Read Online Christmas Confidential by Marilyn Pappano; Linda Conrad - Free Book Online Page A

quality to it, then the humor passed and he exhaled deeply, blowing out the tension of the past few minutes, she figured. If she’d been overcome with the sick fear that they were going to be in a wreck, he must have had double the anxiety for the danger to his car.
    “There’s an exit just up ahead. We’re gonna have to get off the interstate at least for a while. It’ll take ’em a long time to clean this up.” Rolling down his window, he swiped the snow from the rearview mirror, looked, then slowly eased back on to the pavement. He didn’t try to merge but stayed on the shoulder the few hundred yards to the exit.
    The exit took them to a crossroad with two gas stations, one rundown diner and a shabby motel. Dean pulled into a parking lot. “Do you know where the atlas is?”
    “I put it—” She reached into the backseat at the same time he did, bumping heads with him, looking up to find him far too close. For an instant, a moment, all they did was stare. His blue eyes were dark, grim, then slowly something else seeped in. A memory, she thought. A kiss. A taste. Heaven help her, she still remembered. If she wasn’t careful, she could still want, still need—
    Nothing sweet. Not from Dean.
    The reminder should have made her straighten, putting as much space between them as possible. She should have let him know beyond a doubt that she wasn’t interested in resurrecting anything with him. Once he delivered her to Atlanta, she would never see him again.
    But she didn’t straighten, didn’t move away so much as a breath. Her skin was hot, her fingers nerveless, her breathing shallow and as unsteady as the beat of her heart. One small resurrection, the sly voice inside her coaxed. One kiss, the loneliness inside her pleaded.
    “Miriam.” His voice was husky, her plain, nothing-special name sounding very special. His eyes darkened, and he moved closer, even though they were already intimately close. She thought he was going to kiss her and didn’t know if she could be strong enough to push him away. She’d been the strong one her whole life, and just once, just for two minutes, she wanted someone else to take that role. Just once she wanted—
    “I’ve got it,” he murmured.
    Got what?
    Then he sat back, pulling the road atlas with him. A grin spread across his face, appealing for all its smugness. “You thought I was going to kiss you.”
    Heat flared, scorching her cheeks, as she resettled in her seat. Lord, if she opened the door, she could probably melt all the snow within a ten-foot radius. “I didn’t—”
    “I’m going to. Just not now. Not here.”
    Not now, not here, not ever. “You’re pretty sure of yourself,” she said with a sniff.
    “It’s on my Christmas wish list.”
    “Yeah, well, good luck with that.”
    “I don’t need luck. Santa never disappoints those who truly believe, and I do.”
    And life never disappointed those who were smart enough not to believe. If she never hoped for anything, then she could never be disappointed.
    But try as she might to pretend she’d run out of hope twelve years ago, she was kidding herself. She had high hopes for this visit with Sophy. She hoped Oliver and Chloe would welcome her back into their lives. She hoped somewhere in their hearts they remembered her and their mom. She hoped she wouldn’t have to spend the rest of her life alone.
    What was hoping for one little kiss compared to all of that?

Chapter 4
    D ean figured out an alternative route on state highways, hoping to get on the interstate at the next access some forty miles away. After stowing the map, this time between the driver’s seat and the console, he dug in the rear seat again for a bottle of water and a bag of chips, then shifted into gear and pulled back onto the highway.
    Thanks to the pileup on the interstate, the two-lane road had heavier traffic than was usual, but the increased volume kept the road pretty clear of snow, so he didn’t have to concentrate totally on