“Come on, Amy,” he murmured. “I know how strong you are. Don’t fall apart now. It’s going to be okay. This was just a small setback.”
“I know,” she whispered in a choked voice, but she couldn’t seem to stop the tears or to let go of him. Nick might think she was strong, but he was wrong. She needed to absorb some of his strength before they went back to search some more. “I’ll be fine in a minute, okay?”
“Okay,” he said gently. He rubbed her back as he had Emma’s earlier. There was nothing sensual about the gesture. It was meant only to calm, but it had been so long since anyone had touched her so tenderly that she wanted the contact to go on forever.
Not once during her divorce had she let herself lean on anyone, not her family, not her friends. She’d wanted all of them to see that she was handling it all right. But this…this was too much to expect. She didn’t have any reserves of strength left. She needed someone else to share the burden. Nick, a virtual stranger to whom she owed no apologies, filled a terrible void in her life. So what if she held on for just a short while?
With her face buried against his padded chest, she could smell the faint scent of mothballs—the costume, no doubt—and a mix of clean aftershave and mint mouthwash. The velvet texture of the Santa suit felt good against her cheek, though she couldn’t help wondering how his fake beard would feel. The lyrics of an old Christmas song about mommy kissing Santa Claus came to mind and made her smile.
“What’s that for?” Nick asked, tucking a finger under a chin and looking into her eyes.
Amy blushed. “What?”
“The smile,” he reminded her. “Not two minutes ago you were soaking my costume with your tears.”
“I just remembered something,” she said evasively. “It isn’t important.”
His gaze locked with hers and something simmered in the air between them. “It is if it put a smile back on your lips,” he said quietly.
She didn’t want him talking about her lips or looking at them or thinking about them. Frantically she searched for something to throw him off track. “I was just thinking about how mad Josh will be that he didn’t get to ride in the golf cart.”
Nick didn’t look as if he believed her, but he didn’t press her on it. “Then we’ll see that he gets a ride. You ready to go for another stroll through the mall?”
Amy blotted up her tears with the last of the tissues Maylene had given her and forced a bright smile. “Absolutely,” she said. She looked at the damp spots on Nick’s costume and winced. “Sorry about that.”
“No big deal.” He shrugged. “It’ll dry out.”
When he would have taken Emma back from the security officer, Amy put her hand on his arm and felt the muscle clench. “I’m sorry we’ve caused such an uproar.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said tersely, his expression suddenly distant. “But let’s not waste any more time, okay?”
Startled by his abrupt change in mood, she merely nodded, then set out to keep pace with him when he strode off with Emma back in his arms. One of these days she might not mind trying to unravel the many contradictions in Nick DiCaprio, but now certainly wasn’t the time. With his quick withdrawal still fresh in her mind, she couldn’t help wondering if the timing would ever be right.
NICK HAD JUST DESCENDED straight into hell. He’d had a woman in his arms who’d felt exactly right there, but unless he found her son and did it soon, she would wind up hating him. He imagined Tyler Hamilton’s mother didn’t have a lot of nice things to say about him these days and for good reason. He’d failed her—and her boy—and this whole episode with Amy Riley was beginning to feel the same way…as if it were skidding downhill at a breakneck pace.
The emotional roller coaster of thinking her son had been found, only to realize it had been another lost child had to have been devastating. It had nearly torn him apart watching the hope in her eyes fade and the despair return.
“Let’s stop back at Santa’s village,” he said, praying that maybe there would be news there. Of course Trish had promised to call if Josh turned up, but Nick was starting to run out of ideas except for the kind that didn’t bear thinking about. He’d have to start considering those possibilities soon enough.
“Sure, whatever you think,” Amy agreed, once again sounding defeated.
Nick didn’t even try to dream up some lie just to bolster her spirits. She obviously knew as well as he did that the longer Josh was missing, the more danger he might be in. Besides, he was fresh out of good cheer and he wasn’t sure he could fake it. He was almost as worried as Amy must be by now.
A minute later as they approached Santa’s workshop, Trish spotted them and met them before they could get too close and cause a stir. Her worried gaze shifted from him to Amy, then back again.
“Nothing?” Trish asked.
“Not yet,” Nick admitted.
Trish turned to Amy. “I am so sorry about the false alarm. You must have been heartbroken. Would you like to go freshen up or anything? Get something to drink or eat? You could get off your feet for a few minutes in my office, while Nicky continues the search for Josh.”
“I’m okay,” Amy insisted. “I have to keep looking.” She faced Nick. “But shouldn’t you go back to work? Santa’s been missing a long time now. The kids must be losing patience and driving their parents nuts.”
“I’ll go back, but not until we’ve found your son,” he said.
“But all those kids.” She gestured toward the line that still snaked down the mall’s main corridor. “They’re going to be so disappointed.”
“They’ll survive,” he insisted. He gave his sister a speculative look. “But with some extra padding, Trish, you could probably pull off the Santa thing yourself.”
Amy chuckled at his outrageous suggestion, which was what he’d hoped for.
The sound made his spirits lift fractionally. He grinned at her. “I wasn’t kidding.”
