The Bachelor's Christmas Bride. Victoria Pade

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      “Nah. Anytime. Sleep in in the morning, unpack, do whatever you had planned and when it works out for you, just drive over.”

      “Okay.”

      And why did they go on standing there, looking at each other as if there should be more to say?

      Shannon didn’t know but that’s what they were doing—

      she was just looking up into those black, black eyes of his, lost a little in them….

      Then he finally broke their stare. “Great. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

      “Sometime tomorrow,” she reiterated, thinking that the minute it came out of her mouth it sounded stupid.

      But it didn’t seem to affect Dag because he just tossed her another thousand-watt smile and turned on his heels on the landing. Then he called a good-night over one of those broad shoulders and went back down the steps.

      Which was when Shannon stepped into the warmth of the apartment and closed the door.

      And realized that she was suddenly eager to get to bed, to get to sleep, to get tomorrow to come.

       Chapter Three

      “Yes, I got here, I did the closing on Gramma’s farm yesterday, and it’s nice to be spending time with Chase and Cody—I had breakfast and lunch with them and Hadley, and then Hadley took me to have my bridesmaid’s dress fitted so it will be ready for the wedding tomorrow. And tonight is the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner,” Shannon said into the phone.

      “Doesn’t sound like you’re missing me at all,” Wes Rumson said on the other end.

      “Wes…”

      “I know, there’s no reason you should be missing me—even if we were engaged you were used to not having me around for most things. It’s the curse of the Rumson men.”

      And of his own parents’ marriage and one of the reasons Shannon had turned down his proposal.

      But she didn’t say that.

      Instead she said, “I appreciate that you called, though.” Which was true. She honestly did hope they could remain friends.

      “It feels a little weird to be so included in this wedding,” she admitted then. “Hadley told me it was important to her and to Chase that the family he’s found be a part of everything. But as nice as they all are—and they all are wonderfully nice people—they’re still basically strangers to me.”

      Wes made no comment and she had the sense that he was at least half occupied with something other than their conversation.

      Still, she felt the need to fill the silence he’d left and she said, “How are things going on your end?”

      “Great!” Wes said in his most enthusiastic politician’s voice. “We’re looking good in the polls, we’ll likely have the endorsements we need, even the President has promised to stop here sometime in the spring to throw his weight behind me.”

      “So maybe this would be a good time to make the announcement that there isn’t any engagement….”

      “I keep hoping we might not have to make that announcement.”

      “Wes—”

      “The voters love you, Shannon. They love the idea of a little romance in the wings, of a wedding. And you know how I feel….”

      That what the voters loved was of first and foremost importance to him? That how he felt about her was merely an afterthought?

      But Shannon didn’t say what ran through her mind. Instead she said, “You have to make the announcement, Wes.”

      “The First Lady of Montana—that would be the Bigger Life you’ve always wanted,” he said as if he were dangling a carrot in front of a donkey’s nose. Bigger Life was the way he’d come to refer to her desire—as if it were an entity of its own. “No tiny apartment above a shoe repair shop—you’d live in the Governor’s mansion. And this is only the start—you know we’re shooting for the White House. You can’t get a Bigger Life than that.”

      “I couldn’t marry you just to have a bigger life, Wes. Any more than you should marry me to win votes.”

      “That’s not fair—we talked about getting married before—”

      And even then Shannon had had doubts about it. Yes, she’d always wanted a life that was bigger than the very small, limited life her parents had lived and Wes knew that. But when it came to a relationship, to marriage, she wanted exactly what her parents had had. And that wasn’t the way she felt about Wes. She knew that wasn’t the way Wes felt about her. Which was the real reason she’d said no.

      “You don’t really want to go over this again, do you?” she cajoled.

      This time rather than silence giving away the fact that Wes’s attention was split, he proved it by saying something away from the phone to someone else.

      And since he never did answer her question, Shannon let it drop so she could persist with what she needed to get through to him. “I’m sorry, Wes, but you need to break the news publicly. And isn’t sooner better than later? Don’t you want to get it out there and get it over with so it will be genuinely old news and forgotten by election day?”

      “Rumsons aren’t quitters, Shannon. If there’s any chance—”

      “But there isn’t,” she said as kindly as she could. “I’m not an undecided voter who needs to be swayed, Wes. This really is just a no.”

      “Because of that Beverly Hills deal,” he accused. “When it comes to a Bigger Life, Shannon, wiping the noses of movie stars’ and moguls’ kids can’t compare to being—”

      The hanger-on to Wes’s Bigger Life?

      Shannon thought that but she didn’t say it. What she said was, “The Beverly Hills deal was also not the reason I said no—I told you that, too. It’s just a new avenue I may take. But no matter what, Wes, you need to have your public relations group get on the announcement that there isn’t any engagement. Even people in the boonies of Northbridge think I’m going to marry you.”

      “Then let’s not disappoint them.”

      Shannon closed her eyes, dropped her face forward and shook her head. “Wes…”

      “All right, I have to hang up, too,” he said as if their exchange had involved something different than it had. “I’ll check with you in a couple of days to make sure you’re still okay. But if you need anything—anything at all, day or night—”

      “I know I can call you. I appreciate that.” Even though she also knew that rather than reach him, her call would automatically be rerouted to his voice mail or his secretary or his campaign manager—depending on how many numbers she tried—and that there would never be an immediate callback. Like when her grandmother had died so suddenly…

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