The Texan's Christmas

She glanced at him, said something to the guys and came his way.

“You want another beer?” Her voice was so cold a chill ran up his spine.

“No. I…uh…I’d like to talk.” Damn! He sounded like he was sixteen asking her for a date. But he’d never been this nervous. Talking to women came naturally to him. Why wasn’t it easy to talk to Lucky?

“Talk,” she replied, keeping the temperature subzero.

He stood and motioned toward a table. “In private.”

He thought she was going to refuse, but she walked around the bar and sat down on a faded chair. He joined her. The air-conditioning was cool but he could feel the heat building between them. And it wasn’t a good heat.

Removing his hat, he placed it on the table and looked into her cold, cold eyes. “You look great.”

Lucky clasped her hands in her lap. What was she supposed to say to that? You lying cheating bastard came to mind. But she wouldn’t sink to his level.

“I’m thirty-eight years old and I left looking good behind in my twenties.”

“Come on, Lucky, you’re still a knockout.”

So are you.

This was where his deep sexy voice and sincere brown eyes always broke any resolve about not letting Kid get to her. He had a way of making a woman feel special, as if she was beautiful and the only woman in the world for him. As a teenager she had fallen for his smooth-talking lies. As a mature woman she could hardly believe she’d been so naive—so naive that she’d actually believed a popular boy like Kid loved the barkeeper’s daughter.

Due to her father’s occupation the kids in school tended to look down on her. But Kid took her to school parties and dances and the shy girl finally fit in for the first time in her life.

Because Kid Hardin loved her.

Briefly.

Why couldn’t he have loved her the way she’d loved him?

From the rumor mill in High Cotton she’d heard that many women had filled her shoes since. That hurt.

“What do you want, Kid?”

His warm glance slid over her face, and she felt a weakening deep in her stomach. The years had been kind to him. His hair was dark with just a hint of gray, and his chiseled features, strong chin, devil-may-care attitude and twinkle in his eyes could melt the coldest heart. The five o’clock shadow added to his sex appeal.

Don’t let him get to you.

“Why did you cut your hair?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your hair.” He waved a hand toward her. “It used to be long and gorgeous.”

She looked him straight in the eye. “I’m not eighteen anymore.”

“Ah, Lucky, I think we’ll always be eighteen.” That you’re special gaze in his eyes did a number on her senses. She felt like that young girl who believed in fairy-tale endings—who believed in Kid. The thought stiffened her backbone.

“I’m not going down memory lane with you.”

As if she hadn’t spoken, he said, “What are you doing running your dad’s beer joint? What happened to your plans of being a nurse?”

What happened?

Her stomach clenched tight. The day Kid had left for Texas Tech played vividly in her mind as if it were yesterday. It was mid-August and hot, much the same as today. Kid had driven to her house in his new red Chevy pickup that Dane Belle had bought him. After his parents’ deaths, the Hardin boys lived on the High Five ranch, owned by Dane, with their aunt and uncle. Dane became the father figure they’d lost. All the boys loved and respected him.

That day they’d leaned against his truck saying goodbye.

“I wish your dad had sprung for you going to nursing school in Lubbock, and then we could have been together.”

“It’s too far away and I’m all he’s got.” She stroked his chest. “I wish Dane hadn’t insisted you go to Tech.”

“It’s where Cadde is and Dane feels we need to stay close as brothers.”

“But I’m going to miss you.”

“I’ll call and write,” Kid said, running his fingers through her long hair.

She pressed into him, not knowing how she was going to exist without Kid. He kissed her long and deep.

“When are you leaving for Austin?” he asked against her lips.

“In about two weeks.”

He tucked her hair behind her ears, his eyes dark and serious. “You’re not going to forget me, are you?”

“I’ll never forget you,” she whispered.

“I love you, Lucky.” His voice cracked when he said her name. “I will always love you.”

“There’ll never be anyone else for me.”

“I’ll call as soon as I get there,” he promised.

They’d held on to each other for a long time and then Kid had driven away. She’d waved until she couldn’t see him anymore. Every day she’d waited for that call. At the end of two weeks she finally had to admit to herself that he wasn’t ever going to call or come back for her.

She’d left for Austin with a broken heart.

Kid Hardin was a liar and a cheat.

Why was she even talking to him?

“Lucky?”

She quickly got her emotions under control. “What do you want, Kid?”

“My brothers and I are in the oil business.”