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CHAPTER ONE

NICK BRENNAN figured that Scrooge had gotten it right

Christmas was definitely the most overrated holiday of the year He’d had plenty of ti that he’d been stalled in a barely- line of traffic for the past forty-five minutes

A horn blared angrily behind hi chorus from a dozen other cars

Nick s This was New York traffic Friday afternoon New York traffic, the Friday afternoon before Christh to be trapped in it deserved what he got

Including him

‘Stupid,’ Nickwheel

That was the only word for it He’d been living in Manhattan for almost a decade He knew the score Even his PA, as just a few years out of so New York today wasn’t terribly bright

She’d tried to talk him out of it

‘Why don’t you let ht to Vermont?’ Ellen had said

He’d given her a bunch of reasons, all of theical Because she’d never find a seat for him at the last minute Because not even the charter service Brennan Resorts employed would be available at the eleventh hour Because even if she lucked out, who knew for howwould be able to take off? The weatherht snoas about to turn into a major storm

Nick had told Ellen all those things The only thing he hadn’t told her was the truth He was driving to North Mountain because he hoped the six hours on the road would give hi it

Oh, he’d co After all, he owned the mountain now, most of it, anyway, the same as he owned the cabin that stood on its crest And, as soon as the details were settled, his people would bring in the equipment necessary to demolish the cabin and start work on the newest Brennan resort Nick was a hands-on kind of guy He always looked a site over before work began It was, according to Wall Street, one of the reasons for his success

But nobody was going to bring in any kind of equipland winter ended in April, or maybe even May