by Debbie Mason
Adam was right, unlike 90 percent of Coloradoans, she didn’t spend a lot of time in the great outdoors. She didn’t climb, cycle, hike, run, or ski. Though, since buying the house on Holly Lane with Autumn, Sophia had developed a passion for gardening. She’d been surprised to discover her thumb was green, not black as she had always believed. But even though she didn’t spend the majority of her time outside, she appreciated the beauty of the small mountain town she called home, and thought, as she always did when she was forced to venture off the beaten path, maybe she should get out more often.
She mentally added the idea to her list of New Year’s resolutions. But as snow swirled on a fierce gust of frigid air, she sank lower beneath her coat and blanket and adjusted the latest addition to her New Year’s resolutions. She’d hibernate for the rest of the winter and come out in the spring.
“Couple more minutes and we’ll be there,” Adam said close to her ear, pointing to a dark shape on the edge of the woods.
She resisted the urge to snuggle back against him as the wind howled, focusing instead on their surroundings. Which seemed like a good idea until she realized where they were. She jerked upright, clutching her coat. “We’re on the lake!”
“Okay, don’t panic. The ice is at least eight inches thick.”
There was a loud crack, and her heart dropped to her frozen toes. On a panicked cry, she yelled, “We’re going to die!”
“We’re not going to die. That wasn’t the ice. It was a tree.” He held her a little tighter, his mouth at her ear. “I wouldn’t have let you come if it wasn’t safe. Neither would Calder. He’s cautious. You can trust him.”
A few minutes later, as they got off the sleigh, Sophia had reason to doubt Adam’s faith in his grandfather, and so did he.
As she trudged after Adam through the calf-high snow, doing up the buttons of her coat, she heard the jingle of bells. She looked over her shoulder and frowned. Calder appeared to be preparing to leave. Surely he wouldn’t…
“Gramps, wait! You can’t just leave us here,” Adam called from where he stood on the porch step. When his grandfather ignored him and cracked his whip, Adam swore under his breath and took off after him.
“I’ll be back after midnight,” Calder yelled, tossing a red sack at his grandson. Then the sled took off like a shot, disappearing in a swirl of snow.
“I should have known they were up to something,” Adam muttered as he stomped back to the porch, pulling his phone from his pocket. He held it up and moved it around. “No service. Why am I not surprised? This night keeps getting better and better.”
“I’m sorry your night is so horrible. Mine isn’t any better, you know,” Sophia said as she joined him on the porch. She should have kept her mouth closed. There was a decidedly defensive note in her voice, and she didn’t want him to think he’d hurt her feelings.
He pocketed his phone, dropping the sack at his feet. “I wasn’t talking about you, Dimples. Seeing you again, getting the chance to finally clear the air between us, that’s made everything else worthwhile.”
“Oh, I…Yes. You are right. It has.” And even though her car was back in the body shop and her best friend was MIA with Logan Dane, she was glad she’d literally run into Adam tonight. She’d always trusted him, trusted that he would tell her the truth. So to have Adam validate his brother’s love for her, to absolve her of the guilt she’d carried around for all these years…Yes, this was one night in Christmas she wouldn’t forget.
She glanced at the front window of the dark cabin. She hoped it would be a memorable night because she and Adam had buried the hatchet, not because they’d caught Autumn and Logan in the act.
“Maybe we should knock.” She followed through with her own suggestion, banging on the window and calling, “Autumn, get out here right now.”
“They’re not here.” Adam dug around in the sack and then pulled out a key.
Sophia frowned. “How do you know?”
“No tracks, no chimney smoke,” he said as he opened the door. He held up the sack when she walked inside. “At least they’ve made sure we won’t go hungry and that you’ll be warm and cozy.” He pulled out a red plaid onesie and thick wool socks.
“Ty! That’s what he and Nell were hand signaling about. But why…?” She gasped when it hit her what they were up to. “They’re trying to get me out of the way so he and Autumn can ring in the New Year with their Joes.”
