Harlequin Holiday Collection: Four Classic Seasonal Novellas: And a Dead Guy in a Pear TreeSeduced by the SeasonEvidence of DesireSeason of Wonder

by Kelly, Leslie; Kelly, Leslie; Kelly, Leslie; Kelly, Leslie

  “I guess.” Her face tightened again. “I haven’t had much time for vacations. I’ve had to be practical.”

  Practical. It seemed a sad word in connection with the girl who’d danced along the beach, hair flowing in the wind.

  “Look.” He throttled back, letting the Spyhop idle on the waves. “There they are.” He pointed as first one, then another dolphin made a silver arc through the waves.

  “Oh.” Eyes shining, Kristie clasped her hands in awe.

  She should look that way more often. The child needed a sense of wonder to sustain her through the difficult times ahead. Didn’t Allison see that?

  He looked at Ally, and his heart seemed to stop at her expression. Ally needed to regain that sense of wonder, too, just as much as her daughter did.

  And if he thought all he wanted from Allison was friendship, he’d been kidding himself.

  Chapter Eight

  Allison held her breath as the dolphins cartwheeled through the waves. How could she have forgotten that incredible sight?

  “They seem so—” she sought for words “—free.”

  David leaned on the rail next to her, letting the boat rock gently. “They are that. I remember you always loved them.”

  His voice was soft, recalling the past they’d shared. Somehow in the busy stressful years she’d forgotten that, but now it seemed to be here, waiting for her.

  “Look at that one, David.” Her daughter’s face was lit with wonder. “Do they live here always?”

  “They travel, but they always come back to us.”

  He bent close to Kristie as he began telling her some fanciful story about dolphins saving a shipwrecked sailor. Their faces wore identical looks of childlike innocence. Allison had felt that way, too, when she was Kristie’s age. A longing swept over her, powerful as a riptide, to feel that way again.

  No. Her rejection was almost panic-stricken. She couldn’t go back. She had to be practical. She had to take care of herself and Kristie, because no one else would.

  “Do you remember counting dolphins with me, Ally?” David’s smile invited her back into that world she’d left.

  “No.” That was a lie. She remembered. But she shouldn’t. “Is this what you’re doing with your oceanography degree?” She wielded the question like a weapon to push him away.

  He shrugged, refusing to take offense. “Maybe the degree helps me appreciate it more.”

  “You can’t build a career on appreciation. Or dreams.”

  “You can’t build a life without both.”

  He didn’t seem to expect a response to that. He just leaned on the railing next to Kristie, watching the dolphins, apparently content to let the day slip away with the tide.

  She should be telling him how improvident he was. Instead all she could think was how secure he seemed. “You’re happy, aren’t you?”

  The fine lines crinkled around his eyes. “Why not? I live in a place I love. A place my family has loved for generations. Gran says that Caldwells always come back to Caldwell Island, because this is where we belong.”

  Suddenly, Allison realized he wasn’t searching for anything, because he already had it all.

  “You’re a lucky man, David. You have everything you want.”

  Some emotion she couldn’t identify touched his eyes. “Nobody has that. Maybe someday.” He stretched, muscles flexing under his denim shirt. “Today, I’ll settle for this.” His gesture took in the sea, the dolphins, even her and Kristie.

  That sense of freedom she’d felt when she caught her first glimpse of the dolphins seized her again. Maybe today she could push away all the things she should do in favor of what she wanted—to be here, right now, with David and Kristie.

  Just for today.

  Chapter Nine

  David eased the boat toward the dock, watching Allison’s relaxed expression harden. Her cares were a visible weight, making his Ally into the brittle, determined woman she’d become.

  “Thank you.” Her voice surprised him with its softness. “I guess you were right. We both needed this.”

  “A little relaxation never hurt anyone.” He had to keep it light, or he’d give in to the longing to try and take her cares away permanently, and that was beyond him.

