Mistletoe Match-Up (Romancing Wisconsin #3) Read online

  Mistletoe Match-Up

  (A Romancing Wisconsin holiday story)

  by

  Stacey Joy Netzel

  Mistletoe Match-Up

  When Lisa Riley comes home for her brother Mark's Christmas Eve wedding, her high school rivalry with his wife Janelle's cousin, Derek Walsh, picks up right where it left off, only this time Derek's got the upper hand. Santa bides his time as they battle it out because he's waited a whole year for this mistletoe match-up.

  Dedication:

  Donna and Jamie,

  Thanks for all the plotting sessions.

  I look forward to many more!

  Chapter One

  The church door burst open with a flurry of twirling snowflakes. Derek Walsh halted on the bottom step of the entrance hall when a tall, slender figure hustled in, duffle bag slung over her shoulder and a wadded dress bag clutched in her arms. Frozen moisture clung to long black strands of windblown hair, catching the shine of the white lights adorning the church foyer this Christmas Eve.

  “Stupid snow,” she muttered, wrestling to close the door. The duffle bag slid from her shoulder and hit the ground with a thud. “White Christmases are way overrated.”

  Whistling wind competed with the organ music in the church. Derek crossed his arms and leaned a hip against the hand rail. Lisa Riley. The bane of his high school existence. She didn’t appear to have changed much in the past nine years; arriving only moments before the bride walked down the aisle. Still thinking only of herself. Still disorganized. Still late.

  With the door finally closed, she turned and slumped against the oak, heaving a huge sigh. One toss of her head flipped the wild locks back over her shoulder and gave him a clear view of her stubborn chin, full lips, high cheekbones and piercing gray eyes framed by a thick fan of midnight lashes.

  Still beautiful, damn her.

  She froze the instant she saw him watching. Her gaze darted around the empty entrance, paused on the closed doors at the top of the steps, and then returned to him. Her mouth thinned into a flat line. “Where is everyone?”

  “Already started. You’re late.”

  “I know.” Her chin lifted as if she prepared to debate him like old times. The strains of Collin Raye’s ballad The Gift filtered between the hinges of the doors. Lisa grabbed the duffle bag from the floor and moved away from the doors toward the steps he stood on. “I just need five min—”

  Derek stepped sideways to block her path. “That’s Janelle’s cue. This is low, even for you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means—”

  She raised one palm, the dress bag still crushed in her arms. “Forget it. And move.”

  “I’m not going to let you upstage my cousin.”

  Her glare sharpened when he didn’t stand aside. “I am not missing my brother’s wedding.”

  “You’re not making a grand entrance, either.”

  “I’m not trying to,” she snapped. “Like I was saying, I only need five minutes to get ready, so if you’d stop being a such a pain in the ass, I could get my dress on and—”

  One of the doors at the top of the landing swung open and Eric Riley stepped half-way through the door. “What is going on—Lisa! It’s about time! Where the heck have you been?”

  He disappeared just as fast. Derek sighed in frustrated defeat when Lisa brushed past. “Eric!”

  The music cut off abruptly. Seconds later the doors flew open again, spewing forth most of the wedding party. Mark Riley, the groom; Ben and Sue, the parents of the groom; Eric and Marissa Riley, and Reese and Heather in their flower girl dresses. The girls each held one of their five-month-old twin baby brothers. Jim and Jill Newel, the remaining groomsman and bridesmaid, rounded out the backward procession.

  Hands shoved in his pockets, Derek stood back and watched everyone give Lisa the royal treatment she’d received all through high school as the star basketball player who’d led the girls team to three state victories. The prodigal daughter returned home to steal the spotlight at his cousin’s wedding.

  Lisa ate up the attention with her thousand-watt smile and a lilting voice that sounded as false as a politician’s promise. Fitting, considering he’d heard she managed political campaigns for a living.

  “If I weren’t so happy to see you, I’d yell at you for almost missing the ceremony,” Sue Riley chastised.

