Christmas in Smithville Book Tour & Giveaway

Even though Gloria is determined to change her reputation, most of the

women in town still think she’s a tramp. Sure, she may have dressed
a little flashy and dated pretty much every single guy in town, but
that’s the past. Now that she wants to make a fresh start, will
Smithville give her a second chance?

Ned has heard all the gossip, but being the Sheriff’s Deputy, he sees
all the kind things Gloria does behind the scenes for the folks of
Smithville. It looks like the upcoming Christmas Pageant will offer
him the opportunity to spend time with her, but can he overcome a
frustrating stutter and talk to her, face to face?

Your favorite characters from the Hometown Series bring craziness, love,
and Smithville Christmas style, to a whole new romance about
overcoming your past and sharing your deepest secrets. Fall in love
and be swept away with the Christmas Eve celebration of your dreams.

Kirsten grew up in the Western US and graduated from high school in

1984. She married soon there after and quickly built a family.
With three young children and number four on the way, she returned to
college in 1992. Her career as a draftsman included many settings
ranging from a steel fabrication shops to prestigious engineering
firms. Balancing family life with the workplace forced her to
become the queen of multitasking. In 2001, bored with the cubical
life, she moved on to teach drafting in technical college, then to
opening her own consulting firm teaching 3D engineering software. Due
to health problems, Kirsten retired in 2012 to travel with her
husband for his job. She now works writing romance novels and enjoys
spoiling her three grandchildren. Since 2017 Kirsten has lived and
worked full time in a 40′ travel trailer with her husband and her
little dog Bingo.

Excerpt 2 from Christmas in Smithville
Gloria could practically hear Ned’s heart beating; he was standing so close.
What was he thinking? They’d formed a solid friendship, and now, if her instincts we
right, he appeared to be crossing the friendship line. Had that been his intention all
along? Was she so stupid that she’d let her guard slip and hadn’t seen that he just
wanted to get her in bed? What was it about her that made men think she was fair
game?
Scrubbing at a stubborn piece of food on a plate, she frowned.
Ned backed up half a step, picking up on her discomfort. “What’s wrong?”
The plate was clean, but she kept scrubbing anyway.
“Gloria?” He said her name more like a quiet demand than a question. She
quit scrubbing the dish but didn’t look up.
He waited, and the silence in the small kitchen was deafening. Finally, Gloria
met his eye. Ned grinned an easy smile. “I’ll dry.” With that, he snatched up the
dishtowel hanging on the oven door and reached for the plate.
She regarded him through narrowed eyes, trying to read his intent. He felt
like the same old Ned; maybe she’d been wrong. With a shrug, she rinsed the plate
and handed it to him. Her instincts had led her astray before. Crap, she’d never been
able to tell when a man cared about her.
Ned dried the plate and reached up to put it in the cupboard. Glancing back
to Gloria, he caught her watching him, so he offered a reassuring, friendly grin.
“Damn,” she thought, turning her attention back to the dishes. The man really
was dangerously good looking. Yet, here she stood with him in Nadine’s kitchen. Theone woman she wanted to show she had changed. She had to prove to Nadine, and
the other wives in town, that she wasn’t out to get a man. She needed to remember
that, no matter how gorgeous Ned was. Besides, she valued his friendship far too
much to mess it up. If she was capable of managing any type of relationship with a
man, she wanted to be Ned’s friend.
Rinsing a plastic cup, she handed it off to him, and her eye caught his.
Something in the depths of his gaze snagged her attention, and she couldn’t look
away. What was he trying to tell her?
“I’m firsty,” Christi’s tiny voice said from the doorway.
The cup dropped to the sink as both Ned and Gloria jerked their hands apart,
both jumping back as they turned toward the little girl.
Christi stood in her pajamas, her eyes wide. “I need a dwink.”
Ned was the first to spring into action. “I’ll get you a d—drink, sweetheart. Do
you want water or milk?”
“Miwk,” she said. Her little face was serious as her eyes bounced from Ned to
Gloria and back.
Reaching into the cupboard by the sink, he retrieved a child’s sippy-cup and
lid, then headed toward the fridge. For a moment he juggled the cup and lid to open
the door and take out the milk, but he managed to make it to the table and fill the
cup half full. Tossing a grin to Gloria, as if to say ‘I got this’, he twisted the cap onto
the cup.
Christi padded across the room and reached for the cup.Ned squatted down to eye level and offered her his trademark grin. “Here
you go d—darlin’.”
The child gave him a serious once over as she took the cup, then tipped it up
to drink. Unfortunately, when the cup reached her mouth, the lid came off, and milk
spilled all down the front of the little girl’s chin, neck, and footy pajamas.
Ned gasped and jumped back to miss the torrent of milk splashing across the
floor.
“Oh dear!” Gloria cried, grabbing the towel off the counter and hurrying to
the little girl’s side. “Did the lid come off?” Her eyes sprung to Ned’s, and she felt
instantly silly for asking the obvious, so she turned back to the little girl. “Of course,
it did. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Ned floundered, “I didn’t m—mean to… I’m so s—sorry…”
Little Christi glared up at him, her expression clearly stating that she
considered the man to be a complete jerk. Milk dripped onto the floor as she stood
in a widening puddle. Her fuzzy pink pajamas and even her hair were soaked in
milk.
Trying not to laugh, Gloria stripped off the sodden pajamas, soothing and
assuring Christi that the deputy didn’t mean to spill her milk. After dabbing up all
the milk she could with the now-soaked towel, she hefted the child up onto her hip
and turned to Ned. The miserable look on his face gave her pause. “Don’t worry,” she
assured both parties. “Nothing a bath won’t fix.”
As she headed across the room, Ned found his voice. “I’ll m—mop up…” but
Gloria was gone, along with his chance to tell her how he felt.

 

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