Her Holiday Secret

Her sister was five years older than she, and in Maggie’s view, the real beauty in the family. Now, though, Joanna’s long blond hair was lanky, her elegant features drawn, the huge almond-shaped green eyes deeply shadowed. Her slim white hands trembled even holding the mug of tea.

Maggie had always been the strong cookie of the pair. From the time her brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer, she’d naturally stepped in. Long before Steve died, she’d had her sister over for dinner once a week, took her nephews all the time, stopped by the house whenever she could. But Steve had been gone a year now, and Joanna seemed more fragile instead of less. Increasingly everything seemed to throw her sister, from finances to leaky faucets to snowstorms. Joanna paced the floor at night, worrying about her two sons. She didn’t sleep right, didn’t eat right, didn’t take care of herself.

Maggie could fix the stupid leaky faucets and sneakily pad Joanna’s bank account, but she didn’t know how to fix her sister. The two may have fought ferociously growing up, but they’d also always been hopeless gigglers. Lately it was tougher than climbing a mountain to win a smile out of Joanna.

“Hey, did I tell you how great Colin’s been to me? I don’t know how many times he’s been over since the accident. Shoveled my walk without asking, stacked my wood. What’s wrong with him?” Maggie teased.

“He always worshiped the ground you walked on. And you’re terrific with both boys. I can’t seem to get either one of them to talk to me...” Joanna spilled a little tea. “I don’t seem to be doing anything right lately.”

Maggie hustled for a cloth to wipe up the spill. “Listen, you goose, you’re doing fine. Quit being so hard on yourself. Do you remember either of us talking to Mom or Dad when we were teenagers? There’s just this stage where it’s hard to talk to a parent. But I do think you should get out more.”

“Mags, I’m not ready to date anyone.”

“So don’t date. But you could take up skiing, or aerobics... you love cards, maybe you could find a euchre club. There’s a dozen things you could do to get out, meet people again—”

“You’ve got ten times more courage than I do, Maggie. I’m just not good with charging into things the way you do. Speaking of which...do you know this guy you’re going out with tonight?”

“Andy? Nope. But being the sheriff, I think it’s a fairly safe bet he isn’t a serial killer on the sly. And how well do you have to know someone to spend a couple hours car shopping with them?” Maggie asked wryly.

“I still don’t know why you just didn’t ask me. I’d have taken you. Or you could have borrowed my car. You do so much for me all the time, Mags, and you never let me return the favor—”

Cripes, they were going down another long, mournful road. “Come on, you,” Maggie said humorously, “I couldn’t see turning down guy help. Not on this. What the two of us know about mechanics would fit in a thimble with room to spare.”

“Well, that’s true. Clothes shopping’d be a lot more fun,” Joanna admitted. “For that matter, Christmas is coming and I haven’t even started that shopping yet.”

“Good. Neither have I. How about if we block off next Thursday morning and get a start on it together?”

It took a while to get her sister on a more upbeat track. By the time she had Joanna bundled up and headed out the door, though, headlight beams were turning in her drive. Andy. And she hadn’t had two seconds to brush her hair or yank on her good boots, much less slap on some lipstick.

Still, she stood freezing in the open doorway. Andy pulled up next to her sister’s car and stepped out. The yard light didn’t beam far enough for her to identify his vehicle, but it was something low and black instead of the car with the sheriffs logo. He stopped long enough to introduce himself to her sister and exchange a few words.

Before driving off, Joanna turned around to level her a look. Maggie knew That Look from their childhood. It meant she’d neglected to tell her sister some critical tidbit of information...such as that her casual don’t-sweat-it company for the evening was a priceless hunk, for example.

Which he was. He ambled toward the door, as lazy as a long, cool drink of something wicked, his boots crunching in the snow, his jacket open over a thick black sweater.

Her sister’s car lights disappeared down the road, and then there was nothing but him—and a wham-slam of magic that confounded Maggie. It was absolutely ridiculous for a practical, grounded, capable twenty-nine-year-old woman to feel bowled over by the look in a guy’s eyes. But there it was. She hadn’t suddenly stopped worrying about Joanna; no problems in her job or life had instantly disappeared. But darn it, he was so darling she just wanted to sip him in.

