Читать книгу The Complete Christmas Collection - Джанис Мейнард, Rebecca Winters - Страница 102

By Monday morning a bright sun made snow sparkle and icicles had a steady drip as ice and snow melted. When Emma went to the office she glanced out to see the snowman they had built Sunday afternoon. She had pictures of Zach clowning by the snowman.

Zach had run inside and returned with one of Rosie’s aprons to put on the snowman. He removed the snowman’s hat and placed sprigs of cedar for hair so he had a snow-woman. He posed for a picture with his arms around the snow-woman’s waist and with Zach puckered to give the snow-woman a kiss.

Remembering, she smiled. They had turned the snow-woman back into a snowman because Zach said he needed to return Rosie’s apron. She’d reminded him that he wore that very apron to cook their steaks Saturday nights, a point he’d conceded.

Monday was uneventful except she couldn’t lose the constant awareness she had of Zach. She was getting too close to him, enjoying his company too much. The weekend had brought intimacy and an emotional bonding that she may have been the only one to experience. She thought about the job ending soon and not seeing Zach again, so the problem would resolve itself. In spite of the weekend, it seemed wiser to put the brakes on a relationship. How deeply did she want to get involved with him? They were totally different with different priorities and vastly different lifestyles. The weekend had been magical, but they were shut away into almost a dream world, isolated in the storm on the ranch. She should develop some resistance and keep from sinking deeper into growing close to him. At least she should try. The intimate weekend was over and she should avoid another if she could dredge up the willpower.

That evening she learned that he was having his dinner in the office. Disappointment was coupled with knowledge that she was better off not seeing him. As she filled her plate in the kitchen, she quizzed Rosie about how Zach spent his holidays and received the same version she’d heard from Zach.

“Christmas decorations are in the attic and haven’t been touched in years because it’s been so long since any of the family has been at the ranch at Christmas,” Rosie said. “Nigel used to put them up in case the family came, but he stopped years ago because the Delaneys were rarely at the ranch in December. Actually, this house has been closed most of the time for the past ten years and the foreman runs the ranch.”

Emma picked at her dinner, her focus on Rosie.

Peeling and cutting carrots, Rosie stood at the counter. “When Adam, Zach’s eldest brother, was born, Mrs. Delaney was delighted and gave him her attention. He had a nanny and Nigel and I worked for them in the Dallas home. Back then, they had lots of help. By the time Will was born, Mrs. Delaney was losing interest. When Zach came along she wasn’t happy and she told me herself—no more babies. They had their family.”

“Rosie, that’s awful,” Emma said, thinking how every baby was so welcome in her family. Each birth was a huge celebration.

“That’s the way she was. In those days she and Mr. Delaney were going their separate ways. When she got pregnant with Ryan, Mrs. Delaney had a screaming fit. She didn’t want another child and she made that clear. She had lost interest in her boys.”

“I can’t imagine,” Emma said, deep in thought about Zach.

“No. They were good boys. Adam was eight, Will was seven, Zach, five. She couldn’t wait to get them out of the house and into boarding school. She sent Adam that year. Next year, Will went. Two years later, Zach went.”

“That seems too young to send them away.”

“Zach was never the same. He closed up and shut himself off. As a little fellow, he would hug me and climb into my lap. That all stopped. He was getting too big to get on my lap, but the hugs vanished. He was quieter, more remote.”

“You and Nigel both seem to have a close relationship with him.”

“Zach is nice to work for and I love him like another son, but he keeps his thoughts to himself. Any woman who thinks she’ll come into his life and change him is in for a big disappointment.”

“I can’t imagine his solitary life,” Emma said. “My family is like yours and we all gather together on holidays.”

“Their mother just turned off the love, if she had ever really loved them. It hurt those boys. Maybe not Adam and Will so much because they were the oldest and had had more of her attention.”

“I don’t understand how she could do that.”

“She’s hardly ever laid eyes on Caroline who is her only oldest grandchild, the daughter of Adam, who sadly passed away. She has no interest in the little girl. Caroline is showered with love by all those around her, so I don’t think she’s noticed or realized yet, but when she gets older, she will. Mrs. Delaney’s interest is in herself. She doesn’t come see them. Anyway, this is the first Christmas for a Delaney to be here on the ranch in years. I don’t think Zach pays much attention to Christmas. He hasn’t been home in years for a holiday celebration.”

“I can’t imagine that either. At Christmas, home is the only place I want to be.”

“I agree,” Rosie said, smiling broadly. “Open the pantry door.”

Emma did and saw snapshots of children, babies, adults, teens.

“That’s my family,” Rosie said. “Zach has given me time off and I will be with my family for Christmas.” She wiped her hands and came close to tell Emma the name and relationship of each person.

“That’s wonderful, Rosie. I know you can’t wait to see them.”

“Most are in Fort Worth, but others are scattered across Texas. Dallas, San Antonio, Fredericksburg. I’ll be off for three weeks.”

“This will be a fun Christmas for you,” Emma said, wondering if Zach would enjoy being alone as much as he said he did.

