He finally admitted at some point in the middle of the night that instead of getting her out of his system, he was allowing her to become more firmly entrenched in his heart. He could readily see now that his initial attraction to Jessie had been pure chemistry, tinged with the magical allure of the forbidden. In some ways, his conscience insisted, she was even more out of reach to him now.
But he knew in his gut that the attraction went beyond her being unavailable to him. Traits he’d only suspected before were clear to him now. He was coming to know her strengths and her weaknesses in a whole new way and nothing he’d discovered disappointed him.
In addition to being beautiful and warmhearted, she was also quick-tempered. In addition to being strong and brave, she was also willful and stubborn. She had a quick wit and a ready laugh, but she could also be a bit of a nag when she believed in her cause. In his view the positives outweighed the negatives. The contrariness only made her more interesting.
Those discoveries solidified his long-held belief that she and Erik had been mismatched from the start. As much as he had adored his younger brother, he’d also recognized that Erik was weak, too weak to stand up to their father, too weak to provide much of a challenge to a woman like Jessie.
He’d wondered more than once what had drawn them together in the first place. Observing them in years past with a sort of detached fascination, he had had no problem guessing why Erik had chosen a woman with Jessie’s strengths. Less clear was why she had fallen in love with his brother. The past couple of days had given him some insight into that.
He was beginning to realize that far from being the gold digger she had appeared to some distrusting family members at first glance, Jessie had simply craved being part of a family with history and roots. On the surface, anyway, his family was storybook caliber with its strong men, boisterous affection, deep-rooted ties to the Texas land and abiding sense of loyalty. Erik had been her passport to all of that.
He couldn’t help wondering, though, why she had chosen to move across the state after Erik’s death, when she could have stayed at White Pines, claimed her rightful place in the family she’d obviously grown to love, and been doted on.
As he understood it, his parents had begged her to stay, especially after they’d learned she was pregnant. Even though it had meant giving up something desperately important to her, Jessie had insisted on going.
Whatever her reasons, he admired her for standing up to them. He also knew she hadn’t taken a dime when she’d left. It was yet more testament to her character, proof that she had married Erik for love, not for money.
Lingering in the barn, Luke was leaning against a stall door, still contemplating Jessie, when Chester butted him from behind. The old goat was obviously tired of being ignored. Luke turned on him with mock indignation.
“Hey, what was that all about? Goats who get pushy don’t get treats.”
Chester didn’t get the message. He nudged Luke’s coat pocket trying to get at the sections of apple he knew were there. Luke dug them out and fed them to him.
“So, what do you think, Chester? What can I do to make this holiday special?”
Since the goat didn’t seem to have any sage advice, Luke headed back toward the house. He was almost there when inspiration struck. He might not be able to deliver a load of gifts or even an album of Christmas carols, but he could certainly come up with a tree.
He detoured to the woodpile for an ax, then headed into the stand of pine trees on the ridge behind the house. He’d planted most of them up there himself, full-grown pines that had cost a fortune. He supposed he’d done it just because his parents had no similar trees, despite the name of their home. The gesture had been some sort of perverse link to his past.
He surveyed the cluster of trees critically, dismissing several as too scrawny, a few more as misshapen, though they’d all seemed perfect to him when he’d chosen them from the nursery. Finally his gaze landed on a tree that was tall and full and fragrant.
He worked up a sweat and an appetite chopping it down, then dragging it through the snow all the way back to the house. Propped up against the back porch railing, the tree seemed ever-so-slightly larger than it had on the ridge. He eyed it uneasily and decided he might have been just a little optimistic about fitting it into the house. Still, there was no denying that it was impressive. It made a statement, one he hoped that Jessie couldn’t mistake.
After stomping the snow off his boots and dusting it from his clothes, he snuck inside to make sure that Jessie was still in bed. During the night as he’d been sitting awake in the living room staring into the fire, he’d heard her pacing the floor with the baby. Hopefully, she was catching up on lost sleep this morning.
He tiptoed down the hall as silently as a man his size could manage, then edged the bedroom door open a crack. Down for the count, he decided, after watching the soft rise and fall of her chest for several seconds more than was entirely necessary.
Angela, however, was another story. In her makeshift bed, a drawer they had lined with blankets, she was cooing to herself and waving her arms as if to let him know she was ready for an adventure. Luke couldn’t resist the invitation. There was something about holding that tiny bundle of brand new life in his arms that filled him with a sense of hope.
Swearing to himself that he was only picking the baby up to keep her from waking Jessie, he carried her, bed and all, into the kitchen. Those serious eyes of hers remained fixed on him trustingly all the way down the hall. He was certain they were filled with anticipation, indicating she was ready to try anything. He figured she was destined to break a good many hearts with what seemed to him her already-evident daredevil nature.
“Now, then, sweet pea, can you be very quiet while I bring the tree in? Just wait till you see it. It’s your very first Christmas tree and, if I do say so myself, it’s just about the prettiest one I’ve ever seen.”
