Page 14 of Christmas Secrets

Dal shot him a grin. “Something like that.”

“Be careful on the roads,” Lucerne cautioned.

He nodded and turned to Ainsley. “Thank ye fer fixing lunch, the sandwiches really hit the spot.”

“Yer welcome,” Ainsley replied stiffly. He spoke nice words, but the smile was still taking a leave of absence—in her direction anyway. They were just words that didn’t mean anything without it.

“Our little Ainsley is turnin’ into a right good cook,” Angus cheerfully added.

“See ye in the morning,” Dal called over his shoulder as he strode through the doorway to the utility room.

Ainsley flushed as Dal ignored Angus’s compliment to the chef. Angus was probably just stirring the pot for his pool but Dal never took the bait.

“Ainsley?” Darro narrowed his eyes at her and jerked his head toward the doorway.

She rolled her eyes and huffed to a standing position, then followed Dal. She knew her brother wanted her to take this opportunity to give Dal the apology he had coming from her, but with his change in attitude, it suddenly seemed a high mountain to climb. She was used to the slow and toothy smile he usually shot at her whenever he caught her eye. Then she’d toss her head and look the other way, even if her heart skipped a beat.

She couldn’t deny that Dal was very attractive with a great smile. It rivaled Jamie’s sexy smile, although Jamie was completely unaware of his smile being sexy. But she’d seen Pauley melt under that smile and she knew the feeling.

She already had a boyfriend though, so why did Dal’s smile have to complicate things? Feeling small and unsure of herself, she dragged her feet but she knew she had to do it. It was either that or face the cheeseboard. She wasn’t at all interested in that option.

In the utility room, Dal was putting his boots on as she hesitantly walked up within a few feet from him, clasping her fingers together in a nervous gesture. “Dal?” she ventured.

With his second boot on, he straightened up and faced her, his greenish gold eyes staring warily at her. No lazy smile shot her way, just an abrupt one-word question. “What?”

“I-I just wanted to say that I’m sorry fer throwing ice and snow all over ye I didn’t mean fer that to happen,” she babbled, getting the whole thing out at once sans mental commas or pauses.

There, it was done.She moved from one foot to the other, waiting for him to accept it.

He studied her, still refusing to smile. Instead, he folded his muscled arms across his broad chest. “What did ye think was going to happen when ye cut the corner short like that?” he asked.

His eyes bored into hers with a seriously stern expression she’d never seen before today. He could almost rival Darro. How did Scottish men manage to look so intimidating while looking so sexy at the same time? Seriously, maybe they could teach men around the world a thing or three. And why were her panties suddenly feeling damp? That was not a reaction she should be having to Mr. Dallas MacIntosh. Thomas hadn’t even elicited that honor from her yet.

When he put it that way, she gulped and tried to chase an answer up from her bemused brain. What had she expected would happen? “I-I just thought ye’d be gone already,” she mumbled as if her brain train had left the station.

“If ye thought I was gone, what would be the point of doing it?”

Cripes, the man wasn’t going to let this go, was he? She shrugged defensively, hating that he was putting her on the spot. It had just been a spur of the moment thing. He’d been watching them go around the back of the barn a couple of times and...and...and what had she wanted? To teach him a lesson? To show him she was off limits to him? What? She bit her lip and her eyes dropped to the floor. She sure couldn’t tell him that. “I was just playing,” she replied with a careless shrug.

Then he reached out and tipped her chin up with one finger. “It doesn’t bother me that ye might have wanted to startle me or play a trick on me. I enjoy a good prank as much as the next person. I think ye wanted to make it perfectly clear that ye have no interest in getting to know me, and that’s okay too. But ye put Corey and Delilah in danger and someone could have gotten badly hurt. That’s not acceptable in my book. Since ye’re the boss’s sister, I can’t put ye over my knee and blister yer arse like I’d like to. But Icantake a hint regarding yer attitude.”

Ainsley watched as he grabbed his coat and cap off the hooks and let himself out the back door without even putting them on. As he walked away, she felt a lump forming in her throat. She’d actually hurt him—and she truly hadn’t intended to do that. She whirled around as a sob choked itself up and out her throat. As she ran past the kitchen, she saw them all from the corner of her eye sitting silently and watching the doorway. Thoroughly embarrassed, she ran to her room where she slammed the door and collapsed into tears. Had they heard Dal’s stern dressing down?

Probably.

All bets were off then, she was the winner of the little pool Angus was running regarding Dal’s chances of snagging her. If she was a winner though, why did she feel like such a loser?

***

Ben knocked on thefront door of Thistlewind and waited for Poppy to answer. Now that his dad was married, he couldn’t just walk in anytime he pleased. He kind of missed that since he’d grown up in the homestead. But he needed to be respectful since Poppy wasn’t his mom. She made his dad happy and he liked her too. Which was why he’d enlisted her help.

Dottie’s new lasagna success had really motivated him. Such a sweetheart was his little Dottie! If she could take all those cooking lessons just for his sake, and produce such a winning recipe, the least he could do is reciprocate and take more of an interest in preparing tasty meals himself. It would be a Christmas surprise for his best lass.

The blue door with the gorgeous Christmas wreath opened and his step-mother stood in the warm air rushing out to meet him with a beaming smile. Her musical American accent floated into his ears. “Come in, Ben, come in. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you’re doing this. I think it’s incredibly sweet, and Dottie is going to be so surprised.”

“Aye, thank ye, Poppy,” Ben replied stepping in from the cold. Closing the door behind him, he took off his boots and outer gear and placed them on the coatrack and the shoe drain. “It’s not getting any warmer out there, that’s fer sure.”

Poppy looked festive in her red jolly snowman sweater and black jeans. “This is my first winter in the highlands as you know. And you are right, it’s very cold. Chicago used to get a lot of snow and icy winds in the winter, but they seem milder in recent years. I’m not used to being in a climate where the snow actually stays on the ground all winter long.”

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