Heart of the Matter The last thing Nicholas Turco expected to feel during a heart exam was interest in the lab tech doing the study. He knew better. Fighting fires was safer than falling for a woman. That only brought on heartache and his heart had reached its limit as to how much it could endure. Danni Josephson knew from heartbreaking experience that there were no greater heroes than firefighters, which was exactly why she'd never get involved with her attractive and very charming patient. So her mind kept telling her. If only her heart would listen to it. Her Cowboy's Christmas Memories A Christmas Eve blizzard separates Demi and Austin Parley from their children for the night. Eager to mend his wife's aching heart, this cowboy aims to bring back her holiday spirit and remind her of their powerful connection that led to love and marriage. Mismatched Mistletoe What are the odds of finding yourself on a Christmas Cruise with the one person in your life you're hoping to avoid? Apparently, pretty good for Kate. She's been taking the stairs to avoid Evan for the past nine months and now he's sitting across from her in the dining room on their way to Mexico. To make matters worse, the one small lie she told to save her pride has now grown to monumental proportions and Evan is determined to get to the bottom of it. Only a little bit of Christmas magic is going to get Kate out of the mess she has gotten herself into. I'll Be Home for Christmas 1969: While sandal-shod, tie-dye dressed hippies flocked to Woodstock for a wild, wanton weekend, there were others who wore the uniform of a U.S. soldier... Madly in love with young ranch hand, Michael Burke, eighteen-year-old Laura Colton, heiress to her father's 50,000 acre ranch, secretly marries Michael before he leaves for Vietnam in the fall of 1968. When an Army colonel shows up at the ranch months later to inform her that her husband is missing in action, her world is turned upside down. And a whole different kind of war erupts at home. Laura clings to the last letter she had from Michael, written on May 9, the day before the devastating Battle of Hamburger Hill. He said he'd be home for Christmas. But will he? Participating authors: Amy Blizzard, Cynthia Breeding, Annette Louise, and Polly McCrillis