Katherine Garbera - One Hot Christmas

“Thank you.” It was exactly the response she’d hoped for. She’d never felt more beautiful or desirable in her life.

“Hang on a minute. I’ll walk down with you.” He started toward her.

“Got your harmonica?”

He patted his breast pocket. “Right here. Watkins and Trey are good. I’ll have to bring my A game tonight.”

“From what I heard before, you’ll be fine.” She smiled at him.

He paused and caught his breath. “Damn, Molly. You’re so...damn.”

“What?” She pretended not to know what he meant. But she knew, and exulted in a sexual power she’d never claimed before.

“That dress. It moves when you move. It slides right over your breasts and your sweet little bottom. I don’t—hell, I know it’s unworthy of me, but I don’t want other men to see how great you look.”

“Too late.” Jack stood at the bottom of the stairs with Josie. “Put your eyes back in your damned head, Radcliffe.” He held out his hand. “Come on, Cousin Molly. Let’s go join the party. You look terrific, by the way.”

“Thank you.” She walked down the stairs, took his hand and allowed him to steady her for the last few steps.

“That dress is dynamite,” Josie said.

“Yours isn’t too shabby, either.” Molly admired the ice-blue, long-sleeved sheath that Josie had accented with silver shoes and jewelry. Instead of her usual braid, she’d created an updo that showed off her slender neck. She was a knockout.

Jack gave Josie a possessive once-over. “Not shabby at all,” he said softly. “I’m a lucky man.”

He crooked both arms. “Ladies, make me the envy of every poor slob in the room.”

“I’m honored, Jack.” Molly looked into eyes that glowed with the pride of his Shoshone ancestors. She might as well make her stand now as later. She knew instinctively that he’d respect her for being direct. “But I’m going to wait for Ben.”

Jack’s glance flicked from Molly to Ben, who’d remained standing midway down the staircase. “All right.” He held Ben’s gaze. “Don’t forget our conversation.”

Ben’s voice was steady. “I won’t.”

Jack and Josie walked into the living room and Molly took a shaky breath. Round One. She thought maybe she’d won it, but time would tell.

“Thank you.” Ben descended the last few steps and stood before her. “But you didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did.” She looked into his eyes. “I’m capable of choosing my own...friends. Jack needs to understand that.”

A smile teased the corners of his mouth. “I’m glad you consider me a friend.”

“I do.” She longed to touch him. But while they were within sight of the front door where anyone could come in and discover them, being affectionate might not be the best plan. “You may not realize it, but you’ve given me enormous confidence.”

“You?” He looked surprised. “You were already confident. You didn’t need me for that.”

“Ah, but you’re wrong.” She lowered her voice. “When you asked me to pirouette for you at the top of the stairs twenty-four hours ago, I wasn’t completely convinced of my sexual power. Thanks to you, now I am.” She stretched out her arms. “Behold the result.”

He laughed, his eyes sparkling. “So as I struggle to make it through this evening of torture, watching you move through the crowd in that incredible dress, I have only myself to blame?”

“Pretty much.”

“In a twisted kind of way, that helps. Shall we go in?”

“Yes.” She linked her arm through his. “I can hardly wait to hear you play.”

“Then know this. Every note will be for you.”

His words ran in a continuous loop in her mind as they walked into the crowded living room. They were the kind of words that could turn a girl’s head. If Ben were a different sort of man, she’d think he’d used them as a seductive line.

But he didn’t need to spout pretty words to get a woman into bed. He’d already accomplished that with her. She’d spent enough time with him, especially quality time in which emotional barriers had come down, to know that he didn’t say anything he didn’t mean.

He’d announced from the beginning that he was the wrong man for her, long-term. She still didn’t know all the particulars, but he hadn’t tried to fool her by implying that they could have more than a brief fling. He’d been honest about that from the beginning.

Jack might not completely trust him, but she did. She really should corner Jack and discuss his dealings with Ben. Jack hadn’t turned in his genealogy homework yet, and that would give her a good excuse to talk with him.

For right now, though, she was a party girl on the arm of a handsome man as they walked into a kaleidoscope of color and movement. As Molly deposited her wrapped package on the gift table, Ben went to get them both drinks. Before he made it to the temporary bar set up along the far wall, Watkins grabbed him and pulled him into the corner where Trey was setting up their sound system.

Molly hadn’t thought about the fact that Ben would be needed over there. She’d never attended a function with someone who was part of the evening’s entertainment. Making her way over, she tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned. “Oh, sorry. I’ll get our drinks in a second. First I need to—”

“Never mind. You have things to do. Can I bring you something?”

He grinned. “One of those dark beers would be outstanding.”

“Got it.” She wove through the crowd, greeting those she’d already met, like Pam Mulholland, Nick’s aunt and one of Sarah’s best friends. Last Christmas Pam had married Emmett Sterling, the tall, sixty-something ranch foreman standing between her and his daughter Emily. Emily was in line to be foreman after Emmett retired.

Emily’s husband, Clay Whitaker, director of the stud program at the ranch, arrived loaded down with two bottles of beer and two glasses of wine. “Hey, Molly. Can I get you something from the bar?”

“Thanks, but I promised Ben I’d fetch his drink, so I need to go there, anyway. By the way, who’s the couple standing by the Christmas tree talking to Jack?”

“They’re good friends of Jack’s,” Clay said. “Nash and Bethany own the ranch that borders this one.”

“And Bethany writes self-help books,” Pam added.

“Right! I remember Aunt Sarah mentioning that.”

“Except for the ranch hands, they might be the only ones who aren’t somehow part of the extended family,” Pam said. “But apparently Nash and Jack were inseparable in high school, so I think Sarah thinks of him as another son.”

Molly glanced around at the crowd gathered in the living room. “Such a happy group.”

“I know.” Pam smiled. “It’s a real tribute to Sarah that everyone’s so eager to help her celebrate her big birthday.”

“Yes, it is. I’m so glad I made the trip. Anyway, I did promise Ben that drink, so I’d better get going. I’ll catch you all later!”

But she got sidetracked briefly when she stopped to talk to Regan O’Connelli and his fiancée, Lily King. Regan shared a veterinarian practice with Nick, and he was also Morgan and Tyler’s brother. Lily ran an equine rescue operation on the outskirts of Shoshone.

Eventually Molly reached the bar. It was so tempting to stop and talk to people. Tonight was a genealogist’s dream. She was finally able to put faces to some of the names on her chart.

A guy with a buzz cut was tending bar. She’d never seen him before, so she held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Molly, a cousin from Arizona.”

He smiled and shook her hand. “I’m Steve, a bartender from Spirits and Spurs. I’m absolutely no relation to anybody here, which Josie thought would be a good thing so I can concentrate on the job at hand. What can I get for you?”