A Down-Home Country Christmas (6 page)

Nope. Not going there.

He shook his head and unlatched Noël’s stall door, letting Brianna lead the donkey out since he was sure Grady would agree to anything Holly asked. She had that effect on people; she was so sweet and generous, she made the folks around her behave better to match up.

“Grady, I see you’ve fallen prey to the charms of the Snedegar girls,” Robbie said as the farmer bent down to receive a hug from Kayleigh.

The older man hesitated a moment and then put one arm around the more reserved Brianna’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. He produced a rusty smile when Holly beamed her approval at him. Grady turned to Robbie. “You hang around them a lot yourself.”

Robbie choked on a laugh. Who’d have thought old Grady had it in him to give as good as he got? “I’m a sucker for a pretty face, and when there are three of them, I’m sunk.”

Kayleigh did a little twirl at the compliment.

“Careful,” Brianna said to her sister, “You don’t want to scare Noël.”

“Noël’s steady as a redwood in a windstorm.” Grady rested his hand on the donkey’s back as Brianna led her out the barn door and onto the road.

Except when Holly was standing beside him in Noël’s stall.

“Captain Robbie, my friend Teresa’s mama says you’re a lady killer.” Kayleigh inserted herself between Robbie and Holly and took their hands. “But that doesn’t sound very nice.”

He heard a choked giggle from Holly and had to quell a grin of relief. “That’s what you call a figure of speech, sweetheart,” he said to the little girl. “I don’t kill ladies. Or anyone else.”

“But you have a gun.”

“That’s to keep bad guys from killing me,” Robbie said.

“So what did her mama mean?”

“She’s like a dog with a bone,” Holly said, her brown eyes dancing at Robbie’s predicament.

“She meant the ladies like me,” Robbie said, keeping it simple.

“Well, I already knew that,” Kayleigh scoffed. “You’re the police captain. You keep ladies safe.”

He saw the shadow that fell over Holly’s face and knew she was remembering what had happened with her rat bastard of an ex-husband. Robbie was aware that it embarrassed her to know he had witnessed the ugliness, but the truth was he felt guilty for not realizing what was going on sooner. Someday maybe he’d meet Snedegar in a dark alley and see how the scumbag liked having the tables turned on him. Not that he planned to travel to Mexico to track the man down. He felt it was good riddance to bad rubbish. But there was always a chance the dirtball would come back.

And he planned to be ready.

Kayleigh dropped their hands and skipped ahead to chat with the farmer.

“No, I’m not telling you who Teresa’s mom is,” Holly said with a laugh in her voice.

“I could figure it out in about thirty seconds,” Robbie said. “I know every family in Sanctuary.”

“You don’t sound especially happy about that,” she said.

She saw too much. “It’s a small town,” he said, keeping his voice neutral. He glanced sideways to find her scanning his face as though she were debating something. For a long moment he found himself unable to look away as her lips parted. His pace slowed.

The thump of helicopter rotors broke through the heat building between them, and he dragged his gaze upward to focus on the chopper beating its way to the mountaintop helipad of The Aerie. It was a high end Sikorsky, one he’d love to get his hands on the controls of. He’d run through every kind of flying machine parked at the local airport, including the Bell helicopter, in his efforts to escape the confines of Sanctuary for a few hours. He was looking for a new challenge, and this baby would offer that in spades.

Would he still seek the wide open skies once he got to Atlanta? Or would the other challenges it offered be enough?

Hell if he knew.

* * *

Holly saw the longing on Robbie’s face as he narrowed his eyes to track the helicopter across the darkening sky. It was a big sleek machine with red and white lights glistening against its shiny blue paint. She followed it too, trying to imagine what it would be like to ride in an aircraft as casually as you would a car. The highest she’d ever been off the ground was the top of the double Ferris wheel at the West Virginia State Fair.

That was it!

She came to a halt, knowing Robbie would too. As the helicopter disappeared around the mountain, he brought his gaze back to her. She waited until Grady and the girls were rattling the latch of the gate before she spoke. “Will you take me flying?”

She held her breath. He didn’t answer immediately, and she felt the knot of nerves in her chest wind tighter as she hurried to fill the awkward silence. “I’ve never been up in a plane and I’d like to go—” She slammed her mouth shut.

She’d been about to say, “Before you leave.”

He was waiting for her to finish, but all she could do was wave her hand in a vague way.

“Sure thing,” he said. “I’ll take the girls too.”

“No! Only me!” She blurted before he could call out to them. “I want to see what it’s like before I take them up.”

“I’m an experienced pilot.” Robbie sounded as though he might be insulted.