Adam’s brow furrowed as he handed her the pajamas and socks. “Wait. Autumn’s dating a guy named Joe…and my brother?”
She considered saying yes. “No. It’s another of Ty’s silly Gloria jokes. He said he’s going to find me my own Joe Manganiello. Sofía Vergara’s husband,” she said at his blank look. “They don’t want to feel guilty for abandoning me to be with their Joes.”
“You’re not dating anyone?” Adam asked as he walked to the stone fireplace.
“No,” she said, looking around the cabin for any signs Autumn and Logan had been there.
The cabin had a rustic charm and was beautifully appointed. The leather couch and chairs had brightly colored fabric pillows decorated with black-bear motifs. The pine end tables and coffee table continued the theme. There was a bathroom to the left of the open-concept living room and kitchen and a set of stairs leading to the open loft where a king-size bed sat in a log frame, neatly made with a fur throw on the end of the dark comforter. Adam was right; they hadn’t been here. The honeymoon cabin was a decoy.
Crouched in front of the fireplace, he glanced at her over his shoulder. “No as in not dating now, or no as in not dating since my brother died?”
He sounded surprised, and maybe concerned. Living in a small town in which people felt compelled to share their opinion about everything, including her lack of a love life, she was well acquainted with the reaction. So she didn’t understand why she wanted to lie to Adam. It wouldn’t do her any good. He’d always been able to see through her. “I’m not interested in dating.”
“Bryce would want you to be happy, Sophia.”
“I am happy. I have my business. Autumn and I bought a house last spring, and I have good friends. Well, they were good friends, friends I could trust, until your brother moved back to Christmas.”
Adam brushed off his hands on his jeans and stood. Behind him the fire crackled and danced, the smell of woodsmoke permeating the air. “You know, I never understood what it was with you and Logan. It was like hate at first sight.”
“He thought I was a bad influence on Autumn.” She lifted a shoulder. She might not care now, but there’d been a time when she had. “I thought the same about him, so we’re even.”
“You know what I think? You were both jealous of how much Autumn loved the other.”
She waved her hand as though that was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard, even though she suspected he might be right.
“You know I’m right. You just don’t want to admit it.” He shrugged out of his jacket and lifted his chin at her. “We’re here for a couple hours, so you might as well get comfortable.”
She dipped her head to hide her reaction to the way he filled out the blue plaid flannel shirt he wore over a black T-shirt. Ty might not be able to pull off chalet-wear, but Adam certainly could. She took off her coat and went to drape it over a chair, turning when Adam made a rough sound in his throat.
“I’ll, uh, just put on some water for hot chocolate.” He nodded at the fuzzy plaid pajamas and wool socks without looking at her. “You should probably change. You can’t be comfortable in…” His eyes met hers, and he gave his head a slight shake, a slow smile curving his lips. “You know exactly what kind of effect you have on men, so I’m not even going to try to pretend I want you to change so you’re more comfortable. Not even sure it would help.”
She blinked, surprised. He was right. There’d been a time in her life when she’d dressed to attract attention, but she’d always thought Adam was immune to her. Now she wore clothes that made her fe
el good. Stylish clothes made from gorgeous fabrics that made her happy just to touch and look at them. The fuzzy plaid onesie did not qualify as an outfit that made her happy.
“Trust me, it will help,” Sophia said as she gathered up the pajamas and socks. “It will be like sharing the cabin with a lumberjill.” He looked like a lumberjack, in a good way. A very good way. She wondered if she should suggest he put his jacket back on. Though, unlike him, she didn’t feel comfortable admitting she found him attractive. She wondered if it was because she wasn’t only attracted to his rugged good looks. “Maybe we should just walk back to the lodge.”
He glanced at her boots. “You’re not exactly dressed for a hike, and I’m not comfortable leaving you here on your own.”
She looked out the window, not overly thrilled with the idea herself. She’d read too many true-crime stories and thrillers that featured an isolated cabin in the woods. Still, Autumn and Logan were out there somewhere on their own. “Just tell me what to do with the fire and I will be fine.”
