Santa Wears Spurs
in the
All I Want For Christmas Anthology
November 2000
A Featured Selection in the
Rhapsody Book Club
Winner of the Reviewer's Choice Award
for Best Historical from Heart Rate Reviews!
Bestseller lists:
-
Amazon Top
Anthologies List weeks before it hit the stands
-
Amazon Top Movers and Shakers and
-
Amazon Hot 100.
Rebecca headed to the back stairs while Catherine grabbed the
lantern off the kitchen table and walked to the front door.
Through the lace curtains, she could see the outline of a tall
man with broad shoulders. A smile twitched at the corners of her
mouth. Perhaps Rebecca would get her wish after all.
Rolling her eyes at the very indecent thought that flicked
across her mind, Catherine opened the door.
She took one glance at the handsome stranger who had his head
turned to look at his horse, and dropped the lantern straight to
the floor.
###
O’Connell cursed as the lantern’s fire exploded on the pine
boards of the porch. Reacting without thought, he dropped the
black Stetson and saddlebags in his hand, and stamped at the
flames. His spurs jingled loudly as he stomped, then to his
chagrin, the flames spread to his boots and set fire to the toes
of his left foot.
He hissed in pain as he whipped his black duster off and put
out the fire on his smoking boot. Then, he quickly used the duster
to extinguish the rest of the fire.
Luckily, the fire didn’t do much damage, but the porch and
door would need a good washing come morning.
"Good Lord, woman," he snapped. "You ought to be
more...." his words trailed off as he looked up and met wide,
startled brown eyes.
They were the same eyes he’d been dreaming of not more than a
few minutes before.
"Catherine?" he whispered.
Catherine couldn’t move as she stared into the handsome,
devilish face that had coaxed her away from everything she had
ever known.
Ask and ye shall receive, her father’s favorite phrase
echoed in her head.
Stunned by his sudden appearance, she took his form in all at
once. He was still as handsome as sin with dark brown hair that
was short in back with long bangs that draped becomingly into eyes
so silvery gray they appeared almost colorless.
Captivating and searing, his eyes could haunt a woman night and
day. And she ought to know since they’d done nothing but torment
her since the moment she had first seen them.
His face had grown thinner over the years, adding sharp,
angular planes to it. But they in no way detracted from the
perfection of his patrician features. Dark brows contrasted
sharply with his silver-gray eyes, and his broad nose still had
the tiny bump in the center where she’d broken it.
Glory, but he was scrumptious. Completely and utterly
scrumptious, like a rare treat of succulent chocolate after a long
abstinence.
He’d always possessed a powerful, compelling, masculine aura
that was downright salacious in nature. An aura that reached out
and captured the attention of anything female within its mighty
grasp.
And heaven only knew, she was far from immune to it.
But the devil would move his home to Antarctica before she ever
let him know that.
"What on earth are you doing here?" Catherine asked
as she finally found her voice.
"Needing a doctor," he said sardonically, shaking his
left foot.
Catherine looked down to see the charred black leather in the
bright, winter moonlight. A rush of embarrassment filled her.
"Why is it," he asked. "Every time we meet, I
end up needing me a doctor?"
She lifted her chin at his playful tone. "Are you trying
to charm me?"
Not even the dark could mask the wickedly warm look in his
eyes. "And if I were?"
I’d probably end up surrendering to it.
But she had no intention of letting him know that either.
She couldn’t afford to let him break her heart again. The
first time had been painful enough.
Instead, she sought to protect herself by putting an end to
whatever thoughts might be playing through his mind.
"I’m not a girl anymore, Mr. O’Callahan. I no longer
dance to your tune."
O’Connell took a deep breath as he sized her up. He’d
almost forgotten his old alias. But the cold tone of her voice
chilled him more than the winter wind at his back.
Still, it did nothing to daunt the fire in his gut that her
presence stirred. She looked even better than he remembered. Gone
was the willow thin frame of her youth and in its place were the
luscious curves of a woman full grown.
She wore her hair in that tight bun he’d always despised.
Catherine had such beautiful hair— long, thick and wavy. He, the
man who was wanted in six states, had spent hours brushing her
hair at night. Running his hands through it.
And he wondered if it still smelled like spring time.
In that instant, he remembered the way he had left her. Without
a word, without a note. He had simply gone off to work and had
never returned.
Shame filled him. He should have at least sent a letter.
Although honestly, he had tried to write one numerous times. But
he’d never completed it. What did a man say to a woman he’d
been forced to give up against his will?
Especially when he didn’t want her to know the real reason he’d
left?
Picking his hat up from the porch, he cast a sweeping, hungry
look over her body. "It’s good to see you again."
Her look froze him as she untied her apron, then stooped to
pick up the broken glass and place it in the cloth. "I wish I
could say it’s good to be seen by you, but in this case I think
you’ll understand if I’m a bit cool toward you?"
Cool was mild term for her demeanor. In truth, he suspected
icebergs on the North Pole might be a shade or two warmer.
He’d expected more anger from her. The Catherine he
remembered would have been cursing him like a slow walking dog for
leaving her.
This Catherine was different.
"Where’s your anger?" he asked as he leaned over to
help her pick up the mess.
Catherine considered her answer. She should be enraged at him,
but oddly enough once the initial shock of the encounter wore off
she found herself completely numb to him.
Well, not completely numb.
In fact, numb described his effect on her like handsome
described Abe Lincoln.
A woman would have to be dead not to feel a vigorous stirring
for a man so incredibly handsome. Especially a man possessed of
such raw, primal appeal.
Everything about him promised sheer, sexual delights. And all
too well she remembered the way he had felt in her arms, the
strength of his long, lean body caressing hers in playful abandon
as he sent her spiraling off into blissful ecstasy.
And right then with his head just inches from her own, she
could smell the raw, earthy scent of him. That leather and musk
that had always titillated her. That warm, wonderful smell was a
part of him like the innate power and authority that bled from
every pore of his body.
And those lips....
Full and sensuous, those lips of his had kissed her until she
lost all reason, until her entire body buzzed with lust and
desire. And those wonderful, sensual lips had teased and tormented
her body to the ultimate pinnacle of human pleasure.
Good heavens, how she ached for him. Even after the way he had
hurt her!
What are you thinking? Remember, you don’t dance to his
tune anymore!
Catherine mentally shook herself. No, she didn’t hate him for
leaving her the way he had— five years had given her time to lay
her hatred aside.
She wouldn’t get mad at this point.
She would get even.
He deserved to feel the sting of rejection. Then he would
understand exactly what he had done to her. How it felt to be
denied and forgotten.
"I got over my anger for you, Mr. O’Callahan," she
said tartly, rising to her feet. She took a step back into the
house and spoke, "And then I got over you."
Catherine closed the door on his stunned face.
Synopsis
Michael O'Connell wants only one thing for Christmas, a second
chance to be with the wife he was forced to give up against his
will. But Catherine has built her life anew and the last
thing she needs is to welcome home a man who walked out on her
five years ago with no word or reason. Can she ever trust him,
especially since she has a daughter to think of? It's one
thing for him to break her heart, but to break her daughter's is
quite another story.
Reunited by fate and a little girl's Christmas
wish to meet the father she's never known, can these two over come
Michael's black past and an enemy who won't leave him be to find
their happily-ever-after?
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