Blush Duo - Marriage Under the Mistletoe & The Christmas Inn (15 page)

Evie didn’t want to let him go. “But—”

“Go,” he insisted. “I have to make a statement, and they might want to talk with Trevor later. I’ll see you at home.” He kissed her forehead and stepped back.

Home...
The home she wanted to share with him as they raised their child together.

He turned away to join Cameron just as Evie said his name. He half turned back toward her. “What is it?”

And in that moment Evie gave up her heart. “I love you, Scott.”

He let out a ragged breath and stared at her, looking like a man who’d just received the most precious gift in the world. Whatever he was about to say didn’t come out because Cameron came up beside him and quickly introduced his colleague. He had business to finish and she needed to give him time to do it. And she was okay with that.

Evie gave Scott one last look before she swiveled on her heel and returned to her son.

* * *

When Scott arrived at Dunn Inn, it was close to ten o’clock. Evie had the door open before he’d pulled himself out of his rental car.

When he reached her she didn’t say a word and Scott simply took her hand and followed her up the stairs and into the big bedroom at the end of the hall. It was exactly what he expected—pure Evie—there was a soft printed cover on the bed, silky oak furniture and fresh flowers on the armoire near the window.

She shut the door behind them and walked into the middle of the room.

“It’s nice in here,” he said quietly.

“I should have invited you in here a long time ago,” she said quietly as she released his hand. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t consciously keeping it off-limits. But I’ve been alone for so long...I shut off part of myself and in here...” Her arms swept over their surroundings. “In here I could simply be me. The closed-off me who was angry at the world but was too reasonable and sensible to show it.”

She took a couple of steps and sat on the padded trunk at the end of the bed. “I had it redecorated after Gordon died. I painted the walls and hung new curtains and picked an outrageously girly bedspread. I guess I was happy in my misery, you know. And then one day you walked through that gate at the airport and smiled at me...and I knew I wasn’t as happy in my misery as I’d made out.”

Scott’s chest tightened. He loved this woman so much. “And now?”

“Now I want...I want to take the life we could have together. The life you offered me.”

He took an unsteady step toward her, wanting to fold her in his arms and hold her close. But they needed to talk first, and he needed to be sure. “I have to know something, Evie. Tonight you said you loved me....” Scott swallowed the emotion clutching at his throat. “Was that really about
me?
” he asked.

“I don’t understand.”

“I mean that sometimes in extreme situations, when a person is pumped on adrenaline and he thinks someone he loves is in danger, the mind can make him think something even if it’s not real.” He came beside her and sat on the trunk. “Your son was in danger and this feeling you have could just be a kind of misplaced gratitude.”

He hated saying it, hated thinking it. But he had to know. Scott had seen it before—he’d seen the victims of accidents cling to their rescuer as if they were a lifeline. If she was only feeling appreciation and relief then he wanted her to tell him so.

And if it’s only gratitude, will I take it? Will it be enough?

“Of course I’m grateful,” she said, and his heart thumped inside his chest. “How could I not be?” She grabbed his hand and lifted his knuckles to her mouth, kissing him softly. “You saved my son’s life. You saved
all
those boys tonight.”

“It’s my job, Evie,” he said quietly, feeling the meaning in the words more than he’d ever felt them before. “Whether I do it in L.A., or here...it’s what I do.”

She clutched his hand tightly and Scott felt the connection through to his blood. “I know. I’ve always known. Tonight I realized something...and I don’t just mean because of the fire and saving those kids. I was here with your sister and Fiona and they said something to me that made me realize that perhaps I was wrong to imagine you’d be the kind of man who’d do something risky without thinking of the consequences.”

“Not intentionally, no.”

“And that’s really all I can ask of you,” she said softly. “I thought that I wanted you to stop being a firefighter and do something without risks.”

Scott’s heart settled behind his ribs. “There are no guarantees, Evie.”

“I know that, too,” she said. “I know what you do can be dangerous and there’s no way you can ever be sure you won’t get hurt...or worse. But I don’t need guarantees, Scott.”

