A Fortunes Of Texas Christmas

She stared at him. “Huh?”

“Why?” he said again. “Or rather, why not?”

“Because...” She was uncharacteristically lost for words. “Because I...”

“Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend? Lover?” He asked the question with so much self-assured arrogance she couldn’t help but gape at him. “Someone who might object to my...interest?”

Interest? She laughed out loud. “Really, can you hear yourself?”

“Perfectly,” he replied, coming a little closer, so close that they were now barely a foot apart.

The air seemed to sizzle, and she fought the urge to step backward. She wasn’t about to be outmaneuvered by this man. She wanted him to know exactly how she felt about him, maybe starting with a swift knee to the groin area. Which made her glance down, then up, and then realize she looked as though she was checking him out!

“I have... I have work to do,” she said and fumbled over her words before meeting his gaze. “And I don’t have the time to—”

“Have dinner with me,” he said softly. “You won’t regret it.”

He was wrong. She would regret it. Just like she regretted the idea that she was actually considering it. Because, hell and damnation, he was absolutely the most gorgeous man she had ever met...and she wasn’t the least bit immune to him. She was hot all over. Her entire body was about to be set on fire, as though he was the spark and she was the kindling.

She swallowed hard. “No. I can’t.”

“Robin,” he said, her name almost sounding like a caress. And thinking about his voice caressing her didn’t help, either. Because all she could imagine was how it would feel if his hands did the same to her body! “Life is too brief to think about what we can’t do.”

She stepped back and pressed her hip against the table. “That’s just your arrogance talking,” she shot back. “Because you like to get your own way.”

“Of course,” he replied, not denying it. “I am a man, and we generally like to get exactly what we want.” He shrugged, feigning innocence. “Perhaps you could make allowances for that.”

She laughed again. If it weren’t so ridiculous, it would be hilarious. “You’re an egotistical snob...that’s something I can’t make allowances for.”

He smiled, his blue eyes glittering. “I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise.”

“Go away.”

He didn’t move. “So, you didn’t answer my question...about having a husband. Or boyfriend. Or lover.”

The way he said the word lover made her skin prickle with a heady kind of awareness. Because he clearly had designs on the role. It was madness. They hardly knew each other. She didn’t get swept away by good looks. Sure, Trey had been good-looking...but not like this. And she hadn’t lusted after him the way she was silently and foolishly lusting after Amersen Beaudin.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m single...and happily so. However, I do have two older brothers and a father who would need only one word from me to come after you with a shotgun, Mr. Beaudin.”

“You should probably call me Amersen,” he said and then laughed so sexily her knees actually trembled. “Since we’ll be going on a date.”

“I’m not going on a date with you,” she refuted. “Not ever.”

“I can wait. I’ll be in town for a week or so.”

Robin planted her hands on her hips. “You can wait all you like...it won’t make any difference.”

“That’s harsh. But you know, I think you’d like me if you gave me a shot.”

She made a bored, huffing sound. “A shot? I wouldn’t go out with you even if you were a prince. And not even if I had a fairy godmother who could turn a pumpkin into a carriage or even if I owned a pair of glass slippers.”

He chuckled. “That’s an interesting idea. You have a lot of spunk, Robin. I like that about you.”

“I’m happy for you,” she responded. “Now you can leave and go back to playing with your new perfume or writing one of your cynical and witty blog posts. Some of us have actual work to do. Goodbye.” She said it to belittle and embarrass him. But he didn’t look the least bit embarrassed or belittled. He looked amused. And cocky. He looked like insults weren’t so much as a blip on his radar. He looked as though he could handle anything from anyone. Including her.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and then tossed a small business card on the table. “My cell number. Call when you’re ready to admit you want me.”

Robin stared after him for several minutes after he left. Furious. Enraged. Appalled.

And totally—and unbelievably—turned on.

Chapter Three (#uaed9fe65-3bf5-5afb-a8aa-b18f086e5660)

“Robin, could you come up to the house when you get a chance? There’s something I would like to show you.”

“Of course,” she said in response to Kate’s request. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

It was early Wednesday afternoon, and Robin was glad for the interruption. She’d spent the last twenty-four hours deriding herself for allowing Amersen Beaudin to get into her head. Which made her even more determined to make sure he didn’t get into her pants!

Foolishly, she carried his crumpled business card in her back pocket. Not that she intended on calling him. Not ever. But she didn’t want to leave it lying around the greenhouse or her own home. The best place for it was the trash. And she’d do that when she got home. With that decided, she left her office and quickly headed up to the main house and walked through the back door.

Kate entered the room to greet her and suggested they go into the front lounge room.

Robin lingered in the large foyer for a moment. “The tree arrives tomorrow,” she told Kate and waved a hand toward the staircase. “So I can start the Christmas decorations for you tomorrow.”

“Okay, lovely,” Kate replied.

“I know I’m running a little behind schedule,” she said. “The cypress I ordered wasn’t available in the right size, so I had to find another farm to get the—”

“Robin,” the older woman said firmly, cutting her off, “I know you’ll have the house looking wonderful, just as you did for Thanksgiving, and for last year’s Christmas celebrations. Sterling and I have the utmost faith in you, and you never let us down. Now, come into the lounge.”

Robin stalled. “Is everything all right?”

“Perhaps you can tell me the answer to that.”

Concerned, Robin followed her employer through the doorway and then stopped dead in her tracks. She hoped everything was okay. Kate looked serious, and that alarmed her.

“Ms. Fortune, I’m not sure what—”

“Perhaps you can explain this,” Kate said and waved her hand in an arc, motioning toward the long buffet beside the fireplace.

Where she saw a pumpkin.

The biggest and brightest orange pumpkin she had ever seen in her life.

“It arrived half an hour ago,” Kate said and pointed to a box beside it that was wrapped in white paper and had a silver bow attached to it. “Along with this. And there’s a card with your name on it.”

Robin approached the buffet and stared at the pumpkin and the box. She knew immediately, of course, that Amersen was responsible. The relevance of the pumpkin wasn’t lost on her. She fingered the bow on top of the box and then slowly lifted the lid, gasping when she pushed aside a couple of layers of tissue paper and saw what lay within.