Later, while as she ran on the treadmill, Emma thought about all Rosie had said. Emma suspected Zach would not put up any Christmas decorations. She glanced at the ceiling, thinking about the room upstairs that led into the attic. Emma’s jaw firmed. She would decorate for Zach. She wanted Christmas reminders in her room and on her desk, but while she was at it, she would decorate the house a little if she found the Christmas decorations.

Nigel was gone by six each evening. By now Rosie might have left. As soon as she finished on the treadmill and showered, Emma pulled on fresh jeans and a red T-shirt. In the attic it took only minutes to find containers, systematically marked Christmas and each box had an attached list of contents.

She carried a box to the office and placed decorations around her area. She glanced toward Zach’s desk and debated, leaving it alone except for one small Christmas tree she placed to one side.

Wondering whether she would encounter Zach, she carried another box to the family room. In the attic she had spotted a beautiful white Christmas tree covered in transparent plastic and tomorrow she intended to ask Nigel to help her get it into the family room.

Maybe the decorations would get Zach into the holiday spirit.

In the family room she placed artificial greenery on the mantel and then placed sparkling balls, artificial frosted fruit. She set long red candles in a silver candelabra in the dining room, arranging them on the mantel. The scrape of a shoe made her turn toward the door as Zach entered.

He stopped to glance around. His black T-shirt and faded, tight jeans set her insides fluttering.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Decorating a bit for Christmas since the holiday approaches.”

Zach’s gaze met hers as he crossed the room. “I don’t care about your room or your desk. Otherwise, don’t put this stuff up in the house. Your intentions are nice, but this isn’t what I hired you to do,” he said, stopping only a few feet away.

“I’m not using work hours to do this,” she said. “I thought you’d like it.”

“No. I don’t want the clutter. It’s old stuff and doesn’t conjure up warm memories. I’ll get Nigel to see that it’s cleared away.”

“I can take it out,” she said. “I didn’t know it would be hurtful.”

“It isn’t hurtful,” he said, with a slight harshness to his tone. “I just don’t want it around and it’s time-consuming to put up and take down. Besides, you shouldn’t be lugging those heavy boxes out of the attic. The decorations are meaningless. These are old decorations that should be tossed.”

“You don’t think your family, Caroline in particular, might enjoy them?”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m having an argument over Christmas decorations. Caroline’s house in Dallas and the house in Colorado will probably be decorated from top to bottom. She doesn’t need more here.”

“You don’t think she’ll see you as Scrooge?”

“No, she won’t. I’ll have presents for her and she’s so excited over the baby, she won’t care what’s happening here. Caroline has reverted back to a very happy child, which is what she was before she lost her dad. These decorations won’t matter to her. When she’s older, she’ll accept me the way I am. Maybe view me as her eccentric uncle.”

“Very well,” Emma said quietly.

“I’m fine about Christmas and the holiday isn’t about decorations. Stop looking at me as if I’ve lost my fortune or some other disaster has befallen me.”

“I don’t think losing your fortune would be as disastrous as what you are losing. And I know Christmas isn’t about decorations. You childhood doesn’t have to carry over in the same way now.”

“Stop worrying about me being alone,” he said, smiling, his voice growing lighter as he stepped closer and placed his hands on her shoulders. His blue eyes were as riveting as ever. Her heart thudded and longing for his kisses taunted her.

He glanced around and walked to the big box of decorations to rummage in it.

“What are you doing?”

“What you wanted. I’ll observe one old Christmas custom. There are some decorations I want.”

Smiling, wondering what he searched for, she stepped closer.

“Here’s one,” he said, pulling out a decorative hanging cage filled with sprigs of artificial mistletoe. “I’ll put mistletoe up all over this part of the house. Let’s see if we can follow one Christmas tradition,” he added, his tone lowering another notch, strumming over her nerves. “You can help with this.”

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea,” she whispered.

“I think it’s fantastic.” He attached the ornament to the hook on the top of the door, then stood beneath it. “You want some Christmas traditions in my life. Well, here’s one,” he said, winding his arm around her waist to draw her closer as he leaned forward.

His mouth was warm, his lips firm on hers. She opened to him, melting against him while her unspoken protests crashed and burned.

Wrapping her arm around his narrow waist, she held him tightly. Her heart thudded and she could feel his heart pounding. Desire fanned heat as an inner storm built.

Her moan sounded distant. Longing strummed over every nerve. She had intended to avoid moments like this, stay coolly removed from anything personal with him. Instead, she was tumbling into fires that consumed her. Need became a throbbing ache, more demanding than before.

Their passionate kiss lengthened, became urgent. She wound her fingers in the tight curls at the back of his neck. Time vanished and the world around them disappeared. Zach’s kisses were all she wanted.

How could it seem so right to be in his arms? To kiss him? They were far too different in every way that counted for it to seem like the best place to be when he held her. His kisses had become essential to her, yet their lifestyles clashed. She held him tightly as if his kisses were as necessary to her as the air in the room.

One hand wound in her hair while he kissed her, his other hand caressing her nape.

