Rules of the Game

by Lori Wilde

  Alive and certain that she was free. Free of the past. Free of her childhood. Free of her mistakes. Free of the insecurity that had made her feel out of control.

  Free to love.

  This man.

  Above all others.

  Until the end of her days and beyond. For this was a love that breached time. Her wish had come true. He was her soul mate. Now and forever. The hope chest prophecy had been right. One whiff of a scent and they were whole.

  And in the blissful moment when their eyes met again, Jodi Carlyle was reborn.

  EPILOGUE

  Jodi Carlyle’s Wedding Crasher Rules: When it’s your

  wedding, reserve a spot for the crashers.

  On her wedding day, Jodi called her maid of honor to her boxcar.

  She gifted Kasha with the hope chest. “It’s yours now.”

  Kasha shook her head. “I don’t need a hope chest. I’m perfectly happy with my life. I don’t need a soul mate to make me complete.”

  “Everyone needs a soul mate,” Jodi replied staunchly. “Even you.”

  “I’ll take the chest off your hands,” Kasha said. “Because I know you’re not going to have a place for it in your new condo in Dallas, but I’m not looking for a key.”

  “You don’t have to.” Jodi winked. “The key will find you.”

  Kasha shrugged like she didn’t care, but that was only because she never got her hopes up in case they got dashed. “It’s time.”

  “Not just yet. I’ve got one last thing to do.”

  “What’s that?”

  A knock sounded on the door and Ham popped his head inside. “I brought the van around.”

  Jodi crooked a finger at him.

  “What is it?”

  “C’mere.”

  Ham shot Kasha a what’s-this-about gaze. Her sister shrugged. The best friend she’d had since childhood came over. “Getting cold feet?”

  “No,” Jodi said. “Never. I’ve waited all my life for Jake. This is the happiest day of my life, and the only thing that makes it even better is that you are here to share it with me.”

  “Shucks Jo-Jo, don’t sap out on me.”

  Jodi opened her desk drawer and took out a manila envelope and passed it to Ham.

  He lifted the flap, took out the documents inside, read them. His gaze jerked back to Jodi’s face. “You’re making me a partner?”

  “I should have done it a long time ago,” she said. “Boxcars wouldn’t exist without you.”

  “But it’s your land that your grandmother left you. Your money that paid for the boxcars.”

  “And your hard work and belief in me that made the B&B reality.” She smiled, feeling her lip quiver, getting emotional on this, the happiest day of her life to date.

  “Jodi.” Ham gulped, clearly overcome.

  “You’ll be carrying the heavy load of the business now since I’ll be living in Dallas with Jake. It’s only fair to make you my equal partner.”

  “Thanks,” he said, his voice clotted with unspoken emotions. “I’ll do you proud.”

  “I know you will,” she said, and kissed his cheek. Turning over the keys to her business to him was much easier than she thought it was going to be. She and Jake would visit often and she’d still run the financial side of things, but Ham was now officially in charge of day-to-day operations, and she’d hired a staff to take over the cooking, cleaning, and handyman activities.

  Ham hugged her tight.

  The door creaked open and Suki stuck her head in. “We’re burning daylight, people. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  “She’s right,” Ham said, holding out his arm to escort Jodi toward the door. “Your future is waiting.”

  Jake stood at the altar watching his bride walk down the aisle.

  The wedding pavilion at the Grand Texan was standing room only. It seemed almost the entire town of Stardust—and quite a few from Jefferson, including Maura’s parents had made the drive to see them married.

  She was radiant in white. Her smile touched him to the seat of his soul.

  He was such a lucky man to have a second chance at love—to have found a woman like Jodi. A smart, strong woman who would keep him on his toes. A down-to-earth woman who challenged him. A woman he couldn’t wait to wake up to every single day of his life.

  Her father released her to him. A mixture of happiness and sadness on Dan Carlyle’s face. “Take good care of her, son.”

  “I will, sir.” Jake nodded solemnly. He knew just how precious life was.

  Dan stepped back.

