His lips twitched as though he fought back a laugh. “No, Ms. Lane. And while I admit she’s a bit of a rabble-rouser, she’s not dangerous.”
“You’re only saying that because she’s your aunt. She hasn’t sicced a mob on you or tried to have you charged with attempted murder, has she?”
He grimaced. “I know it seems like she’s out to get you, but she’s just very protective of this town. Emotions are running high at the moment. You have to look at it from their perspective. In their eyes a Hartwell resort was the answer to their prayers, and no offense, but you took that away from them.”
“You shouldn’t make excuses for her, and she sure as hell shouldn’t be rewarded for pulling a stunt like this by getting exactly what she wants. Which is me remaining in Christmas for a few days. If she gets away with this, she’s only going to get worse.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know, Ms. Lane. After all, she is my aunt. Rest assured, if I find out she set you up, she’ll face the consequences.”
“No if about it—she set me up. And the more I think about Joe’s solution, the less I like it. If you don’t mind, I could use a little privacy. I’m going to call my boss back.”
“Sure.” He pushed himself off the desk and reached for the half-full cup of coffee she’d placed on the blue carpet beneath her chair. “I’ll get you another one.”
“Thanks,” she said, waiting for Joe to pick up.
“Madison, please don’t tell me something else has happened. I don’t think my heart can take any more bad news,” her boss’s weary voice came over the line.
What about me? She was the one being framed for attempted murder. But Joe’s comment about his heart had her swallowing her snappy comeback. “No, nothing new or dire to report. But I’m concerned, Joe. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to give in to their demands. We both know it’s not going to have any impact on our decision whatsoever.”
A tired sigh came over the line. “I realize that, Madison, but… well, Harrison feels strongly about this property, and the lawyers agree that perhaps we should reevaluate our stance.”
“Numbers don’t lie, Joe.” Unlike your nephew, she almost snipped.
“Look, Madison, we live in a litigious society, and they’re concerned there may be grounds for a lawsuit here.”
“The only one with grounds for a lawsuit is me. I’ve been assaulted by a twelve-foot Santa, threatened by a mob, and set up by an old lady who makes Hannibal Lecter look sane.”
Nothing followed but silence. For a moment she thought she’d lost the connection. Then Joe came back on, a defeated heaviness in his voice. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I think you have the right to know. If only so you understand how important it is to fix this. I’ve been advised by the head of legal that our best course of action, should a lawsuit be filed over this, is to fire you.”
Madison’s heart dropped to her feet. “You can’t be serious?” But why was she surprised? Tom, the head of legal, was the Snake’s BFF. And since Harrison had called her as soon as she left the meeting, she’d already figured out that someone from town was feeding him information. He must’ve been doing the happy dance when he heard about the accident. The first call he would’ve made was to Tom, looking for a way to use it against her. It seemed that he’d found one.
“I’m afraid so. Because you’ve been the target of most of the negative publicity—and, as far as the legal department is concerned, the cause of it—they believe your firing would work to our benefit. I—”
“So they’re going to throw me under the bus? Make me the scapegoat?”
“You know I’ll do everything I can to protect you, so put it out of your mind. Nell McBride is the answer, Madison. Focus your energy on her. If we generate enough goodwill, they’ll think twice about hitting us with a lawsuit. I’m depending on you to get the job done. You’ve never let me down before. Please don’t let me down now.” The phone cut out for a second. “I have another call coming in. We’ll talk later.”
Madison stared blindly at her phone. And here she’d thought her day couldn’t get worse.
There was a light tap on the door. Sheriff McBride walked in with a cup of coffee. Closing the door behind him, he looked at her and frowned. “You don’t look so good. What happened?”
Just what a woman wanted to hear from a man whose hotness was off the charts. A man whose aunt she had to win over if she wanted to keep her job. She’d do it, but if it came down to it and they fired her, she’d slap Hartwell Enterprises with a lawsuit so fast it would make their heads spin. She sighed. No, she wouldn’t. She couldn’t do that to Joe.
