Harlequin Superromance November 2014 - Box Set 2 of 2: Christmas at the Cove\Navy Christmas\Until She Met Daniel (35 page)

It was hard at first, after Dottie’s death, to ignore the constant stares and whispers. She’d never been under serious suspicion. But the fact that she’d worked at the clinic where Dottie was murdered and was there when the murder actually occurred, that she was a stranger to town and had presented herself as a long-lost relative of the deceased—it had all made for intense gossip fodder.

“Hey, Serena!” Emily Bowman waved at her from a small table where she sat with her laptop open and knitting in her lap.

Serena walked over, removing her cap and gloves.

“Hi, Emily. Multitasking?”

Emily smiled and Serena noticed that the laugh lines had returned to her face. Like Serena, Emily was a widow, but her husband had died almost a decade ago from cancer, only a year into their marriage. Serena and Emily had met in Winnie’s yarn shop and become friends while taking a Fair Isle knitting class at the same time.

Emily worked as a nurse in the base hospital’s labor and delivery unit, but was also a budding knitting designer.

“I have a deadline for my pattern book that’s coming out next year, and the dye lots on some of my merino blend need to be straightened out. When I get tired of the spreadsheets, I knit a few rows. What are you doing today?”

“I’m coming from my job interview. Pepé’s in school, and I didn’t want to go home to the farmhouse quite yet. I’m feeling a little sore from taking down wallpaper in the back laundry room for the past two days.”

“Get a coffee and come and tell me about it. Unless you need some time alone?” Emily was the epitome of grace. Serena placed her at about the same age she was, but Emily didn’t have a child. Yet, judging by the way she warmed up around Pepé, she’d like one of her own someday. Still, Emily never complained, which Serena respected. Her mother and family in Texas had never really learned how to be like that. Everything from family gatherings to major life events always had to measure up to her mother’s expectations. Emily, on the other hand, accepted things as they came. It was a quality Serena hoped to emulate.

“I’d love to. If I’d been thinking about it I would have planned it this way. Do you want anything? I owe you for watching Pepé the other night.”

“You owe me nothing. I’m glad you had a good time. But I’ll take a cappuccino.” Emily grinned.

After Serena got their cappuccinos and was seated in front of Emily, she didn’t know where to begin.

She kept it to business to start with.

“My alpacas are doing well.”

“Are they? Great. I knew you’d enjoy them once you got used to their routine.”

“What routine? They’re worse than puppies. They act as if they’re starved for attention every time we go out there.”

“They have that lovely pasture to enjoy! I really like what you’ve done with the newer parts of the barn, too.”

“That pasture is not as big as I’d first thought it might be.”

“Oh?”

Serena explained to Emily how she’d hoped to purchase the land around Dottie’s homestead but that someone had beaten her to it. She was reluctant to reveal the new landowner’s name, for reasons she didn’t want to examine just yet.

“That’s not a problem for the alpacas. But is it going to bother you every time you walk out there, knowing you’d hoped to have all of that area, clear down to the cliffs?”

Not as much as it bothered Jonas that she had Dottie’s house.

“I can live with it, for now. As long as the owner doesn’t build anything that gets in the way of the view.”

Emily nodded, knitting as she listened. “It always seems great to have a huge chunk of land with no neighbors, but we’re social animals at heart. We need other people. Have you met the owner yet?”

Serena couldn’t keep this up. “It’s Jonas Scott.”

Emily’s eyes widened and she put her cardigan down. “Now that’s very interesting. Have you had a chance to talk to him, spend any time around him?”

Serena knew her cheeks were red and prayed Emily would blame it on windburn. They hadn’t had an opportunity to sit and talk in ages. When Emily had watched Pepé the other night, she’d insisted Serena get right out the door to have more time to herself.

“He came by to introduce himself right after Thanksgiving. We actually met in the base clinic before that.” She filled Emily in on the details, including seeing him at Winnie’s party.

