Family Gatherings (and How to Survive Them)! by Carol Marinelli
26 Comments December 16th, 2009 in author, heroes, holidays, just for fun Posted by Amyby Carol Marinelli, author of Bedded for Passion, Purchased for Pregnancy (Harlequin Presents, Dec. 2009)
Does the thought make you smile, or go “yikes!”?
It’s that time of year again and I’ve worked several Christmas’s in Emergency, so I am sure that a few of you will know what I mean!
My December book – Bedded for Passion, Purchased for Pregnancy — isn’t a Christmas book, but it does start off with a big family gathering that has a rather unexpected guest.
I felt so much for Emma, my heroine, when she found out at the last minute that Zarios D’Amilo was coming to the party. I could just imagine the horror and the chaos and the EXCITEMENT it would create, at one of my family gatherings, if a Presents Hero suddenly dropped in.
All I had to do was imagine the sexiest guy on earth, landing on my mother’s doorstep and picture the sudden frenzy. I could just hear my mother announcing that he would be sleeping in my old room and the rapid clean up that would ensue…
I mean, a Presents Hero just doesn’t belong in our old bedroom, does he?
Nor do we usually find him at a family gathering, with uncles and aunts and a brother whose trouble, oh, and throw in a cougar or two.
Poor Emma!
So, for a bit of fun, and we all need it, I’m asking what you would quickly have to take care of, if you found a Presents Hero in your Christmas stocking….
You can cheat, you don’t have to factor in your DH because that just complicates things, but you do have to imagine that sexy Sheikh, or in my case Zarios, striding in, and catching you and your loved ones as you truly are. If things do get a bit heated on Christmas day, well, off to your imagination you go and do the same – your hero will still love you if you burn the turkey, or forget batteries, or can’t find the tonic for the gin. He’ll just smile that secret smile and so will you.
Okay, I’ll go first -
Before he arrived, the second I found out that he was coming, I’d have to sort out my toe nails.
I always mean to, but I generally cram them into stilettos if I’m pushed for time, but, if I knew a Presents Hero was suddenly arriving, I’d be racing to the corner shop (hoping it was open on Christmas Morning) for some nail varnish remover… (just in case he wants to kiss my toes!)
Happy holidays,
Carol x
Tagged with: authro Carol Marinelli • Bedded for Passion Purchased for Pregnancy • Christmas
26 Responses to “Family Gatherings (and How to Survive Them)! by Carol Marinelli”
- 1 Pingback on Dec 19th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
He would be good cheered to death if he came to my family’s house at Christmas. And he would leave twenty pounds heavier than he did when he arrived. We’re loud, and we eat, and that’s Christmas!! But we never fight, and even if the house would be much more modest than he was used to…well…we could really teach a damaged alpha a thing or two about functional families.
My toes absolutely… and my legs…. heck, I’d better just jump in the shower!
LOL
Thanks for a fun post.
Lynne
LOL. I’d probably have to change out of the grubby clothes. On Christmas day, they’d be covered with the food splatters from the preparations for the turkey dinner. I’m sure we could find him some good wine and chocolate so perhaps he wouldn’t mind waiting while I ditched the hokey, food covered Christmas sweater?
I don’t know if I could do anything to help myself — I’d be blushing like mad if a Harlequin Presents hero showed up on my doorstep! Maybe some foundation so I don’t look like a total tomato?
~Amy
Once I scraped myself off the floor, I’d have to run and put on my best underwear. That lacy set that makes my confidence as well as other parts all uplifted and perky.
Not that I’d be planning for him to see it, of course…
Boots no7 green cream, Amy. Covers up the red colour in no time. Great for that heightened ‘Cheek flush’ after a glass of wine too. LOL.
Can’t wait to read this, Carol. Love the photo of himself.
Oh heavens, all of the above, not to mention a high powered clean -out of all the accumulated STUFF in that bedroom. Can you imagine what he might make of that cache of Cosmos and Cleos and tips on how to snare the passing sheikh?
Not that it would hurt him to take a gecko at some of those articles on what women want…
Fun post, Ms Carol.
It was good to wake up to all your comments and sit in my pyjamas and see that we’d all be worrying about the same! Yes, the blushing is a problem and I remember well the corrective green foundation! Absolutely Mulberry, fab underwear, whether he sees it or not!
So, Maisey’s going to feed him up, Lynne’s in the shower, Anne’s plying him with chocolate and wine, Mena’s lending Amy the Boots No7. Anna’s cleaning up the bedroom and Mena’s feeling great. I think we’re just about ready for him.
Mena, in this book, he’s actually Italian, but I couldn’t resist that photo – I think he’s my stocking filler!
cx
Guess it’s too late to worry over those extra k’s I was going to lose before Christmas!
Before my Presents hero knocked on the door, I’d have to be firm with my mother and warn her not to go overboard on trying to make him feel welcome. ‘Another cup of tea?’ ‘More cake?’ ‘Please, stay the night. Stay the week!’ lol She’s a total sweetheart, but can be a tad over the top. I can see my hero smiling to himself at her…just before our eyes connect and he hands over his Christmas gift to me. It’s expensive and glitters beautifully. God, that man has taste!
Thanks for the fun post, Carol!
Robbie
Oh, heavens, Mulberry of course he won’t be seeing them! You’re a good girl after all…ahahhaha…oh, sorry couldn’t make it through that one.
