Sweet Christmas Kisses (80 page)

Twisting out of his arms, she proclaimed, “Cole, I’m sorry. I can’t do that…not with you. I’m not ready.”

“Relax, Harper. I’m not coming on to you.”

Her face burned with embarrassment. “Then why did you do that?”

An expression of satisfaction showed in his eyes. “I was showing you how to look strong and confident in front of Jeffrey, instead of—now this is your word—pathetic.”

She looked at him quizzically. “What am I missing here?”

He flashed her a lopsided grin. “You’re going to pretend I’m your boyfriend.”

She was caught off guard by that. “That’s insane. He’d never fall for that.”

“He will if we make it believable.”

The way Cole looked at her made her heart pound. “So what are we going to do, kiss in front of him?”

“We just might. If the occasion calls for it.” He sprawled onto the couch with his long legs stretched out in front of him. “Let me handle this. When I’m done, Jeffrey will have no doubt that you don’t give a darn about him.”

His confidence almost made her believe him. But not quite. “I don’t know, Cole.”

“Come on.” He took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “Let’s go skating.”

“Okay. Okay.”

He looked at his watch. “You have ten minutes to get ready. So get a move on.”

Harper rolled her suitcase into the bedroom, then closed the door, leaning up against the back of it. Would she be able to pull this off, pretending to be Cole’s girlfriend? She was a terrible actress. Most likely, Jeffrey would see right through her, and she’d wind up looking even more pathetic. But what choice did she have? She couldn’t go home now and ruin Cole’s Christmas. After all, he’d been nice enough to come here with her so she wouldn’t have wasted all that money, and she could tell he was really looking forward to the activities they’d chosen. How could she disappoint him? But the charade he suggested might backfire in her face, and what then?

She remembered the feel of Cole’s mouth on hers, his lips igniting a fire in her she hadn’t felt in years. That sure never happened when Jeffrey kissed her. Just another indication that her relationship with him had been wrong. So then why carry out this charade? Why couldn’t she just put the past in the past and move on? Because her pride had been hurt, that was why. And what Cole had suggested just might repair it. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. Besides, if she went home now, what would she do for Christmas? Sit home alone, moping. No, she’d stay here and act her part. Her only fear was that her heart might deceive her. What if all those old feelings for Cole came rushing back? What then? She could wind up worse off than she was now. She could wind up with a broken heart.

Harper squeezed her eyes shut and made a promise to herself that she wouldn’t let that happen. She could pretend to be Cole’s girlfriend without kissing him and opening the door to feelings she’d repressed for years. That thought made her feel a little better.

She opened her suitcase, took out the white down jacket, then pulled out a pair of black leggings and a cream cowl-neck sweater. She quickly changed her clothes, checked her hair and makeup in the bathroom mirror, then picked up her jacket and walked back into the living room to face Cole.

“I’m ready when you are,” she said brightly.

He was standing in front of the French doors watching the skiers come down the mountain. He turned to face her when she spoke. “Let’s go, then.” He grabbed his coat that was draped over the back of a chair, while she slipped on her down jacket, then they headed out the door together.

The lodge was swarming with people. A little girl who couldn’t be more than five or six scooted in front of her. She was being chased by a boy maybe a few years older, whom Harper assumed was her brother because he had the same carrot-colored hair. A few feet back, dragging two sleds, were a man and woman. The man called out to them, “Kids, slow down. Don’t run into people.”

Harper smiled at the scene before her. This was totally different from her usual quiet holiday. Even growing up, there hadn’t been much of a celebration. Being an only child, she’d had to amuse herself. And things got even lonelier when her parents moved to Florida a few years back. She hated planes, and her parents hated the cold, so that made visiting over Christmas out of the question. At least this year, she’d be surrounded by happy, joyful people. She was beginning to be really glad she decided to stay.

They made their way through the crowd, and once outside, they headed for the pro shop to rent some skates. There was quite a line of people, and she scanned it, hoping Jeffrey wasn’t among them. Relieved that there was no sign of him, Harper let herself relax. She was looking forward to this. She hadn’t skated in years, but she used to be really good at it. She was confident once on the ice it would all come back to her.