She shook her head. “It’s not that. If we take them, I’ll be watching their reactions. I want to experience it on my own first.” And with him.

The slight scowl drawing his brows together vanished, as excitement made his eyes seem to ignite. “I’d be honored to show you the sky.”

Chapter 7

Holly put down the dinner plate she was rinsing as Claire walked in the door, bringing with her a waft of frigid night air. “You’re front page news, little sister,” she said, waving the local weekly newspaper at Holly.

“What are you talking about, big sister?” Holly asked, taking the paper.

“Aunt Claire!” Kayleigh jumped out of the chair at the kitchen table where she was decorating a Christmas ornament. “Your dress is so pretty. I like the pink color.”

“I know it’s your favorite.” Claire kissed both her nieces. “Did your mama tell you about our sleepover on Saturday?”

“Yes, ma’am. But today’s only Thursday, so we have to wait a long time.” Kayleigh spun around with all the pent-up anticipation.

Claire laughed as Holly unfolded the
Sanctuary Sentinel
to find a photograph of the restored nativity scene. Grady was posed with his hand resting on the figure of Joseph, looking like a deer in headlights. “Poor man,” Holly breathed.

“May I see too, Mama?” Brianna peered over Holly’s arm.

She lowered the paper so her daughter could see it. “Just remember Mrs. Weikle likes to make things sound more dramatic than they really are,” she warned as she read the screaming headline: “Sacred Sanctuary tradition saved by school secretary.”

The rest of the article stuck mostly to the facts, although Bernie Weikle’s description of the torn and mangled wooden figures sounded more like a murder scene than some smashed-up pieces of plywood.

“Gosh, Mama, she says without you, the ‘sacred and cherished tradition would have been lost forever.’ She says you’re the ‘hero of the day’,” Brianna quoted, lifting shining eyes to her mother.

“And she’s right,” Claire said. She came over and wrapped her arms around Holly in a tight hug before pulling back to look her sister in the eye.

“You’re going to give me a swelled head.” Holly still didn’t feel like she’d done anything out of the ordinary.  However, she thought she could use the occasion as a lesson for her children. She turned back to her girls. “Just remember how many people were there in the barn working with us. They took time out of their busy days when we needed them. When you need help, you should never hesitate to ask for it. That’s what Sanctuary is all about.”

It was a lesson she’d learned the hard way.

“Will you help me glue the sequins on my ornament?” Kayleigh smiled up at her aunt.

Claire laughed and slanted a look at her sister. “Sure,” she said, pulling out a chair. “It looks like fun.”

Once the ornaments were finished and the girls were in bed, Holly poured two glasses of wine and dragged Claire into her bedroom, closing and locking the door. “It was a bad idea to ask Robbie to take me flying. I should have just invited him over for dinner and left it at that,” she said, pacing across the floor while Claire stacked up the pillows, slipped off her boots, and settled herself on the bed.

Claire took a leisurely sip of wine. “Why?”

Holly stopped to stare at her sister. “Because I’ve never been in an airplane before.”

“You’ll be with Robbie. You trust him, don’t you?”

“He’s an experienced pilot.” Holly repeated his words with a slight smile. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t be nervous about being up so high. I cried on the chair lift when we went skiing at Snowshoe.”

“You were ten. And an airplane is enclosed.”

Holly took a swig of wine and started pacing again. “Robbie’s seen me being pathetic once. I don’t want it to happen again.”

“You were not pathetic. You were the victim of domestic violence.” Claire’s tone was harsh, but Holly knew her anger was directed at Frank.

Holly still felt shame at the fact that she’d stayed with her abusive ex-husband for so long. Even though Claire told her over and over again it wasn’t her fault, she didn’t believe that in her heart.

Claire must have seen something in her face, because her voice softened. “Holl, you know that being brave doesn’t mean not being scared, right? Courage is refusing to let fear control your actions. And you have more courage than anyone I know.”

“And you’re the world’s best sister,” Holly said, wanting to change the subject that had somehow strayed away from her immediate concern.

“That is very true and I can prove it.” Claire set her wineglass on the bedside table and reached down to pick up the shiny green shopping bag she’d carried in with her. It was embossed with name of an exclusive shop at the Laurels, the nearby resort hotel. “Look at what I brought you.”

Holly slid her glass onto the table and sat down on the bed beside Claire. The bag was stuffed with gold tissue paper. She pulled it out and two wisps of deep red lace floated onto the quilt. When Holly picked them up, they unfolded themselves into a sheer bra and tiny bikini panties.

