The Twelve Gifts of Christmas Read online

  His attitude was so bad for a while that he couldn’t even look at another woman without seeing his conniving ex-wife. Then he graduated to looking at every woman as a receptacle for babies. The only problem was that if he found one to carry his child, he would need a guarantee she would live with him for the rest of his life. One ex-wife and two lost relationships with children were enough.

  It had taken time, but he’d finally progressed to the point of admitting that most women weren’t anything like his ex-wife. Of course, he’d never marry again, but he had come to realize that life was lonely without another person to share it with. Apparently, he’d made it through another growth step. Now all he had to do was find someone who would be in his life, yet not expect too much. His schedule was demanding, and he needed to devote time to his work without feeling the pressure of a woman who wanted more attention than he was willing to give.

  It was not impossible. Just improbable.

  His thoughts returned to the beautiful redhead. Her reluctance to get to know him attracted him rather than turned him off. She was obviously not out to catch a husband. Maybe she would be interested in something more casual....

  He had time off in the next week and an invitation to a neighborhood party that he’d decided to turn down. Perhaps that decision was wrong; he needed to meet his neighbors. Surely someone would know who she was. She might even be there.

  He smiled. He had no doubt that he would see her again.

  * * *

  CARLY SIPPED CHABLIS and gave a few final touches to the fresh-fruit-filled cornucopia centerpiece on the dining-room table, then smiled like a satisfied cat. Although it was Halloween, she was in the spirit of Thanksgiving. A next-door neighbor had agreed to take an excited and happy Karen trick-or-treating along with her own two children. In the living room her twin aunts were entertaining friends and neighbors who didn’t have children to attend to this season. Carly had just finished the last of the party preparations, so now it was time to enjoy the festivities.

  The annual harvest party consisted of a casual buffet of cold cuts, breads, salads, and wonderful cookies and desserts, which were spread on the dining-room table. A bar was set up in the living room and was stocked with several types of wines and soft drinks.

  Carly was excited to be sharing the season with her darling aunts and precious daughter in a house that glowed with love. She also had a new job teaching in a wonderful school. All was right in her world.

  “There you are, dear,” her Aunt Cora said as she swept into the dining room as impressively as a five-foot, slightly overweight, sixty-eight-year-old woman could. The grand gesture and her black Addams Family-style outfit were obviously intended for dramatic effect. But the cherubic face behind her brilliant red-framed glasses defeated the purpose. So much for drama.

  “Are you going to join us? I think you know most of our friends, and I do love showing you off.” The older woman took her niece’s hand.

  Carly gave her aunt’s birdlike shoulders a hug. “Of course, I’ll meet your friends. Karen won’t be home for another half hour and everything here is under control.”

  “Certainly it is, dear,” Aunt Cora confirmed. “Thanks to your organizational skills, everything will be perfect. You inherited that talent from your mother, bless her heart, and she inherited it from our mother.” She sighed. “On the other hand, that particular gene wasn’t passed down to either Nora or me.”

  Before Carly could answer, Nora joined them. She was dressed exactly like her sister except she wore black-framed glasss instead of red. “Why are you two gabbing in here when you should be in the living area with our guests?” She fluttered like a hummingbird at a flower. “And Cora, that gentleman we invited is here.”

  Carly saw both of them brighten in anticipation. “What gentleman?” she asked, suddenly suspicious. The aunts had tried more than once in the past three months to set her up with a “gentleman” of their choosing. “‘Fess up, you two. What’s going on?”

  “Hello,” a deep voice said from the doorway and three pairs of eyes focused on the man it belonged to. “Is this a family powwow?”

  Carly’s eyes widened. Tall, brown hair with a touch of gray at the temples, a smile that could seduce a hundred vestal virgins, and one of those wonderful, square jawlines from the cover of a magazine—all blended together to form one gorgeous man. The same gorgeous man she’d met in the woods.

