Page 11 of Tying the Knot with her Sweet Scrooge

“Who’s Clarabelle?”

“Griffin,” he barked, looking at John’s grinning face. “You are slacking on your daughter’s Disney education. Everyone knows who Clarabelle Cow is.”

“Everyone born after 1980,” Logan quipped, sending everyone laughing – including him. “C’mon, little man,” his friend said, scooping up his son and blowing raspberries on his stomach. “We’ll go see the ‘moo-cow’…”

“Daddy, I wanna go!” Rose piped up immediately, and before Houghton or anyone else could speak, Jill leaned forward to look at the excited child, her face full of love.

“Sweetie, I made all of you some magical reindeer food that you can sprinkle on the snow,” Jill murmured tenderly, and he couldn’t love her more, knowing his own child growing beneath her heart would be the luckiest kid on this planet – no, the universe – to have her as their mother.

Daddykins wuvs you so much, Mama-Snookems.

And he physically bit his tongue, welcoming the pain before he spoke again.

“Griffin, Logan, why don’t you take the kids out and do something constructive with your offspring – and your wives.We’ve got plenty of coats, mittens, and anything else to get you outdoors for an hour or so. I need a break from you two.”

“Krampus…”

“Dang, Houghton, tell us how you really feel, buddy… I swear myonefeeling just felt a twinge,” Logan retorted, before giving him the finger – and John slammed his hand over Logan’s, causing the man to wince.

“Nuh-uh,” John blurted out sharply, glancing at his daughter. “That’s a bad thing, and Rose isn’t allowed to do that… LOGAN,” he stressed pointedly, staring him down. “Do not teach my daughter that, or I will teach your son something.”

“Touché,” Logan chuckled, leaning into the other man’s face only for Griffin to rear back in alarm. “You sure look pretty…”

“Oh heck,” John muttered. All of the women laughed uncomfortably as Logan winked at Jill.

“Y’all be good,kiddos,” Logan said obnoxiously, smiling, before holding out a hand toward Juliet. “Come, Sweetheart. We need to wear out the kids because I’m itching to rub that sexy belly.”

“You are insane, Dasher,” Juliet retorted, but the woman responded to the man’s obvious flirtations – and Houghton tucked that little nugget away in his mind to use later for Jill.

The moment the backdoor to the cabin closed, Houghton left the room. His heart was slamming in his chest wildly because one of two things was going to happen. Either Jill would start crying – which he sincerely hoped didn’t happen - or she would be angry, speaking her mind, and he nearly tripped as a throw pillow hit him hard on the back of his head.

Welp, I have my answer… it’s showtime.

CHAPTER 7

JILL

She saw red.

The first moment they had to really be alone and talk – her husband was walking away. Over the last several months, they had company hovering around them all the time, and normally, she loved the attention. Lena, Ortega, Daphne, Christina, Gideon, Collins; even Panic and Lyndsey seemed to be kind people. It just dawned on her this morning that the second the two cabins were empty for a slight time and the guest room in the house was completed, suddenly, they had more visitors.

And now he was leaving her on the couch, walking into the kitchen? If he didn’t want to be alone with her, he should be man enough to say something. All the fake snores to get out of talking at night, rising before the alarm to avoid her in the morning, suddenly needing to help in the barn late in the evening, emergency runs into town for various different things.

It was all too much.

“GET BACK HERE!” she snarled angrily, rising to her feet and flinging the throw pillow at her husband’s head with all hermight… only to see him stumble. “Oh gosh, Babe! Are you…” and her voice faded as she heard his nervous laughter. Her husband looked over his shoulder at her, resembling his old self as he smiled.

“Wanna getknotty?”

“Excuse me?” she blinked in disbelief. “Did you hit your head?”

“I know you love those blue cookie tins – and I thought maybe we could start a new Christmas tradition.”

“Maybe I hit my head,” she murmured in confusion, gawking at him as he disappeared around the corner… before curling a leg on the door frame like a burlesque dancer, holding out a blue tin of her favorite cookies.

Jill rubbed her eyes and cracked up laughing, moving to join him.

“You are certifiable, you know that?”

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