Stranded On Christmas Read Free Page A

pumping
even harder. Would he just come in?
    He
knocked, and even though I knew that he was there I jumped a little.
“Jessica, I have your suitcases right here. I'm leaving now, so you
can come out and get dressed into something warm. I'll be downstairs
making you a cup of hot chocolate. If you need anything, just
holler.” He had spoken loudly. He didn't seem to know that I could
hear him so well in here.
    “ Thank
you so much, Gideon. I really appreciate everything that you’re
doing for me. Thank you.”
    “ You're
welcome, Jessica.”
    I
listened and heard him leaving and closing the door. He went
downstairs. I could hear him talking to Pumpkin again.
    I
snuck out, opened up a suitcase, and got out the warmest clothes I
had packed. I went downstairs with my feet packed up in two pairs of
socks. One pair was under my leggings, and one pair was over them. I
was wearing one of those long sweater dresses with a turtleneck under
it. I peeked into the living room and saw my dog in his basket by a
fieldstone fireplace, looking like that was his God-given place in
this world.
    “ Jessica,”
Gideon called out to me. He had just walked into the room through a
swinging door from the kitchen. He had a tray with two mugs on it in
his hands.
    This
guy was a dream come true.
    “ I
was thinking that we should sit down by the fire, so you can warm up
better.”
    “ Sure.
That sounds great.” I went over to Pumpkin and sat down on the rug
by his basket.
    Gideon
set the tray down on the hearth and sat down next to me. He handed me
my mug and smiled at me. He had great eyes. I could hardly believe
that I was sitting in front of a fire with this beautiful man. And I
thought that Jamie had looked good, but he couldn't hold a candle to
this guy. Jamie wasn't nice like Gideon was either. If Jamie had been
the one to save me, I would never have heard the end of it. He would
have let me know exactly how I had inconvenienced him, and he would
have mentioned it often.
    “ Thank
you so much for coming to my rescue. I don't know what would have
happened without your help.”
    “ It
was really clever of you to send out the SOS. I heard it and wondered
about my sanity, but you kept right at it, so I went out to check
what was going on. I'm glad I got to you when I did. The temperature
in the car would have dropped quickly otherwise. Tell me, what were
you doing out in a snowstorm anyway?”
    “ I'm
on my way to my aunt and uncle's house for Christmas. I didn't know
that you were having a snowstorm today, or I would have postponed my
trip.”
    He
smirked at me and shook his head. “You always need to check the
weather before you take off on such a long trip,” he scolded me as
if he was honestly worried about me.
    “ Don't
worry. Consider that a lesson learned. I’ll never just take off on
the spur of the moment like that again. No matter what happens.”
    “ Did
something happen that caused you to leave at the spur of the moment?”
He looked concerned.
    I
ended up admitting the whole story, even telling him that my aunt and
uncle had no idea that I was coming.
    Somehow
or another I ended up in his arms while he was whispering that any
man who didn't want me was a fool.
    He
leaned down and kissed me then. There was so much passion in his kiss
that I felt the butterflies in my tummy, just like the ones I read
about in cheesy romance books.
    His
hand slipped into my hair, and his fingers combed through it. “I
like your long hair. It is really beautiful.”
    I
was moved to tears. Today had been too much for me.
    “ Hey,
he isn't worth your tears. If I had a girl like you, I would never
give you the feeling that you weren't the most important thing in the
world to me.”
    “ Do
you honestly mean that? Or is it part of your routine to get women to
sleep with you?”
    He
was shocked and taken aback. He moved away from me. “He slept with
you, and then he didn't marry you?”
    “ I
guess I was naïve. I shouldn't have believed him. He