Finally, she leaned away. “Zach, this isn’t what I planned.”

He raised his head, his blue eyes filled with hunger. He glanced overhead. “I’m surprised the mistletoe hasn’t burst into flames. Now I’m glad you got out the Christmas box. Let me see if there’s more mistletoe in there.” His husky voice conveyed lust as much as the flames in his crystal eyes. He turned to rummage in the box again. “Here are three more bunches. I have just the places. Come help me hang these.”

“I still don’t think I should. Zach, we’re sinking deeper into something we were going to avoid.”

“You started this. You can’t back out now. C’mon.” He left the family room and headed for the office, stopping in the doorway to hand her two of the bunches. “This is perfect,” he said, giving her a long look that shivered through her. “You wait while I get a hammer.”

He disappeared into the hall. Common sense urged restraint. Now she wished she had left Christmas decorations alone. In minutes he was back. She watched him reach up to push a tack into the wood to hold a sprig of mistletoe tied with a red ribbon. He tapped it lightly with the hammer. She passed him, crossing the office to her desk. She wanted space between them.

She could hear him hanging the mistletoe, but she didn’t want to watch. She straightened her desk and wondered if she could tell him to take the last sprig and go. She would put the box of decorations away when Zach wasn’t around. She had never thought about mistletoe, never expected to even see him tonight.

She thought about the sharp tone in his voice when he had first spotted the Christmas decorations. Was he all bottled up over old hurts? When it came to interacting with other people, from what she had seen, Zach was warm and friendly. Were old hurts still keeping part of him locked away from sharing life with those closest to him?

After he hung the mistletoe, he turned to her as he stood beneath it. “Emma, come here a minute.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, wanting to laugh, yet feeling her insides clinch over his invitation.

“Emma, come here,” he coaxed in a velvet tone.

“Zach,” she said, sauntering toward him while thinking about his past, “I’ll come there if you’ll go somewhere with me either this week or next.”

“Deal,” he said, clearly not giving that much thought.

With her pulse racing, she stopped inches away from him.

He took her wrist to draw her to him. “Now we’ll test this one,” he said, framing her face with his hands as he placed his mouth on hers to kiss her again.

He tasted of mint while his aftershave held that hint of woods. She slipped her arms around his waist and kissed him. His arm banded her, pulling her close against him while he leaned over her and his kiss deepened.

When they paused, she took deep breaths, trying to get back to normal.

“We have a deal,” she said. “Come home with me for the weekend and see what it’s like to be with a family who wants to be together.” She wanted him to see what a joy a loving family could be. Billionaire or not, she felt incredibly sorry for Zach, certain he was missing the best part of life and maybe with her family, he would see it. “When you see what you’re missing, you’ll want to start accepting your brothers’ invitations to join them.” Her last words tumbled out and she expected that curt tone and coolness he’d had earlier.

“You took advantage of me.”

“Oh, please,” she said in exasperation.

“Besides, I’m supposed to stay home to stay off my foot,” he said. “I shouldn’t be going anywhere for the weekend. That’s the whole point of being stuck on the ranch.” His voice held the husky rasp. His breathing was still ragged and his lips were red. His expression conveyed a blatant need that he made no effort to hide. Even though he argued, she suspected he was giving little thought to their deal.

“I’ll drive and you can put your foot up in the car. At my folks’ house, you can keep your foot elevated all the time you’re there. We’ll all wait on you. You’ll have a good time.”

“Emma, I don’t want to go to my brothers’ homes for holidays. Why would I go to your parents’ when I don’t know anyone except you?” he asked.

“Because you just agreed to do so.”

He stared at her and she could feel a clash of wills and imagine the debate raging in his mind. “If I go home with you, won’t your whole family think there’s something serious between you and me?”

She smiled at him. “No. We all bring friends home a lot. Growing up, I’d say we often had at least one person eating with us who wasn’t a family member.”

“So how many men have you brought home?”

“None until now,” she admitted. “It still doesn’t mean anything other than you’re my boss and I would like you to meet my family.”

“Who takes her boss home to meet the family?” he asked and she was sure she blushed with embarrassment, but she wasn’t giving up. Zach needed to see some real family life.

“As long as you’re coming this weekend, you might as well come for Thanksgiving.”

“Oh, hell, Emma, that’s an extra two days.”

“You said you would and you’ll enjoy yourself and you can sit off in a room alone whenever you want and prop your foot up all you want.”

“Dammit.” He stared at her again with his jaw clamped shut and she was certain he would refuse. She felt silly for trying to get him to come. Her world-traveler billionaire boss was light-years away from her ordinary family.

“All right. If I’m going home with you for Thanksgiving, I get more than that one kiss,” he said, pulling her back into his embrace and kissing her hard while he pulled her up against him. “A lot more,” he added.

Startled, she was frozen with surprise for a few seconds and then her arms wrapped around his neck and she kissed him in return. His hand slipped down her back over her bottom, a long, slow caress, scalding even through the thick denim of her jeans.

