The Christmas Match: Castle Ridge Small Town Romance

by Burton, Allie

  He had his back to her, so he couldn’t see her standing at the entrance, pausing, debating, sweating. She’d thought she’d made the decision to tell Luke before someone else hinted, but now, seeing him, she wasn’t so sure.

  His blond hair appeared to have been styled to perfection. He held his head high. His broad shoulders took up most of the room on that side of the booth. She’d recognize him anywhere, from the back or the front. She could always pick him out on the ski slope by the way his body moved, even when she secretly watched him on television.

  Taking one step, she stopped again. This was a bad idea. Telling a guy he had a child thirteen years later wasn’t the smartest thing. But then she remembered that Coach had guessed, how Isabel had insisted, and what her brother had said. She remembered the cruel gossip. Knew people would put two and two together. She needed to tell Luke. Not someone from town. He had a right to know.

  Her knees knocked together as she moved forward. She braced her hand against a post as she moved past. Her lungs constricted and she could barely breathe. She felt as if she’d hiked the highest peak in Castle Ridge.

  Before she got to his booth, Luke swung around as if sensing her. His gaze shot to her face, sending warm shivers across her skin.

  She stumbled.

  He lunged from the booth and grabbed her arm. “You okay?”

  His pine scent surrounded her, forming a trap.

  “Yeah, um.” She shook off his touch and his scent, and collapsed into the other side of the booth. “How are you?”

  “Good.” He studied her face, analyzed, knew she lied.

  He’d always known when things weren’t going well, or if she was tired or thinking about something else. Maybe they weren’t psychic like Isabel had suggested, but they’d had a connection.

  “How’s the leg?” Danielle yanked out the small talk she’d practiced on the walk over.

  “Getting better every day.” His quip sounded false. The tick in his cheek proved it.

  Sympathy because of his injury softened her mood. She’d play along with the lie wishing it was true. She wanted him to leave Castle Ridge as soon as possible. “When are you heading out of town?”

  He saluted her with his half-empty beer mug before taking a sip. His dinner plate had been cleared, but two crumpled napkins sat on the table. His lips lifted in a half-smile, a teasing grin that turned everything inside her to mush. “Trying to get rid of me, huh?”

  “No. No. Nooo.” The mush traveled to her mouth making her lips form the words slowly. Heat because she still wore her heavy wool coat, blasted her.

  If she was going to tell him the truth, she needed to pull herself together. She fiddled with the top button of her coat, undoing it in the process. She’d been so nervous she’d forgotten to take the coat off before sitting down.

  “I love it when you’re flustered.” He signaled for the waiter recognizing her fiddling as a sign of distress.

  Not that she’d ever admit duress to him. She needed to show him how strong and independent she’d become. Tightening each of her muscles, she sat a little straighter.

  “I’m not flustered.” She twisted her mouth around the lie.

  Luke ordered another beer from the waitress standing there. “What would you like?”

  “Chardonnay.” Weird to be ordering alcohol with Luke. They’d never drank as teens. She’d been a good girl and he’d been focused on his future as a professional athlete.

  He leaned back in the booth. His frigid-blue gaze raked over her body leaving a trail of warmth as if he’d physically touched her.

  The heavy wool coat felt like a personal sauna holding in the heat Luke generated. She undid another button and then another.

  “I imagined you more of a Margarita type of girl.” The salt in his tone could’ve frosted the margarita.

  He’d imagined her? When? In between his snow bunnies and model friends?

  The heat overwhelmed sending a bead of perspiration down her back and making her dizzy. “Why’s that?” She didn’t really want to know the answer. Tugging off her coat, she got her arm stuck.

  “A little bit wild.” It was as if he was trying to get her angry.

  She struggled with the coat, her elbow stuck in the sleeve. She probably looked more foolish than wild. The only time she’d ever been irresponsible was when she’d made love with Luke.

  “Why would you think that?” Her voice came out hard and rough. She hated that she sounded insulted. She didn’t want him thinking she was a prude, not after what she knew of his exploits.

