Mischief Under The Mistletoe

by Maren Smith

  “You know about that?”

  “Ben Randolph told me.”

  Savannah nodded then and sighed heavily. “You’re right, she hasn’t. She won’t see a therapist, and she won’t even talk to me anymore. Grandpa used to have some influence over her, but she clammed up on him too. The first two times it happened, we rushed her to the hospital and the doctor said she acted like a battle stress victim who can’t handle what they’ve seen and they shut down under duress. They recommended she see a therapist, but she adamantly refused. She’s so darned hard headed that it's frustrating trying to help her.” She sipped from her coffee. “That’s why I decided to come over here after she left my house. It occurred to me that if you did spank her, it might be really stressful and you would freak out if she closed down.”

  Max nodded. “You were right, it did freak me out. About her husband... Ben told me he left her. Was he there when she lost the baby?” His cop instincts were coming out. “Was he a violent man?”

  Savannah shook her head. “No, Tristan wasn’t there. He’d been gone to work for two hours when Marlie called 9-1-1 saying she was bleeding and needed an ambulance. He was an asshole, but he didn’t beat on her. After she lost the baby he moved out and filed for a divorce.”

  Max took a gulp of his coffee. “It’s just that she said something to the effect that I wasn’t there, that I didn’t know what happened, and that no one knew what happened.”

  Savannah looked sad. “She said she tripped coming down the stairs and fell off the last two. Her stomach started cramping so she rushed to get her cell phone and called an ambulance. She was devastated when she lost the baby and very bitter. She wouldn’t even allow Tristan in the room with her at the hospital.”

  Max frowned again. All his instincts were telling him there was more to the story and Marlie had hinted at it in her fury and pain. “Doesn’t that strike you as odd? That she wouldn’t want her husband to stay with her and support her? Even if he didn’t want children as Ben said, he still should have supported her through her loss.”

  “Like I said, he was an asshole,” snarled Savannah. “A special kind of asshole.”

  Max looked at his watch. “Are you able to stay with Marlie for a while? This is my first day on a new job and I really need to get back. I just hate to leave her alone.”

  Savannah gave him a queer look. “Of course I’m staying, she’s my sister. I’m sure she doesn’t expect you to stay with her but it’s nice of you to think of it and want to help her.”

  “I’ll see you both later,” promised Max as he headed out the back side door.

  Savannah watched him go with a satisfied Cheshire cat grin. “Looks like Marlie has a keeper,” she murmured.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS Max worked at rebuilding his relationship with Marlie, and she was always polite, but distant. Ever since he’d spanked her his feelings for her were growing. Not to mention a strong physical attraction. Every time she walked into the room his lower companion stiffened.

  At least she wasn’t beating up on Max the elf anymore. She just left him to sit on the shelf above her kitchen sink.

  He’d also noticed that twice a week and last Saturday she’d brought home flowers from work, changed her clothes, and then left and was gone for an hour or more. She’d brought some more home late last night but had left them laying on the kitchen counter still wrapped in their plastic sheath. He figured she was planning on leaving this morning with them.

  It was Saturday and Mrs. Allred’s grandchildren were next door, and she had invited Andi over to play for a few hours. He’d quickly made some breakfast for them both and delivered Andi next door with a promise to pick her up for lunch. He had a suspicion as to where Marlie was going with those flowers, and this time, he wanted to go with her.

  MARLIE WALKED INTO the kitchen to find Max sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. Damn!

  She thought he’d gone out with Andi because she’d heard the childish giggles sounding in the crisp December air when the screen door slammed. Now, here he was back and he looked good enough to eat in his cream wool sweater and brown jeans complete with Doc Martins. He could have just stepped out of the fashion pages of a men’s magazine, and that quirky lazy smile was tossing her insides like salad tongs.

  “Good morning,” he drawled in that low gravelly voice. “Going somewhere this morning?”

