Harlequin Superromance November 2014 - Box Set 2 of 2: Christmas at the CoveNavy ChristmasUntil She Met Daniel

by Rachel Brimble

  As Daniel stared into the bubbles, she wondered what he had on his mind. Then he shook his head. “Did your parents give you a hard time before they left on Thanksgiving?”

  “What do you think?”

  He made a face. “You have my sympathy.”

  “And you have mine. About tonight, I mean.”

  “Celia’s trying harder than she used to, and it means a lot to Samantha. Truth be told, I’m glad my daughter isn’t shallow like her mother. Sam’s favorite things are reading and drawing, not Prada and Fifth Avenue.”

  Glancing around, Mandy saw no one was close enough to overhear them. “I know it’s none of my business, but why did you marry Celia? You seem an odd match.”

  “Ah, hell,” Daniel said with a rueful face. “Put it this way, if your parents are stodgy, self-righteous pricks, mine are guerilla warriors, at least against each other. They never let up. Not now, not when I was a kid. No violence, just verbal weapons, and they’re good at using them. Once I got away from the war zone, I swore I’d never live in one again. Celia was fun and rarely got upset or angry. Those are desirable qualities in a wife, but I was too young to realize they weren’t enough by themselves.”

  “Did you love her?”

  “I thought I did at the time.”

  Mandy swirled the ginger ale in her glass. They’d both had lousy childhoods, though Daniel’s upbringing sounded much worse than her own. And it was nice that he’d loosened up enough to finally tell her about it.

  “Maybe they should have marriage guides for people reacting to their childhood,” she mused. “I thought I loved Vince, too, but deep down, one of the reasons I married him was because it pleased my parents. They were thrilled when we announced our engagement. I thought I’d found the thing that would make me fit in.”

  “But it didn’t.”

  “No, but that’s partly why I’ve felt I messed up his life. I said ‘yes’ for most of the wrong reasons, even if I didn’t understand it at the time.”

  “Well, in my case, Celia and I didn’t have much in common from the beginning and we just grew further apart as the years passed. Her lack of interest in Sam didn’t help.”

  “That must have been difficult.” She sipped her soda. “So now your ex-wife is married to the mayor of the city you used to manage.”

  The corner of Daniel’s mouth twitched. “Actually, I was the deputy, slated to move into the manager’s position. Let’s just say that when Celia and Dirk got serious, it became a much less favorable work environment.”

  No wonder he’d left Southern California so quickly. Mandy had wondered why someone as careful as Daniel hadn’t visited Willow’s Eve before taking the job.

  “Willow’s Eve must feel like a step down,” she said.

  He shrugged. “I was grateful for the offer and it came at the right time. Besides, I’m discovering very nice things about living here.”

  “Willow’s Eve is terrific,” she agreed. “I’ve, uh, decided by the way. I’ll stick it out through the water project, no matter what.” Mandy sipped her ginger ale again, embarrassed by the declaration. After all, she hadn’t enjoyed the implication she was the kind of person who’d cut and run when things got hard.

  Daniel suddenly chuckled and lifted his glass. “Here’s to awkward childhoods and painful life lessons.”

  Her laugh echoed his as they clinked the glass cups.

  When Daniel’s attention was caught by a news report banner running across the pizza parlor’s television, Mandy settled back to watch as well, though she couldn’t help thinking of what he’d revealed about his childhood. He hadn’t wanted to talk about it before, so he was probably getting more comfortable with her now...thanks to the buddy relationship he seemed to be trying to cultivate.

  Her lips curved at his description of her parents. Self-righteous pricks. And her mother and father hadn’t liked Daniel in return, something they’d made clear after returning to her place on Thanksgiving. In the half hour before they’d left for the airport, they’d sniped several comments about him. Of course, they’d resented Daniel’s chiding over the whipped cream incident, but it was probably more than that. Since they’d come to Willow’s Eve hoping to patch things up between her and Vince, it wasn’t surprising they had objected to a guy they might suspect was an obstacle.

