A Cinderella Story. Maureen Child

wanted to hear and completely disregarded everything else. He glanced at the house and somehow wasn’t surprised to see Joy in the kitchen window, watching them. Across the yard, their gazes met and heat lit up the line of tension linking them.

      All he could think of was the taste of her. The feel of her. The gnawing realization that he was going to have her. There was no mistaking the pulse-pounding sensations linking them. No pretending that it wasn’t there. Guilt still chewing at him, he knew that even that wouldn’t be enough to keep him from her.

      And when she lifted one hand and laid it palm flat on the window glass, it was as if she was touching him. Feeling what he was feeling and acknowledging that she, too, knew the inevitable was headed right at them.

      * * *

      The trunk was filled with grocery bags, the backseat held a Charlie Brown Christmas tree on one side and Holly on the other, and now, Joy was at her house for the boxes of decorations they would need.

      “Our house is tiny, huh, Mommy?”

      After Sam’s house, anything would look tiny, but in this case especially. “Sure is, baby,” she said, “but it’s ours.”

      She noted Buddy Hall’s shop van in the driveway and hurriedly got Holly out of the car and hustling toward the house. Funny, she’d never really noticed before that they didn’t have many trees on their street, Joy thought. But spending the last week or so at Sam’s house—surrounded by the woods and a view of the lake—she couldn’t help thinking that her street looked a little bare. But it wasn’t Sam’s house that intrigued her. It was the man himself. Instantly, she thought of the look he’d given her just that morning. Even from across the wide yard, she’d felt the power of that stare, and her blood had buzzed in reaction. Even now, her stomach jumped with nerves and expectation. She and Sam weren’t finished. Not by a long shot. There was more coming. She just wasn’t sure what or when. But she couldn’t wait.

      “Stay with me, sweetie,” Joy said as they walked into the house together.

      “Okay. Can I have a baby sister?”

      Joy stopped dead on the threshold and looked down at her. “What? Where did that come from?”

      “Lizzie’s getting a new sister. It’s a secret but she is and I want one, too.”

      Deb was pregnant? Why hadn’t she told? And how the heck did Holly know before Joy did? Shaking her head, she told herself they were all excellent questions that would have to be answered later. For now, she wanted to check on the progress of the house repairs.

      “Buddy?” she called out.

      “Back here.” The deep voice came from the kitchen, so Joy kept a grip on Holly and headed that way.

      Along the way, her mind kept up a constant comparison between her own tiny rental and the splendor of Sam’s place. The hallway alone was a fraction of the length of his. The living room was so small that if four people were in there at the same time, they’d be in sin. The kitchen, she thought sadly, walking into the room, looked about as big as the island in Sam’s kitchen. Its sad cabinets needed paint and really just needed to be torn down and replaced, but since she was just a renter, it wasn’t up to her. And the house might be small and a little on the shabby side, but it was her home. The one she’d made for her and Holly, so there was affection along with the exasperation.

      “How’s it going, Buddy?” she asked.

      “Not bad.” He stood up, all five feet four inches of him, with his barrel chest and broader stomach. A gray fringe of hair haloed his head, and his bright blue eyes sparkled with good humor. “Just sent Buddy Junior down to the hardware store. Thought while I was here we could fix the hinges on some of these cabinets. Some of ’em hang so crooked they’re making me dizzy.”

      Delighted, Joy said, “Thank you, Buddy. That’s going the extra mile.”

      “Not a problem.” He pushed up the sleeves of his flannel shirt, took a step back and looked at the gaping hole where a light switch used to be. “Got the wiring all replaced and brought up to code out in the living room, but I’m checking the rest, as well. You’ve got some fraying in here and a hot wire somebody left uncapped in the smaller bedroom—”

      Holly’s bedroom, Joy thought and felt a pang of worry. God, if the fire had started in her daughter’s room in the middle of the night, maybe they wouldn’t have noticed in time. Maybe smoke inhalation would have knocked them out and kept them out until—

      “No worries,” Buddy said, looking right at her. “No point in thinking about what-ifs, either,” he added as if he could look at her and read her thoughts. And he probably could. “By the time this job’s done I guarantee all the wiring. You and the little one there will be safe as houses.”

      “What’s a safe house?” Holly asked.

      Buddy winked at her. “This one, soon’s I’m done.”

      “Thank you, Buddy. I really appreciate it.” But maybe, Joy told herself, it was time to find a new house for her and her daughter. Something newer. Safer. Still, that was a thought for later on, so she put it aside for now.

      “I know you do and we’re getting it done as fast as we can.” He gave his own work a long look. “The way it’s looking, you could be back home before Christmas.”

      Back home. Away from Sam. Away from what she was beginning to feel for him. Probably best, she told herself, though right at the moment, she didn’t quite believe it. As irritating as the man could be, he was so much more. And that more was drawing her in.

      “Appreciate that, too,” Joy said. “We’re just here to pick up some Christmas decorations, then we’ll get out of your hair.”

      He grinned and scrubbed one hand across the top of his bald head. “You’d have quite the time getting in my hair. You two doing all right up the mountain?”

      “Yes.” Everyone in town was curious about Sam, she thought. Didn’t he see that if he spent more time talking to people they’d be less inclined to talk about him and wonder? “It’s been great. Sam helped Holly build a fairy house.”

      “Is that right?”

      “It’s pretty and in the woods and I’m going to bring some of my dolls to put in it to keep the fairies company and Sam’s gonna help me make another one, too. He’s really nice. Just crabby sometimes.”

      “Out of the mouths of babes,” Joy murmured with a smile. “Well, we’ve got to run. Trees to decorate, cookies to bake.”

      “You go ahead then,” Buddy said, already turning back to his task. Then over his shoulder he called out, “You be sure to tell Sam Henry my wife, Cora, loves that rocking chair he made. She bought it at Crafty and now I can’t hardly get her out of it.”

      Joy smiled. “I’ll tell him.”

      Then with Holly rummaging through her toys, Joy bundled up everything Christmas. A few minutes later, they were back in the car, and she was thinking about the crabby man who made her want things she shouldn’t.

      * * *

      Of course, she had to stop by Deb’s first, because hello, news. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re pregnant?”

      Deb’s eyes went wide and when her jaw dropped she popped a mini apple pie into it. “How did you know?”

      “Lizzie told Holly, Holly told me.”

      “Lizzie—” Deb sighed and shook her head. “You think your kids don’t notice what’s going on. Boy, I’m going to have to get better at the secret thing.”

      “Why a secret?” Joy picked up a tiny brownie and told herself the calories didn’t count since it was so small. Drawing it out into two bites, she waited.

      “You know we lost one a couple of years ago,” Deb said, keeping her voice low as there were customers in the main room, separated