  “Well, I’ll give you credit for that brilliant deduction, Chief,” she quipped. “I’m wearing a jacket and I have my purse on my shoulder. She picked up the flowers with a snarky grin.

  He stood up and it was like he was unfolding as he got taller and taller until he towered over her. The look in his eye was just as snarky as hers. “That’s what cops do, we deduce things, and I deduce that a smart mouthed little girl needs a smarting ass to match it.”

  She took one step backwards. “Oh no, you don’t. We’re not doing that again.” As painful as his rebuke had been to her ass, she still remembered the hard-muscled thighs beneath her, the warmth of his arms, and the soothing caresses of his big palms easing the burn of his retribution.

  He came around the table and stopped in front of her, his closeness making her stomach flip. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll forget that sassy little comment if you let me tag along this morning. After you finish your errand, maybe you can show me around a little bit. I need to scout out a Christmas tree lot so Andi can pick out a tree. Does that sound fair?”

  Marlie hesitated. She didn’t want Max going to the cemetery with her but she couldn’t think of a really good excuse as to why he shouldn’t. For the last two weeks he’d had been really nice to her, and it seemed like every time she entered their mutual dwelling space, he was there. There was no doubt that she was attracted to Max, but there was also no doubt that she was afraid to trust or believe in a man again. All week he’d been like a miner with a pickaxe, slowly chipping away at the mortar around her heart, and she was desperately trying to build it back up. She tried to stall. “Uh... where’s Andi? You can’t leave her here alone.”

  “Andi is next door on a play date with Mrs. Allred’s grandchildren.” His eyebrow slowly hitched up. “Any other excuses? Or do you just like the flat of my hand on your delicious backside?”

  A blush suffused her pale cheeks and her chin shot up. “Fine, if you want to tag along, so be it. Just don’t complain about my driving.”

  “Why? Are you a terrible driver?” he teased, opening the back door for her to go through. “Am I taking my life in my hands? Or will I have to arrest you for reckless driving?” He followed her around to her red SUV and opened that door too. “I’m not on duty so it’ll have to be a citizen’s arrest.” He winked at her.

  Shivering, Marlie started the car and turned the heater on while he eased his long frame into the passenger seat. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she growled, holding her hands over the vents.

  “You do realize there won’t be any heat until the car warms up, right?” The laughter in his voice swept away the last of her churlish mood this morning. He was making it so hard to keep him at a distance.

  “So?” She stared at him, trying to keep her lips from turning up at the corners in a grin. “You got a better idea?” she challenged.

  He reached over and took her cold hands in his big warm palms. “Maybe this will help.”

  “Good grief, how can you be so warm? You don’t even have a coat!” She instantly loved the feel of his hands around hers and it made her want to just curl into him and let his long arms enfold her in his body warmth.

  Control yourself, Marlie. Here today, gone tomorrow, just remember that.

  “I don’t need a coat, I have Under Armour on beneath this sweater. I’m plenty warm without the encumbrance of a heavy coat. Of course, if it starts snowing or gets down to zero, then I’ll have to dig out my parka good for forty-below,” he assured her, his eyes twinkling with mischief.”

  “What about your ears? They c
an get frostbite, too, you know.”

  “I have ear warmers in my pocket if it gets windy,” he assured her.

  Marlie pulled her hands from his. “Then buckle up, copper, it’s Marlie time.” Her heart felt lighter in spite of herself and she was suddenly glad he was with her.

  He laughed as she backed out of the driveway and headed toward the stop sign on the corner. Looking both ways, she slowed down to a crawl and then sped up as she turned right.

  “Marlie, you didn’t stop at that stop sign,” he succinctly pointed out.

  “What? I did so.”

  “You can’t call that a stop, you just rolled on through it.”

  “That’s a California stop,” she declared airily, glancing sideways at his handsome face and serious eyes. It really was fun to tease him. “Also known as the rolling stop, saves gas. Perfectly legal.”

  “Not in the state of Colorado, little girl.”

