Lone Star Holiday Proposal

by Yvonne Lindsay

  “T’ank you, man,” JJ dutifully responded.

  Nolan laughed and Raina felt her heart skip a happy beat at the sound.

  “His name is Mr. Dane, not man, JJ,” Raina gently admonished.

  “I think you should let him call me Nolan. Mr. Dane sounds so stuffy.”

  Raina nodded her head. “I’ll try but I can’t guarantee it. He can be pretty stubborn when he decides on a word.”

  Through the crowd, she spied Liam Wade. The rancher was clearly in demand with the ladies and looking none too thrilled about the prospect. A group of very determined looking mommas with single daughters in tow had circled him like a wagon train, ensuring he had no easy way out. A chuckle escaped her lips, prompting a question from Nolan.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Oh, just poor Liam. He’s one of Royal’s most eligible bachelors,” she said, pointing him out in the crowd, “and one of Royal’s most reluctant at the same time. I think he’d be happy if he never had to leave his ranch.”

  Nolan chuckled in sympathy. “Yeah, I guess when you have an operation like the Wade Ranch you’re pretty self-contained. I can see why he wouldn’t want to leave, especially if he gets mobbed whenever he sets foot outside his property line.”

  “Sure, but everybody needs somebody, don’t they?” Raina countered without thinking.

  * * *

  Raina caught Nolan looking at her—a strange expression on his face as if he was weighing her words. Did he need somebody? His eyes lingered on her mouth and she fought not to lick her lips in nervous reaction. But it made her wonder: What would his lips feel like on her own? She immediately shoved the thought away. Here he was with her son on his shoulders and she was thinking about him kissing her? What was wrong with her?

  Nolan shifted his gaze. “And what about you? Don’t you need somebody, as well?” he asked.

  She felt color flood her cheeks. “I have JJ,” she said, her voice staunch. “He’s all I need.”

  Nolan made an indeterminate sound and guided Raina toward one of the stalls off to the side. He swung JJ down to the ground and rolled his shoulders a few times before marching up to the counter and placing an order. Had she upset him by saying that JJ was all she needed? It was hard to tell. And besides, she reminded herself, it shouldn’t bother her if it had upset him. She wasn’t in the market for a relationship. Even so, it didn’t stop her watching him as he picked up the tray with their hot chocolate and churros and led them over to a seating area that had been set up to one side.

  “Don’t let it all get cold,” he warned gently as he set the tray down on the table in front of them.

  “Thank you so much for this,” Raina said, transferring some of JJ’s hot chocolate to a sippy cup she’d pulled from her bag. “Sorry, I just like to be on the safe side with drinks when we’re out. I know he’s probably old enough to do without—”

  “Hey, no need to apologize,” Nolan interrupted. “You’re his mom, you know what’s best for him. I’m hardly in a position to judge.”

  By the time they’d finished their treats, JJ was getting cranky and tired. There was no way he’d make the trek back to where Raina had parked so when Nolan offered to carry him for her again, she didn’t object. Weariness pulled at her, too, but the thought of curling up in her bed was tempered by the need to get up early the next morning. Saturdays she opened late, because they were her yard-and estate-sale mornings when she rose before dawn to try to pick up the occasional treasure to resell at Priceless. Her dad always came over super early to take care of JJ for the day so she could go straight to the store after doing her rounds of the sales.

  At the car, Nolan stood to one side while she settled JJ into his car seat. Poor kid, he was almost asleep already, she noticed. Straightening from the car, she closed JJ’s door gently and turned to Nolan.

  “Thank you so much for your help tonight. I really do appreciate it.”

  “I enjoyed it. It’s always fun seeing the lights through a child’s eyes. Kids make everything so simple, so basic and enjoyable, don’t they?”

  Raina smiled at him, then struggled to stifle a yawn. “Oh, my. I’m sorry. Please excuse me. It’s been a heck of a week. I’d better head off and get JJ into bed.”