I love how I’m offering to feed him in the rundown. Can you tell I’m massively prego since we’re talking uber sexy billionaire on the doorstep and I want to give him turkey and mashed potatoes because, heck, what’s better than that???
With that in mind, I would be irresistible to him at the moment…and if he was a very good boy and didn’t get to autocratic on me…I’d let him rub my swollen feet.
Robyn, he’s tired of model figures AND I have it on authority that your poor hero’s mother is a cold woman and he’s charmed that your mother makes such a fuss!
Maisey, yours just happens to give the *best* foot massages – he won’t get too autocratic (though with others he can at times) but your hero has a very soft spot for pregnant woman.
Mine has bought a nanny with him. She’s brilliant with kids and will keep mine amused for hours!!!!!
How lucky am I?
cx
Sorry, it’s Mulberry feeling great in her sexy undies!
cx
LOL…you have to watch out for those nannies though, Carol…he might take up with her!
Oh Carol, now that’s what I call a stocking filler:-))
I would be a right mess. I would have tried on everything in my wardrobe three times and gone back to wearing the first thing I picked so my wee single bed would be buried under a massive mound of clothes.
Luckily I won’t be needing it. His private jet is fuelled and ready for take off at a nearby runway. He’s taking me off to see the northern lights and while it will take a few hours to get there, especially with that surprise meal in Paris on the way, luckily there’s a massive bed on the plane, so of course, we can catch a litte shut eye on the way:-))
Love the post, Carol. It really would be bedlam, wouldn’t it!
He might Maisey, but that’s just me feeling insecure, it would all be a terrible misunderstanding x
Trish, Paris sounds fab though I’m so tired after Christmas dinner………
I think I would have to doze on said single bed – silly me, I forget we had company!
cx
Gorgeous post, Carol, love the idea of a Presents hero arriving with presents.
Not so sure about him in the bedroom of my girlhood. I’d be wanting an instant makeover of that room to hide the dorky girl I was.
And yes to pedicure, waxing, green foundation and the works.
And then I’d probably throw him into the kitchen first, because a man who’s good in the kitchen is good elsewhere… And a man who can handle the Christmas kitchen chaos can handle anything.
Including me
Great post, Carol! I’m with Lynne – it’d be my legs!
And then… well, if he came from a dysfunctional family, he’d be in for a shock, because my lot are, um, a tad eccentric. He’d be on the sofa with a glass of wine and a plate of cake before he knew what had hit him. And he’d be simultaneously playing a board game with littlest, X-box with eldest (and he’d get brownie points there for NOT going uber-competitive). That’s not forgetting the dog: he’d have to be OK with having a dog drop a ball or some other toy into his lap and not mind mud on his trousers (ha – I’ve done that to a Presents hero in my time *g*)
And then it would be snowing. He’d help the kids make a snowman, play snowballs, then (when they were exhausted and had gone to bed) we’d tango in front of the fire and… (Big happy sigh. Yup, you guessed who my Presents hero would be. Mr Banderas.)
(Trish, oh YES to the Northern Lights – overexcited here because we’re going for my 45th birthday and I can’t wait until 2011 now.)
Robbie – the way you described your mum: I think I might be her
You’re such a good mum Kate – I’ve got mine all being amused by the nanny!
Hadn’t really thought about sending him to the kitchen Anne, but I am now
cx
What a great post Carol
Reminds me of my second book, The Mile-High Club (aka The Millionaire’s Blackmail Bargain) where I had my hero turn up at the heroine’s big family Christmas – at her invitation. She soon regretted it though when her older brothers immediately spilled the beans about her last boyfriend to the hero, and teased her mercilessly in front of him!!
Heidi x
Food. I’d have to go out and buy some food. I like to cook and, afterall don’t they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?
Might have to brush up on some international cuisine depending on the hero’s nationality.
Abbi
Carol, you want to introduce a new lone alpha into the pack on Christmas day? Are you nuts? Forget the nail polish, I’m heading for the sedatives. Not for me. For them.
Christmas and romance ……what more can we ask for. Forget the food..Hmmmm
Well thanks for warming up my morning because it’s snowing here so I needed something less boring than thermals
Great post Carol! The first thing I’d do is try on every dress in the wardrobe and then probably just give up and wear the first one I tried on with a pair of killer heels which improve any outfit. I would make sure I was standing on a flat surface when he arrived – no stairs – so that I don’t ruin the moment by falling flat on my nose and I’d wear loads of lipgloss in the hope that he would look straight at my mouth and get the message
thus bypassing those bits of my body I’d rather he didn’t notice….
But I agree with Trish – doesn’t matter about the house because he’s going to put me on his private jet and take me away. (But only after the turkey – I love turkey)
I’m loving the sound of Zarios Carol. I shall use this book to warm myself up after I’ve finished building my ’snow alpha male’ in the garden with the children.
x
Should have added that we’ve had lots of snow here, which is why I’m building a ’snow alpha male’. It’s the Presents author’s equivalent of a snowman
I have snow envy Sarah, I burnt my shoulders today walking the dog!
Heidi, my sisters would be as bad as any brother *and* they’d flirt!
I love that Anne has him in the kitchen and Abbi’s feeding him, while Kelly’s passing round the sedatives.
Jay – I think we’re on the same page.
I have another problem – I have a very large white cat – it’s okay if I get a Sheikh, but Zarios in his dark suit…………
Wish these hero’s would give a gal more notice
cxx