Read Online Three Nights before Christmas by Kat Latham - Free Book Online
Authors: Kat Latham
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space either. “The train’s in an annex around the back. You don’t need to go into the house unless you have to use the bathroom.”
She grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. “I’ll cross my legs.”
Why did her attitude make him all hot and squirmy inside? It didn’t make sense. The feeling bordered on attraction, admiration, but the women he liked weren’t hardened and mouthy. They certainly didn’t have a record. He liked women like Molly—though he valued his life too much to ever tell Gabriel that. He wasn’t attracted to Molly herself, but she was his type. Warm and compassionate. Great with kids. Smelled like freshly baked cookies. Usually had tempera paint stains on her fingers. Molly fought her battles with dignity and a quiet pride, not sarcasm and a hint of threatened violence.
But as he led Lacey through the crunchy snow and around the side of the house, he had to fight to keep himself from reaching out for her. Just a little touch, an accidental stroke of his fingertips across the small of her back as he guided her toward the annex.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and balled them into fists, the only way to be sure he wouldn’t do something so insane.
“Tell me more about the train.”
“She was built by Davenport Locomotive Works in 1916. There’s a narrow-gauge railway running from here up the mountain, to where the main NFS ranger station is now. Back then, it was a mining camp. A lot of the trains that ran on the line, including this one, were bought from a railway in Colorado that had gone bust, but they stopped being used when this railroad closed in the Twenties.”
“How big’s her gauge?”
“Thirty inches.”
“Cylinders?”
“Nine by fourteen.” He gave her the answers quickly but calmly. He wasn’t a dummy. He knew when he was being tested. She grunted in begrudging approval.
“How’d you get her?”
“She belongs to the NFS, but she’d just been sitting here for decades because we don’t have the money to pay someone to restore her.”
“So your bosses were waiting for a schmuck to come along and do the work for free.”
He grimaced. “Maybe. But I’m not doing it for them.”
“No.” Her voice softened, something he noticed happened the last time Josh had come up. She stopped right outside the annex door, staring at his chest as if she couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes. “It’s a big job, something most people only do if they’re hardcore train enthusiasts, which I doubt you are. So why are you doing it? Really?”
“I want to help raise money—”
She waved his answer away. “Yeah, I’m sure you do. But uncles don’t go to lengths like this, and especially not step-uncles when the marriage hasn’t even happened yet. This has to have cost you a hell of a lot of your free time, and I’m guessing some money, too. Why not just give them that money for the camp? Why invest so much of your life in this?”
Shit. Her words stroked him deep, finding the dark place where the answer lay. No one had asked him before. Either they already suspected or they figured it was just the kind of thing a guy like him would do. He’d never divulged his reasons, and he wasn’t about to now. “What else am I going to do with my free time?”
Her hard gaze called him on his bullshit, but she didn’t press him. “What’s her name?”
He blinked. “What? I’m not trying to impress a woman, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
She snorted. “I doubt you have problems impressing women. I was talking about the train.”
“Oh. Uh, the Copper Mountain Express .”
“Lame.” She turned and strode into the annex, leaving him outside in the cold with one thing repeating through his brain.
“You doubt I have problems impressing women?”
Her voice rang out from inside. “No doubt whatsoever. We can be incredibly stupid about men.”
Chapter Six
‡
S tupid. So stupid.
Lacey tried to shake the chill from her fingers as she fumbled
She grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. “I’ll cross my legs.”
Why did her attitude make him all hot and squirmy inside? It didn’t make sense. The feeling bordered on attraction, admiration, but the women he liked weren’t hardened and mouthy. They certainly didn’t have a record. He liked women like Molly—though he valued his life too much to ever tell Gabriel that. He wasn’t attracted to Molly herself, but she was his type. Warm and compassionate. Great with kids. Smelled like freshly baked cookies. Usually had tempera paint stains on her fingers. Molly fought her battles with dignity and a quiet pride, not sarcasm and a hint of threatened violence.
But as he led Lacey through the crunchy snow and around the side of the house, he had to fight to keep himself from reaching out for her. Just a little touch, an accidental stroke of his fingertips across the small of her back as he guided her toward the annex.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and balled them into fists, the only way to be sure he wouldn’t do something so insane.
“Tell me more about the train.”
“She was built by Davenport Locomotive Works in 1916. There’s a narrow-gauge railway running from here up the mountain, to where the main NFS ranger station is now. Back then, it was a mining camp. A lot of the trains that ran on the line, including this one, were bought from a railway in Colorado that had gone bust, but they stopped being used when this railroad closed in the Twenties.”
“How big’s her gauge?”
“Thirty inches.”
“Cylinders?”
“Nine by fourteen.” He gave her the answers quickly but calmly. He wasn’t a dummy. He knew when he was being tested. She grunted in begrudging approval.
“How’d you get her?”
“She belongs to the NFS, but she’d just been sitting here for decades because we don’t have the money to pay someone to restore her.”
“So your bosses were waiting for a schmuck to come along and do the work for free.”
He grimaced. “Maybe. But I’m not doing it for them.”
“No.” Her voice softened, something he noticed happened the last time Josh had come up. She stopped right outside the annex door, staring at his chest as if she couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes. “It’s a big job, something most people only do if they’re hardcore train enthusiasts, which I doubt you are. So why are you doing it? Really?”
“I want to help raise money—”
She waved his answer away. “Yeah, I’m sure you do. But uncles don’t go to lengths like this, and especially not step-uncles when the marriage hasn’t even happened yet. This has to have cost you a hell of a lot of your free time, and I’m guessing some money, too. Why not just give them that money for the camp? Why invest so much of your life in this?”
Shit. Her words stroked him deep, finding the dark place where the answer lay. No one had asked him before. Either they already suspected or they figured it was just the kind of thing a guy like him would do. He’d never divulged his reasons, and he wasn’t about to now. “What else am I going to do with my free time?”
Her hard gaze called him on his bullshit, but she didn’t press him. “What’s her name?”
He blinked. “What? I’m not trying to impress a woman, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
She snorted. “I doubt you have problems impressing women. I was talking about the train.”
“Oh. Uh, the Copper Mountain Express .”
“Lame.” She turned and strode into the annex, leaving him outside in the cold with one thing repeating through his brain.
“You doubt I have problems impressing women?”
Her voice rang out from inside. “No doubt whatsoever. We can be incredibly stupid about men.”
Chapter Six
‡
S tupid. So stupid.
Lacey tried to shake the chill from her fingers as she fumbled
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