After they had their skates, they followed a group of people over to the lake they’d seen through the lobby’s huge glass windows while having lunch. With a little yip of joy, she glided onto the ice, and, just as she’d hoped, she steadily made her way around the lake. Cole wasn’t a bad skater either. But then she wasn’t surprised by that. He was a superb athlete, and she couldn’t think of anything to do with sports that he didn’t excel at.

They skated together a few times around the lake. Feeling more confident now, Harper took off ahead of Cole. As she gathered more speed, she decided to try a little jump. “Watch this,” she called back to him. She glided through the air with ease, landing gracefully.

Cole caught up with her, a wide smile spread across his handsome face. “I didn’t know you could do that. I’m impressed.”

“If you liked that, check this out.” She laughed, then took off again, making her way past a group of teenagers to a less crowded section of the lake. Once there, she skated around a few times, getting a feel for the ice, then she began a spin, picking up speed with each revolution and tucking her arms in tighter against her body. The wind blew across her face as she spun, and she felt free for the first time in a long time. Free from past fears that had held her hostage. But then something caught the toe of her boot, and she went down. Luckily, she landed on her butt.

Cole raced over to her, lines of worry creasing his face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, where I hit, I have plenty of padding.” She chuckled.

“Here.” He held out his hand. “Let me help you up.”

As she reached out to him, she caught sight of Jeffrey and his new girlfriend heading their way. Instead of letting Cole pull her up, she yanked him down.

“What the heck. Why did you do that?” he snapped, obviously not happy to be sprawled out on the ice too.

“Look!” she cried and pointed to Jeffrey.

Cole glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Harper. You’ve got to stop this craziness with Jeffrey.” He got onto his knees, then stood. “Wanna try that again? Only this time, you better get up, or you’ll have more to worry about than Jeffrey.”

She followed his gaze to the skaters rapidly coming their way. And by the way those kids were goofing around, she could very well wind up getting run over. This time she took Cole’s outstretched hand and let him pull her up. “Sorry about that, I—” Before she could finish her sentence, Cole pressed her against his chest. “What are you doing?”

He hugged her tighter and whispered against her hair, “Just go with this.”

From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Jeffrey’s russet sweater, then heard his raspy voice say, “Harper, is that you?”

She took a deep breath, then slowly let it out before turning her head enough to get a full look at him and the voluptuous brunette hanging on his arm. “What a surprise meeting you here.”

“Indeed. I didn’t think you liked winter much, let alone the snow.”

“Goes to show, you really didn’t know much about me. Maybe if you weren’t so self-centered—” Cole pressed his hand hard against her back. “Never mind,” she said, getting his hint, “that’s in the past. As you can see, I’ve moved on.”

To her surprise, Jeffrey showed no reaction. He simply said, “As have I.”

Irked by his aloof manner, she snapped, “And, apparently, you did that before we’d even broken up.”

Cole draped one arm across her shoulders and with the other, reached out to shake Jeffrey’s hand. “Nice to see you again.”

Jeffrey hesitated, looking from Harper to Cole before taking Cole’s outstretched hand, making Harper wonder if Jeffrey might be feeling a tinge of jealousy after all. And why not? Cole was extremely handsome. But Jeffrey had always been an expert at hiding his true feelings, so there was no way for her to know for sure what he felt.

Jeffrey turned to his date, who’d been sizing up Harper with catlike green eyes narrowed to slits. “This is Sabrina.” His tone had a degree of warmth that irritated Harper.

“Hello,” Sabrina replied coolly, then she squeezed Jeffrey’s arm. “Sweetie, I’m getting cold just standing here. Ready to go?”

“I’m sure we’ll see each other around.” Jeffrey gazed directly at Harper before taking Sabrina’s hand and skating away.

That look, along with the low, smooth timbre to his voice, sent a shiver down Harper’s spine.

“What a charming couple,” Cole said with heavy sarcasm.

“Yeah, aren’t they.” Harper scowled as she watched them leave the ice and head toward the lodge. “Actually, I’m pretty cold too. Let’s go inside.”

“How about we grab a drink and sit by the fire?”