  Could they have sensed her relationship with Daniel hadn’t been entirely professional?

  Not that they had to worry about it. If Daniel ever considered marriage again, he would look for a woman who didn’t get passionate or excited. There was no way in hell that description would ever apply to Mandy Colson. She’d have to be in a coma to stop getting stirred up about things. Worse, she would have to stop caring, and she couldn’t do that.

  Their pizza was delivered to the table and Mandy started munching.

  “Do you remember your very first taste of pizza?” she asked.

  “No. Don’t tell me you do.”

  “Sure. My folks don’t believe in eating casual food. They aren’t even crazy about finger food appetizers.”

  “That explains why they didn’t eat any hors d’oeuvres on Thanksgiving Day.”

  “Right. Finger food is too bohemian for them. When I was a kid, I thought they might have time-traveled out of the nineteenth century. Or that maybe they were refugees from a 1950s-family black-and-white TV show...kind of a Pleasantville in reverse.”

  “Joyce said you’d mentioned they weren’t the sociable type. That’s a major understatement.”

  It was interesting that Daniel hadn’t liked her parents. She had assumed they would have plenty in common.

  Mandy brushed her hair away from her face with the back of her hand. “I hope they didn’t make things too uncomfortable for everyone else. It’s why I told Joyce we’d go to a restaurant.”

  “It was fine,” Daniel assured. “I mostly felt bad because they were so hard on you.”

  Shrugging, Mandy sprinkled Parmesan cheese on a slice of pizza. “I’m used to it. Besides, I’d seriously disappointed them just before we arrived at your place, so they were probably reacting to that more than anything.”

  Daniel’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “How could you disappoint them in such a short time, seriously or otherwise?”

  “Easy. I said I wasn’t interested in getting back together with my ex-husband. Vince is my dad’s special protégé. I think he’s grooming him to take over someday as head of the classical studies department, and when a guy is sedately married, it looks good to a small, conservative college.”

  Mandy got the feeling Daniel’s logical brain was cataloging what she’d said and examining it in detail.

  “What about your happiness?” he asked finally.

  “They’re convinced I’ll only be truly happy once Vince and I are back together again.”

  “You and a professor of ancient history?” he asked, his voice incredulous.

  “Hey, it’s the only interest we have in common. I actually enjoy that stuff. I’d met him before, but we really got to know each other on an overseas study arranged by the college—ten weeks retracing the journey of Odysseus. And there were great side trips to places like Pompeii and Herculaneum, or maybe they were part of the tour, I don’t remember—I was twenty-one and thrilled to see so many amazing things.”

  Daniel swallowed some ginger ale and nodded. “So the romance of the past got mixed up with Vince and made you believe you’d fallen in love with him.”

  She stared at Daniel in surprise. “I should have thought of that. For years, I’ve tried to forget Vince was even part of the trip. He sure acted different over there from when he was back in Connecticut. We arrived home and got married almost before I knew it. But then I discovered he rarely had a conversation without quoting my father. And he lived in books instead of the real world. Everything I’d tho
ught was so great about him wasn’t there any longer.”

  “Perhaps you could get your parents to understand.” Daniel gave her a sympathetic smile. “Of course, the downside would be spending enough time with them to explain it.”

  Mandy laughed. “Sure, but it’s probably worth a try. Maybe they could help Vince to understand it, too. I don’t hate him or anything. If we hadn’t gotten married, we could have stayed friends.”

  “And your parents wouldn’t be badgering you to get back with him.”

  “Too true.”

  * * *

  WATCHING MANDY’S MERRY smile gave Daniel an aching pleasure.

  It was almost impossible to see her as George and Elenora Colson’s daughter; she was fairy dust, and they were dreary clay.

  The fanciful thought surprised him, but spending time with Mandy was like taking a refresher course in imagination.

