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Her full name was Mistletoe, but they called her Missy for short. He turned his attention back to Derek, who was shaking his head as he smiled down at the friendly canine.
“Anyway,” Clark said with a chuckle. “While you’re here, I got some of the supplies for the Hilton house. They’re in the back storage room. Wanna see?”
“Absolutely,” Derek agreed, walking forward to unhook the dogs from their leads. “After you.”
He gestured for Clark to head in first, and the dogs yapped as they spun in circles around the men’s heels, prompting both of them to laugh. It had been another slow day at the hardware store, so Clark had no problem with the dogs coming in with them, since there wouldn’t be anyone for them to bother.
Plus, everyone in town loved Derek’s huskies. Even the town grump, Rudolph Hutchins, was known to crack a smile when the silly dogs were around. He led Derek and the dogs around the side of the building, pulling open the door for them and allowing them to file in first before following after them.
The dogs burst inside, nipping at each other’s heels as they played. Clark laughed and shook his head, watching Missy take off running around a corner as she chased after one of her brothers.
And then a high-pitched, startled sounding scream tore through the air.
Clark’s eyebrows shot up as he and Derek shared a look before both men turned to sprint in the direction where the dogs had disappeared. They rounded the corner of the aisle at breakneck speed, and Clark came to a screeching halt as he took in the sight before him.
Sitting on the floor of the aisle was a woman he’d never seen before. Missy and Prancer, the dog that she’d been chasing, were jumping around the woman, licking at her face and hands while the woman held up two candles high in the air and tried to shield herself from the canine onslaught.
“Missy, Prancer. Heel,” Derek commanded, and the dogs immediately came trotting over to him. They plopped down on their haunches, looking up at him with adoration.
The woman lowered her hands, face flushed, and her gaze locked onto Clark. She was so beautiful that Clark immediately felt his mouth go dry. She had chestnut brown hair that fell down around her shoulders and bangs that dusted across her forehead, accentuating her amber eyes. Those eyes narrowed at him, and she gritted her teeth, struggling to push herself up to standing with the candles she still held in each hand.
As he watched her, Clark was suddenly struck with the thought that he had seen her somewhere before. He knew that she didn’t live in town—it wasn’t that kind of familiarity. But he couldn’t let go of it.
Just as he was about to ask where he knew her from, the woman opened her mouth to speak.
“Some of the candles on the shelf behind me fell and rolled down the aisle.” She placed the two in her hands down and began to brush off the paw prints on her pants. “I stopped them from breaking when I fell, but I couldn’t get them to stay put with the dogs jumping on me.”
“I’ll grab them,” Clark said immediately, glad for the opportunity to be helpful.
The woman watched him as he walked down the aisle, his eyes scanning the floor for any sight of the candles. He barely registered Derek, who was still standing a short distance away in the aisle with the woman, gazing at her with narrowed eyes as if he too thought she looked familiar.
As soon as Clark reached the end of the aisle, he spotted the candles. Darting forward, he bent to grab all three of them where they were miraculously clustered together on the floor, halfway tucked under the shelves.
As he cradled the candles to his chest, he could hear his friend introducing himself to the woman.
“My name is Derek. I haven’t seen you around Snowy Pine Ridge. Are you new here?”
Clark strode back toward where the two of them were standing. The dogs, well trained to respond to Derek’s commands, were still sitting nearby.
“I’m Valerie,” the woman said as Clark reached them and began setting the candles on the shelf where they belonged. “And I just arrived earlier today.”
“Wait! That’s why you look so familiar.” Derek gaped suddenly. “You’re Valerie Bernard.”
The name caused a flash of recognition to shoot through Clark. Valerie Bernard, the romantic comedy superstar. Clark was the first to admit that the types of movies she usually starred in weren’t his cup of tea. He’d always been more of an action or psychological thriller kind of guy. But he had seen plenty of trailers and ads with her face on it over the years that it had all been committed to memory without him ever realizing it.
Clark recalled one of those posters, where she had a brilliant smile plastered across her face, standing underneath a large clump of mistletoe while her handsome co-star smiled at her fondly in the distance. And as Clark glanced at the woman in front of him, he had to admit that even though she had been beautiful any time her face had come across his screen, she was even more alluring in person. Devastatingly so.
The woman, Valerie, was blinking slowly at Derek, color rising high in her already flushed cheeks. She shifted from foot to foot, looking almost uncomfortable.
“That’s me,” she answered, reaching up a hand to tuck a stray lock of shiny chestnut hair behind her ear. Clark couldn’t help but notice that her hand was shaking, and he got the feeling that she didn’t want to be talking about this particular topic.
“My wife, Lacy, is a huge fan. Maybe while you’re here you could…”
Clark stepped forward, interrupting his friend mid-sentence as he extended his hand toward Valerie.
“My name is Clark Mitchell,” he said, holding her amber gaze. “I’m the owner of the hardware store. Were you able to find everything you needed?”
A look of relief flashed across her face, proving to him that his suspicion was correct. He didn’t know if she minded being recognized, couldn’t imagine that she would at that level of stardom. But regardless, she definitely did not want to be talking about it in detail. Derek flashed him a curious glance, perplexed by the fact that his usually well-mannered friend had cut him off so abruptly. Clark could feel Derek’s gaze on him, but he didn’t turn his friend’s way, opting instead to keep his gaze fixed solely on Valerie.