His fingers traveled up again, slipping beneath her shirt, cupping her breast lightly, a faint touch causing streaks of pleasure. He pushed away the lacy bra, his warm fingers on her bare skin.

She moaned in delight, spreading her fingers wide and slipping her hand beneath his T-shirt to stroke his smooth, muscled back. Pleasure and need escalated swiftly.

Taking his wrist to hold his hand, she looked up. “Zach, we have to stop this for now. I can’t—”

“Yes, you can” he said, showering kisses on her temple, her cheek, her throat. Protests faded into oblivion. She kissed and caressed him until he carried her to a bedroom where they made love for the next hour.

During the night she eased off the bed and slipped away from him, gathering her clothes as she went. She returned to her room, thankful for the space and the haven where she could be alone to think. In her own room, she fell into bed, her mind on Zach. Their lovemaking was binding her heart to him with chains that would hurt to break. Zach was becoming more important, more appealing and exciting. Was she tumbling headfirst, falling in love with him? A love that would never be returned. This past weekend, Zach had just become a bigger danger to her well-being and her heart. A weekend of love, three nights of passion, now another night. How long would it take her to get over what she already felt for him?

She fell asleep to dream about Zach and awoke early the next morning. Longing to go find him, kiss him awake and love again was strong. She slipped out of bed and looked at the clock, knowing she would follow a sensible course and get ready for a workday.

They both needed to step back and get things under control again. Just thinking about Zach, she wanted to be in his arms. Surprise lingered that she had asked him to go home with her and that he had accepted.

What had seemed a good idea at first, began to look like complication after complication. She had to let her family know. She thought about the family letters she had read and how little Zach cared and decided to hold him to his acceptance. She wanted him to see a family who relished being together and made the most of their moments. Maybe he would join his brothers more on holidays and participate with his own family.

Touching her lips lightly with her fingertips, she remembered his kisses. After Christmas she would return to her job in Dallas, and Zach would disappear from her life. She would be with him less than a month more. Despite her earlier worry, she could keep from falling in love with him because they had nothing between them except physical attraction. She didn’t like his lifestyle, his attitude toward family, his disregard for all the things she loved so much. Maybe her heart was safe in spite of the attraction that was pure lust. She pulled out her phone to text her mother that company was coming. Company with an injured foot.

By Thanksgiving afternoon Zach wondered how he had gotten himself into this. Since he was twelve years old, he had been able to say no or get out of most things he didn’t want to do unless it involved his father. Even with his father, by age twenty-one, he had become adept at escaping his father’s plans for him.

He was in the center of a whirlwind. He had met four generations of Hillmans. They encompassed ages two to ninety-something. Brody, Emma’s father, had made him feel welcome, as well as her mother, Camilla.

Zach tried to keep the names straight, learning her parents and siblings quickly. Connor, the married older brother, his wife, Lynne, Sierra, Emma’s oldest sister, and Mary Kate, the youngest, both sisters married, Bobby, the younger brother. Zach mentally ran over the names of people seated around him while they ate the Thanksgiving turkey. He received curious glances from Connor and could feel Connor being the protective big brother even though they were far across the long table from each other.

The dining room table seated eighteen and other tables held more of the family with grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews gathering together today.

Until the subject came up during the Thanksgiving feast, Emma had neglected to warn him that it was family tradition to decorate for Christmas after Thanksgiving dinner, which was eaten early in the afternoon. After dinner everybody under eighty years of age changed to jeans and T-shirts or sweatshirts. Also, the decorations didn’t come out until the men had set up the Christmas trees in various rooms in the house, which they did while others cleared the tables.

Once trees and lights were up with an angel or a star at the top of each tree, the women and children took over with the decorations while the men decorated the porch.

As soon as Zach started to join the men, Emma took his arm to lightly tug him toward the living room. “You sit and elevate your foot. You can help the kids with the decorations. The little kids can’t put the hooks on the balls and that sort of thing.”

“Emma, I can do a few things outside.”

“We need you in here and you know you should stay off your foot. The more you don’t walk on it, the sooner you’ll heal,” she lectured, looking up at him with wide green eyes. His gaze lowered to her mouth and he longed to be alone with her and saw absolutely no hope until they left Dallas.

In minutes he began to help the little kids with ornaments while he sat with his foot resting on a footstool. Boxes of shiny trimmings were spread around him and on the table in front of him. Emma and her mother had a table over his propped-up foot to keep the kids from bumping his injury. The living room held what Emma had called the real Christmas tree. It was a huge live balsam pine that touched the ceiling. Spread around him were boxes of a family history of decorations with shiny ornaments mixed with clay and paper trimmings made by kids. Once Emma stopped beside him. “How are you doing?”

“You owe me,” he said. “I intend to collect.”

Her cheeks turned pink and he wondered what she was thinking. He remembered their lovemaking and wished with all his being he could be back at his ranch and alone with her. Instead, what seemed like a hundred people and kids were buzzing around him like busy bees. He had to admit she had a fun family and he’d had a good time through dinner. What he knew he would remember most, was when she had come down for Thanksgiving dinner. The whole family dressed for the occasion, which she had warned him about just before they had left the ranch.

