Love at Christmastide is wonderful… if the couple in question believes in the magic. Alistair Forsythe, the 12th Earl of Reardon, is the most sought-after man in the ton this Christmastide season. Handsome, of good character, and possessing a large fortune, he finally intends to do his duty to his title after being in India for years. In the market for a wife, he can now easily have his pick of any woman, yet none of them have snared his interest—not since Carole—but she is beyond his reach. Miss Carole Hazelton doesn’t give two farthings about a man’s position within the ton or his looks. In fact, she’s not thought about the beau monde since that horribly embarrassing day five years ago when Alistair left her standing alone at the altar. Now making her living as a governess, she’s both dismayed and furious to discover the neighbor who’s returned to the townhouse next door is the man who’d jilted her—Alistair. As that old scandal recirculates, it throws their reputations into question. To repair the damage, the earl and Carole must practice forgiveness. While she’s not quick to forget, he’s not above employing charm and mistletoe to his advantage or drawing on their past romance, but when the feelings they both thought long dead come rushing back, that love just might ruin them both… or provide a second chance they never knew they needed.