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  She glanced at him again, under her long fiery lashes, before moving past him, holding up the bundle in her hands. “I was just going to replace the linens.”

  She closed the bathroom door behind her before he could respond.

  Chapter Two

  When Jessica returned downstairs, Ben was waiting for her, his hand on the banister. He was dressed in a black button-up and tight European-style jeans. He’d combed back his black hair, and it stayed that way because it was still wet. He looked sleek and sure of himself, a lazy smile on his bow-shaped lips.

  “My lady, the parents of the house request our presence at the dinner table.” He swooped out his arm with a flourish, twirling his hand and taking a mock bow.

  She giggled and slipped her fingers into his palm, her nerves tingling at the touch. He led her to the dining room, rubbing the back of her hand with the pad of his thumb. Every muscle in her body tightened at his movements.

  “A true family dinner?”

  Ben stopped and turned her toward him. “Is there any other way?” he asked.

  Jessica thought about it. She was an only child, and before her parents had died, they’d treated the Christmas holiday like any other time. Sure, on the day itself, there had been presents, maybe a few carols, but certainly no special dinners. No visiting with relatives, either. That had been completely out of the question. Her father didn’t have any family, and while her mother had a brother who lived a half hour away, just outside Boston, they didn’t speak. Even the mention of Uncle Travis’ name had put her mother in a huff. Jessica had learned early on that she would never meet her family, that she shouldn’t want to. She only knew she had some young cousins from the note Travis had written her after the funeral. Whatever had happened in those years before Jessica had been born, it was unforgivable.

  A throat cleared from the other room, and Jessica found Harold staring at them from his spot at the head of the table. She felt sure he would reprimand them for stalling until the stern lines of his face softened into a smile.

  “It’s time to eat,” he said gently, “but before you head over here, look up.”

  Hanging above their head was a sprig of white berries and dark green leaves, tied to a hook on a string.

  “The mistletoe?” she asked.

  Harold nodded. Strong arms drew her close. Of all the ways she could have spent the Christmas season, she’d never imagined she’d be in the arms of a dark, handsome stranger, sharing a kiss.

  Ben lowered his mouth to hers slowly, stretching her anticipation to its limit. With his lips almost to hers, he whispered, “Is this okay?”

  She answered by closing the gap between them, pressing her mouth to his. The firm warmth of him tasted of nutmeg and wine, and the touch left her dizzy. Ben’s hands tightened around her lower back, and she felt a coiling pressure deep in her belly. He released her far too soon, and her senses swirled.

  “Thank you,” she said then immediately cursed her silly statement.

  Ben laughed. “No,” he said, “thank you. This is turning out to be the merriest Christmas I’ve ever had.”

  * * * *

  “So, are you back for good?” Harold asked him as they cut into their meals.

  “I’m definitely back for a while,” Ben said, looking at his father. “If that’s okay.”

  “More than okay,” his mother almost sang. “We missed you so much!”

  “Well, we’ve had Jessica to help us,” Harold reminded her gently. Jessica smiled tightly at them in reply. “I just hope there’s enough food to feed everyone through the winter, and enough oil to keep them warm.” His face took on a tired look as he uttered the words.

  “Your kindness to me has been unimaginable these past four months,” she offered. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

  Harold laughed, breaking out of the somber mood. “Your work here has been a hundred times more thorough than Ben’s ever was. Plus, you make a mean peach pie. He can’t even make a mud pie!”

  “Hey!” Ben jokingly protested as the table erupted in laughter.

  The sounds of the silverware tapping on plates took over as they each ate their fill.

  Ben watched Jessica from across the table. She ate sparingly, obviously lost in thought. Her attempts to remain part of the conversation were valiant, but he could tell she felt as if she were an uninvited guest at a family dinner. He knew it was his fault she felt that way. Had he not shown up, the three of them would be eating and celebrating together as a family unit. It wasn’t right that his arrival had interrupted that. With his parents fawning over him as if he were the prodigal son, of course, Jessica would feel the odd one out.