Trish frowned at him. “Well, it’s not going to happen, big brother, so get over that idea. You’re going to find Josh any second, then get right back into Santa mode. If I didn’t know for a fact that Amy really does have a son and it’s obvious that she’s worried sick about him, I’d suspect you of putting her up to this just to help you sneak away from Santa duty.”
Amy’s eyes widened. “Would he do that?”
“In a heartbeat,” Trish confirmed. “I could tell you stories about my brother—“
Nick decided these two had bonded enough. “Amy doesn’t have time to listen to you go on and on about how badly I’ve mistreated you and how I’ve misbehaved through the years,” he said. “Her son’s missing, remember?”
Amy’s intrigued expression immediately faded, but she cast a last glance over her shoulder as Nick led her away. “Later,” she told Trish. “I want to hear everything.”
“That’s a promise,” his traitorous sister replied.
Nick shook his head. If he had his way, these two wouldn’t spend five minutes alone together. It was a toss-up whether his sister would sell him out…or just try to sell him. He’d seen that matchmaking glint in her eyes a few other times over the years, beginning way back with Jenny Davis. It never boded well.
CHAPTER FIVE
NICK TUCKED HIS HAND under Amy’s elbow and started away from Santa’s village, then hesitated. As much as he hated it, there was something that had to be done. He’d waited too long as it was. To wait any longer would be totally irresponsible. He could only imagine what his bosses would have to say if this whole search blew up in his face because he’d been trying to prove something to himself. He had to stop thinking about his shattered ego and do what was best for the boy.
“Wait here a sec, okay?” he told Amy, as he held Emma out to Amy. “There’s something I forgot to tell Trish.”
“Sure,” she said, taking the protesting Emma from him.
Warmed by the baby’s reaction to parting with him, he slipped back through the crowd and found his sister
. En route, his good spirits had given way to grim reality. Trish apparently sensed his mood.
“What’s up?” she asked, regarding him with concern.
“I didn’t want to say this in front of Amy, but I think it’s time to call in the police,” he told her. “I don’t like the fact that we haven’t had any sightings of the boy at all. I’d think even on a day as crazy as today someone would have noticed a kid alone and stopped a security guard.”
Trish’s worry turned to dismay. “You don’t think…?”
Nick cut her off before she could voice the thought. “I’m trying not to jump to any conclusions. Maybe Josh is just a self-possessed kid who isn’t the least bit afraid to wander around in a strange place alone, but it’s not likely. Most kids start to worry when their mom’s been out of sight for this long. I don’t want to upset Amy any more than she is already, but I’d feel better if there were some more professional cops on the scene or at least watching things in the parking lot to see if anything looks suspicious out there.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’ll call nine-one-one,” Trish said at once, clearly grasping the urgency.
“Tell the dispatcher I’m on the scene in an unofficial capacity and that I need some backup over here.”
His sister nodded and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.
Nick felt awful for Trish. He knew how important this job was to her and that a Christmas Eve story with an unhappy ending was the last thing she needed, but he didn’t have a choice. Josh’s safety came first. If they did everything right, there was still hope that the ending would be the happy one they all wished for.
“I know this is exactly what you were hoping to avoid, Trish, but I don’t want to take chances. I hope you understand that.”
“Of course I do,” she said readily. “Without a doubt, finding Josh is far more important than the mall’s PR. I’d never forgive myself if something were to happen to that boy and we hadn’t done everything we could to find him.”
“Tell me about it,” Nick agreed grimly.
She gave him a penetrating look. “You holding up okay, Nicky? I know this can’t be easy for you and I’m sorry I put you in this position. Maybe when your backup gets here, you can walk away and let them handle this.”
“No way,” he said tersely. “Amy’s counting on me.”
“That’s what worries me,” Trish said gently. “I know how you’ll react if you think you’ve let her down.”
“I’ll be fine,” Nick insisted. “Or I will be, as long as we find that boy safe and sound.”
AMY BOUNCED EMMA in her arms and tried not to lose her patience as she waited for Nick to return. She kept consoling herself that they weren’t the only ones searching for Josh, but she needed to be doing something, not just standing idly by while others looked for her son.
“Sorry that took so long,” Nick apologized as he joined her. “Let’s try this corridor over here on the left. We didn’t go this way earlier.”
“Your sister must be tearing her hair out over having Santa disappear on the busiest day of the season,” Amy said. “I could look by myself.”
“I thought we’d settled that. I still think we’ll have a better chance of finding him if I’m with you. Do you have another picture of Josh in your wallet? I think we should start showing it to some of the shop employees. Maybe they’ve spotted him if he’s been doing some shopping. A kid that age on his own would definitely leave an impression.”
“I really don’t think he has the money to shop,” she said, though Nick’s plan was probably as good as anything else they’d tried.
“No telling what a kid might have saved up for Christmas,” Nick countered. “Is he a thoughtful boy?”
Amy recalled the breakfast he’d tried to make her for Mother’s Day and the brightly painted lump of clay with an imprint of his hand he’d given her for her birthday. “He tries to be.”
“Then he might have spotted something he wanted to buy for you,” Nick said. “Have you mentioned anything in particular you want?”
Amy shook her head.
