When Christmas Comes Early with Kelly Hunter

I make NO SECRET of the fact Kelly Hunter is one of my favourite authors!! So, I was so excited when I heard she had a Christmas novella out and even MORE excited when she agreed to come and do a post on my blog...

But before I hand over to Kelly, I'm stoked to announce the winner of Candis Terry's gorgeous books. CONGRATS to Squenn! If you could contact Candis via her website (http://candisterry.com/contact/) or me on Rachaeljohns077 at gmail dot com, then we'll organize to get your prize to you :)

Now without further ado, KELLY HUNTER...

As a kid I loved the torturous lead up to Christmas – the tree going up, a few presents appearing, and then a few more, and then on Christmas day, a few more again. We had a no touching the pretties rule, because – frankly – I was the best present sleuth in the business. Also, my mother knew that the guessing games we played about each present were delicious. ‘Is it soft? Is it breakable? Is it a big flat piece of metal? I played similar guessing games with my own children during those nights before Christmas – and loved every minute of them. But every now and then Christmas came early in the form of something that couldn’t be wrapped and tucked beneath the Christmas tree. A kitten. A puppy. This year it’s two belted Galloway heifers (hereafter named Eb n Em – this is Em).

This year I wrote a Christmas novella called Wish, and in it single mother Billie Temple wants to give her son, Cal, a puppy for Christmas. A dog to replace a borrowed Blue Cattle Dog that the hero might someday want back. A dog a boy could call his own:

‘Which one’s the puppy?’ asked Cal.

‘The one standing in the middle of the yard Si’s trying to drive those s

The puppy in question was looking their way.heep into,’ said Adam with a smile - a genuine Kincaid grin that widened when Cal smiled back. ‘Play your cards right, kid, and Si’ll pay you to take that fool pup away.’

‘What’s his name?’ asked Cal as he clambered out of the cab behind Adam.

‘Henry.’

Billie joined them by the side of the ute just as Cal put his hands to his knees and called the pup’s name and then sweet and leggy Henry was at Cal’s feet with the speed of a bullet, all legs and too-big ears as he planted his butt in the dirt and then tried to wriggle closer, and closer, until finally he was sitting on Cal’s shoe before collapsing in a squirming mass of ecstasy when Cal bent down to pat him.

‘What? You don’t pat your dogs around here?’ she murmured.

‘Of course we do,’ said Adam as Blue dog looked down on both pup and boy from the lofty height of the tray of the ute and barked a short sharp reprimand at the boy, the pup, or both – at which point Henry promptly peed himself.

‘This isn’t a done deal,’ she said.

I can think of a few other Christmas gifts that might come early for one reason or another. Big things. Breathing things. A loved one back from yonder.

As for Christmas gifts for my hero and heroine, I gave them each other (and I gave it to them early). No Scrooges here.

Leave a comment for a chance to win an e-copy of Wish. And if you’ve ever had ‘The Best Early Christmas Present Ever!’ I’d love to hear about it.

And congratulations Rach! on your Carina Christmas release and your latest new sale!

I've read Kelly's gorgeous novella and it's worth leaving a comment!!