  Her heart picked up its beat, especially when his eyes focused on her. He entered the room and walked directly to her. “So I get to meet the angel again,” he murmured quietly, taking her hand in his.

  “Peter, this is our lovely niece, Carly, the apple of our eye,” Cora said.

  His blue-eyed gaze was as deep as the sea. “Hi, Carly. The name’s Pete Cade.”

  She grinned, feeling as though the room had suddenly grown warmer. “Hi, Pete, its always nice to meet a dragon slayer in person.”

  Cora’s and Nora’s eyes darted between the two of them, and there were delighted, albeit slightly puzzled, smiles on their faces. They appeared to believe they were responsible for the attraction that so obviously sparked between them.

  Aunt Cora giggled happily, then reached up and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. “We’re so happy you could make it to our little gathering. Thank you for coming,” she said, almost shyly.

  “I couldn’t turn down the invitation,” he responded with a warm smile. “It seems only right that I should meet my new neighbors.”

  “And you’re into doing the right thing?” Carly teased.

  “Of course. That is, as soon as I figure out what the right thing is. In your case, the right thing was finding you.”

  “That wasn’t a difficult task. You had only a few dozen houses to choose from.”

  “Can you see me knocking on all those doors?”

  She laughed, pulling her hand away because she couldn’t think of a good enough excuse to leave it enfolded in his. “I can’t see you trying to find me, either, although the idea is certainly flattering.”

  “Flattering? Hell, lady, if I hadn’t been late for a meeting, I’d have followed you home. As it was, I lost sight of you in the woods.”

  “Well, now you know where I am.” She smiled. “It isn’t a state secret.”

  They stood grinning at each other, and she realized just how silly they must look. She diverted her gaze, surprised to realize her aunts were easing out of the room.

  Pete Cade’s voice slipped down an octave. “Are you going to cloister yourself in here all evening?”

  “Since I’m the niece of the hostesses, I have to help out. Can I get you a drink?”

  “Now that you mention it, I was hoping you might like to have a drink at my house sometime. It’s not that far away. I bought that monstrous icon on the other side of the woods.”

  Carly looked surprised. “You moved into the Mansion in the Woods?”

  “Is that what you call it? Well, my ‘mansion’ needed a lot of work. I’ve had workmen in the house for over a month. But they’re almost through now. When can I give you a tour?”

  Carly worded her reply carefully. She still didn’t know what this man’s intentions were. “My aunts and I would love a personally guided tour. Why don’t you call us as soon as the renovations are done?”

  “It’s a date,” he promised, obviously undaunted by the prospect of two duennas accompanying her. “By the way, didn’t I see you sitting at an outdoor café by Tyson’s Corners yesterday afternoon?” His low, sexy voice rasped down her spine in the most delightful way.

  Her eyes widened. “Yes. But how...?”

  “After we parted, I was on my way in to the office and I spotted you. I went around the block, but by the time I got to the parking lot, you were gone.” Humor glinted in his eyes. “Did you run off with another man?”

  “No. Another woman, a little woman.” She laughed. “I was waiting for my daughter to finish her viola lesson.”

  As if on cue, a child’s voice called o
ut. “Mama!” Karen, dressed in an owl costume, ran excitedly into the room with a bag of candy swinging heavily in her little hand. “Boy, there’s lotsa stuff around here! I got six of my favorite candy bars!”

  “Oh, great.” Carly smiled, giving her daughter a hug. “Now I can worry about tummy pains and toothaches.” She got up and turned to Pete, who’d become very still, standing in front of her. “Karen, please say hello to our new neighbor, Mr. Cade.” Carly glanced up and was surprised to see a stony look in Pete’s eyes. “Pete, this is my daughter, Karen.”

  “Hello,” he said formally. But the gentle teasing was gone, replaced by a stiffness she hadn’t seen before.

  “Do you play baseball?” Karen asked.

  “Baseball?”

  Karen nodded. “You know, like in a league or something?”

  “No. But I enjoy watching it, I guess.”

