High-Caliber Christmas

by B. J Daniels

  Hat in hand, he left, wincing as she slammed the door behind him.

  VIRGINIA PULLED DOWN the road, almost losing her nerve when she saw the vehicle parked in front of the house and realized that Jace was home.

  She parked and sat for a moment, half hoping he would come out and run her off. Better than going to the door and having him turn her away.

  Getting out, she looked around the ranch. It didn’t compare to the Winchester ranch in any way, but then few ranches did. But this was where her son had grown up. Just miles from the Winchester ranch. Not that she had been around to see him grow up the past twenty-seven years, she reminded herself.

  Her mother had run her children off twenty-seven years ago after losing her youngest son, Trace. A recluse all those years until recently, Pepper would never be nominated for mother of the year.

  As Virginia walked toward the front door, she wondered what kind of mother she would have been. She’d never had a chance to find out, but if there was even a chance she would have been like her mother, she was glad Marie Dennison had raised Jace instead of her.

  She knocked, then stood looking around. It was getting dark. She should have stopped by earlier, but it had taken a while to get up her courage.

  Once she’d heard that Jace had put the place up for sale, she’d known that if she wanted to talk to her son, it wasn’t something she could put off. She’d worried that she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t make the effort.

  She started to knock again, when the door opened and there he was, in a T-shirt and jeans. He was barefoot, and his dark hair, so like her own, was still wet from the shower.

  “I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time,” she said, sounding like a door-to-door saleswoman. “I was hoping we could talk.”

  She saw him hesitate. He looked as if he’d rather have a root canal, but he opened the door wider and motioned her in.

  “Would you like—” he paused as if thinking better of whatever he’d been about to ask, then continued “—to sit down.” He motioned toward the small living room.

  “Thank you.” She sat down on the edge of the couch.

  “So, what is it that you want?” he asked without sitting down.

  She looked around without answering. With obvious reluctance, he sat down across from her.

  “I wanted to meet you,” Virginia said, trying not to stare at him.

  “We met at the funeral.”

  She nodded. “You are so handsome.”

  He looked uncomfortable.

  “This is as strange to me as it is to you.”

  “I doubt that,” he said.

  “I have a grown son that I’d never seen until yesterday. That is pretty strange.”

  “I’m not your son. Not in a way that matters.”

  She nodded. “I can understand you feeling that way. But I loved your father, and he loved me.”

  “Then why weren’t the two of you married?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  Jace shook his head. “Your lover’s mother paid someone to switch the babies. Sounds pretty simple to me. I think I lucked out.”

  The words hurt because she agreed with him. “I think you did, too.”

  “Look, we really have nothing to say to each other,” he said, getting to his feet. “I don’t mean to be rude…”

  “No, I understand,” she said, rising, as well. “I’m sorry that you had to find out. I would never have told you if it had been up to me. The last thing I wanted was for you to be upset by this.”

  He let out a bark of a laugh. “Upset? Upset is when you can’t find your keys. Upset isn’t finding out that your uncle was a murderer and that you are the spawn of the most notorious family in town. Trust me, I’m a hell of a long way past upset, and I can’t wait until I can put this dusty wide spot in the road behind me.”

  She nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Why would you thank me?”

  “You let me in the door,” she said with a rueful smile. “I hadn’t even expected that. I can see myself out.”

  And with that she left. It wasn’t until she was a couple miles down the road that she had to pull over because she was crying so hard she could no longer see the road.

  JACE PACED THE FLOOR after Virginia Winchester left. He was angry at her for coming to his house and even angrier at himself for the way he’d treated her. But she’d ambushed him. If she’d called…

  If she’d called, he would have told her to stay away.

  He knew his mother…. Marie would have been disappointed in him. He was disappointed in himself. But Virginia Winchester had caught him off guard, and he’d taken his anger out on her.

  Snatching up his keys, he headed out the door, not knowing where he was going. He was just too worked up to sit around the house.

  His vehicle took him straight to Kayley’s. Even as he pulled into the yard, he was telling himself to turn around. He had no business here, even if Ty’s pickup was gone.

  As he started to turn around, the porch light came on and she appeared in the doorway.

  Just the sight of her made him bring the SUV to a stop. He sat for a moment before he cut the engine and climbed out.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing here,” he said at the bottom of her porch steps.

  “I guess you’d better come in where it’s warm and figure it out,” she said.

  “Kayley—”

  “It’s cold out, Jace. Unless you’re afraid I’m going to work my womanly wiles on you, then I suggest we do this inside.”

  She turned and walked back into the house, leaving the door open. He climbed the steps, telling himself with each one that this was a mistake.

  The house smelled of ginger cookies. He followed the familiar scent into the kitchen, where Kayley was making gingerbread men. Her mother always made them for the Christmas tree. But Kayley didn’t have a tree yet.

  She wore a faded apron that he knew had been her mother’s, but even so she had flour on her jeans and a smudge on her cheek. Her blond hair was pulled back, making her cheekbones seem more prominent and her eyes more wide and innocent.

  “You can have a cookie,” she said. “But take one of the ones I messed up. They’re for my kindergarten class.”

