A Heartwarming Christmas: A Boxed Set of Twelve Sweet Holiday Romances

by Melinda Curtis

  Cara had to admit she was using Tommy as a buffer to avoid being alone with Brady. Maybe, underneath, she didn’t want to hear the truth—if that’s what it was—and have to change her mind about him. She’d nursed her resentment so long it had become a habit.

  It was nearly dark when another car pulled into the lot. A flashy luxury sedan Cara had never seen before. Not likely a local, then. Why would a tourist, in Christmas Town to enjoy the holiday at the inn or at Esther’s B&B, want to buy a tree?

  The driver pushed open the door to the trailer, stepped in, and at first Cara couldn’t place him. Then she did. He wasn’t quite a stranger after all, and a sense of unease rolled through her.

  Tall and lean, he wore a beautifully tailored suit and topcoat with a scarf that looked expensive too around his neck. He still wore tortoise-shell glasses, as he had years ago, though they looked more stylish now. She hadn’t known him well then but…

  “Cara Crawford? It’s been a long time.” He was Tommy’s uncle.

  “He’s outside,” she said but he shook his head.

  “First, I want to thank you for getting Tommy out of jail. I stopped there on my way in from Boston and the sheriff told me you didn’t press charges. I appreciate that. He’s a good boy. Just needs some guidance—”

  Brady stepped into the trailer. “We sold more today than I—” he began then stopped when he saw Cara’s visitor. His gaze sharpened. “Doug Merrick,” he said.

  Doug looked equally stunned. “Brady. Didn’t know you were in town.”

  “Didn’t realize you’d take time from your busy life for a teenage boy.”

  Doug lifted a shoulder. “I knew his mother couldn’t help.”

  Cara watched them like someone at a tennis match, her gaze skipping back and forth until she felt dizzy. The tension in the air was as thick as a pea soup fog.

  Brady didn’t seem to realize she was even there. “So you’re stepping up, huh, Doug? This time?” He added, “I’ll go find Tommy for you.” Then he pushed past Doug Merrick and slammed out the door.

  ~*~

  Cara didn’t see Brady again until she locked up for the night. She felt him, though, suddenly, his broad-shouldered presence, and inhaled the scents of pine and fir he carried on his clothes.

  He didn’t mention Doug Merrick—which bothered her.

  “Tommy’s been a big help,” he said instead. “I think between us, we’ve started to turn him around. He’s not half bad at selling. He still has rough edges but while we’re bagging trees, we talk. He’s beginning to see a better life for himself.”

  Still wondering about Doug, she turned to thank him but Brady laid a hand across her lips. And Cara flashed back to the night they’d decorated her tree, shared hot chocolate and laughter and even inched closer to his version of the scandal that had hurt Beth. Briefly, she remembered, that had included Doug.

  “…buy you dinner,” Brady was saying now as if nothing had happened earlier. “Get your coat. If the kitchen’s already closed at the inn, I can get someone there to fix us a burger at least.”

  “Special privileges?”

  “I’m on pretty good terms with the staff.”

  Cara couldn’t refuse. She was starving and there was nothing at home in her fridge. Brady had helped with Tommy as well as with her trees. Still, she wasn’t about to overlook what he’d done to Beth—if, indeed, that was his fault. She sure wouldn’t let him do a number on her. She was curious, though. Maybe over a meal Brady would enlighten her about Doug too.

  Certainly this wasn’t a date. Was it?

  On the way across the street, this time Brady slipped an arm around her shoulders. The first night he hadn’t touched her yet he’d been ready to catch her then too if she fell.

  He didn’t lower his arm until they were inside the inn where the usual fire crackled on the hearth and Christmas was everywhere. A big tree dominated the front room and smaller trees—none of them from Cara’s lot—decorated the other public rooms on the first floor. Strings of clear lights seemed to drape every doorway, every window frame. Soft Christmas carols played throughout.

  The inn looked beautiful. Like her own tree at home now.

  The dining room was empty but a server soon appeared.

  “Dinner still available?” Brady asked.