Emily looked at her. “You didn’t mention that when you came home the other night.”

“Um, no.” She’d still been absorbing her ranges of emotion from the kiss to the kick-in-the gut disappointment when Jonas told her about his land purchase.

“What do you think of him?”

As usual, Emily wasn’t cutting her any slack.

“He’s articulate—a medical professional who appears to care about his patients. He was great with Pepé that day in the clinic and then later, at the house.”

“Cut to the chase, Serena. Do you think he’s hot?”

“Hot? He’s...handsome. To a point. But a bit pushy when he wants something.” She wasn’t going to tell Emily about that kiss. She wasn’t ready to share it with anyone else.

“Wants something like his house back.”

“It was
Dottie’s
house,” Serena insisted.

“Hey, you’re not telling me anything new. But I’ve known his family for a while, and I run into him at work every now and then, when’s he’s stationed here.”

“And?”

“And I think he’d be a wonderful neighbor.”

Emily’s smile indicated she meant more than the traditional connotation of “neighbor.”

“If you think he’s so attractive, why don’t
you
ask him out?”

Emily shook her head. “He’s not my type.”

“How would you know? And who are you to encourage me to date when you’re still single after how many years?”

Emily picked her knitting up again. “I’m single because it’s who I am. You have a child, and you’re the marrying type. You scream ‘homemaker.’ Me, I scream ‘crazy cat lady.’”

Serena laughed. Emily had eight cats on her property, three of them living inside her house. The rest had comfortable space in her heated garage.

“Will I see you and Pepé at the Christmas tree farm?”

Emily played Mrs. Claus at the Oak Harbor venue.

“Yes, you will. Pepé can’t wait.”

* * *

S
MACK
.

The ball sprang from Jonas’s racket to the wall and was hit by Doc, all within a few seconds.

“Ready for it today, I see.” Doc wasn’t trying to distract Jonas, yet Jonas still had to focus to keep his head in the game.

“Always. Bring it.”

He relished the vibration up the shaft of the racket as he slammed the ball back at the wall, forcing Doc to reach in a long lunge for the return. Their voices echoed strangely in the confined space at the base gym.

“How’s it going with Pepé’s mom?”

Doc had taken to calling Serena by her parental role, Jonas noted. As if mentioning her name would bother him.

“Damn it!” He missed the return and shook his head. Sweat was starting to drip between his shoulder blades and his glasses had fogged.

Doc Franklin looked as if he’d hardly broken a sweat.

“That well, huh?”

Jonas palmed the small racquetball and tried to force a grin that didn’t want to happen.

“I blew it. I happen to find her very attractive, but she’s off-limits. She has my house, and I intend to get it back.”

“Here.” Doc held up his hand to catch the ball and start the game again.

After several back and forth jumps across the box of a room, Doc spoke again.

“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, Jonas. As the old saying goes...”

“Yeah, well, this bod’s not for sale.”

Doc laughed as he jammed on the ball, making Jonas jump for the return.

“I’m not saying to get involved with her like that, man. She’s new to the island, her only relative here—your stepmom—died. She and her son have to be lonely at times. Fill in the gaps. Let her see you’re a nice guy. Give her a reason to
want
to sell the house back to you. She cared about Dottie and Dottie obviously adored her— enough to leave her the house. Use it to your advantage.”

Jonas grunted as he kept his eye on the ball. “I’m not one for games. You know me, Doc.”

“Yes, I do, and I know you can charm just about anyone. You’re always the go-to guy for the patients who give us the most trouble with their treatments. Use that talent on this woman. Show her you belong in the house. Her son’s getting older and he’ll want to be closer to town, closer to kids his age. It would be easier on her, too, if he was on a bus route.”

“I never thought about the bus route. How do you know about it?”

Doc grinned. “I bought some land a mile over as an investment, in the same zoning area. All the parents of school-age children drive them into town each morning and then back home in the afternoons. They have a carpool going, but still, it’s a lot of work for a single parent. Does she have a new job yet?”