  He noticed her fingering something around her neck. In an effort to involve her, he asked her about it. When her fingers fell back to her plate and her eyes rested on his nervously, he felt the air whoosh out of his lungs. Rings. Wedding rings. Well, there went his Christmas plans.

  “Oh,” he said, trying to keep the disappointment from his voice. “You’re married. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  Her laughter took him by surprise. The sad quality to it broke his heart, and he didn’t even know why.

  “Married? No. These were my mother’s. She and my dad died in a care accident last year, and I was left with express instructions to keep them safe. It’s turning out to be a bit more difficult than one would think.”

  “So sorry for your loss,” Ben murmured, reaching across the table to touch her hand.

  “That’s the most you’ve ever told us about yourself,” Ellie bubbled, trying to lighten the mood. “And here we thought you were in witness protection or something.”

  Jessica shook her head, which loosened the tie around her hair, causing the copper ringlets to spring forward. She brushed them back to no avail.

  “Oh, no, nothing so daring. Right before I left, someone wrecked my apartment. I assume it was my uncle looking for the rings. When I got there and saw my stuff everywhere, I just took off. I’d been looking for a change anyway. There’s nothing in Boston to keep me there, and it was lonely after my parents passed. Everything there reminded me of them. It was as if I were stuck in slow motion, day in and day out. The apartment thing just gave me the push I needed to make a move.” She straightened her shoulders and gave them a small smile. “I’m glad I did it.”

  “Your uncle ransacked your apartment?”

  “Well,” she hedged, “I thought so. Now, I’m not so sure.”

  Ellie reached around the square table’s corner and patted her arm. “That’s a pretty big accusation. I’m glad you’re rethinking it. Have you talked to him at all?”

  Jessica shook her head. “I’ve never talked to him. We’re estranged. He wrote me a note after my parents passed and mentioned the rings. Said he needed the money from them. It wasn’t threatening or anything, just really odd. Who could bring up money at a time like that? And like I said, I don’t even know him. So, yeah, it could have been him. But I never checked into it.” She frowned briefly before brightening. “Everything here is so much simpler, so much nicer.”

  “Oh, we’ve got our problems, child,” Harold said. “Like this one.” He punched Ben lightly in the shoulder. “He’s got some explaining to do about why he thought it was okay to just abandon us here without so much as a ‘hello, how are you’ for months at a time.”

  “I’m sorry about that, Dad—”

  Harold held up his hand, cutting him off. “But now is not the time for that. Now is a time of celebration. Family is one of life’s greatest joys and shouldn’t be tarnished. You know we love you, son.”

  Ben nodded and shot a glance at Jessica. Her pale skin brought out the natural pink of her lips—lips that just minutes ago were kissing his own. The ease in which he could picture her as part of their family frightened him. He’d only just met her. Was there such a thing as love at first sight, after all?

  She seemed so strong for all her fear, so capable in spite of her troubles. Sure, she’d run away
from them, but hadn’t he done that as well? The only difference between them was that she was succeeding where he had failed. She was making a new life for herself from scratch, with no support, no money and nothing but hope and faith in herself.

  * * * *

  The sky was inky black when Jessica awoke at four a.m. to head to the barn. Harold had a sick cow that needed tending, day in and day out. She got ready as quickly as possible, throwing on some old trousers and a beat-up, navy-blue sweatshirt before pulling her woolen socks up to her knees to guard her skin from the frigid outside air. The window panes were etched in lacy ice patterns. Grabbing her flashlight and some old blankets, she headed for the door and put on her boots at the very last second so as not to awaken Ben in the living room.

  The wind bit at her neck through the handmade scarf her mother had made her the Christmas before she passed. Head down, Jessica concentrated on her heartbeat and the way her footsteps crunched through the snow. She had to keep her mind off the cold. And off Ben.

