A white Explorer turned into the driveway ahead of her. “For God’s sake, do I have ‘Kick me’ written on my butt?” she muttered upon seeing Brandi and Hailey get out of the SUV, each of the women carrying what looked like a cake.
Madison felt a tug on her arm and looked down to see Lily’s small hand, fingers wiggling.
“Hold on a minute. I’ll give you my contribution to the swear jar,” Madison said, as she parked beside the other vehicle. At the rate she was going, she’d probably pay for Lily’s college education before the week was out. Gage and his daughters had stuck around for her first two attempts at baking yesterday. She’d unconsciously voiced her frustration in front of them, several times.
Madison leaned over to retrieve the container of not-good-enough-to-sell gingerbread that Nell had insisted she drop off at Gage’s. Or more precisely, given the two women now knocking on his door, Lily would be delivering to her father while Madison hightailed it out of there.
She shifted in her seat. “Lily, I—”
The little girl was out the back door before she could finish. Madison was about to bang her head against the steering wheel in frustration when Gage opened the front door. Sweet baby Jesus, it should be illegal for a man to look that good in a pair of jeans. She touched the side of her mouth to make sure she wasn’t drooling.
Tearing up the two steps, Lily almost took out the two women waving a white… “Oh, no,” Madison groaned and shot a desperate look to the empty backseat. Lily’d taken the apron. Now she’d regale her father with tales about the kissing booth.
Which she obviously did since Gage laughed, motioning Madison over. Brandi and Hailey turned to glare at her.
Clutching the cookie container to her chest, Madison slung her purse over her shoulder and got out of the truck. By the time she walked up the steps, Hailey and Brandi were already inside.
“Not a word,” she warned Gage.
He held up his hands. “I was just going to ask how it went.”
“Fine. We sold out. Stella didn’t. Nell’s happy.” The corner of his mouth twitched. She sighed. “Don’t believe anything your daughter tells you. She’s on a sugar high.”
“So you didn’t kiss hundreds of men?”
“Go ahead and laugh. I know you want to.” Opening her purse, Madison retrieved a dollar bill, then handed it to him. “For Lily’s swear jar.”
“Just one?” He grinned.
She rolled her eyes, about to give him the container of cookies when Annie appeared at the door. “Hey, Annie, how—”
Annie hauled her into the house before she could finish. “I’m glad Dad invited you to dinner, Maddie. Maybe you can help me with my math homework after we eat,” she said in an overloud voice.
Madison glanced back at Gage.
He shrugged.
“Sure, sounds good,” she murmured, as they walked into a huge kitchen with its top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances.
Brandi and Hailey stood at the island—their perfect cakes sitting on the black granite countertop—and did their best to ignore Madison’s presence.
Brandi fluttered her fake lashes at Gage. “I was just telling Annie that I wanted to invite the three of you to dinner at my place tonight. I thought it’d give the kids a chance to work out their differences before school tomorrow. That boy needs a man’s influence, Gage, and you’re the only one he’ll listen to. I swear he worships the ground you walk on,” she gushed, then shot an eat-shit-and-die look at Madison. “But it seems you already have plans for the night.”
Talk about laying it on thick, Madison thought. At least she now knew what Annie was up to.
Gage rested a hand on Annie’s shoulder. “I appreciate the thought, Brandi, but the kids will work it out.”
Annie ducked from under his hand, mumbling something about homework as she left the kitchen.
“I guess they’ll have to, won’t they?” Brandi said with a tight smile.
“Seeing as how you have plans, we’ll go now. We’d promised to bake your favorite cakes the other day, and with everything going on we didn’t get a chance until now. But I’m sure ours can’t compete with Ms. Lane’s,” Hailey said with a snide smile for Madison. “What did you bring?”
Madison tightened her hold on the cookie container. No way she was letting them get a look at her contribution to dessert. “It’s nothing. Really.”
“Oh, don’t be modest,” Hailey said. Before Madison had time to react, the woman jerked the container from her hands.
Hailey opened the lid and blinked. Brandi leaned over, looked inside, and snorted a laugh.
Gage took out a gingerbread woman. The one Madison had added red horns to, along with some white icing on its right leg. He looked at Madison and started to laugh—a laugh that curled around her, enveloping her in its warmth. She shrugged, smiling up at him.
Lily skipped into the kitchen wearing the “Kiss the Cook” apron. “Daddy, do you have dentures?” she asked just as Gage went to take a bite of the cookie.
He frowned. “No, why?”
“ ’Cause Maddie said only people with dentures will break their teeth.”
Slowly, he lowered the cookie. “Good to know.”
“Well, Gage, it looks like you’ll be eating our desserts after all.” Brandi smirked. “Holly’s going to drop hers by later,” she added. The two women pushed past Madison on their way out, and Gage winked as he escorted them to the door. Probably proud of her for holding her temper and not giving them the finger, Madison thought. He should be.
“Aren’t you going to take your coat off?” Lily asked, as she plunked a container of milk on the counter.
“Oh, right.” Madison started to shrug out of her coat.
Gage came back into the kitchen, and Lily ran out. “Annie, you can come out now. They’re gone.”