  “It’s a long story, Mom.”

  Derek stepped forward to end the spectacle on Janelle’s behalf, but Mark beat him to it. “Tell it later, sis. I don’t want to keep my bride waiting any longer. Hurry up.”

  “Five minutes. Scout’s honor.”

  Derek took Lisa’s arm and turned her toward one of the open dressing rooms. “You’ve got three,” he growled in her ear before giving her a soft push. He closed the door on her sharp look and turned to the rest of the wedding party. “Let’s try this again, shall we?”

  Everyone took their places and the Riley twins began to cry. Derek watched Mark pace down the aisle toward the priest at the altar and thought of his cousin. Janelle’s previous fiancé deserted her the night before their wedding—this delay couldn’t be good for her nerves. He strode over to knock on her dressing room door.

  His grandpa answered, spiffy in a black tuxedo and snowy white shirt to match his full beard. It was the first time since before Derek could remember that his grandpa wasn’t dressed as Santa Claus for Christmas Eve. Exactly one year ago, Derek had played Santa’s helper, setting the stage for a perfect, magical evening for Janelle and Mark. At least he was warmer this year.

  “Everything okay?” Butch Walsh asked.

  “No problem.” Derek met Janelle’s green gaze over their grandpa’s shoulder. Questioning, not panicked. Derek relaxed some and explained, “Lisa just got here—she’s getting changed as we speak.”

  His cousin’s smile beamed with relief. “Thank God! Mark would’ve been so disappointed if she hadn’t made it in time. What happened, anyway?”

  “She didn’t say.”

  “Well, what matters is she’s here.”

  Derek restrained an eye-roll. The pedestal the Riley’s put Lisa on years ago was part of the reason she’d been such a spoiled brat. Janelle turned back to the full-length mirror to fuss with the sage green satin sash fastened just below her chest. He backed up and started to close the door, then stuck his head back in. “Hey Cuz?”

  Janelle’s reflected gaze met his in the mirror. “Yeah?”

  “You look beautiful.”

  “Thanks.” They smiled at each other, sharing a moment through the link that’d connected them ever since they were fourteen and their parents died together in a plane crash. “You’re next, you know,” she added.

  Now he did let his gaze roll toward the ceiling. He had no plans to get married anytime soon. Just before shutting the door, he caught a bright twinkle in his grandpa’s eyes, accompanied by a sly smile. Derek’s stomach somersaulted once before he reminded himself Grandpa’s expression only reflected his happiness for Janelle.

  Eric and Marissa’s boys still cried in Eric’s arms when Derek walked back through to check on Lisa’s progress. He didn’t know how the guy did it. Two seven-year old girls, five-month old twins, and yesterday Marissa puked at the rehearsal dinner. It only took a few shocked seconds for everyone to figure out the Riley’s would welcome another baby in about seven months.

  Little Ethan’s wail vibrated Derek’s eardrum. While Marissa wiped at what looked like spit-up on Reese’s burgundy dress, Derek gave Eric a commiserating grin.

  Definitely not my turn.

  Derek knocked on Lisa’s dressing room door. “Time’s up.
”

  The door opened, and Lisa stood half-behind the barrier. “Send Marissa in here.”

  Baby Evan topped his brother’s cry. Derek winced.

  “She’s busy.” He swept his gaze over Lisa’s tall, athletic body. She’d pulled her hair back on one side and fastened the dusky pink rose the bridesmaids wore behind her right ear. The style exposed the elegant line of her neck. Her dark mane was still a little messy, but with the flower, a glistening coat of sheer gloss on her lips, and the deep vee of the burgundy neckline revealing some very attractive cleavage, she looked sexy as all hell.

  A coil of the old attraction unfurled in his stomach—ten times more potent given the fact that he was no longer a teenager who had no clue about sex.

  “What do you want?” He injected the question with a note of annoyance.

  She stared at him; in her heels only two inches shorter than his six feet three inches. After a brief hesitation, she gathered the material of her skirt in one hand, lifted her stubborn chin, and spun around with a sensual swish of satin.