Angela seemed willing to be temporarily abandoned. Luke was on the porch and back in a flash, lugging the tree through the kitchen and into the living room. He found the perfect spot for it in the nook formed by a huge bay window. As soon as he’d put it down, he went back into the kitchen for the baby. This time he plucked her out of her bed and carried her in his arms, admiring the simple red plaid sleeper Jessie had apparently stitched up from another one of his old shirts.
“So, what do you think?” he asked as he stood before the tree, admiring the sweep of its branches against the ten-foot-high ceiling. Placing it in a stand, assuming he even had one that would fit its thick trunk, definitely would require a little trimming at the top.
Angela seemed fascinated. He echoed her approval. “Pretty awesome, huh? Wait till you see it with lights and decorations. You won’t be able to take your eyes off it.”
The only problem was the lights, the decorations and the tree stand were all stored upstairs. He had a hunch she wouldn’t tolerate being put back in that drawer again. “Now that is a quandary,” he said to Angela. “But we can solve it, can’t we? I’ll just settle you right here on the floor so you can see, put some pillows around you in case you happen to be precocious enough to roll over. I think that’s a little advanced even for someone of your brilliance, but there’s no point in taking chances.”
Angela’s face scrunched up the instant he deposited her among the pillows. He propped her up so she had a better view of the tree, an arrangement which seemed to improve her disposition. “Now don’t let me down, angel,” he cajoled. “No crying, okay? I promise I’ll be back before you can say Santa Claus.”
He darted worried glances over his shoulder all the way out of the room. The baby seemed to have settled into her nest without a fuss. He doubted her contentment would last, though.
Thankfully, Consuela was the most organized human being he’d ever met. The Christmas decorations were tidily stacked and labeled in a storage closet, where he’d insisted they remain this year. She’d succeeded in sneaking a fat, pine-scented candle and a table de
coration into the dining room, but that was all she’d dared after his firm instructions.
Luke managed to get all the boxes into his arms at once, then juggled them awkwardly as he made his way back downstairs. The boxes began to wobble dangerously halfway down. The top one tumbled off, then the one after that. There was no mistaking the tinkling sound of glass breaking. Mixed with his muttered oaths and Angela’s first faint whimpers, it was apparently more than enough to wake Jessie.
He’d just turned the corner to the living room when she came staggering out of the bedroom, sleepily swiping at her eyes. “What’s going on? Where’s Angela?”
Luke stepped in front of her and blocked her view of the living room. “Everything’s under control. Why don’t you go back to bed? You must be exhausted after being up half the night.”
“I’m awake now. What broke?”
“Nothing important.”
“What’s all that stuff you’re carrying?”
“For someone who’s half-asleep, you ask a lot of questions. Did you get a job I don’t know about as a reporter?”
Ignoring the question, she blinked and took a step closer. Her heavy-lidded gaze studied the boxes. When the contents finally registered, her face lit up with astonishment. “Christmas decorations?”
Luke sighed. So much for his surprise. “Christmas decorations,” he confirmed, then shifted out of her way so she could see past him.
“I thought Angela should have a tree for her first Christmas,” he admitted sheepishly. “You made it pretty clear last night how you felt about the lack of holiday spirit around here. I decided you were right.”
Jessie’s eyes widened. “Luke, it’s…”
“Awesome?” he suggested, after trying to study the tree objectively. Despite the impressive size of the room, the tree took up a significant portion of it.
“Huge,” Jessie declared.
“I know. It didn’t look nearly as big outside.”
Before he realized what she intended, Jessie turned and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she said, kissing him soundly.
Her lips were warm and pliant against his, impossibly seductive. The impulsive gesture almost caused him to drop the remaining boxes. “Jessie!” he protested softly, though there was some doubt in his mind if he was warning her away to save the decorations or his sanity.
She regarded him uncertainly for the space of a heartbeat, but apparently she chose to believe he was worried about the ornaments. She claimed several of the boxes and carried them into the living room. Then she took a thorough survey of the tree and pronounced it the most incredible tree she had ever seen. The glint of excitement in her eyes was enough to make Luke’s knees go weak. If she ever directed a look half so ecstatic at him, he could die a happy man.
“Don’t do a thing until I get back,” she demanded as she headed from the room.
“Where are you going?”
“To get dressed and to make hot chocolate.”
He thought she looked exquisite in her robe, a pale pink concoction that was all impractical satin and lace. As for the hot chocolate, he was plenty warm enough as it was. “Not on my account,” he said.
“On mine,” she said, visibly shivering. “I’m freezing in this robe.”
The innocent comment lured him to look for evidence. He found it not in the expected goose bumps, but in the press of hard nipples against the robe’s slinky fabric. “I’ll turn the heat up,” he countered eventually. Anything to keep her in that softly caressing robe.
Apparently she caught the choked note in his voice or the direction of his gaze, because her expression faltered a bit. A delectable shade of pink tinted her cheeks. “It’ll only take a minute,” she insisted. “Besides, we can’t possibly decorate a tree without hot chocolate. I’m pretty sure there’s a law to that effect.”