  “The second I left town, you were engaged to Williamson.” Luke held up a finger. “Then, you left Castle Ridge for the city.” He Held up a second finger counting her indiscretions. “You had a kid out of wedlock.” His third finger went up.

  She wanted to give him a finger. The middle one.

  “All of a sudden you went wild, became somebody else.” His voice sounded even, but she sensed the censure.

  His censure ripped into her heart and her pride. Her eyes burned. The shredded pieces waved like a red flag, making her want to prove him wrong. He judged her to be a loose party girl when she’d practically been a nun. She refused to show him how much he’d hurt her. She shook off the sleeve of her coat and smashed the garment into a pile on the bench.

  “Did you expect me to wait around for you?” She forced sarcastic-superiority into her tone.

  Pain flashed in his eyes. “You couldn’t even wait a month before being with another guy.”

  “What?”

  “Doesn’t matter.” He waved a hand in front of his face and his expression changed as if a magician had waved a magic wand. His gaze went from painful to predatory. The sensual gleam in his eyes was a neon warning sign and her instincts shouted for her to run.

  “You changed from the shy, conservative girl I dated in high school.” His lips twisted into a semblance of a smile except it looked more like a snarl. Reaching across the table, he grabbed her hand and his thumb trailed a path across her palm. “I like it.”

  A jolt of desire bolted from her hand and lit her entire body as if her veins were a fuse burning to the end. A familiar burn. One she hadn’t felt in thirteen long and lonely years. That thought spurred the frazzle of panic on her warmed skin. She could never let him know that he was the only man she’d ever been with. She had to use his low opinion of her as a shield, act carefree.

  She forced her lips into a smirk. “People grow up. Or at least some of us do.”

  He let go of her hand. Which is what she wanted. Right?

  “I’ve been accused of being stupid and a child all in one night. Good to be back home.” His truly insulted tone hit a chord in her heart.

  Refusing to feel sorry for him and let her guard down, she rubbed her fingers, her heart more sore than the digits. “Why are you here?” And when are you leaving?

  Twinges in her stomach signaled her ongoing doubt. What if he hung around longer once she’d made her confession?

  “Castle Ridge has some of the best sport physical therapists. Why not recover here?” He tossed off his answer casually, but to her it sounded practiced.

  The thought made the twinges in her stomach swoosh as if she was standing at the top of the mountain waiting to take a run. Was he here for some ulterior motive? Did he already have suspicions about Brianna? Especially now that he’d met her. Danielle gulped down more wine.

  His expression smoothed and his eyebrows lifted suggestively. “What do I owe the pleasure of this meeting tonight?”

  The change of topic and his lightning mood swing had her mind spinning. He didn’t want to talk about his reasons for returning to Castle Ridge. Neither did she. She only wanted to know when he was leaving.

  She took another sip of wine trying to gather her gumption.

  Leaning forward, his eyes ogled her breasts in an obvious way. As if he wanted her to be uncomfortable. “Maybe you’ve decided you’d like to show me this new wild side of Danielle.”


  In her stomach, disgust curled in bed with desire. Images of the two of them together, naked, scorched her brain. This wasn’t why she suggested they meet tonight.

  She sucked in a breath swallowing wine the wrong way. Choking, she coughed. He’d made similar lewd suggestions when they’d met in the locker room. “Why are you turning on your smarmy button?”

  “You’re single. I’m single. You’ve changed. I’ve changed. You asked to meet me.” His voice rose in accusation. “Nothing smarmy about that.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Every time a woman asks you to meet does it mean having sex?”

  “Pretty much.” His cockiness caused the wine to burn in her chest.

  Disgust made it travel the wrong direction. “Not with me.”

  His eyes blinked. For a second she thought she’d seen hurt on his expression, but then the suave-macho guy she’d seen in interviews on TV made his reappearance. “Then what do I owe this…pleasure?”