  He nodded toward the dock. “You’d better get ready. Looks like they’ve sent out the big guns.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Gran’s waiting for us. My loving interfering family thinks you should stay for supper. Nobody ever refuses Gran.”

  “I can’t. I have to go home and get some work done.”

  He shrugged. “Don’t tell me. Tell Gran.”

  He busied himself tying the boat while Ally and his grandmother skirmished. The result was predictable.

  “Have another piece of key lime pie,” his mother urged.

  Allison shook her head. “I couldn’t possibly.”

  They’d had dessert and coffee in the living room, watching as his sister Miranda and her boy, Sammy, lured Kristie into making Christmas tree ornaments out of shells. Kristie, shy at first, had thawed under the flow of warmth from his family.

  Ally had, too, but she was fighting it. “I really have to go home and get some work done,” she said for the third time.

  “No need to hurry off.” His father stretched long legs out toward the fire. “If David’s not giving you enough help, you say the word and I’ll bring Daniel and Theo over to work.”

  Allison looked a little overwhelmed at the thought of all those Caldwell men in her small cottage. “Thanks, but we’re doing fine. I do need to get Kristie home before she falls asleep.”

  “I’m awake.” Kristie’s words were interrupted by a yawn.

  David grinned and got up. “I’ll drive you.”

  Daniel and Theo embarked on a mock battle over who got to carry Kristie to the car that had the child giggling. David’s mother shoved a plate of pie into Allison’s hands.

  “Come again tomorrow,” she urged. “Or if you can’t do that, at least promise you’ll spend Christmas Eve with us.”

  Ally evaded the invitation politely, and they finally escaped the clutch of family. David paused for a moment on the porch, waiting while Theo put Kristie in the backseat.

  “Do you remember telling me once you wanted a family like mine?” He looked at Allison, laughter in his voice.

  “I remember.” For an instant, unguarded longing shone in her eyes.

  David’s heart clenched. Was that what she’d tried to have with Richard?

  And after a failure like that, would she ever be willing to try again?

  Chapter Ten

  What on earth had gotten into her? Allison stared at live oaks draped with Spanish moss as David drove them back to the cottage. She’d practically agreed to spend Christmas with the Caldwells.

  She was as drawn to their warmth now as she had been years ago, when she’d seen the contrast with her cold, barren home life. But now she had Kristie and her own independence to hold on to.

  The car pulled up to the cottage. She’d left lights on, and they showed yellow and welcoming through the new curtains.

  “It looks like home,” he said lightly.

  “Yes.” She shook off the tempting thought. “I’m afraid our apartment in Atlanta isn’t quite so cozy.”

  “How soon will you go?” He sounded as if it mattered.

  “I promised Kristie we’d stay until her surgery. Mid-January.” She glanced toward the backseat. “She’s asleep.”

  “I’ll get her.”

  He was lifting Kristie before Allison could get out. Having David around didn’t do her drive for independence a lot of good. She opened the front door and nodded toward the couch.

  “Just put her there. I’ll take her up in a bit.”

  David settled Kristie on the couch, tucking the afghan around her gently. He smoothed her tousled hair. “What a sweetheart she is.”

  There was a lump in her throat the size of a baseball. He saw the beau
ty in Kristie that her own father had never discerned.

  “Yes. I wish—” She wished so much for her child.

  “She’s going to be fine.”

  “Yes.” She had to believe that. She cleared her throat. “Thank you, David. For everything.” She held the door open.

  He started through, then paused on the threshold and touched her arm, nodding toward the ocean. “Look.”

  She stepped out onto the porch with him. A nearly full moon cast a shimmering silver pathway across the dark water, mesmerizing in its beauty.

  “Your grandmother used to tell us a story,” she said softly. “Something about sailing off on a stream of moonbeams to wonderful adventures. I dreamed about that for years.”

  “Good dreams, I hope.” He was very close, his voice a low baritone rumble.

  “The best.” An odd, somehow familiar longing touched her. She wanted— What? She didn’t know.

