The Texas Christmas Gift (21 page)

“Farther down the page,” Marjorie instructed with her usual zeal. “Next to a photo of someone familiar.”

On the lower half was a picture of Derek beside an impressively long article. Eve read aloud, “‘McCabe Venture Capital funds Tech Wizard, the next big thing in entertainment streaming and information. Expected to outperform everything currently available...’” Eve quickly scanned the remainder of the story. “Wow.” And she thought he was successful now.

“So,” Marjorie continued, business as usual, “you should have no problem selling him another property—or even two—before the end of the year, given the money he had originally budgeted and expected to spend.” Behind her, Eve heard a gleeful, high-pitched shriek, and pivoted to see Tiffany toddling toward her. Her fluffy dark curls smashed to her head and going every which way, her cheeks pink with sleep, she ran toward Eve, arms outstretched. “Mommy!” she yelled with familiar affection. “Mommy!”

Eve heard a gasp on the other end of the connection. “What
is that?” Marjorie pressed. “Or maybe I should say,
who
is that?”

Tiffany grinned at Eve, showing the new tooth that had broken through her gum overnight. She knelt down to hug the child and mugged back at her wordlessly. “Um, a friend,” she told her mom.

“Me!” Tiffany grabbed for the phone. “’Lo!” she squealed into the receiver.

Derek intercepted his daughter, swinging her quickly into his arms with a theatrical effect that made her giggle uproariously. Mouthing
“Sorry!”
to Eve, he handed Tiffany his phone to talk on.

She threw it down. The cell phone bounced as it hit Eve’s thick, luxurious carpeting. “Bottle!” Tiffany yelled. “Me! Bottle!”

Waggling her brows at Derek, Eve pointed to the fridge and stepped away from where he was heading, baby daughter in tow.

“Since when do you pal around people with babies at seven in the morning? Unless...” Marjorie paused thoughtfully “...you had an overnight guest?”

Unwilling to respond to that, Eve flushed. Her mother would approve of her using everything she had to leverage a sale with Derek. She would not, however, approve of her sleeping with him.

Eve turned and made her way toward her bedroom. A look at the rumpled covers only brought back more memories. Of how it had felt to sleep, fully clothed, wrapped in his arms. She turned toward the living room, only to be reminded of all they had done before they’d headed off to sleep. With her body tingling erotically, she shoved a hand through her tousled hair. “Mom, I have to go.”

“Are you still going to Laramie today to look at property with Derek McCabe?”

“Yes.” Eve swallowed, trying to get a hold of herself, to sound at least vaguely normal. “But if you need me here, Mom...”

“I need you to make a big sale, Eve. Enough to put us in the lead of the sales race again.”

Eve glanced again at the front page of the business section and the stories on her family’s business versus Derek’s. There was no doubt whose money-generating venture was going better. No doubt about who juggled work and family more effectively.

“I know you can get emotional about property, and the needs and wants of the people buying it, but there’s no time for that. Promise me you’ll pull this off for us,” Marjorie insisted.

Eve rubbed her temples. If her mother wasn’t currently recovering from a heart attack, they’d be having a different conversation. One a lot more frank, about Eve’s need to start separating her professional life from her personal one, her need to have her own life. Before Derek and Tiffany had come into her world, Eve realized, she hadn’t done anything but work, and worry about work. In retrospect, it was not a satisfying way to live.

As much as she wanted to please her mother, Eve didn’t want to lose what precious little balance she had already found. “I’ll do my best to see that Derek and his little girl get what they need today, Mom,” she promised.

Picking up on Eve’s reluctance, Marjorie sighed. “I’m sorry I’m pushing, but to see everything we’ve all worked so hard for this year end on a whimper instead of a bang... It’s disheartening.”

What an apt phrase, Eve thought. “I know, Mom. I wish...” What did she wish? That she’d already sold all three properties and put them firmly in the lead for the year? Or that she didn’t have to worry so much about whether she was ambitious enough to please her mom, and could instead concentrate on trying to make some sort of satisfying home life for herself that included more than just the two of them? There was a choked sound on the other end of the connection. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry,” her mother said abruptly. “Forget all that.” Sounding more like the new and improved, post-heart attack Marjorie than the previous go-getter, she continued emotionally, “It’s you I care about, Eve. And your happiness.”

