Shiny colored ornaments dangled from each branch, the balls reflecting the glow of the lights. She walked up to the tree, her gaze taking in its beauty. She touched a branch of the spruce, feeling its roughness between her fingers.
A fire crackled in the fireplace and she felt its warmth against her skin. Sprigs of holly decorated the mantel around the framed photographs. The room was filled with Christmas and it made her ache inside.
She hadn’t celebrated Christmas or her birthday in years. Not since her mother had been killed in a car accident on that day and she was later left with a stepmother who couldn’t stand her and stepbrothers who were mean, often cruel, to Hollie.
A lump rose in Hollie’s throat and she fought back tears. This could be her last Christmas and birthday as a free woman if she was convicted of Carl’s murder. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed deeply before letting her breath out slowly. She repeated it until she’d calmed down and had pushed all negative thoughts away.
She opened her eyes and looked from the mantel to the spruce. She focused on the tree and smiled. John had done this, and it made all the difference.
“Good morning.” John’s low voice had her spinning to face him.
“Morning.” She sounded breathless as she took him in from his dark hair to his deep brown eyes, and his clean-shaven jaws. His thumbs were hooked in his well-worn jeans and he wore a white T-shirt and broken-in brown western boots. “The Christmas decorations—it’s all lovely,” she said.
He gave her a sexy smile that had her belly swooping and sent tingles along her skin from the memories of last night. He moved toward her and caught her in his arms and kissed her. She breathed in his clean scent, tasted his unique flavor, and felt the heat of his body as he pressed himself against her.
“I hoped you would like it.” He drew away. “I thought you needed some Christmas cheer.”
“I love it.” She returned his smile. “It’s been a long, long time.”
His brow furrowed. “You don’t celebrate Christmas?”
She shook her head. “Not since my mother died in a car accident on Christmas Day.” She let out her breath. “My father tried the next year, but neither one of us had the heart for it. Then my stepmother and brothers came into the picture and things were never the same.”
“I’m sorry, honey.” He brought her back into his arms. “We’ll make new Christmas memories. All right?”
“Okay.” The word came out uncertain at first and then stronger as she rested her head against his chest. “Okay.”
He kissed her forehead. “Good.”
She looked at the tree. “How did you find a Christmas tree so quickly?”
“I picked it up yesterday morning and put it in the backyard.” He smiled. “Dug the Christmas decorations out of the garage.”
“I like it.” She studied the tree. “A lot.”
“Are you hungry for lunch?” he asked. “I have the makings for sandwiches.”
With a nod she faced him again. “Yes.” He grasped her hand and she gripped his in return as she said, “Something smells wonderful.”
“Sugar cookies.” He gave her a quick grin.
“I love sugar cookies.” The delicious smell made her mouth water as they entered the kitchen. About a dozen large cookies were on a cooling rack on the island. “Mmmm. Makes it feel even more like Christmas.”
“You can have all the cookies you want, but sandwiches first, young lady,” he said in a teasing tone as he released her hand and headed for the fridge.
He brought out lunchmeats, lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, mayo, and whole grain bread. She took everything on hers as did he, and soon they were munching on their sandwiches. She had one to his three—apparently big man equaled big appetite.
“What’s your favorite Christmas memory?” he asked her as they ate.
She thought about
Before
. Before the drunk driver and the accident that had claimed her mother’s life.
“Every Christmas was a huge celebration.” Hollie smiled. “Not only for the holiday, but because Christmas is also my birthday.”
John raised his eyebrows. “With a name like Hollie I shouldn’t be surprised your birthday is on Christmas Day.”
She gave a nod. “Mom changed it from ending in a ‘y’ to an ‘ie’ to make it a little more unique.”
“Seems like it might be tough having a birthday on such a big holiday,” John said. “Did you get combination gifts?”
She shook her head. “There was always a pile of presents in traditional birthday giftwrap and another pile in Christmas wrapping paper. My mom and dad wanted to make sure my birthday wasn’t forgotten in all the hustle and celebration of the holidays. My birthday cakes had colorful balloons or cartoon characters on them rather than poinsettias.” She felt an ache in her throat. “That all ended when Mom died Christmas Day.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” John said, his eyes holding hers.
