A Love Inspired Christmas Bundle: In the Spirit of...Christmas / The Christmas Groom / One Golden Christmas

Lindsey must have noticed his bewildered expression because she laughed.

“Doubting Thomas,” she said to him, then leaned toward Jade. “Did you see the way Sushi wagged her tail? That means thank you.”

Holding onto her flowered hat, Jade pressed against the glass and whispered to the dog. “You’re welcome.”

When Sushi licked the door, Jade jumped back, almost stumbling over her skirts, but at least she didn’t scream.

“Sushi gave you a kiss, Butterbean,” Jesse offered after he’d swallowed the thickness in his throat.

“Uh-huh. I saw her, but I didn’t want a doggy kiss. I’m the queen.” Resuming her air of royalty, she lifted the tail of her dress and clomped to the kitchen. “Can we make cookies now? It’s almost Christmas.”

Lindsey, satin skirts rustling, peacock feather flopping, followed behind Jade like a cartoonist’s version of a royal lady-in-waiting. “You’re right. Christmas will be here before we know it. Guess what your daddy and I are doing tomorrow?”

Jesse had a sneaky feeling he didn’t want to know.

The gap in Jade’s mouth flashed. “What?”

“We’re going to put up the decorations and get the Christmas-tree lot ready for visitors.”

“Yay! Can I help? Can I decorate a tree? Can I put up the angel?” Jade wrapped her arms around Lindsey’s red-satin-covered knees and hopped up and down. “Please, please, please.”

Jesse’s stomach sank into his boots. The day he’d dreaded had come. The Christmas season was upon him.

Chapter Six

“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” blared from a loudspeaker positioned over the gate that opened into the Christmas-tree lot. The smell of pine mingled with the musty scent of Christmas decorations brought out of storage this morning. Though the temperature was in the high thirties, Jesse stripped away his jean jacket and hung the worn garment on the fence next to Lindsey’s red plaid one.

He didn’t have to look around to find the jacket’s owner. Every cell in his body knew she was near—a sensation he found singularly disconcerting, to be sure. Last night, in the midst of a costumed tea party, some subtle shift in their boss/employee relationship had occurred. And Jesse didn’t know if the change was a good thing or a very dangerous one.

From his spot stringing lights on staked poles, he turned to find her just inside the entrance, rubbing dust from a large wooden nativity scene. She’d shared her plans with him for the lot, and though the overwhelming dose of Christmas wasn’t his idea of a good time, Lindsey’s customers would come for this very atmosphere of holiday cheer.

Shoppers would park outside the gate then ride in the horse-drawn wagon down a lane aglow with Christmas lights and dotted with various lighted holiday ornaments: the nativity, a sleigh with reindeer, angels, snowmen. Jesse couldn’t imagine anything she’d forgotten.

Chest tight, whether from watching Lindsey or thinking too much, he turned his concentration to the electrical part of his job. Electricity he knew. Lights he knew. The rest he’d ignore. And as soon as the opportunity arose, he’d kill that music.

“Jesse, could you put more speakers along the drive and down into the lot? I’m not sure we can hear the music all the way.”

His shoulders slumped. So much for killing the tunes. After twisting two wires together, he rose from his haunches and asked, “Wouldn’t my time be better spent cutting and baling those trees we marked this morning?”

She paused, pushed back her hair with one hand and studied him. When those eyes of hers lasered into him he couldn’t do anything but wait until she finished speaking. She had pretty eyes, golden-brown and warm and slightly tilted at the edges like almonds.

“Why do you dislike Christmas?”

He blinked, squeezing hard on the pliers in his fist. “Never said I didn’t like Christmas.”

“Okay, then,” She gave a saucy toss of her head. “Why do you dislike Christmas decorations?”

If the subject weren’t so problematic, he’d have smiled. Lindsey’s way of injecting humor into everything could lift anybody’s mood.

Sushi chose that moment to insinuate her furry self against his legs, almost knocking him into the row of linked-together stakes.

Squatting, he took refuge in the dog, scuffing her ears with both hands. “Did I remember to thank you last night?”

“You just changed the subject.”

He gave a little shrug. “So I did.”

“Okay, I’ll let you off the hook—for now.” She lifted the hair off her neck, a habit of hers that Jesse liked. The movement was so utterly female. Erin had done that. Jade did it sometimes too.

“What are you thanking me for? Or was that just a ruse you use to avoid answering my question?

He shook his head. “No ruse. I owe you big-time.”

“For what?”

She really didn’t know?

“About a dozen things. Looking after Jade until I got here. For supper.”

“Such as it was.” She laughed, letting her hair tumble down. Even without the sunlight, her hair looked shiny and clean.

“I’ve eaten worse than baloney sandwiches and sugar cookies.”

“Don’t forget the fruit.” She tilted a wise man backwards and washed his ancient face. “Last night was fun, Jesse.”

“Yeah.” No point in denying the truth. Rising, he gave Sushi one final stroke. “Most of all, I appreciate your patience with Jade about the dog. I know leaving her outside is a pain.”

Lindsey captured him with her gaze. “I don’t want thanks for that, Jesse. I just want to see Jade confident and unafraid.”

Taking up the next strand of lights waiting to be hung, he sighed. “Me, too.”

“She’ll get there.” The wise man satisfactorily cleaned, she left him and the rest of the nativity. Coming up beside Jesse, she took one end of the lights, holding them in place while he secured them to the poles. “She’s already less fearful than when she first came.”

“I noticed. She didn’t even fuss when I put her to bed last night. She said her guarding angel would watch her sleep.” He glanced toward her, noticed the curve of her cheek and the tilt of her lips, then quickly looked away. “She talked a lot about that.”

“I hope you didn’t mind me telling her.”

He hitched a shoulder, not wanting to go there. “It’s okay. Whatever works.”

Lindsey laid a hand on his arm. “The Bible works because it’s true, Jesse,” she said, her smoky voice soft. “Aren’t you comforted knowing your own special angel watches over you?”

The warmth of her fingers spread through his shirt sleeve. He tried to concentrate on twisting plastic fasteners.

“Can’t say I’ve given it much thought.”

“Maybe you should.” She dropped her hand and went back to straightening the tangle of lights, but her touch stayed with him like a promise made.

Could Lindsey be right? Was there more to this Christian thing than he’d ever realized? Being around her and her church friends, witnessing her steadfast faith and the way she handled the bumps in her life with a certain assurance had him thinking about God with a fresh perspective. As a boy he’d believed, had even accepted Jesus as his savior at church camp when he was twelve. And then life had turned him upside down, and the God of the universe had seemed so far away.