A Heart of Stone Christmas (6 page)

Authors: K.M. Scott

He nodded eagerly and for the first time took three tentative steps before tumbling onto the floor. His best attempt at walking yet, it thrilled me to tears. Opening my arms wide, I scooped him up from the floor and planted kisses on his adorable little face.

“Look at my little man! Three steps today. That’s a new record.”

Behind me, Tristan rested his chin on my shoulder and tweaked Ethan on the nose. “Good job, Ethan. Pretty soon we’ll be chasing you around the house.”

As I nuzzled my son and made raspberry noises on his pudgy cheeks, Tristan moved around us to pick up the girls. With one in each arm, he held them as they giggled about seeing him again. I loved it when he did things like that. He may have been even sexier than usual when he was holding our two little girls in his arms.

Over their laughing, he said to Cara, “Our trip has been postponed until tomorrow, so take the night off and if you need to go anywhere, just tell Jensen. I’ve let him know he’s to take you anywhere you need to go tonight. He’ll be back from getting the Range Rover soon. We’ve had an exciting afternoon, so we’re staying in tonight with the kids and we’ll all fly out tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, Mr. Stone. I think I will take you up on your offer and see if I can find a store open. I’ll be back in my rooms later tonight, so if any of the children need anything, just let me know.”

Cara turned to walk out of the room, but I caught her by the sleeve and said quietly, “Thank you for everything, Cara. I know you helped my husband to make the trip a surprise. That means a lot to me.”

She smiled warmly. “I’m just glad you’re all okay. I was worried sick about these little angels losing their mother.”

“Thank you. Enjoy some time off tonight. You’ve earned it.”

Cara left the five of us in the nursery to play until dinnertime, and later as we all watched Finding Nemo while we lay on our bed, I couldn’t help but think that I was the luckiest woman in the world.

* * *

“Close your eyes,” Tristan ordered
as we all stood outside the entrance to one of the new villas. Looking at the kids, he said, “Let’s do peek-a-boo. I’ll tell you when, okay?” The children covered their eyes as they waited to see what lay behind the door, and I squeezed my eyes shut as Tristan opened the door.

“Okay, now everyone look.”

I opened my eyes to see a gorgeously decorated villa that reminded me of our hotel rooms at the Richmont Venice. Designed to mimic that hotel, its walls were painted in a rich golden color and a deep red tone used as an accent in the furnishings gave the villa a richness I’d loved so much in Tristan’s property in Italy.

“It’s so beautiful, honey,” I said as I spun around to look at every inch of the main room. “You had them make it look like Venice.”

Tristan bent down and kissed me on the cheek as he lifted Diana into his arms. “I wanted it to feel like your favorite place, so I told them to make sure it had the same feeling. I think they got it right.”

I looked over on the far wall leading to the hallway and saw a familiar piece of artwork. As I approached it, I realized it was my mother’s pencil drawing of Tristan’s mother we’d found in the storage unit in Pennsylvania. Done when they were still roommates in college, the portrait had quickly become one of Tristan’s favorites because of how wonderfully my mother had portrayed Tressa Stone’s gentle nature. Accented by a deep cherry wood frame, it represented what I knew this place meant to him.

“You hung my mother’s artwork here? Oh, Tristan, it’s beautiful.”

“My mother would have loved the idea of this old place becoming villas. She fell in love with the site, so it’s only right that she should be here. I couldn’t think of a better way to symbolize everything this place is to me than to hang my mother’s portrait done by your mother’s hand.”

“What about when other people rent the villa, though? Won’t it seem odd having it here?”

Tristan shook his head and smiled. “This villa is ours. It won’t be available for anyone but us, so she’ll always be here when we come back.” He pointed to a room off to the side where a live seven foot blue spruce Christmas tree stood decorated with lights and ornaments in blue and silver. Dozens of wrapped gifts for the kids sat piled up under the tree. “Merry Christmas everybody! Time to see what Santa brought us.”

Ethan led the charge to the presents, nearly crawling over his sisters as they toddled much slower to grab their Christmas gifts. I sat down in the middle of them so I could see how each of them reacted to their new toys while Tristan recorded the whole thing and I helped their little hands open their gifts.

I pulled a big box with Diana’s name on it and placed it in front of her. “Santa brought this for you, honey. I wonder what it is.”

She beamed at the news that the present was for her, and we tore off the paper to find a barnyard animal set just for her. As I set it up for her away from the mess of the wrapping paper piling up around us, she ran her fingers over each piece, and as she held each one up for me to look at, I told her its name.

Bringing a cow up to her lips, she gave it a kiss as I said, “That’s a cow. It goes moo.”

That’s all she needed. From that point on, moo was all she said while she played with her brand new farm set.

I looked up at Tristan and smiled. “I think she likes it, especially the cow.”

He nodded and pointed toward Tressa, who tapped on the brightly colored keys of her kiddie piano. “I think we have a future musician on our hands.”

“Tressa, do you like your gift from Santa?” I asked as I crawled over to sit next to her. Giggling, she said her first word ever. “Moo!”

Laughing, Tristan tried to correct her by saying “ma-ma,” but she wouldn’t hear of it. Moo it was, just like her sister. I turned to him and shrugged. “So the word for the day is moo.”

Like the big brother he fashioned himself to be, Ethan brought over his favorite present—a push toy with an elephant’s head that contained balls that popped up when it rolled—and said the only word he’d mastered so far. Giving me the handle of his toy to hold, he smiled and said, “Ma-ma. Ma-ma.”

I smiled and looked up at Tristan as Ethan threw his arms around me. “Two moos and a ma-ma. Not a bad day.”

“Not a bad day at all.”