  God, how she loved that voice, it pushed all her buttons. “So Colorado needs to get updated,” she quipped. And that little girl reference, it made her want to climb all over him.

  Dangerous territory!

  When they pulled up to a red light, a green lifted pickup truck pulled up beside them. A young rancher with bright red hair and a black cowboy hat started revving his engine and grinning salaciously over at Marlie like he wanted to race. She grinned back, flipped him off and started revving her engine in return. He threw back his head and laughed as the light turned green and he shot through it ahead of her, leaving her behind.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t race him,” remarked Max dryly, shaking his head.

  “With you in the car?” she asked in mock surprise. “You might arrest me, since you’re the po-po and all.”

  Max rolled his eyes at the nickname. “I doubt this po-po would arrest you, but I’d certainly turn you over my knee again when we get home. You’ve already got a few coming for that California stop, as you call it.”

  “Hey! I call no fair cause you were warned. No cop critique on my driving allowed.”

  He laughed then and the sound of his rich baritone sent shivers up her spine. She hadn’t had this much fun since... never mind, she didn’t even want to remember. No doubt about it, she was in trouble. Falling in love was definitely out of the question, but how about a hot case of lust?

  They bantered back and forth until Marlie finally turned into a gravel track and proceeded through the gates of a small cemetery outside of Buckeye named Peaceful Haven. Marlie’s grip on the steering wheel increased and she tried to take a few deep breaths as her knuckles turned white. No matter how many times she came, it never got any easier.

  They were both quiet as she maneuvered the SUV down the small lane and around the corner toward the back and pulled up in front of a lonely cluster of graves.

  AS MARLIE TURNED OFF the car, Max spied the large, rose-colored double stone with the name of Peter and Marlie Grayson etched in the marble. Her grandparents. But what really caught his attention was the small stone to the right that had baby angels wrapped in swaddling lying on the top. The name read Aspen Rose Grayson. His throat tightened as he saw the flower gifts that littered the area in front and back of the stone.

  She came here often.

  Beside him, Marlie took a deep breath and grabbed the flowers from the floorboard behind her and opened the car door. Once outside, she knelt and pushed the wilted flowers away and laid the fresh ones in front of the stone, then stood up. Max could see her hands shaking and he moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, taking her cold hands in his once again. “What a beautiful name,” he whispered in her ear.

  At first she was tense, but then she seemed to slowly relax a little and lean back against him. “Did you know that Aspen leaves turn gold in the fall?” she mused. “Utah and Colorado have the only deciduous Aspen trees in the States, and when they change colors, they stand out against the green pines and make the mountains shimmer like gold.”

  “It’s the fluttering leaves that create that effect,” he added quietly. “That’s why they call them quaking Aspens. It’s amazingly beautiful.”

  She paused, her body trembling. “She was amazingly beautiful. A perfect baby, all ten fingers and toes and the cutest face you’ll ever see.”

  “I bet she looked like you.”

  “Not really. But she did have a head full of blond fuzzy hair, and grammies dimples.”

  “Green eyes?”

  Marlie shook her head no and was quiet for a moment. “I should have called 9-1-1 sooner; she might be alive if I hadn’t waited so long,” she confided tentatively.

  Max could hear the anguish in that quiet avowal but he didn’t react. He just held her tightly, keeping her enclosed in his warmth. “What makes you say that, Marlie?” Self-blame for a tragic event made healing that much more difficult. He was surprised she’d even said it, but somehow, with their bodies melded this close, she must feel safe enough to let her guard down. That was a good thing.

  When she didn’t answer, he didn’t press. He’d let her open up in her own time. At least he hoped she would continue to do so.

  He’d done some checking into Tristan Daniel Tolliver. The man was an egotist and a ladder-climber, but he wasn’t violent. There hadn’t been a single event of domestic disturbance in their Wellington home. Nor had he ever been associated with domestic violence in any way. Even so, Marlie was still traumatized by that day so something ugly had happened in the course of their marriage. Not all abuse was physical.