  The dashing young man had haunted her dreams during the night. In her mind, she was back on the east coast, but eating dinner with the uncle she’d never met. Her mind, having only a childhood photograph of the man to work with, made him a male version of her mother. She felt a confused closeness to him in the dream. Then her uncle had turned crazed and started breaking dishes. He’d flipped the table. As she’d fled, Ben had caught her by the arm, ever the dark, dashing young stranger he was in real life. They’d run off together, but before she’d found out where they were headed, her alarm had woken her up.

  Shaking his ice-blue eyes from her mind, she cracked open the barn door, bracing the heavy wood with her hip as she fumbled with the blankets. Suddenly, the pressure gave way, and she tumbled inside, landing in a heap. She shrieked, dropping her supplies and throwing up her hands.

  “Ow!” a male voice said from underneath her. “So this is what I get for trying to be a gentleman?”

  “Ben? What are you doing? I’m sorry. I didn’t expect anyone to be here, and you startled me.” She moved to get up, but he grabbed her wrist and shook his head at her.

  “It’s okay.” He smiled, and her heart fluttered. She became aware of the acute heat coming off him. “You looked like you were having trouble with the door. I thought I was helping.”

  “Probably would have been more helpful if you had spoken first.” She gave him a lopsided grin, feeling awkward atop him.

  “I’m not used to having anyone tend to the barn other than me,” he said.

  “Me neither,” she replied quickly. She wondered if the Elkers would no longer need her now that Ben had returned. Her salary was small, but it was still money going out. Their son could do everything she did and more. Probably better. He’d grown up doing it. Panic seized her for a moment, as she questioned whether or not they would let her go. An unemployed Minnesota winter did not sound appealing.

  “You’ve got me there.” Ben’s laughing voice pulled her back to the present. “You’re nice and warm, too,” he murmured, sliding his arms around her waist, inside her jacket, but not onto her skin.

  She shivered at the contrast in temperature and at the fact he was touching her. “Are you always this ready for a roll in the hay?” She pointed to the bales sitting, iced over, in the corner.

  Ben tightened his arms around her, which lowered her face so it was mere inches from his. He caught her gaze and held it, and Jessica felt lost in the swirling depths of them, just barely lighted with the incoming dawn.

  “No,” he said, tilting his head just slightly. “You?”

  “Never,” she said. Her voice had a throaty quality to it that flustered her.

  Ben came up, closing the remaining space between them and kissed her full on the mouth. Jessica’s eyelids fluttered shut, the heat of Ben’s lips on hers blotting out the cold seeping through her winter garb to her skin. She kissed him back tentatively at first, not wanting her physical attraction to carry her away.

  Ben broke contact to spread feathery touches on her cheeks and eyelids. His hands caressed her lower back under her coat, and she let herself sink down into him. He lightly kissed the corners of her mouth, making her lips demand his, and she turned her head seeking more. She let the fiery passion loose then, opening to his questing tongue and allowing his sweeping movements to dizzy her. In that kiss, she lost herself, forgot her troubles. There was only Ben, strange and perfect Ben.

  He rolled her over to her back, and the cold mud floor of the barn felt hard against her spine. Her hair splayed around her shoulders, and she tilted her head to bury her cold nose in the warmth of his neck. He smelled of spice and cinnamon, just like his mother’s kitchen but with a slight musk to make the scent his own.

  “We should stop,” she murmured, cursing the words even as she said them. She didn’t want to stop. She wanted to open herself to him, forget herself, feel a man inside of her again. It had been so long since she’d felt an attraction like this.

  Ben propped himself up on his elbows and nodded. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t even know you, but you drive me crazy.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” she whispered, catching his jaw in her gloved palm and kissing him lightly on the lips. Again her nerves jolted, and she had to force herself to crane her neck away. “You do the same to me. Who are you?”