“You did,” he reminded her.

“I was scared,” she admitted. “Scared that I’d lose you, I guess. Scared that I’d have to raise another child alone.” She touched his face. “But tonight, I didn’t see a man who took chances. I saw a man who was completely in control the whole time, who knew my son was in that building and still did what he had to do. Someone who kept people safe. And that...and that made
me
feel safe.”

Scott grabbed her hands and held them against his chest. “I’ll always keep you safe, Evie. You and Trevor and...” He looked at her slightly swollen belly. “And our baby. I’d protect you all with my life.”

Tears filled her eyes. “I know you would. And I love you with all my heart.”

He kissed her softly and let emotion rise between them. She grabbed on to his shoulders and clung to him, kissing him back so hotly, so lovingly, Scott knew he’d never feel as connected to another soul as he did to this incredible woman who’d given him her heart and love.

“Just one thing,” he said in between kisses. “I realized something myself tonight—I’ve been hanging on to this idea that I couldn’t have both—that it needed to be the job, or a life with someone. But I knew when I was going into that building that I wasn’t like Mike. I was like myself and I
can
do both, Evie. If you ever feel differently about this—if you’re ever worried or want me to stop and find another type of job to do, promise me you’ll tell me.”

“I will,” she said. “But you know what, I fell in love with you exactly as you are, exactly who you are. Young, gorgeous, fearless.” She grinned. “That’s what I thought that first day and I still think it now.”

“So you’re over your worries about the age difference?”

Evie pushed herself against him and smiled. “Ha—I figure I’ll just be thought of as the luckiest woman on the planet.” She touched his cheek. “Anyway, you wait until you’ve had months of night feeding and changing diapers—you’ll have aged ten years by the time this baby is a toddler.”

“I can’t wait,” he said honestly.

And it was true. The thought of raising a child with Evie filled him with such an overwhelming feeling of joy he could feel the power of it over his skin, through his blood, in the deep recess of his soul.

“We have to pick out names,” she suggested. “I was thinking William for a boy.”

Scott nodded. “I like that. It’s a good, strong-sounding name.”

“And Rebecca for a girl.” She kissed him again, lightly along his jaw, and whispered against his ear. “Rebecca Jones.”

Scott pulled back slightly. “Jones?”

Evie smiled. “Mmm,” she breathed against his skin.

“But you turned me—”

“I’m an idiot,” she said, and slipped to the floor in front of him. She perched herself between his knees. “Would you mind if I asked you instead?”

Mind? He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The woman he loved, the woman carrying his child was about to ask him the most important question in the world. Scott shook his head. “Not at all.”

She took a deep breath, grabbed his hands and held them against her breasts. “Scott, would you marry me?”

“Absolutely.” He kissed her, thinking it was the best moment of his life. “I love you, Evie.”

“And I love you. Always. Forever.” She ran her hands over his shoulders and across his chest, plucking at the smudgy marks on the fabric. “You’re a mess,” she said as she wiped her fingertips along his cheek. “So how about that spa bath I promised you a while back?”

Scott looked toward the beckoning ensuite bathroom. “Lead the way.”

She smiled and stood, taking his hands. “How about we go together?”

Now that was
definitely
the best moment in his life.

Epilogue

E
vie loved Christmas. Especially this year.
The big tree in the living room sparkled with colored lights and dozens of glass
ornaments and there were so many gifts underneath she couldn’t stop grinning
when she imagined the room come morning and how all that wrapping paper would be
strewn across the floor.

“I do think this year the tree is the best it’s ever
looked.”

Evie turned as Flora Manning came into the room. “Yes,” Evie
agreed. “It’s all those extra lights.”

Flora raised a silvery brow. “That’s not it,” she said, and
fiddled with a stray green frond. “It’s you.”

“Me?”

“You’re happy,” Flora explained. “Happier than I’ve ever seen.
That’s why this big tree looks so special.”

