Carter Bravo's Christmas Bride. Christine Rimmer

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СКАЧАТЬ the meal was through, they all helped to clear the table. Then a little later, Dalton turned the game on in the great room. Some of them—Carter included—gathered around the big screen mounted over the mantel.

      Most of the women headed for the kitchen area, which shared the high-ceilinged great room space. Carter could hear them back there, bustling around, laughing and talking over each other, having a fine time. He heard Paige’s distinctive husky laugh. Apparently, whatever was bothering her didn’t stop her from having fun with his sisters.

      Dawn came and sat on the sofa arm next to him. He glanced up at her and she sent him a quick smile. Then Quinn’s daughter, Annabelle, who’d recently turned five, wandered over. She was the cutest kid, with a plump little pixie face. Chloe must have done her hair. It was curled and held back with big sparkly barrettes. She wore one of those puffy, lacy dresses that little girls liked to wear, complete with white tights and shiny black Mary Janes. She whispered something to Dawn.

      Dawn said, “Absolutely,” and swung the little girl up on her knee.

      Annabelle leaned back in Dawn’s arms as if she belonged there. She caught Carter watching her and said, “I like Dawn, Uncle Carter. She’s very pretty.”

      “Yes, she is,” he agreed.

      Dawn, who’d always been good with kids, cuddled Annabelle closer.

      Carter felt a little better about everything, with the two happy girls sitting next to him. He liked his family—his mother excluded, at least at the moment. He liked that Dawn felt comfortable here at Clara’s with his siblings and half siblings.

      Now, if only he could get Paige to get real about whatever was bugging her. Once they had that out of the way, he could tell her all about the stunt Willow had just pulled and break the bad news that they needed to find another property for the expansion.

      After the pie and coffee, Carter drove Paige and Dawn home in the ’61 Lincoln he’d taken out of the shop for the day. He was looking forward to being alone with Paige so they could talk.

      “Gotta hurry.” Dawn was out of the car the second he pulled up to the curb in front of their house. “I’m meeting Molly at the Gold Rush in twenty minutes.” The Gold Rush was the movie theater on Golden Drive. She leaned in the rear door she’d just jumped out of. “Thanks, Carter. It was fun.”

      Paige said, “Home by—”

      “Midnight, promise,” Dawn finished for her and pushed the door shut.

      Carter started to turn off the engine, but Paige said, “I’m really tired. And me and my Visa card have a shopping date tomorrow.” Bravo Custom Cars would be closed. It was a BCC tradition to give everyone both Thanksgiving and Black Friday off. Paige went on. “Nell and Chloe and Jody are picking me up at three a.m.” Nell and Jody were his sisters. “We’re driving into Denver to check out the deals. I need sleep to get ready for a day of serious shopping, so I think I’ll draw a hot bath and call it an early night.”

      He turned off the engine and shifted in the seat to face her. “You mean you don’t want me to come in.”

      She cleared her throat. “Well, as I said. I’m tired and it’s going to be a long—”

      “Stop it. Tell me what is going on.”

      “What are you talking about? There’s nothing—”

      “Paige, you’ve been dragging around like the world’s coming to an end for two or three days now, all the time constantly telling me there’s nothing wrong. What’s up?”

      “Nothing. Really.”

      “Come on. It’s something.”

      “Nope. Uh-uh. Nothing. Like I said, I’m just really tired.”

      He gave in. “Fine. Great. Later, then.” It was only a ploy. He honestly expected her to hesitate, to say she was sorry for brushing him off, to ask him not to be annoyed with her—something. Anything.

      But she only chirped out a quick “Night, then. And thanks. I had a great time,” and leaped out of the car.

      He watched her run up the front walk and disappear into the house. He just didn’t get it. Paige told him everything. In detail. Way too much detail, as a rule.

      What could be bothering her that she couldn’t talk about it with him?

      * * *

      The next morning, Carter decided he would walk Sally alone. He was kind of pissed at Paige for shutting him out. Why in hell would he want to walk her damn dog for her?

      And she was in Denver anyway, right? She wouldn’t be there to eat any breakfast he cooked for her.

      But then what about Dawn? Paige hadn’t mentioned whether Dawn was going, too. What if Dawn was home alone? She’d need breakfast.

      And what about poor Biscuit? Biscuit liked his morning walk with Sally.

      So Carter and Sally went over to the Kettlemans’, after all. He got Biscuit and walked the two dogs. On the way back, he called Dawn on her cell.

      She answered with a big yawn. “Yeah, what?”

      “You still in bed?”

      “How’d you guess?”

      He grunted. “Just checking to see if maybe you went to Denver with Paige.”

      “Uh-uh. Too early for me. You coming to make breakfast?”

      “I’m on my way.”

      He made French toast and tried to be subtle when he asked Dawn if she’d noticed anything different about Paige in the last few days.

      Dawn groaned. “Oh, yeah. Something’s on her mind. But every time I ask, she tells me there’s nothing.”

      He felt instantly vindicated. And then he frowned. “So...you don’t know what it is, either, huh?”

      “I’m clueless. Seriously. But how awful can it be, really? I mean, she got up at two-thirty in the morning to spend the day shopping. I don’t think it’s an incurable disease or anything.”

      “A disease?” That kind of freaked him out. “It didn’t even occur to me she might have a disease...”

      “Carter. Pull yourself together.”

      “Well, I’m worried about her, okay?”

      “She’s just feeling down about something.”

      “It’s not like her,” he grumbled.

      “Everybody feels low now and then. Eventually, she’ll tell you. She always does.”

      “Yeah,” he said, feeling marginally better. “Of course she will. She always does.” He knew everything about Paige, all the little things—that she thought she looked bad in purple and she liked ’70s rock.

      He knew that she’d been in love with a СКАЧАТЬ