  “Just a poor farmer’s boy who failed at business,” he said with a wistful smile.

  They righted themselves and smoothed their heavy clothing back down.

  Ben cleared his throat. “Let’s get to these cows, then, shall we?”

  They worked in silence. Jessica bundled the calf, and tried to get it to suckle a bottle of its mother’s milk while Ben stocked the feed and checked on the other cattle stock one by one. Even without conversation, Jessica felt the company of another person wrapping around her like a comforter against the cold. It was nice to share the load with someone she was fast beginning to consider a friend.

  It had been a long time since she’d been with anyone in companionable quiet. Despite only having known Ben a short time, she felt comfortable here with him, as if they were old buddies who didn’t need to speak to be heard.

  She hazarded a glance at her work partner. He’d taken off his coat and was hefting up a bale of hay onto the tractor. Seeing him struggle, she left her charge and heard a bleat of protest behind her. She angled her shoulder underneath a loose corner of hay and used her body to push the bundle upward while keeping her balance. In another moment, the hay was settled.

  “Hey, thanks,” Ben said, breathing hard from the exertion.

  “No problem,” Jessica replied. She checked her watch. Almost six, now. She’d have to see to the hens. “Can you finish feeding Queeny over there?” she asked, pointing at the skinny calf. “And try to get some of that medicine in her? If we can nurse her throughout the next few days, she might make it.”

  Ben nodded. “You going somewhere?”

  Jessica laughed. “Well, if you want breakfast, I’ll have to find some eggs. If you need me, I’ll be in the henhouse.”

  She’d almost shut the door when she heard her name and popped her head back inside.

  “It was really nice having someone working with me this morning,” Ben said quietly.

  She smiled. “I was thinking the same thing. See you at breakfast.”

  She left with an extra bounce in her step.

  Chapter Three

  “This is delicious,” Ben said, his mouth full of eggs. “What did you do to these things, Ma?”

  Ellie smiled at him then nodded at Jessica. “Ask the cook,” she said.

  “You made these? You can cook, on top of everything else?” he asked her.

  Jessica blushed. “Well, not much. Only what Ellie’s taught me. I’m more of a baker, actually.”

  Ben looked from his mother to her helper and couldn’t help but envy the fond regard Ellie gave the younger woman. His mother had always wanted a daughter. And Ben
couldn’t cook a grilled cheese on a good day.

  Just then, his phone buzzed. A text from his old buddy, Hal, who’d heard he was back in town.

  Dude, just heard you’re back in town! Coming to the annual Christmas dance tonight? Lisa will be there!

  Ben sputtered as he swallowed his scrambled eggs wrong. He took a swig of orange juice and grimaced.

  Lisa. Petite and gorgeous Lisa…

  He had taken her to the prom ages ago, but they’d never really dated. She’d wanted a hometown hero, not an ambitious businessman. Now, he was neither. Apparently, she was still single, though Ben had no idea how. Either way, that ship had long sailed. He felt sure the girl wouldn’t want to see him in his disgrace. There was nothing heroic about him.

  He excused himself quickly and went into the living room, memories flooding back to him. He saw so clearly the way Lisa had looked at him, all hope and longing.

  “You’ll come back?” she’d asked. “You can do business here, you know.”

  He’d smiled, putting her off with gentle lies. “Sure,” he’d said. “I’ll be back.”

  Where he’d been going, he believed there would be beautiful women all over the place, throwing themselves at his feet. He wouldn’t need Lisa or anyone in Sauk Centre. He was going big.

  One of the worst parts about coming home, he decided, was having to eat your crow before moving on. It wasn’t a fresh start. It was a long process of apologizing and building oneself back up with the support of old friends, many of whom had been abandoned.

  It was humbling, and Ben didn’t like being humbled.

  Nah, I don’t think so, he wrote back after some thought. I need some rest.

  Then he shut off his phone, not wanting to hear the protests and jovial ribbings.