  That sent a tinge of panic through her. She knew what she wanted—sell the cottage; get through Kristie’s surgery; start her new job. Why did she feel so uncertain? She shivered.

  “You’re cold. You should go in.” David touched her, his palms warm on her arms.

  She should. But somehow her gaze tangled with David’s; somehow his hands were drawing her close, his lips finding hers, and the world went spinning away along the path of moonbeams.

  She pulled away, her lips cold where his had been. This was crazy. She turned and bolted into the cottage before she could do something even crazier, like kiss him again.

  Chapter Eleven

  David whistled as he drove down the lane. Ally was going back to Atlanta in three weeks, but she and Kristie would come for weekends, maybe longer while Kristie recuperated.

  Even Allison’s rapid retreat after their kiss didn’t discourage him. They had plenty of time for their relationship to grow, and they had years of friendship to build it on.

  He parked and took the box he’d brought into the cottage, finding Kristie at the kitchen table.

  “Hey, sugar. I have something for you from Sammy.”

  Kristie slid from the chair, grabbed her crutches, and went into the living room without even acknowledging his presence.

  So much for all his good cheer.

  “I’m sorry.” Ally kept her voice low. “Kristie woke up when we were on the porch last night. She saw us.”

  “Saw us kissing, you mean.”

  Her gaze evaded his. “I tried to explain that we’re just friends. That it didn’t mean anything.”

  He put the sand dollar he’d brought on the table, then arranged the glue and glitter in a neat row. “Didn’t it?”

  “No.” That sounded firm, but she didn’t meet his eyes.

  “Maybe I should talk to her.”

  “I think it’s better to forget it.” She did meet his gaze then, and he saw that she didn’t just mean Kristie.

  She might be able to forget, but he didn’t think he would.

  “Well, guess I’d better get to work, then.” He carried a paint can into the living room. Kristie was curled on the couch with a book. “Sammy sent you a sand dollar shell and some glitter and glue. So you can make a Christmas ornament if you want.”

  Kristie put the book down, still not speaking.

  He bent to open the paint can. “If you need any help, just tell me.” He started painting.

  By the time Allison got her brush and joined him, Kristie had made her way to the table and was bending over the shell.

  “Thank you.” Allison concentrated on the paint she was applying. “And tell Sammy thanks, too.”

  He suppressed a smile. Ally and her daughter were alike in more than just looks.

  By the time they’d finished the woodwork along one wall, Allison was talking normally again, as if determined to show him that she had forgotten that kiss.

  “David?” Kristie’s voice was small. “Could you help me?”

  “Sure thing.” He found her ready to attach the hanging string. “Hey, great job. Do you know why we use the sand dollar for Christmas?” He felt Ally move, standing behind him.

  Kristie shook her head. “Tell me.”

  “See, on this side is the shape of an Easter lily, and inside it is a star.” He turned it over. “On the other side is a poinsettia. So the sand dollar is perfect for Christmas.”

  Kristie dangled the ornament from one finger. “Thank you for helping me. I’m sorry I acted mean.”

  He touched her cheek lightly. “Friends help each other.”

  Kristie’s smile flashed. Apparently their crisis was over.

  But Ally—he could feel the tension that went through her at his words. And he didn’t have the slightest idea why.

  Chapter Twelve

  Allison had felt guilty all afternoon, and nothing she had said to herself seemed to help. She scrubbed paint off her hands at the kitchen sink, trying to ignore the feeling. She couldn’t.

  David had gone home after painting all day, whistling as happily as if she’d given him a gift by letting him work. She didn’t feel that carefree, unfortunately.

  His innocent comment to Kristie about friends helping each other had stung her. David helped because he had a good heart, and because he lived in a place where such simple acts of kindness were routine.

  And all the while she was deceiving him—carefully avoiding the truth about why she was fixing up the cottage. If he knew she intended to sell it…

  Well, what? Did she imagine he’d stop helping her if he knew that? That was silly. David wasn’t that kind of person.

