by Brenda Novak
The hand that had been stroking her stilled. “When your mother was with my grandfather, you mean?”
She chuckled humorlessly. “No. I think Morris was impotent by then. At least my mother screamed that at me once during one of our arguments.”
Mike’s muscles went rigid. “I knew she wasn’t faithful, but you’re saying Red slept with other men, right here, in my grandfather’s house?”
Lucky nodded, oddly satisfied that her words stung him as badly as they stung her. “One day when I knew my mother was with someone in the bedroom and…and the TV was blaring and I was wishing I was miles away, the phone rang.” She cringed, remembering. “It was Morris. ‘How’s my girl? Finished your homework? Where’s your mother?’”
She paused but Mike didn’t say anything.
“I lied,” she went on. “I told him she was getting her hair done.”
“If you really hated what your mother was doing, why didn’t you try to stop it? Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”
The gruffness of Mike’s voice told her how much it bothered him that a man he loved had been made into such a fool. But Mike didn’t understand Lucky’s position, because he’d never felt so frightened or so helpless.
“I couldn’t,” she said. “I was sick inside, terrified. If Morris found out, if he was forced to acknowledge what was happening, he’d—” her voice broke but she made herself continue “—he’d leave us.”
Several seconds passed. “Were you afraid of being thrown out on the street? Or of going back to your previous life?”
“I was afraid of losing the only person who’d ever truly loved me.” That statement laid her soul bare, and she knew it, but there it was. He’d wanted to know why she was the way she was and she’d more or less told him.
“You loved Morris.”
She couldn’t respond.
“Why didn’t you come back when he died?”
“Because I didn’t want to see my mother. And I knew my presence would only upset your family, which would bring my mother into the situation again and turn Morris’s funeral into a circus.”
Silence fell as he continued to knead her back.
“Was it a good service?” she asked.
“It was.” He put a finger under her chin and raised her face toward him. “Who were the men your mother slept with? Do I know them?”
“I won’t tell you that. It’ll only make you hate them.”
“Some of them are probably my friends.”
“Maybe not friends but certainly acquaintances.”
When he cursed, Lucky sat up and dashed an impatient hand across her wet cheeks. “You’re the one who wanted to know,” she said accusingly and started to get up. “I’ll help you find your clothes.”
He grabbed her arm. “Lucky.”
“What?”
“Come here.”
“No.”
“Yes. Sleep with me for a little while.”
“I don’t need that,” she said. “Please don’t feel you have to stay for me.” The last thing she wanted from Mike Hill was his pity.
“I’m not doing it for you.” He ran a finger down her arm. “I’m doing it for me.”
MIKE BREATHED DEEPLY, taking in the fresh clean scent of Lucky’s hair. The sunlight inching across the bedroom floor made him all too aware that he needed to get up and see to the horses. Fernando was off for Christmas. But it was Christmas for him, too, and he didn’t want to leave Lucky.
Sliding his hand up her bare stomach to cup her breast, he leaned over to see her eyes flutter open.
“Is it morning already?” she asked, blinking up at him.
“Yes.”
“I didn’t think you’d still be here.”
He hadn’t planned on staying the whole night.
“What’s the matter?” Lucky murmured, gazing up at him.
He was frowning at some red marks on her neck, probably from the chafing of his whiskers. But he couldn’t help admiring the disheveled look of her hair, the endearing sleepiness in her face. Her expression was about as unguarded as he’d ever seen Lucky in daylight. “A certain saying.”
“What saying?”
He kissed her neck to make up for the redness. “Between a rock and a hard place.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And I’m sure that has nothing to do with me.”
“Nothing whatsoever,” he lied and rolled onto his back, taking her with him.
“You never moved your truck,” she said, resting her chin on her hands and looking down at him.
Chuckling, he toyed with the ends of the long, thick hair that had swept over his body, as soft as silk, when she’d kissed his chest and then his stomach before moving lower…. “You kept me too busy.”
She gave him a wicked grin. “Don’t blame me if you get caught.”
“But it was your fault. I didn’t have the strength to leave. It’s hard for an old guy like me to keep up with a young woman like you.”
Her brow furrowed. “Young woman?”
“Excuse me. Woman.”
“Don’t,” she said.
“Don’t what?”
“Young woman? Old guy?” she repeated. “Where’s that coming from?”
“I’m nearly forty, Lucky.”
“Oh! I didn’t know.” She feigned shock as she sat up and drew the sheet over her. “Maybe you should’ve said something sooner. Last night probably never would’ve happened had I known what an old man you are.”
He sat up, too. “I’m saying that fifteen years is a lot.”
“You’re saying it’s too much.”
Did it matter what he was saying? A great deal more stood between them than age. He thought about Senator Holbrook’s offer, and rubbed a hand down his face. “It is too much.”
Her expression turned to one of disgust as she shook her head. “You’d better go before someone sees your truck.”
Just like that, Lucky had thrown up the invisible barrier that separated her from everyone else, including him. After last night, he needed to put her on notice that what they’d shared couldn’t last. It would be unfair, maybe even cruel, not to do so. But he hadn’t expected her to withdraw so quickly and completely.