  His hesitation told her he meant the opposite of pleasure, but again the imagined images of the two of them together burned. Her entire body felt as if she sat in the fire, not next to the fireplace. She blew out a breath and focused on what she came to do.

  Tell Luke. Tell Luke. Tell Luke.

  The room seemed to close in on them. The few people in the dining area were normal people having normal conversations. They weren’t about to change someone’s life. They weren’t about to alter their own reality. And their daughter’s.

  The fire roared louder. The flames spurted higher, taunting. Other people’s laughter spiked through her head. The clanging dishes echoed and burst in her brain.

  She blew out a slow breath, knowing she just needed to spit it out. “I need to tell you something and I want a promise you won’t yell or make a scene.”

  “I promise.” His snippiness set the wrong tone.

  Nerves scraped in her stomach making the wine go sour. Nausea rumbled and burned up her chest. She felt as if she was going to heave on the table. She pinched her lips together and then forced her mouth to open. To speak.

  Nothing came out.

  “I haven’t seen you in thirteen years. There’s nothing you could say that would make me angry.” He grabbed his mug and took a long pull.

  She froze at his statement and his casual action. He didn’t believe anything she said mattered? Her iced body cracked and heated. Fissures formed with her fury. He didn’t think she mattered? Her brain popped and her veins burst in a torrent. He probably wouldn’t think their daughter mattered either. Her hands curled into cold claws. She wanted to scrape the annoying expression off his handsome face.

  Instead, she scooped up her coat and lunged out of the booth. “Oh!”

  To hell with him.

  “Well?” His impatient tone yanked her to a stop, goaded her.

  Her heart thumped once. Deviousness had her swirling back around. So, he didn’t think anything she said would affect him, did he? She was going to give him the shock of his life.

  She took a step forward, leaned toward him, and whispered, “Brianna is your daughter.”

  Chapter Four

  Brianna is your daughter.

  Luke heard the words through a filter of fog and fantasy. His body stilled. His heart raced. And his mind turned each of the words over until the meaning became clear.

  “What.” Not a question.

  Dani studied the table. Her skin appeared white as the snow blanketing the mountains. “Brianna is—”

  “I heard what you said.” He kept his tone hard and sharp, an icicle about to fall from a roof and puncture the blatant lie. “What I’m wondering is, why you’d make up such a ridiculous story.”

  Dani slipped back into her seat. Their gazes connected. Her indigo eyes swam with compassion and an edge of fear. “I thought you should know—”

  “You. Thought. I. Should. Know.” He spat each word individually. Disgust choked in his throat and swelled into anger. Anger that she lied. Anger that she thought he’d believe her. “What about your fiancé, Williamson? I might not be a math major, but you were engaged to him.”

  “We didn’t…” Her cheeks bloomed in varying shades of red.

  “Don’t tell me you two didn’t have sex.” Jealousy choked his lungs and he found it difficult to speak. “You had sex with me and I was only a boyfriend.”

  Luke had thought Dani was the one. Leaving her to pursue his ski career had ripped his heart to shreds. But she was still in high school and he had to do something with his life.

  For her. For them.

  Until he realized there was no them. That what they had wasn’t a forever kind of love. Only a simple high school crush she’d easily forgotten. She’d played him for the fool.

  Everything inside him hardened. His spine, his muscles, even his injured leg. Was she trying to make him an even bigger fool now?

  “You weren’t just a boyfriend.” Her murmur barely reached across the table.

  He snorted. What game was she playing? He couldn’t trust a word out of her very kissable mouth. Pushing the anger down, he twisted his lips into what he hoped was a smarmy grin. “Are you saying I meant more to you than your fiancé? Interesting.”

  Minutes ago, Williamson had warned Luke away and now Dani told him Brianna was his kid. Was millionaire Williamson not ponying up enough dough to keep Dani happy? He’d seen scheming women like her before. And yet, Williamson didn’t seem involved in Brianna’s life. This was a complicated chess game where he didn’t know who his opponent really was.

