“They do it every year,” Jared explained. “It’s become one of their biggest fundraisers.”
“I’d love to take Madison. Or, if you want to go…” Nicki let the invitation dangle, knowing full well she could be in deep trouble for putting him on the spot. Or for mentioning it in front of Maddy. Still, she wouldn’t be here forever, and when she was gone, there needed to be some kind of compromise between father and daughter. “I think it would be good for us, and so much fun. They’re having Christmas carolers and sleigh rides and Santa Claus.”
Jared stared at his plate.
“Can we, Daddy?” The anticipation in Maddy’s voice was palpable. “Can’t we see the reindeer, Daddy?”
“Maddy, this is the busiest time of year for me.”
Maddy’s face fell.
Nicki intervened. “Or…if you’d rather take her…” she suggested softly, “without me…”
Jared’s head swiveled, as if her suggestion had caught him off guard. He slowly leaned back into his chair, crumpling his linen napkin beside his plate as he thoughtfully regarded Nicki. She experienced the same uneasy feeling she’d had the day he’d fired her from the store. “Somehow you keep making me make choices,” he said, his voice low. “Are you goading me or prodding me?”
“No, I’ll take her,” Nicki said quickly, avoiding the question. “I’d love to. But I thought it might be something you’d like to enjoy with her.”
Maddy, who couldn’t have cared less which adult escorted her, jumped into the fray. “Daddy, come on! Can I go? I want to see Santa’s reindeer! Nicki taught me all their names. Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen—”
“Enough, enough.” Jared held up a hand, stopping her before pinning Nicki with a see-what-you’ve-started glance. Before she could object, he growled, “This is the busiest time of the year at the store, everyone knows that.”
Nicki and Madison looked at their plates and fell silent.
“And because of that, I think,” Jared went on, his tone subtly changing, “that we should take some time off. Let’s go tonight. All of us. Nobody stays home. I declare this a Gillette family holiday.”
Maddy’s jaw dropped. “Can Irene go, too?” she asked.
“No way,” Irene announced, coming in from the kitchen. “They got themselves one smelly monkey house, I can tell you. So don’t get the idea you’re gonna drag my poor, arthritic bones around for them pleasantries. Now, the three of you want to go off and have a good time, I’m all for it.” She skimmed Jared with a pointed gaze. “Prob’ly be good for you, too.”
Jared slid his chair back from the table and started to rise. He picked up his plate and glass. “We’ll help clean up the dinner dishes, and then go.”
The housekeeper took them from him. “Just get out of here, and quit crowdin’ up my kitchen, will ya? Skedaddle. Go on with ya. Go on and have some fun, you kids.”
Nicki and Jared exchanged glances.
“Yeah!” Maddy shouted, jumping from the table to run up the stairs to her room to get her coat.
The housekeeper bustled a load of dishes out of the room.
“Well…if we’re going,” Nicki said, “I suppose we should think about warmer clothes. I’ll get Maddy’s snowsuit and—”
“St. Nick?” Jared stopped her, laying a hand on her arm.
Nicki’s heart beat a staccato rhythm, and she was insanely conscious of his aftershave, the cuff links at his wrist, the cleft of his chin. She’d become so used to him calling her St. Nick she’d never even given it a second thought. But he hadn’t touched her, not even in passing, in a week. And it was impossible to not remember his last intimate touch. “Yes?”
“Indulge me. Wear the red wool. I’ve never seen you in it.”
“Excuse me?” Her mouth went dry. Conscious they were sharing the first real conversation alone since the night he’d brought the bottle of wine to her room, her gaze strayed to his lips. He’d left her with a need, an insatiable, man-woman kind of need—yet she knew he’d never acknowledge it. He’d go about his life, pretending this thing they had between them wasn’t there.
Inside she felt fuller. Having him touch her again made her feel as though she belonged, as if she was an integral part of a family who cared about her.
“The coat,” he prompted. “It just seems so appropriate. What with the reindeer, and the sleigh rides, and all.”
