Kisses on Her Christmas List (2 page)

She smiled graciously.
“You're welcome.”
Then she shivered, even though she wore a long white coat and the house wasn't that cold, just chilled, as if the heat had been on low all day while she was at work.
“Give me a minute to turn on the furnace.”
She walked to a thermostat on the wall and adjusted it.
“You might want to keep your coats on until it heats up in here.”

He unbuttoned his topcoat.
“Actually, after spending ten hours in a car, your house is warm to us.”
He stooped to help his daughter with her jacket.
Realizing he'd never introduced her, he peeked up at Shannon.
“This is my daughter, Finley.”

Crouching beside them, Shannon said, “It's nice to meet you, Finley.”

Finley mumbled, “Nice to meet you, too,” then she looked at him as if wanting to make sure he'd noticed that she'd been polite.

Sliding her arms out of her little pink jacket, he gave her a subtle nod of approval.
Lately, Finley had been something of a six-year-old diva.
Disciplining her worked, but not always.
And some days he was at his
wits' end with her.
So he was lucky she'd been polite to Shannon Raleigh.
He didn't know how he'd deal with her if she insulted the woman who'd rescued them.

“This is the perfect night to be stranded with me,” Shannon said, taking Finley's jacket to the closet behind her.
“My parents will be home from Florida next Saturday and I promised I'd have the house decorated for Christmas.
All these boxes are decorations they left behind when they moved to Florida.
You can help me.”

While Rory breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't interrupted her moving, Finley's nose wrinkled and her eyes narrowed with distaste.
Before he realized what she was about to do, she spat, “I hate Christmas.”

Shannon reared back as if someone had slapped her.
Her pretty blue eyes widened in disbelief.
“Hate Christmas?
How can you hate Christmas?”

“How can you believe that a fat guy in a red suit brings you presents?”

Anger pulsed through Rory's veins and he shot Finley a warning look.
He wouldn't yell at her in front of Shannon, but he did need to provide a few rules for behavior when imposing on someone they barely knew.
He faced Shannon.
“Why don't you tell me where we're sleeping and I'll take Finley to our room and help her get settled in.”

Shannon winced.
“Actually, there's only one bedroom.”

“Oh.”

“It's no big deal.
We'll give the bed to Finley, and you and I will use sleeping bags.
You can put yours on the floor beside the bed and I'll sleep on the sofa.”

Mortal embarrassment overwhelmed him.
He hadn't realized how much he'd be putting her out when he gave her name to the state policeman.
“This is such an impo
sition.
You can't give us your room.
Finley and I don't mind sleeping in the living room.”

Finley stomped her foot.
“I don't want to sleep on the floor.”

He flashed Finley another warning look.
“You won't.
You can have the sofa.”

“I want a bed!”

Rory's head pounded.
He understood that this time of year wasn't easy for Finley.
Her mom had left on Christmas day two years before.
So every year, she got moody, and every year he indulged her by taking her on vacation from Christmas Eve to New Year's.
For a guy who'd also lost his marriage on Christmas day, a vacation from the holiday was good for him, too.
But the foot-stomping and the pouting and the demands that everything go her way, those had just started.
And he absolutely refused to get on board with them.
He had to spend the next week looking at Raleigh's Department Store for his family's holding company.
He couldn't have her acting like a brat all week.

He turned to Shannon.
“Would you mind showing us to the bedroom so I can get Finley settled?”

“Not at all.”

She led them into a small first-floor bedroom that was as neat and clean as the rest of the house…minus boxes.
A feminine white ruffled spread sat on a simple double bed.
Red pillows on the bed matched the red shag carpet beneath it and the drapes on the double windows.

He dropped his duffel bag to the floor.
“Wow.”

She faced him with a smile.
Her shiny black hair was a wonderland of long, springy curls.
In the years since university, her face had shifted just slightly and she'd
become a softer, prettier version of the young girl he remembered.

“Wow?”

“I'm just a little surprised by your room.”

Her smile grew.
“Really?
Why?”

“The red.”
He felt the same color rising on his cheeks.
The room was girlie, yet incredibly sexy.
But he certainly didn't feel comfortable saying that to the woman giving him and his daughter shelter, especially not after Finley's minitantrum.
Still, he never would have guessed this sexy combination of color and style from the sweet Shannon he knew all those years ago at school.

“There's a private bathroom for the bedroom—” she gestured toward a door to the right “—over there.”

“Thank you.”

“Just come out when you're ready.”
She smiled.
“I'll start supper.
I hope you like toasted cheese sandwiches and soup.
I'm not much of a cook.”

“On a cold day like this, soup is terrific.”

She closed the door behind her and Rory crouched down in front of Finley.
Smoothing his hand down her shiny yellow hair, he said, “You're killing me.”

She blinked innocently “What?”

“Ms.
Raleigh is doing us a favor by letting us stay.
We should be polite to her.”

“I was polite.”

“Saying you want the bed while you stomp your foot is not polite.”

