USA TODAY bestselling author CAROLE MORTIMER was born in England and currently makes her home on the Isle of Man. Happily married to Peter, they have six grown-up sons, so Christmas was always a fun-filled but busy time of year, she reports. Carole has written nearly two hundred books for Mills & Boon and divides her time between the Mills & Boon^® Modern™ and Mills & Boon^® Historical lines. Carole loves spending time with her family, travelling and reading. Visit her website at www.carole-mortimer.com for news on upcoming books and more.

PROLOGUE

      ‘IT’S A SIMPLE enough request to make, surely, Sally? After all, you are my PA and—Why are you laughing?’

      ‘Wasn’t I meant to laugh?’

      ‘Hell, no!’

      ‘Then you were actually serious when you asked me to have Christmas delivered to your apartment by Friday morning?’

      ‘Does it look as if I’m joking, Sally?’

      ‘Oh.’

      Sophie had arrived slightly early at Hamilton Tower for her lunch date with her cousin, Sally; she certainly hadn’t intended to find herself standing transfixed in the plush hallway outside her cousin’s office, inadvertently eavesdropping on Sally’s conversation with her boss, Max Hamilton, billionaire CEO of Hamilton Enterprises.

      Although she understood Sally’s humour and disbelief: who on earth had Christmas delivered?

      The super-rich Max Hamilton, apparently.

      As far as Sophie was concerned,