Cathy Thacker - A Texas Soldier's Christmas

Zane cast a glance at her drenched shrubbery and lawn. “No thunder, though.” He beamed as Liam offered him a toothy grin. Reaching out, he gently touched her son’s cheek. Liam chortled softly in response.

Zane slid his little finger into her son’s tiny fist.

Liam held on tight.

The way Nora wanted to hold on...

Oblivious to her forbidden thoughts, Zane regarded her son, then lifted his glance to meet her gaze. “I forgot to ask you last night. Do you have to work today?”

Acutely aware of how wonderful it would have been if Liam had been Zane’s child, Nora shook off her wistful mood. She swallowed around the sudden parched feeling in her throat and forced herself to meet Zane’s eyes. “No. I’ve got the day off.”

Liam jerked on Zane’s hand. Grinning at the mingled demand and curiosity in her son’s baby blue eyes, Zane stepped closer still. His smile widened as Liam chortled happily.

Zane nuzzled Liam’s knuckle, eliciting another happy gurgle, then smiled again and turned his attention back to her. “Any plans?” he asked, that charismatic intensity solely focused on her now.

He smelled like toothpaste and soap. And pure, primal man.

Blushing at the memories the tantalizing fragrance elicited, Nora turned her attention away from Zane and plucked the bottle out of the warmer.

Working to corral her escalating feelings, she sat down at the table to feed Liam. “My sitter is coming at ten o’clock. I was going to go get a Christmas tree, but with it raining, I don’t know that it’s the best time to try and pick one out. I wouldn’t be able to bring it inside until it dried out anyway, so I’ll probably get a jump on my holiday shopping instead.”

Still listening, he crumbled chips in his fist, and stirred them into the pan of scrambled eggs and cheese.

Nora drew a deep breath as the Tex-Mex aroma filled the room. “In any case, not to worry,” she continued, giving him a look to let him know this meal would not be followed with the usual passionate lovemaking. “I can drive you over to get your pickup truck and drop your jacket off for cleaning on the way.”

Zane flashed a sexy smile. “Actually, I’ll take care of the dry cleaning if you do me a favor.” He spooned up a plate of migas and a side of salsa, and carried both over to her.

Curious, she met his eyes. It was unlike him to drive a bargain. Usually he gave, then walked away. Thereby keeping control of the situation. But now he clearly wanted something from her. Something he seemed unsure she would be willing to give.

Aware this was a first, she looked at him, waiting.

He grabbed his breakfast and sat down opposite her, their knees touching briefly beneath the table. Then, his emotions suddenly as fired up as hers, said, “Come out and see the ranch my father left me in his will. And give me your unvarnished opinion about what you think I should do with it.”

Chapter Four

Nora told herself the only reason she was following Zane out to his ranch was because she was interested in seeing exactly what he had inherited from his late father.

Well, that, and it had been a good way to get the sexy soldier out her door, back to his pickup truck and on his merry way as fast as possible. Before she started wanting to make love with him again... Which, she promised herself resolutely as she followed him out of town in her minivan, she most certainly did not.

Being completely alone with him without her son as an emotional shield, however, proved more challenging than she had expected. Luckily, they had the No Name Ranch he had inherited to focus on.

The two-thousand-acre spread was surrounded on all sides by barbed wire fence and covered with scrub vegetation and the occasional strand of trees.

In the center of the long-neglected land, a half mile back from the road, there was a newly renovated A-frame ranch house with a raised wraparound deck. Inside, everything from the wood floor to the open kitchen-family-living area and big masculine furniture on the first floor bore the same neutral brown and gray color palette as the exterior.

Zane’s king-size bed and a luxurious bath with steam shower dominated the loft-style second floor. A lone duffel sat on the floor in the wide-open space, reminding Nora just how light Zane traveled.

She headed back downstairs, determined to stay just long enough to be polite before getting back into her minivan and heading out to Christmas shop, as planned. “Your brother and sister-in-law did a nice job on this for you. Did Molly and Chance pick out the furniture, too?”

“Actually, I told them not to furnish it, since up until a few days ago—”

When he’d learned about Liam, Nora realized uncomfortably. And jumped to the erroneous conclusion her child was his...

“—my intention was to sell.”

Made sense, she noted, since he was rarely in Texas. “And property with a move-in-ready home fetches a much higher price,” she guessed, shivering a little.

“Right.” He strode to the thermostat and made an adjustment. The furnace kicked on with a purr.

She looked around, trying not to feel disappointed he was already on his way out of her life. Again. “Well, your stagers did a remarkable job here.”

He stood, looking over at her, hands braced on his waist. “Actually, I didn’t plan on doing that, either.” He tossed her a fond look. “All the furnishings, down to the dishes and towels, are an early Christmas gift from my mother.”

A rueful smile curving his sensual lips, he walked into the kitchen and began making a pot of coffee. “She wanted to make the No Name Ranch house so cozy I’d never want to leave.”

Nora slid onto a stool at the island. “Did it work?”

His gave her a long look that spoke volumes. Finally he leaned toward her and with an even more intimate look, said, “It’s not the decor that interests me here.”

Oh, dear.

She pulled in a stabilizing breath, clasped her hands in front of her and tried again. “In any case, it’s a really nice bachelor pad.” For whoever eventually wanted it.

He leveled an assessing gaze on her, kept it there.

“Yeah, well—” he shrugged and turned away “—my dad never expected me to want to marry or settle down.”

No one did.

In fact, she was pretty sure they still didn’t.

She breathed in the delectable scent of freshly brewed coffee. Aware her knees weren’t as steady as she wanted them to be, she slid onto a counter stool. “So he left you the ranch as an investment?”

Nodding, Zane lounged on the other side of the island, his arms folded over the hard muscles of his chest. “And a place I could crash while on leave and still be close to the rest of my family, who also all inherited property here.”

And yet Zane had still, by his own admission, been thinking of selling the property. A move she sensed the rest of the close-knit Lockhart clan would not have taken well.

The coffeemaker gurgled as it reached the end of the brewing cycle. She searched his face, wishing for some chink in Zane’s emotional armor, some sign that he was capable of more than fulfilling his pledge to defend their country. “Did your dad expect you to ranch?”

With a brief shake of his head, he filled two mugs and pushed one her way. He got the peppermint-mocha creamer from the fridge and handed that, along with a spoon, to her.

“No. Dad knew I don’t have an ounce of rancher blood in me. He suggested I do something more outside the norm with the land.”

“Like...?”

“Set up a skydiving school, shooting range, ninja-warrior-type obstacle course or outdoor physical fitness training center.”

Interesting. Frank Lockhart always had been a visionary. With the hedge fund and charitable foundation he created. As well as his wife and five kids...