The Bachelor's Christmas Bride. Victoria Pade

her eyes, her gaze landed instead on Dag, she didn’t know. But there they were, suddenly sharing a glance while the soon-to-be-married couple shared a kiss. And to Shannon it almost seemed as if something couple-ish passed between them, too.

      Which, of course, couldn’t possibly have been the case and she again questioned what was going on with her.

      Wanting whatever it was interrupted, she focused on Logan to say, “And there are three more McKendrick sisters with unusual names, right?”

      “And another McKendrick brother—Tucker,” Logan answered. “You’ll meet them all tomorrow night at the rehearsal and dinner.”

      Cody threw Shannon’s bracelet then, letting everyone know that he was no longer content.

      “Oh-oh, I think it’s past a couple of bedtimes,” Meg said.

      “Not me!” Tia insisted. She was still on Shannon’s lap but now she’d taken off her shoes and was trying unsuccessfully to put both of her feet through Shannon’s bracelet.

      “Yes, you, too,” Logan interjected.

      “And that’s our cue for dish duty,” Chase added with a grimace tossed at his friend.

      “That was the deal,” Hadley reminded. “Meg and I will put kids to bed, Logan and Chase get to show what they learned as dishwashers on their grand tour of the country, and Dag and Shannon are off the hook because the dinner was for them.”

      “I don’t mind helping with clean-up,” Shannon said.

      “Shhh,” Dag put in. “Don’t ruin a good thing.”

      “Besides,” Meg added. “You’ve had a long day, Shannon. You drove the whole way in from Billings and had the closing, and all of us plying you with questions tonight. You have to be worn out. I know I would be.”

      “How about if I walk you out to the apartment?” Dag offered before she could respond to what Meg had said.

      “Oh. You don’t have to do that,” Shannon demurred, not because she didn’t want him to, but because the minute he suggested it she wanted him to too much….

      “I think that’s a great idea—Dag should walk Shannon to the apartment so she doesn’t just have to trudge out there alone,” Meg agreed.

      “Really—”

      “Go on,” Hadley urged. “I’d walk with you but I have to get all of Cody’s gear ready to take with me to our place.”

      The spacious, luxurious loft was what Hadley was referring to. It was in the building beside the apartment over the garage where Shannon was staying. The same building that housed the work space and showroom for Mackey and McKendrick Furniture Designs on the ground floor.

      Hadley’s urging seemed to have ended the discussion because everyone got up from the table and Meg came to take Tia from Shannon’s lap.

      “Give back Shannon’s bracelet and tell her thank you for letting you play with it,” Meg told the three-year-old.

      “I could keep it….” Tia whispered to Shannon.

      “No, you can’t keep it,” Meg said before Shannon had the chance to answer, taking the bracelet from Tia and the other one from where Cody had thrown it, and giving them both to Shannon just before she picked up Tia.

      Shannon said her good-nights while Dag ran upstairs for a jacket. A brown leather motorcycle jacket that made him look every inch a bad boy when he returned with it on.

      But Shannon told herself that wasn’t anything she should be noticing. Or appreciating. And she curbed it.

      She had her own coat on by that time, too, and the next thing she knew, they were out the back door and into the cold, crisp night.

      “It’s so quiet here,” she said softly when Dag had closed the door behind them.

      “A nice change from inside?”

      “It wasn’t that dinner wasn’t nice,” she was quick to say as they headed for the garage in the distance, not wanting him to think there was anything about the evening that she hadn’t enjoyed. “I guess it’s just that I’m not used to having so much family around.”

      “Because there was always just your mother, father and grandmother?” Dag said as they fell easily into step with each other.

      “Yes. And really, until the last few years, it was just my parents and me. But here I am now with a brother and a nephew and Hadley will be my sister-in-law, and there’s all of you McKendricks, too, who seem to be like family to Chase—”

      “Not to mention two more brothers if and when you find them,” Dag reminded.

      “It’s a lot for someone who’s always been part of a small group, a small life.”

      “A small life?” Dag repeated with a laugh. “What exactly does that mean?”

      “You know, just a small, simple, workaday life. Certainly no living in Italy and France the way Hadley did. Or even the kind of travel Chase and Logan did around the country for years. Teaching kindergarten isn’t a high-powered career. I’ve been to a few fancy parties with Wes, and there was a trip to Europe, but I haven’t done anything that would qualify as a big life.”

      “So far,” Dag amended. “But marrying into a rich and powerful family and possibly becoming the First Lady of Montana? That ought to pump up the volume considerably.”

      Shannon hoped that dropping her head when he said that only seemed to be because she was watching her first step up the outer wooden staircase alongside the garage to the apartment. But really she was hiding her expression so she didn’t give away that she wasn’t going to pump up the volume of her life by marrying Wes Rumson.

      “Becoming the First Lady of Montana would be a bigger life all right,” she muttered noncommitally. “And a bigger life is always what I’ve wanted. But we were talking about what I’m used to and neither a bigger life nor a lot of large family gatherings like tonight are it.”

      “So you’ll have some adjusting to do and tonight was good practice,” Dag said as he followed her up the stairs.

      “Tonight was just nice,” she said quietly again.

      They reached the landing and she unlocked the apartment door, reaching inside to turn on the light and wondering suddenly if she should invite Dag in. She couldn’t think of any reason why she should. And yet she felt some inclination to do it anyway.

      “Want to hide out here until the dishes are done?” she asked with a nod in the direction of the main house where Chase and Logan were visible through the window over the sink.

      Dag glanced in that direction, too, but then brought his gaze back to her, accompanied by a grin that was disarmingly handsome. And made her think that he was tempted to accept her invitation to stay.

      But after a moment he seemed to fight the urge and said, “I might not have been able to hold my own with those two when I was eight and they were making me pick up their smelly socks, but now? They don’t get anything over on me.”

      Still, he didn’t seem in any hurry to go and Shannon wasn’t sure what to do about that. Standing there facing him, staring up into features any movie star could have used to advantage, wasn’t giving her answers.

      Then Dag said, “Those movers you hired to pack everything and clear out your grandmother’s house missed a few things. Nothing big—just some odds and ends I’ve come across working on the place—”

      “Like?”

      “Like some clothes and a blanket that were stuffed up high in a closet. Some kitchen things. A couple pictures that had fallen behind a drawer. An old jewelry box—I can’t even remember what all. I’ve been putting them in boxes when I come across them because I didn’t know if there was anything you might