Moving in behind Madison, Gage helped her with her coat. She startled when he leaned closer, sniffing her hair. “You smell like you showered in gingerbread,” he said, his breath warming her ear.
“Bite me,” she croaked.
His low laugh ruffled her hair. “I might just do that. I really, really like gingerbread.”
At that moment, so did Madison.
* * *
Gage entered his dark and quiet house. Shrugging out of his jacket, he hooked it on the back of a chair while snagging a gingerbread cookie off a plate. He took an oversized bite, then remembered Lily’s warning. Chewing carefully, he went in search of Madison.
Through the bank of windows in his living room, the full moon lit a path to the woman asleep on his leather couch. He set the half-eaten cookie on the fireplace mantel.
His daughters had been thrilled when Madison had offered to stay with them until he got back from work. Their reaction, he knew, wouldn’t have been the same if one of the single women from town had volunteered. And while he’d been more than happy to accept Madison’s offer at the time, seeing her sleep-tousled hair shining like a beacon in the moonlight had him rethinking his decision.
Only one woman had ever slept at his place—his ex-wife, and that was for the sake of his daughters. Sheena’s visits were infrequent and brief, and he’d never been able to say no to Annie when she begged for her mother to stay. Now the two of them seemed to take the arrangement for granted. Even if he wanted to, Gage doubted he could change it without having a battle on his hands.
He glanced at his watch. It was after midnight, and Madison looked to be in a deep sleep, her chest rising and falling beneath the green throw. He felt bad for having to wake her, but there was no way in hell he’d get any sleep with her under the same roof. He’d had a hard enough time keeping his hands off her earlier. If his daughters hadn’t been in the next room when she said, “Bite me,” he would have. And having her here when Lily woke up would be asking for trouble. His youngest had gotten it in her head that Madison was his girlfriend and if she wasn’t, she should be. Gage, along with Madison and most especially Annie, had tried to shoot down her sug
gestion. That was one complication he didn’t need.
Nudging the coffee table out of the way, he crouched beside her. “Madison.” When she didn’t respond, he put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake.
“Umm,” she murmured with a slight curve of her lips.
He fought the urge to trace her lush mouth with the tip of his finger and quietly said her name instead. She wriggled closer, nuzzling her face into his shirt. He swallowed a groan as the blood rushed from his head, his stomach muscles tightening in response to her warm breath heating his skin through the fabric.
“Madison.” His voice came out a strangled rasp.
The nuzzling stopped. Slowly, she drew back to look up at him. “Oh, God,” she groaned. “S-Sorry, I was having a… dream.” She ducked her head and pushed herself upright. The light from the moon revealed the pink flush coloring her chest and cheeks.
He drew his hand from her shoulder while he retained a semblance of self-control and came to his feet. “Not a problem. Must’ve been a good dream. Too bad I had to wake you up,” he teased, in hopes of covering his own reaction.
She grimaced, removing the throw from her shoulders to reveal the sweater he’d wanted to unwrap from the moment he’d removed her coat earlier. It had taken everything he had not to touch her then. And since he had a pretty good idea what lay beneath that sweater, he’d been grateful for the emergency call that came in forty minutes after her arrival.
He realized she was talking to him and drew his wandering eyes back to her face. “Sorry, what was that?”
She gave him a questioning look as she came to her feet. “I asked how your night went.”
To prevent himself from doing something stupid like tugging her into his arms, he shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “Quiet once we got the accident cleared out.”
“I hope nobody was hurt.” She leaned over to place the throw on the back of the couch, her sweater rising up to reveal her shapely behind. The black leggings she wore didn’t leave much to the imagination, although his was now working overtime. She glanced at him over her shoulder.
He cleared his throat. “Uh, no, nobody injured. Can’t say the same for the vehicles, though.” He did a mental eye roll, but figured it didn’t matter what he said as long as he kept talking and stopped staring. “How were the girls? Annie give you any trouble?”
She smiled and shook her head, the movement drawing his attention to her hair. She looked like she’d spent the night making love instead of asleep on his couch. “No, not at all. Both she and Lily were great.”
“Good, that’s good to hear. Ah, you might want to—” he motioned to her head as they walked to the front hall “—put your hair in that bun thingy you do.” He’d been wrong at Sophia’s. Even alone with him, Madison needed to wear her hair confined in a bun.
She stared at him. “I don’t know what it is with you and my hair, but your daughters and I had a makeover session tonight. They told me I should wear it down, not up.”
“What do they know? They’re twelve and eight,” he muttered, then realized what she’d said. “Please tell me you didn’t dye Annie’s hair in this little makeover session of yours. She’s been after me to let her color it purple.”
“No, just a couple of green lowlights… very tasteful.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“I am.” Her smile faded as her expression turned serious. “I’m sorry your wife isn’t able to spend more time with Annie and Lily. I think Annie really misses having her around. Girls her age need their mothers…”
She stopped talking. He imagined his angry expression was the reason, and he was angry. He worked his ass off trying to be both mother and father to Annie and Lily and didn’t know where Madison got off telling him he was doing a lousy job of it.