She paused. “You actually want to be reminded of the fiasco that brought us together?”
The hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth. “Of course. You’ll always be my lady in red,” he said softly.
“Ho, ho, ho,” Nicki whispered conspiratorially. But deep inside, her heart raced. He’d remembered, and he acknowledged it, and that in itself was something.
They went to see the monkeys first. It was, Madison declared, exactly as the housekeeper had said—smelly. But that didn’t dampen their enthusiasm. They strolled down paths lit by hundreds of luminaries, the overhead tree branches strung with thousands of twinkling lights. Madison walked between them, clinging to their hands and skipping with uncontained excitement.
Nicki felt herself genuinely laughing for the first time in weeks. The diversion was just what she’d needed. Still, it was agony, as the glow of the lights only made Jared look that much more handsome, that much more appealing. For a few moments she bought into the fantasy, wishing desperately that they were a real family, that he was just your average guy off the street.
There was a decided disadvantage in being attracted to the most sought-after bachelor in Winter Park, the man who had been brought up to believe the Gillette millions were nothing less than tradition. He couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized, and the same people who nodded at him wound up giving her a curious once-over.
“We need peanuts,” he suggested, stopping at a vendor’s cart. He bought the biggest bag, then passed them around.
Nicki crunched open the shell, then tasted. “These are incredible,” she marveled. “I’ve never had hot, roasted peanuts.”
He chuckled and offered her another handful from the bag.
“Do monkeys really like peanuts?” Madison asked, struggling to open the shell.
“Only monkeys like you,” came Jared’s quick reply.
“Daddy. Quit it. You tease all the time.”
“Do not.
“Do, too.”
“Do not.”
“Daddy!”
He laughed. “You know what we need? A sleigh ride,” he said, ushering them to the entrance. “That would make tonight just about perfect.”
They immediately bought tickets for the longest ride, and stood in line. For fifteen minutes they laughed and teased and ate peanuts, and acted like a regular family. Nicki relished every moment, savoring it, and imprinting everything about Jared, about the night, on her memory.
“We can squeeze you into the next cutter, sir, if that’s okay,” the attendant said when they were at the head of the line, “but I’ll have to put your daughter in the front seat, with the two ahead of you.”
“Fine.” Jared stepped back for his daughter and Nicki to precede him.
A driver, wearing a dark overcoat and a tall stovepipe hat, pulled the red cutter next to the platform where they waited. Two huge Belgian horses stamped impatiently, their rumps quivering. The breath from their nostrils curled in the cold night air.
The attendant seated the two college students ahead of them, then swung Madison up and into the front seat beside them. She was ecstatic and waved over her shoulder at Nicki and her dad.
“The back seat’s kind of small,” the attendant apologized, offering Nicki his hand.
She stepped down into the floor of the cutter and realized, what with Jared’s long length, it was going to be a very tight fit. When he stepped in behind her, his knee bumped her thigh, making her sway.
“Sorry,” he said, his hand going to her elbow to steady her.
“I’m fine,” she said, trying to repulse the
feelings he’d elicited. “Really.”
She sat, smoothing her coat, and Jared awkwardly wedged himself in beside her. His wide shoulders seemed to have no place to go. “Um…” He lifted an arm over her head, resting it on the back of the seat. “How’s that?”
The space opened up, and their bodies instinctively adjusted, melding together on the tiny button-tufted seat. Thigh against thigh, his chest pinned to her side. The heavy weight of his forearm protectively circled her, and his gloved hand dangled just above her breast. “Fine,” she replied, unconsciously using his pat response, and wiggling deeper into the seat. “You sure you have enough room?”
He nodded. She fit beneath his shoulder as though she belonged there, he mused, studying her bent head, the sensuous curve of her mouth.
“A lap robe, sir,” the attendant offered, automatically putting it over their laps and tucking it firmly around them.
The sense of intimacy increased. Their combined body heat rose uncomfortably.
In front of them, Madison again turned on the seat. “Oh, Daddy, isn’t this fun?”
