The Cowboy's Gift-Wrapped Bride by Victoria Pade

Author:Victoria Pade
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2000-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Once again the sleigh was the mode of transportation as the McDermots and Jenn headed out to cut down a Christmas tree at one o’clock that afternoon. Only this time Kate McDermot, little Andrew and Evie Lee were also onboard.

Matt took the reins again and he and Jenn shared the front bench with both kids, Evie Lee sitting between them and Andrew on Matt’s lap.

Matt was good with them, Jenn realized as she watched him fueling their excitement with talk of Santa Claus and letting them each hold the reins to get a feel for them. And not only was he good with the kids, he genuinely seemed to be enjoying them.

He should have children of his own someday, she thought, recalling his comment the night before about wanting them. He’d be a great dad.

She just didn’t want to think of his being a great dad to any kids who weren’t also hers.

And even though that was an unrealistic, premature and inappropriate thought to begin with, today it seemed even more far-fetched because, unless she was mistaken, he was keeping his distance from her.

Not that he wasn’t every bit as attentive and friendly and nice. There was just something slightly remote about him since they’d met up in the kitchen for breakfast. After breakfast he’d gone to do chores in the barn, leaving her on her own with his sisters-in-law and Kate until lunchtime. And at lunchtime he hadn’t made a point of sitting beside her in the breakfast nook the way he’d done for every other meal they’d had there.

It was the kiss that had made the difference. Jenn was sure of it. Hadn’t he said he shouldn’t have done it? Obviously he’d meant it. So now he was rectifying the situation that had developed between them.

And although intellectually Jenn knew without a doubt that that was exactly the right thing to do, she still suffered deep, deep pangs of disappointment that he wasn’t crossing those boundaries she’d talked herself into believing they needed to abide by.

It helped a little that she didn’t think it was easy for him to keep that distance, though. Because more than once she’d caught him watching her when he didn’t think she was looking. Studying her with eyes that almost seemed hungry. And when they’d all begun to climb into the sleigh, he’d reached for her waist with both hands to help her up and then snapped them back and barely taken her elbow instead, as if a force of willpower at the last moment had kept him in line.

So maybe, she told herself, if they were both of a like mind when it came to cooling things off between them, they’d have more success at it.

Which should have been encouraging.

But for some reason, as he drove the sleigh across snow-covered fields and the sound of his voice joking with his niece and nephew was all around her, it felt just the opposite.

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