  Jake took Jodi’s hand. Together they turned to the minister. And in front of family and friends, they sealed their love and promised each other a lifetime of happiness.

  This holiday season

  New York Times bestselling author

  LORI WILDE

  returns to Twilight, Texas with

  I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

  Coming November 2015 from

  Avon Books

  Read on for a sneak peek …

  CHAPTER 1

  Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and

  behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

  NORMAN VINCENT PEALE

  Runaway law student, Gabrielle Preston, stared out the large plate glass window of Perks coffee shop, watching the bustling holiday activity going on across the street at the Twilight, Texas town square, and finally took a deep breath.

  Workmen strung Christmas lights on all four corners of the square while teams of town folk decorated themed trees. Angel ornaments on the north side. Pets on the south. Santas on the east. And bells on the west. Performers in Dickensian costumes strolled the sidewalks. Gabi spied Miss Havisham in her shabby wedding dress and one sad shoe. Scrooge hoisted Tiny Tim up on his shoulders. Artful Dodger led a group of soot-faced children as they pulled faux swag from participants’ pockets. Horse drawn carriages picked up and dropped off visitors. “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” poured from outdoor speakers. A light dusting of snow had started to fall, putting smiles on faces and making everything look like a snow globe world.

  Bedford Falls from It’s a Wonderful Life had nothing on this town. Twilight was exactly what she was looking for. It was a place where she could to hit “pause” while she revaluated her life. A place where she could actually breathe. A place where she could experience the sweet, homey that Christmas she and Derrick had always dreamed of, but never had.

  “I made it, Derrick,” she whispered under her breath and blinked away the tears misting the tips of her eyelashes. “I’m here and its as adorable as we always imagined such a town would be.”

  Sadness washed over her, but she shook it off. Derrick wouldn’t want her to be sad. He would encourage her to seize the moment. Live out the dream they’d dreamed so long ago. Embrace the adventure. Discover the path she was really meant to be on.

  Her path. Her way for once. But in order to do that, she had to change.

  Change.

  That was her buzzword. She was ready—no, eager—to change. Change her life. Change her mind. Change herself. Change everything right down the color of her nail polish. Which was why her fingernails were painted hunter green with red and white candy cane art.

  She exhaled slowly, felt the tension of the last week start to slide off her shoulders as she watched Madame Defarge knit up a storm on a courthouse bench underneath a black street lamp.

  But try as she might to hold onto the serene space, Gabi couldn’t stop her mind from skipping endlessly—worrying thoughts like fingers on prayer beads—over what she had done. Not showing up for her final exams, leaving town without a word to anyone, impulsively making like Cameron Diaz in The Holiday and swapping, not just houses but lives, with a woman she’d met online.

  The good girl gone rogue.

  Hungry for a simpler time and place, Gabi had wanted—correction—she desperately needed to escape the hustle and bustle of LA and find a quaint, quiet place to spend the holid
ays.

  “Here you go,” said the pixie-haired barista whose nametag identified her as Brittany, slid an oversized latte and a plate of salted mocha fudge cake in front of her. “Enjoy.”

  Sighing with pleasure, Gabi forked a bite of the rich moist cake into her mouth.

  “Oh my gosh!” She moaned. “This is better than sex.”

  “As delicious as Maddie’s cake is,” drawled a deep masculine voice. “If you think cake is better than sex, then you’ve been doin’ something all wrong, darlin’.”

  Gabi jumped and darted a gaze over at the man who’d stalked through the door. He wore a brown leather jacket, tight fitting faded Levi’s, and well worn cowboy boots. He smelled like pine and leather and cool sunshine. He slipped off a pair of aviator sunglass, stuck them in his jacket pocket, and ran a hand through thick, light brown hair that curled bewitchingly at the collar of his shirt. A roguish dimple punched provocatively into his left cheek.

  Holy habeas corpus! Whatta man!

  His gaze drilled straight through her and his eyes lit up as if he possessed X-ray vision and could see what she looked like without a stitch of clothing on.

  She hiccupped. Damn it.

