A Cold Creek Holiday. RaeAnne Thayne

bringing the homework,” Wade said to the girls, then turned to Emery. “It was nice to meet you.”

      Somehow she managed to smile back over the renewed pounding of her heart. Would he say that if he knew the truth? She had to wonder. As she ushered the girls toward the door, Caroline and Tanner followed them. On the porch, she held out two lunch bags Emery hadn’t even noticed she had been carrying.

      “What’s this?” Emery asked.

      “Cookies, a bag for you and one for Nate and the girls. And just in case I didn’t mention it, they’re made with jam from our own raspberry canes in the garden. I don’t have very many specialties so I’m pretty proud of this one.”

      Caroline hugged both Tallie and Claire goodbye, sympathy in her eyes for the two little girls. To her surprise, she hugged Emery, too.

      “It was great to meet you. I really would love to see some of your fabrics.”

      She didn’t know what to do with all this warmth, especially when some insane part of her wanted to sit right down on the porch and tell Caroline Dalton everything.

      “I’ll see what I can do,” she answered, then she and the girls headed off the porch, mounted their horses and took off down the driveway toward Hope Springs.

      Chapter Three

      They were all mostly silent on the way home. Emery was lost in thought, wondering if this whole trip had been crazy. What place could she ever have in the Daltons’ lives? As much as she had instinctively liked both Wade and Caroline Dalton and despite the ties they didn’t even know about, she was a stranger to them. What right did she have to burst into their lives, dredging up the past?

      She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn’t pay much attention to anything until they turned onto the Hope Springs access road. As Cielo moved alongside Claire’s horse, she had the first clear view of the girl in several moments and she was stunned to see silent tears trickling down cheeks reddened by the cold.

      The sight jerked her from her own self-absorption and she nudged the horse closer so she could reach out to touch the girl’s shoulder. “Oh, honey, what is it?”

      “Nothing,” Claire sniffled.

      “It’s the cookies Tanner’s mom made,” Tallie said. She looked close to tears, as well, though she seemed to be holding them back.

      “What’s wrong with the cookies?”

      “Nothing,” Claire said. “It’s just…we haven’t made any this year. Not real ones, anyway.”

      “Our mom always made Christmas cookies with us. Every year. It was so fun,” Tallie said sadly.

      “We made sugar cookies and wedding balls and almond ones dipped in chocolate,” Claire said, her voice breaking on the words. “I miss them so much.”

      She let out a sob and Emery stopped her horse and pulled the girl into as much of a hug as she could manage when they were both on horseback.

      “We made cookies with Uncle Nate,” Tallie reminded her sister. “They were okay.”

      “They were from store-bought dough. That’s all Uncle Nate said he could make. And we still burned them.”

      Emery did her best to ignore the fluttering in her stomach at the image of the tough, virile man who could lift her heavy suitcase without a blink standing in the kitchen in an apron making cookies with his nieces.

      “I’m so sorry, honey,” she murmured. She wasn’t the only one missing her mother or the life she used to have this Christmas, though what these two little girls were suffering seemed so much harder.

      “Listen, I’m not the greatest baker, but I do have a few good cookie recipes. Maybe we could find a day before Christmas and the three of us could whip something up.”

      Tallie, on her sister’s other side, looked ecstatic at the offer. “Really? You mean that?”

      “As long as your uncle doesn’t mind.”

      “He won’t mind,” Claire assured her as she wiped at her eyes. “He loves cookies. He just doesn’t know how to make them.”

      “Can we still make a hat like yours if we’re making cookies?” Tallie asked.

      “I’m sure we can figure out a way to do both,” she answered, and was greeted with delighted smiles.

      So much for her claim that she wanted to avoid Christmas this year, she thought as they spurred their horses toward the house. Now she was committed to helping the girls make cookies and sew a few presents. The biggest surprise of all was that she actually looked forward to it.

      Claire’s tears dried by the time they reached the barn. As they dismounted and began removing the saddles from the horses, she and Tallie chattered about Christmas and the things they had asked for that year. Emery was carrying the saddle to the tackroom when she heard the outside door open.

      “Where have you two been?”

      She frowned at the anger in Nate’s voice and quickly set the saddle on its form and returned to the stalls.

      “We went for a ride,” Claire answered.

      “You went to the Daltons, didn’t you?”

      “I had to give Tanner his homework,” Tallie said. “I told you.”

      “And I said we would drive over as soon as I finished with the attorney. You know the new rules. You know you’re not supposed to take the horses on your own, no matter what your parents might have allowed. I have to know where you are.”

      “We weren’t on our own,” Tallie protested. “You said we couldn’t go unless we were with an adult. We had Ms. Kendall with us.”

      He turned on her, his features thunderous.

      “You had no right to just ride off with them. Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? I was just about ready to start a search party.”

      “I left you a note,” Claire said. “You were busy with the man and I didn’t want to bother you.”

      “I didn’t see any note.”

      “I put it on the hall table. That’s where we always put stuff for Mom and Dad to see.”

      He raked a hand through his hair, his features still taut and angry, though Emery saw the echo of worry in his eyes. “I must have missed it.”

      “We gave all the homework to Tanner and now you don’t even have to take us, since you don’t like going to the Cold Creek,” Tallie said, her voice cheerful.

      “Tanner’s stepmom was making cookies,” Claire added, holding out the bag to him. “She sent a bunch for us.”

      “Did she?”

      “Yep,” Tallie said. “And then Claire was sad about the cookies since we didn’t make the ones we usually do and Emery said she’ll help us make Christmas cookies this year. Wasn’t that nice?”

      Nate shifted his dark-eyed gaze in her direction and he didn’t look at all pleased by what she thought had been a rather kind offer.

      “I’m sure it was.” He put enough doubt in his voice that it sounded as if he believed exactly the opposite. “Listen, why don’t you girls head up to the house where you can get warm and set the table for dinner? I’ll finish up with your horses and be up in a minute.”

      They agreed readily enough and a moment later, she was alone with him in the barn.

      “I’m sorry if I overstepped,” Emery said. “It won’t happen again.”

      “I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that. I was just worried. A storm’s coming and I was afraid they would be caught up in it.” He paused, giving her a careful look. “They told you they could