  Unfortunately, his imagination suddenly started having a field day, picturing places where they could make love...like in his Jeep, or on the beach a few miles away.

  Damn, she was a bad influence on him. He reminded himself he was a responsible city manager and father of a six-year-old daughter...and that sex on a beach got sand in some very uncomfortable places.

  “Is something wrong?” Mandy asked. “You look as if you’re in pain.”

  “No.” Daniel forced a neutral expression onto his face. “Just calculating how much more time to give them at home.”

  “Did Celia’s husband come with her?”

  “He planned to, but something came up with his election campaign.”

  “I didn’t like him,” Mandy confessed. “But then I’m biased against people who aren’t nice to my friends.”

  Friends. Daniel clung to the word. He and Mandy could be friends. Only friends. She would be a good friend, for as long as she stuck around. Somehow she’d kept a good relationship with both Chris and Susan Russell in the midst of their marital problems—God knew that couldn’t have been easy. And from comments she’d made, he guessed she kept up with friendships she’d made during her travels.

  Daniel glanced at his watch. “I still have several hours before I go home. Maybe I’ll go back and work at the office.”

  “You’re welcome to come over to my place and watch a movie. Sam doesn’t have to know you were there.”

  He swallowed, his good intentions crumbling. “Sure.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  MANDY HAD KNOWN what would happen when Daniel accepted the invitation to her place.... As soon as they went through her front door, he pulled her into a kiss so deep it made her dizzy.

  His hands tugged her blouse free from her tiered black skirt, then he murmured something and pushed the skirt down, catching her lingerie with it, lower and lower until it dropped to the floor. Bending, he grasped her waist, lifting until her toes left the ground, and the clothing with it. With a grin, he bent to pull off her shoes.

  It was an odd feeling to be bare from the waist down. Daniel caressed the skin over her hips, and she was drawn back to the moment in his kitchen when he’d nearly driven her mad with a few simple squeezes of his fingers. Her own fingers were clumsy as she fumbled at his belt buckle, finally getting it undone so she could pull it free from the belt loops.

  “You’ll have to kick them off,” she gasped when she’d worked his pants downward, adrenaline rushing through her veins.

  “Delighted.”

  A moment later, they tumbled onto the couch, Daniel moving over her...when he groaned. “Just a second,” he muttered. He lunged back to his pants and groped in the pocket, pulling out some small square packets from his wallet.

  The delay seemed to take forever.

  “I hope you have more than one of those this time,” she managed to say as his weight settled over her.

  “I should be embarrassed to admit it,” he said, “but yes, I do.”

  * * *

  MUCH LATER, DANIEL heard the faint sound of the town’s tower clock chime nine. He was lying on his side, with Mandy snuggled tight against him.

  Her long hair spilled everywhere—over her shoulders, his chest, the couch—like a silk web. Earlier, their lovemaking had been hot and wild, not the right time to satisfy his curiosity to touch her hair. Now he reached up to find some locks and ran them between his fingers. The tresses were as soft as they looked; no wonder she had so much trouble keeping it restrained.

  “Are you going to play with my hair all evening?” Mandy’s voice mumbled against his chest.

  “Sorry.” He quickly dropped his hand on the couch.

  Mandy stretched, and in the low light from a table lamp, he saw her breasts flex in a way that made the blood rush to his lower anatomy. A voice in his head reminded him he’d abandoned his intentions to keep things casually friendly between them. Well, the friendly part had been maintained.

  Yeah, right.

  If he was as strong and resolute as he’d like to believe, he wouldn’t have restocked his wallet with condoms in the first place.

  Mandy sat up and looked at him with interest, and Daniel grew even harder. With her index finger, she touched the tip of his erection and raised an eyebrow.

  “Got something to cover that?” she asked saucily.

  Hell.