  Whenever she got nervous, she hiccupped. Which was part of what had sunk her in law school.

  Why was she so nervous? He-Man wasn’t nearly as intimidating as a jury or her law professors, or heaven forbid, her parents.

  She didn’t know whether it was his tanned skin or white straight teeth or that gorgeous face sculpted with just the right amount of hard ridges and sharp angles or those eyes the sinful color of fudge cake or his long-legged, leisurely I’m-hot-and-I-know-it strut, but she hiccupped again.

  Whatever it was, she wasn’t accustomed to this intense level of masculine scrutiny and she didn’t know if she should encourage it or not. She wanted to, but she was anxious. And whenever she was anxious, out came the hiccups.

  Change.

  Easier said than done. In the end, she fell back on instinct. Narrowed her eyes and shot him her best prosecutorial stare. As the daughter of two high-powered Los Angles defense attorneys, she’d at least perfected the you’re-swimming-in-shark-infested-waters-buddy glare.

  But he wasn’t intimidated, not in the least.

  He-Man deepened the dimple, gave her a wink and a nod and sauntered off to the counter.

  Who was he?

  Gabi shouldn’t have craned her neck to watch him go, but hey, sometimes biology just took over. And darn if his flipside was as enticing as the front. Her gaze zeroed in on his butt cupped so provocatively by those snug jeans.

  I want.

  I need.

  Dream on.

  And yet wasn’t that what she was doing here? Trying to live out a long-held dream?

  The barista greeted him and he ordered black coffee. A crazy part of her hoped that he’d come sit at the table beside her, but once he’d been served, he wandered out the back door to a courtyard beyond.

  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

  Goodbye forever, Good-looking.

  Resisting the urge to spin around and go back to park his butt in the empty chair beside the cute woman eating cake, Joe Cheek climbed into his pickup. He barely had time to grab a cup of coffee, much less chat up a stranger.

  And he certainly didn’t need the distraction. He had enough trouble focusing on the tasks at hand. A pretty face had led him astray more times than he could count.

  He’d just come from delivering the Christmas trees he’d donated to a local orphanage and had to hustle back to the farm to relieve his hand, Lee Loper, so that Lee could attend his son’s school play. The entire week had been insanely busy with no let-up until after Christmas. Not that he minded hard work, but Joe was accustomed to playing as hard as he worked and there hadn’t been much room for a good times lately.

  How he gotten so out of balance?

  Um, you agreed to run the farm until Gramps was back in fighting shape.

  Yeah, about that. What had started off as a couple of months of being in charge of the farm while his spunky eighty-one-year-old grandfather recovered from an automobile accident, had been extended indefinitely when Gramps developed a blood clot that had caused a mild stroke and landed him in the rehab hospital. It was touch and go for awhile, but Gramps had finally turned the corner and was making big strides in rehab. Hopefully, he’d be home by Christmas.

  Joe thought of the woman again and sighed. He missed his footloose lifestyle that would have allowed him to sidle up to her, flirt and potentially start up a torrid affair. A muscle in his cheek twitched. Joe scratched his face.

  Concentrate.

  Soon enough he’d have his life back. All he had to do was keep his focus on the farm and off enticing women. He hadn’t had sex in six months. What was a couple more weeks?

  He could hardly wait.

  C’mon, Gramps health is more important than you getting laid, his conscience kicked him in the head as he braked at the stop sign. Gramps hadn’t chosen to get in a car crash. And Joe, happy to help, enjoyed running the farm. But today, the old antsy, gotta-get-on-the-road-again feeling was stronger than usual.

  Blame his restlessness on the hot girl with the rockin’ bod. It had been far too long since he’d had a chance to run and play. One look at her sweet pink tongue and he’d wanted to invite her to come swing in his playground. It had taken will power not to ogle those dynamite curves enhanced by that snug fitting sweater.

  And when they’d made eye contact, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the very spirit of Christmas was sitting in the window at Perks, throwing her warmth and grace all over him.

  She was something special and she made him want to shine.