Thump.

Jonas hadn’t hit that one hard enough and made it an easy target for Doc to strike, forcing Jonas to his knees to save the point.

“She’s a lawyer, but she claims she doesn’t need to work, not right away. My brother Paul wants to hire her.” From what he’d gleaned of Serena’s intelligence, she’d need to go back to work sooner rather than later. Staying home didn’t seem to fit her, and it had to be lonely at Dottie’s place while Pepé was at school.

Dottie’s place.

It wasn’t Dottie’s place anymore. It wasn’t his, either. Not yet....

“Can you at least pretend to give a hoot about the ball, Jonas?”

Jonas blinked. Doc Franklin rarely called him by his first name.

“Sorry. Daydreaming.”

Doc bounced the ball and looked at Jonas with the same expression Jonas had seen when one of the junior staff was missing an obvious symptom.

“Of course, you might not need to scheme and charm the house away from her. Are you sure you wouldn’t mind taking on more than the house?”

Realization shot through Jonas’s crown to the base of his skull.

No. Way.

Like he’d already told Doc, Serena Delgado was off-limits. A: She was in his house because of her deceased aunt’s overgenerous spirit. B: She had a kid. C: Jonas wasn’t ready to get married.

When will you be ready to marry?

“Best of three. Loser buys.” Jonas was talking about beers at the O Club’s happy hour on Friday night as he started a new game and pushed thoughts of Serena out of his mind.

Images of her smile weren’t as easy to shut down....

* * *

“O
NE
WEEK
OF
these antibiotics and the strep throat will be a memory. She should start to feel better within a day or so.” Jonas typed in the ’scrip for the sick ten-year-old who sat in the examination room as he spoke to her mother, an active-duty sailor.

“Thanks, Commander. She’s been miserable since last night. It’ll be good to have my happy girl back.” The mother smiled at her daughter, who smiled back.

Just like Serena and Pepé did, all the time.

“Okay, you’re good to go. Stop by the pharmacy and pick up the prescription. Call me if she’s not feeling better by Monday.”

“Will do. Thanks again.”

Jonas watched them leave, his mind still on Serena and Pepé. He tried to control his obsession by telling himself it was all because of the house.

“Jonas?” Emily Bowman, a nurse in the obstetric ward, stood at the door.

“Hi, Em. How’s it going? Everything all right down there?”

“It’s quiet. We haven’t had a delivery in a few days, if you can believe it.”

Jonas smiled. “That’s bound to change—you’ll have five all at once.”

“You’re probably right,” Emily said with a laugh. She looked away, then back at him. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“Oh?”

“It’s about Serena. And Pepé.”

Jonas grew still. “Are they okay?”

“They’re fine. In fact, I have it on good authority that they may be on the hunt for a Christmas tree tomorrow, and I know Serena’s too proud to ask for help.”

Jonas let his shoulders relax. “What kind of help?”

Emily filled him in.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Whidbey
Island
Three weekends before Christmas

S
ERENA
COULDN
’
T
BELIEVE
their luck. Not only had they been dusted with snow overnight, but when she and Pepé pulled up to the Christmas tree farm, the snow was still falling. The steam rising from the hot apple cider Mrs. Santa was brewing rose in fluffy wisps from the large slow cooker. Even the Claus family benefitted from modern technology.

She also knew that Mrs. Claus was none other than Emily, who said she got the biggest kick out of watching all the families and children come and haul away their own tree each year. Serena didn’t buy it—she knew that Emily was doing a job few others could spare the time for.

“Mom, there’s Santa!”

Pepé pointed to the small three-sided “cabin” where Santa sat on a large willow-bark rocking chair, posing with kids for their family Santa photo.

“Oh, wow, what a treat! Maybe you can tell him what you want for Christmas, Pepé.”

“He didn’t bring it last year, Mom.”

Serena tried to ignore her regret. “It helps if you stick to toys, Pepé.”

