Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy. Kate Pearce

you have a first name?” she asked.

      He chuckled. “Yes.”

      She cocked her head. “Well?”

      His dark eyes twinkled. “We need to keep a few secrets just to make ourselves more interesting.”

      “Spoilsport.”

      “If you’re curious, you won’t mind letting me stay around here.”

      “I wouldn’t mind even if I wasn’t curious.”

      “We’ll still wait,” he returned. “Tell Teddie I’ll be here bright and early Saturday for her riding lessons, and that we’ll go to a movie Saturday night.”

      She made a face. “No places to make out,” she complained.

      His eyes twinkled. “That’s not a bad thing. We’ll make haste slowly.”

      She let out a deep sigh. “Okay,” she said.

      He laughed. “We walk before we run.”

      “Some of us are still at the crawling stage, though,” she said with a sting of sarcasm and a big grin.

      He just shook his head. “Good night.”

      “Good night. Thanks for driving us.”

      “No problem.”

      He got in the truck and drove off with a wave. Katy watched him all the way out the driveway before she walked back into the house and locked the door.

      Teddie was waiting in the hall as she started toward her own bedroom.

      “Aha,” Teddie teased.

      Katy’s thin eyebrows arched. “Aha?” she repeated.

      “Your lipstick is smeared and your hair looks like rats nested in it,” Teddie said with twinkling eyes.

      Katy cleared her throat. “Well, you see—”

      “It won’t work,” her daughter interrupted. She grinned. “I like Parker,” she added, wiggling her eyebrows. She went back into her room and closed the door.

      Katy laughed all the way into her own room.

      * * *

      It was two o’clock in the morning. Katy couldn’t sleep. She kept feeling the slow, soft hunger of Parker’s sensuous mouth against her lips, the warm comfort of his strong arms around her. She was restless.

      She heard a buzz. She had her cell phone on vibrate so it wouldn’t wake Teddie. She picked it up and disconnected it from the charger. There was a message on it. Are you awake?

      Yes, she texted back. Couldn’t sleep. You?

      Same, he texted. Suppose you text me the Gettysburg Address? It might put me to sleep.

      LOL, she texted back.

      I had fun tonight, he texted. I don’t go out much.

      Me, neither, she replied. I had fun, too. Teddie mentioned that my lipstick was smeared, she added before she could chicken out and not text it.

      There was a big LOL on the screen. I had lipstick all over my face. Lucky that I live alone, he added.

      She laughed to herself. Sorry about that, she texted.

      I didn’t mind. But you might look for some type of lipstick that doesn’t come off. You know, just in case we can’t help ourselves one night . . . ?

      I’ll go right to the store tomorrow after school and search for one, she replied.

      And the clerk will go right out and tell the whole town what sort you bought, he teased.

      She laughed. Oh, the joy of small towns.

      They’re the backbone of the world, aren’t they? he texted back.

      They are. I’m sorry you can’t sleep. Bad memories?

      Oh, no. Delicious ones. I ache every time I remember those few minutes on your front porch.

      Her heart jumped. She felt exactly the same. Delicious, she typed.

      And addictive.

      Definitely.

      I have no plans to stop, he texted after a minute.

      She felt warm all over. I don’t, either.

      There was a long pause, during which she felt as if he was right in the room with her and she was hungry and thirsty, but not for food.

      Going to try to sleep now. You do that, too, he said. Sleep well, angel.

      She smiled. You sleep well, too. Good night.

      Good night.

      She turned the phone off, but she felt safe and warm and content. She closed her eyes and went to sleep with the phone under her pillow.

      * * *

      “Mom! Mom, we’re going to be late!” Teddie called from the doorway.

      “Late?” Katy sat up in bed, looking all at sea.

      “Late for school and late for work. Late, late, late!”

      “Oh. Oh!”

      She threw off the covers and got out of bed, groaning when she looked at the clock. She wouldn’t even have time to make coffee . . . !

      “I made you a cup of coffee and put it in your Starbucks coffee carrier,” Teddie added.

      “You sweetheart!” Katy called. “Thank you!”

      “I figured it was the least I could do, considering all the candy I got last night. I had fun!”

      “I did, too,” Katy mused.

      Teddie laughed. “I noticed.”

      Katy threw a pillow at the door.

      Teddie ran, laughing all the way down the hall.

      * * *

      Teddie was waiting at the stable Saturday morning when Parker drove up. Katy, standing at the front porch door, hesitated to go out. She was wearing jeans and a frilly blouse, her long blond hair neatly combed and loose around her shoulders. And she’d found a variety of lipstick that would stick only to her lips and not to everything else. But she was suddenly shy of Parker. She noticed that he looked curiously toward the house before he went into the barn with Teddie to saddle Bartholomew and run Teddie through the basics once more.

      They came back out of the stable, with Parker holding the bridle and Teddie sitting high in the saddle, back straight, arms in, eyes looking straight ahead instead of down.

      Katy was proud of her daughter’s seat when she rode. The child was a natural. She didn’t tense up or watch the ground or even jerk on the bridle. She sat the horse like a real cowgirl, when she’d never done any riding in her little life.

      Parker walked alongside, holding the reins. He had Snow with him this morning, and she was saddled. He spoke to Teddie and handed her the reins, instructing her how to hold them so that she didn’t put too much pressure on the bit in Bartholomew’s mouth.

      When he was satisfied that she was sitting straight, arms in, he nodded and swung up into the saddle and turned Snow so that she and Bartholomew were parallel to each other.

      Katy waved. Parker smiled. Even at that distance, it made her heart race. “I’ll have lunch ready when you get back,” she promised.

      “What are we having?” he asked.

      “Tuna fish sandwiches.”

      He made an awful face.

      “You don’t like fish,” she began.

      “I like tuna fish,” he returned. “I just don’t like most tuna salads.”

      She pursed her