He had been standing in the front hall and looked up as she came down the stairs. She wore an emerald green dress that came only to her knees and her red hair was caught up in a clip with locks falling free in the back. She looked stunning. The sight of her had taken his breath and he longed to be able to hold her and kiss her.

After a time Emma took away the table that sheltered his injured foot. “You’re excused now to go watch football. They’ve finished decorating the porch and the guys turned on a game. We’ll help the kids decorate and then clean up the Christmas tree mess. I’ll take over your job.”

“I don’t mind doing this.”

“Go watch football with the guys in the family room.”

“You won’t have to tell me again,” he said, smiling at her and still wanting to kiss her. He stood and she slipped into his chair while he limped away.

During the second half of the game, his cell rang and he excused himself to answer Will’s call.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Zach.”

“Happy Thanksgiving to you and Ava and Caroline. Let me talk to Caroline,” Zach said as he stepped farther into the hall so his conversation wouldn’t interfere with everyone listening and watching football. He talked briefly to his niece and then Will came back on the line.

A touchdown was scored and the family members watching the game cheered and applauded.

“Where are you?” Will asked. “You sound as if you’re at a game.”

“I’m at Emma’s house in Dallas,” Zach admitted, certain there was too much background noise for him to convince Will he was home alone at the ranch. He braced for what he knew was coming.

“You’re where?” Will asked.

“You heard me. I sort of got finagled into this,” he tried to say quietly.

“I can’t hear you. You’re at your secretary’s house with her family?”

“That’s right, Will. And I need to go. Happy Thanksgiving to you.” As he ended the call, he was certain he had not heard the last from Will. Returning to his seat, he looked at the room filled with Hillman men and the older boys. This room held a huge white Christmas tree. Their attic had been filled to the brim with all the decorations that now covered the various trees in the house. With a deep sigh he settled to watch the game. The evening promised to be incredibly long, but he had to admit, the Hillmans had fun and obviously loved being together. To his surprise, he’d had a good time with them. They were nice people and her brothers were great to be around, actually making him miss seeing his own, which gave him a shock when he realized he was thinking about calling both of them, even though he’d just spoken to Will. He had to admit, Emma had been right about the weekend with her family versus his staying at the ranch by himself. He looked at her laughing at something her sister said to her. His insides knotted and he wanted badly to be alone with her and to hold her in his arms.

It took several hours to get the decorations up and the empty boxes put away. A sweeper was run. Finally the entire bunch of people settled in the family room, sitting on the floor, chairs, sofas. When the football game ended, Emma’s sister, Mary Kate, sat at the piano to play Christmas carols and they all joined in singing. Emma came to sit beside him and to his amazement, the kids found him interesting, so they had squeezed onto the sofa beside Emma and him. Being crowded together suited him because he could put his arm around Emma’s shoulders without it seeming a personal gesture. He had an arm around two of the little kids on the other side of him, but he enjoyed having Emma pressed against him.

To his surprise, he remembered the old songs he hadn’t sung in years. Finally when they stopped singing, they began to pull coats out of closets.

“We’re going outside because Dad turns on the Christmas lights, a tradition that means the Christmas season is officially kicking off at the Hillman house.”

Zach laughed. “I don’t know how I let you get me into this.”

“I know exactly how,” she said, giving him a sultry look, and his smile disappeared.

“Emma—” Smiling, she walked away and he watched her hips covered in tight jeans as she walked away from him to get her jacket.

The entire family and dogs gathered on the front lawn and waited for the light ceremony. In minutes the lights came on and it was bright as noontime. Zach stood next to Emma and applauded with the others when the lights sparked to life. “Emma, I’ve fallen into Christmas Vacation. This is the Griswold house,” he said softly.

She laughed. “Except the lights all came on at the first try. Dad loves Christmas. Actually, we all do. It’s wonderful.”

The family stayed up talking until one when they began to say good-night. By the time Emma and her younger brother, Bobby, turned in, they had to lock up and switch off lights.

She had an apartment nearby, but she had told him she would stay at her parents’ house. He hadn’t known they wouldn’t sleep at her place until they were almost to Dallas. A huge disappointment to him.

At her door, Zach placed his hand on the jamb to block her way. He tugged on a lock of her hair to draw her closer and leaned forward to brush her lips with a light kiss. The instant his mouth touched her soft lips, his body reacted. He ached with wanting her. His arm tightened around her waist while he kissed her long and fervently. “I want you, Emma,” he whispered.

The look in her eyes made his pulse pound. He inhaled deeply, fighting the urge to reach for her again. This wasn’t the time or the place, so he told her good-night before going to the room given to him for his weekend visit.

He wanted to be alone with Emma now and couldn’t wait to get back to the ranch, but the holiday had been a pleasant surprise.

By Saturday, the weather had warmed. The family sat at a long picnic table, made from five tables pushed together with Zach at one end, his foot propped on a wooden box. Emma’s mother was to his right and Emma sat on his left. Her father was at the far end while various relatives lined both sides of the table. They sat in a sunny spot in a wooded park not far from Emma’s parents’ home.