  “Oh.” Karen looked crestfallen, but not completely crushed. Since the guest didn’t conform to her idea of the perfect man, she busied herself with other thoughts. “I’ll be in the kitchen, Mom. I wanna look over my stuff.”

  “Don’t eat anything until I go through it, honey. You know the rules,” Carly called after her daughter.

  Looking back at Pete, she was amazed to see the difference a moment or two had made. From the warm, open man who’d been teasing her just moments ago, he had turned into a distant, unemotional stranger.

  “She doesn’t have her manners down pat, yet,” Carly explained, still perplexed by his behavior. “I’m sorry if she offended you.”

  “Not at all,” he said, taking a step away. “Well, I’d better circulate and meet a few of my neighbors. Even though it’s a weekend, I still have papers to go over before tomorrow.”

  She felt disappointed. “You aren’t staying for the buffet?”

  “No. It was nice meeting you.”

  With a nod in her direction, he retraced his steps and entered the living area.

  For the next half hour, he spoke to several people in the room. But not once did he smile in her direction. Every look was stern, unforgiving, and distant. After a few moments, she decided to put him from her mind, glancing in his direction only by accident.

  As he was leaving, she saw that he sought out her aunts. She couldn’t stop herself from joining them at the door.

  “We’ll be waiting to hear from you about our personal tour when your house is completed.” She forced a bright smile to her face. “Remember?”

  He smiled tightly. “Right. I’ll call when it’s ready. But right now I’d better say my goodbyes.”

  Carly nodded agreement and walked off before he departed, not wanting to see again the coldness in his eyes. Disappointment flooded her as she realized that for some reason he’d changed his mind about her. It could have been her daughter’s appearance, but she wasn’t sure. Although it didn’t make any sense, something had caused the man to mentally withdraw.

  It hurt.

  Carly brushed aside those feelings and headed for the kitchen. Karen’s candy haul needed to be checked. Sexy smile and dancing blue eyes be damned! She wouldn’t let Pete Cade ruin her evening.

  * * *

  PETE DIALED THE long-distance number and waited impatiently. It rang four times, then he heard the low, sultry voice of his ex-wife on the answering machine.

  The beep sounded and he spoke. “Sandra, it’s Pete. I’ve been trying to get through for the past week. I’d like to speak to the children as often as possible and I really don’t feel like you’re making it easy. To help both of us out, I just sent them telephones for their rooms. The new line should be in by next week. I know we didn’t discuss this, but it’s important for me to keep in touch with them. It will be easier this way, and we won’t have to process every word through each other. I’m having the telephone bill sent to my office, so it won’t be a burden to you. Tell the kids I hope they had a nice Halloween, and have them call me tomorrow sometime. I should be in the office all day.”

  2

  “WELL?” CORA ASKED in a theatrical whisper. “What do you think? Do you like him?”

  Carly rinsed her glass and stuck it in the dishwasher. The cleanup and catering crew had left an hour ago, and she’d been puttering in the kitchen ever since. Karen was in bed and the house was finally quiet. Well, almost quiet...

  She’d thought about pretending she didn’t know what her aunt was talking about, but she knew it wouldn’t work. “He’s very nice,” she replied.

  The older woman’s eyes lit up with mirth. “Nice? A dentist is nice, honey. Mr. Cade is devastatingly handsome. What the younger generation calls a ‘hunk,’ don’t you think, dear?”

  Carly nodded. Pete was certainly that. “He’s also a busy man who doesn’t really have time for a schoolteacher and her daughter, both of whom don’t travel in the same social circle he does.”

  “How do you know? I saw the gleam in his eye,” her aunt persisted. “Even an old fool like me can tell when a man wants to keep company with a beautiful woman like yourself. That’s no mystery, dear. That’s the birds and the bees.”

  “No matchmaking, now,” Carly said as she dried her hands on a towel. “I’ve got to grade some papers. So I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “You’re hedging,” her aunt complained.

  “No, I’m just busy.” She was firm, but her light hug took the edge out of her tone. “See you tomorrow.”