Last year, to her horror and the shopping mall’s Santa’s dismay, Pepé had asked for a father to come and stay “with me and my mom, like my dad did before he died.”

Phil had been gone for three Christmases by then, between being on deployment and then his death, and that was when Pepé decided to ask for him.

“It would be nice to have a dad, Mom.”

“I know, honey.” She couldn’t say more, wouldn’t. It wasn’t her priority to find Pepé a dad. That dad would have to be a man she’d be willing to spend her life with. Which meant she’d have to get to know him first. Actually go on a date.

That kiss with Jonas had opened up the room in her heart she’d sealed off since Phil died. She hadn’t worried about finding someone until she realized how much she’d been missing—all that warmth, not to mention sizzle.

The man could kiss, she’d give him that.

“Come on, honey, let’s go pick out our Christmas tree.”

Pepé clambered down from the high seat and allowed Serena to tighten his scarf and close the snaps over his jacket’s zipper. On school mornings he often wiggled out from under her hands, fighting her attention. Today was different. Today was Christmas-tree day. Santa day.

“Mom, can I go pet the reindeer?”

“Why don’t we pick out our tree first, then we can come back and spend as much time as we want in Santa’s village.”

Pepé looked first right, then left, before he sent her a big smile.

“Okay. Good idea, Mom.”

Serena laughed—until she heard someone speak not far from her.

“Need some help chopping down a tree, neighbors?” She’d know Jonas’s voice anywhere.

It should alarm her, how quickly he’d eased himself into her psyche.

“Jonas!”

“Jonas.” The trill of excitement in her belly wasn’t for him, or the surprise of him showing up on her holiday celebration with Pepé. It was because of the holiday itself. Christmas was an exciting time.

“Are you getting a tree, too?” Pepé gazed up at Jonas as if he were Thor, Pepé’s favorite mythic hero. Serena had to admit to herself that, except for his short haircut, Jonas would make an excellent Thor. He certainly kissed like a god.

Stop it.

“Why, as a matter of fact, I am, but I’m going to buy a small one. My place doesn’t need a big huge tree. Not like yours.”

At least he’d referred to the house as theirs and not Dottie’s or his family’s.

Suspicion erased Serena’s polite smile. “What brings you here today, Jonas, at this particular hour?”

“A tree, like I said.” His grin was like a blowtorch to the icicles with which she’d carefully surrounded her heart.

“We don’t happen to have a mutual acquaintance in Mrs. Claus, do we?”

She suspected Emily had “run into” Jonas at the hospital and let him know that she and Pepé were going to be here. She really needed to talk to Emily about matchmaking. Serena wasn’t ready, and certainly not for Jonas.

He overwhelmed her.

“Oh, Serena, ye of little faith. Why can’t you accept that I’m here of my own accord? That I really want to be friends? Not to mention a tree.”

Because she was a lawyer, she knew people often had deeper motives, or different ones, than they proclaimed. Because she had a child to protect from anyone who wanted to become “friends” and then leave when he’d attained his goal. Because she was living in the house he still thought was his, no matter how gracious he was being at the moment.

“Hmm.”

“Want to help us find our tree, Jonas?” Pepé asked eagerly.

“Sure. Do you need a saw?” He looked inquiringly at Serena.

“I was going to have Santa’s helpers do it for us.”

“No need. If you’ll allow me, I have a handy-dandy Christmas-tree saw right here.” He held up a grocery bag with the handle of a small tree cutter sticking out.

“How fortuitous.”

Jonas laughed. “Your mom has a wonderful vocabulary, Pepé. I’ll bet she’s the best lawyer ever.”

Pepé wasn’t listening—he’d taken off down the path that cut through the rows and rows of trees.

“Pepé!”

“Let him go. The precut trees go about halfway down the lot, and then he’ll get to where the live ones are. We won’t lose sight of him.”

Serena looked at Jonas as they walked together, their boots making the cold snow crunch in the squeaky way she loved.