“It was a long time ago.” She pushed her focus away from sad thoughts and then a smile touched her lips. “As for memories, I have a lot of good ones from those early years and I try to hold on to those.” She tilted her head to the side as she thought about it as John ate his sandwich. “I can remember sitting up, waiting for Santa and watching the lights twinkle on the tree. Mom would bake gingerbread cookies and I would leave a plate out with a big glass of milk for Santa along with candied popcorn for the reindeer. All of it would be gone Christmas morning.”
“Candied popcorn, huh?” John smiled. “I never knew reindeer liked the stuff.”
“We would make nine balls and use red and green food coloring.” She grinned. “Mom said Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Rudolph liked red and the other five reindeer preferred green. All nine balls would be gone because Santa took them to feed the reindeer. I was pretty darned excited every Christmas when I saw the empty plate, glass, and bowl.”
John smiled. “Before Angel and my stepbrothers, our Christmases were pretty quiet. After they joined our family, let’s say things got a little rowdier.”
“How’s that?” Hollie asked with amusement.
“We started out being darned competitive.” John shook his head. “Dad and Angel had to give us the same gifts when we were younger to make things seem fair. One year we all got BB guns and tried to outshoot each other at target practice. When we were teenagers we were given rifles. We were all good at shooting but Mike was probably the best. It was damned close, though.”
“Mike’s the sheriff,” Hollie said.
“He was always level-headed and the most straight and narrow of the four of us.” John leaned back so that the chair was only resting on the back two legs. “As ornery as we all were, it’s a wonder we each ended up in some branch of law enforcement.”
After they finished lunch and tossed their paper plates, he handed her a round sugar cookie that had been sprinkled with red sugar.
“What, no tree or angel?” She gave a mock look of disapproval before taking a big bite of her cookie and making a sound of pleasure.
With a laugh, he took a cookie of his own and held it as he said, “There’s an arts fair going on in Sedona tomorrow. Would you like to go? We can stay the night there.”
“Can I leave town?” she asked with surprise.
He nodded. “As long as you don’t leave the state, you’re fine.”
“I’d love to go.” Her heart felt suddenly lighter. Getting out of the house and away from Prescott and her troubles sounded great and she found she was looking forward to the temporary escape. “When were you planning on leaving?”
“Around eight in the morning.” He smiled. “Is that too early for you?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. I’ll set my alarm so that I don’t oversleep.”
He looked like he was going to say something else when the doorbell rang. “Must be Angel,” he said and gestured for Hollie to follow him.
She looked down at the T-shirt and boxers and her cheeks went warm. “I’m not dressed—”
He stopped, took her by the hand, and started leading her into the living room. “That’s why Angel is here.”
When they reached the door, John released Hollie’s hand to open it. The door swung wide and Angel stood on the doorstep, her arms and hands filled with bags.
“You must have bought out the stores.” John grinned as he took the bags from Angel and proceeded down the hall to his bedroom.
“How are you, sweetheart?” Angel gave Hollie a big hug.
“Great.” Hollie offered Angel a smile as they drew apart. “We just had lunch.” Angel slipped out of her jacket as Hollie glanced in the direction John had gone. “I think you went through more trouble than you should have, Angel.”
“No trouble at all.” Angel laid her jacket over the arm of the loveseat and gave Hollie a conspiratorial look. “Truth be told, I love to shop whether it’s for myself or someone else.”
Hollie grinned. “Shopping is one of my favorite pastimes, too. How much do I owe you?”
Angel gave a dismissive wave. “We’ll figure that out once you have a chance to try everything on and we’ll return whatever you don’t like.”
Hollie looked at Angel’s trim figure. She was dressed in nice western pants, a western blouse, and dressy boots. “I’m sure that what you’ve picked out will be great,” Hollie said, admiring how well put together Angel was.
Angel waved toward the hall that led to John’s room. “Why don’t you try everything on now?”
“Will do.” Hollie started down the hall.
Angel said, “Come out and model the clothes.”
Hollie glanced over her shoulder. “Okay.”
