by Susan Meier
He lodged his foot more securely on the threshold. “I thought we were your family.”
Her lips trembled and she couldn’t help the words that came out of her mouth. “I thought you were, too.”
His voice softened with confusion. “So why won’t you come home with me?”
She would not spell it out. It was embarrassing enough that she knew she couldn’t be what he needed. She refused to say it.
Refused to beg him to accept her as she was. “Goodbye, Clark.”
“Goodbye? You make us love you and then you leave?”
Her gaze sprang to his. “You love me?”
“Well, yeah.” He ran his hand along his neck. “I know I’ve been preoccupied. But I also didn’t want to scare you.” He winced. “It always seems like I’m pushing you into something you don’t want because I’m so needy.”
Oh, if he only knew she was so much better with people who were in trouble. It was people who were normal that she couldn’t handle. “I’m not what you need. I don’t know how to be a mom. I’m not even sure how to be a good girlfriend.”
“I don’t want you for a girlfriend. I want you for a wife.” He stepped closer. “And as for not being what I need?” He laughed. “Who the hell knows what they really need? You’re what I want. You make me laugh. You love my kids. You renamed my dog.” He smiled. “That took some gumption.”
She laughed, but she quickly sobered. “I panicked when you left to buy gifts yesterday. Two days away from Christmas and I didn’t think gifts. I thought you were dropping me.”
His voice softened. “Why would I drop you?”
Her lips trembled. “No one’s ever really wanted me.”
“We want you. A lot.”
“Well, you should have let me finish. Because no one’s ever wanted me I don’t know how to behave with people who do.”
“Technically, no one’s ever wanted me, either.”
Her gaze ambled to his.
“You’re my first real love.” He patted his stomach. “The one who gets me here.” He touched his heart. “And here. So I don’t know any more about love than you do. We’ll learn together.”
“You won’t care if I forget the laundry?”
“We have Mrs. Alwine for laundry. I want you to love me.”
Her trembling lips stilled. Tears fell off her eyelids.
“And you want me to love you?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Well, I do.” He waited a second then said, “And you love me, too?”
She nodded again.
He growled. “Say it.”
She raised her head slowly, met his gaze. Staring into his pretty amber eyes she swallowed. He loved her. She loved him. She’d taken a chance with her dad. Maybe she should take the greatest risk of all? “I love you.”
He scooped her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. The way she’d seen handsome men in the movies kiss their leading ladies. Their mouths fused, their tongues danced. Happiness bubbled through her, eradicating her paralyzing fear until she couldn’t even remember she’d been afraid.
When he pulled away, she clung to his jacket collar, never wanting to let him go. Someone who knew her past and present wanted to be part of her future.
“If you guys wouldn’t mind coming inside, Wyatt’s got French toast.”
Althea laughed through her tears. “I think we should go home to the kids.”
“They’ll be fine with Mrs. Alwine for a few hours.”
She peeked at him.
“This time they’re wrapping gifts.”
She frowned, but he squeezed her shoulders. “Give you one or two Christmases and you’ll catch on to all this silliness.”
“I don’t think it’s silliness.” She smiled. “I think it’s magical.”
Missy happily led them down the hall. “Why don’t you guys come to our house tomorrow for Christmas Day?”
“Why don’t you come to our house?” Clark countered. “Mrs. Alwine’s baking a ham. My mom brings a turkey.”
“Sounds fun.” Missy said, “I’ll make a cake.”
Althea caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “I hate to have Mrs. Alwine work all Christmas Day for us.”
“Oh, she doesn’t. She just puts the ham in the oven. My mom and I take over after that.”
“In that case,” Missy said, “I’ll also bring a loaf of bread and maybe a salad.”
“Hey, salad is my department,” Wyatt said as they walked up to the table.
“I can bring cookies,” Claire announced, pointing to the cooling cookies on the cooking island.
Althea stood back, watching it all, feeling the love, but most of all basking in a sense of belonging. Of family. She’d finally have the family Christmas she always wanted.
EPILOGUE
THAT SUMMER, CLARK and Althea honeymooned at a hotel Wyatt owned on the Gulf coast of Florida. Lying on a hammock, drinking pink drinks served in tall glasses, garnished with pineapple, Clark couldn’t have been happier.
Althea, however, nervously sat up. “Do you think the kids are okay?”
“Spending four days with my parents at Disney World? Sheesh, woman, how much more okay could two kids get?”
She cuddled against him, then sprang up again. “Did we pack Teagan’s bear?”
“If I remember correctly Teagan packed an entire bear suitcase. Something she wouldn’t have been able to do without Wyatt’s private plane.”
“It is handy to have a rich guy for a brother-in-law.”