“Lucky…”
She resisted when he tried to pull her to him. “Give me some credit, Mike,” she said. “I know what you’re trying to do—I understand the situation.”
She was going where he’d been trying to lead her and yet he was the one who seemed to be having trouble adjusting. “Last night was…incredible. I didn’t want it to confuse you.”
Her bare shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “I’m not confused. Last night was Christmas Eve.”
“What does that mean?”
“It was a nice fantasy.”
They’d shared some pretty intimate moments, moments of pure reality, but she obviously wasn’t willing to acknowledge them right now. Mike almost said so, then realized he’d switched sides. Evidently he was more confused than she was. Instead of explaining all the reasons they’d be crazy to attempt a real relationship, all the people they’d hurt if they continued seeing each other, he wanted to kiss her until she slipped her arms around his neck and brought him down on top of her.
What the hell was wrong with him? He’d always kept a cool head with women, always been capable of letting go easily.
But a cool head was easier when he had a lukewarm heart.
Wait a second. His heart wasn’t really involved in this, he told himself firmly, and got up to gather his clothes. Lucky was young and beautiful, misunderstood and misjudged. She incited his passion and his protective instincts. That was all. He’d make Senator Holbrook’s offer, just not today. Today he’d go home and gain some perspective—somehow. But pounding at the front door surprised him before he could even pull on his pants.
LUCKY FELT the glower slide from her face as the knock downstairs came again. “What should I do?”
Mike started moving more quickly, trying to get dressed. “Who do
you think it is?”
Anxiety joined all her other mixed emotions. “I have no idea. The only person who ever comes over is Mr. Sharp. And he’s off until after the first of the year.”
He zipped his pants but didn’t bother to button them because he was in too much of a hurry to find his shirt.
“Maybe if I don’t answer, whoever it is will go away,” she said, but she knew that wasn’t very likely when another knock sounded, more insistent than the last.
“Go ahead and answer it,” he said.
“What about your truck?”
“I have several trucks. Say you borrowed it.”
“Okay.” She could tell Mike didn’t believe that the excuse he’d given her would fool anybody. Neither did she, but she couldn’t come up with any better excuse for his truck to be parked in her drive. She certainly didn’t want anyone to know they were sleeping together. Mike had always been respected and admired in Dundee. She didn’t want to leave town knowing she’d changed all that.
Grabbing her robe, she pulled it on and hurried from the room.
“I’m coming,” she called as she neared the door.
Whoever it was stopped pounding.
Stepping to the window, she parted the drapes to see the back of a man close to Mike’s height, with shoulders just as broad. When he turned, she realized it was his brother, Josh.
“Oh, no,” she breathed and cast a worried glance over her shoulder, wondering if she should warn Mike before she answered the door.
“Damn it, Lucky.” The voice came from outside. “I know he’s in there. Open up.”
Josh had probably already confirmed that Mike wasn’t at the ranch. With Mike’s truck at her place, Lucky didn’t see any point in playing games. They’d already been found out.
Making sure her robe covered her well because there wasn’t much dignity in being caught in such a situation, she opened the door to a flushed but still handsome Josh Hill.
His jaw hardened as his gaze ran over her disheveled appearance. “Where is he?”
Lucky’s spine stiffened at his icy tone, but before she could respond, the stairs creaked. Mike came down, fully dressed, and answered for her. “Here. What do you want?”
Josh’s eyes met Mike’s and a challenge seemed to pass between the two brothers. “What the hell are you doing?”
Mike scowled darkly. “Mind your own business, little brother.”
“This is my business. It’s Christmas, hardly the time to take this kind of—” he eyed Lucky with no small amount of contempt “—risk, yet your truck’s parked out front for anyone to see. What are you trying to do? Make the holidays memorable by tearing our family apart?”
“Get out of here before you say something that really pisses me off,” Mike replied. “You have no right to interfere.”
“No right?” Josh’s hands flexed as though Mike’s response angered him beyond words. “You’re choosing Red’s daughter over your own family, a cheap fling with—”
“Josh!” Mike interrupted, almost explosively. “I’m warning you, watch your mouth.”
Lucky felt their powerful wills collide, feared they’d come to blows in her living room, and stepped between them.
Mike moved her out of the way, and Josh seemed to pull his gaze from her only with considerable effort. “You told Mom you were sick last night,” he said to Mike.
“You’ve got something to say about that, too?”
Shoving a hand through his hair, Josh released what sounded like a frustrated sigh. “Only that Mom’s on her way out here.”
Lucky’s breath lodged in her throat, and Mike blanched for the first time. “What?”
“She just called and asked me to check on you. She’s worried because you’re not answering your phone. ‘Poor Mike, to be so sick on Christmas Day.’ She’s bringing you the presents you left behind last night when you walked out on the rest of us—” he shifted his gaze back to Lucky “—almost the moment you learned our new neighbor was here alone.”
Mike didn’t respond. Lucky wasn’t sure he was even paying attention. He seemed to be preoccupied, searching for something.
