'Twas the Night
by Trish Jensen, Sandra Hill, Kate Holmes

“Christmas or Bust!”

What do a Blue Angels pilot, a bounty hunter and an ex-NFL football player have in common? The three bad-boy bachelors of Snowdon, Maine have to make a friend’s Christmas Eve wedding on time or die trying! They’re willing to risk anything to make that happen—even dashing through the snow in the goofiest bus on Earth, bright red and filled with a bunch of merry, meddling senior citizens known as the Santa Brigade. All too soon, these men will have met their matches in three special women: a woman from their past, a forest ranger so hot she ought to be declared a fire hazard, and a woman on the run.

Ho, ho, OH!

While serving up holiday cheer with the Santa Brigade, the guys will discover ’tis the season for good will and folly. Wise men or not, they are well and truly caught, which means these roguish St. Nicks are willing to jingle a few bells along the way if that’s what it takes to find what they truly want for Christmas nestled in their beds after the stockings are stuffed and the gifts placed under the tree.

Originally published as HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS in October 2001.

Trish Jensen's Bio

Some people claim to be born writers. Some claim to have an epiphany that led them to the writing life. Me, I figured it was more fun than a desk job.

In 1990 my life was undergoing some drastic changes. First, I realized that seven years in the corporate world was six years and twelve months too long. So like the true brainiac I am, I quit my job at a political consulting firm with no clear vision of what came next. Since I had no clear vision and no “next” on the horizon, the obvious choice was to return to school. Why not get an MBA? Initials behind my name would be good, right? One semester and several BORING courses later, I came to the stunning realization that all an MBA would get me was another desk job and some actual income, but who wanted that?

So the next semester I went for my first love. English and creative writing classes. Voila! A writer was born. What could be more fun than making up stories for a living? Ever since I began writing, I feel like I’m eight years old again, spinning fantasies. Who knew that getting published and paid to do it would be tougher than going for a doctorate in quantum physics? It’s a satisfying, terrifying, thrilling, heartbreaking life. I wouldn’t change it for all the double fudge chocolate brownies in the world. But as I sit here staring at my computer screen, a horrible thought occurs to me: It’s a desk job.

Plus, I have the joy of calling it work when I “have” to critique with the likes of published author Sandra Hill, aspiring Regency author Eve Homan (who also happens to be an editor and computer specialist), and aspiring Fantasy author Karyn Sypes who also happens to be a psychologist. Okay, you’re thinking that one could get me in trouble, except that the psychologist also happens to be a bellydancer....

They all keep me on my toes and give me lots of inspiration.

I live in the mountains of central PA, smack-dab in the middle of Amish Country, with a rather large dog.