Crude. Surly. Mean. That was the reputation Cyrus Martinez had—especially this time of year. Cyrus hated everything about Christmas. Every. Single. Thing. He didn’t believe in the joy of the season. Life had dealt him blow after blow and now he lived for himself and no one else. The one good thing in his life, was baseball and fate had been trying to mess that up too. When he was traded from his dream team and sent back to the minors to play for a team no one had heard of, in a town no one knew about—he wasn’t happy. There just wasn’t a lot he could do about it. Moving to Mistletoe, Montana was definitely a culture shock. The whole town was Christmas crazy and apparently that way year around. Cyrus was ready to leave from day one. He even begged his GM for another trade. When he agreed to check on Ida Sue Lucas’s family member while in town, he didn’t know what he expected. Someone as crazy as she was probably. He wasn’t ready for the sexy blonde, with sparkling blue eyes, a laugh that sounded like bells chiming, who had a body that was made to heat up the coldest of winter nights. Sweet. Cheerful. Loving. She was Cyrus’s complete opposite. Heck, the town even nicknamed her Christmas Carol. It could never work out between the two of them. No way. No how. But maybe Cyrus could be the first man to make sure squeaky clean Carol got put on Santa’s naughty list this year…