The Christmas Stranger Read online

At the other end of the connection, Zoey made choking noises. “You’re going to what?”

  “Not in some romantic way,” she amended. “But it makes sense for practical reasons. I’ve rationalized all of the pros and cons—”

  Zoey groaned. “Now you sound like Paige.”

  “Well, I don’t want to be rash. But this feels right, and…1 wanted your opinion.” Holly elaborated on her plan to help Matt, and as predicted, Zoey loved the idea, applauded Holly’s willingness to take a risk and demanded a detailed account of Holly’s past several weeks with Matt.

  “Are you sure that practicality is all that’s behind this idea? I mean…do you have feelings for him? Do you think this thing with him could become serious?”

  Holly’s heart pattered. “No, it’s nothing like that. We’re just friends. Besides, I don’t think he’s in a place in his life right now to even consider a relationship.”

  “Too bad. He sounds great. What about down the road, once he gets his ducks in a row?”

  Holly grinned. Since shortly after Ryan’s death, Zoey, who seemed to have another new boyfriend every time they talked, had been pushing her sister to get back into a relationship.

  “Well, we have a great rapport. In fact, sometimes I feel like he can read my mind. Having lost his wife, I think he understands how I feel, even before I do. It’s obvious he’s well-educated, and we can talk about almost any subject. He’s got a wonderful sense of humor, and I…have fun with him—if you can call stripping wallpaper and ripping out old plumbing fun.”

  “I wouldn’t call anything that you’re doing to that house fun.” Zoey paused. “Look, I gotta run. Derek just got here, and we’re going to see that new Tom Hanks movie.”

  “Okay, have fun.”

  Zoey laughed. “Don’t I always? Hol, I say go for it with Matt. But you really don’t need my approval or anyone else’s. If it feels right in your heart, do it. You’ve always been a good judge of people. Listen to your instincts. ’Kay?”

  “Thanks, Zoey. Love you.”

  Holly snapped her phone closed and shut her eyes, picturing Matt’s warm smile. A sweet contentment filled her chest.

  Listen to your instincts.

  Her mind made up, Holly entered her vast, lonely farmhouse eager to lay out her idea for Matt.

  Tomorrow, she would invite him to move into one of her spare bedrooms, to live with her at the farmhouse while he helped with the renovations.

  “Living here will not only give you more time to work on the renovations, but it will also save me all those trips back and forth across the mountain. I’ll save on gas and time, and you can move out of your current apartment and save the money you were spending on rent.”

  Matt opened his mouth to object to Holly’s proposal, but she chattered on, her enthusiasm glowing in her eyes. He hadn’t been in her truck five minutes that Friday afternoon, three weeks after he’d started working for her, before she’d begun laying out her idea and detailed reasoning.

  “And the sooner you build up your savings, the sooner you can get on your feet and the sooner you can file a motion to win back custody of your children.” She barely paused for a breath. “It’s a win-win situation. I’ll get my house finished that much sooner, because you can be there all day while I’m at school, and you’ll be one step closer to having your kids.”

  How could he argue with anything that would bring him closer to his kids?

  Matt rubbed the five-o’clock shadow on his chin, debating her tempting offer. The idea of living under the same roof with Holly filled him with a complicated mix of trepidation and temptation. Fighting his attraction to her was difficult enough without adding the intimacy of cohabitation, and he needed only to remind himself who her husband had been to know why pursuing a relationship with her was a bad idea.

  His plan was to finish the renovations on her house and slip quietly out of her life. She need never know the role Ryan had played in ruining his life. Keeping the full truth from her rankled, but Matt didn’t want to jeopardize the chance she’d given him. He needed the renovation job, needed the salary she was paying him. But more important, he needed this time with Holly. She filled him with hope and optimism. The time he’d spent getting to know her these past weeks had been among the happiest days of his life.

  How would she feel about him if she knew her husband had prosecuted him for murder? Holly’s faith in him had gone a long way toward restoring his belief in himself. He wasn’t sure he could stand to see even a shadow of doubt or disillusionment in her eyes should she ever learn of his sin of omission.