“Those are for Saturday,” Claire said. “Wear a white blouse.”

“I can’t do that.” Holly held the filmy garment up to her chest. “The red lace would show through.”

Claire’s lips curved into a sly smile.

“Oh!” Holly gasped as she caught her sister’s expression. She picked up the panties. “I refuse to wear a white skirt though!”

“It’s winter, so that wouldn’t be appropriate,” Claire agreed.

“Do you wear this kind of thing all the time?” Holly put her hand under the lace to see how transparent it was.

“Only when I’m hoping for a certain reaction from Tim. And then I don’t wear it for long.” Claire got up and headed for Holly’s closet. “Now let’s see what Robbie is going to peel off you to get to the red lace.”

Sheer panic closed up Holly’s throat at the realization that all this was supposed to end with her and Robbie in bed together. “I can’t…I don’t…oh, Claire!”

Her sister backed out of the closet with a look of concern on her face. “What is it, sweetie?” She sat on the bed and wrapped her arm around Holly’s shoulders.

“It’s been a long time since…” Holly waved her hand vaguely.

“Since you had sex?”

Holly nodded.

“It’s like riding a bicycle. You never forget how,” Claire said.

Holly felt her sister’s grip relax. “It’s more than that. It was only Frank for so many years.”

“I’m sure Robbie will be better than Frank.”

“But what if
I’m
not any good?” Holly finally managed to force out.

“Oh, sweetie, why would you worry about that?”

Holly stared down at the lace she’d crumpled into a ball between her hands. “That’s why Frank cheated on me,” she whispered.

Claire’s arm went rigid across her back. “No, it’s not,” she said, fury in her voice again. “He cheated on you because he was a self-centered, lying, immoral pig. It had nothing to do with anything you did or didn’t do.” She softened her voice. “You are a beautiful, sexy woman. When Robbie sees that red lace peeking through your white blouse, he’s going to have a hard time keeping his mind on piloting the plane.”

“Way to make me less nervous about flying.” Holly buried her face in Claire’s shoulder and said in a muffled voice, “I hope you’re right.”

They stayed like that for a long moment. “Okay, back to clothing selection,” Claire said, sitting back and reaching for Holly’s wineglass. She put it in her sister’s hand and headed back for the closet. “Now let’s put together an ensemble that says ‘keep your hands on the controls of the plane, but rip off my clothes after we land’.”

Chapter 8

“You’ve gotten quiet,” Robbie said as he swung his SUV into a parking space in front of Sanctuary International Airport’s single terminal on Saturday afternoon. The low brick building sprawled across what had once been a pasture. Now the chain-link fence extending from the terminal surrounded a flock of parked aircraft rather than a herd of grazing cows.

Holly had been hoping for a snowstorm, but the day had dawned clear, the air made crystalline by the winter cold. She rubbed her palms on the wool of the red skirt Claire had loaned her. Her sister had convinced her that the skirt paired with high-heeled black leather boots was the perfect outfit for flying. Claire had even talked her into wearing the red bra under a cream silk blouse, but Holly had made sure her winter coat was already on and buttoned when Robbie picked her up. “I’m nervous about being up so high.”

Robbie shifted his gaze away from the planes lined up on the tarmac, turning those vivid blue eyes in her direction. “How about I give you a tour of the airport and the planes? Then you can decide if you want to go up.”

His understanding almost undermined the courage she’d been shoring up all week. She took in a deep breath, catching a whiff of the citrus-scented soap he’d used that morning. She’d never before been this close to him when they were alone. Her nerve endings began to hum with awareness and anticipation. “I want to go up,” she said, hoping to talk herself into believing it.

He smiled, his teeth white and even. She caught a hint of a dimple in his right cheek. “You’ll be glad you did.” He glanced back at the planes. “Everything looks different from up there.”

Holly forced herself to smile as she unbuckled her seat belt. Robbie was out of his seat and coming around to hold the door for her before she had gathered up her handbag and climbed out of the car.

White Christmas
lilted from the loudspeaker as he pushed open the terminal door for her. “Let me pick up the keys from Crystal,” he said, leading the way down a linoleum tile-floored corridor lined with office doors. The walls were bright with cardboard Santas, festoons of green and red tinsel, and wreaths made of shiny gold Christmas tree balls.

Robbie stopped in front of an open door and gestured Holly inside. Behind a metal desk, a woman with brown hair cut man-short spun her chair away from a computer screen. She was extraordinarily beautiful, but Holly was prepared for that. Crystal Detch had made a big splash as a model before she got her heart broken by some rich man in New York City. She’d come back to Sanctuary and taken over running the airport when her father retired from the job five years before. As far as Holly knew, Crystal had not been on a single date since her return.

