Baby's First Christmas. Laura Marie Altom

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      The ladies giggled, but Jessie sent a frown his way. “You have all been very kind to me,” she said, and the ladies smiled. “I’m sure you appreciate why I will probably not live here full-time with my children—”

      “What?” Zach exclaimed, and the ladies began a nervous rustling. That pronouncement had to be worse than anything Duke had ever heard from Liberty! Maybe Holt was right. Although legalities were certainly something to be avoided…He’d much rather romance Jessie into seeing matters his way.

      Jessie ignored his excitement. “Maybe my family’s company could have the next convention here.”

      The ladies looked at her, their faces wreathed in hopeful delight.

      “No,” Zach said. “I don’t like makeup and cosmetics and face creams. Natural is the only way to go. But thank you for trying to help.” He sat down heavily. “Our problem isn’t women, we have plenty of those. There are few eligible bachelors, so the women have to look outside the town. Eventually, they move.” He looked at Jessie. “Bet you thought I’d say yes just to keep you here.”

      She raised her chin. “I do not plan the conventions. I oversee them and give lectures.”

      “You’re being hasty, Zach,” Helen said. “Remember, we’re all about commerce here, and commerce is commerce, even if it comes out of a bottle.”

      Zach blinked. It would never work. “This town is about women,” he said slowly. “We need to showcase our women.”

      Pansy and Helen smiled, and the other ladies looked at him with appreciation.

      “We have more to offer here than anywhere.” He looked at Jessie. “You could do it. You could fix them up and make them beautiful, and we could be the most beautiful town in Texas, women-wise.”

      “They are beautiful,” Jessie said. “Every woman here is unique and I’ve enjoyed meeting them.”

      “But most men, unlike myself, like the package. They like the bows on the package, too, the red lips and the fancy hair.”

      Jessie shook her head. “Zach, you don’t understand.”

      “Tell me.”

      She got up. “I’m awfully tired all of a sudden, ladies. Thank you so much for your lovely gifts.”

      Somehow, he’d lost her attention. “I’ll help you carry them to Helen’s. The sidewalk is probably getting more slick, and I don’t want you to fall. Now for the rest of you,” he said, “is Duke coming back, or can I play taxi for you ladies?”

      “You just take care of Jessie,” Pansy said. “I’ll call Duke to finish his driving duties. That means I get to watch the baby.” Grinning, she went to the phone.

      “Good night,” Jessie said, hugging everyone in the room as she left. “Thank you so much for everything.” Beside her, Zach carried out the gifts that had so warmed her heart. He’d completely surprised her by showing up, and then by basically offering himself in front of the ladies. She’d learned a lot about him that she hadn’t known, too.

      But they were too different, they had different goals, and he’d lied to her. That reminded her very much of her ex, and she’d made a vow to herself that, if a man lied to her once, there were no second chances. She couldn’t afford to make that mistake again.

      She’d trusted Zach, and learned that he, too, told convenient fibs. She couldn’t cut him any slack just because he’d lied to keep her in Tulips. “I’ve proven that I’d stay here willingly if I could,” she said as they went through Helen’s front door.

      “Sensible of you,” he said. “We’re good people here.”

      She set her things down and took off her coat. “The jury is still out on you.”

      “Are you mad?”

      She gave him a quizzical look. “What would you be, if our circumstances were reversed?”

      “Hey, you hit my prize longhorn, and I didn’t hold a grudge.”

      “Because the longhorn was still standing,” Jessie said. “And we had sex.”

      He frowned. “We didn’t have sex. We created children.”

      “I don’t think you can be particularly sentimental about sex in the backseat of a car.”

      His frown grew deeper. “I damn sure can. I am very sentimental about that car! I’ve had it in storage for more than twelve weeks, a monument to the best sex I ever had!”

      She blinked. “Really?”

      “Well, hell yeah,” Zach said. “Why? Didn’t you think so?”

      She tied her long hair up into a ponytail and pulled off her shoes. “I never did that in a car before, so I have no frame of reference.”

      “But you’d do it again? Wouldn’t you?”

      She glanced up at him. “With you?”

      “You’re sure as hell not ever making love to anyone else, Jessica T. Farnsworth,” he said, “so don’t waste your time considering your options.”

      She straightened. “That did not sound like a marriage proposal. It sounded like an order.”

      He nodded. “You didn’t accept the proposal, so I have to declare limitations some other way.”

      “It’s not going to work.” Jessie moved into the kitchen, looking for Helen’s teapot. “Marriage would make both of us crazy.”

      “We’d get to know each other better,” Zach said, “and that’s my whole goal.”

      “That’s it?” She took down two teacups from the cabinet. “Shouldn’t Miss Helen be here by now? You should check on her. It’s very dangerous to be walking on the wet cement.”

      “See,” he said, “you’re starting to care about us. You’re starting to take on Tulips’ ways.”

      She shrugged. “I do care about Miss Helen and Miss Pansy. And some of the other ladies I’ve met.”

      He cleared his throat.

      “Liberty, for example,” she said. “And I’m pretty sure I’d like Pepper if I got to know her better.”

      He helped her put out cookies. “So, about this get to know us better thing,” he said. “It probably works just as well for me as my sister.”

      “Maybe,” she said, “but your sister isn’t trying to tie me down.”

      Stubborn. But she had a point. “What if I didn’t try to tie you down? What if I merely tied myself to you?”

      She looked at him suspiciously. “I know you didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

      “I don’t have Duke’s handcuffs, if that’s what you’re СКАЧАТЬ