THE MAVERICK'S CHRISTMAS BABY

by Victoria Pade

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Dallas agreed, laughing with her. “But at this point it just seems silly to me.”

  Nina was so glad to hear him say that. Probably because it was how she felt, as well, she told herself. It probably didn’t have anything to do with the fact that she was enjoying being there with him so much, or the fact that she kept remembering how he’d taken care of her during the blizzard and the feel of him carrying her to his truck, the comforting feel of his arm around her when she’d had pain.

  The feel of that kiss he’d placed on her temple...

  “It seems silly to me, too,” she told him in a voice she wished hadn’t come out sounding so breathy.

  “So maybe you and I can just have our own little peace treaty,” Dallas suggested.

  “And who knows? Maybe it will have a ripple effect and our families will stop doing what they’ve always done.”

  “Oh, you really are an optimist, aren’t you?” Dallas teased her.

  Nina smiled but before she could say more a voice from the top of the stairs hollered, “Ready for inspection.”

  The challenging tone told Nina that it was Jake alerting Dallas that showers were finished, pajamas were on and whatever bedtime routine followed from there was ready to begin.

  “I’ll be up in a minute,” Dallas called back. Then to Nina he said, “I don’t make them line up and stand at attention or anything—I know that’s how that sounds. But if I don’t check, they’ve been known to turn on the shower, sit on the floor and look at a comic book, then turn the water off and figure I’ll never know that they didn’t bother to actually get in. And don’t even get me started on the tooth brushing—”

  “I understand,” she said.

  “It will only take me a minute, though, and I’ll be right back.”

  He wanted her to wait, he wanted this evening to go on.

  And so did Nina.

  But it just didn’t seem wise. She’d done what she’d intended to do—maybe more because there was a cheerier atmosphere to the house now that didn’t have anything to do with the decorations—and having this little while on their own had just been a bonus. So she knew this was the moment it all had to come to an end.

  “I should get going,” she told him resolutely, setting her mug on the scarred coffee table and standing without any difficulty—something she was suddenly grateful that pregnancy hadn’t robbed her of the way it did other women she’d seen at this stage.

  “Let me at least walk you out, then,” he said, sounding disappointed.

  At the door, he helped her on with her coat then slipped into his on the way outside.

  “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for all this tonight,” he said as they reached her SUV and he opened her door for her.

  “It was my thanks to you,” Nina reminded.

  “But doing the work was enough. Total up the cost of the tree and all that stuff and I’ll come in and pay you.”

  Just the idea that he would come in to the store, that she would get to see him again, made that offer tempting to Nina.

  But she shook her head. “Absolutely not. I just hope maybe this, tonight, helped you get more in the mood.”

  She meant in the Christmas mood but the way she’d said it had somehow managed to sound racy. And it made Dallas grin.

  He had a great smile and an even greater grin.

  And seeing it was payment enough for Nina.

  Payment that sent goose bumps of delight up and down her arms...

  How had any woman left a man like him behind? she wondered suddenly.

  But merely having that thought jolted her slightly, and in response she got in behind the steering wheel, turning on the ignition to warm the engine before she glanced back at Dallas.

  He was standing with his hand on the door, studying her, his grin now a small, thoughtful smile. And he was looking at her in a way that caused her to feel that same connection to him that she’d felt before. The connection that was personal and private, solely between them.

  “This was really...good,” he said as if labeling the evening good was an understatement but he couldn’t think of how else to put it. “I enjoyed it,” he added as if that surprised him.

  “Me, too,” Nina answered softly, unable to keep from admitting it herself.

  Another moment passed while they stayed like that, as if Dallas couldn’t quite let her go.

  But then he took a step that put him out of the way of the door closing and said, “Drive safe.”

  “As a rule, I do,” she joked in reference to the events of Wednesday.

  That made his smile widen, but he didn’t say anything else. He just closed her door, waved through the window and returned to his house as Nina made a U-turn and headed out the way she’d come in.

  It was only as she drove back to Rust Creek Falls that she reminded herself that she was in no way on the market or in the market—or in the position or the shape—to be starting anything with any man.

  Let alone Dallas Traub.

  Chapter Four

  By Wednesday evening it felt to Nina as if it had been decades since she’d seen Dallas, and she wondered what on earth was going on with her.

  She couldn’t stop thinking about the guy. She daydreamed about him. She dreamed about him in her sleep. She looked at every man who walked into the store, hoping it would be him. She found herself trying to come up with “accidental” ways to meet—as if driving out to the Triple T ranch and pretending her car engine had died right in front of his house would in any way appear to be an accident.

  She was a little afraid that she’d lost her mind.

  Before they were stranded together in that blizzard she had only been vaguely aware that he existed. And even then only as one of the group of hated Traubs. Individually he’d meant nothing to her. And now she woke up in the middle of the night vividly reliving being carried in his arms across that country road. Wishing he were there with her in her bed so he could put those same arms around her again, and convinced that she was truly going crazy.