  “So what do you say?” Holly’s expectant gaze found his, and her eager smile nudged aside the doubts that whispered warnings in his ear.

  “All right. I accept.” He inhaled deeply, praying he’d made the right choice. “Thank you.”

  They stopped at the hardware store on the way to her farmhouse and bought a few supplies for the next project on her list—refinishing the staircase banister and stairs. As they were leaving, they ran into her brother-in-law Jon in the parking lot.

  “I was just about to buy some more PVC pipes to finish installing the new sink in your master bathroom tomorrow,” Jon told Holly. “If you want to hold up a bit, I can load it in the back of your truck to take home now.”

  “No need,” she replied. “Matt replaced both the sink and the toilet earlier this week.”

  Jon raised his eyebrows and squared his shoulders. “Is that so?”

  Holly nodded. “But we ordered a new shower stall unit. It’s on back order now, but when it comes in, I’m sure Matt will need a hand with that.”

  Jon’s gaze shifted to Matt. “Just let me know. I’ll be glad to help.”

  Matt detected a note of sarcasm in Jon’s tone, undoubtedly due to a feeling of being supplanted on the renovations at Holly’s house. The last thing Matt wanted was to cause friction in her family.

  “So what’s all this?” Jon motioned to the bags in their hands.

  “We’re working on the banister and stairs this weekend.” Holly flashed her brother-in-law a smile that indicated she hadn’t picked up on the underlying tension in Jon’s voice. “Feel free to join us. It should be a blast.”

  Jon removed his Red Sox baseball cap and scratched his head. “Hmm, refinishing stairs or bowling with the guys from the fire department? Tough one.”

  Holly snorted. “You don’t bowl.”

  Jon tugged his mouth into a lopsided grin and nudged Holly’s chin with his fist. “Which is why you can count on me to be there first thing in the morning.” He divided a glance between Matt and Holly. “Listen, why don’t I pick you up in the morning on my way out to the farmhouse? Save Holly a trip into town.”

  Matt rubbed his chin. “Thanks, but.

  When he hesitated, Holly jumped in. “He’ll already be at the house. I’ve invited him to take one of the guest rooms.”

  Clearly the news shocked and disturbed Jon. His brow furrowed in a deep V, and grabbing her arm, he dragged Holly aside.

  Matt bristled protectively and stepped forward, only backing off when Holly raised a hand and signaled for a moment alone.

  He loaded their purchases on the backseat of Holly’s truck, giving Holly the illusion of privacy for her discussion with Jon. But he shamelessly perked his ears to listen to the exchange, monitoring them from the corner of his eye. Although Jon was her brother-in-law, Matt experienced a primal urge to protect and defend Holly. He followed their tense exchange with all of his senses on full alert. If he got even an inkling that Holly needed him, he wouldn’t hesitate to come to her defense.

  As Holly finished her discussion with Jon, Matt met the other man’s hard glare squarely.

  “Ready?” When she got into the truck and cranked the engine, he climbed in beside her.

  “Is there a problem? If my moving to the farm—”

  “There’s no problem, Matt. What I do with my life is none of his business. I think it’s just hard for them to see me moving on. I
think they feel I’ve forgotten about Ryan. I assured him that wasn’t the case and that I had given this decision careful consideration.” She backed out of her parking place and waved to Jon as they pulled away.

  Matt held Jon’s stare as they drove out of the lot. “Still…he doesn’t look happy. I don’t want to be the source of trouble for you with Ryan’s family.”

  Holly dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand. “He’ll get over it. He just doesn’t want to see me get hurt.”

  Matt clenched his teeth, guilt kicking him in the gut. He didn’t want Holly to get hurt either, but he knew the longer he withheld the facts about who he really was, the deeper his secret would cut when she learned the truth.

  Chapter 7

  Between special holiday activities at school and the ongoing renovations at her house, the days before Thanksgiving flew by for Holly. Having Matt sharing her roof gave her lonely farmhouse more energy, more life than it had had in months. And, by turn, his presence complicated things more than she’d expected.

