A Town Called Christmas. Carrie Alexander

roll the words on her tongue, but she didn’t say them. Instead, she stood taller, lifting her chin away from his touch. “Nicky never told you about me?”

      “He told me lots of things. Like how he used to call you Merrylegs, after the fat pony in Black Beauty. That he once hit you in the elbow with a rubber-band airplane and gave you a small scar. How proud he was that even though you were a successful executive in Chicago, you gave it all up to move home after your father’s health problems. And that you and the guy you lived with split up around the same time.” Mike had grown more serious, the last fact putting gravel into his voice. “Is that what you mean? Are you still brokenhearted?”

      The cold air was no match for the block of ice that was suddenly lodged inside him. Was she aware that they were both on the rebound and therefore ripe for a foolish fling that would certainly be a mistake?

      “I’m not brokenhearted,” she whispered.

      “Me, neither.”

      She licked her lips. “But I am…”

      “Eminently kissable,” he said, and gathered her into his arms so she couldn’t run away again. “Even without the mistletoe.”

      He put his cheek near hers. Taking his time. Feeling the warmth as their breath intermingled, which he could actually see happening. There were stars in her eyes, brighter than the ones that sequined the sky. Amazing.

      The wait was excruciating, and delicious. That was not a word he’d used for anything but food before now, but it was right. Meredith was alluring, enchanting and delicious—even before he’d tasted her.

      Finally she conceded. Her eyes flickered and she moved a fraction toward him with her lips.

      He took her mouth with certainty, pressing a firm kiss against her chilled lips. For one heartbeat, she hesitated. Then her mouth softened and warmed for him, became a sweet, welcoming haven.

      Pleasure grew inside him like a cadence—slow and sure. He wasn’t keyed up the way he felt at the controls of his jet, soaring with adrenaline. Instead, kissing Merry was knowing himself in ways he’d neglected lately. It was feeling the solid earth beneath his soles while angels sang in his ears.

      He deepened the kiss. Her body swayed into his. He dropped his hands to her waist, wanting to feel every inch of her against him. He reached into the warmth beneath her open coat, stroked his palms down her sides, framing the roundness of her belly as he looped his arms around her.

      Ding. A bell went off in his head.

      Plink. The penny dropped.

      Click. Pieces came together.

      He stepped back, needing to see what he’d somehow, incredibly, managed to miss up until now.

      “Meredith.”

      She looked straight at him, nodding a little.

      “You’re pregnant.”

      Her hands went to the bulge beneath her sweater. It was a small one, not so difficult for a distracted man to miss. Still, he felt like a half-blind Mr. Magoo, groping for soda-bottle glasses.

      “Yes,” she said in such a smooth yet sharp-edged voice that his vision snapped back into crystal clarity. “I am pregnant. Expecting, as they say.” Her mouth flattened. “In a delicate condition.”

      She might have warned him. Her, or Nicky, or—

      Oh, hell. Mike stopped the excuses. He had only himself to blame for falling for her in the span of a single evening.

      She had pulled her coat closed again and was standing rigid beneath the neon glow of the Christmas lights, her head held at an awkward angle as she studied him for a reaction.

      “Well, I’ll be damned.” He summoned up a reckless grin to deflect his sense of shock and, yes, disappointment. “Fool me twice.”