“Gee, thanks. You wouldn’t look so good, either, if you had the day I have.” But he probably would.
He placed the mug on his desk, then crouched in front of her.
“W-what are you doing?” she stammered when he brought his hands to her head.
“I didn’t finish checking you over earlier, and then you fainted in the parking lot.” He wove his fingers through her hair, gently probing her scalp.
She didn’t faint. She’d slid gracefully to the ground when her legs gave out. At least that was how she chose to remember it. But with his touch causing a heated tremor to spiral through her body, she couldn’t form a coherent rebuttal and said, “Oh.” Her eyes fluttered closed as she swallowed a groan of pleasure, only to blink open when he removed the pins from her hair.
“Why are you doing that?”
“I don’t like your bun.” He grinned, placing the pins in her palm as he searched her eyes. “No bumps, and you don’t appear to have a concussion.”
She was tempted to tell him he was wrong and he should check again. Instead, she said, “Woo-hoo, lucky me,” and slid the pins into the pocket of her blazer.
“How’s your neck… any pain?” he asked, as he gently prodded from the base of her skull to the base of her neck.
Her response came out a breathy moan. Mortified, she closed her eyes. “No, no pain.” When he drew his hands away and stood up, she wished she’d lied.
Moving behind her, he gathered her hair in one hand to arrange it over her shoulder. Then those talented fingers of his went to work on her tense muscles. She groaned her appreciation, bending her head to give him better access, instantly regretting the body-concealing layers of clothing she favored. Just this once, she wished she had on something slinky and revealing so she could feel his hands on her bare skin.
“Does it hurt when you bend your head like that?”
“No,” she murmured, hoping that was the right answer and he wouldn’t stop.
“Sit up straight.” He guided her into position. “Now show me how far you can turn your head to the left. To the right,” he said once she’d complied with his first directive. “Your range of motion is pretty limited. Once you get to the lodge, put some ice on it at ten-minute intervals.”
For a moment, the reminder of where she’d be spending the next week diminished the enjoyment of his expert attention. But even her resentment over the situation couldn’t compete with the toe-curling pleasure of his touch.
“Or you could just keep doing what you’re doing,” she suggested hopefully.
He laughed, low and deep. But she wasn’t kidding. The man should give up law enforcement and become a masseuse. He’d make a fortune.
“Much longer and I’ll make it worse, not better, Ms. Lane.”
“Since you’ve practically had me moaning in your hands, I think we know each other well enough to be on a first-name…” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, wincing at the bite of pain. She hadn’t realized how provocative that sounded until it came out of her mouth.
“No ‘practically’ about it, Madison, you were definitely moaning,” he said, sounding amused.
She glanced up at him. His gaze dropped to her mouth, and he appeared about to say something when there was a commotion on the other side of the door. At the sound of a familiar voice demanding to see the
sheriff, Madison groaned. “It’s her, isn’t it?”
“Don’t worry.” He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll handle Nell.”
“You’re my hero, Sheriff McBride,” she said with a trace of sarcasm, angry once again at the position his aunt had put her in.
He winked. “Gage. And that’s what all the girls say.”
“I’m sure they do,” she muttered, as he went to open the door, trying to ignore the twinge of jealousy his remark evoked. For a moment there, she’d actually thought his protective manner, his concern, his comforting touch, had been for her and her alone. She should’ve known better. He was just doing his job. Too bad he was so damn good at it.
Digging the pins from her pocket, she had her hair in a bun before he ushered his aunt into the room. Without a mirror, she knew it wasn’t perfect, but it helped to don her professional persona, to feel more in control of the situation.
Nell McBride thumped into the room on crutches. Madison moved to the chair closest to the dark-paneled wall, stifling a groan at the sight of the gruesome twosome who followed Nell into the office. Gage glanced at Madison and frowned, giving his head a slight shake as he went to take a seat behind his desk. Self-consciously, her hand went to her hair.
