The Holiday Secret

Carter watched Dash pause in front of an attractive young woman and two little girls. Everyone who’d turned out for the parade boasted more layers than Karen’s beef Wellington, but Carter recognized Anna Leighton and her twin daughters immediately. The Leightons were the only family in town with hair the color of a newly minted penny.

Anna reached for a candy cane, but Dash was faster. In a daring move, he planted a kiss on the back of Anna’s hand...and instantly blew his cover.

Liam Kane.

Carter still hadn’t sent back the response card for the couple’s Christmas Eve wedding. Maybe because he was still trying to figure out why he’d been invited.

Liam and his brothers ran Castle Falls Outfitters a few miles outside of town, but their paths hadn’t crossed until Aiden, the youngest of the three, was involved in a hit-and-run.

Aiden had a reputation for being a daredevil, so his claim that a vehicle had forced him off the road had been met with skepticism in the community...and in his own family.

Carter had believed the guy, though. There were times when his own survival had been dependent on his ability to discern whether or not a person was telling the truth, and something in Aiden’s story had pushed Carter to do a little more digging.

When the driver of the vehicle turned out to be the younger brother of one of the teens Aiden had been mentoring, he’d decided not to press charges.

Carter had heard that both Justin and Tim Wagner had been spending a lot of time with the Kane family since then, learning how to build canoes and maybe some valuable life skills, as well. A risky move on Aiden’s part—believing in second chances—and Carter hoped the boys wouldn’t take advantage of it.

His role in the case had officially ended when he’d filed his report, but apparently the Kane family thought they owed him something for doing his job. Hence the invitation to the wedding.

But as far as Carter was concerned, weddings ranked right up there with Christmas.

If it were up to him, he’d happily skip them both.

Dash moved to the next family and Carter did a double take.

The child standing next to the Leightons looked familiar, too.

Because it was his child...

Thank you, Mom.

Relief poured through Carter as his gaze cut to the woman standing next to Dash. He choked back a laugh.

Not only had she brought Bea to the parade, his mom must have taken his daughter’s advice on what to wear for the occasion.

The knee-length down coat Karen insisted would never go out of style had, at least a decade ago. A leather bomber hat, complete with fur-lined earflaps, had been a Christmas present from Bea the previous year. The gaudy purple-and-red scarf that covered her face from nose to chin, a thank-you gift from a knitting group that had stayed at the inn.

Carter glanced in the rearview mirror just in time to see the woman standing next to Anna’s twins lift her face toward the sky. The scarf slipped a few inches and Carter almost stomped on the brake, which would have made him responsible for a massive pileup of reindeer and musical instruments he would have been hard-pressed to explain to his supervisor.

Several people in the crowd shifted position, blocking Carter’s view, but he knew he hadn’t been imagining things. A delicate profile. A swatch of hair as dark and glossy as a coffee bean.

Ellery. Incognito.

Carter’s grip tightened on the steering wheel.

Why had she brought Bea to the parade?

A question you’d probably know the answer to if you’d listened to your mom’s voice mail, an inner voice chided.

But Carter had been helping a young mother locate the car keys her toddler had tossed in a snowbank a few minutes before the parade started and then a guy had tried to drive around the barricade...

Now he wished he’d taken the time.

It wasn’t that Carter didn’t trust his mom’s judgment. He did. What he didn’t trust was the tiny spark of something that flickered to life whenever Ellery was nearby. Like finding an ember in the ashes of a fire you thought had been stamped out.

He’d been burned once before, though, when he’d listened to his heart and not his head.

“Look, Miss El’ry.” Bea’s voice dropped to an almost reverent whisper as they strolled down one of the snowy paths fanning out from the pavilion after the parade. “Ponies!”

Ellery followed the little girl’s gaze to a sleigh parked under a nearby lamppost. She smiled at the description. Not ponies, but a matched pair of coal-black Friesians. The team stood shoulder to shoulder, their breath creating plumes of frost in the air. The bearded driver, clad in a buffalo-check flannel shirt and bib overalls, resembled the lumberjacks in the sepia photographs on display in Karen’s gathering room.