Evie smiled. She
was
happy. She had
everything she’d ever asked for and more—a wonderful son, an adorable baby and a
husband she loved with all her heart. The tree was a bonus. And as it was their
first Christmas as a complete family, Evie could barely contain her excitement.
They would open some gifts tonight with her mother-in-law and the Manning
sisters and tomorrow her parents were coming over to share the morning
festivities with them. Later they would all go to Noah and Callie’s for a family
celebration.

This time of year would always be special to her. She’d fallen
in love with Scott during Christmas twelve months earlier and those memories
were etched deep within her heart. They’d shared gifts around the tree and
kissed beneath the mistletoe and this year would be the same. Only now, Scott
was her husband and the tree and the plastic mistletoe had more meaning for her
than ever before.

Once Flora left the room to find her sister, Evie spent a
little more time trimming the tree and rearranging the gifts. She’d prepared her
usual punch and fruit cake and had a tray of savories warming in the oven for
later. A soft and familiar sound caught her attention and she turned around.

Her husband framed the doorway, holding their precious bundle
in his arms.

“She’s supposed to be asleep,” Evie said gently, and walked
across the room. Scott held their three-month-old daughter, Rebecca, against his
shoulder as she pumped her chubby legs excitedly. Evie touched the baby’s soft
hair. “She’ll be relentless tomorrow if she doesn’t sleep tonight.”

Scott smiled and kissed his daughter’s head. “She was awake in
her crib, talking to herself. I think she said Dada again.”

Evie’s brows slanted upward. “You know she’s too young to
speak, right?”

“Not my kid,” he said proudly, and cradled her head with his
hand. “She’s advanced for her age.”

Evie knew there was little point insisting otherwise. “Yes,
darling, of course she is.”

Scott grinned. “And she loves the Christmas tree lights,” he
said, and waited while Evie flicked the switch and the tree illuminated in a
kaleidoscope of flickering color. Rebecca’s blue eyes widened and she gurgled
delightfully. “See?” Scott said, and smiled.

Evie watched her daughter and husband together and a surge of
love rushed through her blood. He was such an incredible father to both the baby
and Trevor. They’d been married for six months, and each day had been an
incredible joy. Scott had joined the Bellandale Fire and Rescue Department and
had settled easily into his new job.

Trevor loped through the doorway, looking very grown up at
sixteen. “Are we opening presents?” he asked, and grabbed some cake.

“Soon,” Evie promised as the Manning sisters came through the
door. “Once everyone is settled.”

Scott winked at her. They’d bought Trevor a fancy racing bike
to go with his newfound interest in fitness and sports. The gift was hidden in
the one vacant downstairs bedroom, and both she and Scott excused themselves at
the same time so they could bring it into the living room.

“I’ll take the baby,” Eleanor insisted as she floated into the
room wearing one of her signature silk caftans. Scott’s mother had become a
regular visitor to Crystal Point over the past year. One day, Evie was sure, it
would become a permanent move. Especially if they continued to add to their
brood. She loved the idea of having another child in a year or so.

As Scott placed Rebecca in his mother’s arms, Amelia and Flora
starting laughing.

“Look, mistletoe!”

Evie tilted her neck backward. Sure enough, the greenery was
hanging from the door frame above. She looked at Scott and smiled, thinking how
it was such a perfect moment. “Have you been decorating again?”

He chuckled and drew her against his solid body. “Who? Me?” he
said, and kissed her under the mistletoe before he reached up and twirled the
leaves with his fingertips. “You know, I owe a lot to this little piece of
plastic.”

“You do?”

“Sure. You might say it’s the reason we’re here. Got you to
kiss me, didn’t it?”

Evie laughed delightfully. “Or got
you
to kiss
me?
”

He looked into her eyes. “It got us both here—and that’s all
that matters.”

She nodded and smiled. It was, for sure, the best Christmas
ever.

* * * *

Don’t miss Helen Lacey’s next
book,
HIS-AND-HERS FAMILY

* * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt of
Real Vintage Maverick
by Marie Ferrarella!

Chapter One

I
t happened too quickly for him to even think about it.