“Stop with your fussing.” Nell McBride waved her friends off as they went to settle her into the chair.
Her candy cane earrings no longer flashed. And without the soft pink glow lighting her skin, the woman looked older than she had earlier. Pain appeared to have deepened her lines. But after what Nell McBride had put her through, Madison ignored the sympathetic twinge in her chest.
The older woman’s gaze narrowed on Madison before she swung her attention to her nephew. “Why isn’t she in a cell?”
Madison ignored her and shot Gage a look that made her expectations clear: Take care of this or else. “Or else” what, she wasn’t sure, but she was not about to let Nell McBride get away with blackmail. That was it exactly. Blackmail, and blackmail was illegal. Right, and thanks to Joe, the woman was going to be rewarded instead of punished.
Just as Madison was sure her silent message was clear to him, so was his to her. Keep quiet and let me handle this, his cool gaze seemed to say.
Gage looked at his aunt. “The reason Ms. Lane is not in a cell is because she has not, and will not, be charged with anything.” He lifted his gaze to Fred and Ted who sputtered their outrage behind Nell.
“There is no evidence to suggest this was anything other than an accident. Yours, Nell. You slipped on the ice, and”—he looked directly at the two men again—“Fred and Ted, in their panic and confusion, overreacted and made false accusations against Ms. Lane.” When Nell protested, Gage listed a number of charges: public mischief, blackmail, extortion, and the penalties that accompanied them.
Ted and Fred leaned forward and whispered to Nell. While the older woman conferred with her friends, Gage printed off two documents, sliding them, along with a pen, across the desk.
Madison leaned forward and retrieved her copy of what she assumed was the accident report. She scowled at the paper in her hand. A sidelong glance at Nell revealed a similar expression.
“Even if it was an accident, and I’m not sayin’ it was, it’s still her fault.”
Madison gave her a you-can’t-be-serious look. But of course she was. The woman was insane. “How do you figure that?”
“You destroyed my sign and my town. If you want me to sign this, I want compensation for my pain and suffering.”
Fred and Ted nodded their agreement.
“Pain and suffering…” Madison’s voice cracked as it raised an octave. She pressed a finger to her twitching eye. “You set me up, and you want compensation?”
“I didn’t set you up, and I have two witnesses who will back me while you have no one.”
“That’s enough, Nell. She doesn’t need witnesses. The evidence proves, without a doubt, that she was not involved with your accident.”
“My broken leg says otherwise.”
Gage blew out a frustrated breath. “It’s a stress fracture, and no it doesn’t. Just sign the damn papers.”
She gave a stubborn shake of her head. “No, I want compensation.”
Madison couldn’t let it go any further, not with the threat of a lawsuit and Joe’s directive echoing in her head. “Ms. McBride, my boss, Joe Hartwell, has requested that I remain in Christmas for a—” she had a hard time getting the word out “—week.” And shuddered once she did. Gage pressed his lips together as though trying not to laugh. She narrowed her eyes on him before continuing, “During that time, I will…”
Before Madison had a chance to finish, Nell McBride signed the release form, then handed it to her nephew. “Good, let’s get going. Can you drive standard?”
Madison blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Standard, a stick shift.”
“God, no.” She could barely drive an automatic, but she wasn’t about to admit that to Nell McBride.
The older woman sighed. “I’ll have to teach you, then. Come on. Get your things. We’re leaving now.”
“I appreciate the offer, Ms. McBride, but I can find my own way to the lodge. Thank you.”
“Lodge? You’re not staying at the lodge. You’re staying with me.”
Like hell she was. Even Joe wouldn’t expect her to move in with the woman. “No, I wouldn’t want to put you out. You have to rest your leg.”
