Valentine’s Gift

Holiday Interludes 3

Women’s Fiction Novelette

by

Marie-Nicole Ryan

R Y A N D A L E  P U B L I S H I N G

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NOTE TO READERS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MORE BOOKS BY MARIE-NICOLE RYAN

COPYRIGHT

NOTE TO READERS

This story takes place approximately ten years after SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS ended with Max and Nikki’s happily ever after. I hope you enjoy a glimpse of one of their rockier marital bumps in the road and how they find their way back to true love. And yes, once again the antique French mask will play its magical part, this time by giving Nikki a glimpse of their future.

Chapter One

Nikki stared at the laptop screen. The words danced and blurred before her teary eyes. She sniffed and rubbed away the tears. The strains of a Bach concerto played softly, while a lavender-scented candle flickered, sending its fragrance throughout the room. No matter—they weren’t doing their usual job...getting her in the zone. How the hell was she supposed to write a happy ending for Jenna and Clay when her up-until-now devoted husband was having an affair? Did she have any real proof? No. Not any that would stand up in a court of law. Not yet.

But the evidence was certainly starting to mount against him.

How could he do this? How could he give up what they had for someone else? Married ten years and he’d never given Nikki cause to believe in anything except his steadfast love.

Until now.

For two weeks he’d been distant. Forgetful. Late for dinner. Worst of all, too busy, to so much as respond to her texts. Always pleading work as his excuse.

Face it. At thirty-seven, she no longer looked like the supermodel he married. Every day he was surrounded by much younger models at his agency. And in spite of being nearly fifty-two, he was as trim and handsome as the day they married. Oh, add a few lines to the corners of his eyes. While his hair had turned a silvery gray at the temples, the result was obvious. He only looked more handsome and distinguished. After all, wasn’t he was at that age where some men looked around for a trophy wife?

She never would’ve believed Max could be that kind of man. He wasn’t insecure about his manhood. My God. Their very private New Year’s Eve celebration on St. Croix was even more romantic and sensual than their honeymoon in Paris. He hadn’t gotten older...she held back a sob...he’d gotten better. Good grief, she was thinking in clichés. Cliché or not, it didn’t alter the fact that someone else was likely reaping the benefits of his sexual prowess.

Sniffing, she wiped the tears from her eyes. Jenna and Clay’s HEA would have to wait.

No.

She had a deadline looming, and she’d never missed one. With renewed resolution, she poised her fingers over the keyboard.

Damned if she would be less than professional just because her husband found another woman. A fling was one thing, but what if he’d fallen in love?

Her throat closed. Her eyes stung. She bit her lips to stop the trembling. She hadn’t been able to give him a child, in spite of several rounds of in vitro. Maybe he’d found someone younger. He’d always told her it didn’t matter. After all, he had Alexa by his late wife Solange. Alexa was very dear to Nikki, a rare combination of little sister and step-daughter. The twenty-three-year-old was an interior designer and most assuredly not interested in running an international