  Nolan nodded and then stepped a little closer. “Raina, I’d really like to see you again. To take you out to dinner or the movies?”

  Raina’s breath caught in her throat. He was asking her for a date? For the briefest of moments she cherished the idea but then her practical nature set in. She shook her head gently.

  “Nolan, I’m flattered. Truly I am. But I don’t date. My life is too busy as it is. It’s really not a good time for me to be thinking about stretching myself any thinner. I’m sorry.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Nolan said, his brown eyes gleaming under the streetlamp. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a card holder. “I’m disappointed but I understand. If you ever change your mind, make sure you let me know, okay? My private number is on the back.”

  He slid one pristine white business card from the holder and pressed it into her hand. The instant he touched her, that familiar tingle came back, except this time it quivered through her veins along with something else. Something that felt curiously like desire.

  She held on to the feeling for the briefest moment, wondering when had been the last time anyone had made her feel like a desirable woman, before ruthlessly quelling it again. She couldn’t—no, shouldn’t—entertain the idea. It was best that she didn’t see Nolan again. Every relationship she’d ever had had extracted a price whereby she’d lost a little bit of herself in the process. She daren’t do that to herself, or to JJ, again. Not now. Not ever. And yet she still found herself wishing she could say yes.

  “How long are you prepared to wait?” Raina joked with a nervous laugh, unable to stop herself from asking the question even though she had no intention of taking Nolan up on it.

  “As long as it takes,” Nolan said with a slow smile that sent curls of delight all the way to her extremities.

  Oh, yes. She was well-advised to steer completely clear of Nolan Dane. She’d only met him four days ago and he was already heating her blood.

  Unable to think of a suitable response, Raina muttered a swift good-night and got into the car. She gave Nolan a small wave as she pulled away from the curb and drove away. A red light at the intersection halted her retreat and she glanced in the rearview mirror. Nolan still stood there on the sidewalk, his hands shoved in his jacket pockets, watching them go.

  She couldn’t stop thinking of him during the journey home to their little rented house and, even after she’d put JJ to bed and found refuge between her own sheets, Nolan Dane remained front and center in her thoughts. The way he looked at her made her feel like a woman. Not just a mom, not just a retailer or a tutor, but a warm, desirable and wanted woman. She’d pushed the idea away so hard and so vehemently after Jeb that it had become a concept she’d almost forgotten. Seeing that attraction reflected in Nolan’s face empowered her. It was a sensation she liked.

  She twisted in her sheets, her body aching with unexpected longing. Nolan Dane affected her in ways she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge but now that she’d opened the door on those feelings, they’d all come rushing out. She liked everything about him so far—his manners, his careful way of speaking, even the tone of his voice. And his eye-catching looks didn’t hurt either. He carried his height with confidence, with his broad shoulders set straight, and he met a person’s gaze square on with no subterfuge—no lies. Having been on the receiving end of those looks Raina had come to realize that a woman could get happily lost in those deep brown eyes of his.

  And then there was his manner with JJ. Even at the store, on the first day she’d met him, he’d been so good with her little boy—so understanding after the disaster with the ice cream. Nol
an was an out-and-out gentleman, there was no denying it. And he treated her like a lady. Going out on a date with him would be something special. Suddenly Raina was swamped with regret that she’d said no to his invitation. She shifted in the bed again and thumped her pillow into shape. If only she could as easily reshape her life, she thought as she settled back down.

  Nolan was the last thing on her mind as she drifted off to sleep. Nolan, and the knowledge that the next time he asked her out, if he asked her out again, she might even say yes. After all, what harm could it do?

  Five

  Nolan walked back to his hotel rather than grab a cab. He was filled with an energy that demanded release—although walking wasn’t the first activity that sprang to his mind. No, his mind was filled with the image of a certain dark-haired, blue-eyed storekeeper who had somehow inveigled her way into his thoughts and lodged there like a burr under a saddle.