Ellery was about to suggest they walk over and say hello, but Bea had already changed direction. Ellery’s feet almost slid out from under her as she struggled to keep up.

The driver flicked the brim of his wool cap when they approached. “Good evening, ladies. Stanley Potter at your service. Are you ready for a little jaunt around the park?”

Bea clapped her hands over her mouth and the only sound that slipped out was a tiny squeak.

Ellery laughed. “I think that means yes.”

“Up you go, then.” Stanley held out a gloved hand and helped them onto a narrow wooden bench behind the driver’s seat. “Diamond and Opal will be happy to take you on a scenic tour of the town.”

He clicked his tongue and the team lurched forward, the rows of tiny silver bells attached to their leather harnesses playing a merry tune.

She studied the storefronts as the sleigh turned onto main street, hoping to see her brothers’ last name on one of the signs. Ellery’s brief online search before she’d left home hadn’t yielded any clues as to what her brothers did for a living, nor did they show up on any of the popular social media sites.

But then again, Ellery didn’t, either. Her parents had stressed the importance of connecting with people face-to-face and encouraged Ellery to do the same.

But what if there’d been more to it than that? What if they’d been afraid that her biological family would somehow find her?

Even as the thought sprang into Ellery’s head, it felt like a betrayal.

Lord, I’m questioning everything these days...

“Whoa!”

Ellery grabbed Bea’s hand as Stanley pulled back on the reins.

The team tossed their heads in response to the abrupt command but obeyed. The center of the street seemed like an unusual place to stop, so Ellery leaned forward.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” came the cheerful response. “We’ve never been pulled over before.”

Chapter Six

Pulled over?

Ellery twisted around. Felt her stomach drop all the way down to the toes of her boots when she saw Carter’s lean frame unfold from the driver’s seat of the squad car.

Karen had assured Ellery that she would let Carter know about the change in plans, but apparently, he hadn’t received the memo.

Bea, whose gaze had been riveted on the horses, let out a squeal of delight when she saw the man striding toward them.

“We saw you in the parade, Daddy!” Bea said, pride shining in her eyes. “Can I go with you next time? Hannah got to ride on a float with her daddy.”

“I’m afraid it’s against the rules, sweetheart,” Carter explained. “You have to have a badge like mine to ride in the squad car.”

Bea deflated against the seat. “Okay.”

Ellery saw something flash in Carter’s eyes. Guilt? Regret?

Life, Ellery had learned in the past year, was too short for either one. Bea might not be able to ride in the squad car, but that didn’t mean father and daughter still couldn’t make another special memory.

And just like that, her mission changed.

Ellery’s father, a renowned neurosurgeon, had worked long hours and been on call, too, so her parents had had to be creative and flexible when it came to spending time together. Ellery treasured those memories even more now that they were gone.

“Maybe your daddy can ride with us in the sleigh,” she heard herself say.

Carter’s expression was much easier to read this time.

Disbelief.

In for a penny, in for a pound, as Ellery’s mother used to say. “When are you off duty?”

“Five minutes ago,” Carter admitted slowly, eyes narrowing on her face as if he was searching for an ulterior motive behind the question.

Ellery preferred to think of it as taking advantage of a memory-making opportunity.

“Mr. Stanley won’t mind, Daddy!” Bea was already scooting over to make room on the bench. “It’ll be fun!”

Fun looked like a completely foreign concept to the man.

“A moonlight sleigh ride with two pretty gals?” Stanley mused out loud to no one in particular. “I would call the man who gets that opportunity blessed.”

Ellery could see that Carter wanted to refuse. He slid a look at Bea and that tender look—the one that told Ellery a soft heart beat behind the shield—stole into his eyes again.

“Fine. I’ll park by the bank,” he told Stanley. “You can pick me up over there.”

The driver grinned, snapped the reins, and the sleigh glided down the street again.

Carter arrived first and Ellery felt that now-familiar uptick in her pulse at the sight of him. Like the bluffs that lined the shores of Lake Superior, there was a rugged beauty in the clash of angles and planes that made up the deputy’s austere features. An appealing contrast between slate-gray eyes and sun-bronzed skin.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.