  Maybe she was just afraid of the disappointment in his eyes if he knew she’d kept it from him. David’s honesty had always made her want to measure up. Somehow that hadn’t changed.

  A car pulling into the drive brought her to the window with a ridiculous leap of her heart. It wasn’t David. His grandmother came toward the door, carrying a basket.

  She opened the door. “Mrs. Caldwell, how nice to see you.”

  “Just dropping by with a little something for your supper. I know you and David have been painting all day.” She bustled in, put the basket on the table, and started unloading it.

  “You didn’t need to do that.” She felt helpless in the face of all this goodwill. She couldn’t very well close the door to keep out kindness, but it only increased her guilt.

  “This is chicken pot pie, and that one’s pickled beets. And I brought another tin of my Christmas cookies, ‘cause David said your little girl really enjoyed them.”

  “You’re all being too kind.”

  “I don’t reckon there’s such a thing as too kind.” Her faded blue eyes, sharp behind her glasses, inspected Allison.

  “David’s here every day helping, and now you come with food.” There was a ridiculous stinging behind her eyes.

  “David comes because he wants to. After all, the two of you were always special to each other. Now that you’re back, it’s only natural he wants to help.”

  Special to each other. “I’m not here to stay for good, you know. I’ll be starting a job in Atlanta in a few months.”

  Gran Caldwell just smiled and shook her head. “You still belong here, even if you spend some of the time away.”

  “I don’t—”

  But David’s grandmother was already picking up her basket. “I’d best get home. Don’t you worry about David. Land, that boy was over here fixing the roof when we didn’t know if you’d ever come back. He’s not going to mind a bit of painting.”

  She whisked out the door before Allison could say anything, even supposing the huge ball of guilt in her throat would have allowed her to speak. David had fixed the roof, and he’d never even mentioned it. How much more did she owe him?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Allison waited, nervous but determined, for David to arrive. She had to find out how much the materials had cost to fix the roof, even if he wouldn’t take money for labor. And she also had to tell him the truth about why she was fixing the place.r />
  This was no big deal, she assured herself. But that didn’t seem to erase the sensation of dread in her stomach.

  It was just as well that she had to be out for the rest of the day. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and they’d skip working. By the time the holiday was over, they’d both be back to normal.

  The sound of his footstep on the porch sent her pulse accelerating. Yes, indeed, normal was certainly a good idea.

  “Hey.” He stopped, taking in her business suit. “What’s happening? You don’t look ready for painting.”

  “I have to go to Beaufort today. The firm I’m going to be working for asked me to take care of something for them.”

  “The day before Christmas Eve? Can’t they wait until after the holiday?”

  She’d asked herself that, but it annoyed her coming from him. “This job could take me right to the top. I can’t refuse the first thing they’ve asked me to do.”

  His gaze assessed her. “Fine. Kristie can stay with me.”

  “No, I’ll take Kristie along.” She swallowed. Just say it. “But I wanted to ask you something. Your grandmother said you fixed the roof on the cottage. I’m sure that must have cost something for materials, and I want to pay you.”

  He looked just as offended by that as she’d thought he would. “You don’t owe me a thing,” he said flatly.

  “But the roofing materials—”

  “We always have stuff like that around the inn for repairs. We don’t want money for doing a neighbor a good turn.”

  Her frustration probably didn’t make sense, but she felt it anyway. “But I wasn’t even here then. And after the way my parents let the place deteriorate, I’d think you’d be glad to see it fall down.”

  “I knew you’d want the cottage someday.”

  “How?” She wanted to shout at him. “How did you know?”

  He shrugged. “I knew. People don’t change all that much. You always loved this place, even though your folks didn’t. I knew you could never sell it.”

  Now was clearly the moment to tell him that she was doing just that. Unfortunately the words seemed lodged in her throat, unwilling to come out.