  Emotions that she’d kept in check when she only saw Matt a few hours each day ran rampant with her new housemate around. Sharing meals and a bathroom with him—since the master bathroom was still in upheaval—added a familial intimacy to their relationship Holly hadn’t considered when she had examined her plan.

  Brushing against him as they passed in the hall or catching his eye over her morning oatmeal caused goose bumps on her arms. Hearing him hum in the shower or bumping hands as they washed the dinner dishes together stirred a fluttering in her veins. The magnetic pull she felt toward him strengthened daily.

  One day at school, she’d just finished passing finger paints out to her class when her thoughts drifted to Matt’s comment about his daughter coming home from kindergarten sprinkled with glitter. No doubt, Matt had been a terrific father, before…

  She remembered how comforting and compassionate he’d been with the girl at the Community Aid Center. Pediatric medicine was a good fit for him. And he seemed the perfect fit for her. He—

  “Ms. Cole, Tommy won’t share the green!”

  Snapped out of her romantic notions by her student’s complaint, she shoved thoughts of a relationship aside. Matt might be charming, intelligent and devastatingly handsome, but he had no interest now for anything more than friendship. His single-minded focus on reclaiming his life, his good name and his children made that point clear. Though he touched her often, the contact was always brief and platonic—a squeezed shoulder as a greeting in the morning, a sympathetic hand on hers when she shared a concern, a casual stroke of his palm on her cheek when he said good-night. Yet every pat or lingering glance stoked the longing that smoldered inside her.

  Every time her romanticism reared its head, Holly doggedly tamped down her growing attraction to Matt, knowing her feelings for him would make him uncomfortable and their living arrangement awkward. She knew, also, that Matt would go out of his way not to hurt her feelings, but that inevitably she’d end up with a broken heart if she didn’t nip her growing feelings in the bud.

  Matt didn’t want or need the complication of a romantic entanglement. The protective wall he kept between them, his silence regarding his past spoke for the distance that remained between them, despite the facade of intimacy created by shared chores and cozy breakfasts.

  Thanksgiving morning dawned sunny and cold. After bundling into her thick terry bathrobe, Holly traipsed down to the kitchen where the scent of freshly brewed coffee and cinnamon rolls teased her senses.

  “I could get used to this.” She poured herself a mug of coffee and flashed a groggy smile to Matt. Sighing contentedly, she took a long sip of the hot brew. “Waking to the scent of breakfast cooking is my idea of heaven.”

  A returned smile dimpled Matt’s cheek. “I love a woman who savors the simple pleasures.”

  Holly studied his sleep-rumpled hair and stubble-dusted chin, and her pulse kicked. The crisp scent of soap from his shower drifted to her, and a pair of well-worn sleep pants rode low on his lean hips. Even first thing in the morning, Matt was pure masculine sensuality.

  Holly’s hand tightened around her cup, and determined to sidetrack the sexual path of her thoughts, she turned toward the pan of sweet rolls he’d heated. If she couldn’t satisfy the lusty cravings he stirred, she could at least sate her appetite for sweets.

  “After you went upstairs last night, Jana called to make sure we knew you were invited to dinner today. We’re supposed to be there by noon, and she plans to eat at one. So…wanna come with?”

  Matt licked cinnamon roll icing off his thumb before answering, and Holly’s belly quivered imagining those lips sucking her fingers, her earlobe, her—

  Stop it!

  “I don’t think so,” he said.

  She blinked. What had they been talking about?

  He propped a hip against the counter and shrugged. “Thanksgiving is a family day, and I’m not family. I’d feel like I was intruding.”

  “Jana invited you. You’re more than welcome to join us. Jon’s bringing his girlfriend.”

  “That’s different. We’re not a couple. Our relationship is a business arrangement.”

  A knot twisted in her gut. Though she’d known how he felt, hearing him state his opinion of where they stood so bluntly was sobering. Disappointing.

  She shoved down the bubble of hurt that swelled in her chest. She’d figured they were at least friends, something more than just business acquaintances, but she nodded her understanding.