  He could still see the flare of awareness that had dilated her pupils when they’d touched only a short while ago. Hell, he could still feel it within himself. The only other person he’d ever felt that way about had been Carole. The reminder was a daunting one, and it should serve as a reminder that Raina Patterson was not the kind of woman he needed in his life. He’d been there and done that. He’d lived and loved within a perfect marriage with his perfect woman and they’d had the perfect little family—until it all fell apart.

  Nolan went to step off the curb and was jolted into awareness by the blast of a car horn. Damn, he needed to keep his wits about him and Raina had managed to scatter said wits to the four corners of the earth. She was definitely not what he was looking for. He didn’t even know why he’d asked her out, except that, for all his mental flagellation, deep down he still wanted her.

  He nodded to the doorman as he entered the hotel and headed for the elevators. The sounds of music, conversation and laughter echoed across the marble-floored lobby from inside the hotel bar, catching his interest. He looked at his watch. It certainly wasn’t too early to return to his suite but he was sick of his own company right now. Perhaps a distraction could be found elsewhere—one that would hopefully erase or at least dull the throb of desire Raina had left him with.

  At the bar he ordered a brandy. It wasn’t long before he had company. A blonde woman took the stool next to his and cast him a smile. He reacted in kind automatically and waited for the flicker of heat that usually signified an initial burst of interest. As they embarked on conversation there was no mistaking her interest in him, and yet he couldn’t seem to kindle an answering response in himself.

  Instead, before he’d even finished his brandy, Nolan excused himself and went up to his suite. And as he lay staring at the dark sky through his open bedroom windows over an hour later, he wondered if sleep was as distant for Raina as it was for him. He forced his eyes closed, but even then all he could see were still shots of her beautiful face—sometimes smiling, sometimes pensive.

  Nolan reached into his memory for the sense of loss he’d carried with him since losing Bennett and Carole, but it was further away than it had been before. Instead, he found his thoughts drawn to another woman, one whose gentle personality and sensual warmth somehow had begun to fill a hole inside him he didn’t even want to acknowledge that he had.

  * * *

  It was late when Nolan finally rose the next morning. As he shaved, he considered his next step. He’d always prided himself on being a man of action. It was what had gotten him through the bleak empty horror of the death of his son soon followed by that of his beloved wife. And if something was worth doing, it was worth doing well. He also had never been one to take no for an answer.

  As soon as he’d finished getting ready and had enjoyed a late breakfast in the coffee shop next door to the hotel, he was in his rental and heading out to the Courtyard. He didn’t even bother trying to mentally dress this visit up as being in the course of his work.

  Fact-finding mission be damned. He’d had a niggling feeling that Raina was merely going through the motions when she’d turned down his invitation to a date yesterday. The words had fallen all too easily from those sexy lips of hers. As if she’d trotted the phrases out often enough for them to become automatic. That left him with two options. The first was to find out if she really meant what she said and the second, to discover what it was that she’d left unsaid.

  As he drove out to the Courtyard, he considered his strategy for getting the truth out of Raina. Sure, he could go in and ask her straight out but he had a feeling that the shield she’d built around her was pretty darn strong and could withstand anything he could metaphorically throw at her. No, he’d go gently, softly. Try to understand where she was coming from and why she was so adamant about not dating.

  He shook his head. Why was he even bothering? It wasn’t as if he planned on hanging around after he’d finished his job for Rafiq. There’d be more dragons to slay back in Los Angeles, or maybe even somewhere else.

  A smoldering ember of desire sparked deep inside him. That’s why he was bothering. He wanted Raina. It was as impure and as complicated as that. He smiled a little at his twist on the old saying of things being pure and simple. Given that what his boss planned for Royal could mean eviction for Raina’s store, Nolan should stay well back. But he couldn’t.

  He had to at least try with her, didn’t he? Maybe it was a just physical thing, something he needed to get out of his system. But maybe it was something more.