“First time up, I hear,” Crystal said to Holly as she plucked a key ring off the board beside her. “You’ll get hooked.” She handed the keys to Robbie. “The Cessna’s all fueled and ready. I checked her over myself. Not that I want to stop you from doing your own preflight check.”

Robbie tossed the keys up and caught them behind his back, making his brown leather jacket pull tight across his wide shoulders. “You know I will. Precious cargo.” He gave Holly a sideways smile.

“The Cessna’s a sweet craft,” Crystal said. “A little old lady only flew it to church on Sundays.”

Holly forced a nervous smile. Was her anxiety so obvious that Crystal was trying to reassure her too?

Robbie walked over to a row of clipboards hanging on the opposite wall, taking one down and flipping through several pages attached to it, his gaze intent. Holly must have looked puzzled because Crystal said, “It’s the maintenance log for the plane. McGraw here is one of the smartest pilots I know. He never goes up in an aircraft he doesn’t trust one hundred percent.”

“Better safe than sorry at 15,000 feet.” Robbie rehung the clipboard. “Looks good. Let’s go see her in person, Holly.”

“Who does the plane really belong to?” Holly asked as they walked toward the outside door to the bouncing melody of
Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

“A guy who flies in to stay at his vacation home on the golf course at the Laurels,” Robbie said. “He doesn’t like the plane to sit around unused so he lets a few local pilots rent it when he’s in residence.”

He pushed the door open and ushered Holly out in front of him. Although the sun shone in the brilliant blue sky, a chilly breeze whipped across the open tarmac. It caught the end of Holly’s scarf and flipped it into her face as she was slipping her gloves on. Robbie reached out to pull the scarf away and his fingertips brushed against her cheek. She glanced up to thank him and found his gaze riveted on her lips. Unable to stop the reflex, she licked them. A muscle in his jaw twitched and he looked away.

A mixture of confidence and a whole different kind of nervousness surged through her.

His jacket flapped open as he yanked on his gloves. The wind flattened his white shirt against his torso, revealing the definition of his muscled chest and abs. She was torn between appreciation and worry. His body was so perfect. After two pregnancies, hers wasn’t.

“This way,” he said, offering her the crook of his arm.

He kept up a running commentary on the various planes they passed, but Holly was focused on the feel of him against her side as she deliberately tucked herself in close. Sneaking glances up at him, she learned he had fine lines at the corners of his eyes and an inward curl at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. He must have shaved for her because there was barely a glint of a blond whisker on his cheeks or chin.

When Robbie said something about Santa Claus, it broke through her distracted haze of fascination. “Santa Claus?” she repeated, looking around to see they were standing in front of a bright red helicopter.

“I’m flying Ed Hardy to the regional hospital over at Broadmoor tomorrow to take the toys to the kids there.”

Ed was a rotund man with a long white beard who was in great demand to play Santa Claus every holiday season. The rest of the year he ran Hardy’s Hardware in downtown Sanctuary.

“I dropped off three boxes of new toys donated by the school staff for the toy drive,” Holly said. “The kids are going to love them.”

“Most of the donations went over in a truck today,” Robbie said. “Ed has just enough to fill up his pack for when he arrives in the helicopter.”

Holly eyed the helicopter and said a silent prayer of thanks that she didn’t have to ride in the unwieldy-looking metal contraption crouched under its drooping rotors.

Robbie led her past the chopper to a gleaming white single propeller plane with black-and-gold stripes swooshing down its sides. It looked fast just sitting on the apron. “But this beauty is pure pleasure to fly. Her owner loaded her up with everything top-of-the-line.”

He fitted a key into the lock and pushed the door upward.

“It looks just like the inside of a car,” Holly said, amazed at the luxurious leather seats in a golden tan. “But where’s the steering wheel?”

Robbie pointed to something that looked like a video game control stick, one on each side of the plane. There were video screens across the dashboard and between the seats, so she guessed that made sense. “She handles almost like a jet,” he said.

He showed her where to step and wrapped his hands around her waist to boost her up with a power that made her feel almost weightless. She scrambled into the contoured seat as Robbie climbed up beside her. “I’m going to do a visual check on the exterior.”

Holly nodded and he lowered the door, locking it down so firmly the plane rocked slightly. She took a deep breath and peered around the cabin. It seemed very small for something that was going to take them thousands of feet up into thin air. She wrapped her arms across her chest, telling herself it was the cold that was making her shiver.