Josh cocked an eyebrow at him. “If you’re hoping to find your hat, it’s outside—which says more about last night than I really want to know.”
Lucky felt her face burn, but Mike acted as if Josh’s words didn’t bother him in the least. “I’ll grab it on the way out,” he said and turned to her. “I’ve got to go.”
“No kidding. Hurry.” Stepping back so Mike wouldn’t feel he owed her any kind of goodbye kiss, or even a handshake, she gave him a polite nod. “Enjoy the rest of the holidays.”
Mike hesitated. When he glanced at her tree, Lucky felt her embarrassment return as he seemed to notice that there wasn’t a single present underneath it. But then he strode through the door and was gone, and she prayed he’d make it out of her driveway before his mother arrived.
MIKE REFUSED TO LOOK at Josh as he stalked outside. He found his hat easily enough, fished his keys out of his pocket and had nearly climbed into the Escalade before Josh addressed him.
“Once wasn’t enough?” his brother asked as he passed by on the way to his own vehicle, which was parked behind Mike’s.
Mike didn’t answer, but he knew Josh was talking about that first experience with Lucky in the motel, which he’d admitted to him on the phone.
“What’s going on, Mike?” Josh pressed.
Mike tossed his hat in the passenger seat. “Nothing.”
“Are you going to be able to stop seeing her?”
Mike scowled irritably. Of course he was going to be able to stop seeing her. He and Holbrook were planning to up the ante on the house until she couldn’t say no, right? She’d be packing her bags within the week. Then she’d be gone, and he’d have no choice but to stop seeing her.
Unfortunately, he thought it might take that drastic a measure to get her out of his head and his heart.
“I’ve got it under control,” he said tersely.
“Finding your hat in the snow and your truck in the drive when you could’ve slipped over here without leaving such obvious signs, had you been thinking at all, doesn’t make me feel very optimistic about that. If you had to see her, why didn’t you use some caution?”
“Let’s get out of here,” Mike grumbled. He didn’t want to explain that he couldn’t sneak and pretend. He respected Lucky too much to treat her as though she wasn’t worthy to be seen with him.
BARBARA BALANCED Mike’s presents in her arms as she climbed out of her Cadillac and walked toward the door. Mike was rarely sick and, when he was, he generally didn’t say anything about it. He was like his father; he tolerated discomfort in silence. So this illness, which had been bad enough to take him away from their Christmas Eve celebration, had her worried.
“Mike, it’s Mom,” she said, letting herself in. She assumed she’d find him in bed, but he came around the corner fully dressed and looking much better than she’d expected. “Oh, you’re up.”
“Yeah. Merry Christmas.” He kissed her cheek, took the presents from her and carried them to the couch. “Where’s Dad?”
“He was on the phone with his brother, and I thought I’d give him some time to wish the rest of his family a merry Christmas,” she said. “Why didn’t you answer when I called you this morning?”
He cleared his throat. “I must’ve been out with the horses.”
“You’re feeling better?”
He seemed reluctant to look at her. “I feel fine.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” She waved at the wrapped packages she’d brought. “Open your gifts. I’ve been anxious to see if you’re going to like what your father and I bought you. I love my new sewing machine, by the way. But you shouldn’t have spent so much.”
“I figured you could use it.”
“I can.”
He took her box out from under the rest and tore off the paper. When he lifted the lid, he glanced up at her in surprise. “N
ew boots?”
“They seemed perfect for you.”
He whistled. “I’ve never had a pair this nice.”
“Try them on.”
She knew he preferred simple to ornate and had selected a black leather pair that didn’t have snakeskin or anything too fancy. They were simple and masculine, like him.
“They fit,” he announced, standing up.
Barbara smiled proudly as she watched him walk across the room. It was tough to believe her oldest was nearly forty. What a great kid he’d always been. He’d gotten into a few scrapes when he was younger, of course. Most kids did. But he’d turned into a fine man.
Gratitude washed over her. She’d been afraid this would be a difficult Christmas with Lucky back in town, but Lucky hadn’t affected the holidays much at all. How could Barbara feel bad about anything with two such wonderful sons?
Getting up, she went over and hugged Mike. “I love you, you know that? You and Josh make me so proud.”
“Thanks, Mom,” he said, but his voice sounded a little choked and when she pulled away she thought she saw a flicker of anguish in his eyes.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.
He frowned and stared down at his boots. “Yeah.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LUCKY SPENT the next few hours cleaning house and worrying about Mike’s mother. She’d already vacuumed and dusted yesterday, before she started cooking, so the house wasn’t dirty. But mundane chores kept her busy on a day when everyone else was with family and the stores in town were closed.
She opened the cards from her brothers to find a fifty-dollar check from Sean and a Barnes & Noble gift certificate from Kyle, smiled at the pictures they’d sent of the kids and stuck everything in her wallet. Then she waited for Sean and Kyle’s call, which came mid-morning. She traded holiday sentiments with each brother, listened to her nieces and nephews talking excitedly about their presents and hung up, tired of housework but with the rest of the day yawning before her and nothing to do.