“I know, Mom,” she said.

She knew her mother was struggling to find balance in her life, too. To do what she needed for her health, and yet not neglect the business she’d spent her life building.

Still, old habits died hard. And Eve felt the weight of her mother’s expectations like an anchor around her neck.

When she ended the call, Derek was watching her.

He was clad in low-slung pajama pants, and nothing else. With the shadow of a beard on his face, his hair rumpled, his eyes intent, his daughter still cradled in his arms, he was sexy as all get-out. Their eyes met. Her heart took a little leap, and deep within her, desire built.

“Everything okay?” His tone was a seductive rumble. Caring. Protective.

Eve didn’t want to talk about anything that would ruin what they had shared the evening before. “You’re famous!” She pointed to the business section of the paper.

Derek ignored his own photo and what for him was old news. He frowned. “Sorry about that.” He tapped the Sibley & Smith story. “But as they say, it’s not over till it’s over. And there are still eleven days left in the year.”

Yes, there were. And Eve didn’t want to talk about that, either. Fearing the end of Christmas would mean the end of their romance, she walked past him into the kitchen. “What do the two of you want for breakfast?”

He set Tiffany down on the floor. She toddled toward the small carryall of toys they’d brought with them, and sat down happily to play.

Derek followed Eve around the other side of the breakfast bar that divided the two rooms. He moved the curtain of her hair and nuzzled her neck just below her ear. “How about something soft and hot....” he whispered, conjuring up images of what they’d done the night before.

Eve turned, poker-faced. “Cream of Wheat?”

He laughed, seemingly content to wait until the right time to put the moves on her again. Playfully, she tapped a finger to her chin. “Or oatmeal?”

He gave her another look that let her know she wasn’t going to be able to resist him if he was around for long, and it appeared he intended to be around for quite a while.

Eve swallowed, beginning to feel overwhelmed again. “Seriously...”

He looked in her fridge, saw the loaf of bread, butter, eggs and jam. Then turned back to her, obviously ready and willing to do whatever it took to make her feel better. “How about,” he drawled sexily, “you let me make breakfast?”

And he could cook, too. Really, Eve thought with a wistful sigh, what was
not
to love about this man?

* * *

“
S
O WHAT’D YOU
think of the Double H ranch, now that you’ve had a chance to see it again?” Josie McCabe asked Derek when they got back from their tour of the property.

Derek grinned at his mom. “Same as I recall.”

“Another fixer-upper?” his brother Colt teased, referring to the broken-down house and barns that, thanks to the family who owned it and didn’t reside there, hadn’t seen much in the way of upkeep in many a year.

Derek grinned at him, too, as recklessly sentimental as ever when it came to choosing real estate. “I prefer to think of it as in need of some tender loving care.”

“What’d you think, Eve?” Wade asked.

“It’s very picturesque,” she said sincerely. The five-thousand-acre ranch seemed to have everything, from tree-lined streams and rocky bluffs to flat, sagebrush-dotted plains.

“Not to mention remote,” Derek’s older brother, Grady, remarked.

Josie scowled. “Well, anything in Laramie County fits that description.”

Derek agreed with his mom. “Nothing wrong with remote,” he drawled.

“Unless you’ve lived your whole life in a big city like Dallas,” Grady said, with a brief, telling look at Eve. “Then it can seem like wilderness.”

No kidding, Eve thought. During the three-and-a-half-hour drive to Laramie County, there had been long stretches of highway without a gas station or town to be found. Never mind any cell phone reception, which had made responding to work emails and client texts challenging, to say the least.

“Well, I for one will be happy to have you-all close again, at least part of the time,” Josie said, hugging first Derek, then her granddaughter. She held her arms wide and embraced Eve warmly. “You, too, hon.” They drew apart. “In the meantime, we better do something about dinner.”

A mixture of laughs and groans immediately followed. Josie took the good-natured ribbing about her culinary talents in stride. Apparently, Eve noted, being in the kitchen was one of Josie McCabe’s least favorite things. Hence, she was happy to turn the cooking over to others. “Mom, you’re in charge of the three grandkids,” Derek declared.

