Sarah tamped down the heat inching toward her cheeks. Great. Just what she wanted to do, spend time in the cramped attic with Ethan. What was Alex up to? She hadn’t asked for help with her presents. For that matter, how had he even known she had presents stashed in the attic?
The moment everyone finished eating, Sarah jumped up and started clearing the table, only to have Alex volunteer to help her with the dishes.
“What in God’s name made you ask Ethan to help me carry down my presents?” Sarah asked in an angry hiss as she shoved silverware into the dishwasher.
Alex passed her a plate. “It was the only thing I could think of.”
“Only thing for what? Payback for this morning?”
“This morning?” he asked, looking confused.
“When I compared you to Thumper,” she impatiently explained.
He grinned. “Hell, no. I’m much more inventive about getting even for insults. I’ll also get even for your scheme to avoid dinner and dancing in Greenville,” he added, and leaned closer. “Not that it matters, because I’m still holding you to that kiss when I win.”
“You still haven’t explained Ethan,” she said, refusing to respond to his threat. Or was it a promise?
Alex sobered. “I want my brother back,” he said softly. “I know what I’m asking might be hard for you, but just this once, just for the span of this evening, could you please not question my motives?”
Sarah started packing the dishwasher. He was asking her to trust him? For Ethan, who hadn’t said two words to her since he’d been home? The tension in the house since he’d returned had been so thick Sarah wasn’t even sure a chainsaw could cut it.
“Okay,” she softly conceded. “I’ll let him help me.”
Alex pulled her forward and kissed her quickly on the forehead. “Thank you,” he said, spinning around and walking into the great room, conveniently ignoring the rest of the dishes.
Sarah finally made her way up to the attic, a silent Ethan treading behind her. She immediately went to her stash of Christmas gifts, picked up several brightly wrapped boxes, and turned to hand them to Ethan.
“Sarah,” he said softly. “Sarah, I’m sorry.”
He set the boxes on a table, then took hold of her shoulders. “I am so damned sorry for what I said the other night. I was an ass for getting angry and storming out, and it had absolutely nothing to do with you. Of course it wasn’t your fault Alex drove off half cocked and got into a wreck. That was his choice.”
“I didn’t ask for those men to chase me,” she said tightly.
“I know,” he said, hugging her gently. “My big brother has kindly reminded me that I’m dumber than Thumper. I never should have implied any of it was your fault.” He lifted her chin. “Will you forgive me?”
Sarah buried her face in his chest and nodded.
Ethan squeezed her in one more enormous hug, then kissed the top of her head and released her. He grabbed the boxes off the table and walked over to the attic stairs, nodded at his brother standing halfway down them, and quietly walked past him when Alex nodded in return.
Alex quietly walked into the attic and up to Sarah. He gently set his hands on her shoulders. “Thank you,” he whispered. “For everything.”
“What’s Ethan got against women?” she asked, turning to stare out the dark attic window.
“Men’s hearts get broken, too, Sarah,” Alex told her softly. “A girl shattered Ethan’s heart several years ago, to the point that it may never mend.”
She turned to face him. “Is that why Grady brought me here? To…to…was he hoping I’d catch Ethan’s eye?”
Alex chuckled. “He brought you here because he thought we boys all needed our eyes opened.” He rubbed his hands together. “So, which one of these pretty packages is your gift to me?”
Sarah gave him a sweet smile. “I didn’t bother to wrap your gift,” she said, heading toward the stairs. “Why waste good paper on a lump of coal?”
Christmas morning arrived with record-breaking cold. The cove had been frozen for weeks, but this morning the whole northwestern bay of Frost Lake was solid ice. Tucker was ecstatic, all but jumping out of his socks to hurry outside to drive the downsized snowmobile Santa had brought him. Alex seemed equally ecstatic over the ice-fishing basket Paul had gotten him, along with a promise to help him with the contest on New Year’s Day.