  The smell transported him back to other Christmases when it would have been her mother making the cookies and him and Kayley sitting at the breakfast bar eating the ones that weren’t perfect.

  “You can help me decorate them while we figure out what brought you here,” she said, pushing a small bowl of raisins toward him. “You do remember how to do this, don’t you?”

  How to be in the same room with her without kissing her? Or putting raisin eyes on gingerbread men?

  “I remember.” He watched her make a line of white icing piping around the edge of a cookie, then two dots for the eyes before passing it to him for the raisins.

  “My birth mother came by to see me,” he said as he reached for two more raisins.

  Kayley didn’t look up from icing a cookie. “That must have been hard for her.” So like Kayley to think of the other person.

  “I was rude to her.”

  She looked up at him then.

  “This whole thing has just thrown me. I hate the way I’m handling everything.”

  “Well, you don’t have much longer. Once you leave here—”

  “It’s not that easy.” He was searching her face. “I’m sorry I hurt you. First my dad, then our baby…”

  She started to continue icing the cookie, but he reached out and stilled her hand.

  “I know I took the easy way out by running, Kayley. But suddenly it was as if the walls were caving in on me….”

  She tried to pull free, but he held on until he saw that the icing had dripped onto the cookie, making a pool of white.

  He let go, saw her look down, her eyes filling with tears. He was on his feet and around the breakfast bar in an instant.

  Carefully he took the tube of icing from her and laid i
t down on the counter before he pulled her to him.

  “The cookies—”

  “Kayley.” He looked into her eyes and felt as if he’d really come home. He hadn’t planned to kiss her again. Hell, he hadn’t planned to even come over here.

  She came to him as he pulled her closer, her lips parting as if she’d known all along it was only a matter of time until he kissed her.

  When he drew back, he said, “Kayley, I—” But she stopped him with a finger on his lips and quickly replaced it with her mouth.

  His arms around her, he grabbed a handful of her shirt in both hands and pressed her back against the opposite counter, losing himself in her.

  A part of him knew he should stop, but he felt incapable as she unsnapped his Western shirt and pressed her palms against his chest, a moan escaping her lips.

  His mouth slipped from hers to drop down the slim column of her neck to the open collar of her shirt. Damn, how he’d missed the smell of her, the taste of her.

  He fumbled at the buttons for a moment before she moved his hands aside and unbuttoned her shirt. He trailed kisses across the rounded tops of her full breasts, peeling back the lacy bra to ferret out her rock-hard nipple.

  She arched against him as he cupped her waist in his two hands and lifted her up onto the kitchen counter, his tongue teasing her hard nipple as his hands worked at the buttons of her jeans. When he had them open, he snaked a hand into her lacy underpants and touched her warm, wet center.

  His gaze met hers, and desire sparked between them like a jolt of electricity between two live wires. Sliding her off the counter and into his arms, he carried her to her bedroom.

  When he laid her on the bed, she pulled him down beside her, working to get his jeans off. He let out a moan of pleasure as he stripped away the last of her clothes. Finally, melded by the heat of their naked skin, they rocked together, making the bed squeak and groan just as it had so many years ago when they’d promised to love each other forever.

  FROM WHERE HE WAS PARKED in a grove of trees nearby, Ty stared at Kayley’s house, willing Jace Dennison to leave.

  He glanced at his watch and felt his ire rise. When was the bastard going to leave? Kayley’s bedroom light had gone off a good twenty minutes ago.

  Ty had felt sick when he’d seen the light come on behind the curtains in her bedroom. He’d thought about storming up to the house and pounding on the door and making a complete jackass of himself.

  Hadn’t he known she would fall right back in Jace’s arms? Did she really think this changed anything? She was so naive. Now he would have to pick up the pieces when Jace broke her heart.

  He’d wanted Kayley since high school, but she’d been Jace Dennison’s. When Jace had dumped her just weeks before their wedding, Ty had thought he stood a chance.

  But he’d found himself waiting patiently for her to go to college and come back. He’d known she would, and he’d been right. It had seemed like fate.

  He’d known that Jace came back occasionally but sneaked into town and out without seeing anyone.

  He’d always wondered if Kayley had known Jace was in town. But she’d never let on, so he’d assured himself that she was over Jace Dennison.

  Now he saw how foolish that had been on his part. Jace shows up and crooks a finger at her and she goes running.

  He was furious with her and told himself that after Jace left he’d let her hang for a while. Let her wonder if he would ever forgive her.

  Meanwhile, he had to get Jace out of town. The longer he stayed, the more angry Ty was becoming.

  He reached for the key in the ignition, just wanting to get out of there. He’d gotten much more than he’d come for.

  But before he could start his car, a dim light flashed on in the woods across the road from his hiding place. He realized with a start that it was another vehicle and the light he’d seen was the dome light coming on for an instant. He wouldn’t have seen it except that the driver was now pulling out, leaving just like he was with his lights off.

  Was it just some teenagers parking and making out in the trees? Odd place to do it.

