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Product Description From New York Times bestselling author Jessica Clare comes a Christmas romance about a cowboy grinch and the woman who stole his heart. Local waitress Holly Dawson needs a better paying job to cover her sister's college tuition. Given that it's Christmas and she's broke as a joke, she's feeling pretty bah-humbug. New jobs are hard to come by in a town as small as Painted Barrel, especially as the town dropout. When Holly's offered a job at the Flat C Ranch to clean and cook for the cowboys that work there, it seems like a dream come true...except for one thing. Her nemesis, the incredibly handsome (and annoyingly arrogant) Adam Calhoun works there. It doesn't matter that he loves dogs more than people, or that he's a war veteran. No Christmas spirit can save that particular grinch. When the rest of the ranch hands go out of town for the holidays, Holly and Adam will be forced to work closely together. No sweat. Holly can deal with Adam. And if she doesn't kill him first, she just might fall in love. Review “Delectable... The pair’s combative relationship is a delicious catalyst to their affair, and the slow burning transformation from enemies to lovers creates a firm foundation for their romance. Series fans will be delighted.” —Publishers Weekly About the Author New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jessica Clare writes under three pen names. As Jessica Clare, she writes erotic contemporary romances, including the Billionaire Boys Club novels and the Hitman novels with Jen Frederick. As Jessica Sims, she writes fun, sexy shifter paranormals, and as Jill Myles, she writes a little bit of everything, from sexy, comedic urban fantasy to fairy tales gone wrong. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One Painted Barrel was all around a decent place for a girl to live, but it was terrible for desserts. Holly Dawson gazed into the window of the town's lone bakery-slash-doughnut shop. Glazed doughnuts were in the window. Glazed doughnuts, of all things. And apple fritters. A window was there to advertise your wares, to show off what you could do. You didn't put apple fritters in the window, or glazed doughnuts. That was like a cowboy showing that he knew what a horse looked like. They were basics. They were boring. She passed this window every day, looking for new things. Holly loved baking. It was her favorite hobby, and she dreamed of opening her own pastry and sweets shop someday. Not here, of course. Painted Barrel had less than three hundred people. They had one bar-slash-restaurant and the doughnut shop that also passed as a cafŽ. That was it, foodwise, and it really couldn't support more. Holly couldn't afford to open her own place, either. But she liked to dream. In her dream, it was her shop with a window on Main Street, and she'd fill it with all kinds of darling, enticing-to-look-at sweets. Pink cupcakes with chocolate stars on top. Trays of fluffy profiteroles with gooey crme oozing out of them. Mini cakes and fruit-laden tarts. Shortcakes puffed with whipped cream and colorful macarons in every shade. Exciting things. Fun things. Delicious things. Not glazed doughnuts. Hands in her pockets, she stared at the window for a minute longer, and then checked her phone for the time. She had a few minutes before she had to be at work. She glanced down the street at Wade's saloon, Painted Barrel's lone restaurant. The parking lot in front of it was empty, other than Wade's truck, so she could afford to dawdle a little. Holly took one last look at the window and headed inside. The bell clanged, announcing Holly's presence, and the girl behind the counter got off the stool she was sitting on, putting her magazine aside. Geraldine wasn't the most enthusiastic employee, but Holly had heard that she was related to the owner, and that was how she'd gotten the job here despite being a high school dropout. Not that Holly was jealous. Sure, she was