  Yet, there was a wistful sadness in the depth of her soft blue eyes had given him pause.

  No. It wasn’t just the sadness that made him hesitate, or his own responsibilities. She was way too girl-next-door with her I’m-so-easy-to-get-along-with smile and thick tawny hair. She was a white-picket fences and happily-ever-after kind of woman.

  And he wasn’t that guy.

  Been there. Tried it. Failed like hell.

  Driving down the two lane road, thinking of her and fighting the urge to go back into the coffee shop for a second look, Joe felt a shiver slice down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold. Simultaneously, a strange ache lodged him in the center of his chest.

  Why?

  Pretty Woman. Pink Tongue. Blue Eyes. Sexy. Too damn long without sex. That was why.

  Frig, Cheek. Knock it off.

  Right. He was on that. It wasn’t like he didn’t have a thousand other things to do than chase after a gorgeous hottie with soulful eyes.

  A neighbor honked at him, and waved as he drove past.

  Joe blinked, and glanced around, belatedly realizing he’d been so caught up in thinking about the pretty woman that he’d missed the turnoff to a road he traveled every single day.

  Gabi polished off the cake, left a big tip and picked up her purse. Time to find her new digs.

  Excitement quickened her steps as she left the coffee shop, and walked down the sidewalk to where she’d parallel parked Katie Cheek’s silver Camry. Per their arrangement, Gabi had picked the car up at DFW airport, just as Katie was to pick up Gabi’s BMW convertible at LAX.

  The snow flurries had already stopped, but a dusting of white laced the ground. She buried her hands into her coat pockets, and hunched her shoulders against the wind. Katie had warned her that weather in North Texas in December could be quite unpredictable. There might be ice and snow, or it could just as easily be warmer here than in LA, and either weather condition could turn on a dime.

  A cute couple with their arms wrapped around each other were peering through the window of a jewelry store. Shopping for an engagement ring? They looked so happy it made Gabi’s heart hurt a little. Would she ever have a love like that?

  Shaking it off. No feeling sorry for yourself. She got inside the car and cranked the heater. />
  Programmed with Katie’s address, the GPS guided Gabi down a windy road that circled Lake Twilight. She enjoyed the scenic route as she passed a marina decked out with twinkling Christmas lights. Outside of a nearby diner packed with cars, a red neon sign flashed: FROGGY’S: BEST FRIED CATFISH IN TEXAS. On the other side of the street was a volunteer fire station with an antique fire engine parked out front, a life-sized Santa mannequin behind the wheel. A sign propped against the fire engine, said: “Official Toy Drive Drop Off Site.”

  She passed some regal homes overlooking the lake, but she knew this wasn’t her destination. Just like in the movie, The Holiday, her house swap with Katie Cheek had been straight forward—my keys for yours, my car for yours, my situation for yours, no questions asked.

  Swapping places sight-unseen might sound crazy to some, and it fact, such impulsiveness was out of character for Gabi. But that was the point, wasn’t it? Shake things up. Have an adventure. Step outside her comfort zone. Although, it had taken a lot of self control not to google Katie’s house on the Internet.

  Katie had mentioned that her home was rather modest. Which was absolutely fine with Gabi. An adorable little cottage was exactly what she was looking for. Having grown up in Beverly Hills in a house so rambling that she and her parents could go days without seeing each other, modest sounded perfect.

  After a few minutes, the houses began to thin and the land flattened. She drove past a golf course, a small airfield and a Christmas tree farm.

  Um … there was nothing much out this way, and she started to wonder if the GPS was programmed incorrectly.

  She pulled over to the side of the road, dug around in her purse for the address and house key that Katie had mailed her. She was busy double-checking the numbers with her GPS coordinates when knuckles wrapped against her window.

  “Eeek!” She startled, jumped.

  A big handsome man in his early forties, wearing work boots, a green paint-stained John Deere and a worn gray pea coat, stood beside her car. She glanced in the rearview mirror, and spied a battered old green pickup truck pulled up behind her Camry. A pickup truck with a gun rack in the back window.