A few minutes later, the other side of the plane dipped as the door opened, and Robbie dropped into the seat beside hers, giving her a grin and a thumbs-up before he closed his own door.

His smile lingered as he brought the engine to life and ran through a series of tests, flipping switches and scrolling through screens, explaining all the time what he was doing. She almost forgot her nerves in the pleasure of hearing his deep voice and watching his big, square hands move with such sureness through the tasks.

Lifting two sets of headphones from the storage console, he handed one to Holly. “The cabin is pretty sound-proofed but it’s still easier to talk with these. And you can hear the tower and other airplanes.”

He reached across Holly, his arm pressing lightly against her ribs, as he tested the security of her latch. “Good to go. Now buckle up.”

She fumbled with the seatbelt, not sure how to arrange the straps. Robbie twisted in his seat and settled them into place. She sucked in her breath as his fingers just barely brushed against the side of her breast. Despite the thick wool fabric of her coat separating his skin from hers, she felt a jolt of arousal.

Between her anxiety about flying and Robbie’s disturbing presence, Holly’s nerves were wound tight. Her hands shook slightly as she fitted the headset over her ears and flipped down the microphone. It didn’t help when Robbie’s voice poured directly into her ear. “Crystal, this is Robbie McGraw. Pre-flight check complete and I’m ready to roll.”

Crystal’s voice came back with a string of information involving wind and directions and numbers as well as permission to use the runway.

Robbie reeled off more jargon, and the plane started to move. Holly looked for something to hold onto but all she saw was the control stick on her side and that, she wasn’t going to touch. So she hooked her thumbs in her coat pockets and tried to appear calm.

They taxied onto the runway and pivoted so the nose of the plane pointed down the straight stretch of tarmac that seemed to go on for miles. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Robbie’s hands touching buttons and screens but she couldn’t look away from the distant end of the runway. That was the point of no return. She would be in the air by then if she didn’t beg Robbie to stop.

The engine sound rose to a roar and the plane shuddered with pent-up energy. She pulled her hands out of her pockets and clenched them around the seat belt straps.

“Holly? You good?” She dragged her gaze away from the runway to find Robbie looking at her with concern.

She nodded emphatically because she knew her voice would shake if she tried to speak.

“Here we go!” He did something with the joystick and the plane leapt forward.

She couldn’t stifle a gasp but the engine noise covered it up.

The aircraft bounced along the tarmac for several seconds. Then the nose tilted up and the bumps ceased. Her muscles squeezed with anxiety as she realized they were airborne. She’d expected to have the whole length of the runway to get used to the idea of taking off.

The airplane suddenly surged upward and then dropped, leaving her stomach in her throat. Holly closed her eyes and whispered an incoherent prayer.

“It’s a little gusty down near the ground. Probably the advance edge of the storm that’s blowing in tonight.” Robbie’s voice was calm. “We’ll get above it soon.”

A dizzy sense of disorientation seized her as she felt the plane tilt. She opened her eyes to see the mountains slanting at a crazy angle as they turned and climbed at the same time. Every fiber of her body was screaming in panic, and she turned to ask Robbie to take her back to the solid, reliable earth.

One glance at his face and the words died in her throat. His eyes glowed with what she could only describe as sheer joy. He was leaning forward slightly as though he couldn’t wait to see what was around the next mountain ridge. He looked alive in a way she hadn’t seen in years, maybe since the day their high school football team won the regional championship. His teammates had hoisted him onto their shoulders so he could lift the trophy high to show the screaming crowd. The streaks in his hair had shone nearly as golden as the trophy, and she’d thought then that she’d never seen a young man look so fine.

He didn’t take his eyes off the path of the plane, but he reached over to touch the back of her hand, almost as though he were thanking her for letting him keep on flying.

The plane jolted up and down again and she swallowed hard, but there was no way she would make him turn back.

“Look down to your right,” Robbie said. “Those two buildings on the top of that mountain are The Aerie and Adam Bosch’s house. You can see the helipad in the clearing nearby.”

Holly braced herself to look down. The top of the mountain was closer than she expected which she found comforting rather than terrifying. It took her a minute to figure out what she was looking at but then her perspective adjusted and she saw the structures Robbie was talking about. “They look so different from above,” she said. “You can see the way the road connects everything and how it winds down the mountain to the highway. I never knew how it all fit together.”

She turned back to Robbie to find him grinning. “Now you understand.”

She understood up to a point. The scenery wasn’t quite compelling enough to make her give up her death grip on the seatbelts.

“Let’s see if you can find your own house,” Robbie said, banking the airplane left.

A mew of distress escaped from her as the world tilted wildly again.