Jennifer Greene - Her Holiday Secret

“Yeah, I already tried arguing with them. But maybe if you’d consider using the power of the law on my side?”

“I’m real willing to use the power of the law. On their side. Trust me, Gert’ll watch over you better than a mom. I’m telling you, she’s ruthless. I’ve run across her before—with my job, you get some bumps and bruises now and then. She’ll drive you stark crazy with all the fussing.”

“But that’s exactly the problem. I hate people fussing over me.”

His mouth kicked in another grin. “Yeah, you kind of gave me that impression. Feeling helpless not exactly your favorite thing?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I’ll bet you can. But not tonight I’m pretty sure you won’t die from being spoiled for one night, will you?”

“Yes.”

Another grin—which definitely wasn’t every man’s response when Maggie got touchy on the subject of self-reliance. “I can’t figure out how come I haven’t met you before. In a small town like White Branch, I usually run into everyone sooner or later.”

“Well, I moved here about four years ago, but I don’t usually run around robbing banks or causing trouble—except in my free time, of course. And car accidents just haven’t been my thing. Until tonight, anyway. Darn it.” She lifted her hand to the incessantly throbbing bump on her head. “This not being able to remember is just so stupid. I’m not the type to get shook up in a crisis. The opposite is true. I do rescue work, for Pete’s sake. But the last twenty-four hours are just a total blank in my mind, and I can’t seem to make a single detail come back.”

“Maybe it’ll all come to you after a good night’s sleep.”

“Maybe it’d come to me if I were just home.”

The curly-haired nurse popped her head in the doorway. “Andy! You low-down skunk. I told you ten minutes, max, and you’re still in here!”

“I’m leaving, I’m leaving.” Andy grabbed his notebook and battered Stetson from the bedside table and lurched to his feet. He winked at Maggie before turning around. “Gert—just so you know, she was trying to talk me into springing her out of here.”

Maggie’s jaw dropped at his betrayal—for all the good it did. Gert turned on her faster than a ruffled hen. “Over my dead body. You don’t belong anywhere but right here, honey. A concussion is nothing to fool around with...” The nurse continued nonstop with impressive plans involving bedpans and ice chips and needles.

Maggie met Andy’s eyes from around Gert’s side and mouthed, “If we ever meet again, you’re dead meat.”

Andy murmured unrepentantly, “You go, Gert.” But he hesitated right when he reached the doorway. There was just a two-second window when Gert had to take a breath before expanding on her health lecture. Two seconds. Then his eyes prowled her face one last time, and he said, “You can take it to the bank, Maggie. We’ll meet again.”

Two

When Andy pulled in Maggie’s drive two days later, he told himself the visit was justified. White Branch had little serious crime, but like any other community, there were always problems and always the potential for more. Part of the reason Andy loved his job was the power—not the power of his badge and gun, but the power to head off trouble before it started. If he had to flash a badge, he always figured he’d failed. Keeping a mean, keen eye on brewing trouble was an effective way of preventing disasters from escalating. For that reason, he regularly cruised certain neighborhoods. When anyone had an accident or traumatic problem, Andy just traditionally followed up to make sure things were okay.

Maggie had been in one hell of an accident.

Ergo, it was perfectly reasonable for him to accidentally be driving down River Creek Road and to stop by to see how she was.

Maybe the memory of those velvet-green eyes had hung out in his sleep for the last couple nights. Maybe she was the first woman since his four-year-old divorce who’d itched on his mind like a mosquito. Maybe that spirit and gutsy humor of hers had gotten to him—especially since she’d looked so vulnerably battered in that hospital bed. And yeah, maybe a peek at the alluring, shadowed swell of one breast in the dip of her hospital gown had mangled with his mind some, too.

But that had nothing to do with it.

Checking on people was simply his job.

As he pushed the gearshift to park, though, Andy thoughtfully scratched his chin. Maggie was there. Standing by her front door. And she’d spotted his truck driving in and turned her head to face him, so it was a little late to slither back out of her driveway and hide himself in the nearest avalanche.

It would definitely seem, however, that she was having absolutely no difficulty recovering from her injuries... judging from the enthusiastic way she had her arms around another man.

She dropped her arms from the guy, and with a look that was half curious, half puckish, promptly took a step toward Andy’s truck. As she was obviously coming to greet him, he didn’t figure he could pull a disappearing act for at least a couple minutes. He swiftly pushed open the door and climbed out.

A bitter wind instantly burned his cheeks and crawled down his collar. Judging from the thick, murky clouds roiling in from the west, he guessed they’d have a fresh foot of snow by morning. Shame he hadn’t taken those ominous clouds as an omen—or else picked up a premonition from those dancing green eyes of hers. Andy was inclined to give himself a whack upside the head. No thirty-four-year-old man—with a brain—should need any such omens to guess Maggie wasn’t likely to be lacking male company.

“Well, hi again, Sheriff. This visit’s a surprise. Did you think of something to arrest me for after all?”

He’d love to level a charge on her—notably disturbing the peace. His peace. But that wasn’t something he was willing to confess. “I didn’t figure I had to worry about you robbing any banks for a couple of days...you had enough bruises to keep you out of trouble at least that long. But I started thinking how remote your place is here and just thought I’d stop by. With your car out of commission, I wasn’t sure if you had any wheels yet or might have needed some help.”

“That was really nice of you. And I’ve certainly been trying to cause more trouble, but my nephew’s been coming over every day by snowmobile to pitch in, bringing groceries and shoveling snow and everything else. Colin, come meet Sheriff Gautier. And Andy, this is Colin Marks, my sister Joanna’s boy....”

Her smile had a lot of mischief in it, enough to make a man feel as though he’d been struck by lightning if he wasn’t careful. Andy was still trying to recover from that smile when her words sank in. Nephew. Boy. And then the kid edged in front of her with a mannerly hand stuck out.

The boy was six-two—Andy’s own height—with a cowlick sticking from his crown that probably added another inch, and the tea-brown hair and green eyes that easily labeled him as Maggie’s kin. It was just the height and shoulder breadth that had Andy first assuming he was a grown man. A second look would have noted the gangling limbs and kid’s awkward nerves, but Andy really hadn’t been noticing much but Maggie. “Nice to meet you, Colin.”

The kid shied back from the handshake, almost tripped over his own feet. “Nice to meet you, too.” Those eyes skittered away from him fast. “Maggie, I got to be going. Mom’ll be wondering where I am.”

Andy had a cop’s sixth sense that something was a little off, something more happening than just a teenager’s awkward nerves, but maybe that was a mistaken first impression. The boy was obviously in a hustle to be gone. Maggie gave him another warm hug, and seconds later Colin was pelting for the snowmobile parked beyond her door. The machine engine roared on and the boy disappeared in a wake of snow.