  “Zip me.”

  He would’ve made her add “Please,” but the sight of her bare back—all the way down to lace-edged, shimmery black panties—tied his tongue in a throat-clogging knot. His stomach muscles tightened in response to all that exposed skin.

  No fair.

  She glanced back over her shoulder, one slim brow arched high. “Today?”

  Derek grasped the dress. One hand brushed against the curve of her butt while the other one drew the zipper up along her spine. Wine-red satin encased her body in a tight embrace. He’d give anything to loosen the tie around his neck that suddenly felt too tight from the heat pervading his body. Thankfully, his fingers remained steady when he fastened the hook midpoint between her shoulder blades, though his knuckles brushed against her skin. A shiver rippled across her shoulders.

  Leaning forward so his lips hovered next to her ear, he whispered, “Cold?”

  “No—yes—a little.”

  He grinned, yet his stomach clenched tighter. Lisa turned, head slightly lowered for a glance up through her lashes. The processional music began again, soft and seductive. After a few rapid blinks above her pink-tinged cheeks, she pulled the door closed behind her and swept past.

  “Told you I’d be ready in no time.”

  He followed her to their position in the procession, dimly aware the twins had quieted as suddenly as they’d begun crying earlier. He offered his arm to Lisa for their walk down the aisle. Marissa pressed a matching bouquet of fully bloomed dusky pink roses into her hand and they were off. One slow step at a time.

  Though he faced forward with a smile for all the wedding guests, he watched her from the corner of his eye. “A considerate person would’ve been on time in the first place,” he murmured.

  “I don’t remember you being such a jerk back in high school,” she whispered back, her own smile never dimming.

  “Funny, you’re still the same spoiled princess.”

  “Oh, bite me.”

  “That an invitation?”

  “You wish.”

  They reached the front and parted ways, saving him from forming a comeback. Truth was, he wouldn’t say no to a nibble on her lips, her neck, her shoulder…heck, anywhere, really. His gaze traveled down the length of her slim figure and back up again. She studiously avoided even a single glance in his direction.

  They’d competed over everything in school. Best GPA: she’d been valedictorian. Basketball stats: she’d received the full-ride sports scholarship. Class president: she’d planned the five-year class reunion but never showed up. Debate club: she’d been voted the lead debater. She’d beaten him at everything with a superior smile and a challenging gleam in her eyes.

  And he’d never stopped wanting to kiss her.

  “You may kiss the bride.”

  Derek blinked away the past. Mark Riley drew Janelle into his arms for a kiss befitting a newly married couple deeply in love. Melancholy snuck in without warning, slamming hard like an unexpected basketball to the gut.

  Janelle was his best friend—the one person who knew just about all there was to know about him after everything they’d been through together. But their close relationship underwent subtle incremental changes over the past year, and now her marriage was the final point that left him alone. Last second shot from the mid-court line to end the game.

  On their way back down the aisle, Lisa said, “A smile would go better with your blond hair and tux.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I didn’t ask how you were, just pointing out you could at least pretend to be happy for them.”

  He scowled at her. “I am.”

  “Then show it.” She pulled him close with a tug on his arm. A wisp of sweet, seductive fragrance drifted past his nostrils. “Say cheese.”

  He spotted the photographer and summoned a smile a split second before the flash went off in their faces. Momentary blindness followed and he gave a shake of his head. The moment they stepped through the inner doors of the church, Derek pulled free of Lisa’s grip. No sense remaining near her long enough to physically respond to her body lined against his.

  Mark and Janelle headed outside to the fairy-tale horse drawn sleigh that would take them to the supper club for the reception. The rest of the wedding party gathered their things to ride over in a rented limo. Lisa slid into the limo with the rest of the Rileys, but Derek drove his truck to the club and met up with everyone for the reception line.

