Page 121 of The Holiday Gift

Those tears burned harder behind her eyelids. Coming to this party was a phenomenally bad idea. If she’d had any idea she would face a gauntlet of matchmakers, she would have hidden in her room and locked the door.

“Don’t, okay? Just...don’t. Ben and I are friends. That’s all. Not everyone is destined to live happily ever after like all of you are. Is it so hard to believe that maybe I like my life the way it is? Maybe Ben does too. Back off, okay?”

Her friends gaped at her and she could tell her vehemence had shocked them. She wasn’t usually so firm, she realized. Now they were going to wonder why this was such a hot button for her.

Damn.

AndLaura knew she and Ben had kissed. She was going to have to hope her beloved sister-in-law didn’t decide to mention that little fact to the rest of the women.

She just couldn’t win. Sometimes escaping with the remains of her dignity was the best option.

“I need to take one of my pies out to the dessert table. What about that tray, Emery? Is it ready to go out?”

“Um, sure.” Her friend handed the delicious-looking bar cookies to her without another word. Feeling the heat of all their gazes on her back, Caidy escaped from the kitchen.

The party was crowded and noisy. For all its size, having a hundred people, many of them children, crammed into the McRavens’ house didn’t lend itself to quiet, relaxing conversation. Several neighbors and friends greeted her on her way to the food tables and she tried to smile and talk with them for a few moments but quickly broke away, using the excuse of the treats.

The tables were covered with all manner of culinary delights, as she had expected. Jenna loved to cook and loved coming up with new recipes for her clients and family. Caidy didn’t have much appetite but she filled a small plate with a few possibilities—to have something to hold, more than anything.

“Those look good. Any idea what they are?”

At the deep voice at her elbow, she whirled and her heart stuttered. How had she missed Ben’s approach? Probably a combination of the crowd and her own distraction.

“I’m not sure. Jenna is famous for her spinach pinwheels, so that’s what I’m hoping for. I should tell her to put signs up so we know what we’re eating.”

He smiled and she wanted to drink in the sight of him, tall and gorgeous and dearly familiar.

“I hadn’t realized you were coming to the McRavens’ party,” she said rather inanely. As always, she felt as if she were operating on half-brain capacity around him. “It’s a bit of a legend around here.”

“Mrs. McRaven invited us when they brought their dog Frank in to me last week. Apparently he swallowed a Lego, but the trouble, uh, passed. I thought coming to the party might be a good way to get to know some of the neighbors.”

He tilted his head and studied her and she could feel herself flush. She had to hope none of her friends decided to come out of the kitchen just now to see her standing flustered and off balance next to Ben Caldwell.

“What about you?” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you here. It’s kind of hard to escape the holiday spirit in a crowd like this.”

Had hewonderedif she would come? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“Destry begged and begged this year. All her cousins and most of her friends were coming.”

Before he could respond, someone jostled her from behind. She wobbled a little in her impractical boots and would have fallen if he hadn’t reached out and grabbed her. For a charged moment, they stared at each other and she saw heat and hunger leap into his eyes.

The noise of the crowd seemed to fade away as if someone had switched down the volume, and she was aware of nothing but Ben. Of his arms, strong and comforting, of his firm mouth that had tasted so delicious against hers, of his eyes that studied her with desire and something else, something glittery and bright she couldn’t identify.

“Oh. I’m so sorry. Are you all right, my dear?”

She recognized Marjorie Montgomery’s voice and realized the mayor’s wife—and the Dalton boys’ mother—must have been the one who bumped into her. Still breathless—and grateful she had just set her plate on the table before she was jostled, so at least she didn’t have spinach pinwheel smeared all over both of them—she managed to extricate herself from Ben’s arms and turned.

“I’m fine. No problem.”

Marjorie smiled innocently at her but she thought she saw a crafty light in the older woman’s eyes. Oh, great. She and Ben would have no peace now that her friends had decided they were destined for each other. She wondered if she ought to warn him but decided that would just be too awkward.

“It’s crazy in here,” Ben said. “I saw some open chairs over by the French doors into the pool if you’re looking for a place to sit down.”

She didn’t miss the delight in Marjorie’s eyes. The woman probably thought her transparent ploy was paying off. She ought to politely decline and keep as far away as she could from Ben. The last thing she wanted to do was give anybody else ideas about linking the two of them.

But she was weak when it came to him and she couldn’t resist spending whatever time she had with him, even though he had made it quite clear they couldn’t have a relationship. Maybe, like her, he knew he should stay away but couldn’t quite manage it.

She probably shouldn’t find that so heartening.

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