The Maverick's Christmas Baby. Victoria Pade

up my family all over again. I’m sure you know how that goes.”

      “Oh, I know. The slightest thing that happens with a Crawford and everyone on my side is up in arms.”

      “But it’s gotten me to thinking...” Nina mused. “And it occurred to me that I don’t even know for sure what started the Crawfords and the Traubs hating each other in the first place. Do you know?” she asked, having wondered a great deal about that since Wednesday when she’d discovered that she couldn’t find a single thing wrong with Dallas. When, in fact, she could only find things more right than she wanted them to be.

      “I’ve been thinking a lot about that, too,” Dallas admitted. “Here you are, a nice person, great to be around—” and if the warmth in his gaze meant anything, he didn’t hate the way she looked, either “—and I keep wondering why I’m supposed to think you’re the devil incarnate just because you’re a Crawford. But to tell you the truth, I don’t know, either.”

      “I know there’s been a history of Crawfords and Traubs competing for the same public positions—like this last election for mayor,” Nina said.

      “Right. There have been Traubs and Crawfords vying for the sheriff’s job and city council seats along the way—I remember our fathers both running for an empty seat on the city council when I was a teenager.”

      “And that time my dad won—I’d forgotten that he sat on the city council for a while back then,” Nina said.

      “But there’s always a winner and a loser in those things—sometimes in favor of a Traub, sometimes in favor of a Crawford—”

      “And then there are hard feelings on the part of whichever side loses,” Nina finished for him.

      “Sure,” Dallas agreed. “Plus I think I remember hearing something about a romance—a long, long time ago, when Rust Creek was nothing but cowboys and farmers. I think there was a story about a Traub and a Crawford both wanting the same woman, or something. And when neither of them got her they blamed each other....”

      “I hadn’t even heard that one,” Nina said, laughing again. “I did hear one once about a business deal gone wrong, but all I know for sure is that whenever I’ve asked why the Crawfords and the Traubs hate each other it’s started a tirade against the Traubs without any real answer. But it sounds like it’s a matter of the Traubs and the Crawfords being too much alike and wanting the same things over and over again.”

      “It does, doesn’t it?” Dallas agreed, laughing with her. “But at this point it just seems silly to me.”

      Nina was so glad to hear him say that. Probably because it was how she felt, as well, she told herself. It probably didn’t have anything to do with the fact that she was enjoying being there with him so much, or the fact that she kept remembering how he’d taken care of her during the blizzard and the feel of him carrying her to his truck, the comforting feel of his arm around her when she’d had pain.