Sarah eyed the beautiful fishing traps Alex gave Ethan and fretted about her much smaller, cheaper ones. But it didn’t take fancy equipment to catch fish; it only took skill. And she hadn’t lived on an island all her life without learning how to fish. Saltwater or fresh, Sarah figured most fish thought alike, and she intended for her and Delaney to trounce the men, whose team had grown to include Alex, Tucker, Paul, and Ethan, making the odds two to four against the women. Grady was staying neutral.
Sarah had sewn dark green chamois shirts for all the men and had embroidered the NorthWoods Timber logo on the pockets. She had also put a lump of coal in Alex’s stocking hung on the mantel, along with a note from Santa that said if Alex tried harder this coming year, maybe he’d get something better next Christmas.
Everyone had agreed that Santa was a very smart man.
Sarah had made a rag doll with a dried apple head for Delaney as a decoration for her bed. Sarah remembered being almost eleven and wanting to explore her burgeoning decorating skills, so she included material for curtains and pillows so Delaney could have the pleasure of sewing them herself.
Tucker, the little imp, had also wanted an Atomic Man backpack. On a trip into Greenville months ago, Sarah had found silver material, and she had made Tucker the fanciest Atomic Man backpack ever seen. Even he said so.
She was taken aback by the lavish gifts the Knights gave her. Sarah opened packages of beautiful clothes, a brand-new roasting pan, and enough novels to keep her reading for months—including a romance novel from Alex, the sister book to Rachel and Keenan’s story.
When Alex handed Sarah one last gift, the entire room suddenly went silent. She unwrapped the tiny box with trembling fingers and opened the lid to discover a simple gold wedding band sitting in a bed of satin. She could only look at Alex, unable to find words to express her…her…Oh, God, he’d bought her a wedding band!
Alex smiled, darted a quick glance at his father, and told her a wife should be wearing a ring if she didn’t want every male this side of Canada hitting on her when she went to town.
Sarah finally found her voice and thanked him for his very thoughtful gift, tucking the box beside her other gifts with a promise to wear it whenever she went to town.
Later she set a large ham and homemade bread on the table, since Grady had told her it was tradition to have build-your-own sandwiches for Christmas lunch. They were just beginning to fill their plates when a noise outside interrupted their meal.
“Wow!” Delaney said, beating her brother to the window. “What a beautiful truck—and it has a bright red bow on it!” She looked at her father, her smile widening. “I wonder who it’s for.”
“Maybe there’s a card,” Alex offered, walking to the window with everyone else. “Sarah, why don’t you go out and see?”
With a sense of dread and a sharp look at Alex, Sarah threw on her jacket, slipped into her boots, and went outside.
“God save us all,” she heard Paul whisper as she left.
Ethan muttered a curse.
Delaney and Tucker were in their coats and out the door right behind her, the four men following them.
Sarah, her hands shaking as she held the card and the title document to the powder-blue SUV, croaked, “It—it’s mine?”
Alex nodded. “It’s yours.”
“But it must have cost a fortune!” She shoved the card and the title at him. “I can’t accept something this expensive.”
“The truck is yours, Sarah,” he told her, tucking his hands behind his back. “You can leave it to rot where it sits, or you can drive it.”
Sarah loo
ked at the sea of faces watching her. Ethan and Paul looked horrified, Grady looked happier than a cat with a belly full of cream, and Delaney and Tucker looked as if they couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to refuse such a beautiful gift.
Alex looked…dammit, he looked even more expectant than he had when he’d given her the roses. Sarah stepped up to the diabolical jerk and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for the lovely gift, Alex. I just love it.”
Chapter Fourteen
T hey’d gotten another eight inches of snow, and the New Year arrived with enough sunshine to bring the temperature up to thirty degrees. Perfect for fishing and riding a baby snowmobile on Frost Lake, Grady had declared at breakfast. Sarah’s determined smile caught Alex’s eye, because he had no idea what the crazy woman had to smile about.
She had come out of the lodge with five of the most pathetic-looking fishing traps he had ever seen, and Paul had taken to a fit of laughing when he recognized them as white elephants that Mary had been trying to sell for years. But Alex had quickly ended Paul’s amusement with one well-placed snowball, which started a storm of frozen missiles flying at everyone.
