Holiday Wishes Read Free Page A

dominated by big blue eyes that seemed to hold jokes all of their own. But it was the smile, the one that said,
Isn’t this fun?
that caught him by the throat. Shaken, he stepped back while the girl dusted herself off and studied him.
    â€œI’ve never seen you before.”
    He slipped his hands into his pockets. But I’ve seen you, he thought. “No. Do you live here?”
    â€œYeah, but the shop’s around the side.” A snowball landed with a plop at her feet. She lifted a brow in a sophisticated manner. “That’s Jimmy,” she said in the tone of a woman barely tolerating a suitor. “His aim’s lousy. The shop’s around the side,” she repeated as she bent to ball more snow. “Just walk right in.”
    She raced off, holding a ball in each hand. Jason figured Jimmy was in for a surprise.
    Faith’s daughter. He hadn’t asked her name and nearly called her back. It didn’t matter, he told himself. He’d only be in town a few days before he took the next assignment. Just passing through, he thought. Just cleaning the slate.
    He backtracked to walk around the side of the house. Though he couldn’t imagine what sort of shop Tom could have, he thought it might be best to see him first. He almost relished it.
    The little workshop he’d half expected turned out to be a miniature of a Victorian cottage. The sleigh out in front held two life-size dolls dressed in top hats and bonnets, cloaks and top boots. Above the door was a fancy hand-painted sign that read Doll House. To the accompaniment of bells, Jason pushed the door open.
    â€œI’ll be right with you.”
    Hearing her voice again was like stepping back and finding no solid ground. But he’d deal with it, Jason told himself. He’d deal with it because he had to. Slipping off his glasses, he tucked them into his pocket and looked around.
    Child-size furniture was set around the room in the manner of a cozy parlor. Dolls of every shape and size and style occupied chairs, stools, shelves and cabinets. In front of an elf-size fireplace, where flames shimmered, sat a grandmother of a doll in lace cap and apron. The illusion was so strong, Jason almost expected her to begin rocking.
    â€œI’m sorry to keep you waiting.” With a china doll in one hand and a bridal veil in the other, Faith walked through the doorway. “I was right in the middle of . . .” The veil floated out of her hand as she stopped. It waltzed to the floor with no sound at all. Color rushed away from her face, making the deep-blue eyes nearly violet in contrast. In reaction, or defense, she gripped the doll to her breast. “Jason.”

Chapter 2
    Framed in the doorway, with the thin winter light creeping through the tiny windows, she was lovelier than his memory of her. He’d hoped it would be different. He’d hoped his fantasies of her would be exaggerated, as so many fantasies are. But she was here, flesh and blood, and so beautiful she took his breath away. Perhaps because of it, his smile was cynical and his voice cool.
    â€œHello, Faith.”
    She couldn’t move, forward or back. He trapped her now as he had so many years before. He didn’t know it then; she couldn’t let him know it now. Emotion, locked and kept secret for so long, struggled against will and was held back. “How are you?” she managed to ask, her hands like a vise around the doll.
    â€œFine.” He walked toward her. God, how it pleased him to see the nerves jumping in her eyes. God, how it tormented him to learn she smelled the same. Soft, young, innocent. “You look wonderful.” He said it carelessly, like a yawn.
    â€œYou were the last person I expected to see walk through the door.” One she’d learned to stop looking for. Determined to control herself, Faith loosened her grip on the doll. “How long are you in town?”
    â€œJust a few days. I had