One minute, in a moment of exasperated desperation—because he hadn’t yet bought a gift for Caroline’s birthday—Cody found himself walking into the refurbished antique store that had, up until a few months ago, been called The Tattered Saddle.

The next minute, he was hurrying across the room and managed—just in time—to catch the young woman who was tumbling off a ladder.

Before he knew it, his arms were filled with the soft curves of the same young woman.

She smelled of lavender and vanilla, nudging forth a sliver of a memory he couldn’t quite catch hold of.

That was the way Cody remembered it when he later looked back on the way his life had taken a dramatic turn toward the better that fateful morning.

When he’d initially walked by the store’s show window, Cody had automatically looked in. The shop appeared to be in a state of semi-chaos, but it still looked a great deal more promising than when that crazy old coot Jasper Fowler ran it.

Cody vaguely recalled hearing that the man hadn’t really been interested in making any sort of a go of the shop. The whole place had actually just been a front for a money-laundering enterprise. At any rate, the antique shop had been shut down and boarded up in January, relegated to collecting even more dust than it had displayed when its doors had been open to the public.

What had caught his eye was the notice Under new ownership in the window and the store’s name—The Tattered Saddle—had been crossed out. But at the moment, there was no new name to take its place. He had wondered if that was an oversight or a ploy to draw curious customers into the shop.

Well, if it was under new ownership, maybe that meant that there was new old merchandise to choose from. And that, in turn, might enable him to find something for his sister here. As he recalled, Caroline was into old things. Things that other people thought of as junk and wanted to discard, his sister saw potential and promise in.

At least it was worth a shot, Cody told himself. He had tried the doorknob and found that it gave under his hand. Turning it, he had walked in.

Glancing around, his eyes were instantly drawn to the tall, willowy figure on the other side of the room. She was wearing a long, denim-colored skirt and her shirt was more or less the same color. The young woman was precariously perched on the top step of a ladder that appeared to be none too steady.

What actually caught his attention was not that she looked like an accident waiting to happen as she stretched her taut frame out, trying to reach something that was on a higher shelf, but that with her long, straight brown hair hanging loose about her back and shoulders, for just an instant, she reminded him of Renee.

A feeling of déjà vu seized him and for a moment, his breath caught in his throat.

Balancing herself on tiptoes, Catherine Clifton, the former Tattered Saddle’s determined new owner, automatically turned around when she heard the little bell over the front door ring. She hadn’t anticipated any customers coming in until the store’s grand reopening. That wasn’t for a couple more days at the very least. Most likely a couple of weeks. And only if she could come up with a new name for the place.

“We’re not open for business yet,” Catherine called out.

The next thing out of her mouth was an involuntary shriek because she’d lost her footing on the ladder and both she and the ladder were heading for a collision with the wooden floor.

The ladder landed with a clatter.

Catherine, fortunately, did not.

She was saved from what could have been a very bruising fate by the very person she’d just politely banished from the premises.

Landing in the cowboy’s strong, capable arms knocked the air out of her and, along with it, anything else she might have said at that moment.

Which was just as well because she would have hated coming across like some blithering idiot. But right now, not a single coherent thought completed itself in her head. It was filled with just scattered words and a myriad of sensations.

Hot sensations.

Everything had faded into the background and Catherine was instantly and acutely aware of the man whose arms she’d landed in. The broad-shouldered, green-eyed, sandy-haired cowboy held her as if she weighed no more than a small child. The muscles on his bare arms didn’t even appear to be straining.

A tingling sensation danced through Catherine’s entire body, which was stubbornly heating up despite all of her attempts to bank the sensation—and her reaction to the man—down.

Her valiant efforts to the contrary, for just a moment, it felt as if time had stood still, freezing this moment as it simultaneously bathed her in a heretofore never experienced, all but debilitating, feeling of desire. For two cents proper, using the excuse that this rugged-looking cowboy had saved her, she would have kissed him. With feeling.

Catherine could absolutely visualize herself kissing him.

