All I Want for Christmas

by Nora Roberts

  "Oh." She let out a long breath. "Really." Her rent checks were mailed to Taylor Management... on Moun­tain View Road.

  "So you live in our house," Zack finished up.

  "In a manner of speaking."

  "The place okay with you?" Mac asked.

  "Yes, it's fine. I'm very comfortable there. It's conve­nient to school."

  "Dad buys houses and fixes them up all the time." Zeke wondered if he could get away with another brownie. "He likes to fix stuff."

  It was obvious from the tidy and thoughtful renovation of the old house she now lived in that their father fixed them very well. "You're a carpenter, then?" she asked, reluctantly addressing Mac.

  "Sometimes." They'd reached her car. Mac merely jerked his thumb to signal the boys and dog to keep off the road. He unscrewed the gas cap and spoke without looking around. "If you eat another one of those, Zeke, I'm going to have to have your stomach pumped."

  Sheepishly Zeke replaced the brownie on the paper towel.

  "Excellent radar," Nell commented, leaning on the car as Mac added the gas.

  "Goes with the territory." He looked at her then. Her hair was windblown and gilded by the sun. Her face was rosy from the walk and the breeze. He didn't like what looking at her did to his pulse rate. "Why Taylor's Grove? It's a long way from New York."

  "That's why. I wanted a change." She breathed deep as she looked around, at rock and tree and hill. "I got one."

  "Pretty slow, compared to what you'd be used to."

  "Slow's something I do very well."

  He only shrugged. He suspected she'd be bored sense­less in six months and heading out. "Kim's pretty excited about your class. She talks about it almost as much as she does getting her driver's license."

  "That's quite a compliment. It's a good school. Not all of my students are as cooperative as Kim, but I like a challenge. I'm going to recommend her for all-state."

  Mac tipped the can farther up. "She's really that good?"

  "You sound surprised."

  He shrugged again. "She always sounded good to me, but the old music teacher never singled her out."

  "Rumor is he never took much interest in any of his students individually, or in extra work."

  "You got that right. Striker was an old—" He caught himself, glanced back at his kids, who were standing close by, all ears. "He was old," Mac repeated. "And set in his ways. Always the same Christmas program, the same spring program."

  "Yes, I've looked over his class notes. I'd say everyone should be in for a surprise this year. I'm told no student from Taylor's Grove ever went to all-state."

  "Not that I heard."

  "Well, we're going to change that." Satisfied now that they had managed a reasonable conversation, she tossed back her hair. "Do you sing?"

  "In the shower." His dimple flickered again as his sons giggled. "No comments from the brats."

  "He sings really, really loud," Zeke said, without fear of reprisal. "And he gets Zark howling."

  "I'm sure that would be quite a show." Nell scratched the grinning dog between the ears. He thumped his tail, and then some internal clock struck and had him pivoting and racing up the hill.

  "Here you go, Miss Davis. Here." Both boys stuffed the loaded paper towels into her hands and barreled off after the dog.

  "I guess they don't keep still very long," she mur­mured, watching them chase the dog up the rise.

  "That was nearly a record. They like you."

  "I'm a likable person." She smiled, glancing back at him, only to find him staring at her again with that not-quite-pleased look in his eyes. "At least in most cases. If you'd just put that on the back seat, I'll have it filled up for you."

  "It's not a problem." Mac replaced her gas cap and kept the empty can. "We're friendly in Taylor's Grove. In most cases."

  "Let me know when I'm off probation." She leaned into her car to set the brownies on the passenger seat. Mac had a tantalizing and uncomfortable view of her jean-clad bottom. He could smell her, too, something light and spicy that spun in his head a lot more potently than the gas fumes.

  "I didn't mean it like that."

  Her head popped back out of the car. She licked a smear of brownie from her finger as she straightened. "Maybe not. In any case, I appreciate the help." Her grin flashed as she opened the car door. "And the chocolate."

  "Anytime," he heard himself say, and wanted to regret it.

  She settled behind the steering wheel, tossed him a quick, saucy smile. "Like hell." Then she laughed and turned the ignition, revving the engine in a way that made Mac wince. "You should drop in on rehearsals now and again, Mac, instead of waiting out in the parking lot. You might learn something."

  He wasn't certain he wanted to. "Put on your seat belt," he ordered.

  "Oh, yeah." Obligingly, she buckled up. "Just not used to it yet. Say bye to the twins." She zoomed off at a speed just this side of reckless, waving a careless and glittering hand out the window.

  Mac watched her until she rounded the bend, then slowly rubbed his stomach where the muscles were knot­ted. Something about that woman, he thought. Some­thing about the way she was put together made him feel like he was defrosting after a very long freeze.