His face felt tight, his smile freezing in place as he nodded. His body teemed with heat as his desire for Nicki became a driving force that addled his mind and pushed his imagination into overdrive.
His fingertips brushed the red wool coat, dangerously close to the peak of her breast. Beneath his hand, he felt Nicki stiffen.
“Peanut shells,” he explained.
Nicki’s shoulders relaxed.
The double-breasted coat offered a mere hint of the curvy front of the woman nestled against him, but Jared’s mind’s eye envisioned the swing of her breasts and the dark, inviting valley between them. He remembered her warmth, her softness. It was agony to sit this close and to treat her with such casual indifference.
The driver cracked the whip, mostly for show, and yelled, “Hey up, Belle! Clementine!”
The sleigh lurched forward and Nicki’s head whiplashed, bouncing off his forearm.
The circle of his arm tightened, and he became vaguely aware of the cold air rushing against his face, the oppressive warmth beneath the lap robe.
“Oh, Jared,” Nicki breathed, “look.”
He followed the direction of her gloved hand to an elaborately decorated gingerbread house beside the trail. The air became intoxicatingly heavy with the lingering scent of ginger and spices. He leaned closer, to her side, and added a delightful whiff of herbal shampoo to the mix. He didn’t notice the exquisite siding of mock gumdrops and lemon drops and peppermint twists, but saw that, up close and under the light, Nicki’s hair was a curious color combination of mocha and maple.
She turned to him, and a wispy length of her hair brushed his sleeve. Without thinking, he reached over to smooth it, stroking the fine curls back into place.
Her expression changed. Self-consciously threading her fingers through her hair, she tried to finger comb the curls. “I should have worn a hat,” she muttered, her brow puzzled.
He was inordinately glad she hadn’t.
The driver urged the horses to the right, onto the established riding trails in the accompanying park. They rode for a quarter of a mile into the heart of the woods. Snow crunched beneath the runners as the noisy activity of the zoo disappeared behind them. They entered a clearing, and the rolling snow resembled a vast white tundra.
“Look up,” Jared whispered against Nicki’s temple.
Nicki did. Her head dropped back against his arm, and her lips parted, her mouth forming a round, silent “Oh.”
A million stars flickered like strobe lights in the blue-black sky. For as far as the eye could see, there was only the incredible magnificence of nature. Trees stood like sentinels to the sky, their dark canopy protecting the endless carpet of pristine-crystal snow.
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” Nicki said, her voice filled with wonder.
Jared scanned her perfect features. “Neither have I,” he said truthfully. He wanted to kiss her so badly that he physically ached.
It would be so easy, so painless. To fall off the wagon—or, in this case, a sleigh—for a millisecond in time. He imagined floundering in the powder-soft snow, her body beneath him. Her laughter as they wrestled, teasing each other with handfuls of cold snow and warm, sensuous kisses.
As they left the glade Jared regretted their return to civilization. It was so much better to be set apart, to be isolated and freed from the burdens that gripped him. The two minutes he’d spent in the glade, feeling warm and cold at the same time, were liberating. No onlookers, no memories, no hopes, and no future. Just the incredible sense of the present, and all it offered.
He should have taken advantage of it. He should have kissed her, and touched her, and fate be damned.
They whisked past the toy village, and the pond where skaters made figure eights on the ice.
“I never got to do things like this when I was growing up,” Nicki confided, snuggling deeper under the lap robe.
Jared grimaced, and barely heard, convinced she had no idea of the discomfort her stirrings created for him.
“As I mentioned earlier, after my dad left my mom worked as a waitress. We always had a lot of leftovers at our house, but not much else. Certainly not money. We didn’t do things like this.” He smiled, but only because she’d made light of it. “My mom married again, though, when I was in college. And he was the nicest guy. Good-hearted and generous. He kind of rekindled my faith in the opposite sex.”
Jared glanced down at her. “You still keep in touch with him?”