“Maybe later. I think I’m just gonna go back to the suite and take a hot bath.” Seeing Jeffrey had really put a damper on her mood, and she just wanted to have some time alone to sort out her feelings.

Cole shrugged. “Whatever you want. I’m going to get a drink. I’ll be at the bar.”

She offered him a tight-lipped smile. “Okay. I’ll come find you in a little bit.”

They walked in silence back to the pro shop to return their skates. After that, they parted ways in the lodge. Harper watched Cole disappear into the crowd that was gathered in front of the lounge. She hoped he wasn’t annoyed with her, but she wouldn’t be good company right now anyway.

As she headed toward the suite, a war of emotions raged through her. Seeing Jeffrey with another woman stung. Not because she was still in love with him, as Cole probably assumed, but because she felt like a fool. How had she not known their relationship was in trouble? Or that he was seeing someone else? Wasn’t a woman supposed to sense those things? Maybe that was just a myth. Either way, she blamed herself. It wasn’t like her to explode like she had on the ice, but her emotions had raged like a bull charging a red cape.

Memories of the night Jeffrey had broken up with her had come flooding back. She’d seen his face, the way he’d looked at her then, empty of emotion. Not a trace of love or empathy had been in his eyes. They’d been cold and hard, like he was about to end an unpleasant business arrangement. She’d thought he’d behaved like that because he’d put up a wall. He did that when things were difficult for him. But maybe breaking up with her hadn’t been hard for him, rather simply distasteful. Something he just wanted to get over with so that he could move on with Sabrina.

On the ice, she’d wanted to tell Jeffrey what she thought of him, but what good would that have done? It would have created a scene and nothing else. Thankfully, Cole had cut in to stop her before she wound up embarrassing herself even more.

As she thought of Cole, she became more confused than ever. His behavior today surprised her. He appeared nothing like the wild young boy she’d known growing up. He seemed genuinely caring and compassionate. And when he held her on the ice, bolts of electricity had shot through her. She needed to be careful, or she could wind up falling for the wrong man again. The few hours they’d spent together were too soon to say whether he’d changed. And due to her past history with men, she was going to withhold judgment on him for a long time.

****

Cole found a spot at the bar and ordered a beer. Harper had a real knack for getting under his skin. They’d had such a great time skating, until Jeffrey arrived, that was. Then her personality shifted to testy and withdrawn. He understood how hurt she’d been by the creep, and to see him with another woman had to really stick the knife in even deeper, but enough was enough. He wished she would let go of the past. However, he didn’t know if she was capable of that. Why look at their relationship? Things between them had never been the same since that roller coaster ride over a decade ago. And he was kicking himself for feeling something other than friendship when he’d kissed her earlier, and again when he held her out on the ice. He knew better than to let himself go down that road, but she’d made him go weak in the knees. When he suggested they should pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend, he thought for sure he could handle that. What he hadn’t taken into account was what holding and kissing her would do to him.

The bartender set a beer down in front of him, and he took a good long drink. A few minutes later, a cute redhead with freckles sprinkled across her small upturned nose sat down next to him.

She ordered a glass of wine, then turned to him and said, “This your first time at Green Mountain?”

Cole shook his head. “No, but I haven’t been here in years. I forgot how nice it is.”

“Yeah, it’s a great place. I come here every Christmas with my family. You here with yours?”

Cole took a sip of his beer. “No.”

“Maybe we could meet up sometime later.”

Before he could answer, a group of people surrounded her. “Hey, come on,” one of them said. “We’ve got a table over in the corner.”

The bartender handed her the glass of wine she’d ordered. “Put it on my tab. We’re over there.” She pointed to the far end of the room. “Sorry,” she said to Cole. “I’m Christina, by the way. Maybe I’ll catch you later.” She grabbed her glass and took off with her family.

Cole stayed about another thirty minutes, just long enough to finish his beer and watch the end of an old Bing Crosby movie that was playing on the flat screen above the bar, then he headed to the suite to see how Harper was doing. If they hurried, they could grab a quick bite to eat at the buffet that was set up in the great room and still make the sleigh ride.