“I rarely saw snow as a kid. Sometimes I feel like I’m only six years old, too.”

“Did you grow up entirely in Texas?”

“Yes.” She hesitated, then allowed the words to come. “My mother raised me on her own until she met my stepfather, another store owner in our small town. She still owns the best tortilla bakery in south Texas. It kept her and us in a good lifestyle.”

“Did you ever want to find out about your biological father?”

“I didn’t know about him until after Phil died. It was only then, when I was in a pit of depression and my mother was afraid I wouldn’t climb out of it, that she told me she’d had to raise a kid on her own, too. Me.”

They’d caught up to where the live trees grew in neat rows. Pepé was weaving around each tree in the row, taking his time to pick the right one.

“She married my stepfather when I was four. They had two daughters and twin boys of their own. Yet I never thought of my siblings as half anything. We were all a family, together.” Serena realized she hadn’t told anyone that much about her family since she’d shared her past with Dottie.

“You must have been angry when she told you about your father...my uncle Todd.”

“I was devastated. Especially when I found out he’d passed away. Thank God for Dottie—she reached out and told me I’d always have family here.”

She turned to Jonas, who stood with his gaze on Pepé.

“Why are you asking about this?”

“I’ll admit I wasn’t thrilled about your showing up, not with all the stories you hear about seniors being taken advantage of nowadays. But now I know you’re legit, and I want to know what made you both move all the way out here.”

“That’s a longer story than we have time for at the moment,” Serena said. “The quick answer is that I needed to start over and give Pepé and me a new life. Something different from what we’d known.” And away from the constant reminders of their loss.

“Mom! This one!” Pepé’s excited shouts reached them and they laughed. Jonas’s blue eyes sparkled with warmth as he looked at her and Serena felt that jolt again.

Knowing. Recognition. Soul-level attraction.

“I think he may have found a tree to saw down. Come on, let’s go help your son.” Jonas grabbed her mittened hand in his gloved one. Serena glanced at their hands together, then up at him.

He gave her a quick tug.

“Come on, Serena. Let go. Have some fun.”

What would it hurt to let go for a few hours?

She answered by grasping his fingers more tightly and walking with him toward the tree Pepé had deemed Christmas worthy.

* * *

J
ONAS
HAD
TO
keep his grin either aimed at Pepé or to himself. He lay on the crunchy snow, staring up at pine-needle branches, his saw and Pepé’s wide eyes, shining with boyish excitement. Pepé got it—that they were on a quest to find the best tree for him and his mom. And he’d succeeded in achieving their target.

Jonas only had to make sure they cut the tree down without Pepé’s getting crushed or nicked. Neither would place him on Serena’s good list, which was his goal.

Her faux fur–trimmed snow boots were in his peripheral vision, reminding him of her feminine presence.

He was doing this to show her his more human side, per Doc Franklin’s suggestion. Doc was an ace at career survival and dealing with the slickest, highest-ranking officers. That he was single and not so lucky in love didn’t matter to Jonas.

This wasn’t about relationships or love, he reminded himself yet again; it was about getting Dottie’s house back. And convincing Serena that she and Pepé would be just as happy in a new place closer to Oak Harbor.

“That’s it, Pepé, move back a bit so you’re not in range of the wood chips and put your hand on the handle here.”

Pepé’s small hand in its red mitten fit firmly around the saw’s handle. It was going to take a little longer as Jonas didn’t want to crush the kid’s fingers, but he admired Pepé’s spunk. Nothing fazed this kid.

“Okay, let’s start sawing. Ready?”

“Ready!”

Jonas kept his focus on the saw and Pepé’s fingers. Even though he couldn’t help being aware of Serena, hovering a few feet away from them...

“This is a tough one, Jonas.” Pepé’s eyes watched the teeth of the saw and the flecks of wood that spit out as they worked together. His face was scrunched up behind his safety goggles and Jonas laughed at the adult expression on such a young face.

“What’s so funny?”

