Christmas, Texas Style: Four Texas Babies\A Texan Under the Mistletoe\Merry Texmas by Tina Leonard

Author:Tina Leonard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Already stiff and sore by that evening, Lori used the shovel as if it were a walking stick to help her climb the two steps to Jackson’s front porch, then leaned on it as she knocked on his door.

Okay, returning the shovel Jackson had lent her was an excuse to come see him tonight. But she wanted the chance to talk to him alone about the compromise she’d decided on while down in the ditch—that they would hold the potluck dinner and dance in his family’s barn, only she would do the decorating herself. And after he’d shown an interest in her love life, albeit casual, she’d begun to hope that maybe more than the water main could be mended around here. So she had fixed her grandpa a casserole, and hopped in her car.

Unfortunately, her nerves had decided to go on a rampage the moment she’d steered her red Subaru Forester around the north pond. It was a tidy oiled-gravel drive, that had once been nothing more than a cow trail and Jackson’s two-story home soon came into view.

He’d built it without cutting down the old oak they’d spent hours sitting under, instead tucking the roof of the wraparound porch beneath the tree’s canopy as if house and tree had grown up together. When she’d approached the porch, an odd, prickling sensation had started on the back of her neck, joining in with the nervous tumble in her stomach.

Maybe because there wasn’t a holiday decoration in sight. No wreath, lights, nothing. Very, very un-Hooper-like.

The large but almost cabinlike house was extremely masculine, rustically finished with a dark stain that furthered the impression of cohesion with the tree. She shifted her attention to the two Adirondack chairs on the porch. Much more appropriate to Jackson’s size and personality than the rockers or swing on his mother’s porch.

Who joined him to watch the sun glint off the pond on a lazy summer evening? Who did he get sticky with out here? Heartache and longing seeped through her, compromising her emotional strength just as the flood had compromised so many buildings in Hooper Creek.

Unlike Jackson’s mother, her grandfather had been remiss in keeping her up-to-date on Jackson’s romantic liaisons. She racked her brain for who among the ladies in the area might be single, either still or again, but the door swung open and she was greeted by the sight of Jackson’s bare chest.

Her mind went utterly blank, then as quickly filled with signals from pretty much every female part of her. And she became very aware of the snug fit of her light blue fleece pullover top and her well-worn jeans.

Goodness, but he had filled out since she’d seen him last. With nothing but muscle. His shoulders, his pecs, his stomach, were all well defined and rock solid. If she’d needed proof of how hard he’d been working since the flood, he’d just given it to her.

She blurted, “Jeez, Jackson, you’re ripped.”

An eyebrow twitched upward. He stared at her for a moment.

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