Her Holiday Secret. Jennifer Greene

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СКАЧАТЬ know why you just didn’t ask me. I’d have taken you. Or you could have borrowed my car. You do so much for me all the time, Mags, and you never let me return the favor—”

      Cripes, they were going down another long, mournful road. “Come on, you,” Maggie said humorously, “I couldn’t see turning down guy help. Not on this. What the two of us know about mechanics would fit in a thimble with room to spare.”

      “Well, that’s true. Clothes shopping’d be a lot more fun,” Joanna admitted. “For that matter, Christmas is coming and I haven’t even started that shopping yet.”

      “Good. Neither have I. How about if we block off next Thursday morning and get a start on it together?”

      It took a while to get her sister on a more upbeat track. By the time she had Joanna bundled up and headed out the door, though, headlight beams were turning in her drive. Andy. And she hadn’t had two seconds to brush her hair or yank on her good boots, much less slap on some lipstick.

      Still, she stood freezing in the open doorway. Andy pulled up next to her sister’s car and stepped out. The yard light didn’t beam far enough for her to identify his vehicle, but it was something low and black instead of the car with the sheriffs logo. He stopped long enough to introduce himself to her sister and exchange a few words.

      Before driving off, Joanna turned around to level her a look. Maggie knew That Look from their childhood. It meant she’d neglected to tell her sister some critical tidbit of information...such as that her casual don’t-sweat-it company for the evening was a priceless hunk, for example.

      Which he was. He ambled toward the door, as lazy as a long, cool drink of something wicked, his boots crunching in the snow, his jacket open over a thick black sweater.

      Her sister’s car lights disappeared down the road, and then there was nothing but him—and a wham-slam of magic that confounded Maggie. It was absolutely ridiculous for a practical, grounded, capable twenty-nine-year-old woman to feel bowled over by the look in a guy’s eyes. But there it was. She hadn’t suddenly stopped worrying about Joanna; no problems in her job or life had instantly disappeared. But darn it, he was so darling she just wanted to sip him in.

      His mouth kicked up a grin long before he reached her back porch. Those eyes of his were darker than a midnight sky. He gave the length of her a once-over, from the floppy socks to her jeans and navy angora sweater to her hair flying every which way. Maggie knew darn well there was nothing in her appearance to earn that sizzling spark.

      “Remembered anything yet that I need to arrest you for?”

      Sparks or no sparks, she had to laugh. “I haven’t robbed any banks since the accident—but that’s all I’m willing to swear to.”

      “Uh-huh. That memory loss was the story you gave me last time. I was a little afraid you’d extend that amnesia business to tonight, knowing how thrilled you were at the idea of car shopping.”

      “If I didn’t have to have transportation, nothing could talk me into domg this,” she admitted. “And I did think about cancelling. This is an awful thing to ask anyone to do, Andy.”

      “As I remember it, I offered. You’re not putting me through anything I didn’t volunteer for. And, speaking for myself, I think this is like toothpaste.”

      She’d just turned around to pull on her suede boots and grab her jacket and purse. “Toothpaste?”

      “Yeah. There’s just no point in getting all hot and heavy and involved with a woman, only to find out she squeezes the toothpaste tube from the top. I mean, where can you take a wild, immoral affair after that? You just know it’s going downhill.”

      “Um...I take your point. I think. But I’m not exactly sure how you got from toothpaste-tube-abusers to car shopping?”

      “Car shopping with a woman,” Andy informed her, “gets all those down-and-dirty details out of the way right up front. If you go for the awkward first date, out-to-dinner thing, what do you ever learn? Nobody’s honest. Both sides are too busy tiptoeing around each other, trying to be ultra nice.”

      “I sure agree with that. First dates, you’re just kind of stuck, being on your shaved and perfumed behavior, so to speak,” Maggie replied with a chuckle.

      “Uh-huh. But if you do something like this, now...” Andy thoughtfully scratched his chin. “You find out what kind of car really seduces her. Like whether she’s interested in looking under the hood or just goes for a showy exterior. Whether she wants to know all the safety features ahead, or that’s just not a concern. How much power turns her on—or off. Whether she likes a slow, steady acceleration or a fast, rough ride.”

      “Whew.” Maggie zipped up her jacket and propped her hands on her hips. “That lazy, country boy drawl is really good, Gautier. For a minute there, I almost believed you were talking about cars.”

      “I was, I was.”

      “Uh-huh. And cats fly. For the record, I don’t look under anybody’s hood on a first date. On the other hand...” Maggie threaded on gloves as she hiked past him. “I think you’ve got a valid theory going. I’d rather do this than the out-to-dinner thing any time—for your sake, really. If by some remote chance you can survive car shopping with me, the future probably stretches in front of us with limitless possibilities. At the very least, you’ll unquestionably earn hero status, sainthood, a couple medals for courage...”

      “A drink when this is over?”

      “That, too.”

      “Well, hell. Let’s go find you a chariot, ma’am, and get that little chore over with.”

      

      By the time they were belted in his dark car and winging down the road, Andy had conquered the urge to kiss her. Actually, the marvel wasn’t that he’d behaved himself. Hell, he always behaved himself—unless invited otherwise. But he wasn’t expecting the power of that temptation. A divorce gave any man an instant Ph.D. in caution.

      And he felt cautious with Maggie. The problem with fireworks was that they fizzled out so fast. A light show. Then phfft. So he’d logically figured out that magical redhot sexual pull would settle down if he just saw her, spent some time with her again. Sizzle mattered. Sizzle was nice—deliriously nice, in her case. But Andy was wary of letting his hormones get in a dither before finding out if they had the kind of charge between them that counted.

      That was the theory. A double-dose dither had turned out to be the reality. One look at those fading, vulnerable bruises and his first instinct was to pull her into his arms. One look at that soft red mouth connected directly to a hot wire in his groin. The way she cocked her chin, the swish of silken hair framing her face, the gutsy pride in the way she stood, the sparkle and devil in her eyes...hell, there was no one detail that heated his hormones to a bubbling simmer. It was just her. The whole package. No woman had tangled his nerves up like this in a long, long time. He couldn’t stop wondering if she’d take all that sparkle and devil and honesty with her under the sheets. Under his sheets.

      Cars, he thought.

      He needed to keep his mind on cars.

      “A lot of people out tonight,” Maggie remarked.

      “Yeah. The early Christmas shopping crowd, I’m guessing.” His windshield wipers СКАЧАТЬ