His mouth kicked up a grin long before he reached her back porch. Those eyes of his were darker than a midnight sky. He gave the length of her a once-over, from the floppy socks to her jeans and navy angora sweater to her hair flying every which way. Maggie knew darn well there was nothing in her appearance to earn that sizzling spark.

“Remembered anything yet that I need to arrest you for?”

Sparks or no sparks, she had to laugh. “I haven’t robbed any banks since the accident—but that’s all I’m willing to swear to.”

“Uh-huh. That memory loss was the story you gave me last time. I was a little afraid you’d extend that amnesia business to tonight, knowing how thrilled you were at the idea of car shopping.”

“If I didn’t have to have transportation, nothing could talk me into domg this,” she admitted. “And I did think about cancelling. This is an awful thing to ask anyone to do, Andy.”

“As I remember it, I offered. You’re not putting me through anything I didn’t volunteer for. And, speaking for myself, I think this is like toothpaste.”

She’d just turned around to pull on her suede boots and grab her jacket and purse. “Toothpaste?”

“Yeah. There’s just no point in getting all hot and heavy and involved with a woman, only to find out she squeezes the toothpaste tube from the top. I mean, where can you take a wild, immoral affair after that? You just know it’s going downhill.”

“Um...I take your point. I think. But I’m not exactly sure how you got from toothpaste-tube-abusers to car shopping?”

“Car shopping with a woman,” Andy informed her, “gets all those down-and-dirty details out of the way right up front. If you go for the awkward first date, out-to-dinner thing, what do you ever learn? Nobody’s honest. Both sides are too busy tiptoeing around each other, trying to be ultra nice.”

“I sure agree with that. First dates, you’re just kind of stuck, being on your shaved and perfumed behavior, so to speak,” Maggie replied with a chuckle.

“Uh-huh. But if you do something like this, now...” Andy thoughtfully scratched his chin. “You find out what kind of car really seduces her. Like whether she’s interested in looking under the hood or just goes for a showy exterior. Whether she wants to know all the safety features ahead, or that’s just not a concern. How much power turns her on—or off. Whether she likes a slow, steady acceleration or a fast, rough ride.”

“Whew.” Maggie zipped up her jacket and propped her hands on her hips. “That lazy, country boy drawl is really good, Gautier. For a minute there, I almost believed you were talking about cars.”

“I was, I was.”

“Uh-huh. And cats fly. For the record, I don’t look under anybody’s hood on a first date. On the other hand...” Maggie threaded on gloves as she hiked past him. “I think you’ve got a valid theory going. I’d rather do this than the out-to-dinner thing any time—for your sake, really. If by some remote chance you can survive car shopping with me, the future probably stretches in front of us with limitless possibilities. At the very least, you’ll unquestionably earn hero status, sainthood, a couple medals for courage...”

“A drink when this is over?”

“That, too.”

“Well, hell. Let’s go find you a chariot, ma’am, and get that little chore over with.”

By the time they were belted in his dark car and winging down the road, Andy had conquered the urge to kiss her. Actually, the marvel wasn’t that he’d behaved himself. Hell, he always behaved himself—unless invited otherwise. But he wasn’t expecting the power of that temptation. A divorce gave any man an instant Ph.D. in caution.

And he felt cautious with Maggie. The problem with fireworks was that they fizzled out so fast. A light show. Then phfft. So he’d logically figured out that magical redhot sexual pull would settle down if he just saw her, spent some time with her again. Sizzle mattered. Sizzle was nice—deliriously nice, in her case. But Andy was wary of letting his hormones get in a dither before finding out if they had the kind of charge between them that counted.

That was the theory. A double-dose dither had turned out to be the reality. One look at those fading, vulnerable bruises and his first instinct was to pull her into his arms. One look at that soft red mouth connected directly to a hot wire in his groin. The way she cocked her chin, the swish of silken hair framing her face, the gutsy pride in the way she stood, the sparkle and devil in her eyes...hell, there was no one detail that heated his hormones to a bubbling simmer. It was just her. The whole package. No woman had tangled his nerves up like this in a long, long time. He couldn’t stop wondering if she’d take all that sparkle and devil and honesty with her under the sheets. Under his sheets.

Cars, he thought.

He needed to keep his mind on cars.

“A lot of people out tonight,” Maggie remarked.