Clark feigned offense. “Hey. I don’t do so badly in the money department.”
She laughed. “No. You don’t.”
“What? Do I have to buy you a hotel or an airplane to prove it?”
She smiled shyly and looked down. He caught her chin and lifted her face again. “What?”
“It’s just all so unreal sometimes.”
“What? The money? The fact that you were suddenly a mother?” He waggled his eyebrows. “Or me?”
She smiled. “You. I never ever thought I’d find somebody who would love me.”
He laughed, tightened his arm around her and snuggled down in the hammock. “What are you complaining about? I didn’t even know what love was.”
“But we make it work.”
His eyes drooped. “Every day.”
She snuggled against him. “Are we really going to nap?”
“Yep.”
“Nothing else on your mind?”
“Not while I’m sitting beside a hotel pool with a hundred spectators. But just wait till we get back to the honeymoon suite. Then I’m going to—” He whispered a suggestion in her ear that made her laugh. And he settled into the hammock again. He loved her laugh. Loved making her laugh. She was so warm and open and honest he knew he could make her laugh forever.
And that was the point.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from SNOWBOUND WITH THE SOLDIER by Jennifer Faye.
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CHAPTER ONE
OLD MAN WINTER huffed and puffed,
rattling the doors of the Greene Summit Resort. Kara Jameson turned her back on the dark, blustery night. She didn’t relish heading out into the declining weather to navigate her way home after a very long day at work.
She took a moment to admire the massive evergreen standing in the lobby of what had once been one of Pennsylvania’s premier ski destinations. The twinkling white lights combined with the sparkling green and red decorations would normally fill her with holiday cheer, but not tonight. Not even the rendition of “Jingle Bells” playing softly in the background could tempt her to hum along.
The resort had been sold. The somber thought weighed heavily on her shoulders. It didn’t help that rumors were running rampant that all the management positions were being replaced. Why did it have to happen with Christmas only a few weeks away?
Everything will work out. Everything will work out. She repeated the mantra over and over in her mind, anxious to believe the old adage. But something in her gut said nothing would ever be the same again.
“Kara?”
The deep baritone voice came from behind her. She froze. Her gaze remained locked on a red bell-shaped ornament as her mind processed the sound. Even in the two syllables of her name, she knew that voice, knew the way her name rolled off his tongue as sweet as candy.
Jason Smith.
It couldn’t be. He’d sworn he would never come back.
“Kara, won’t you even look at me?”
Her gaze shifted to the glass doors that led to the parking lot. Her feet refused to cooperate, remaining cemented to the swirled golden pattern on the hotel carpet. Seven years ago, she’d bolted out those exact doors after Jason had broken their engagement. Back then she’d been unsure and confused by the depth of her emotions. Since then life had given her a crash course in growing up. Running was no longer her style.
She sucked in a deep breath, leveled her shoulders and turned.
Clear blue eyes stared back at her. A slow, easy grin lifted the tired lines around Jason’s eyes. She blinked, but he was still there.
This couldn’t be happening. The overtime and lack of sleep must be catching up with her.
“Are you okay?” He reached out to her.
She jumped back before he could touch her. Words rushed up her throat, but clogged in her mouth. She pressed her lips together and willed her heart to slow. Her pulse pounded in her ears as her fists clenched at her sides. A breath in. A breath out.
“You’re so pale. Sit down.” He gestured to one of the overstuffed couches surrounding the stone fireplace. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
She didn’t move. This surreal moment struck her as a clip from a movie—a visit from the ghost of Christmas past. Only, this wasn’t a Hollywood soundstage and he wasn’t an actor.
She studied the man before her, trying to make sense of things. The dark scruff obscuring his boyish features was a new addition, as was the two-inch scar trailing up the right side of his jaw. His hardened appearance was a visual reminder of the military life he’d chosen over her. Her fingers longed to reach out and trace the uneven skin of his jaw, but instead she gripped the strap of her tote even tighter. A bit older and a little scuffed up, but it was most definitely Jason.
Just pretend he’s a mere acquaintance from years ago, not the man who threw your love back in your face and walked away without any explanation.
“Jason Smith. I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, trying her best to sound casual.
“Actually, I go by Jason Greene these days....”
The fact he now used his mother’s maiden name came as a surprise, but Kara supposed she shouldn’t find it too shocking, knowing the stormy relationship between him and his father. The name change had presumably contributed to her inability to track him down and notify him of his father’s failing health. A question teetered on her tongue, but she clamped her lips shut. Playing catch-up with Jason was akin to striking a match near fireworks. One wrong move and it’d blow up in her face. Best to stick to safe topics.
