When she needs help, he’s the last person she would turn to…

Belle Sinclair has recently adopted a stray puppy. It was love at first snuggle. He is the best Christmas present ever. And yet her holiday happiness goes sideways when she hears a siren and spots flashing lights in her rearview mirror.

Sheriff Parker Bishop is a confirmed bachelor. He firmly believes all laws should be obeyed without exception. And so when he spots the beautiful Belle Sinclair once more committing a moving violation, what choice does he have? He has to pull her over.

But this holiday, Belle’s puppy has gone missing. Suspecting foul play, she has to call on the one man in Kringle Falls who can get under her skin with just a look. This Christmas will they be able to work past their differences in order to help the puppy? And along the way will they find that opposites just might attract?

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

“Arf! Arf!”
Early on a snowy Thursday morning, Belle Sinclair smiled as she sat crossed-legged on the floor of her living room. Her new puppy, Odie, chased the squeaky ball that rolled across the floor. Playing ball was his favorite activity, aside from giving her kisses.
Odie was a small dog. Only about seven pounds so far. The vet guessed when Odie was fully grown, he’d weigh about fifteen pounds.
No one was quite sure exactly what breeds were in his lineage. Belle suspected there was some poodle in him. He had the softest curly orange fur. He was long and low to the ground, and he had an outgoing personality. He greeted everyone with a wagging tail.
Little more than a week ago, Merry Kringle had introduced Odie into her life. Belle remembered the day she’d received a mysterious call from Merry. When the wife of the town’s mayor invited her to stop by, Belle’s curiosity had been raised. As soon as she’d stepped into Purr ’n Woof Supplies and saw Odie, she’d fallen in love. There had been no need for Merry to talk Belle into taking him home, because after the first snuggle, it was already a done deal.
Originally, there had been three homeless puppies who had been transported from a shelter in Ohio to Kringle Falls via her new friend, Candi Goodman. At that point, one of the pups, Tank, had been adopted. Belle felt bad about taking Odie and leaving Tater Tot, but Merry told her not to worry. She’d already had the perfect home in mind for him.
Belle never regretted taking Odie home with her. The truth of the matter was that Belle was tired of living alone. After losing both of her parents when she was only eighteen, she’d been on her own. Without any other close family, she made her own family within the close-knit community of Kringle Falls.
Still, there was no one to miss her when she was gone or to be happy when she returned home. And she was tired of waiting around for Mister Right to appear in her life. She was beginning to think that was never going to happen. And so, she was carving out her own life according to her own terms.
Odie ran toward her with the yellow ball in his mouth. He dropped it at her feet. She picked it up and gave it another toss. Only this time the ball went off course and rolled under the Christmas tree. At full speed, Odie charged after the ball. When he tried to stop on the hardwood floors, he ended up sliding. He collided with the tree stand. The jingle of glass heirloom ornaments filled the room.
Belle jumped to her feet and rushed over to Odie. She got him and the ball out from under the tree. Once she rolled the ball to the other side of the living room, she inspected the ornaments. They all appeared to have survived the collision.
She stepped back and took in the sight of the pink, green, blue, and white ornaments on the tree. They had been handed down through the family. A couple were from her great-grandmother, others were from her grandmother, and a large portion were from her mother. And slowly, she’d been adding some of her own to the collection.
At Christmastime, she loved getting out the decorations because it made her feel a little bit closer to the family that no longer existed. As she stepped back to the couch, she noticed one of the ornaments from the back of the tree had fallen.
She rushed over to the tree and knelt down. Of course, Odie had to see what she was doing. So, while she was on her hands and knees, he was licking her and attempting to jump on her. What a silly puppy.
At last, her fingers wrapped around the ornament. When she sat back on her heels, a quick inspection told her it was unharmed. She breathed easier.
The porcelain ornament was in the shape of a little girl holding her teddy bear. Belle ran her fingertips over the ornament with her name scrolled at the bottom. Her mother had painted the small figurine. A sense of longing and loneliness swept over her. She missed her mother a lot.
She blamed herself for her parents not being there to share the holiday with her. She recalled how it was Christmastime eleven years ago. Her parents had been out on the snowy roads when a deer ran in front of the car, and they went over a hillside. Her father had died on impact, but her mother had lived a little longer…