ZEBRA BOOKS

       KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

       www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Contents

      Comfort and Joy

      FERN MICHAELS

      A High-Kicking Christmas

      MARIE BOSTWICK

      Suzanna’s Stockings

      CATHY LAMB

      Family Blessings

      DEBORAH J. WOLF

      Comfort and Joy

      Fern Michaels

      Chapter One

      Angel Mary Clare Bradford, Angie to her friends, looked over at her assistant, who was stacking rolls of colored ribbon onto spindles. Satisfied that the rolls of ribbon were aligned to match the spindles of wrapping paper, she turned away to survey her domain.

      The thirty-foot-by-thirty-foot room with its own lavatory was neat as a pin because Angie Bradford was a tidy person. The room she and her assistant, Bess Kelly, were standing in was known as the Eagle Department Store gift wrap department.

      Eva Bradford, Angie’s mother, had a lifetime lease on this very room, thanks to retired owner Angus Eagle, something that rankled the current young department store head, Josh Eagle, Angus’s heir.

      Angie and Josh had gone to the mat via the legal system on several occasions. Josh wanted the lease canceled so he could open a safari clothing department. He claimed the paltry, three-hundred-dollar-a-month rent Angie paid for the gift wrap space was depriving the Eagle Department Store of serious revenue. Another set of legal papers claimed his father had not been of sound mind when he signed the ridiculous lifetime lease.

      Angie countered with a startling video of Angus playing tennis and being interviewed by the New York Times talking about politics and his philanthropic endeavors on the very day he signed the lifetime lease. In a separate filing, Angie charged Josh Eagle was a bully, and presented sworn testimony that he repeatedly turned off the electricity in the gift shop as well as the water in the lavatory just to harass her. On occasion the heat and air conditioning were also turned off. Usually on the coldest and hottest days of the year.

      Josh retaliated by saying Angie should pay for the electricity, water, heat, and air-conditioning. He said there were no free lunches in the Eagle Department Store in Woodbridge, New Jersey.

      Judge Atkins had glared at the two adversaries and barked his decision: Josh Eagle was not to step within 150 feet of the gift wrap department. Angie was to pay an additional thirty-dollars-a-month rent for the utilities, and a new heating unit was to be installed at Eagle’s expense.

      At that point the Eagle-Bradford war escalated to an all-time high, with both sides doing double-time to outwit the other. The present score was zip-zip.

      “So, are you going to the store meeting or not?” Bess asked as she gathered up her purse and jacket.

      “Nope. I don’t work for Josh Eagle or this store. I work for my mother. I’m just renting space from Eagle’s. It was toasty in here today, wasn’t it?” Angie asked. It had been unseasonably cool for September.

      Bess eyed her young employer and laughed. She’d worked for Eva Bradford for twelve years before Eva turned the business over to her daughter, 110 pounds of energy who was full of spit and vinegar, five years ago. Angie had jumped right into the business, played David to Josh’s Goliath, and come out a winner. At least in Bess’s eyes. With the Christmas season fast approaching, Bess knew in her gut that Josh Eagle would pull out all his big guns to try to get under Angie’s skin and make her life so miserable she would give up and move out. She laughed silently. Josh Eagle didn’t know the Angie Bradford she knew.

      “Come on, boss, I’ll walk you out to the parking lot. How’s Eva today?”

      Angie slipped into her jacket and hung her purse on her shoulder before she turned off the lights. She pressed a switch, and a colorful corrugated blind came down, totally covering the entrance to the gift wrap department. She waited a moment until she heard the sound of the lock slipping into place. She’d installed the sliding panel at her own expense, much to Josh Eagle’s chagrin. She then locked the walkthrough door to the gift wrap department. Not just any old lock, this was a special lock that Josh Eagle couldn’t open with the store’s master keys. She’d also installed her own security system with the ADT firm. Josh had taken her to court on that one, too, and lost, with the judge saying Angie was protecting her investment and as long as she wasn’t asking him to pay for her security, there was no problem. Back then the score had been one-zip.

      “Uh-oh, look who’s standing by that big red X you painted on the floor!”

      Angie looked ahead of her to see Josh Eagle glaring at her. “You’re late!”

      He was good-looking, she had to give him that. And he had dimples. Right now his dark brown eyes were spewing sparks. He was dressed in a power suit and tie, his shirt so blinding white, it had to be new. It was all about image with Josh Eagle.

      Angie looked down at her watch. “Actually, I’m leaving right on time, Mr. Eagle. My lights are off, the heat has been turned down, the security system locked and loaded, and my door is locked. It’s one minute past six. The store closes at six.”

      “I called a meeting for six-fifteen for all department heads. That means you’re supposed to be in the conference room promptly at six-ten. You’re still standing here, Ms. Bradford. What’s wrong with this picture? Well?”

      Angie sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you, Mr. Eagle? I do not work for you. Judge Atkins sent you papers to that effect. I have copies in case you lost yours. What part of I-am-not-one-of-your-employees don’t you understand?”

      Josh Eagle looked like he was about to say something, then changed his mind. Angie started walking again, and when she got to Josh and he didn’t move, she stiff-armed him.

      “You touched my person,” Josh said dramatically as he pretended to back away.

      “Will you get off it already! Do you sit up there in your ivory tower and dream up ways to torment me? I did not touch you. I put my arm out so you wouldn’t touch me. In case your vision is impaired, I have a witness. Now, I suggest you get out of my way and don’t come down here again with your silly demands. This shop is off-limits to you!”

      “Just