  She left the kitchen and went up the stairs to her own area of the house. She and Karen shared a large bedroom with a bath that connected to another room they used as a den and office. The small “apartment” worked well, giving them privacy when the aunts had company or when Carly wanted to be alone with Karen.

  Her aunt might have been right about Pete, but it didn’t matter because he’d quickly backed off. Of course, she refused to admit it out loud, but she was as disappointed as her aunts.

  She pushed those thoughts away. They weren’t productive. Besides, until she’d seen him standing above her the day before in the woods, she had been happy with her life.

  So what if she was a little lonely for male companionship? Everyone was lonely sometimes.

  So what if there were times when she missed sharing intimacy with a man she cared for and who cared for her? Even some marriages went through periods like that.

  So what if she occasionally missed having discussions that included a male point of view? She could always join in the politics of the town and hear more adult male conversation than she would ever really want.

  So, why was she suddenly very aware of that hollow spot somewhere in the vicinity of her heart? She’d only sensed it twice before. The first time was right after her divorce two years ago, when she’d suddenly realized she was no longer part of a couple. But when she’d really thought about it, she’d seen that she had only ever been part of a couple on paper. In spirit, they’d always been divided. Her ex-husband, Ken, had realized it about the same time she had. Although the divorce had been painful for them both, they were basically good people and wanted to do the right thing for Karen. So, because of their mutual love for their child, they had worked together to keep their relationship with her stable. At first, it hadn’t been easy to be civil to each other, but the more they tried, the easier it had become. Now, strange as it seemed, they were friends and allies of a sort.

  About a year ago, Ken had found a woman he truly loved, and had married her. Now they were expecting their first child together. At that time, too, Carly had experienced that feeling of emptiness in her heart. It was a feeling of not belonging, of not being a part of an intimate, loving relationship. However, she’d shored up her smile, sent them congratulations and gone on with her life.

  Someday, if she was lucky, maybe she would find someone just for her. But she couldn’t wait around for life to bring her someone to share it with. She had to carry on.

  When Carly reached the doorway of the den, she stopped and watched her daughter. Sprawled in front of the TV in her white flan
nel nightgown, Karen looked like an angel. Her hands framed the sides of her face as she gazed up at an exhibition baseball game on one of the sports channels. Carly didn’t know where her daughter got her passion for baseball—maybe from a “stray” gene—but Karen loved everything about the game.

  “Time for bed, honey.”

  “Aw, Mom, the game’s in the seventh inning!” she protested without moving.

  “Brush your teeth.”

  Her gaze never left the screen. “Been there, done that.”

  “In that case, you’ve got an extra five minutes.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Carly dropped into her desk chair and opened the file in front of her. Instead of looking at the work inside, she stared out the window toward the darkness of the woods beyond. Somewhere out there was a man who made her heart beat faster. If Pete Cade could do that to her so easily, was it a sign that she was ready to look for a relationship? She tested that thought in her mind as if she were tasting a new dish. It felt right.

  Karen groaned at a missed hit, breaking Carly’s train of thought. It was time to forget a dead relationship and stop mourning over the dearth of men and the overabundance of women in the area. It was time to begin dating again.

  She grinned. Who knew? She might enjoy the chase as much as the reward.

  * * *

  PETE TURNED INTO THE grocery-store parking lot. His daily maid had left a list of items he was out of, and he decided that even though everyone was grocery shopping at the end of the workday, he might as well get it done. He pulled the list from his coat pocket and glanced over it. His mind wasn’t really on the piece of paper in his hand though. It was on Carly.

  All week long Pete had thought of the laughing, green-eyed auburn-haired woman lying in the autumn leaves. The image had tagged at his memory like a magnet. His immediate response to her had been an attraction to her warmth and vivaciousness. The second, however, had been to distance himself from her. She was a mother. He didn’t date mothers. They were always looking for a father for their children. He wanted to be a lover, not a father.