“Yeah. The early Christmas shopping crowd, I’m guessing.” His windshield wipers fretfully scraped a haphazard splash of snow. Main Street was well lit, but he could see pedestrians slip-and-sliding. The roads were icy slick and the temperature was pushing a mean subzero. Andy doubted most people would normally choose this season or time of day to car shop, but most people didn’t see any accidents the way a cop did. Personally he thought it was an ideal time to test the mettle of any vehicle. “So...are you ready to get down to brass tacks? We’ve got three car dealerships in Silver Township. Probably help if you’d give me a clue what you’re looking for.”

“Something that starts in winter and doesn’t give me any trouble.”

“Okay. That only limits it to about five thousand models. Anything just a little more specific on your wish list?”

“Well...if it can’t behave on snow and rough back roads, it’s no good to me. And I need some room. Like space for skis in the winter, backpacks and tents in the summer. The car that was totalled in the accident? It was new. It was pretty. It had cream upholstery. It was the dumbest thing I could possibly have bought, for me.”

“So you need more of a practical, utility vehicle. Sturdy, four-wheel drive, dual brakes...lots of good choices we can look at in that ballpark. Now to the dicier questions. I don’t want to pry. But before we get near a car salesman, it’d help if you gave me a ceiling and a general idea what your price range is.”

She chuckled. “Money isn’t a problem, Andy. I can handle that part.”

He heard the chuckle, but he also caught the teensy stiffening in her shoulders. Oops, best not go down that road, he thought dryly.

But as they drove into the first car dealership, he felt increasingly relaxed. He was pretty sure how this was going to go. Not that he knew Maggie so well, but certain things just seemed obvious. She had a couple tons of pride and a big thing about independence. Ergo, it was tough for her to admit to a weakness, and if she’d been bamboozled on price or mechanics or a bad car choice before, it was just natural that she’d be a little prickly.

Like any lawman in a small town, Andy knew the business owners on a first-name basis. He was with her, so she wasn’t gonna get bamboozled this time. He just had to be careful to help her out in an unobtrusive, tactful way. And the second ingredient Andy figured he needed to make this venture go smoothly was a couple buckets of patience.

Maggie was, after all, female. And even a bad marriage could teach a guy certain things. Shopping with women for anything was like trying to communicate with an alien species. They needed time. They needed to compare. They needed space to be indecisive. They took forty years to make up their minds on anything.

Blazing white neon lights illuminated a half acre of cars. Andy stepped out and plastered on his soul-ofpatience smile. No guy she’d ever been with—and for damn sure no guy she’d ever kissed—was ever gonna be as patient as he was.

Cut and dried.

Harvey Lyman barrelled out of the building the instant he saw them climbing out of Andy’s car. “Hi there, folks!” Harvey had a fluff of white hair, cheeks like apples and a gut like a watermelon—four weeks from now he’d be playing Santa, and God knew he had a face that could inspire trust in the unsuspecting. His smile sagged a good half inch when he recognized Andy.

“Good to see you, Sheriff Gautier.” They pumped hands, did the obligatory how’s your dad, isn’t this snow something small talk routine. “So what can I do for you? You’re looking at cars?”

“I brought a friend. She’s looking. Just looking tonight, but....” Andy half turned to introduce Maggie, and found her gone. No tea-brown bobbing head anywhere, no puffy down-filled green jacket that matched her eyes, no nothing.

Harvey was chugging steam by the time they caught up with her. Maggie had just finished circling a sporty white utility vehicle with a dark gray interior. She lifted her face in a smile when she saw Andy. “This’ll do,” she announced.

“Yeah, I think that’s one of the good choices that’d work for you, but...” But he assumed she was kidding.

She wasn’t kidding.

There were dozens of other cars to check out, and they hadn’t even strolled through the other dealerships. She hadn’t sat behind the wheel. He strongly suspected she hadn’t even glanced at the sticker price.

Harvey could smell a sucker at fifty paces, but even he had to choke out a suggestion that she must want to look around. No dice. Maggie patted the big car’s rump. “Really, this fits the bill. Right size. Colors I can live with. I don’t see any reason not to just get this over with—”

Harvey was in danger of an imminent heart attack. He’d probably never smelled such an easy sales commission in his entire thirty years in the business. Still, he managed to puff out, “You’re making a brilliant choice, a fine vehicle, dependable—”

“Shut up, Harvey. Maggie, you’re not buying a car you haven’t even sat in.” Harvey produced the keys faster than a finger snap. She climbed in, sat down, climbed back out again.