  He pulled out his last condom and managed to get it over himself. But she pushed him down flat and lifted her knee over the other side of his hip. The taut curve of her breasts commanded his attention and he caught one rosy nipple between his lips. Mandy gasped, shifting down so his hardness entered her. He put his hands on her soft round hips and helped set a rhythm that sent waves of pleasure over his body until she finally collapsed on top of him.

  * * *

  MANDY DROWSED BRIEFLY, then felt Daniel carefully shifting her to the couch.

  “I need to get home,” he said, and though she knew he had to leave, she felt curiously bereft.

  His lips moved over hers in a slow, deep kiss. “See you in the morning,” he murmured. “Don’t forget we have to talk before the council meeting tomorrow night.”

  Then he was gone and she hunched into a ball on the cushions. Great, they’d made love—more than once—and his last words before leaving were about work.

  She might as well face it; she’d fallen in love with Daniel Whittier, an uptight guy intent on climbing the ladder of city administrative success. If he ever got married again, he’d want someone who’d be a political asset. That definitely wasn’t Mandy Colson. They might generate a lot of sexy heat together, but that was part of the problem. He didn’t want a shallow dish like Celia, but he also didn’t want someone volatile and passionate. He’d made that clear enough at dinner.

  Calm, gracious, settled—that’s what he’d be interested in. Not a “peripatetic” woman with commitment issues who moved from job to job and town to town. Before Willow’s Eve, six months had been the longest she’d stayed anywhere. Not that she’d ever shortchanged an employer. She’d done her best, for however long she was on the job. But whenever a boss had tried to give her a task that required an extended commitment, it had been her cue to decline and start packing.

  It was hard to face, but the whole thing made her understand why Daniel was reluctant to get involved, and why he didn’t want his daughter getting too close to her. Mandy had lived in more places than she could recall, and Samantha needed stability.

  * * *

  CHRIS FOUGHT A storm of confused emotions at the latest city council meeting. Several people had spoken, and now Polly Gallagher stood explaining how important the mill was to her family. Susan was taking notes and Joe Jensen sat across the room, arms crossed over his chest, smiling genially as Polly described how her eldest son had remained in Willow’s Eve, but her daughter was now living with her husband in Santa Rosa, and her youngest son in Redding, because
there hadn’t been jobs to keep them in town.

  Most of their young people had been forced to leave, and it was a reminder that Chris’s own son almost certainly wouldn’t return to Willow’s Eve for more than visits. He should have realized this was one reason his wife was so concerned about the water project.

  “I know some people don’t like the mill,” Polly said, casting a quick glance to where most of Chris’s supporters were sitting with him, “but this way, we can still have some of our family here.”

  What was he supposed to do, accuse her of being an environmental rapist? Hardly. Polly was a member of their church and had supported his efforts to install low-flow toilets in the restrooms and put solar panels on the parsonage.

  Career opportunities were limited in Willow’s Eve, and expanding the paper mill would create more jobs. Susan didn’t have to be in support of her father to recognize the town was struggling. She’d even pointed out once that the town didn’t have to grow; it just had to stop shrinking.

  But it was the other things she’d said that had begun to haunt him the most, along with the look on her face as she’d said them. Had he really ignored her feelings all these years? Looking back, Chris recalled times when Sue might have tried to tell him how she felt, but he hadn’t paid attention. He’d assumed they were coming to a compromise on everything, but had they really? Perhaps she had simply chosen not to disagree aloud.

  Mostly when he’d thought about Susan and her parents, he had dwelled on the irony of falling in love with a wonderful woman whose father was an environmental disaster.

  Now he uneasily recalled how much the nineteen-year-old Susan had wanted to leave Willow’s Eve. She’d been home for the summer after her first year of college, and even on their first date had mentioned the loneliness of being the only daughter of the town’s major employer. Obviously, he hadn’t listened that closely, even then. Hell, he could have asked for a transfer to another national forest. But he hadn’t, and Susan had stayed because she loved her husband and that was where he worked.