“Hopefully before Christmas.”
“I know. Speaking of the holiday, is there anything on your gift list that this ‘Santa’ should know about?” She still had no idea what she was going to get him. Although she’d been thinking about some sort of Good Luck charm. Something to carry with him.
“Just one thing.” His voice was a low, sexy rumble.
Her whole body tingling in response, Nora murmured back, “I’m listening.”
“Wait up for me when I get back tomorrow night?”
* * *
THE FOLLOWING EVENING at ten o’clock, a rap sounded on Nora’s front door. Pretending like she hadn’t been waiting impatiently all evening for her gentleman caller, she sashayed to the door.
Zane stood on the other side of the door, a Santa hat on his head, a small gift-wrapped present in his hand. She couldn’t help but laugh as she rose on tiptoe, kissed him hello, then ushered him inside.
He shrugged out of his coat, kissed her again, infusing her with the taste of peppermint this time, then lifted his head. Taking her hand, he led her over to the sofa, where she had a bottle of wine waiting. “Sorry it took me so long to get here.”
He looked tired beneath the exuberant exterior. Like whatever it was he’d been doing had sapped the energy from him. Not an easy feat, with someone as unstoppable as Zane. “Traffic?”
She poured him a glass, then one for herself.
“No.” He toasted her silently. “Just some things to wrap up in Dallas.”
“Ah.”
He picked up the present he’d brought in with him and handed it to her. It just covered the palm of her hand. “And of course I had to stop and get this.”
Nora recognized the name of an exclusive store on the gift wrap. “What is it?”
Zane leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. “Open it and see.”
Nora’s heart skittered in her chest. “You don’t want me to wait until Christmas morning?”
He tilted his head, considering. Eyes twinkling mysteriously, predicted, “You might like to have it now.”
Now she really was curious. Nora took off the paper. Inside was a velvet jewelry box. Too big to be a ring, too square to be a bracelet or necklace.
Telling herself she was glad it wasn’t an engagement ring, she lifted the lid.
Inside was an incredibly beautiful Christmas tree broach, with a pile of colorful, gaily wrapped presents underneath. In the center of each ribbon-tie was a gem.
Confidently, Zane explained, “Sapphire for Liam. Amethyst for you. Emerald for me. And see, there’s even a couple extra presents in case you want to add a few more birthstones...”
For more children? Their children? Or was she really going off the rails now?
Nora blinked back tears. “It’s beautiful, Zane.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
Silence fell.
“But...?” he asked, sensing there was more.
Nora dragged in another quavering breath. Almost afraid to ask, but needing to anyway. “Is there a special meaning in this?”
His gaze gentled. He pinned the broach on her, then cupped her face in both hands. “What do you think?”
“I think...” I’m in love with you, Nora thought.
But wary of inundating him with too much too soon, or putting a boundary on him he didn’t want, she rose and went to the center drawer of her desk. Pulled out another jewelry box. “I think I need to give you this now, too.” Even though it wasn’t wrapped.
He stared down at the solid silver chain and pendant. “St. Michael the Archangel. The patron saint of soldiers and battles.”
Nora looped it over his neck. “So you’ll be protected wherever you go, whatever you’re doing.” Nora’s voice turned rusty. “And know I’m thinking of you.”
He took her all the way into his arms. “Without a doubt,” he told her raggedly, “this is the best gift I’ve ever received.”
Their lips met. He kissed her deeply, passionately, and in a masterful move, lifted her into his arms and swept her up the stairs to her bedroom. Then he carried her over to her bed and laid her down.
Parting her knees with his, he draped himself over her and situated himself between her thighs.
“Wow,” she teased, “you must have really missed me.”
“Darlin’, you have no idea...” he growled, taking a wrist in each hand and anchoring them over her head. “But you will,” he promised, kissing her mouth, slowly, sensually, and with breathtaking intensity.
He kissed her until they were both shuddering. Until she arched up against him and kissed him back with every inch of her being, until she shook with need, until their bodies melded in boneless pleasure.
They came apart long enough to undress each other and sheath him in a condom, then came together once again. He slid a pillow beneath her hips. They locked eyes, and she opened herself up to him as completely, as unconditionally as she knew how. He opened himself up to her in return, still kissing her feverishly, sliding home.
He lifted her against him, and suddenly she was there. Shattering in overwhelming release. And he was there, too. Clasping her to him. Joining her. Holding her close until the aftershocks faded. And when it was over she did not let him go, but instead, enticed him into making love with her again. Even more tenderly this time.
Afterward, they cuddled together, falling asleep. But at two in the morning, she woke to see him sitting up on the side of the bed. Reaching for his jeans.
Her hair tumbling over her bare shoulders, she rose up on her elbow. “You have to leave?”
Expression maddeningly inscrutable, he shrugged on his shirt. “I’ve got some stuff at the No Name to take care of first thing tomorrow morning.”