“We are, Pepé. We think it’s hard to chop this tree down, but just imagine how hard it was for the tree to grow!”

“Will Santa still be there when we’re done?”

“He’ll still be there, honey. Just get the tree down so that we can get it onto our car.” Serena’s voice broke through Jonas’s concentration and he paused in his sawing motion. He looked up to see her gaze steady on both of them as she crouched beside the tree.

“Stay behind us, Serena, or risk being pummeled by this green beast.”

“I’m fine, Jonas, don’t worry.”

It took several more minutes but finally the tree was about to fall.

“I’ll hold it from the top.” Serena’s face disappeared and Jonas felt her boots against his back as she grasped the main trunk.

“Got it!”

“Pepé, let’s slide out nice and easy. Once you’re on your feet, get behind your mom.”

Pepé did and managed to unwittingly kick a bootful of snow in Jonas’s face.

“Oomph.” He would have laughed if the cold hadn’t shocked him so much. Pepé was right; where was the Santa village? He needed some hot cider. Maybe he’d luck out and Santa would have hot coffee.

Once up and on his feet, Jonas stood behind Serena and reached into the center of the tree. Her backside fit nicely against him, and he allowed himself to inhale the warmth of hair that fell from under her snow cap.

“What are you doing?” Her whisper was supposed to chastise him, but tell that to his groin.

“I’m enjoying myself. How about you?”

Her brown eyes turned their sharp intelligence on him and Jonas wanted to kiss her, push her down into the snowy ground, reach up under her jacket...

“I’ve got the tree. You and Pepé go over there and watch it fall.”

“Oh!” Her eyes were still on his, the awareness crackling between them. She stared at his mouth, and Jonas bit the inside of his cheek to keep from moving in closer.

“I’ve got my camera!” Serena slid out from under him and he had to stare at the snow-covered tree for a second to will his erection into merely semi-uncomfortable.

“Come on, Pepé, let’s go stand where it’s safe. We’ll get a great picture of our tree falling down.”

“Hurry, Mom!” Pepé ran out in front of her and Jonas couldn’t have stopped the laugh that rumbled out of his belly if he’d wanted to. The pure joy on Pepé’s face was worth every bit of discomfort.

“Ready?” He could stand here all day when Serena was up next to him, but in the cold he became aware of the weight of the tree and the way his muscles were starting to protest from lying on the cold ground for so long.

“Hang on, I need to get this focused properly.”

“Take your time.” He really wanted to say “Snap the picture already!”

“Okay, Pepé?” He saw her bend her head toward her son. As Pepé grinned up at Serena, the similarity in their profiles struck him as endearing.

Endearing?

Had he taken a crack to his skull while under the tree?

“Okay!”

“Timber!” Jonas bellowed the word more to get his mind off his uninvited emotions than for any dramatic effect. Pepé jumped up and down as the tree tipped and took its final bow before becoming a Christmas decoration. White puffs of powdery snow flew up as the boughs hit the ground, the definite
thud
validating Jonas’s concern for his and Pepé’s safety while under the tree.

“Okay, let’s haul her in.” He was glad he’d worn his leather work gloves instead of his ski gloves, but the cold bit at his fingertips. A warm cup of coffee or cider was on his mind as he slid the tree onto the plastic sled he’d brought, courtesy of his brother’s overstocked garage, and pulled it up the path back to Santa’s village.

“Keep an eye on the back of our caravan here, Pepé, and make sure the tree doesn’t jump off the sled.”

“Okay!” Empowered by the order, Pepé ran behind the sled as if his entire Christmas gift pile depended upon it.

“You didn’t forget one detail for this, did you?” Serena’s brown eyes narrowed as she walked beside him, her face turned toward him.

“Why so suspicious? Can’t a guy help out?”

“It’s not the helping that bothers me. I’m very grateful that you were here. Otherwise, I would’ve asked one of the workers to get the tree for us and haul it back. This way Pepé was able to fully participate. Thank you, Jonas.”