title: Not Quite An Heiress
author: Wallace, Kristin
description: “Annaliese, I’m too old to play games,” Duke Evans said, though the thread of amusement remained in his voice. “I need to see you.”
  Okay fine, no games on her end, either. “I’m not sure that’s wise, Mr. Evans.”
  “Who said we need to be wise, Ms. Matheson?”
  Arrogant, sure, but he was also charming, and smart. It was an intriguing combination. “I don’t think I’m ready. My husband died and—”
  “It’s a stroll on the boardwalk, surrounded by hundreds of people who will be focused on the Christmas lights and whatever senior-citizen musical group Shellwater Key can put together.”
  “Now who’s playing games?” she countered. “I don’t know that I can handle this…handle you.”
  She heard the quick, indrawn breath on his end. “You really shouldn’t say things like handle me, Ms. Matheson. I might get ideas.”
  Widowed stage actress, Annaliese Matheson is convinced she’ll never love again. This Christmas will become the opening act for her holiday happily ever after.
  Annaliese Matheson once had a perfect life, with a successful career on Broadway and a loving husband who was her greatest champion. Then her husband died. Devastated, she left the stage behind and only returned when her best friend, Grayson Kendall, asked her to perform at The Paradise Dinner Theatre in tiny Shellwater Key, Florida.
  Annaliese is convinced she’ll never love again, but when she steps in to direct to Middle School Christmas Show, nothing will ever be the same. A man unlike any she’s known awakens her buried heart, giving her a second chance at forever with the last person she would have expected. It will take a miracle for Annaliese to let someone else in and embrace happiness again...but then it is Christmas.