Page 103 of The Holiday Gift

Caidy gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about those silly girls. They just want to go have fun.”

“Me too. You come.”

She sighed, resigned to her fate. “Yes, Queen Maya.”

The girl gave her sweet giggle as Caidy grabbed her coat out of the closet and quickly found mittens and a quite fancy chapeau handmade by Emery Kendall Cavazos that she had won in the gift exchange a few weeks earlier at the Friends of the Library Christmas party.

“Hurry up, Caid,” Taft said. “We don’t have all night. The sooner we go, the sooner we can get it over with and come back to watch the basketball game. Come on, Maya.”

“I stay with Auntie,” the girl said and Caidy’s heart melted, as it frequently did around her.

“I’ve got her,” she told her brother.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. We’re coming. I’m almost ready.”

Taft left and she quickly finished shoving on boots, grabbed Maya’s hand and hurried out to the hay wagon.

The horses stamped and blew in the cold air, which smelled of woodsmoke and snow. What a beautiful night. Perfect for a sleigh ride. Well, not officially a sleigh ride because the wagon had wheels, not runners, but she didn’t think any of them would quibble.

Ridge had lined the wagon with straw bales. To her dismay, everyone else was settling as they approached the wagon and the only free space left for her and Maya was near the back of the wagon—right next to Ben. Had her brothers colluded to arrange that? She wouldn’t put it past them.

Right now, Ben was more likely to throw her over the side than cooperate with any Bowman matchmaking efforts, but her brothers had no way of knowing that—unless Laura or Becca had spilled to their husbands.

“Auntie, up,” Maya said.

How was she going to manage this? Maya wasn’t heavy but Caidy didn’t think she could climb the ladder with her in her arms and she wasn’t sure Maya could negotiate them on her own. “If you want to lift her up, I can help her the rest of the way,” Ben said, obviously noticing her predicament.

Caidy scooped Maya into her arms and held her up for him. Their arms brushed as he easily tugged the girl the rest of the way. Did he feel the sparks between them, or was it just her imagination? Caidy climbed the ladder and stood for a moment, wishing she could squeeze up front with Ridge. Unfortunately, he already had Alex and Jack riding shotgun.

“Sit down, Caidy, or you’re going to fall over when Ridge takes off,” Taft ordered. Heaven save her from brothers who didn’t think she had a brain in her head.

Left with no choice, she sat on the same bale as Ben—who looked rugged and masculine in a fleece-lined heavy ranch coat the color of dust. At least Maya sat between them, providing some buffer.

Ridge turned around to make sure all his passengers were settled and then clicked to the big horses. They took off down the driveway, accompanied by the jangle of bells on the harnesses.

“Go, horsies! Jingle bells, jingle bells!” Maya exclaimed and Caidy smiled at her. When she lifted her gaze, she found Ben smiling down at the girl too. Her heart stuttered a little at the gentleness on his expression. She had called him rude and arrogant, yet here he was treating Maya, with her beautiful smile and Down syndrome features, with breathtaking sweetness.

She had to say something. Now was the perfect time. She clenched her fingers into her palms inside her mittens and turned to him. “Look, I... I’m sorry about earlier. What I said. It wasn’t true. Not any of it. I was just being stupid.”

“What?” he yelled, leaning down to hear over the rushing wind and the eight laughing girls.

“I said I’m sorry.” She spoke more loudly but at that moment all the girls started actually singing “Jingle Bells” in time with the chiming bells from the horses.

“What?” He leaned his head closer to hers, over Maya’s head, and she didn’t know what else to do but lean in and speak in his ear, though she felt completely ridiculous. She wanted to tell him to just forget the whole thing. She had come this far, though. She might as well finish the thing.

Up close, he smelled delicious. She couldn’t help noticing that outdoorsy soap she had noticed when they were kissing....

She dragged her mind away from that and focused on the apology she should be making. “I said I was sorry,” she said in his ear. “For what I said in the kitchen to my sisters-in-law, I mean. They were teasing me, uh, about you...and I was being completely stupid. I’m sorry you overheard. I didn’t mean it.”

He turned his head until his face was only inches from hers. “Any of it?”

“Well, you are pretty arrogant,” she answered tartly.

To her surprise, he laughed at that and the low, sexy timbre of it shivered down her spine and spread out her shoulders to her fingertips.

“I can be,” he answered.

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