The fact that he was a complete stranger was neither here nor there as far as she was concerned. Desire, she discovered at that moment, didn’t have to make sense. It could thrive very well without even so much as a lick of sense to it.

And for no particular reason at all, it occurred to her that this man looked like the real deal. A cowboy. A real vintage cowboy.

Was he? Or had she managed to bump her head without knowing it and was just hallucinating?

Their eyes met and held for a timeless instance. Only the pounding of Catherine’s heart finally managed to sufficiently rouse her.

“Thank you,” she finally whispered.

Doing his best to focus and gather his exceedingly scattered wits about him, Cody heard himself asking, “For what?”

Catherine let out a long, shaky breath before answering. “For catching me.”

“Oh.” Of course that was what she meant. What did he think she meant? Cody nodded his head. “Yeah. Right.”

The words emerged one at a time, each containing a sealed thought. Thoughts he couldn’t begin to convey, or even understand.

Cody cleared his throat, then realized that he was still holding the woman in his arms. He should have already released her.

Feeling awkward—he hadn’t spontaneously reacted to a woman in this manner since his wife had died—he set her down. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be,” she told him. “I’m not.”
I’m not sorry at all.
“If you hadn’t caught me just then, I might have broken something—either some of the merchandise or, worse, one of my bones.”

The fact that if he hadn’t come in just now, her attention wouldn’t have been thrown off and she very well could have remained perched on the ladder was a point Catherine had no desire to bring up. Thinking of him as her hero was far more pleasant.

Rather than comment, the tall cowboy merely nodded his head in acknowledgment. At the same time, he began to back away.

“Didn’t mean to trespass,” he murmured by way of an apology. He reached behind him for the doorknob, ready to make his getaway.

“You’re not trespassing,” Catherine was quick to protest. She didn’t have the heart to chase out someone who could actually
buy
something in the store. “It’s just that I haven’t exactly gotten the store ready for customers yet. But you can stay if you like.”

If he didn’t know better, he would have sworn that her tone was almost urging him to stay. And she had shifted her body so that she was now standing between him and the front door.

Cody glanced around the store, still mulling over her initial protest. “Looks okay to me,” he told her. “Actually, it looks a mite better than it used to look when that old guy owned it.”

Catherine was eager to bring out the shop’s better features and play them up so that she could attract actual customers rather than just the pitying or dismissive glances that the store had been garnering before she’d bought it. After the former owner had kidnapped Rose Traub, the people in Thunder Canyon had deliberately shunned the store. And from what she’d heard, before then the clientele was almost as ancient as some of the antiques that were housed here. She wanted to change that as well. She wanted all age-groups to have a reason to drop by and browse.

Fowler wasn’t in the picture anymore, having been sent to prison, and the shop was something that she wanted to take on as a project, something that belonged to her exclusively. After a lifetime of being the go-to person, the main caregiver in a family of eight and always putting everyone else’s needs ahead her own, it occurred to Catherine that time—and life—was slipping by her. She needed to make her own way before she woke up one morning to discover that she was no longer young, no longer able to grab her slice of the pie that life had to offer.

Since this sexy-looking cowboy seemed familiar with the way the store had been before she’d taken over, Catherine made a natural assumption and asked, “Did you come in here often when Mr. Fowler owned it?”

“No,” he told her honestly. Antiques had never held any interest for him. And they still didn’t, except that he knew his sister liked them. “But I walked by the store whenever I was in town and I’d look in.”

Mild curiosity was responsible for that. He might not look it, but Cody had made a point of always taking in all of his surroundings. It kept him from being caught off guard—the way he had when Renee had become ill.

“Oh,” Catherine murmured. All right, the place had held no real attraction for him, at least it hadn’t before. But he’d walked in this morning. Something had obviously changed. “Well, what made you come in today?”

She glanced over her shoulder to see if there was anything unusual out on display that might have caught the cowboy’s eye. But nothing stood out for her.

Cody wasn’t sure what this gregarious woman was fishing for, but he could only tell her the truth. “I’m looking for a present for my sister. Her birthday’s coming up and I need to get something into the mail soon if it’s going to get there in time.”