  “All right. I don’t want you to feel out of place.” She finished her coffee in a few gulps and put a cinnamon roll on a napkin to take upstairs. “Well, if I’m going to get my casserole and pie made before it’s time to go, I’d better hit the shower.”

  By the time she finished dressing and made it back down to the kitchen to cook, Matt had disappeared to the study, and the pungent scent of polyurethane wood stain told her that he was at work.

  Once she had her food prepared and loaded in her truck, she checked in with Matt once more before she left. “I’m going. Are you sure you won’t come along?”

  He lifted his stain-smudged hands and flashed a melancholy grin. “No, thanks. You have fun.”

  Holly’s heart stumbled. Matt was right. Thanksgiving was a family day, and he had to be missing his kids today more than usual. How could she leave him here alone?

  “I won’t stay late,” she promised. “We’ll have leftover turkey and pie together tonight, okay?”

  He winked at her and returned his attention to the crown molding he was staining.

  Thoughts of Matt, by himself at her house and alone with his grief, plagued Holly as she drove the twisty mountain road into town. As she parked in her in-law’s driveway, she swore to herself she’d find a good excuse to leave Jana and Robert’s early.

  Robert met Holly at the front door with a highball glass in one hand, which he raised in greeting. “Happy Thanksgiving. Can I get you a drink?”

  “A little early to be drinking, isn’t it?”

  He shrugged and took another sip from his glass. “It’s Thanksgiving, and I’m celebrating. I have lots to be thankful for this year.”

  She acknowledged him with a smile. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass until dinner’s ready.” She held out the casserole. “Speaking of which, I brought sweet potatoes, and there’s a pecan pie on the front seat. Will you get it?”

  “Sure.” Robert set his drink down on an antique washstand in the foyer and headed out to her Tacoma.

  As Holly carried the casserole into the kitchen, she inhaled the tempting scents of sage dressing and roasting turkey. Jana, a petite, female version of her brother Ryan, turned from the stove with a bright smile. “I thought I heard new voices. Is Matt with you?”

  “No, he stayed home. I think he felt like he’d be a fifth wheel.”

  “Nonsense.” Jana took the casserole from Holly and slid it into the oven to warm. “The food will be ready in about a half hour. Jon,
Kim and Robert are watching football in the living room, if you want to join them.”

  “Yeah, in a minute. I—” Holly chewed her bottom lip and glanced toward the front door where she’d left Robert. “I noticed Robert’s already drinking.”

  Jana paused in her meal preparations and glanced at Holly with a knit in her brow. “Yeah.”

  “I don’t mean to sound like a prude but…Well, Ryan mentioned to me shortly before he died that he was worried about how much Robert drank. I’d thought it had gotten better in recent months, so I didn’t say anything.”

  Jana rubbed the back of her neck. “Some days are better than others, but…there’s nothing to worry about. If he had a real problem, I’d be the first to send him to get help.”

  Holly unbuttoned her jacket, debating whether she should press the issue, but opted not to. She took off her coat and hung it in the front closet on her way into the adjoining room. The professional football game on TV held little appeal to her, but she chatted amiably with Jon’s girlfriend until Jana called to them that dinner was ready. Holly and Kim helped Jana carry all the food in from the kitchen, while Robert poured wine for everyone.

  Holly glanced at the empty seat beside her as they all took their places at the table. While she understood Matt’s reservations about joining them, she wished she hadn’t had to come alone.

  As usual, Jana’s cooking was delicious, and they all stuffed themselves. They were eating Holly’s pecan pie when Jon leaned across the table toward her. “Is Rankin still at your place?”

  Holly didn’t like the tone or the dark look Jon gave her. She hesitated before answering. “Yes. Why?”

  “Because I can’t shake the feeling that I know him, so I did a little checking on him. I don’t like what I found.”

  Irritation scraped through her. “You’ve been snooping on Matt? How dare you?”

  Jon seemed unfazed by her pique. “Technically Robert did the checking through his resources at the police department.”

  She shot a scowl to the end of the table, where Robert was pouring himself another drink. “You’ve been investigating Matt without telling me? I can’t believe this!”