  “If you order quickly, I can get it in for you.”

  “That works.” They picked a table by the front windows. Outside, by the front door the inn’s famed, ten-foot fir glowed with multi-colored lights as it did every year. Cara chose the upholstered chair opposite Brady and a glow from the candle in the window spread across his handsome features. “What’ll you have?”

  “I like their short ribs.” Not that she ate dinner at the inn very often. Even with her small inheritance from Beth and Cara’s part-time job at the local paper, she had to watch her pennies.

  He studied the menu. “Sounds good. There’s a nice Cabernet reduction with that and my personal favorite, the inn’s herbed mashed potatoes.”

  “Honeyed carrots tonight too,” she said.

  Brady smiled across the table, his deep blue eyes soft. “I think I’ve ordered everything else here. I’m trying not to think about my credit card statement this month.”

  Cara’s pulse leaped. “I shouldn’t add to that. Maybe just a burger, then.”

  “No, you won’t. We’re celebrating Tommy, a decent day at the office, so to speak, and you actually agreed to eat with me. I don’t care if the ribs are the most expensive item on this menu. In fact, I’m glad they are.”

  Cara too went with the short ribs. After they’d given the server their orders, Brady leaned back in his chair to study her.

  “What?” she finally said.

  “Why do you do that? Put yourself down about your writing. Try to slide by with the least amount of notice. Offer to pay people who simply want to help you. That would be me,” he said. “I mean, what happened twelve years ago shouldn’t affect you now. You weren’t even involved then.”

  “I saw what that did to Beth. At school I was bullied. My friends dumped me.”

  “So you went underground.”

  And told stories to herself behind closed doors, as he and Jill had pointed out. She couldn’t deny that.

  “That’s no way to live,” he said.

  Cara didn’t want to ruin dinner but she also didn’t need Brady’s advice. He’d always been cocky, sure of himself, and the scandal then had saddened but not surprised her. After that, like Tommy, Brady had gotten into trouble a few more times before graduation, and shortly after that he’d left town. In the years since, whenever he’d come back Cara hadn’t seen him. She’d made sure of that—until his truck had pulled into her lot days ago. And earlier, she’d had the feeling his reaction to Doug Merrick’s appearance was about far more than his concern for Tommy.

  “I see,” Cara finally said, feeling as if she were fighting for her life. “Then maybe I’ll become a forest ranger. A quarterback. Or, maybe I should buy a motorcycle?” But clearly her deliberate goading to protect herself wasn’t about to open him up. So she dared to add, “At least I didn’t cheat my way to my high school diploma.”

  “Neither did I.” Which was the most he’d ever said about that. Twice now. “You know what I said you should do. And what do you know about my red Ducati?”

  She spoke again before she thought. “You had two speeding tickets. And, according to local rumor, caused your mother to sprout more gray hairs.”

  He eyed her again. “You know a lot for someone who acts as if she doesn’t care.”

  Cara felt her cheeks turn hot. Could he tell how she really felt about him?

  Thank goodness, their food had been served and Brady focused on his dinner as if he knew Cara was waiting to hear his version of the truth.

  Still hungry, she began to eat. Their conversation had only increased her appetite for more than food. If only she had the courage to send out a story…and her curiosity about him was still there too. Lik
e the stubborn crush she couldn’t seem to kick.

  There was more to his story. And Doug Merrick. But Brady had clammed up again.

  ~*~

  After dinner, Brady walked her across the street to her car. Alone in the parking lot, it looked forlorn. The trailer was dark, though, and there were no suspicious fresh footprints on the steps. But ice crusted her windshield and she sighed.

  “It’s not even Christmas and I’m dreaming of summer.” She unlocked her door then reached inside for her scraper. In Maine, one was always at hand. “If I had more gumption, I’d move south to avoid the winter.” To run from the past and her troubled attraction to Brady.

  Whatever he’d left unsaid, she knew he hadn’t escaped his past either.

  He took the scraper from her.

  “I’m not used to being pampered,” she said.

  “That’s a shame.”