“Rick being seen hanging around here was my primary concern, but visions of you stoking the fire trump my worries about him. We’ll just have to wait until Gramps comes back.”
“Rick was released from the mental institution?”
“Yeah. He moved into a halfway house outside Christmas the day before last, and he’s been seen hanging around the lodge. Tonight, one of the snowmobiles went missing. Wouldn’t surprise me if he took it.”
In her opinion, most people could be rehabilitated and deserved a second chance. She didn’t feel the same about Rick Dane. “You make the hot chocolate, and I’ll change.”
Later, as they sat by the fire drinking hot chocolate and eating sugar cookies, she got the feeling Adam didn’t think the onesie was an improvement over her mohair sweater, sequin leggings, and boots. Though it wasn’t long before they fell into a familiar routine.
She was obsessed with murders and mysteries, and Adam was only too happy to talk about the cases he’d been involved with or give her the inside scoop on current cases in the news. Time passed easily and companionably as they caught up on each other’s lives. It only became a little awkward when she asked more about his current girlfriend, the judge.
“She sounds perfect for you.” Her smile felt forced. She didn’t understand why, because it wasn’t a lie. The judge sounded exactly like the type of woman Adam would be attracted to—beautiful, Harvard educated, wealthy, and from a prominent family.
“Yeah, she’s great.” It didn’t sound like a ringing endorsement. His tone was subdued, and Sophia wondered if he was tamping down his enthusiasm because of her. Did he sense that she might be a tiny bit jealous?
Before she could come up with an excuse, there was a loud bang and the dark sky outside the front window lit up. “They must have set off the fireworks early at the lodge.” Adam stood and helped her to her feet. From the window, they watched red, white, and blue starbursts light up the night sky.
He held up his cell phone. “They’re not early.” He looked at her with a smile and slowly lowered his head. “Happy New Year, Dimples.”
She inched up on her toes to meet him halfway, placing a hand on his chest for balance. “Happy New Year,” she said, just before her lips met his.
His mouth was warm, the taste of chocolate lingering on his lips. A long time ago she’d fantasized about kissing this man, and somehow her body must have confused this moment for then because she leaned in to him, and a kiss that was meant to be friendly and brief became something more.
The ping of his cell phone brought her back to reality. Embarrassed, flustered by her reaction to him, she broke the kiss. To hide her heated face, she glanced at his phone while wondering how she’d forgotten he was a Dane and had a girlfriend. Noting the message on his cell phone’s screen, she frowned. “I thought there was no…” Her eyes widened as she absorbed what the brief text message from Logan meant. “You were in on it the whole time!”
“Wait, Soph, let me explain.”
Chapter Six
The judge is not happy with you, my friend,” said Manuel, Adam’s partner in the US Marshals Service.
Adam glanced at the statuesque blonde in the black robes returning to her chambers with the court deputy. “She’s going to be less happy if we don’t clear her courtroom on time,” he said and went back to searching under and around the chairs on the left side of the public gallery.
“She’d be even more unhappy if she learned you dumped her for your brother’s widow.”
Obviously, Adam shouldn’t have shared that with his friend and partner of six years, but he’d needed a sounding board. He’d broken things off with Yvonne a week after he’d come home from Christmas.
One night with Sophia had done a number on him. He couldn’t get her out of his head, and it had felt like he was cheating on Yvonne. It didn’t matter that Sophia still hadn’t forgiven him for New Year’s Eve or that he had no intention of moving to Christmas and didn’t see her moving to San Francisco. All he knew was that he had to work through his feelings for her before he got involved with anyone else.
“Good thing Zeus’s mind is on the job because yours clearly isn’t,” Adam said, referring to Manuel’s K-9 partner, an eight-year-old German shepherd who was at that moment sniffing around the jury box.
The black-and-tan dog had begun his working career guiding the blind, but his personality and talents proved better suited to law enforcement. The ATF adopted Zeus and trained him in explosives and weapons detection. ATF then gave him to the US Marshals Service, and Manuel had been his handler ever since.
