Read Online Highlander for the Holidays by Janet Chapman - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Janet Chapman
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Toby’s sweater. He plucked it off the floor to toss it onto the passenger seat, but held it up to his nose when he caught a whiff of something familiar. And sure enough, instead of smelling like dog, the sweater smelled feminine and flowery—exactly like Jessie.
“Okay, Miss Prickly Pringle,” he said with a smile, stuffing the sweater inside the bib of his ski pants. “Game on.”
Chapter Five
THE FARTHER DOWN THE NARROW DIRT ROAD KATY MacBain drove, the more Jessie was tempted to pinch herself to be sure that she wasn’t dreaming. It had stopped snowing around sunrise, and the clouds had given way to a crystalline blue sky, the weak November sun causing the melting snow to glitter like diamonds. Pine Lake on their right was a stunningly dark cobalt blue with the gusty north wind pushing its massive waves into crests of brilliant white froth.
Oh yeah, if that unexplainably persistent brochure had captured her imagination, actually being here was fanning the spark it had ignited inside her into a bonfire. And if she hadn’t been completely sure about moving here, she definitely was now, as Jessie couldn’t remember ever feeling so alive.
Honest to God, the power was palpable.
“You two must have made quite an impression on Ian and Duncan last night,” Katy said, darting a smile at Jessie and then at Merissa in the backseat. “Because when Ian called me this morning not ten minutes before Duncan did, and I told them our cousin Megan and her husband Jack just asked me to sell their house out here on Frog Point, both men told me not to put it on the market until I showed it to you first. Actually,” she said, smiling at Jessie, “Ian threatened that if I didn’t sell you this house, he was going to write my phone number on the wall of the men’s bathroom at Pete’s.”
“Nice cousin,” Merissa drawled from the backseat.
Katy laughed. “I told him he was too late, because I snuck in not a month after Pete’s opened and wrote it next to the mirror myself.”
“How’s that been working for you?” Merissa asked.
Katy shrugged. “I probably would have gotten more calls if I’d left off my last name. Apparently there’s not a man living within fifty miles of Pine Creek who’s brave enough to ask me out.”
Merissa took hold of Jessie’s seat to lean forward. “Why?”
“Because they’re all afraid of my father and brothers and male cousins.”
Merissa flopped back with a snort. “You can’t get a date because everyone’s afraid of the men in your family? You’re funning us, right?”
Katy sighed, glancing over her shoulder at Merissa. “I wish I were. Tell me: Last night you didn’t find Duncan to be a tad . . . oh, let’s go with overwhelming , shall we?”
“Overwhelming is an understatement,” Merissa said with a laugh.
“So are you saying you don’t mind being hustled home at four thirty in the morning, wondering what just happened ?”
“He told you we spent the night together?”
“Oh, none of my dear sweet cousins would ever kiss and tell. I saw you headed to the resort in Duncan’s truck this morning.”
“You’re a real estate broker. What were you doing up at four-friggin’-A.M.?”
“I was going to my family’s Christmas tree farm to help with this year’s cutting. What, do you ladies think Douglas fir pitch is my perfume of choice ?” Katy asked with a laugh. She darted a quick glance at Merissa again. “And although I could see you were smiling, you also looked like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. So, back to your question as to why I can’t get a date in this town. After spending time with my cousins,” she said, glancing at Jessie to include her, “what do you think the odds are that some guy is going to take an interest in me knowing they’ll be watching his every move? And you, Jessie, didn’t you find Ian to be old-fashioned and rather . . . proprietary? He certainly didn’t have any qualms about telling me where you should
“Okay, Miss Prickly Pringle,” he said with a smile, stuffing the sweater inside the bib of his ski pants. “Game on.”
Chapter Five
THE FARTHER DOWN THE NARROW DIRT ROAD KATY MacBain drove, the more Jessie was tempted to pinch herself to be sure that she wasn’t dreaming. It had stopped snowing around sunrise, and the clouds had given way to a crystalline blue sky, the weak November sun causing the melting snow to glitter like diamonds. Pine Lake on their right was a stunningly dark cobalt blue with the gusty north wind pushing its massive waves into crests of brilliant white froth.
Oh yeah, if that unexplainably persistent brochure had captured her imagination, actually being here was fanning the spark it had ignited inside her into a bonfire. And if she hadn’t been completely sure about moving here, she definitely was now, as Jessie couldn’t remember ever feeling so alive.
Honest to God, the power was palpable.
“You two must have made quite an impression on Ian and Duncan last night,” Katy said, darting a smile at Jessie and then at Merissa in the backseat. “Because when Ian called me this morning not ten minutes before Duncan did, and I told them our cousin Megan and her husband Jack just asked me to sell their house out here on Frog Point, both men told me not to put it on the market until I showed it to you first. Actually,” she said, smiling at Jessie, “Ian threatened that if I didn’t sell you this house, he was going to write my phone number on the wall of the men’s bathroom at Pete’s.”
“Nice cousin,” Merissa drawled from the backseat.
Katy laughed. “I told him he was too late, because I snuck in not a month after Pete’s opened and wrote it next to the mirror myself.”
“How’s that been working for you?” Merissa asked.
Katy shrugged. “I probably would have gotten more calls if I’d left off my last name. Apparently there’s not a man living within fifty miles of Pine Creek who’s brave enough to ask me out.”
Merissa took hold of Jessie’s seat to lean forward. “Why?”
“Because they’re all afraid of my father and brothers and male cousins.”
Merissa flopped back with a snort. “You can’t get a date because everyone’s afraid of the men in your family? You’re funning us, right?”
Katy sighed, glancing over her shoulder at Merissa. “I wish I were. Tell me: Last night you didn’t find Duncan to be a tad . . . oh, let’s go with overwhelming , shall we?”
“Overwhelming is an understatement,” Merissa said with a laugh.
“So are you saying you don’t mind being hustled home at four thirty in the morning, wondering what just happened ?”
“He told you we spent the night together?”
“Oh, none of my dear sweet cousins would ever kiss and tell. I saw you headed to the resort in Duncan’s truck this morning.”
“You’re a real estate broker. What were you doing up at four-friggin’-A.M.?”
“I was going to my family’s Christmas tree farm to help with this year’s cutting. What, do you ladies think Douglas fir pitch is my perfume of choice ?” Katy asked with a laugh. She darted a quick glance at Merissa again. “And although I could see you were smiling, you also looked like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. So, back to your question as to why I can’t get a date in this town. After spending time with my cousins,” she said, glancing at Jessie to include her, “what do you think the odds are that some guy is going to take an interest in me knowing they’ll be watching his every move? And you, Jessie, didn’t you find Ian to be old-fashioned and rather . . . proprietary? He certainly didn’t have any qualms about telling me where you should
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