It was easy to see where Emma got her looks. Her auburn-haired mother, Camilla, was a good-looking woman and appeared far younger than she had to be since she was the mother of Emma’s older brother and older sisters. Brody Hillman, Emma’s dad, had welcomed him, but Zach could feel the unspoken questions and saw the speculation in Brody’s expression. Even more open about his curiosity was Emma’s older brother, Connor. Connor studied Zach and Zach could feel disapproval simmering just beneath the surface. Connor had been friendly, but only in a perfunctory manner and Zach thought it was just a matter of time before Connor quizzed him about his relationship with Emma.

There had been enough curious looks from all of them to remind him that Emma did not bring men home with her for the weekend. He had wished a hundred times over that he had not accepted her invitation, He would have to last until tomorrow afternoon when they would leave for his ranch.

“Zach,” Emma said, “my nieces are so impressed with you. I told them you are a world traveler. They want to know the scariest trip you’ve had or scariest place you’ve been.”

He smiled at a row of little girls staring at him expectantly and told about waking up with a huge snake in his tent, but that was not as scary as swimming and discovering a shark approaching him. By the time he got to that part, the boys had gathered around to listen. The girls sat quietly, their eyes opening wider, and he didn’t want to scare them. “Those were scary moments. Then there was a time I was camped far from a town. My things kept disappearing. I thought someone who worked for me was taking them until I discovered it was a very sly monkey. We found the stash and I got back my things, except my golf cap. I left that for him and hoped I’d see him wearing it, but I never did.”

As the girls laughed, he glanced at Emma to see her smiling while she watched her nieces.

He got out his phone. “I have pictures,” he said, opening it and quickly finding his electronic scrapbook. He held out the phone and Emma had to join the kids to look. She gasped, maybe only slightly less than the little girls. She bent closer, looking at a massive snake that was held by four men.

“Zach, is it alive?” she asked.

“Yes, but it had been fed, so it wasn’t moving much and everyone was safe.”

She glanced at Zach, and he suspected he had just dropped a notch in her estimation of his lifestyle. He suspected she liked homebody types who spent their weekends playing with the kids versus someone who traveled and encountered wild snakes and ran some big risks.

After lunch, they cleaned up and when everything was put away, a tag football game was planned with everyone participating.

“You can be scorekeeper, Zach. We always have two or three scorekeepers, so no one person has to keep up with all of us,” Brody said. “There’s a lot of give and take to scorekeeping for one of our family games. Usually we end up with about as many different scores as scorekeepers, so don’t take any of this too seriously. You’ll see.”

Zach agreed to the task, sitting on the sidelines with his foot resting on a cooler. Brody’s sister, Beth, joined him as scorekeeper along with Brody’s mom, Grandma Kate. Emma’s maternal grandmother, Grandma Nan, was on the field to play; she looked too young to be a grandmother. The oldest of the nieces and nephews was only six, so everyone played around the kids. As three-year-old Willie grabbed the ball and tried to run with it while the family cheered, Zach joined in, laughing at the child clutching the football as if it were a lifeline.

Zach glanced at Emma on the playing field. She had leaves in her hair. She had shed the bulky sweatshirt and wore a bright pink T-shirt with her jeans. She was watching him, laughing with him over the kids, and desire stabbed him. That electrifying tension flared to life, as unwanted and unexpected as it had been the first time she had walked into his home. He wished they were alone. Someone stepped between them and the tension eased, but it did not vanish.

The kids provided constant laughs with their antics and he saw why she liked to come home for the weekend. They were all happy with each other, having great fun. He had known fun with his brothers, but life had been tense if both his parents were present unless they were entertaining a house filled with their friends. Even then, it had never held this relaxed closeness. He realized he was enjoying a whole family of people who loved each other and exhibited a joy in being together. He had this now with his brothers, but they seldom were all together and until Caroline, there had been no small children around.

He could see why Emma thought he was missing something and why she had hated to leave him alone. He looked at her parents, thinking how different they were from his own. The love they shared showed constantly even though they were across the field from each other, or at opposite ends of the long table earlier. He realized he had never seen that kind of warmth between his parents. He looked at Emma, laughing with a small niece. Maybe Emma was the wealthy one after all.

Breaking into his thoughts, he looked down into big brown eyes as a little boy walked up to him. “Did you give my team a point?”

He wasn’t certain which child stood before him, guessing it was Jake. “Yes, I did give your team a very big point,” he answered, amused that the little kid was checking on him.

The child nodded. “Thank you.” He turned to his great-grandmother. “Did you give my team a point, Gran-Gran?”

“Yes, I did,” she said, leaning forward to hug him. “You’re playing a good game,” she said.

“Thank you.” Smiling broadly, he ran off, half skipped to his dad, who asked him a question, glancing over his head at Zach. The child told his dad something and his dad smiled at Zach and turned back to play.

Zach was unaccustomed to sitting out anything active. During the time-out, he motioned Emma over.