Except for Sarah. She was already on the lake, carrying her woebegone traps under her arm, a bait pail and ice scoop in one hand and a chisel in the other. Alex groaned. She was going to be one of those serious fishermen, he could tell from her no-nonsense walk. He headed out onto the lake after her, his finely crafted traps in his new pack basket slung over his shoulders. “Wait up, Sarah. Do you even know where you’re going?”
“Yes, and I’m going to catch tonight’s dinner.”
Oh, God. She was going to be so disappointed. Frost Lake was slow fishing on its best days, and Sarah was expecting to catch a whole platter of fish with her pathetic traps? Alex groaned again as she walked away. Peeking out of her pocket was an old book on ice fishing she must have found in the attic.
Well, he’d simply have to keep her mind off fishing and on fun instead. Being an experienced ice fisherman, Alex had a kite in his basket along with his traps. Whole hours could pass without so much as a wind flag; the fish were either biting or they weren’t. And any good ice fisherman worth his salt always carried plenty of toys.
Sarah stopped a good forty yards from him, nearly two hundred yards from shore, and slowly looked around. She studied the new blanket of snow, she studied the cloudless sky, and then she slowly scanned the shoreline.
“What,” Ethan asked Alex, “is she looking for?”
Alex shrugged. “She’s got an old book on ice fishing,” he said, as if that explained everything.
Ethan broke into a smile for the first time in days. “A serious fisherman.” He slapped Alex on the back. “We’d better set up if we don’t want to lose. Hey, where’s Delaney going?”
Paul and Tucker stopped beside Ethan and Alex, and they all watched Delaney carrying her fishing traps over to Sarah.
“She really is going to desert us,” Paul said. He looked down at Tucker. “You know what this means, Tuck?”
The boy just shook his head.
“This means war!” Paul said with a laugh, grabbing Tucker and swinging him up in a high-flying circle. “And we’re going to blow them out of the water.”
Grady arrived then, shaking his head. “I don’t want anyone’s feelings hurt,” he warned. “Besides, what kind of men would you be if you took advantage of them? Between the two of them, there’s only ten years of ice-fishing experience, and all of it belongs to Delaney. So play nice.”
Paul stopped swinging Tucker to gape at his father. “Are you nuts? They’ll have us doing dishes until spring.”
Everyone turned at the sound of ice being chopped.
“Alex,” Ethan said. “Delaney knows we have a gas auger. Why are they chopping the ice with that chisel?”
“It’s a real old book,” Alex reminded him.
The men went to work drilling holes, which they did at the rate of twenty-five holes to one of Sarah’s. They set out their traps and baited them and then went about making a camp out of the coolers, food basket, and folding seats they had brought. And then the younger Knights got out their kites, along with some of the largest, knottiest balls of string ever seen. Fishing was fun, but kiting was serious business.
Tucker was starting on the next generation of kite flying, and he had Grady to thank for the new spool and crank that made hauling in the long lengths of twine easier. Ethan’s kite was by far the largest, but he said that was so it could carry all the string he intended to put on this year.
Alex took a quick look at Sarah before he opened his own colorful kite. She was sitting on a folding chair, studying her trap. She also had that silly book opened on her lap. Alex hurried to get his kite in the air, tied it off on a stick he sank in an ice hole, and then walked over to show Sarah how to set her trap.
He didn’t make it two steps before he was stopped by his father’s hand on his arm. Alex followed Grady’s gaze and saw a game warden coming toward them on a snowmobile, headed straight for Sarah and Delaney. Alex started toward them again, when he suddenly remembered he’d forgotten to get Sarah a fishing license, but Grady tightened his hold.
“Let her fight her own battles,” he said at Alex’s questioning look. “Besides, if that’s Daniel, this could be fun.”
Alex decided his dad was right. Daniel Reed was a bachelor, and no more immune to a pretty face than any of them. Alex couldn’t wait to see if Daniel didn’t melt into a puddle of testosterone at Sarah’s feet.