Like what? she wondered. She grabbed her robe and followed him down the stairs. “Did you finally decide what you want to do with the land?”
He sat down on the bottom of the stairs to put on his socks, boots. “Keep it, I hope.”
“Make it your home.”
He rose to his full height, wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned over to kiss her. One corner of his mouth crooked mysteriously. “Let’s just say, like a lot of things, it’s a work in progress.”
Or in other words, don’t ask, Nora thought on a beleaguered sigh, feeling shut out all over again. “Afraid of jinxing it?”
“Maybe. Then again, maybe not.”
She groaned and put her hands over her ears.
He pulled them off. Leaned down and waited until she’d dare look into his eyes, then bent down and kissed her again. Even more seductively this time. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Good things come to those who wait. Haven’t you ever heard that?”
“Yes,” Nora pouted, hating how fast their time together was flying by. How soon he would have to return to his unit, at least until he had finished his tour on January 15. “It doesn’t mean I like it.”
Zane reached for his coat.
“Do you really have to go?” She pouted even more as he shrugged it over his broad shoulders. He had done this before. Started pulling away emotionally before being deployed. She linked her arm through his as he headed for the door. “You could stay a few hours.”
He studied her, clearly torn about something. “Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
Darn him for pointing that out. “Yes, but...”
His gaze drifted over her before returning ever so slowly to her face. “Nora wants what Nora wants?”
If he only knew. She folded her arms in front of her. “Exactly.”
Zane exhaled heavily. Pulled her into his arms once again. “Believe me,” he said, smoothing a hand over her back, “I’d like nothing better than to sleep right here all night.”
She splayed her
hands across his chest. “Then why don’t you?”
“It’s been pointed out to me it is not good for your reputation.”
“By...?”
“Does it matter? They’re right.”
Nora hated it when he was right, too. Which made her take the opposite tack. Especially when their days together were numbered. She curved her hands over his biceps. “I really don’t care what people think,” she said stubbornly.
Zane paused, thinking. “It won’t always be this way,” he promised finally.
“But for right now?”
She looked in his eyes and knew it definitely was.
* * *
“I DON’T UNDERSTAND why we haven’t seen Zane at all this week,” Miss Sadie said, the following day.
I’m with you. I’ve missed him, too, Nora thought, as she finished updating a half dozen medical records. “He was in Dallas, taking care of Lockhart family business.”
“But he’s back now, isn’t he?” Miss Mim persisted from the doorway of Nora’s office.
“Yes.” Nora shut down her computer. She walked across the hall and into the community room, where a lot of the residents were gathered. “And he’s still busy.”
“I think this has something to do with that Raquel person.” Betty sniffed, following along.
“I think we should be grateful for everything that young man did when he was here.” Miss Isabelle looked up from the drawing she and her little visitor, Braden Lockhart, were coloring.
No one could deny that.
The Adopt a Grandparent program was starting to take off and they had Zane to thank for getting the ball rolling. She would be eternally grateful to him for that.
Kurtis Kelley and Wilbur Barnes were engaged in an impromptu Battleship board game tournament with several middle school students in the community room.
High school choir students were setting up for a rehearsal of their annual holiday concert material in the music area.
Darrell Enlow was speaking with a fifth grader, who was doing a social studies report on what it had been like to serve in the military forty years prior.
“The point is, we’d like to thank him,” Miss Sadie said. “So we all got together to give him this.” She handed Nora a tabletop Christmas tree, decorated with lights and ornaments.
“We’d like you to deliver it to him,” Betty added.
Nora would love to but she might be interrupting whatever he was so busy with. She smiled, suggesting, “Why don’t you-all save it and give it to him yourselves during the Ugly Sweater contest?”
The women exchanged concerned looks.
“We want him to have it today,” Betty insisted, consulting the wall clock. “And since you’re just about finished for the day...”
Nora smiled as her sitter, Shanda, came toward her with Liam in her arms. “You want me to drive all the way out to the No Name ranch?”
Miss Patricia laid a hand over her heart. “Unless you want us all to go in the Activity Bus?”
“Seriously, Nora,” Betty said, “you need to keep an eye on that man of yours if you don’t want him to get away again. So if you don’t do it, we will.”
Nora could see the women meant it. So, even though she knew it wasn’t necessary, she accepted the gift for Zane, then officially clocked out of work. With her sitter’s help, she situated Liam in her minivan and drove out to the No Name.
She wasn’t sure what she expected to see when she arrived at Zane’s ranch. But it sure as heck wasn’t what she found. A property clogged with vehicles of all sorts. Survey stakes dotted not just along the perimeter of the property, but within it, too. Worse, Zane did not look particularly happy to see her and Liam.
Realizing it had been a mistake to come without calling, she parked close to where he stood with several people in business attire. One of them a strikingly attractive woman about his sister’s age.
Raquel, she guessed.