“I know, that’s why you’re staying with me. No matter how you slice it, it’s your fault I hurt my leg, so you’ll take care of the things I can’t. It’s called restorative justice. Isn’t that right, Gage? Just the sort of thing those reporters would want to tell their readers about. Good publicity for Hartwell, don’t you think?” Nell grinned. Without waiting for her nephew’s reply, or Madison’s, she shuffled out the door, then stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Get a move on, girlie.”
Rising slowly from her chair, Madison shoved the paper into Gage’s hand. “I am going to kill Joe, and then I’m going to kill Harrison, slowly and painfully, and then I’m going to kill your aunt,” she muttered through clenched teeth.
“It’s not a good idea to utter death threats in my presence, Madison. I might have to arrest you.”
“This is not the least bit funny,” she said, noting the amusement in his eyes.
He held up his hands. “I’m not laughing, honest.”
“Where the Sam Hill is she?” the older woman’s voice came from out in the hall.
Madison grabbed her coat and marched out of the sheriff’s office to the sound of his laughter. He was gorgeous and crazy, as crazy as his aunt, as crazy as everyone in this damn town.
Chapter Six
The driver behind Madison impatiently honked his horn when she stalled the red pickup for a third time at the stop sign.
Beside her, Nell shook her head. “No wonder you took out Santa. Good thing Fred and Ted whacked the back end of your SUV or you really would have—”
As the car lurched forward, Madison gave an aggravated shake of her head. “So you really did try and set me up.” Half an hour into what Nell assured her should’ve been a ten-minute drive, they were now on a first-name basis. It had been at Madison’s suggestion. She was tired of being referred to as “girlie.”
“No, that’s not what I said.” She sighed, her attention riveted on the Victorian-style homes inching past the window as they crawled down the road. “I love this town, g—Madison, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to save it.” Nell shifted, giving her a probing look. “Haven’t you ever loved something or someone so much you’d do everything in your power to protect them?”
Telling Nell the truth, that she was protecting Joe and now, it seemed, her job, wasn’t something her boss would want her to share. “Yes, I have.”
“So you’ve got a boyfriend?”
“Nope.” She caught the speculative gleam in Nell’s eyes. “And I don’t want one.”
“How come? A girl
like you…” She trailed off as something out the window caught her attention. “Here we are, second house on the right.” She pointed to a two-story, mint-green Victorian.
Madison turned into the long driveway, relieved to escape Nell’s interrogation.
“Careful when you…” Nell grimaced as Madison ground the gears putting the truck into Park. “All I can say is Earl better hurry up and get your SUV repaired.”
Closing the door on Nell’s comment, she came around to the other side. “Your home is lovely,” Madison said, as she retrieved the crutches from the back seat.
“Not when you compare it to Stella and Ed’s,” Nell grumbled when Madison helped her out of the truck. Once Nell got settled on her crutches, she shot a sour look at the white Victorian beside hers. Big red bows decorated every window, and a family of wooden reindeer graced the front lawn. “I’m always the first one to have their decorations up, but this year I was just so busy…”
Madison put a hand on her hip. “Busy in your campaign to ruin my reputation, was that what you were about to say?” she asked, her tone sharp. She might be softening toward Nell as she came to understand what made the older woman tick, but it didn’t mean she’d entirely forgiven her. She had a fairly good idea, given Nell’s reputation as the town’s matriarch, who’d been responsible for the letters that were published in the Times. “I must say, the four-year-olds in this town have an excellent command of the English language, not to mention impressive penmanship, or should I say, crayonmanship.”
Nell didn’t bother hiding her grin, but before she responded, a yellow school bus chugged up the street and came to a lurching stop two houses down. A young girl in dark, baggy clothing and black high tops disembarked. She slung a messenger bag over her shoulder, impatiently shaking her black, unkempt, shoulder-length hair.
“Hurry up, Lily,” she yelled into the bus.
Nell sighed. “She’s in one of her moods. I don’t know what’s gotten into that girl these days. Annie, don’t you be hollering at your sister like that.”
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