Okay, she wasn’t making herself clear, Catherine thought. Desperate to hone in on a reliable “X-Factor,” she tried again.

“Why here?” she pressed. “Why didn’t you just go to the mall? There’re lots of stores there.” And heaven knew a far more eclectic collection of things for someone to choose from.

The expression that fleetingly passed over the cowboy’s tanned face told her exactly what he thought of malls.

But when he finally spoke, he employed a measured, thoughtful cadence. “I haven’t put much thought into it,” he readily admitted. “I guess I came here because I wanted to give Caroline something that’s genuine, that isn’t mass-produced. Something that isn’t in every store from New York City to Los Angeles,” Cody explained.

He looked around the shop again, but not before discovering that it took a bit of effort to tear his eyes away from the shop’s new owner. Close up, the talkative young woman didn’t really look like Renee, but there was an essence, a spark, an unnamable
something
about her that did remind him of his late wife. So much so that even as he told himself that he really should be leaving, he found himself continuing to linger on the premises.

“The stuff in this store is...” His voice trailed off for a moment as he searched for the right word. It took a little doing. For the most part, Cody Overton was a man given to doing, not talking.

Catherine cocked her head, waiting for him to finish his sentence. When he didn’t, she supplied a word for him. “Old?”

“Real,” he finally said, feeling the word more aptly described what he was looking for. “And yeah, old,” he agreed after a beat. “But there’s nothing wrong with old as long as it’s not falling apart,” he was quick to clarify.

Catherine smiled. She liked his philosophy. In a way, it embodied her own.

And then, just like that, an idea came to her.

Her eyes brightened as she looked up at the cowboy that fate had sent her way. This could be one of those happy accidents people were always talking about, she thought.

But first, she needed to backtrack a little. “I’m sorry, I completely forgot my manners. My name’s Catherine Clifton,” she told him, putting her hand out. “I’m the new owner,” she added needlessly.

Cody looked down at her hand for a moment, as if he was rather uncertain whether to take it or not. He wasn’t a man who went out of his way to meet people. Even an extremely attractive woman. He kept to himself for the most part.

But again, there was something about this woman that pulled at him. That nudged him. After a beat, he slipped his hand over hers.

“Cody Overton.” He felt it only right to tell her his name since she had given him hers.

He watched in mute fascination as the smile began in her eyes, then feathered down to her lips. “Pleased to meet you, Cody Overton,” she said. “You’re my very first customer.”

“Haven’t bought anything yet,” he felt obligated to point out.

The man was obviously a stickler for the truth, she couldn’t help thinking. She liked that. Moreover, she could really use someone like that, someone who would tell her the truth no matter what.

She paused a moment, wondering how the man would react to what she was about to propose.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Catherine felt good about this. The sparkle in her deep, chocolate-colored eyes grew as she dove in. “Cody, how old are you?” she wanted to know.

The question caught him completely off guard. The last time he recalled being asked his age like that, he’d been a teenager, picking up a six-pack of beer for his buddy and himself. At the time, he’d figured that his deep voice and his height would make questioning unnecessary. He’d assumed wrong.

He fixed the young woman with a look, wondering what she was up to. “If you’re planning on asking customers their age, once word about that gets out, I don’t think you’re going to have too many of the ladies coming in.” And everyone knew that it was women, not men, who liked this old furniture and knickknacks.

“I don’t care how old
they
are,” Catherine protested. “I mean, I do, but I don’t—” She stopped abruptly, realizing that she was getting tongue-tied again. Taking a breath, she backtracked. “I’m trying to appeal to a certain dynamic—a certain age-group,” she corrected herself, not wanting this rugged cowboy to think she was trying to talk over his head. But what she’d just said didn’t sound quite right, either. “Let me start over,” she requested. Taking a deep breath, she paused for a second before plunging in again. “What I want to do is attract a certain age-group—younger than the people who used to come into the store—so I thought if I could maybe pick your brain once in a while, find out what you think of some of the merchandise, it might help me improve sales once I open.”