Eight Maids A-Milking (the System) - The 12 Disasters of Christmas, #8

On the eighth day of Christmas, the Ministry demanded miracles—and got a cocoa-fueled dairy uprising instead.

When the annual Cocoa Festival is threatened by a mysterious "milk shortage," heiress Keeva Stang isn't just fighting to save her family's legacy—she's orchestrating the most ambitious holiday hustle the Ministry's ever seen. Eight suspiciously identical milkmaids, cows threatening to unionize, and cocoa prices surging like a snowstorm? All part of her master plan… until a by-the-book Ministry auditor shows up with a cowbell and a mission to sniff out holiday market manipulation.

Chase Entler is used to chasing numbers, not runaway cows and underground cocoa rings. But when his audit turns up more spilled cream than credible suspects—and a certain dazzling dairy heiress keeps making him forget every rule he's ever enforced—Chase is torn between busting the scandal and joining the rebellion. As the black market cocoa flows, the cows go on strike, and the Ministry's audit geese descend in full bureaucratic force, Keeva and Chase are forced into an uneasy alliance…with enough sparks to heat up every mug in town.

If they can survive sabotage, a dancing dairy mob, and one unforgettable Queen's Cocoa Party, maybe—just maybe—they'll discover that the real holiday miracle isn't profit or compliance, but a romance too rich to ration.

This Christmas, every cup of cocoa comes with a side of scandal, a cowbell audit, and a love story that'll leave you craving seconds.