Moonlight and Mistletoe

Sheriff Buck Grissom of Nancyville, Ga., was once engaged, but his intended was more devoted to her job as a social worker than to learning how to cook, and Buck ``was damned if he was going to settle for a life of microwave dinners.'' But with Christmas only days away, fate brings Buck a surprise: Scarlett O'Hara Scraggs, a voluptuous, 19-year-old, high school dropout who likes to cook. She and her younger sister, Farrah Fawcett Scraggs, are trying to escape from their bootlegging, thieving grandfather, ``Devil Anse.'' Since Scarlett and Farrie have no place to go, Buck reluctantly offers them temporary shelter at his own house. Farrie, delighted by the arrangement, is ready to settle in for good, but Scarlett realizes they may have to move on: when she crawls into Buck's bed, the sheriff, restraining his desires, throws her out. The only real charmer in this disappointing story is Demon, Scarlett and Farrie's refrigerator-sized dog. Without offering convincing motives, Daniels ( A Christmas Romance ) seems to expect readers to believe that if lovers, no matter how ill-matched, are simply thrown together, they'll take to each other and live happily ever after. (Nov.)