Page 49 of Fake Christmas Date Cowboy

Belle was melting under Declan’s dark gaze that promised endless nights of pleasure—with or without the hay.

And with the idea of this hard man who’d bullied her ex right out of the gala, and hopefully off the ranch too, being a momma’s boy…

God, the way he was looking at her made her insides squeeze over and over again as if gearing up for the orgasm he was practically giving her with his eyes.

“Belle.”

“Oh no. You’re not going to ruin this winter wonderland moment by talking.”

His lips twitched, but he didn’t break into a smile, though his eyes did crease. Damn, they had the yummiest creases that only the hardest of cowboys possessed, the lines they gained from squinting into the sun.

Why did she have to like him so much? Her mind was making up a role for him. An entire personality. He wasn’t who she thought he was. She had no idea who he was.

Except a man who sneaked a weapon into a Christmas getaway against the rules.

“Look, I told you I was in the Rangers.”

She stared at him but didn’t reply.

He sucked in a breath as if understanding her reluctance to listen, but he forged on anyway. “What I didn’t tell you was—”

“Oh my god! Oh no!” The high feminine cry cut him off. He whipped Belle around to get a look at who was screaming.

“My diamond bracelet! Someone stole my diamond bracelet!”

Declan’s hands clamped harder on Belle. “Dammit!” he muttered under his breath.

A couple of the security guards at the party moved toward the woman and started talking to her. Her hysterical cries continued until someone fetched her a chair and she sank into it. The older woman clutched at her bare wrist.

People started searching the floor for the jewelry. The entire dance floor cleared, and Declan towed Belle to the far side of the room with him.

She eyed up the doorway that led to the alcove where the bathrooms were. This was her moment to escape. She didn’t really want to hear what Declan had to say. She’d heard—and seen—enough to know that she didn’t want to be mixed up with him.

She pulled free of his grasp. He tore his stare from what was happening on the dance floor and trained it on her.

“I’m going to powder my nose,” she told him.

Lucky for her, he appeared to be distracted, his attention swaying between the woman with the stolen bracelet and Belle.

She took a step toward the exit. “I’ll be just a minute.”

He let her go.

As quickly as she could go on her high spiked heels held on by tiny slivers of satin strapping, she rushed to the ladies’ room. Before she reached the door, the low clack of high heels brought her head up. She stared at the retreating back of a tall, slender woman with perfect streaky blonde highlights in her light brown hair.

Haileigh.

As she looked on, another door opened down the corridor. An arm snaked out to wave her inside.

Belle’s heart flipped over. Ethan and Haileigh were up to something, and she’d bet anything that it wasn’t a roll in the hay like she and Declan shared. Haileigh entered the room, and the door shut behind them.

Belle threw a look around. The music had stopped, and only a few louder voices carried through the space.

A heist.

A jewelry heist.

That bracelet was gone—stolen—and here was her ex, a known criminal, hiding behind a door.

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