“Well, no…that’s the sad part of the story,” she said. “He was a trucker, and the first year they were married he was killed when his rig overturned outside of Atlanta. My mom was just devastated. It’s what made her move here to Winter Park. To get another job…. To keep busy…you know.”
“I’m sorry, Nicki. It surprises me, every time I learn how much has happened to you.”
“But that was a wonderful year, and I’ll never regret any of it. Joe and my mom would have loved a sleigh ride like this.”
Jared briefly let his forehead slip against hers. “Then we’ll enjoy it for them,” he promised, “and for my parents who couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t? What do you mean?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I was a late-in-life child, and my parents were old school. They had a reputation to protect and an impression to honor. They didn’t do much in public; they didn’t like to be seen anywhere but at the country club and within their closed circle of friends. My dad used to joke that he employed half of Winter Park, he couldn’t afford to know them.”
“I see,” she teased. “That’s where you get your tough-guy attitude.”
“Tough guy, hell. That’s business acumen.” The clip-clop of the Belgians slowed and Jared sensed their ride was about to end. He didn’t want that, he wanted to go around forever. “Think we should go around again?”
“No, I might tell you more of my secrets,” Nicki said. “I don’t know what makes me talk so much around you. I’ve probably told you far more of my past than you ever wanted to know.”
“Actually, I enjoy it. A little insight in what brought you to me, on that street corner, all those weeks ago.”
“Foolishness is what brought me there. I shouldn’t have been so stubborn to hold out for the bus, I know that now. I should have called a cab, or—”
“No, I’m glad you did. If you hadn’t, we wouldn’t be sharing this sleigh ride. And, if I remember correctly, you promised me your sleigh was going to come in. Well, St. Nick,” he said, looking around, “I guess it did.”
Chapter Ten
They wandered into the gift shop, only because they were reluctant to see the evening end.
“Look at this, Madison,” Nicki said, “crayons in the shape of all the zoo animals. There’s a giraffe, an elephant, a bear. Even a penguin.”
Madison gave the crayons a cursory glance, but kept turning the revolving rack of stickers. Nicki guesse
d that Madison was getting tired, and started to make the move to get her toward the door. Jared had run into an old high school friend and was visiting with him.
“Shall we zip up our coats, Maddy? Call it a day?”
“No. I want to go over there, to see the stuffed animals,” she whined.
Nicki shot Jared a glance. He was still visiting, and oblivious to the fact Madison was wearing down. What could it hurt to keep her busy? “Okay. A few minutes then.”
They wandered down aisles and aisles of plush pets. Big ones, small ones, everything, in every color.
“Oh, m’gosh!” Madison crooned. “Look at this teddy bear. I love him…oh, Nicki, look.” The bear was big enough to sit on, and Madison promptly did so, perching on his leg and cuddling against his plaid vest.
“Maddy,” Nicki warned, “you probably shouldn’t—”
“I want this teddy bear,” Madison said plaintively.
Nicki turned over the tag, wondering if the massive plush toy was even for sale. “Maddy, this is really a lot of money.”
“So what? My daddy’s rich. He can buy it for me. He can buy me anything I want!” Madison’s voice rose, drowning out the other shoppers.
Nicki flushed. “Maddy. You’re being loud.”
Maddy glared at her.
They were at a standoff and Nicki knew it was up to her to get the child out of the pique. “Come on,” she said softly. “Let’s go find your daddy.”
Madison shook her head and clung to the bear for dear life.
Nicki debated, fully aware that Jaws of Life rescue tools wouldn’t be able to pry Maddy loose. “Madison, Christmas is coming and you never know what surprises Santa Claus has for you. Be a good girl now, and—”
“What’s up?” Jared said from behind her right shoulder.
“I want this bear!” Madison demanded.
“She seems to have this idea that—”
“I’ll play with it, Daddy. Really.”
He laughed. “Madison, that bear wouldn’t even fit in my car. You’d need a truck to haul it home.”
The Nanny & Her Scrooge Page 11
