Misty Mountain Mistletoe

One flight. One deal. One Christmas that changes everything.SHE CAME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS WITH A SECRET SHE WASN'T READY TO TELL. Faith Ardmore had been dumped days before Christmas, and she hadn't found the words yet. Her family didn't know. Misty Mountain didn't know. All she had to do was get through the holidays with her heart in pieces and her story straight. She boarded her flight home already dreading every question she'd have to answer. Then the man in the next seat started talking, and everything got a lot more complicated.HE NEEDED A WAY IN. SHE NEEDED A STAND-IN. Holden Pryce had recently moved to Misty Mountain and hadn't quite cracked the code of small-town belonging. When the tearful woman next to him turned out to be a local, he saw possibility - and when she explained what she was heading home to face, a solution took shape. She needed someone to pose as her fiancé for the week. He needed help with his eight-year-old daughter and an introduction to the community. It was practical. Mutually beneficial. Completely sensible.THE ARRANGEMENT MADE PERFECT SENSE AT 30,000 FEET. On the ground, in the middle of Misty Mountain's Christmas warmth, with Faith's family already delighted and his daughter already charmed, the clean lines of the deal started blurring. Holden showed up to every gathering like he meant it. Faith helped with his daughter like it came naturally. The performances that were supposed to be carefully managed kept slipping into something that felt nothing like an act.HER HEART WAS STILL BRUISED. HER FEELINGS WEREN'T LISTENING. Faith knew better than to fall this fast - she had fresh evidence of exactly how badly that could go. But Holden was patient where her ex had been careless, present where he had been distracted, honest in ways she hadn't known to look for before. The fear was real. The heartbreak was recent. And what she felt for Holden was already more powerful than anything that had come before it.The week had an end date. The arrangement had an expiration. Faith still had a broken engagement to quietly bury and a heart that wasn't sure it was ready. Holden had a daughter who deserved roots and a town he was still trying to belong to. Neither of them had boarded that plane expecting this.Falling in love was not part of the deal.It happened anyway.