Christmas Kisses For A Dollar. Laurie Paige

putting ideas in my head,” Anne told her.

      “It’s time someone did. I think Marge tried to make an old maid out of you from the day you were born.”

      It was no secret the two women didn’t get along. Ellen thought Marge was too possessive and overprotective of Anne. Marge thought Ellen was a bad influence.

      Anne thought her aunt’s attitude was because Marge had been there when Anne’s mother had died in childbirth. Uncle Joe and Aunt Marge had raised her from the time she was a toddler because her father traveled extensively in his job with an international corporation. He hadn’t been home in almost two years.

      Aunt Marge meant well. She, too, had been affected by the family curse—two children had died in infancy from heart defects. Anne loved her aunt and tried not to resent the older woman’s interference in her life. Aunt Marge reminded her to be careful because she was concerned about Anne’s health.

      Thinking of her reaction to the kiss, Anne shook her head ruefully. “I’m not sure my heart is up to an affair with Jon Sinclair.”

      “But you won’t know until you try.”

      “Have you ever had an affair?”

      Ellen was silent so long, Anne thought she wasn’t going to answer. “Once. A long time ago.”

      “Did it make your heart pound like it would fly right out of your chest?”

      “Of course. That’s the point of the whole thing.”

      Their coffee and muffins arrived. Anne changed the subject, but the memory of the kiss lingered in her mind. It stayed in the minds of her neighbors, too. Before Anne had finished her coffee, five people drifted over and asked if she was feeling better.

      “It is the biggest raisin on the grapevine, or something like that,” Ellen advised when Anne grumbled about the avid interest in her love life.

      Jon Sinclair kicked the sheet off and swung out of bed. Naked, he walked to the window and looked out at the dawn. From his bedroom, located on the second floor of the sprawling home of his youth, he could see the Sabine River chugging along on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

      He was restless and hungry. But not for food. Glancing down, he shook his head in wry exasperation. His body was erect and ready for a torrid session between the sheets.

      The emptiness of his bed only underscored the problem. Last night, eating a lonely supper in a seafood place along the river, he’d passed up the chance to spend a few pleasant hours in another bed.

      Wrong woman, wrong bed.

      Truth was, he couldn’t get Anne Hyden out of his mind. She lingered like the annoying line of a song that wouldn’t go away. It was driving him crazy.

      Frowning at his own stupidity, he dressed, ate a slice of bologna stuffed into a hot-dog bun and took his coffee to the field with him. He worked on the irrigation system until Pedro, Jon’s ranch manager, and his son arrived; then he left them putting PVC pipe together and went to town for more parts.

      The first person he saw was Anne Hyden, looking like a perky pansy in a gold top and brown slacks. Her hair was clipped at the back of her neck with a fluffy gold bow. She was unlocking her shop door when she spied him. She stopped at the door and waved.

      Her action surprised him. He’d thought she would be cool and standoffish for some reason.

      He parked and jumped down from the pickup. Going to her, he nodded toward the restaurant. “How about some breakfast?”

      “I’ve eaten.” The dimples winked saucily at him.

      He thought of crushing them under his lips. “Then you can watch me while I eat.”

      “Okay.”

      Again, he was thrown slightly off-balance. She never reacted the way he thought she would. When she fell into step beside him, he took her hand and swung it between them.

      “I’ve dreamed of you for two nights now,” he complained, giving her an oblique glance to see how she took this statement.

      “Oh, too bad.” She laughed when he frowned at her.

      A grin came over him in spite of his irritation at her cavalier attitude toward his sleepless nights. “You’re driving me up the wall,” he announced, guiding her into the restaurant.

      “This your new office?” the waitress asked Anne when they were seated. The woman gave him a speculative glance.

      “It looks that way.” Anne gave an attractive shrug. “I’ll have tea this time.”

      Jon ordered the waffle special. When the waitress left, he asked Anne, “You’ve already been in this morning, I take it?”

      She nodded. “Ellen Adamson and I were in earlier. We were discussing you.”

      “Who’s Ellen Adamson?” He searched his memory for a face and came up blank.

      “Doc Adamson’s cousin. She was the one who pointed out my house Saturday and kept things calm while you made your getaway.”

      “Ah, yes. Is she a nurse?”

      “No, but she runs his office. He hired her about two years ago, shortly after his wife died in a car crash. Ellen and Doc grew up here. As a teenager Ellen used to baby-sit me. When she returned to town as an adult, we became the best of friends.”

      Their coffee and tea arrived. He scorned the sugar and cream and watched while Anne added both to her tea. He noted the way her fingers curled around the handle of the cup when she lifted it to her mouth and sipped cautiously in case it was too hot. Her dimples appeared when she grinned at him.

      “Not going to ask, huh?” she said.

      “Ask what?”

      “What Ellen and I were saying about you.”

      “I’ve never much cared what people said about me.” He took a drink of coffee and found it hot and strong.

      “She thinks we should have an affair.”

      He nearly spewed the coffee on the table, but managed to swallow it instead. Then he choked.

      She patted him on the back and made sympathetic noises.

      “What did you think?” he asked as soon as he was able.

      “It sounded…interesting.” The imp of mischief peeked at him from her blue-violet eyes.

      “How interesting?”

      “Make me an offer.”

      “Dinner tonight. My place.”

      She shook her head. “Too easy. You’ll have to court me first, I think. Candlelight and romance…sweet nothings in my ear and all that.”

      He muttered an expletive. The expressive eyebrows went up as she studied him, a slight smile lingering on her mouth.

      “If it’s too much trouble…” Her voice trailed off as she gazed at him.

      “I’ll walk over coals,” he told her bluntly. “I just hoped I wouldn’t have to.”

      His meal arrived—waffle, bacon, two eggs over-medium and an assortment of attractively arranged orange and cantaloupe slices.

      “But the chase makes the end that much sweeter, don’t you think?” She was all wide-eyed innocence.

      “I think you’re going to make me run till I drop,” he muttered darkly. He dashed pepper vigorously on his eggs before chopping them into pieces. He gave her a challenging glance as he lifted a bite to his mouth. “However, the race isn’t over until someone crosses the finish line. That’ll be me.”

      He grinned and started eating.

      There was nothing arrogant about his confidence, Anne noted. He was quietly sure