Paul and Ethan came to stand beside Grady and Alex, Paul still holding his kite in his hand. They broke into collective grins when Sarah stood up as the uniformed officer got off his snowmobile and approached her. Alex’s grin went especially wide when Delaney inched closer to Sarah and took her hand.
“Ma’am,” Daniel said, tucking his gloves into his pocket as he looked at the pathetic ice trap sitting in the uneven, undersized hole. “I’m Daniel Reed, the game warden around here.” He touched his hat brim as he finally looked up—and choked in surprise.
She was beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous!
“Officer Reed,” she acknowledged warmly.
And her voice was like honey! Daniel looked at the Knight men, who were obviously enjoying his discomfort. He cleared his throat and finally found the nerve to look back at the beautiful woman. “Could I see your license, please?”
“License?” she repeated. “I need a license?”
Daniel nodded, only to realize he was being impolite—or, more likely, dumbstruck. “Yes, ma’am,” he finally got out. “But not if this is Delaney’s trap,” he hurried to assure her.
Daniel sighed when she shook her head. He had known Delaney wouldn’t be caught fishing with that contraption.
“It’s mine,” the gorgeous angel with the honey voice said. “My book didn’t say anything about a license,” she continued with a frown. “I never needed one on the coast.”
The woman held a book out to him. Daniel took it, scanned the cover, then turned to the first page and grinned. “They didn’t need licenses when this book was printed,” he explained as he thumbed through the ancient study. “Today,” he informed her, realizing that as long as he wasn’t looking at her, he could at least string a sentence together, “you need one in freshwater. But,” he continued in a rush when he foolishly glanced at her worried face, “I’ll let you go this time, seeing how you’ve only got one…ah…that one trap set.” Not that it would ever catch a fish. “Just make sure you get a license before you come out again, okay?” he offered, feeling brave enough to look at her again.
She gave him a smile that made him go weak in the knees.
“Does Delaney need a license?” she asked.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Not until she’s sixteen. Are you visiting from the coast?” Daniel asked, his curiosity making him bold when he noticed she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.
“No, I live here. I’m Sarah—ah—Knight,” she told him. “I’m
married to Alex. We live over there,” she said, pointing at the lodge in the distance.
Everything suddenly clicked into place for Daniel. So this was the woman Alex had married. But why hadn’t the lucky bastard put a ring on her finger? Daniel decided he sure as hell would have, if she belonged to him. “I know your husband,” he said. “I’ll leave you to your fishing, then, and go visit the others. Have a fun day, Delaney. Mrs. Knight,” Daniel said with a nod as he climbed back onto his snowmobile.
He was shaking his head when he stopped in front of the four grinning Knight men. “You guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves,” he scolded. He leveled his gaze on Alex. “She says she’s your wife.”
“She is,” Alex said, his hand outstretched.
“Business slow?” Daniel asked, returning Alex’s handshake.
“No.”
Daniel scanned the twenty-five large, expensive ice traps sitting in perfectly drilled holes. “You got a thing against women ice fishing?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Alex’s beautiful wife, who was cutting another hole for Delaney with a rusty old ice chisel. He looked back at Alex, one eyebrow lifted.
Alex sighed. “She’s got this book,” he started to explain.
Daniel held up his hand. “Say no more. She’s one of those serious fishermen, I take it,” he said, grinning at the kite Paul was holding.
“She’s going to catch our supper,” Alex said.
“Hope you brought hot dogs,” Daniel returned with a chuckle as he headed back to his sled. “And, Alex? You might want to buy her a license tomorrow. That gorgeous smile of hers won’t help her with the female wardens.”
The three men went back to work on their kites the moment Daniel drove away, and Grady helped Tucker get his kite airborne. Delaney suddenly let out a loud, excited whoop, and Alex turned to see his daughter jumping up and down in front of Sarah, who was madly pulling line up from a hole. A fish suddenly shot through the ice, fighting mad at being yanked from its watery home. It was a damn big fish, too. Alex turned to look at his brothers.
The Seduction of His Wife Page 15