His gaze implored her for an answer, but to what? She’d lost track of the strained conversation. “What did you say?”
“How are you?”
He wanted to exchange pleasantries as though they’d parted on good terms? She didn’t have time to beat around the bush. She should already be home, getting dinner for her daughter before they went over her homework.
“When you left Pleasant Valley, you swore you’d never return. So what happened? What finally changed your mind?”
His expression hardened. If he’d been expecting a warm welcome, he’d been sadly mistaken.
He shrugged. “Things change.”
Well, most things did, and generally not for the better, but not in Jason’s case. He hadn’t gained so much as a beer gut or a receding hairline. Even the jagged scar on his face added to his sexiness.
Kara’s gaze rose to meet his. At first glance, she thought his intense blue eyes were the same as she remembered, but a closer inspection revealed a hard glint in them. He no longer resembled the warm, lighthearted guy she’d dated for nearly four years. Or had he been that way all along? Had those rose-colored glasses she’d been wearing back then obscured his real character? Had she ever truly known him at all?
Jason hitched his thumbs in his jeans pockets. “I’m sorry about what happened between us. I handled it poorly.”
“You certainly did.”
“If I could explain, I would, but I can’t—”
“Don’t.” She held up a hand, stalling his too little, too late explanation. “Nothing you say will change what happened.”
Her pride refused to let on that his presence affected her, that even after all this time she longed to know what had changed his mind about marrying her. She reconciled herself to the fact that she was better off not knowing—not prying open that door to her past.
Jason shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I guess it was too much to hope that you’d be willing to put the past behind us.”
She lifted her chin, drawing on the strength she’d used to manage this place in the recent absence of her boss, who also happened to be Jason’s father. “I’ve moved on.”
It’d taken time—lots of time—but she’d gotten over him and the way her life had unraveled after he’d dumped her. She refused to let him get under her skin again. Besides, she had enough on her plate already.
After working her way up through the ranks, to now be dismissed from her hard-earned position would be utterly demoralizing. She’d like to think she was needlessly worrying, but the rumors said the new owners wanted their own people running the show—people with more education and experience.
She went to step around Jason, but he snagged hold of her arm. “Wait. I need to apologize.”
Even through her coat she could feel his warmth radiating into her body. She yanked at her arm, to no avail.
“Let go,” she said with a hard edge. He couldn’t just worm his way past her defenses with an empty apology. She refused to let him off the hook that easily. “If you were truly sorry, you’d have said something before now. You wouldn’t have ignored me all these years or returned your father’s letters unopened.”
His hand slipped from her arm. “You know about that?”
She tightened her hold on the strap of the tote bag slung over her shoulder, which held the red scarf she was knitting for Jason’s father for Christmas. “Yes. He told me. After you left, he was never quite the same. Not knowing if you were dead or alive seemed to age him overnight.”
Jason’s body visibly stiffened. “I think you’ve mixed my father up with someone who cares.”
“He’s sick, Jason. Real sick. I’ve done what I can to help him, but he needs you.”
“I don’t want to discuss him.”
She should turn away and wa
lk out the door before the snow grew any deeper, but her feet wouldn’t cooperate. There was one thing she needed to know—one nagging question that demanded an answer.
She licked her dry lips. “If it isn’t because of your father, then why have you suddenly returned home?”
“Do you really care?” His gaze never left hers.
“No. Never mind. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Her pulse quickened. Heat scorched her cheeks. Even though it was a lie, she refused to let him think that she cared anything about what he said or did. He was part of her past...nothing more.
“I have to go.” She needed space to make sense of things.
“Kara, I know we can’t go back to the way things used to be, but it doesn’t have to be this awkward. We were friends for years before we dated.”
They had been the best of friends. She’d told him everything about her life, but apparently that openness had been one-sided. She wouldn’t make the mistake of trusting him again.
“Does this plea of friendship mean you’re planning to stay in Pleasant Valley?”
“Yes.”
The blunt response lacked any telling details of what had prompted his unexpected return. Her errant gaze strayed to his bare ring finger. Still single. Still available. Been there, done that. She glanced away.
“Welcome home.” She buttoned her black peacoat. “I really do need to go.”
“Be careful. The snow’s picking up.” His gaze moved to the glass doors. “It looks bad out. You should spend the night at the hotel.”
She shook her head. “The resort’s closed for renovations. You shouldn’t even be here. Who’s been showing you around?”
They weren’t the only ones there late. With the new owner, GSR Inc., arriving on Monday, a number of people were working late even though it was a Friday evening. Everyone had gone above and beyond their duties, hoping to make a good impression on the new owner. Though Jason had been away for years, a number of employees knew him and would have volunteered to give him a last look around the place.