  A half hour later, he found himself battling resentment that Lisa garnered as much attention as the bride and groom. Conversely, he couldn’t help but be impressed listening to all her accomplishments since graduating college. She’d successfully run some small state representative campaigns in Indiana before moving on to senatorial races.

  Derek had never been disappointed with the choices he’d made, and he loved his career, but in Lisa’s presence again, it suddenly felt like he hadn’t done much with his life. God, he hated how inadequate he felt around her.

  Dinner served up more of the same when Eric and Marissa kept Lisa talking in between taking care of the twins.

  “Enough about me,” Lisa said when the plates were cleared. “I don’t know how you two do it.”

  Marissa smiled in the middle of handing Ethan off to her sister, Nikki. “We couldn’t do it without family.”

  “I bet. And I understand congratulations are in order again?”

  “Yes, thanks.” Marissa smiled. “Although, this one was a little bit of a surprise.”

  With Evan napping on his shoulder, Eric reached to rub Marissa’s abdomen. “This is the last one, or I’ll have to build a bigger house.”

  Derek smiled with the rest of them before taking advantage of a lull in the conversation. Eric and Marissa had given their best man/maid of honor toasts earlier, so he rose to his feet and lifted his glass toward Janelle and Mark.

  “To the bride and groom, I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness. And Mark, keeping with the spirit of Christmas tonight, I must remind you of our family connection to The List, so you’d better take good care of her.”

  Mark saluted him with a chuckle. From the parent table in front of the wedding party, Grandpa sounded out a loud, “Here, here!”

  Lisa looked up at Derek while everyone drank to the newlyweds. “The List?”

  He drained his half full glass of champagne and leaned past her to deposit the flute on the table. “Inside joke.”

  Lisa’s eyes narrowed a split second before she shoved to her feet. The back of her chair bit into his thigh and Derek sucked in a harsh breath. Teeth clenched, he rubbed the sore spot and sat, willing the pain to subside. More champagne sounded like a grand idea.

  Lisa lifted her glass, then turned to Mark and Janelle. “As we all know, life is full of choices. Careers, friends, husbands, wives…but the one thing we can’t choose is our family. Riley’s stick together through thick and thin, and I couldn’t have picked better eve
n if I’d wanted to.”

  “That’s not what you said when I told Dad you were kissing Brock Winston behind the shed in eighth grade,” Eric called out. Laughter erupted.

  “Or when I was home on leave and caught you sneaking out your bedroom window to go to a party,” Mark added.

  “Ha, ha,” Lisa said above the noise. “Now both of you shut up, you’re ruining my toast.”

  Derek took a drink. Leave it to Lisa to make it about her.

  “What I’m trying to say is that we’re all lucky to have the family and friends who surround us. In our fast-paced world, it can be so easy to forget those who’ve been there for us, no matter when they came into our lives.” Her voice dropped a notch, suddenly thick with emotion. “I’ll be the first to admit I’ve fallen into that trap.”

  An unexpected tightness invaded Derek’s chest when he noticed a tear tremble on Lisa’s bottom lashes. One blink made it streak down her cheek. Marissa sniffed. Janelle raised her napkin to dab at the corner of one eye. Hell, even Mark had to blink a few times, and Eric cleared his throat. The noise startled Evan awake, and the baby started crying, too.

  Damn. She’s good.

  She swept her gaze across the room from one side to the other and then turned back to the bride and groom. Her chest rose and fell with a deep breath. A tremulous smile graced her lips and the emotional moment passed.

  “But no more. Mark, thank you for another sister to make up for all the years I had to put up with you two yahoos. Janelle, one look at my brother and I can see how happy you’ve made him. We’re going to get along fabulously.” Pause for laughter and watery smiles. “Lastly, for your marriage, the best sage advice this single Riley can offer is…now that you’ve chosen each other to love, don’t ever forget to love the one you chose.”

  She raised her glass. Applause filled the hall. Kisses and hugs were exchanged. When Lisa reclaimed her seat next to Derek, he caught her quick, self-satisfied smile. Their gazes locked. Hers gleamed with smug triumph.