Be Mine at Christmas Read Free Page B

the familiar scents of food, coffee, pine trees and wet leather. Because of the cold, Denver could smell fresh and clean in winter—but no place smelled as authentically “Old Fashioned Christmas” as Virginia City. Maybe that was because it hadn’t changed much since it had been rebuilt after the great fire of 1875. Standing in the largest federally designated historical district in America made Angela feel as if she’d just stepped out of a time machine. She’d gone back into her own history. To Christmas, the way it used to be.
    “It’s great here, isn’t it?” she breathed to Kayla as they crossed to an empty table.
    “I like it,” Kayla replied, but she kept glancing over to another table, where two firemen were having lunch.
    “What is it?” Angela asked above a lively piano rendition of “Deck the Halls.”
    “That man was staring at you when we walked in.”
    Angela opened her mouth to say that after so long, chances were slim they’d know each other. But then she caught a better glimpse of him and felt her jawdrop. Surely they couldn’t have run into Matthew Jackson the moment they’d pulled into town….
    “Do you know him?” Kayla asked, peering closely at her.
    Angela had no idea what to say. They’d chosen a table less than fifteen feet from Kayla’s father!
    “Angie?” she prompted.
    Angela found her voice. “Yes, I—I knew him as a…a guy in high school.” Although she had to acknowledge that he’d improved quite a bit. With dark whiskers covering his prominent jaw, and smile lines bracketing his mouth and eyes, he’d matured into a man who appeared rather rough-hewn. And while his sandy-colored hair had darkened, the unusual ice-blue color of his eyes hadn’t changed at all.
    “He’s handsome, isn’t he?” Kayla whispered.
    He was so handsome Angela almost couldn’t stop staring. And it wasn’t just his face. He’d put on maybe thirty pounds since graduation, but none of it had gone to his middle. He filled out that uniform to perfection, looking larger than she remembered him, and far more powerful.
    Angela tried to gather her wits, but she was suddenly so nervous she was afraid to remain in the same restaurant. He doesn’t know, she told herself.
    But the doubts she’d wrestled with from the beginning crowded in. What if he guessed? Would he? Could he?
    On the drive over, Angela had convinced herself that the answer to those questions was no. Matt had been with Stephanie only that one night, when theywere sixteen, and he hadn’t really chosen to be with her even then. He wouldn’t expect a child from one brief encounter, especially a child he’d never heard about. Besides, Stephanie had trouble carrying Kayla and she’d delivered two months early. That alone would make it difficult to figure out the dates.
    Which meant it didn’t matter that Angela had suddenly shown up with a twelve-year-old girl in tow.
    Reassured by her own reasoning, Angela immediately turned to the menu. But, inside, she couldn’t help grimacing at the terrible trick Stephanie had played on Matt. Angela felt partially responsible, but once it had happened, there was no way to fix it—other than doing what Stephanie’s mother had done. Angela didn’t think she could’ve stopped Stephanie, anyway. She’d never seen a girl so single-mindedly determined to get what she wanted. And what she’d wanted was Matt.
    Ironically, she’d also never seen a man, who—before and after that night—had so studiously avoided Stephanie. It was almost as if Matt had sensed the halter she had waiting to slip around his neck….
    “Look, here they come,” Kayla said.
    The words suddenly registered, as well as the accompanying movement behind her and, turning, Angela realized that she also recognized the second man. He was a beefier version of the boy she’d seen with Matt so often in high school—Lewis McGinness, who’d been one of the best linebackers on the football team.
    A smile curved his lips