Josie winked at him. “As long as you and Colt stay to help corral them.”

Wade headed for the flagstone patio. “I’ll fire up the grill.”

“We’ll help you.” Grady, Justin and Rand followed their dad.

Amanda, Alexis and Shelley—the three women who had married into the family—headed for the kitchen. “Not to worry, Josie. We’ll take care of everything in here.” Wanting to be of some help, Eve followed suit.

The kitchen, like everything else in the sprawling ranch house, was designed for a big family. There were two Sub-Zero refrigerators, two dishwashers, two sinks, a wide kitchen island that spanned the length of the long room and an abundance of windows to look out, and counters on which to work.

In short order, vegetables were brought out to be cleaned and cooked, fruits peeled and sliced, the meats seasoned and prepared for the grill.

Finally, enough prep work had been done to allow a respite. A round of long-necked bottles of Texas-brewed beer was opened and passed out. Conversation ensued about people and places Eve knew nothing about. Not sure where she fit in, or
if
she fit in, she hung back.

Noticing her unease, the six-foot-tall Amanda came over to give her a comforting hug. “Hey. No need to be panicked here. We’re all friends.”

Eve could see that.

Alexis stopped what she was doing and came over to give Eve’s hand a squeeze.

Shelley comforted her with a smile. “The three of us are all only children. I grew up here and dated Colt when we were teens, so I already knew his family. It didn’t matter how nice they were to me. They intimidated me for years—until I let them in.”

Amanda nodded in agreement. “I got to know Justin and his dad when I was working on the boys’ ranch that Justin founded. They made me feel like family from the outset, but I was still intimidated the first time I came to Josie and Wade’s ranch to be with everyone.”

“Me, too,” Alexis recounted with a shake of her head. “As much as Grady tried to prepare me, I was still overwhelmed my first visit here when I saw everyone together.”

So it wasn’t just her, Eve thought.

She wondered why it didn’t help to know that.

“It will get better with time,” Amanda soothed, with the knowledge of a woman who had been there, and not only survived, but thrived. “Just relax and soak it all in.”

Amazed, and a little disconcerted by how quickly they had accepted her into the tribe and made her feel like part of the family, Eve hugged each of the three women in turn.

Yet as much as she wanted to, she knew she couldn’t get used to this, or in any way take it for granted. It didn’t matter how much she longed to step into such a Texas-style perfect life. Or how much Derek and his family seemed to want it all to be a done deal.

It was much too soon for that.

* * *

T
HE REST OF
the weekend passed quickly. Derek wasn’t surprised to see Eve getting along well with his family. They were, perhaps, more alike than she knew. He also realized that something was bothering her, and had been since they’d looked at the rural property the previous day. Wanting to talk to her about it without interruption, however, he waited until he had dropped Tiffany at Carleen’s house and taken Eve back to hers.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” he said, carrying her suitcase into her condo. Except for the phone call she’d made to her mother en route, she hadn’t spoken much on the drive back to Dallas, and instead had contented herself watching the scenery and listening to Christmas carols on the car stereo.

Eve gave him a wan smile. There was a sadness in her eyes he didn’t like. “I was trying to figure out how to talk to you about the Double H ranch.”

Derek took off his coat and sat down on the sofa. “I’m listening.”

Instead of taking the seat beside him, Eve settled into an armchair opposite. “You also know I’m not the kind of Realtor who is all about the commissions.”

Derek got serious, too. “You like to match the right property with the right person.”

Eve affirmed this with a decisive nod. “I know what your financial goals are, in terms of investing in real estate before the end of the year. There is still time for them to be met.”

Derek braced himself for the bad news sure to come. “Are you trying to say you didn’t like the ranch I showed you?” he asked, searching her eyes. “Because if that’s the case, we can go back to Laramie County, keep looking.”

Her soft lips took on a grim line. “I don’t think you understand, Derek. My likes and my dislikes don’t enter into this transaction.”

What was she talking about? “Of course they do!”

“Not in the way you seem to be thinking,” she countered in a tight, controlled voice.