Wedding His Takeover Target / Inheriting His Secret Christmas Baby. Emilie Rose

in his palm, holding her captive as he ravaged her mouth with hot, hungry kisses.

      She needed to push him away, but he tasted so good, like the mint chocolate chip cookies she’d served for dessert and like … Gavin. She didn’t mean to kiss him back. But somehow, her tongue twined with his. Somehow she moved closer until his hard chest supported her. He released the hand he held captive in his pocket to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her even closer.

      Excitement coursed through her, making her feel alive and womanly and desirable—a trio she hadn’t experienced in far too long. A combination that had brought her nothing but pain. A sobering chill rushed over her.

      She jerked free, backing up one step, two. Her heavy breaths fogged the air between them. “I don’t want you to do that again.”

      “When was your divorce final?”

      The question blindsided her. “I’m not divorced.”

      His eyes narrowed. He lifted her hand. “But you’re not still married. You don’t wear a ring.”

      She yanked her hand free and debated telling him to mind his own business. But maybe a dose of the truth would scare him away. “My husband was an army medic. A hero who died saving his team in combat.”

      Gavin’s jaw shifted. “That was his funeral flag on your desk and his picture on the nightstand.”

      “Yes.”

      “How long ago?”

      “Three years.”

      “And you’re not over him.”

      “I’ll never be over him, Gavin. You never forget a love like that.”

      “You can’t move forward when you’re living in the past, Sabrina.”

      “Maybe I don’t want to move forward.” Because forgetting the past meant opening her heart to that crushing pain again.

      He was competing against a damned saint, Gavin realized. No wonder Caldwell had to bribe someone to woo his granddaughter. The old geezer had deliberately set an unattainable goal. Had Henry known all along that Gavin didn’t stand a chance of winning?

      The hell you don’t.

      Gavin wanted Sabrina more than ever—not just for the mine or because he liked her protective lioness attitude toward Henry, but because the passion she ignited inside him promised to be stronger than any he’d experienced before. Convincing her to test that passion would be a challenge, but he liked nothing better than tackling obstacles. He’d built his professional reputation on making a success out of projects others deemed impossible.

      Peeling off his gloves, he stomped the light dusting of snow off his boots and knocked on the kitchen door Thursday morning. Caldwell opened the door and glanced past him. “Bringing out the big guns, ain’t you?”

      “Yessir.”

      “C’mon in and pour yourself a cup of coffee. Sabrina will be in momentarily.”

      “Thanks, but I have a thermos of coffee in the carriage along with breakfast. I hope you don’t mind if I kidnap her for an hour or two.”

      Henry raised his mug and smirked. “Good luck with that.”

      “You could have warned me about her husband.”

      “And have you quit before you started? Now that would spoil the fun, wouldn’t it?” The old man’s eyes twinkled with mischief.

      “Glad I can entertain you.”

      Sabrina’s soft tread carried down the hall. Gavin saw her before she spotted him. The softness of her face before her expression turned guarded had his heart slamming hard against his rib cage. Sabrina Taylor was definitely worth the battle.

      She glanced from him to her grandfather and back, her wariness palpable. “Good morning.”

      “Gavin here has a surprise for you.”

      “What?” Suspicion laced the word and narrowed her eyes.

      “A carriage ride,” Gavin told her.

      Her lips parted. Interest flickered across her face before she shut it down. “It’s snowing.”

      “It’s barely coming down. I have blankets, coffee and breakfast waiting in the rig.”

      She brushed past him, heading for the window. The gentle bump of their shoulders aroused him like a damned schoolboy getting his first peep at a girl’s panties. If he ever— When he got her into bed, they were going to generate enough heat to melt the snowcaps surrounding the valley.

      She looked over her shoulder at him. Excitement pinked her cheeks and sparkled in her baby blues. “I shouldn’t. Pops—”

      “Go on, girlie. I’ll be fine for a few hours. We both know how much you miss the horses.”

      Biting her lip, she hesitated. Outside the horses shifted and the tinkle of sleigh bells carried inside. He could feel her excitement, sense her indecision, and decided to give her a nudge. “If you want to see the sun rise over the mountains we need to leave now.”

      “Go, Sabrina, before the road gets slick. He’s got wheels on the thing, not runners. Time’s a-wastin’.”

      Gavin observed her changing expressions, and it was a toss-up whether he’d win or lose this round. He’d never met a woman more difficult to decipher.

      She huffed out a breath. “Just a quick ride.”

      Victory pumped through his veins. One step closer to his goal.