  As soon as he gave the thought a moment in his mind, its tendrils secured themselves as tightly as a stubbornly clinging vine. The analytical side of him demanded that he define what that “something more” could be, especially when he’d spent the past seven years telling himself he wasn’t interested in long-term ever again. He’d lived the life he’d always dreamed of right up until the day it had turned into a nightmare his family had never recovered from. He owed it to them, to their memory, to keep what they’d had sacred. To keep it in the forefront of his thoughts so that he never let down another person or another family like that again.

  He totally understood the pain that had driven Carole to take her own life. After all, didn’t he choose to live with it every day and face it like the demon it was?

  All of which brought him back to why he was so persistent about seeing the delightfully warm and sensual Ms. Patterson. Even he knew this attraction was more than a simple itch to be scratched. One look at Raina and he’d seen complicated all the way.

  Before he realized it, Nolan was parked in front of Priceless. Through the windows he could see Raina moving about inside. His gut clenched on a swell of need that took him completely unawares.

  He wasn’t a man who’d ever taken rejection well, and that was probably what made him so good at his job. If one method failed, then there was always another, and another. Strategy, for him, was all about finding the weak points, then mercilessly exploiting them. His lips pulled into a wry grin. Wow, like that sounded sexy and irresistible. What woman could refuse an approach like that?

  He was still smiling as he pushed open the door to the store and heard the chime of the bell above announcing his arrival. Raina lifted her head with a smile on her face to welcome him. Her smile froze for a moment, her blue eyes wide and vulnerable, before she composed herself and straightened from her task to greet him.

  “Good morning. What brings you here today?” she asked, setting down the cloth she’d been using to polish the top of a box she was cradling in her other arm.

  In pristine condition, the box housed a fountain pen with nibs and a crystal inkwell with an engraved silver lid. It was a beautiful set and, by the look of it, had barely been used. She left the lid open to better display its contents and set the case down on a nearby table.

  “Christmas shopping,” he improvised, moving closer to take another look at the writing set. “For my mother. I was hoping you’d be able to help
me. Say, that looks interesting.”

  Was it his imagination or did her pupils dilate a little as he stepped closer? Raina had her hair pulled back into a ponytail today. The style exposed the delicate curve of her neck and the soft line of her jaw. What he wouldn’t do to be able to take his time and lay a line of sweet kisses along those very contours, and more.

  She took a half step back. “It’s a writing set, from the 1920s, I think, judging from the art deco design on the pen.”

  “It’s beautiful,” he said, tracing the engraved pattern on the silver with a fingertip. He wondered what sort of price tag she had on the set.

  “I recognize that look in your eye,” Raina said on a short laugh.

  “Look?”

  “Of longing. I feel that way with pretty much everything in my store. Regrettably, I can’t keep it all. Are you looking for something like this for your mom? It’s a bit masculine. Or does your mother collect anything in particular?”

  “Egg cups,” he said abruptly after racking his brain and coming up with the first thing he could remember. “She loves English china egg cups.”

  Raina’s smile returned. “Oh, then you’re in luck. I have a few you can choose from.”

  She gestured for him to follow her across the broad plank flooring of the store toward a glass-fronted display cabinet. Selecting a key from the chain she kept hooked at the waistband of her jeans, she opened the cabinet and pointed out the exquisite pieces.

  “These two are English. One Staffordshire, which as you can see comes with a salt pot and pepper shaker in the stand, and the other is Royal Winton, hazel pattern, with the toast rack, as well. This one here, though, is French.”

  She pointed to a delicately patterned gold-edged porcelain tray with six matching egg cups arrayed around a carry handle in the shape of a porcelain chick.

  “Good grief,” Nolan exclaimed. “And people use these?”

  “Well, given their age it’s safe to say people more likely used these in the past, while they collect and display them now. Would you like me to lift them out so you can take a closer look?”