  Then he took her keys, got in and started the engine. While the car was warming, he got out again, set aside the scraper, and stood there, too near, looking into Cara’s eyes. From less than a foot away, she could feel his heat. It was in his eyes too, like when they’d decorated the tree and he’d later watched her at the lot.

  She started to step back, but Brady drew her away from the outside lights deeper into her forest, among the fragrant trees he loved. A light snow was falling again, and his arms around her felt way too good. When their bodies touched, she wanted to lean into him even more, to take his warmth inside. To absorb the pain he must feel too until he told her everything. And yet…

  “Brady,” she began because his close scrutiny made her nervous.

  “I was just remembering,” he mused. “Remembering…you. Long ago when I was the big-deal senior—for a while before I wasn’t any more—and you were, what? Fifteen?”

  “Fourteen.” Her heart skipped a beat. “You didn’t know me.”

  “No, not really, but I saw you. At your locker, laughing with your friends, walking home after school, once at a mixer—and I picked you out in the crowd at the homecoming game.”

  “I must have been waving a pompom,” she admitted.

  Brady half smiled. “I couldn’t ask you out then. I’d have been called a cradle robber on top of everything else they thought of me that next spring. You’d have been blamed right along with Beth.” He paused. “But I’ve never forgotten this oh-so-pretty face.” He hesitated. “Your sister knew,” he said.

  “Beth? She couldn’t have.” But if so, had she also known how Cara felt about him?

  “I wasn’t very good at hiding my interest,” he said, “even from afar.”

  “You’re hiding something now, Brady,” Cara murmured, wanting to change the subject, hoping he’d confide in her at last.

  “I’ll tell you but not tonight,” he said. “Not now. You seeing anyone?”

  “No,” she murmured.

  “Me either.”

  “I’ve kissed a few frogs,” Cara admitted, “but I haven’t met my prince.”

  He smiled then, his gaze on her lips. “Maybe you have.”

  His mouth was an inch from hers now, and then it wasn’t at all, and Brady was kissing her, softly, gently, nipping at her lower lip then settling his mouth on hers again. He even bent her back a little over his arm in the falling snow, a classic romantic pose.

  He’d known she was even alive twelve years ago? She had certainly noticed him.

  When she finally pulled away, Cara felt as if she’d been inside a cozy fire. No matter what he’d done, she wanted to stay there. Forever.

  Oh boy, she thought. I’m really in hot water now.

  Chapter 6

  After Cara’s taillights winked off into the distance, Brady marched back across the street. He went into the inn and headed for the bar. He didn’t need a drink but he knew he’d find Doug Merrick there.

  Doug was hunched over what appeared to be a mug of Christmas eggnog. Tonight he wore a more casual sweater and slacks instead of a suit. But he was still Doug.

  “Well, if this isn’t a touching class reunion,” Brady murmured.

  Doug turned. “What brought you back?”

  “Christmas,” he said, which was the easy answer. “The season of peace and love.” He could still taste Cara’s kiss, feel her softness in his arms. “And my dad isn’t well.” He frowned. “I decided if I didn’t make an effort to see him now, maybe I’d never see him, be able to talk to him, again.” Not that that was working out.

  Doug tilted his head toward the next stool. “Have a seat.”

  Brady sat then leaned his arms on the bar top.

  “I’m glad I came back,” Doug said. “If Tommy doesn’t straighten out soon, he’ll end up like his mother.” He gave Brady a look.

  “I made my mistakes—as my sister reminds me.” He’d trusted Doug. “So did you.”

  Doug had the good grace to look ashamed. “Hell, you know how it was then. My dad was already up to his eyeballs with my sister. Nothing’s changed there. He was counting on me. How could I let him down? I was going to Harvard, for pete’s sake. I had to keep things together—for his sake.”

  “Yours too,” Brady said. “But I was your friend. Your only friend, really.”

  Doug agreed. “There weren’t many people who believed the big man on campus would give a nerdy guy like me the time of day.”

  “You were a smart kid. I’m still grateful you got me through calculus. Just like Miss Crawford fired me up about English then debate club.” Cara had fired him up in a different way tonight and he hadn’t been the only one involved. Something to think about later. “So,” he said, “since we’re both here now—How was the ivy league?”