Later, after a Christmas feast fit for a king, we tucked the children into their cribs in the villa next door to ours and returned to sit together on the couch in front of the Christmas tree. Unlike the year before, this holiday had been truly one full of joy.

Tristan wrapped his arm around my shoulder as I leaned my head on his chest. “I think the kids liked their presents, don’t you?”

I nodded, loving the memory of their little faces brightening every time they saw a new toy. “I think so. We spoiled them, though.”

We sat there quietly until I remembered I hadn’t given him his surprise present from me yet. Jumping up, I ran over to my purse and pulled out the box with his cufflinks. “I forgot to give you your surprise.”

“Ah, the surprise that got us caught in a blizzard,” he joked. He took the box from my hand and held it for a moment. “You know, you didn’t have to do this. I have everything I could ever want with you and our kids.”

I sat down beside him and curled my legs up under me. “I wanted to get you something just from me to show you that I love you. So when we’re having a fight or I’m having a bad day and take it out on you, there’s something you can always look at and remember how much I love being your wife. So open it.”

He did as I asked, and I watched his eyes light up when he saw the cufflinks. “Nina, they’re stunning. You know me too well. I hope when I wear them that you’ll be by my side.”

“I can see that happening,” I said with a giggle.

Tristan put the cufflinks on the table in front of us and leaned over to kiss me. “Now for your surprise.”

“My surprise? I thought this trip was my surprise,” I said as he stood from the couch.

“It was, but I had another one up my sleeve. Wait there. I’ll be right back.”

I sat there thinking how wonderful my life had turned out after that first night with Tristan. We’d had our ups and downs, but he was still the most incredible and fascinating man I’d ever met. That he fell in love with me made me feel like the luckiest woman in the world, no matter what surprise gifts he gave me.

He sat down next to me and held out a square box in his palm. “Merry Christmas, Nina.”

“Ooooh, I wonder what it is?” I slowly untied the red silk ribbon and removed the gold wrapping paper to see a black velvet box. He’d gotten me jewelry. “Thank you, Tristan. I’m sure I’ll love it.”

Opening the lid, I saw only a slip of paper sitting where I’d assumed a diamond bracelet or earrings would be. Confused, I took it out and unfolded it, looking at him for some kind of explanation. “It’s a copy of a check you wrote to someone else?”

“Read the memo line.”

My eyes slowly read down to the bottom left hand corner of the check, and I saw the words “For Nina’s studio” written there. “My studio?”

“The builders will break ground as soon as the weather warms a little. They promise me they’ll have it complete by your birthday.”

My mouth hung open. A studio all of my own? “You got me my own art studio? I can’t believe it. My own studio.”

“I thought if you had somewhere to go and just do what you love that you’d be happier.”

“Oh, Tristan, I’m not unhappy with you and the kids. I hate that you think I am.”

He shook his head and cupped my cheek with his hand. “I leave that house every morning and have a life outside their nursery. You don’t, for all intents and purposes. Having this studio of your own, even though it will only be a couple hundred yards from the house, will give you a chance to have some time of your own. I think you deserve that.”

“I don’t want you to think I don’t love spending time with my family, but this might be the best gift I’ve ever gotten. I’ve been dying to get back to my art after we found my mother’s pieces. Thank you so much!”

“If mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy,” he said with a smile.

I pulled him to me and hugged him close, so thankful to have a husband like him. I truly was the luckiest woman on earth.

THE END

CLUB X—Come live out your fantasies!

Meet the gorgeous men of Club X…

Cassian March, the face of Club X, the most exclusive nightspot in Tampa. One of the most eligible men in town, he can have any woman he chooses—and he does as often as he likes. Beneath his cool facade lies a desire for something more, but will his new assistant Olivia have what it takes to fulfill his darkest fantasies?

Stefan March, the manager of Club X, loves the single life. Women are his playground, and this man lives to have fun. Committed to never settling down, he may have met his match in Shay, a bartender at Club X who seems immune to his charms. Stefan loves nothing more than a challenge, though, so let the games begin!

Kane Jackson, half-brother to Cassian and Stefan, he handles the members’ fantasies at Club X. Big, bad, and dangerous, his style is hard, like the life he’s led. But you know what they say—the bigger they are, the harder they fall and Kane might just fall for Abbi, the one woman able to get beyond his hard exterior to the heart he hides from the world.

LOOK FOR
TEMPTATION (CLUB X #1)
,
SURRENDER (CLUB X #2)
, AND
POSSESSION (CLUB X #3)
AVAILABLE NOW

AND
SATISFACTION (CLUB X #4)
, THE FINAL CLUB X NOVEL, COMING JULY 14, 2015!

About the Author

K.M. Scott writes contemporary romance stories of sexy, intense, and unforgettable love. A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, she’s been in love with romance since reading her first romance novel in junior high (she was a very curious girl!). She lives in Pennsylvania with her teenage son and a herd of animals and when she’s not writing can be found reading or feeding her TV addiction.

Be sure to visit K.M.’s Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/kmscottauthor
for all the latest on her books, along with giveaways and other goodies! And to hear all the news on K.M. Scott books first, sign up for her newsletter today and be sure to visit her website at
www.kmscottbooks.com

Visit Gabrielle’s Facebook page and her website at
www.gabriellebisset.com
to find out about her books too!

Books by K.M. Scott:

Crash Into Me (Heart of Stone #1)

Fall Into Me (Heart of Stone #2)

Give In To Me (Heart of Stone #3)

The Heart of Stone Trilogy Box Set

Ever After (A Heart of Stone Novella)

A Heart of Stone Christmas

Unforgettable (A Heart of Stone Spinoff Novel #1)

Temptation (Club X #1)

Surrender (Club X #2)

Possession (Club X #3)