Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy - Diana Palmer Page 0,82
back in Los Angeles.”
“I haven’t looked out the window for the past couple of days,” she explained. She’d been up frosting cookies until 6:00 A.M. After a three-hour nap, she woke to start the painful wrapping process. She still had about twenty dozen cookies left, but she’d promised Pax he could work off some hours helping the guys around the ranch. Plus, Faith wanted to see her friends, even if it was only for an hour.
Oh, who was she kidding? It was the thought of seeing Noah that had drawn her here. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since their kiss, three long nights ago. When she remembered back to the way he’d held her, and the sweet words he’d whispered as he’d hugged her good night on the porch, her lips tingled.
Even the possibility of a chance encounter was enough to make her giddy. The possibility of a repeat of the other night? That had her mind working double time to process all the neurons simultaneously firing.
The Noah Tucker of her youth had been a regular in her dreams. Noah Tucker the man? He was the dream. The whole package. Forever material. Happily ever after in a Stetson.
He was all of those and more, wrapped into one deliciously toned package set on courting her.
She hadn’t spoken to him since the kiss but when she’d awoken this morning, she’d found a single bunch of mistletoe tied with a red ribbon sitting on her porch. No note. No knock at the door. Just a sweet gift for her to claim at her own pace with no pressure to respond.
Most women might think it odd for a guy to drop off flowers without a note taking credit for the gesture. But to Faith, it was almost more romantic, because a man like Noah didn’t want credit. He wanted to bring a smile to her face on a day that he knew would be taxing.
Faith looked down to find her hands in her purse, her fingers brushing back and forth over the beribboned bundle she’d placed there. A bright warmth flickered to life, lighting her up from the inside.
She was in a bad way when it came to Noah Tucker. “Did he come with you?” Cody asked, and Faith jerked her hand from her purse.
“Ah, no. I haven’t seen him since he brought over the generator.”
Cody rocked back on his heels. “I was talking about Pax. JTs been asking about him all night. But if you were referring to my brother, he made a run to the store. Should be back soon.”
“This is some setup,” Faith said, ignoring his comment about Noah, while silently hoping he’d make it back before she had to leave.
“You know my wife.” Cody popped a bourbon ball into his mouth. “She’s some woman. And she’s been asking for you.”
Cody pointed Faith in the direction of the house before disappearing back into the barn with her container of cookies.
Faith rolled the sleeves of her sweater as she walked across the circular drive toward the yellow and white farmhouse. The air was crisp and bright, and a gentle breeze danced along the tall stacks of wheat in the fields.
It appeared Faith had to exchange greetings with half the town before she even made it to the front porch. She waved back at Logan’s sweet little girl, Sidney, who was practicing her princess wave from her daddy’s shoulders. Mable of Mable’s Corner Market, who was in charge of booth placement, gave her a stern reminder that all baked goods needed to arrive by 9 AM sharp.
“Nine sharp,” Faith assured her. Even gave a salute, which Mable didn’t find funny.
“There’s always one every year who comes meandering in around nine-thirty, looking like they don’t have a care in the world.”
“What happens if someone’s late?” Faith asked, and Mable’s eyes turned into two menacing slits.
“Ask Jessie McClean.”
The name didn’t ring a single bell, and after waiting tables for five years, Faith knew most everyone in town—at least by name. And she couldn’t think of a single family in town with that surname. “Who’s Jessie McClean?”
Mable leaned in, her forehead wrinkling. “Exactly.”
“Good thing I’m always punctual.”
“Smart girl,” the older woman said. “Oh, and tell that brother of yours to stop tracking needles and sap into my store.”
“Are you sure it was Pax?” He hated grocery shopping. Preferred to sit in the car if Faith had to grab something on the way home.