  He glanced around at the sedate pub, with its dark wood and mellow holiday music. A few out-of-town skiers sat in a group enjoying a beer. Laughing. A waitress propped her foot on the stool by the bar, talking to the bartender. Williamson owned this, and more. What did Dani want from Luke? Sure, he had money. Not enough to own this lodge and a dozen other businesses.

  He’d play along. See what other drastic steps she’d take. “Are you after my money?”

  “What? No.” Her mouth dropped so far down her chin almost hit the table.

  He didn’t trust her phony expression. He couldn’t believe a word she said. She certainly wasn’t the innocent, honest girl he’d known. “Good, because I don’t have as much as Williamson.”

  “Look,” Glancing around, Dani licked her lips. “I didn’t even want to tell you.”

  She’d never planned to tell him?

  As if she’d taken a rusty ski pole and stabbed the point into his lung, Luke gasped at the pain. Was he not good enough to be Brianna’s father? Not that he was…

  Doubts poked at his brain. The girl sure could ski like him.

  Could he believe Dani had never had sex with the guy? Williamson was more likely to be the father than him. Luke fisted and unfisted his hands. Brianna’s green eyes matched his.

  “How old is Brianna exactly?” He’d guessed she was eleven or twelve, except, what did he know about girls? Usually they tried to appear older.

  “Thirteen.” The word shot into his chest.

  Each year was a bullet sending shrapnel through his body. Anguish, cascading anguish, left him numb.

  “She’ll be fourteen in February.”

  The wires calculating in his mind sparked, sending jolts through his body, electrifying the numbness and taking him out of his state of shock. As shock subsided, fury took its place. Sizzling and frying his mind.

  He had a child.

  A daughter named Brianna.

  A daughter he hadn’t known existed.

  A daughter he’d talked to as if she wasn’t special to him.

  But she was. Special. A daughter. A girl. A child.

  The gibberish in his head resembled a toddler’s. In a way, he was a toddler—a newborn father. A father who’d never known.

  The sizzling scorched into a burn. Rage filled him. He hadn’t known. The rage consumed him, exploding in tense muscles and burning chest. He wanted to yell, to demand answers, to punch the table between them.

  He needed to
stay calm. “This isn’t the place to discuss this.”

  She lowered her head, redness burning her silky cheeks. “I thought somewhere public would be better.”

  He fisted his hands together again. His short nails dug into his skin, causing pain that at least he controlled. “Why? Because you thought I’d get angry?”

  “Yes.”

  Oh, I’m not angry. I’m furious.

  The type of furious that boiled in your blood and steamed in your head, fogging your vision and your common sense. What he wanted, was to get Dani alone so he could yell and interrogate and yell some more.

  Grabbing her hand, he stood. A twinge shot through his bad knee. He ignored it. “Let’s go.”

  “I don’t think—”

  “You wanted to talk? Fine, we’ll talk about your topic. I get to pick the place.” Barely controlling his temper, he pulled her out of the pub. He wasn’t enjoying this game anymore, and he planned to change the stakes to his favor. “Don’t you think I deserve that much?”

  Tugging her out of the restaurant, her feet dragged. He didn’t want to make a scene. He would if he had to. She must’ve realized the possibility, because she picked up her pace.

  Charging through the lobby, he punched the elevator button. The door dinged open and he ushered her inside.

  “Wh-where are we going?” She stumbled on her tall heels.

  “Somewhere private.”

  He tapped his foot too fast to be in rhythm with the elevator music. The elevator door opened, and he ushered her into the hallway and down the hall.

  She shook her head, wariness settling in her eyes. “I don’t want to go to your room.”

  “Not as free-spirited as you claimed.” He didn’t know what to believe about Dani anymore. She claimed to be wild, yet she hadn’t had sex with her fiancé? Which Dani was real?

  “I never said—”

  “Save it for someone who believes you.” Okay, he’d assumed she was wild. That could’ve been his past hurt coloring his assessment.

  He shoved the card key into the lock and pushed open the door.