Had Betty and the other women been right?
Did Nora need to do a better job of looking after her man?
If she could even call Zane her man, that was. Since they still had no formally defined relationship. Broach or not.
Her heart accelerating as Zane strode toward her, Nora turned to Liam, said, “This will take just a minute, honey.” Then turned off the engine and got out of the car.
“I wasn’t expecting you.”
He wasn’t really glad to see her, either, Nora noted, standing next to the passenger door, in full view of her infant son.
“You’re right.” She wet her lips. “I should have called.”
His gaze softened. “That’s not what I meant.” He stepped closer. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes.” She swallowed around the parched feeling in her throat. “I’m just here because...” She walked around to the cargo area and opened it up. “The residents of Laramie Gardens wanted me to bring you this.” She handed over the small prelit and already-decorated two-foot tree.
For a second, Zane was speechless.
As was she.
“Wow,” he said finally.
Trying not to look as embarrassed as she felt, Nora continued, “They knew you hadn’t put up a tree when you last talked with them, so they wanted to be sure you had something. As you can see, this decoration is designed to be set on a tabletop. And it’s artificial, so you can pack it away and use it year after year, if you like.”
Zane held it in front of him like a trophy. “I’ll have to thank them when I see them.”
Nora stepped back on shaking legs, chastising herself all the while. “Okay, then...”
“Nora.” He caught her arm and swung her back around. Their glances met and held for several long beats. Frowning, he inclined his head at the activity behind him. “I can’t explain any of this just yet.”
Of course he was shutting her out. Again. His time here was almost up. “You don’t have to.”
His eyes said he disagreed.
Regret sharpened the ruggedly handsome lines of his face. “I also can’t do anything with you and Liam tonight.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to.” A total lie. She had actually been counting on spending the evening together. Just Zane, her and Liam.
“I will be at the Ugly Sweater contest tomorrow, though.”
Feeling her heart break a little more, her Christmas spirit diminish, Nora forced a bracing smile and said, “I’ll see you then.”
* * *
“IT’S NOT TOO late to enter the Ugly Sweater competition,” Nora told Mr. Pierce the following afternoon. She had just learned the former bookseller was one of the few residents at Laramie Gardens not participating.
“I’ve got a hot glue gun in my office, a few extra red and green sweaters and all sorts of decorations. We could do A Christmas Carol theme. A likeness of Scrooge...” she teased. “Or something from any other holiday-themed novel you like.”
“Thank you, dear, but I’m doing my best not to vary from my new routine. I want to be on track when my daughter, Lynn, visits.”
Instead of the one leather-bound classic with clasp he typically carried, today he had two. Treasure Island and Great Expectations.
“I think I’d rather do a little more research on improving memory on my computer, and then rest. But if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll join the festivities in time for the judging,” he promised.
Aware that was the best she was going to get, Nora told him, “Okay. But just so you know, if you change your mind, my offer to help you make a last-minute entry is good right up until the time of the contest...”
She went down the hall, checking in on residents. Clandestine activity abounded for the rest of the day, with final costume tweaking being done. And everywhere she went, one question was put to her—would Zane be compe
ting, too?
“He promised he would,” Nora said over and over, not really sure now that he would show up. Especially if whatever it was that was so important was still going on at the No Name ranch.
“Have you seen his ugly sweater?” Betty wanted to know.
No, and she had to admit, if he had found time to prepare one, she was a little curious.
“What time is he arriving?” Buck Franklin asked.
She had no idea about that, either, since she hadn’t had so much as a text message from him after seeing him at his ranch. Probably because he didn’t want her to ask any more questions he couldn’t—or maybe just wouldn’t—answer.
On the other hand, he always had been a man of his word. A man of honor.
“Hopefully he’ll be here by the time it starts, at four o’clock,” Nora said.
“I’m sure he’ll surprise us,” Wilbur Barnes said.
So was Nora. No matter what happened.
But she had no idea just how much, until Zane walked through the door.
Chapter Fourteen
The first thing Nora realized as the handsome warrior strode toward her was that she never should have doubted Zane’s willingness to participate once he had declared the three of them “all in.”
The second was that he was as much a rule breaker as ever.
The base sweater was a worn-to-the-point-of-ruin camouflage design with olive green leather elbow patches. Strands of multicolored blinking Christmas lights had been duct-taped to the sleeves, back and chest. The battery-pack that fueled them was attached to a wide black vinyl belt—that was also duct-taped to the sweater. Completing the ensemble was a bucket hat in the same camouflage green, with reindeer antlers popping up on either side of his head, double strands of mistletoe dangling from them.
It was, Nora noted with a mixture of exasperation and relief, exactly what they needed to break some of the too-serious tension in the room, as the time for competition neared.
Not that everyone agreed.
Betty leveled an accusing finger at Zane. “You’re disqualified!” she said, clearly upset.
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