“Nothing?” he asked as if it were impossible for a woman not to want something.
“I’ve been totally focused on getting settled in our new place,” she said with a shrug. “And I’ve never much cared about accumulating things.”
“You haven’t spotted a sweater in a newspaper ad or some earrings you might have mentioned around Josh?”
She glanced down at her comfortable, well-worn jeans and the warm red sweater she’d owned for four years at least. “I’ve never exactly been a fashion plate,” she told Nick. “I dress better than this for work, but my wardrobe’s not fancy. Just some suits and blouses. I can’t imagine Josh shopping for those.”
Nick surveyed her with an appreciative once-over that heated her cheeks. “You look good to me,” he said, his gaze lingering on the soft red wool clinging to her chest. Then he jerked his gaze away. “Okay, then,” he said, his voice a little choked. “If not clothes, what about candy? Do you have a weakness for chocolate?”
Amy laughed. “Do you know a woman who doesn’t? But I’m happy with a bag of mini candy bars from the grocery store. I don’t crave the gourmet stuff. It’s definitely not in our budget.”
“Still, a kid might spot those big gold boxes of chocolates and check them out,” he said, turning into a candy boutique.
Amy reluctantly followed him inside, where she was immediately assailed by the rich scent of fine chocolate. She couldn’t help staring at the selection of truffles in the glass case, the piles of elegantly wrapped holiday boxes on the display tables. Her mouth watered despite her claim that ordinary candy satisfied her cravings. The last time she’d indulged in anything this decadent had been before her marriage when Ned brought one of the small boxes for her as a Valentine’s Day gift. It was one of those rare thoughtful gestures that had convinced her he was the right one for her.
She was so absorbed in reading the labels on the trays of individual candies that she was barely aware of Nick chatting with the salesclerk, then showing the woman a picture of Josh. Only when they were back outside did she notice the small gold bag in his hand.
“Here,” he said. “You need to keep your strength up.”
Startled, she met his gaze. “But I told you I don’t have to have the decadent kind of chocolate.”
He grinned. “Maybe not, but you were practically drooling all over the case. I had to buy something.”
She was too tempted by the decadent scent of that chocolate to turn him down. She opened the bag and found four different candies inside. She took a deep breath just to savor the aroma.
He watched her with amusement. “I hear they’re even better when you actually eat them.”
She held out the bag. “Would you like one?” she asked politely.
Chuckling, he replied, “I am not risking life and limb by trying to take one of those away from you.”
“I offered,” she said, though she drew the bag back.
“But the look in your eyes is daring me to accept,” he teased.
Embarrassed, she held out the bag again. “No, really. Have one.”
“Watching you enjoy them will be treat enough for me,” he said.
She couldn’t totally hide her relief. She reached in the bag, drew out one with a dark chocolate coating. If she remembered correctly, it had a chocolate raspberry filling. Very slowly she bit into it, then closed her eyes as the flavors burst on her tongue.
“Oh, my,” she murmured.
When she opened her eyes again, Nick was regarding her with an odd expression. In fact, he looked a little dazed.
“What?” she asked.
“Just thinking what it would be like,” he began, then cut himself off. “Never mind. We need to keep looking for Josh.”
“Nick?”
He grabbed her hand. “Come on, Amy. There are a lot of stores left to cover.”
He moved so quickly, she practically had to run to k
eep up with him. Emma jiggled in his arms, giggling happily at the unexpected adventure. He whipped in and out of half a dozen stores before he finally slowed down again.
Amy regarded him wearily. “I feel as if we’re just spinning our wheels. Josh could be anywhere.”
“What have you told him to do if he ever gets lost like this?” Nick asked.
“To look for a security guard or policeman, then stay put and wait for me to find him.”
“Do you think the lesson took? Has he ever gotten lost before?”
“No, he’s usually very good about sticking close to me.”
“Would he talk to strangers?”
“Not unless it’s a policeman or somebody like that. I know he’s listened to me and his dad about that. He never answers the door unless he knows who it is. And he absolutely wouldn’t get in a car with anyone he doesn’t know. He even asks for permission before he’ll accept a ride home with a friend’s parent.”
Nick nodded. “That’s good. Would he kick up a fuss if someone approached him that he didn’t know?”
“Absolutely,” she said with confidence. It was the one thing she was sure of. No one would snatch Josh from the mall without someone noticing a struggle of some kind. Outlining all the safety measures they’d taught Josh reassured her.
“You know, I’m beginning to think you’re right about him shopping,” she told Nick, clinging to her newfound conviction. “He probably doesn’t even think he’s lost and he’s probably completely forgotten about the time. I’ll bet something in some store caught his attention and off he went without a second thought. Maybe it’s not even me he’s shopping for, but Emma. I saw a baby store somewhere. And there was a toy store when we first came in the mall.”
Nick gave her an encouraging smile. “Let’s hope you’re right. We’ll work our way back to those. If what you say is true, if he’s just gotten distracted, he could still find his way over to Santa’s village very soon.”
“Yes,” she said eagerly, ready to seize on the slim hope. “I’ll bet that’s exactly what will happen.”
Romancing the Holidays Bundle 2009 Page 13