“I hate sitting on the sidelines. If three-year-old Willie can play, so can I.”

“Zach, you have to stay off your foot.”

“This shoe protects my foot. I am not accustomed to being a spectator. I’ll stop if my foot hurts. It’s only tag football.”

“You’ll be on my team then, so I can keep up with you.”

“Don’t hover. Your family will really think we have something going.”

Zach got into the game, enjoying himself even though he knew he was being foolish and risking more injury, but he hated doing nothing except keeping score. He had never been one to sit on the sidelines and he didn’t want to miss out now. He hobbled around and it was easy to keep up when they had geared down to a three-year-old level.

Before dinner they gathered wood to build a fire in a stone fireplace. When Zach started to help, Emma stopped him.

“This isn’t a chore you have to do. Go sit and we’ll get the wood.”

“I’m not doing much,” he said, brushing past her. Minutes later as he picked up a dead branch and turned, Connor blocked his way.

“Thought you were supposed to stay off your foot.”

“A few branches and I’ll quit. I still can’t get accustomed to sitting around.”

“Which is why Emma works on your ranch?”

“Right,” Zach said. He could feel anger from Connor and see curiosity in his expression.

“You’ve been all over the world, so you’re pretty sophisticated and experienced. Emma’s not. Did she tell you she’s never brought anyone home before?”

“We work together. I don’t know what she’s told the family, but I think I’m here because she feels sorry for me.”

“Yeah. We heard you were alone. I just don’t want to see my sister hurt.”

“I wouldn’t want her hurt either.”

“Zach,” Emma called, hurrying to join them. “Give those sticks to Connor and come sit. You shouldn’t be on your foot. Just watch everyone.”

All the time she talked, Zach looked at Connor who gazed at him with a flat stare that held a silent warning. When Emma tugged on his arm to take the wood from him, Zach turned away.

“I think Connor was being a big brother and jumping to ridiculous ideas. Pay no attention to him,” she said.

“Your older brother is a little difficult to ignore since he’s five inches over six feet tall and probably weighs in at 250.”

“Come on. They’re getting the fire started and we’ll cook dinner and then sit and sing and later, tell stories.”

Amused, he went with her, hobbling along.

As they got dinner on the tables, Emma carried a hot dish and set it on the table, then turned to find Connor beside her.

“Emma.” He glanced over her head and she realized they were the only two standing at the end of the long table. “Be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I hope, Connor, you didn’t threaten him. He’s my boss.”

“If that’s all he is, that’s fine. Guys like Zach Delaney do not marry into families like the Hillmans.”

“I brought him home for the weekend because I didn’t want him to spend Thanksgiving alone. We’ve always invited people who might be alone on holidays. I felt sorry for him. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

“It looks like more,” Connor said, frowning.

“This is a temporary job that is on the verge of ending. When it does end, I’ll never see him again. Most of the time he works abroad. There’s nothing to be concerned about.”

“I hope not. Take care of yourself.”

She smiled. “I will. Stop worrying.”

He jammed his hands into his pockets and walked away. She watched him and shook her head. Connor was forever the big brother.

As she got more dishes of food on the table, Mary Kate approached with more delicious looking food.

“Is Connor being big brother?” she asked.

“Ever so,” Emma replied, rolling her eyes.

“Emma, should Connor be big brother?”

“No. I didn’t want Zach to be alone over the holiday and he would have been. Anyone in this family would have invited him if they had been in my place.”

“Are you sure?” Mary Kate asked, tilting her head to study her sister. “Here he comes.” She moved away before Emma answered. She forgot her siblings. Zach approached and he was the only person she noticed.

After dinner they played a word game around a blazing campfire. When the sun went down the air cooled with a fall chill and the fire felt good. Emma sat close beside him and Zach longed to put his arm around her, but he did not give in to the impulse. It would look far too personal for a boss and secretary. The dancing red flames highlighted gold streaks in Emma’s hair. She sat beside him playing a simple game where they sang and clapped and the little kids could play. Emma’s dad sat with his arm around her mother while she clapped.

Zach continued to marvel at her family. Outside of old movies, he hadn’t known families like this really existed. He completely understood why Emma treasured her weekends at home and her holidays. As a little kid he had hoped for this, but it had never happened with his own family or any that he visited and he finally had come to the conclusion such families did not exist, but Emma was proving him wrong.

Once as she sang, she glanced at him and smiled. More than ever, he wanted his arm around her or just to touch her, but he knew that wasn’t a possibility now. If he wasn’t careful, her family would have them engaged.

It was after ten when they began to break up. He helped clean until he was told to put his foot up. Finally he went with Emma back to her parents’ house. Tonight, everyone was heading home except her younger brother, and Zach wanted to return to her apartment and be alone with her.

Instead, they sat up talking to Bobby until one in the morning. While Bobby and Emma talked about Bobby’s school year, Zach looked at the Christmas tree. He had counted eight Christmas trees of various types and sizes that had been set up and decorated in the Hillman home.