Luke found himself grinning at the nonsense. “Well, we are nothing if not law abiding around here. I’ll test the lights while you’re gone.”
“But don’t start stringing them on the tree, okay? I want to help.”
“You mean you want to give orders.”
She grinned back at him and his heart flipped over. “Maybe,” she admitted. “But you wouldn’t want to end up with blank spaces and have to do it all over again, would you?”
He shot her a look that was part dare, part skepticism. “Who says I’d do it over?”
“It is Angela’s first tree,” she reminded him in that sweet, coaxing tone she used so effectively. “You want it to be perfect, don’t you?”
He laughed. “So that’s how it’s going to be, is it? One teeny little mistake and you’re going to accuse me of traumatizing the baby’s entire perception of Christmas?”
He glanced down at Angela and saw that she’d fallen fast asleep amid her nest of pillows. “Look,” he said triumphantly. “She’s not even interested.”
Jessie waved off the claim. “She won’t sleep forever. Test the lights, but that’s all, Lucas.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
When she’d gone, Luke tried to recall the last time he’d taken orders from anyone. Not once that he could think of since moving out of his father’s house. More important, this was absolutely the only time he’d ever taken orders and actually enjoyed it.
* * *
Something had changed overnight, Jessie decided as she searched through her luggage for the festive red maternity sweater she’d bought for the holidays. She’d fallen in love with the scattered seed pearl trim around the neckline. Except for its roominess, it made a stylish ensemble with a pair of equally bright stirrup pants and dressy flats.
Suddenly she was overwhelmed by the Christmas spirit. It wasn’t just the sight of that incredible tree. It was Luke’s thoughtfulness in getting it for her. There was no mistaking that the tree and his shift in mood were his gifts to her.
She thought she’d seen something else in his eyes, as well, something she didn’t dare examine too closely for fear she would confirm the attraction that had scared her away from White Pines.
Twenty minutes after she’d left him, she was back with a tray filled with mugs of steaming hot chocolate topped with marshmallows, and a plate of Christmas cookies she’d found in a tin, plus slices of her own homemade fruitcake. It made an odd sort of breakfast, but who cared? It fit the occasion. She also brought along the radio, which she immediately tuned to a station playing carols.
“Now?” Luke asked dryly, when she had everything set up to her satisfaction.
Jessie surveyed the ambience and nodded. “Ready. Did you check the lights?”
“All the strands are working,” he confirmed. “More than we could possibly need even for this monster. I suspect half of them were used outside last year.” He regarded her with a teasing glint in his eyes. “I assume you have a blueprint of some kind for their placement.”
“Very funny.”
He held out the first strand. “It’s all yours.”
Jessie’s enthusiasm faltered slightly as her gaze traveled up the towering tree. “You have to do the first strand. I can’t reach the top.”
“I brought in a ladder.”
She shot him a baleful look. “Never mind. Heights make me dizzy.” So did Luke, but that was another story entirely. She was finding the powerful nature of her reactions to him increasingly worrisome.
“Are you sure you can trust me to do it right?” he teased.
“Of course,” she said blithely. “I’ll be directing you.”
To his credit, he actually took direction fairly well. He seemed to lose patience only when she made him shift an entire strand one level of branches higher. “It’ll be dark there, if you don’t,” she insisted.
“There are going to be a thousand lights on this tree at the rate we’re going,” he argued. “Nobody’s even going to see the branches.”
She turned her sweetest gaze on him. “The baby will like the lights.”
The argument worked like a charm. Luke sighed and mov
ed the strand.
“I’d better check the fuses before we turn this thing on,” he complained. “It’ll probably blow the power for miles around.”
“Stop fussing. It’s going to be spectacular. Let’s do the ornaments next.”
“Where did you intend to hang them? There’s no space left.”
She hid a grin at the grumbling. “Lucas, I could do this by myself.”
He actually chuckled at that. “But you’d miss half the fun.”
Jessie narrowed her gaze. “Which is?”
“Bossing me around.”
“You have a point,” she said agreeably. “But admit it, you’re getting into the holiday spirit.”
The teasing spark in his eyes turned suddenly serious. There was an unexpected warmth in his expression that made Jessie’s pulse skitter wildly.
“I suppose I am,” he said so quietly that she could practically hear the beating of her heart. “Can I tell you something?”
Jessie swallowed hard. “Anything.”
“It’s the first Christmas tree I’ve ever decorated.”
She stared at him incredulously. “You’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “Mother always hired some decorator, who’d arrive with a new batch of the most stylish ornaments in the current holiday color scheme. We were never even allowed to be underfoot. By January second, it was all neatly cleared away, never to be duplicated.”
“That’s terrible,” Jessie said. “I just assumed…”
“That we had some warm family tradition, like something out of a fairytale,” he concluded. “You were there. You saw the fuss Mother made over choosing the design for the tree.”
“I thought maybe it was something she’d started to do after you were all older and the family started doing more formal entertaining during the holidays.”
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