my life,” he responded softly, tilting her face up to his.
Her whole body softened, and she melted into him. “Okay, babe,” she said with a dreamy sigh, laying a big one on him, and just like that it was settled.
Ellen tried not to roll her eyes. “I promise I won’t let you all down,” she said with determination. “I will get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing I do.”
MacKenzie Johnson had no idea who he was about to deal with.
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