Page 15 of All I Want For Christmas Is You

“Just out of curiosity, what were your plans?”

His smile told her how much he liked this story. “Freshman year, I took Introductory Mining, and the professor’s first lecture was about gold prospectors. He talked about lore, places around the world where people believe the mother lode of gold still exists. And this one place in Wyoming—that’s where I’m from—caught my interest. Something about it rang a bell at the back of my mind. I called up my dad and asked him why it sounded familiar. And he said, ‘That’s our family.’”

“Really? That’s fascinating.”

“Yeah, so, apparently Sam and Joseph Gentry were part of a group of prospectors who found gold on a mountain outside the town of Calamity. They built a cabin for all six of them to live in while they worked, but they got attacked, and the brothers were the only ones to escape. They hiked into town and showed off their gold in a saloon—which is how the word spread about the cabin. Over the years, people tried to find it, but no one did, and it wound up becoming part of the gold rush lore.”

“What happened to the brothers?”

“They formed another prospecting party, but they got killed on their way back.”

“I can’t believe that’s your family story. And in all these years, no one found the cabin?”

“Not until me. After talking to my dad, I became obsessed with finding it. Courtney knew that, right from the start.”

Really, it didn’t surprise her that he was so willing to talk about his marriage. Even in the most amicable divorces, spouses still needed to process an upheaval of that magnitude. “But she was stuck on the idea of marrying an engineer and having a certain kind of lifestyle.”

“Yeah, and I did get the job she wanted right out of college. It paid well, but I was saving every penny to buy the land, so she didn’t get the big house and nice car. She also didn’t understand why we couldn’t live in the city while I was saving money, but I needed to be on the mountain so I could find the mine. I spent every lunch hour and Saturday morning at the county courthouse, pouring over tax assessor records and mining claims. After I got a sense of where the cabin might be, I spent my free time walking the land.”

“And you had a baby by then?”

Lowering his chin, he nodded.

“Your ex must’ve loved that.” Margot could relate. Her husband had worked seven days a week and bailed on most family vacations. She’d never minded, though. She’d understood the requirements of his job and wanted to spend time with her kids.

“I was preoccupied.”

She could read the shame all over his handsome features, and she didn’t like it. “Were you maybe a little resentful, too?”

“Resentful?”

“Well, you had to marry a woman you didn’t love.”

“It was my choice. I didn’t have to marry her.” He glanced over his shoulder. Maybe checking for his daughter? “We’d only been dating a few months, and since we were graduating, I figured we’d go our separate ways. So, when she came to me with a pregnancy test, I was knocked sideways. So, I guess you’re right. It’s fair to say I was resentful. Unfairly so.” His features relaxed, almost as though he was relieved to say it out loud. “But still.”

“I can understand that.”

“I’ve never brought it up before because of my kids. I didn’t want them to get any sense of negativity from me. But damn, it feels good to say it.” He broke out in a grin. “So, have I convinced you it’s not my fault my wife’s a gold digger?”

Margot laughed. “One-hundred-percent. And hopefully, now that you see why you were attracted to her, you won’t find yourself in a similar predicament the next time around.”

He glanced down at his empty mug. “I don’t think there’s going to be another marriage. I’m not really cut out for romantic love.”

Now, why would he say that? “Just because your first one failed?”

“No. Because I’ve never felt what my daughter calls ‘wild love.’”

“Maybe you just haven’t met the right woman yet.”

He studied her. It went on long enough for her to grow worried.

Oh, no. Did he think she was implying she was the right woman? Flustered, she wanted to explain herself. She meant to say that kind of love didn’t come along all that often, and since he’d married right out of college, maybe he hadn’t been open to it.

But before she could say anything, he reached out. Her fingers were curled around the handle of her mug, and he brushed them with the back of his hand. It sent a hot current up her arm.

Both of their gazes locked on the point of contact.

Never in her life had a single touch made her sizzle.

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