His eyes on Zeus, Manuel said, “He knows he has only one more week on the job. He’s making the most of it. You’re coming to his retirement party this weekend, right?”
K-9 dogs retired when they were between seven and eight years old and were typically adopted by their handlers. That hadn’t always been the case. Before 2000, when President Clinton passed Robby’s Law, police and military dogs were routinely euthanized when deemed unfit for service. If that were still the case, Manuel would have kidnapped Zeus, and Adam would have aided and abetted. The shepherd and the lanky, dark-haired man with the manicured goatee shared an unbreakable bond.
“Yeah, I—” He broke off at Manuel’s command to Zeus. The dog had found something.
Adam called it in as he came to his feet, ordering the courthouse cleared.
It was the beginning of February and the first day of arraignments for the gang members rounded up in a US Marshals Service’s sweep. Word on the street had been an attempt would be made to disrupt the proceedings and to send a message to the jurors. It looked like Zeus had found the message. Now they had to hope there wouldn’t be more.
* * *
Sophia sat in the stylist’s chair, waiting for Ty. With its chandeliers and black-and-lavender decor, the salon was as high-end as Naughty and Nice. The three chairs beneath the space-age-looking hair dryers were occupied, as were the three other stylists’ chairs, which faced oval mirrors framed in black.
Ty stood behind the glass-top reception desk, talking on the phone. “I can’t fit you in, Diva. I’m booked solid,” he told Chloe McBride, Christmas’s mayor and the mother of one-year-old twins. “It’s not my fault you have mommy brain and forgot it’s Valentine’s Day. Trust me, your husband doesn’t care what you look like. He adores you.” Ty sighed and held up his cell phone. “Ladies, Chloe doesn’t believe I’m booked. Smile and wave for the camera.”
They did as he asked, and Ty sent Chloe the photo. “See, I told you…No, I can’t do that…Fine. Sophia, Chloe has a special date night planned with Easton, and since you don’t have plans for tonight, she was wondering if you’d let her take your appointment.”
“I can’t. I have a date too.” Sophia picked up a hunk of hair at her crown. “And this morning I found a gray hair.” The other women in the salon gasped. “Oh please, as if none of you had a gray hair at thirty-three. Ty, it is normal, yes?”
“Diva, I have to call you back.” Ty lowered himself into the chair behind the desk as though his legs were about to give out. “Sophia has an emergency.”
“But it’s only one gray hair…Okay, okay, so there were three,” she admitted to the women staring at her like they couldn’t believe what had just come out of her mouth. “My hair is black, not blond like yours, Dame Alexander and Grace, so you can stop looking at me like—”
“Dimples, we’re not staring at you because you have a couple gray hairs. We’re staring at you because you’re the Merry Widow and you have a date. You haven’t had a date for more than a decade. This is not just news. This is a full-out emergency.”
She didn’t know what bothered her more, Ty using Adam’s nickname for her or that they were making a big deal about her going on a date. “Don’t call me Dimples.”
“Sorry. I forgot how protective you were of that nickname, Gloria.” Ty dramatically widened his eyes and slapped his hands to his chest. “Adam is coming home to take you out for Valentine’s. Isn’t that romantic, ladies? I knew he was her Joe from the moment I saw them together at New Year’s. You could practically see the sparks flying off them.”
“Oh, yes, there were sparks when I found out he’d been doing his brother’s bidding by spiriting me away to an isolated cabin in the woods.”
“We’ve been over this a hundred times. It was Nell’s and my idea. Logan just told him to keep you occupied. Adam had no idea it was a setup. You forgave me and Nell like a week after. I’m glad you finally saw the light and forgave Adam.”
After their night together, to discover he’d been hanging out with her to fulfill a pact with his brother had been more hurtful than she’d let on. Although Adam might have had some idea she was upset. And while she’d eventually come around to forgiving him, she’d yet to tell him or respond to his texts and e-mails. She should. She owed him her thanks. If it hadn’t been for Adam freeing her from the burden of her guilt, she wouldn’t be going on her first date in more than a decade.
