Christmas Kisses for a Dollar by Laurie Paige

Author:Laurie Paige
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

6

Anne sighed happily at five that afternoon. Unbelievably, the flower beds were all replanted in a glorious mix of fall colors. Instead of the more formal aspect of the earlier planting, this one was a riot of double and triple blooms.

She’d chosen a rainbow effect, going from white to yellow, orange, red, magenta to almost black, using variegated plants to make the transition from one color to another.

“I like it better,” Ellen declared. “The effect is stunning, simply stunning.”

A group of kids, led by the teenagers who’d proven their worth that day, had smoothed and replaced the grass divots so that the lawn looked pretty good, too. It would be fine when the judges arrived, Anne thought. She sighed again.

Jon stretched and rotated his shoulders, working out the kinks. Like most of the young men, he’d removed his shirt while working. He stood with his legs planted apart, his hands on his hips as he checked the flower beds, and nodded in approval.

He looked like a warrior, she thought—proud and brave, tested by battle and grown wise with time.

She’d watched him with the young people. He’d directed them in a no-nonsense manner, yet he’d treated them as people with ideas and thoughts of their own that were worth sharing. He’d make a good father.

A stillness developed inside her, and a picture formed in her mind of Jon with a son, teaching him all the things a man needed to know. She forced the image away.

She wasn’t going to think of him that way. Whatever kind of father he would someday become was no business of hers.

Turning toward the workers who now sprawled in tired poses on the courthouse steps or in the grass, she thanked them for their help and told them to keep their fingers crossed regarding the beautification contest.

“Thanks for being the hero of the day,” she said softly to Jon. She let her eyes feast on him for another second before dragging her gaze away.

“Some hero,” he scoffed with becoming modesty.

A surge of affection washed over her. She’d never met a man with so many endearing traits. “You saved my life when the bull charged. I didn’t know what to do.”

“You repaid that when you distracted him from goring me.”

She laughed. “So we’re both wonderful.”

“Yeah.” And he just looked at her.

“See you later.” She walked home, aware of the fatigue that throbbed in her arms and legs, the heaviness in her chest.

At the house, she took two aspirin, then soaked in a tub of the hottest water she could stand.

Thirty minutes later, she slipped on a long cotton-knit nightgown and went into the kitchen. She wondered what Jon was having for supper. After eating a simple dish of pasta and fresh vegetables, she watched the news on TV and skimmed through a magazine. The house seemed lonely.

Her father had given the place to her when he’d had to make his headquarters in New York a few years ago. He was coming home for Christmas this year, but she wasn’t sure what day he would arrive.

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