  She told herself that it was the flood of pregnancy hormones. That even though this was the worst time ever for her to be attracted to someone, maybe a sort of biological imperative had kicked in and caused it anyway, to tempt her to mate.

  Or maybe she couldn’t stop thinking about him as some sort of involuntary distraction mechanism to keep her from worrying about labor and delivery. Because she was definitely thinking more about Dallas than she was about going into labor.

  About his gray-blue eyes and his distinctive nose and his crooked smile and his great hair and that body that just didn’t quit...

  But whatever was causing it, it was all torture. This was a man she had no reason to ever see again. A man she wasn’t even very likely to run into, despite the size of Rust Creek Falls, because the conflict between their families had made it so that they occupied completely different parts of the town in order for their paths not to cross.

  And yet he was the one man she was just dying to see.

  It was crazy.

  But she was hoping for some diversion, at least for tonight.

  The flood that had hit Rust Creek Falls early in the summer had wreaked widespread havoc and destruction on much of the small town and the surrounding farms and ranches. It had cost the previous mayor his life and resulted in the election that had increased the animosity between the Crawfords and the Traubs. The damage to the elementary school had required it to be closed for repairs and classes so far this year to be held in the homes of the teachers of each grade.

  Aid and relief efforts had helped. People in neighboring Thunder Canyon had done all they could. A New York–based organization called Bootstraps had become involved, and one of their volunteers, Lissa Roarke, had been particularly instrumental in bringin
g the needs of Rust Creek Falls to the attention of the rest of the country by appearing on a network talk show, as well as starting a charity website and blog that had brought in funds.

  But many people were still struggling. And while the situation had improved and rebuilding was ongoing, full recovery would take time.

  Many of the natives of Rust Creek Falls who had left the area to pursue careers and lives beyond the confines of a small town had returned to help, and the current residents who were lucky enough to have their homes and businesses spared—like the Crawfords—were determined to do all they could for the less fortunate among them.

  One of those efforts on Nina’s part was sponsoring and overseeing Santa’s Workshop. She’d instigated the Tree of Hope—a Christmas tree in Crawford’s General Store that had gone up in November. It was decorated with wish-list tags filled out by local children and families in need.

  Donations of food, clothing and toys had been coming in to supply the “wishes” written on those tags, with the Crawfords committed to filling any gaps to make sure that everyone in Rust Creek Falls had gifts and a complete Christmas dinner this year, no matter what it took.

  Organization of the donations had been ongoing, but with Christmas a week away, Nina had put signs in the store windows and all around town asking for volunteers to come to the store tonight to wrap packages and put food baskets together so that they could be delivered over the coming weekend. And that was what she was hoping would keep her mind off Dallas Traub for at least a few hours—gift wrapping and filling Christmas dinner baskets alongside any number of the good people of Rust Creek Falls whom she had faith would show up.

  She’d asked her parents to take over the running of the store for the evening, and at six o’clock she opened the back door of the stockroom, where the necessary tasks were to be performed.

  Already there were folks waiting to be let in, to get to the tables Nina had set up in the stockroom for work.

  And when one of the volunteers proved to be Dallas, there was no containing her exhilaration, even though she tried.

  “Hi!” she greeted him more brightly and enthusiastically than she had anyone else. “I can’t believe you came...”

  He seemed slightly reserved and somewhat tentative but he still managed a joke.

  “Was there fine print on the fliers that I missed that said ‘No Traubs’?”

  “No. I just... I’m so glad to see you. We can use all the help we can get,” she said, stumbling over her words and settling on something she hoped hid what she was really thinking and feeling.

  “Does my being here cause problems?” he asked, misinterpreting her nervousness. “Will it upset your family too much?”

  “No, it’s okay. My parents are out front, running the store. Nate is back here to keep things organized for easy loading on delivery day, but I have one table that’s kind of back in a nook—you and I can wrap packages there and that shouldn’t bother anyone.”

  “You’re sure?” Dallas asked, more of that reserve showing than facing her family seemed to warrant.

  “Absolutely positive. Come on, I’ll show you,” she encouraged, taking him to the very rear of the stockroom, where they could be secluded. “This was going to be my station, anyway. Unless you’d rather be somewhere else...”

  “No! I mean, we’ve already established that you and I work well together. Why shouldn’t we do it again? And it’s probably better if I’m not right under your brother’s nose,” he said, doing some verbal tap dancing himself.

  “Okay then,” Nina concluded. “I put some of the smaller toys back here to wrap, since this space is limited. How are you as a gift wrapper?”

  “Fair with paper, lousy with ribbons or bows.”

  “Then you do the paper, I’ll do the ribbons and bows.”

  “Works for me,” he said, with a little more excitement at what was in store for him.