Besides celebrating Thanksgiving, he was immersed in Christmas. The mantels in the family room and living room were covered in greenery and red bows. Decorations were everywhere he looked. No wonder she had tried to decorate the ranch a little. His attention shifted to Emma and his longing to be alone with her increased.

Finally, when Bobby went to bed half an hour later, Emma came to sit by him. He made room for her and she leaned against his chest, his arm around her and her feet beside his on the sofa.

“It’s been fun, Emma. You have a great family.”

“You really mean that?” she asked, twisting to look at him. She was in his arms, her face so close to his. “I love Thanksgiving,” she said, turning and settling back against him. “I love Christmas. Look at the tree. It’s beautiful and so many ornaments remind me of a special thing or person or time. I couldn’t bear Christmas without a tree.”

“I’m not as tied in to Christmas as you well know by now.”

“You should get into the spirit and enjoy Christmas. If you did, you would never return to spending it the way you do now.” She yawned and stretched. “I’m ready to turn in, Zach.” She stood and he came to his feet. She walked to the tree and carefully lifted free a glass Santa to show to him. “This is my favorite.”

He looked at the ornament and her delicate, warm hand. “I hope you have years of wonderful Christmases,” he said quietly.

“I hope you do, too.”

“This is turning into one so far.”

“It’s Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas holiday. There’s a month to go.” She returned the Santa to the tree. “I love each ornament, Zach.” He came to stand beside her and put his arm around her waist. “Look at our reflection,” she said, touching a shiny green ball.

“I’m going to start carrying a sprig of mistletoe in my pocket,” he said, turning her to him to kiss her.

His arm tightened around her waist and she slipped her arms around him, kissing him while her pulse drummed. She quivered while desire ignited. Finally, she raised her head. “We should go to bed.”

“If only you would always say that at the ranch,” he replied. He smiled and kept his arm around her waist to walk beside her as they headed toward the stairs.

“Night, Zach,” she said and disappeared into the room where she slept. In his own room, he lay in bed with his hands behind his head, thinking about the day and the evening with her and her family. He couldn’t imagine spending every weekend this way, but sometimes it would be fun. He still thought she was missing out on a wonderful world and when his foot was healed, he would try to show her some place exciting out of Texas since she had never even been beyond the boundaries of the Lone Star state. As soon as he thought of traveling with her, he knew it would never happen. When the job ended, she would go out of his life. She had been correct when she said they had vastly different lifestyles. Neither one was the right person for the other in even a casual way.

In spite of that knowledge, his common sense, caution and experience, he couldn’t stop wanting her and he couldn’t shake her out of his thoughts.

He finally drifted to sleep, still yearning to be alone with her.

After Sunday dinner, Zach and Emma left for the ranch.

She drove again while he sat with his foot propped up across the backseat and resting on bags placed on the car floor.

“You have a nice family. I see why you value your weekends. Your family shows they enjoy being together.”

“Thank you. You seemed to like being with your brother and his family.”

“I do, but I don’t think my brothers and I have the closeness your family does.”

Emma could see Zach in the rearview mirror. “You can have that closeness. From what you’ve said, you’re all congenial. Maybe you are alone so much because you keep up your guard, Zach. It might carry over from childhood and times you were alone. Life’s different now. You don’t have to keep everything all bottled up. You can enjoy your brothers and now there’s a half sister. You and Will seem very close.”

He sat in silence. She met his gaze when she glanced at him, but then she had to turn her attention back to the road. “You might be right,” he said finally. “I’ve never looked at it that way. I was disappointed as a kid. So were they. We were dumped and couldn’t even be home together some years. I don’t know—maybe my feelings are a guard left from childhood hurts. As a little kid, I couldn’t keep from resenting it.”

“Well, the nice thing now is that you don’t have to be alone,” she said, smiling at him.

“Maybe you’re right. I’ll admit it’s fun when my brothers are together. And now I enjoy having Caroline and Ava there, too. Your family certainly has a great time together.”

“We do and in a crunch, we can count on each other too. I’m happy you came with me.”

“I enjoyed the weekend. Neither of your brothers were thrilled. I got looks from them the whole time. If they intended to send me warnings, they succeeded.”

“Pay no attention to them. You’ll never see them again.”

Zach smiled and looked at her as she glanced in the rearview mirror at him. “I’m not invited back?”

Emma felt her cheeks flush. “Of course you are. Whenever you would like to go home with me. I just figured you wouldn’t want to again. I sort of trapped you into this time.”

He grinned. “I’m teasing you.”

“Zach, would you like to come home with me for Christmas?” she asked sweetly. “We’ll have the whole family and they would be delighted to have you.”

“No, they wouldn’t be delighted. Thank you for asking me. I’ll stay home and give my foot a rest.”

“They would be pleased to see you again, except perhaps Connor, but you can ignore him.”

“Home on the ranch is where I belong.”

When they stepped inside the empty ranch house, Zach dropped their bags and switched off alarms. As she picked up her bag, he turned to take it from her and set it back on the floor. He slipped his arm around her waist. “Now what I’ve waited all weekend to do,” he said in a husky voice. “You do owe me.”