  As the SUV started to pull away, he hit his headlights. The driver looked startled, turning in his direction, clearly as unaware as Ty had been that he wasn’t alone out here hiding in the trees.

  He was almost as startled when he saw that it wasn’t a man behind the wheel but a woman. No one else in the car. No teenagers making out in the trees.

  As she sped off toward town, Ty wondered what the woman had been doing out here hiding in the trees all alone.

  With a chill he realized she had to have been watching Kayley’s house—just as he had been.

  Ty reached for his phone, thinking he needed to call Kayley and warn her. But he quickly put his cell phone away. The only way to warn her would be to admit what he’d been doing out here in the dark.

  Anyway, what was the big deal about some woman watching Kayley’s house? Must be some woman interested in Jace. What else could it be?

  Chapter Seven

  When she woke later that night, Kayley lay on her side, leaning on one elbow and staring into Jace’s handsome sleeping face. She was trying to memorize everything about him. She knew this changed nothing. Well, at least for Jace.

  He looked so relaxed she had to smile. She had known he would come to her. She’d been waiting. And ever since his return, she’d been asking herself what it was that she wanted.

  She wanted this last night with him. It was selfish and probably foolish, but she didn’t care. She knew the score. They had no future, and she had finally accepted that.

  So, yes, she’d known this was where they would end up. She felt a little guilty because clearly Jace hadn’t known they would end up making love. She touched her stomach, placing her hand over it. Jace had just assumed she was on the pill, just assumed she was sleeping with Ty. He should have known her better.

  Tears brimmed in her eyes at the thought that she might have conceived Jace’s baby. It was what she wanted, what she had decided. She told herself Jace would never know. He was selling out here, leaving for good. All she wanted was just a little of him for herself.

  As she looked into his handsome face, she didn’t ask herself if that was fair. Life wasn’t fair.

  Jace would leave tomorrow just as he had planned. He would run, just as he had twelve years ago. He was scared of loving too much. She understood that. They each had to deal with that on their own terms.

  She knew he would awaken with regrets. She didn’t want him to feel badly. Or to think that this changed anything. The one thing she had to be was strong enough to let him go.

  Kayley carefully climbed out of bed, not wanting to wake him and picked up her clothes to carry down the hall to dress. It was one thing to know that he would regret what they’d done. She couldn’t bear to see it in his dark eyes the moment they opened.

  Worse, that he would feel he had to apologize. That was why he could never know about the baby—if she was lucky enough to conceive.

  Going back into the kitchen, she put her apron on and began to decorate the cookies for her class. She knew she could raise a baby. She had a good job, a house and lots of friends and extended family who would be there for her. It was too bad Jace wouldn’t be a part of it, but he’d made his choice and so had she.

  As she worked finishing the cookies, she thought about making love with him and smiled even as she fought back tears. It had always been amazing. She knew no other man would ever compare. Nor could she love anyone the way she loved Jace—except for his child.

  JACE WOKE AND FOR A moment couldn’t remember where he was. Kayley. The lovemaking came back in a heated rush. He lay back furious with himself for coming here and at the same time unable to regret being with her again.

  He just didn’t want to hurt her, and he knew that in his state of mind he’d had no business coming to her. He could hear her in the kitchen as he rose and pulled on his clothes. Why hadn’t she thrown him out on his ear?
What was wrong with this woman?

  As he opened the bedroom door, he heard her singing along with a Christmas carol on the radio. He found her icing the cookies, just as she had been when he’d arrived.

  He stood for a moment just watching her, wishing…Hell, what was he wishing? He shook his head, telling himself he needed to get out of this town before he hurt her any more than he already had.

  “Hey,” she said as if sensing him standing there. “You have to eat the one you made me mess up.”

  He moved to the counter and picked up the gingerbread man covered with a thin sheen of white icing and took a bite. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten, but instantly he remembered the taste of these cookies in this house.

  “These are even better than the ones your mother made,” he said.

  “Flatterer,” she said but didn’t look at him.

  “Kayley, about earlier—”

  “Hand me the raisins,” she said.

  He did. “I just want to say—”

  “I was thinking,” she interrupted again. “I could have a garage sale for you, if you’d like. My class is always looking for fund-raisers. I know you won’t want to keep any of the furniture in the house. I imagine the only thing you’ll want are your father’s guns.”

  She looked up then, and he was struck once again by how well she knew him. He’d already put his father’s guns away for safekeeping the last time he was in town—except for a handgun he kept at the house that his mother had used to scare away skunks and coyotes.

  “Sure,” he said, “help yourself.” He couldn’t believe this is what she wanted to talk about after what had happened upstairs. “You’re welcome to anything you want.”

  “Thanks.” She finished putting the last of the eyes on the cookies then dusted her hands on her apron. “I didn’t realize it was so late,” she said pointedly.

  He cocked a brow. She was throwing him out?

  “If I don’t see you again before you leave, take care of yourself,” she said, stepping to him to plant a kiss on his cheek.

  He reached for her, wanting to hold her in his arms once more, but she quickly stepped back. “You, too,” he said and let her walk him to the door. “Kayley,” he tried explaining again out on the dark porch.