  He was wearing his heavy suede coat again and he took it off then. It had been on over jeans that were much nicer than what he’d worn Sunday night and a navy blue V-neck sweater with a white crew-necked T-shirt underneath.

  A sweater that made his shoulders look even bigger and stronger...

  Nina chastised herself for thinking that. It was just the sort of image that stayed in her mind to haunt her later and make it all the more difficult not to think about him.

  “Paper station. Ribbons-and-bows station,” she decreed, pointing to one end of the fold-out card table for him to go to and taking the opposite end herself to face him while she worked.

  She had on maternity skinny jeans, this time with her most comfortable flat shoes and a boatneck, dark purple sweater long enough to fall well past her stomach.

  “I can’t say that I expected you to do this tonight,” she said as they got busy.

  “After Sunday? You earned a little payback,” he said. “My brother Sutter wasn’t busy, so he could babysit, and I get a night out—seemed like a win all the way around.”

  “This is a night out for you?” Nina laughed.

  He grinned at her as if being with her was what mattered and said, “A good one.”

  Her brother came looking for her just then, and when he spotted Dallas his expression went from sweet to sour before he seemed to decide against whatever he’d been going to say and merely asked where she wanted the baskets stored.

  “They can go into cold storage—I cleared enough space for them, and in there the turkeys and hams will stay cool,” she informed him, wishing he could be more congenial but knowing she was hoping for too much.

  “Sorry,” she whispered to Dallas when her brother had left.

  “Hey, he didn’t physically throw me out—I count that as a win,” he said as if not even her brother’s rudeness could upset him at that moment.

  Still, it embarrassed Nina. And reminded her of just how complicated it was for a Crawford to have anything to do with a Traub.

  And yet, not even knowing that could change how she felt about being right there, right then, with Dallas...

  “Ah, this is great!”

  The first thing that went through Nina’s mind when Dallas said that was that he was talking about what she was thinking about—being with her in spite of the difficulties.

  Then she realized he was getting ready to wrap an action figure that had sparked his interest and admiration, and seemed to have made him relax a bit.

  “He turns into a fighter jet—my boys would all love this,” he added.

  It sounded as if Dad would, as well, and as Nina cut some wrapping paper for him to use she said, “And maybe if you’re good, Santa will bring you one, too.”

  He laughed at her goad and played along. “I’d love that! One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a robot that turned into a race car. When my younger brother Clay broke it there was war.”

  “Brother against brother?” Nina asked facetiously.

  “Brothers against brothers—I had Forrest and Braden on my side—we were the oldest three and they had two of the other figures that went with mine so we were the Bad Guy Busters.” He said it with dramatic effect before going on. “Clay had put a big dent in the game by breaking my guy. He enlisted Sutter and Collin—who I think might have been involved in breaking the toy in the first place because those three younger ones were always after our stuff—and it was all-out war. There were more toy casualties on both sides, a toilet head-dunking, rocks put in shoes as retaliation—”

  Nina laughed. “How long did this particular civil war go on?’

  “Oh, a full two days. Until Mom found sand in the younger boys’ beds—that was the last straw. The Bad Guy Busters had its action figures confiscated, we all went without dessert for a week, the younger guys were sentenced to folding our socks that same week, and Braden, Forrest and I had to nicely play what we considered ba
by board games with Clay, Collin and Sutter as our punishment.”

  “And peace was restored?”

  “Until the next time,” he said, as if it had been a continuing saga. “We were six boys—there were more battles than I can remember. Weren’t there in your house? You come from a big family, too.”

  “The same as yours—six kids. And yeah, there were plenty of fights. My sister, Natalie, and I would get into it. The boys would get into it. Sometimes it was the girls against the boys, or just Natalie or I would be fighting for some reason with Nate or Brad or Jesse or Justin. I’ve heard that only-children actually go into relationships at a disadvantage because they haven’t had the experience of fighting with siblings.”

  Dallas laughed that deep barrel-chested laugh he had. “Well then, my kids have that advantage because they do their fair share of fighting, too.”

  He handed her the wrapped package and started on a baby doll while Nina tied the first gift with ribbon and chose a bow.

  “How about you?” he asked as she did. “What was your favorite Christmas gift?”

  “There was a doll the size of a real four-year-old that I wanted when I was about nine—I still have it tucked away to give to my own daughter if I have a girl, now or later. But I’d have to say that there was a tie between that as my favorite Christmas gift and a small television I lobbied for forever when I was thirteen. I wanted to be able to watch what I wanted to watch without having to negotiate with brothers or my sister or my parents, and I loved that.”

  “You wanted to do what you wanted to do whether anyone else liked it or not even then, huh?”

  Nina laughed. “Pretty much.”

  “Yeah, having my own stereo was just as big a deal for me. My own stereo and a set of headphones so I could listen to what I wanted, as loud as I wanted.”

  “And what kind of music did you listen to?”