“A few hours in my daughters’ company doesn’t make you an expert, Madison. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her eyes widened, and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”
“You’re damn right it’s not.”
In an instant, her expression went from apologetic to ticked. She stalked to the front hall closet, opening the door to grab her coat and boots.
He shoved his hand through his hair. She might’ve pissed him off with her observation, but she’d done him a favor by staying with his girls. “Look, Madison,” he began, reaching for her coat to help her put it on.
She jerked away from him. “I’ve got it.”
His cell rang. He checked caller ID. Great. “Hang on a sec, Madison. I have to take this.”
Ignoring him, she shoved her feet into her boots and opened the front door.
“Give me a minute, Sheena,” he said to his ex-wife, and called out to Madison, who was storming to her vehicle, “Take it easy out there. The roads are icy.” She slammed the truck’s door on his warning.
“Aw, hell,” he said when she squealed out of his driveway. As he watched her taillights fade in the distance, he brought the phone to his ear. “What’s up, Sheena?”
Half an hour later, Gage finally got off the phone with his ex-wife. They’d spent the last five minutes talking about her plans for Christmas and their daughters, the first twenty-five about her career. While half-listening to Sheena’s hysterical rant about her throat problem and its impact on her music career, he’d been playing over his conversation with Madison in his head.
He’d overreacted. Her comment had been directed at Sheena, not him. He knew he was a little thin-skinned when it came to his parenting skills, and he knew why. At times, Gage questioned whether he was doing a good job raising his daughters on his own. Scrubbing his hand over his face, he called Madison.
“Hello,” she said, her voice husky.
“Hey, sorry, did I wake you?”
“No.”
“I just wanted to be sure you got to Nell’s okay and to—”
“I did. Thanks.” She hung up.
Gage stared at the phone. That went well.
Chapter Ten
Madison bit into a sugar cookie and savored a moment of peace and quiet. After the two hours she’d spent with Nell and her friends this morning, she figured she deserved a break.
“Madison,” Nell hollered from the living room. “We’re waiting on our tea and cookies.”
Madison rolled her eyes, popped the rest of the cookie in her mouth, and for the third time that morning set the Santa teapot on the silver tray alongside a platter of sugar cookies.
Nell held up her teacup as soon as Madison entered the room. When four more sets of arthritic fingers raised their cups, she bit her tongue to hold back a curse.
“You’re a dear,” Mrs. Tate gushed.
With a strained smile, Madison poured tea into the older woman’s cup. If not for Mrs. Tate, neither the police nor Rick Dane would’ve caught wind of the free-for-all at Sophia’s, and Madison’s picture wouldn’t once again be gracing the front page of the Chronicle. To hear Mrs. Tate tell it, she’d saved Madison from a whupping at Brandi and Hailey’s hands.
Bless her heart.
Earlier that morning, Vivi had voiced her disappointment with Madison, while Skye thought the new photo was an improvement over the one in the Times. Since Madison had been on her hands and knees with her butt in the air in the Chronicle’s latest photo, she didn’t take much comfort in Skye’s observation. Madison figured she had grounds to sue—there was no way her butt was as big as the one on the Chronicle’s front page.
Once she’d filled everyone’s cup, she set the tray on the coffee table, then slowly backed out of the room.
“Madison, get over here and sit down. We haven’t gone over the schedule of events you’ll be participating in yet.” Nell patted the chair beside her, waving what appeared to be a very long list in Madison’s direction.
“Yeah, you’re gonna want to have a seat for this, that’s for damn sure,” Ted said under his breath as Madison walked by.
; She caught the sympathetic tone in Ted’s voice and nervously took her seat. If Ted felt sorry for her, she really didn’t want to see that list. Reluctantly, she took the paper from Nell. Her mouth fell open. Nell wanted her to be an elf in the Santa Claus parade. Madison expelled a relieved breath when she noted the date of the event.
“You know, Nell, I would love to take part in the parade—” Ted and Fred’s snorts cut her off. She gave them a look then continued. “—but I’m only here until this Friday, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to be Santa’s little helper.” Thank you, baby Jesus. “And I—”
She was about to continue listing the events she couldn’t take part in when Nell interrupted her. “I knew you wouldn’t want to miss out on all the Christmas fun we have planned, so…” Madison narrowed her eyes on the older woman, whose knowing smirk gave her away. “I got in touch with your boss, Mr. Hartwell, this morning. He thought your staying in Christmas for another couple of weeks was an excellent idea.”
Madison’s heart did a nosedive. There was no way… “You talked to Joe?”
“No, your other boss. Harrison Hartwell. He—”
Madison forced a benign expression onto her face. “He’s not my boss. And while I—”
“Well, that’s just wonderful.” Mrs Tate clapped her hands, as if Madison hadn’t been about to say something.
“It is. It really is.” Nell’s neighbor Stella beamed. “That’ll give you more time to form a positive opinion of our town, Madison.”
Oh, she’d formed an opinion all right, and at that moment it was far from positive.
“Um-hmm, she sure will. And none of those silly little problems like that new road will matter anymore.” Mrs. Tate smiled at Madison over the rim of her teacup.
Yeah, like a new road’s a little problem, Madison thought with a mental eye roll.
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