A Maverick under the Mistletoe. Brenda Harlen

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СКАЧАТЬ claimed that Paige wouldn’t ever be able to have a serious relationship with Alex—or any other man—so long as she was still carrying a torch for Sutter. She, of course, denied that was true, because she’d given up hope that Sutter would come back to her a long time ago.

      But standing beside him now, she was suddenly overwhelmed by the memories of what they’d once shared, and she realized that maybe she had been comparing other men to “the one who got away.” But she didn’t think that was so unusual. After all, Sutter had been her first love and her first lover, and she couldn’t imagine any subsequent relationship having that same depth and intensity.

      And she wasn’t going to waste even another minute of her time worrying about it tonight. She started walking again, and he fell into step beside her.

      A few minutes later, she paused outside a two-story saltbox-style house with steel-blue clapboard siding and wide white trim around the front door and windows.

      “This is mine,” she said, and felt a familiar thrill when she spoke those words. Two years earlier, when she’d put in her offer for the house, she’d been excited—and then absolutely terrified when it was accepted. Gradually the terror had subsided, beaten back by endless weeks and months of intense manual labor to scrub and shine and prep and paint until she felt as if it was well and truly her own.

      He gave the house a quick once-over. “Nice,” he said approvingly.

      She didn’t want or need his approval, but she found herself smiling anyway. Because it was nice. More important, it was hers.

      “Are you going to invite me in for coffee?” he asked.

      “No.”

      His brows lifted. “Just no? You’re not even going to make up some kind of lame excuse as to why you can’t invite me in?”

      “I don’t need to make up an excuse,” she told him. “The fact is, tomorrow is a school day and I have lesson plans to review.”

      The smile that flashed across his face actually made her knees weak.

      “For a minute it was almost like we were back in high school,” he said.

      She’d thought the same thing as soon as the words were out of her mouth. There had been a lot of times when Sutter had tried to convince her to stay out with him instead of going home to finish her homework or study for an upcoming test. And a lot of times when she’d let herself be convinced. And when he’d finally walked her home, they’d still been reluctant to part, so they’d stood in the shadows of the back porch of her parents’ house and kissed good-night. He’d spent a lot of time kissing her good-night.

      Obviously he was remembering the same thing, because he took a step closer and said, “Are you going to let me kiss you good-night?”

      “No.” Though she knew she should hold her ground, she took an instinctive step back.

      Sutter smiled knowingly. “Are you busy Thursday night?”

      This second abrupt change in topic made her almost as wary as his previous request. “Why?”

      “It’s election night,” he reminded her. “And the candidates and their supporters will be gathered at town hall for the results. Since you’ve declared your support for Collin, I thought you might want to be there.”

      She did believe Collin was the best candidate and he was definitely going to get her vote, but hanging out with his family and friends at town hall meant being around Sutter, and she wasn’t sure if that was something she could handle.

      “I’ll think about it,” she finally agreed, because once he’d made the offer, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to not think about it. But she also knew that there was no way she could go.

      The only hope she had of protecting her heart was to stay as far away from Sutter Traub as possible.

      * * *

      Since it wasn’t an outright refusal, Sutter decided not to press Paige for a firm commitment. He simply waited until she’d unlocked her door, then he wished her a good night and headed back to town hall. He hadn’t realized how far they’d walked until he had to make the trek back again without the pleasure of her company.

      He’d enjoyed walking and talking with her like they’d done so many times before. But that was the past. He retraced his steps as he’d lived the past five years of his life—without her. And he tried not to think about everything they’d once meant to one another, and everything they’d lost.

      Paige Dalton had been his soul mate and best friend. His heart had belonged to her, wholly and completely. She was the one woman he’d imagined spending the rest of his life with. He’d even proposed marriage before he’d left town, but she’d turned him down and turned her back on him, and he’d gone to Washington alone.

      The transition from Rust Creek Falls to Seattle hadn’t been an easy one, and for the first several months Sutter had doubted it would be a successful one. He’d tried working at various office jobs in the city, but he never found one that seemed to fit. Or maybe he was just too restless to sit behind a desk all day. It was only when he heard about a job opening for a horse trainer at a local stable that things began to turn around for him.

      He’d always been good with animals and he’d quickly established a reputation for himself with the local horse set. After a couple of years working for someone else, he had both the money and the confidence he needed to venture out on his own.

      Three years earlier, he’d opened Traub Stables, and he was gratified by its success. He was also pleased that his business had created a second market for CT Saddles—Collin’s custom-made saddles and leather-goods business. That was all Sutter wanted—all he needed. Or so he’d believed until he’d come back to Rust Creek Falls again.

      When he’d left town five years earlier, he’d vowed that he would never return. Of course, he’d been younger and more impulsive then, and the simple fact that his family was in Rust Creek Falls guaranteed that he wouldn’t be able to stay away forever. Despite the harsh words that had been thrown around in the Traub household, he could never really turn his back on his family—even if he felt they’d turned their backs on him first.

      So when he’d heard the news about the flood, he had to come home to make sure everything was okay at the ranch. Of course, it had taken him some time to get everything in order with his business so that he could feel comfortable leaving for a couple of weeks. And even then, his apprehension had increased with every mile that drew him closer to the Triple T. There was still tension in his family—most notably between Sutter and Forrest—and it had occurred to him that he might not be welcome. Especially if his war-hero brother had also decided to return.

      Both Forrest and Clayton were living in Thunder Canyon these days with their new wives and, in Clayton’s case, children. But Sutter was certain they would also be drawn back to Rust Creek Falls, eager to do anything they could to help out not just the Traub family but the larger community.

      Another reason that Sutter had questioned his impulse to return was the possibility that he might run into Paige Dalton. A possibility that had turned into a certainty when he found out that Collin was marrying Willa Christensen—a friend and colleague of Paige’s.

      Of his five brothers, Collin was the only one who got Sutter and who hadn’t judged him for his less-than-enthusiastic support of Forrest’s СКАЧАТЬ