  He shrugged. “Majored in Economics. Magna Cum Laude.”

  “And after that? Pardon me if I haven’t followed your stellar career.”

  “Finance. Started my own hedge fund a few years ago.”

  “To make the big bucks,” Brady murmured.

  “I do all right.” He stared into his eggnog. “I hear you’re working at Acadia.”

  “Still far enough away, I guess, to suit my family. I was in Glacier.”

  “My father’s not the easiest person to spend a holiday with either,” Doug said. “I promised him I’d try to bridge the gap between him and Tommy’s mom, but I have to say I’m not looking forward to it. Neither is my wife. She won’t get here until Christmas Eve.” He added, “Your folks still blistered about what happened then?”

  “Small towns,” Brady murmured. “People don’t forget.”

  “But man, that was a dozen years ago. Why drag it around now?”

  Brady gaped at him. “Because I took the fall. For you.” He’d finally gotten his chance to tell Doug Merrick how he felt. Maybe he should have bypassed his family for now, told Cara everything first before he kissed her, but it was too late for that now. “How could you do that to me?”

  “Come on, Brady. Even I’ve changed. My dad doesn’t own me. I stand up for myself these days. And I have for years. It was high school—”

  “You threw me under the bus, Merrick. I lost and you got what you wanted.”

  The front door closed nearby and Doug gave Brady a look of bland innocence. “You were the one who took that final exam off Crawford’s desk the day before.”

  “Yeah, I did but—”

  He didn’t get to finish. Brady glanced over his shoulder.

  And saw Cara standing there.

  ~*~

  If only she hadn’t changed her mind halfway home the other night then turned around to drive back to the inn, intent upon getting the truth for herself from Brady. But then Cara had walked right into his past—and Doug Merrick.

  She glanced again at the yard in front of the trailer. She’d double-checked the parking lot minutes ago. But Brady’s big black truck wasn’t there. Like the past two days, he hadn’t come in to help, but thankfully Tommy was outside, gliding in and out among the trees, trying to help any last customers.

  Tomorrow was the holiday she h
adn’t intended to celebrate.

  After the night Brady had kissed her, she felt the same way again.

  You were the one who took that exam off Crawford’s desk.

  So it was true, then. Had been true all along.

  Cara hadn’t heard anything more, but that was enough. It seemed all the worse now because she’d come to more than like Brady, beyond her stubborn crush, to see him as a good man…maybe, yes, even her prince. It was lucky she hadn’t told him so.

  She tried to shake off her mood. She didn’t have time to brood or to crawl into her hidey-hole again. Today, for one last day, there was work to be done.

  Another couple had just come looking for a tree, but Tommy was busy giving the spiel he’d perfected with Brady’s help to someone else. Cara hoped Brady had been right, and she was too, that Tommy would be okay.

  She pulled her parka’s zipper up against the cold, stuffed both gloved hands into her pockets then went outside. “May I help you find something?”

  But the couple didn’t welcome her assistance. Some people simply wanted to wander, examining and rejecting then finally choosing a tree on their own. And that was fine with Cara. She could do more business that way with a minimal staff. Meaning her and Tommy. Without Brady, Cara was short-handed.

  Then the luxury sedan she’d seen once before turned into her parking area, and Doug Merrick got out with an elegant woman. “We need a tree. Not too big,” the woman said. “My father-in-law’s condo isn’t large.”

  “Something that fits in a corner,” Doug added, clearly pretending he hadn’t talked to Cara a few days ago.

  For the next half hour, while the sky turned from bright blue to an opalescent gray, she showed them every mid-sized tree on her lot. Drifting from one to the next, through the neat rows of various types Brady had better grouped to sell, she gave a fair imitation of his sales pitch. Yet nothing seemed to satisfy both the Merricks. And Doug was all but twitching.

  “Honey,” he said, “why don’t you pick what you like? We don’t have to agree.” He turned to Cara. “Got a minute?”