“Okay. Feels good. Now can we just get this over with? Where do I pay?”

Harvey went into a spasm of coughing. Andy clamped a firm hand on his shoulder. “She’s going to test drive it. And then she’s going to think about it. Long and hard. The only reason she’s smiling is because that sticker price is so funny. You hear me, Harv?”

Harvey not only wasn’t listening; Harvey had completely forgotten who’d saved his nephew from a drunkand-disorderly charge at Babe’s bar last year. He only had eyes for Maggie, and they were big and soulful and sincere. “You just take it for as long a drive as you want to, honey. Enjoy yourself. It’s such a classy car, I can’t even think of another vehicle that’d be more perfect for you—”

Once Harv was shut out and they were both seated inside the car, Maggie said, “Look, I can see you’re getting exasperated with me—”

On a witch-black night in a pitch-black car, he could still see the wariness in her eyes. Wariness that hadn’t been there before. “Are you kidding? I’m not remotely exasperated.”

Exasperated, no. Dumbfounded, yes. Naturally he kept quiet while she fiddled around, learning where the gauges and controls were, and finally putting the baby in gear. Most people test-drove vehicles in daylight and perfect conditions, but Andy had cleaned up after too many car crashes. Her seeing how the vehicle handled on snow-crusted roads at night was a prizewinning idea, in his view. Only she’d had enough after one round-the-block.

He made her drive it on the highway for a good ten miles, then cajoled her into handling it in an empty iceslick parking lot. But that was all he could talk her into. Actually, he thought the vehicle was a good choice for her and Harvey was likely to make the best deal—he’d never have brought her here otherwise. He just couldn’t believe any woman could make up her mind faster than a speeding comet—much less stick to it.

Harvey was waiting outside when they drove back in, wearing a three-hundred-watt smile to help light the night. “You loved it, didn’t you? I just knew you would. And I’ll help you all through the financing, little lady, don’t you worry about a thing. You’ve picked a great car, a really great car—”

“Harvey,” Maggie said gently, “we’re not going to survive the next five minutes together if you call me ‘little lady’ or ‘honey’ again. Just call me Maggie, okay?”

Twenty degrees, tops, wind so mean it had to be twenty below with the wind chill, but Harvey’s forehead abruptly beaded sweat. “Of course, Maggie—”

“And I won’t need financing. I’ll pay you in cash.”

Harvey’s jaw dropped. Hell, so did Andy’s.

“Well, not cash,” she swiftly corrected herself. “I meant a check. I don’t actually have that kind of cash on me. But a check’s okay, isn’t it?” Her gaze darted from one man to the other. “I mean...I assume I can’t drive it home, that you’ll have to call the bank tomorrow to make sure it clears and all, but...”

“Um, Maggie...” Andy swept an arm around her shoulder to steer her out of Harvey’s earshot. He wasn’t sure what to say—not without bucking into her pride—and those shoulders of hers were stiff, that beautiful jaw of hers jutting at an awfully defensive angle. “Sweet pea, I’m getting the feeling that maybe you haven’t bought too many cars before?”

“Well...no. The thing is, my parents died, Andy. Not together, but about the same time. My mom got sick, pneumonia they couldn’t lick, and my dad was on the way to the hospital when someone smashed into him. We were pretty young—Joanna just out of college and I was in my first year—”

“Aw, hell. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t tell you to make you feel bad. And I didn’t mean to get into all that—I was just trying to explain about the cars. Joanna already had a car, so I ended up with my parents’ vehicle, drove it for years. When it finally quit...well, the car that just got totalled is the only one I ever bought of my own. And that experience was just as awful and nerve-racking as this one.”

Andy was suddenly getting a whole different picture of why car shopping upset her so much. There’d never been a dad or someone to teach her the basic strategy. “Well, to begin with...it’s pretty rare people pay for cars in cash.”

“Yeah. I know. The guy about had a fit the first time—like he changed his mind and didn’t even want to sell it to me? Cripes, he gave me such a hard time I almost walked out. If I hadn’t needed the wheels, I would have.”

“I understand. But thing is, the sticker price isn’t the whole story. If you want the car, you want the car. But it’s real likely Harv’ll go down some significant dollars if we give him a chance to sharpen his pencil. And the other thing is, you just might not want to deplete any interest-earning savings or capital to pour into a single giant expense like this.”

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