  When Marlie sighed and stirred in his arms, he allowed her to turn around and face him. “Ready to go?” he asked as she stepped back, suddenly wary as if she had been doing something she hadn’t intended.

  “Um... yeah.” Her eyes slid away from his as she stepped around him and headed back to the car.

  By the time he reached the SUV, she was already in and starting the engine. Kudos for running away speed. He climbed in and glanced at her flushed face. “So where to now? Bob’s Christmas tree farm?” He grinned helpfully at her, trying to ease the strain he could see around her luscious mouth. She was probably mentally kicking herself for allowing him in at all. She seemed to brighten though, so maybe she was grateful for his attempt at normalcy.

  “You saw the sign, huh?”

  “Yep. We cops are trained to pick up on little things like that.”

  As they left the cemetery and headed back toward town, she brightened even more. “Smart cop,” she drawled. “Well, here in Buckeye, you got your choice. There’s Bob’s on the north side of town and Tom’s on the south side. There are also a few cut trees at the local grocery store, as well as the boy scout lot on the west side. At Bob’s you get to ride a wagon out to the trees and pick the one you want and they’ll cut it for you. At Tom’s you get to walk into the field and cut it yourself.”

  “Does Bob’s serve hot chocolate?”

  Marlie grinned and nodded. “Or apple cider, whichever you prefer.”

  “Bob’s it is, then,” he responded with a cheerful grin in return. “Let’s go pick up Andi, get some lunch, and then get a Christmas tree. Are you in?”

  “Are you paying?” Her eyebrow shot up as she glanced sideways. “I’m just a poor working girl and I bet you make more than I do.”

  Max wanted to kiss her so badly he could taste it. This teasing, smiling Marlie was intoxicating and he could feel his body’s twitching response below his belt. Whatever it took, he vowed to keep her smiling as often as possible. She was beautiful, even in her distress, but if she were truly happy inside she would be irresistible. He groaned mentally. He was hooked, no doubt about it. He vowed to get to the bottom of whatever was haunting her.

  “I’m guessing I can afford McDonald's for all three of us. Three-dollar limit though,” he teased.

  “Wow, you are a big spender. Be still my heart,” she mocked.

  “I’ll drop the limit if you agree to dinner with me tomorrow night,” he countered silkily. “You pick the restaura
nt.”

  “Done,” she announced triumphantly, thinking of her favorite ribs at the Longhorn steakhouse in Wellington.

  Max was more than satisfied, and he couldn’t help the smug grin that curled his lips when her eyes narrowed and she had a second to think better of her agreement. She wasn’t getting out of it though, he’d hold her to it.

  WHEN SHE PULLED INTO the driveway thirty minutes later, Marlie was mentally castigating herself for even agreeing to the Christmas tree quest, let alone dinner. Max was just so easy to be around, and he actually seemed to care. Maybe Savannah was right. That in itself opened a whole new world of danger. After such a blunder with Tristan, how could she trust herself again? She’d thought Tristan loved her, but as it turned out, he’d only loved himself.

  When she’d lost Aspen, she’d screamed him out of the hospital room in her pain and fury and told him she never wanted to see him again. He’d taken her at her word. He’d moved out of their home immediately and shortly after served her with divorce papers. So much for pledging lifelong love and for better or for worse, etc.

  She’d moved in with Gramps and buried Aspen beside Grams in Peaceful Haven.

  The one time she’d gone back to their home together was to get her things. He’d already been there and taken what he wanted, and once her things were removed, the house echoed like a hollow shell. Just like her heart and the sham of their marriage.

  Her Mom and Dad had wanted her to move back to Cheyenne with them, but her job was here, and she’d known she wouldn’t be able to handle her parents suffocating sympathy. She just couldn’t deal with it, much to her mother’s chagrin.

  Gramps was easier to live with. They had always been close, and he never brought up Tristan. With Grams gone, he was lonely and happy to have her there. He’d told her the house would be hers when he was gone, and he’d kept his word.