She was surprised at how much Angel had purchased and spent the next forty-five minutes trying on the jeans, skirts, slacks, T-shirts, and blouses. Angel had also bought matching panties and bras for Hollie that fit just right. Only three things didn’t look right or fit well and Angel said it was no problem at all to return them. Angel had bought Hollie the toiletries she’d asked for too.
When she’d put on the first outfit, she started down the hallway but stopped when she heard her name.
“I really like Hollie,” Angel was saying. “There’s indeed something special about her.”
Holly felt her cheeks warm. She shouldn’t be listening.
“I agree,” John replied. “There is something special about her.”
Hollie’s belly flip-flopped.
“Do you have any leads in the case?” Angel asked.
John made a frustrated sound. “Not yet.”
“Don’t you worry,” Angel said. “I’ve got a good feeling about everything. I think it will all turn out fine.”
Hollie wished that she had a good feeling about it all, but she couldn’t muster up anything but fear and worry.
She took a deep breath, raised her chin, and finished walking down the hall to the living room, where she modeled the first outfit.
After Hollie finished trying on clothes, she dressed in new light green panties and matching bra, and a pair of dark blue jeans along with a sea foam green top. She braided her hair and tugged on socks and soft leather shoes. When she finished dressing, she picked up the clothing she had changed into the night Carl was murdered and had worn in jail. She carried the lot to the kitchen and stuffed them into the garbage bag.
Angel was in the kitchen eating one of the soft sugar cookies as she and John talked. She glanced at Hollie when she threw away her clothes, but said nothing about it. When the clothes were ditched, Hollie found her purse on the sofa and dug out her checkbook. She had enough money for the clothes and incidentals, but not a lot more after bailing out her brothers. She still had the stash at the ranch and she was confident her stepbrothers would never find it.
Hollie wrote out a check to Angel who folded it and stuffed it in her jeans’ pocket. “John told me you two are going to Sedona in the morning to the arts festival. You’ll have a great time.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Hollie smiled. She really was looking forward to getting away and spending time with John.
“I’ve got to go now.” Angel gave Hollie a hug. “You two enjoy yourselves in Sedona.” Angel moved to John who gave her a big bear hug.
Hollie watched Angel slip on her jacket and cold air swirled inside when John opened the door. Hollie shivered and gave Angel a little wave as she left the house with John walking her out to the car.
While John was outside with Angel, Hollie studied the Christmas tree. When was Christmas? She’d lost track of the days—everything seemed to be flying by so quickly.
The door opened, more cold air following John in before he closed it behind him. “You okay?” he asked as he walked toward her.
She realized she’d been frowning. She smiled at him. “I’m fine. I’m looking forward to going to Sedona tomorrow. It’s been a while since I’ve been there.”
After she put on a new jacket that Angel had purchased, Hollie and John spent the afternoon putting up Christmas lights outside, along with a wreath on the door and a large lighted snowman. Hollie’s spirits rose as she spent time with John. He made her feel like everything was going to be okay. She just prayed it would be.
“Why don’t I buy a couple bottles of water while you gas up?” Hollie grasped the handle to climb out of the passenger side of the truck. They were stopped at a gas station and convenience store on the way out of Prescott toward Sedona after stopping at an ATM so that Hollie could get some cash out of her account.
John pulled a ten from his wallet and held it out. “While you’re getting the water, how about a package of trail mix?”
“I can pay for it,” she said.
He shook his head. “I’m buying.”
Reluctantly she took the ten. He’d already done so much for her, but she knew it wouldn’t work to argue with him.
He reached her side of the truck and opened the door. Today he wore a brown Stetson and a cream western shirt along with Wranglers and brown boots. Whenever she had the chance she glanced at his ass. Damn, he was fine in those jeans. Although, he was pretty hot in his uniform too.
As he took her hand, warmth traveled through her body at the memories that came to her of last night. He’d made love to her again, even more intensely than he had the night before. He’d insisted on pleasuring her, taking his time, making her feel treasured every moment. They’d slept in each other’s arms and she’d woken with her head against his chest and with him watching her closely.