Her bottom lip puffed out.
“Sorry.”

And
this
was why he had trouble disciplining her.
The second he pointed out something she'd done wrong, she turned on that little-girl charm.
Batted her long black lashes over her pretty blue eyes.

Scrubbing his hand over his mouth, he rose.
“I'll tell you what.
You stay in here for a few minutes, while I spend some time getting acquainted with our hostess.”
And apologizing and doing damage control.
“While I'm gone, you can get your pajamas and toothbrush out of your backpack and think about how you'd want a little girl to behave if she were a guest in our house.”

Apparently liking her assignment, she nodded eagerly.

“And don't spend all your time thinking about how you'd spoil your little guest, because you wouldn't.
If you had to give up your bed for a stranger, you'd want her to be nice to you.”

Finley nodded again and said, “Okay.
I get it.”

Rory was absolutely positive she didn't, but he had to make amends to Shannon.
He left Finley in the bedroom and walked up the hall to the kitchen.

The house was small, but comfortable.
The furniture was new and expensive, an indication that Raleigh's Department Store did, indeed, make lots of money.
So maybe the trip to Pennsylvania might not have been the mistake he'd thought while sitting in his car for ten hours, not moving, on the interstate?

He found Shannon in the kitchen.
Still wearing her coat, she drew bread from a drawer and cheese from the refrigerator.

“Thanks again for taking us in.”

“No problem.”
She set the bread and cheese on the center island of the sunny yellow kitchen with light oak cabinets and pale brown granite countertops.
She reached for the top button of her coat.
“Furnace has kicked in,” she said with a laugh, popping the first button and the second, but when she reached for the third,
she paused.
“I think I'll just take this out to the hall closet.”

She walked past him, to the swinging door.
Wanting something to do, he followed her.
Just as he said, “Is there anything I can do to help with supper?”
her coat fell off her shoulders, revealing a bright red dress.

But when she turned in surprise, he saw the dress wasn't really a dress but some little red velvet thing that dipped low at the bodice, revealing an enticing band of cleavage.
Tall black boots showcased her great legs.

She was dressed like Mrs.
Santa—if Mrs.
Santa were a young, incredibly endowed woman who liked short skirts.

His dormant hormones woke as if from a long winter's nap, and he took a step back.
These little bursts of attraction he was having toward her were all wrong.
He had an unruly daughter who took priority over everything in his life, including his hormones, and he was a guest in Shannon's house.
Plus, tomorrow morning, when the storm was over, they'd go into her department store as adversaries of a sort.
She'd be trying to sell her family business to him and he'd be looking for reasons not to buy.
He couldn't be attracted to her.

He swallowed back the whole filing cabinet of flirtatious remarks that wanted to come out.
“That's an interesting choice of work clothes.”

She laughed nervously.
“I was going to fill in for our Santa's helper in the toy department.”

Ah.
Not Mrs.
Santa but Santa's helper.

“Well, the dress is very…” He paused.
He knew the dress was probably supposed to be Christmassy and cute.
And on a shorter woman it probably was.
But she was tall, sleek, yet somehow still womanly.
He didn't dare tell her that.
“Festive.”

She brought the coat to her neck, using it to shield herself.
“That's the look we're after.
Festive and happy.
And it actually works for the girl who fits into this costume.
I was lucky Mother Nature saved me and I didn't have to fill in for her tonight.”

Recognizing her acute nervousness, Rory pulled his gaze away from her long, slim legs.
He cleared his throat.
“I…um…just followed you to see if I could help you with anything.”

She motioned toward his black suit and white shirt.
“Are you sure you want to butter bread or stir tomato soup in a suit?”

He took off his jacket, loosened his tie and began rolling up his sleeves.

And Shannon's mouth watered.
Damn it.
She'd already figured out she couldn't be fantasizing about him.
Sure, his shoulders were broad, his arms muscled.
And she'd always been a sucker for a man in a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves looking like he was ready to get down to business.
But as far as she could tell, he was married.
That shut down the possibility of any relationship right then and there.
Plus, she wanted him to buy her parents' store.
She couldn't be drooling on him.

She hung up her coat, then scurried past him, into the kitchen and directly to the laundry room.
Leaning on the closed door, she drew in a deep breath.
God, he was gorgeous.
But he was also married.

Married.
Married.
Married.

She forced the litany through her head, hoping it would sink in, as she grabbed a pair of sweats and a T-shirt from the dryer and changed into them.

When she returned to the kitchen he stood at the center island, buttering bread.
“While we have a few seconds of privacy, I also wanted to apologize for Finley.
I brought her because she's on Christmas break from school and I hate to leave her with her nanny for an entire week.
But I know she can be a handful.”

Walking over to join him, she said, “She's just a little girl.”

“True, but she's also recently entered a new phase of some sort where she stomps her foot when she doesn't get her own way.”

Standing so close to him, she could smell his after-shave.
Her breathing stuttered in and out of her lungs.
So she laughed, trying to cover it.
“A new phase, huh?”