  Chapter 3

  Another half hour, Mac figured, and he could finish tap­ing the drywall in the master bedroom. Maybe get the first coat of mud on. He glanced at his watch, calculated that the kids were home from school. But it was Mrs. Hollis's day, and she'd stay until five. That would give him plenty of time to hit the drywall, clean up and get home.

  Maybe he'd give himself and the kids a treat and pick up pizza.

  He'd learned not to mind cooking, but he still resented the time it took—the thinking, the preparation, the clean­ing up afterward. Six years as a single parent had given him a whole new perspective on how hard his mother— that rare and old-fashioned homemaker—had worked.

  Pausing a moment, he took a look around the master suite. He'd taken walls out, built others, replaced the old single-pane windows with double glazed. Twin skylights let in the fading sunlight of early October.

  Now there were three spacious bedrooms on the second floor of the old house, rather than the four choppy rooms and oversize hallway he'd started with. The master suite would boast a bathroom large enough for tub and separate shower stall. He was toying with using glass block for that. He'd been wanting to work with it for some time.

  If he stayed on schedule, the place would be put to­gether by Christmas, and on the sale or rental market by the first of the year.

  He really should sell it, Mac thought, running a hand over the drywall he'd nailed up that afternoon. He had to get over this sense of possession whenever he worked on a house.

  In the blood, he supposed. His father had made a good living buying up damaged or depressed property, rehabing and renting. Mac had discovered just how satisfying it was to own something you'd made fine with your own hands.

  Like the old brick house Nell lived in now. He won­dered if she knew it was more than a hundred and fifty years old, that she was living in a piece of history.

  He wondered if she'd run out of gas again.

  He wondered quite a bit about Nell Davis.

  And he shouldn't, Mac reminded himself, and turned away for his tools and tape. Women were trouble. One way or the other, they were trouble. One look at Nell and a smart man could see she was no exception.

  He hadn't taken her up on her suggestion that he drop by the auditorium and catch part of a rehearsal. He'd started to a couple of times, but good sense had stopped him. She was the first woman in a very, very long time who had stirred him up. He didn't want to be stirred up, Mac thought with a scowl as he taped a seam. Couldn't afford to be, he reminded himself. He had too many ob­ligations, too little free time, and, most important, two sons who were the focus of his life.

  Daydreaming about a woman was bad enough. It made a man sloppy in his work, forgetful and...itchy. But doing something about it w
as worse. Doing some­thing meant you had to find conversation and ways to entertain. A woman expected to be taken places, and pampered. And once you started to fall for her—really fall for her—she had the power to cut out your heart.

  Mac wasn't willing to risk his heart again, and he cer­tainly wasn't willing to risk his sons.

  He didn't subscribe to that nonsense about children needing a woman's touch, a mother's love. The twins' mother had felt less connection with the children she'd borne than a cat felt toward a litter of kittens. Being fe­male didn't give you a leg up on maternal feelings. It meant you were physically able to carry a child inside you, but it didn't mean that you'd care once that child was in your arms.

  Mac stopped taping and swore. He hadn't thought about Angie in years. Not deeply. When he did, he real­ized the spot was still sore, like an old wound that had healed poorly. That was what he got, he supposed, for letting some little blonde stir him up.

  Annoyed with himself, he stripped the last piece of tape off the roll. He needed to concentrate on his work, not on a woman. Determined to finish what he'd started, he marched down the stairs. He had more drywall tape in his truck.

  The light outside was softening with the approach of dusk. Shorter days, he thought. Less time.

  He was down the steps and onto the walk before he saw her. She was standing just at the edge of the yard, looking up at the house, smiling a little. She wore a suede jacket in a deep burnished orange over faded jeans. Some glittery stones dangled from her ears. Over her shoulder hung a soft-sided briefcase that looked well used.

  "Oh. Hi." Surprise lit her eyes when she glanced over, and that immediately made him suspicious. "Is this one of your places?"

  "That's right." He moved past her toward the truck and wished he'd held his breath. That scent she wore was subtle and sneaky.

  "I was just admiring it. Beautiful stonework. It looks so sturdy and safe, tucked in with all the trees." She took a deep breath. There was the slap of fall in the air. "It's going to be a beautiful night."

  "I guess." He found his tape, then stood, running the roll around in his hands. "Did you run out of gas again?"

  "No." She laughed, obviously amused at herself. "I like walking around town this time of day. As a matter of fact, I was heading down to your sister's. She's a few doors down, right?"

  His eyes narrowed. He didn't like the idea of the woman he was spending too much time thinking about hanging out with his sister. "Yeah, that's right. Why?"

  "Why?" Her attention had been focused on his hands. There was something about them. Hard, callused. Big. She felt a quick and very pleasant flutter in the pit of her stomach. "Why what?"

  "Why are you going to Mira's?"

  "Oh. I have some sheet music I thought Kim would like."