One Hot Christmas. Katherine Garbera

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      “Depending on how much you plan to take off, we should definitely talk about it.”

      She blushed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

      “Too bad.” Chuckling, he started down the stairs. She was the wrong woman for him. The absolute worst choice he could make. But when she stood there looking so cute and talking about taking off her clothes, he couldn’t seem to remember that.

      He paused in front of the door to button his coat and put on his gloves. Then he turned up his collar.

      She pulled a knitted red scarf out of her pocket. “My sister-in-law knitted this before she tackled the mittens.” Molly wrapped it around her neck and then around her nose and mouth so only her eyes showed.

      When that was all he could see, he became aware of what a beautiful green they were, and how her long lashes framed them. She might love her glasses, and in a way he preferred that look on her, too. But without her glasses, he could more easily picture her stretched out in his bed, gazing up at him. He’d be wise not to dwell on that or he’d really overheat standing in the entryway.

      Last, she put on her mittens, which were too big. “Don’t fit very well.” Her voice was muffled by the scarf as she moved her hands and the mittens turned into flippers.

      He bit the inside of his cheek so he wouldn’t laugh. Then, moving cautiously, he opened the front door.

      She gasped as frigid air engulfed them.

      “We don’t have to go.”

      She shook her head and stepped out onto the porch.

      He followed her out, closed the door and took the action any man in this situation would. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her close as they navigated down the steps. Close was a relative term in this case. Holding on to her was like holding onto a blow-up Christmas yard decoration. He kept losing his grip because she was so squashy and slippery.

      It might have been the coldest walk he’d ever taken in his life. Without any pavement or large buildings giving off heat, the air bit through his coat as if he’d walked out bare-chested. His nipples tightened in response to the icy temperature until they actually hurt.

      But she’d been right about the snowfall. The flakes were lazy and slow. That could change at any time, though, so he planned to make this a very quick trip.

      The shoveled path led to the horse barn, then branched off to the tractor barn. It was narrow, but by hugging her against him, he was able to steer them along it without either of them stepping into the crusted drifts on each side.

      The horse barn was heated, as he’d discovered this afternoon. He considered making a stop there to warm up and decided she wouldn’t go for that. She didn’t strike him as a woman who took very many detours in life.

      Besides, the sooner they got to the tractor barn and looked at the saddle, the sooner they could get back to the cozy ranch house. He thought he’d become used to Wyoming winters, but he’d never been outside in a landscape like this, where security lights and a pale moon reflected off untrampled snow. Beyond the soft glow coming from the house and the barn, the surroundings were completely dark.

      No sound greeted him, either, not even the hoot of an owl. He knew this was wolf country, but they were silent, too. The frozen world was completely still, without even a breeze. For that he was grateful. They didn’t need a wind-chill factor right now.

      The tractor barn was secured by the same method as the horse barn—a wooden bar that slid across when a person wanted to open the double doors, and slid back when they wanted to keep them closed. Ben had to let go of Molly while he pushed the bar aside, and he could swear he heard her teeth chattering, even with the scarf covering her mouth.

      He hoped, after braving the cold, she’d like his saddle and feel good about having seen it. Tramping out here tonight was a lot of trouble, particularly if the saddle turned out to be anticlimactic.

      The tractor barn wasn’t wired for electricity, which meant no heat and no lights. Once they were inside and he’d pulled the doors shut, the air was marginally warmer, but not by much. He reached into his pocket, but before he could turn on his flashlight app, she’d pulled off one mitten and activated hers.

      She tugged her scarf down from her nose and mouth. “That was intense.” Her words came out in little puffs of condensed vapor.

      “And we have to do it all over again when we go back.” More clouds fogged the air between them.

      “I didn’t say I didn’t like it. Challenges are fun for me.” Mist from their conversation hung between them.

      “Me, too, actually.” He’d felt a sense of kinship when she’d said that. Not everyone welcomed challenges in their life. He thought it was the only way a person could grow. “Shine your light along the floor so we don’t trip over anything as we walk back there.”

      “Thank you for bringing me.” She held the light steady as they walked to the back of the tractor barn.

      In warm weather the place probably smelled of gas and oil, but freezing temperatures cancelled out most of the odor. Ben caught faint whiffs of the metallic scent of machinery, but it was subtle. Light from the phone allowed him to see the hulking forms of tractors. In the dark the barn was a little spooky.

      He couldn’t imagine sending her out here by herself, even if she would have been perfectly safe. Maybe her size made him feel protective, but he thought it was more than that. He loved her enthusiasm for new experiences, but having someone around as backup wasn’t a bad idea. He’d never want to suggest she wasn’t capable of anything she put her mind to, but if he could provide a safety net, that would be okay, too.

      And what a ridiculous idea that was! He didn’t expect to see her after she left the state on Monday. She had a lifetime of adventures ahead of her and he wouldn’t be a part of any of them. So he could stop fantasizing about his role in her life, because he had none.

      “To the right,” he said as they neared the back of the barn. “Over in the corner. Lift the light a little. See that thing over there with the blanket covering it? That’s the saddle. Hold the light steady.”

      She did as he asked and he noted that she was excellent at following directions when the situation required it. Stepping into the glow of her phone light, he grabbed two corners of the blanket and pulled. He considered making it even more dramatic by whipping it aside like a magician revealing his completed trick. But that would be showing off, and he wasn’t into showing off.

      “Oh, Ben.”

      The awe in her voice thrilled him. “Glad you like it.” He turned toward her.

      She was in shadow with her flashlight trained on the saddle. “I don’t just like it. I love it.” She moved forward and angled the light as she examined the saddle more closely. “Rosie Padgett was right. You’re an artist.”

      “I don’t know about that.” Good thing he was in shadow, too, so she wouldn’t see him blush. Later, when he was alone, he’d savor those words, but at the moment they made him uncomfortable.

      “Then you underestimate yourself.”

      “I think of an СКАЧАТЬ