Read Online Jodi Thomas by A Husband for Holly - Free Book Online

this ranch?” he asked.
    “Yes,” she answered. “The hatred has to stop sometime, and it might as well stop here and now. A few of the folks may be angry, but they’ll get over it by next Christmas.”
    His fingers spread across her just above her belt and pressed gently before he suddenly knotted the material of her shirt into his fist. “It’ll be dawn in a few hours. Lie beside me ’til then. Let the war between us end.”
    Holly started to answer, but he stopped her with his finger on her lips.
    “Before you agree, I’ll tell you that if you stay by my side, I plan to love you tonight.” His voice was low with passion. “I can’t catch you if you run, so don’t agree to stay if you’re planning to bolt.”
    “And if I stay and fight?”
    Zach laughed. “If you stay and fight, you’ll probably kill me. No, pretty lady, if you stay it will be to love, not to fight.”
    When she rolled suddenly from the bed, pain stronger than all the blows he’d taken earlier combined shot through Zach’s heart. He leaned against the pillow and closed his eyes. Why had he even hoped to dream that she’d allow him to touch her? Hadn’t she said often enough in the past two days that she’d never care for him? Why couldn’t he have been happy with kissing her? Zach knew the answer. Kissing her was a sweet hell, when he wanted to love her every night for the rest of his life.
    “Well?” Holly’s voice startled him. “Are you going to lift the covers, or do I have to stay on top freezing ’til dawn?”
    Zach looked up at her. She’d removed her trousers and shirt, and was standing before him in a camisole and white lace drawers that hung past her knees. If ever there was a woman who should have been dubbed an angel on earth, it was Holly—as long as she kept her mouth closed, of course. Her beauty put the sunset he’d seen to shame.
    “Well, Yankee?” she snapped. “Do you want me to snuggle next to you for a few hours or not?”
    Zach lifted the covers. He couldn’t have gotten a word past his heart pounding in his throat if his life had depended on it. She slid in beside him and cuddled against his side as if she’d been doing it for a lifetime.
    “I’ll let you touch me,” she said, as if to make sure he understood who was in charge, “if you continue to kiss me at the same time. I’ve grown to like your kisses more than a little.”
    Zach moved his hand lightly over the cotton of her camisole. The lace tickled his palm when he pulled the first ribbon.
    She lay very still, watching him moving to the second ribbon. When his fingers passed the valley between her breasts, he brushed her warm skin. “Before this night is over,” he whispered as he pulled the ribbon and revealed more of her flesh, “you’ll like my touch as dearly as you like my kisses.”
    “We’ll see, Yankee.” She smiled and stretched, loving the way her movements made him lose his breath.
    His mouth lowered over her lips, and all the world but his arms disappeared.

9
    Christmas morning dawned cold and clear as Holly slept. When the sun was high, she smiled in her sleep and rolled toward Zach’s warmth. The night had been magic. He’d been right. She would never get enough of his kisses, just as she would never have her fill of his touch.
    She reached again for his warmth, not wanting the night to end.
    But he wasn’t there. Holly sat up in bed like a shot and searched the room. Zach was nowhere in the room. The huge empty room decorated for Christmas was the saddest sight she’d ever seen.
    She jumped and ran to the kitchen, expecting to see him cooking breakfast as he had the day before. But the stove was as cold as the muscles pushing around her heart.
    She stomped into her clothes, trying to keep her anger down. There had to be a reason. Maybe he’d gone to check on Cinnamon? But he should have awakened her. Maybe he’d gone outside for water or wood. “Maybe, maybe,” she shouted trying to ignore a small voice