Wrapped Up In Christmas

It was rare for anyone to surprise Maybelle, but the woman looked shocked. “Why in the world would you want to find me?”

He glanced around the table again, looking a little uncomfortable. That surprised Sarah. She doubted much got under this man’s skin. He came across as a guy who had seen a lot during his lifetime.

“Is there perhaps somewhere we could go talk in private, Ms. Smith?”

Four jaws dropped, but not Maybelle’s.

Maybelle arched a brow and gave him a look that had been straightening up naughty Sunday school children for years. “Ms. Smith?”

“The blonde at the door pointed me in this direction. You are Sarah Smith?”

Rosie’s shoe delivered a swift nudge against Sarah’s foot. Sarah knew that any second now, Rosie would be inviting him to join them for ornament making and pointing out Sarah’s ringless finger. With her stomach feeling fluttery, Sarah tucked her feet as far back beneath her chair as they’d comfortably go and attempted to use telepathy to get the woman to hold her tongue.

No doubt fully aware of Rosie’s soccer tryouts beneath the crafting table, Maybelle laughed. “Looks like your ad in the paper worked this time, Sarah, and found you a man, after all.”

Sarah knew where Maybelle’s mind had gone. It wasn’t on help-wanted ads or house repairs. Ugh.

“This one looks as if he can take anything you dish out at him,” Maybelle continued, all innocent-like.

Sarah gave Maybelle her best glare. She hadn’t dished anything out to the other handymen. She’d expected them to do their job. Hamilton House deserved better than a messy, thrown-together restoration.

If she was lucky, this guy could finish the needed remodeling to the downstairs suites and the other repairs she needed to get done prior to her Grand Opening of Hamilton House on Christmas.

“Let’s hope he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty,” Rosie piped up from across the table.

Sarah’s gaze dropped to the stranger’s hands. They did appear capable of anything she might ask of him. Sturdy, slightly calloused, with bluntly cut clean fingernails. Ringless.

Ringless?

Now why in the world had she noticed that? Because of her friends’ earlier suggestions? Or because his blue eyes were fringed with thick lashes and held intelligence and intrigue that made her want to dig deeper? Because his strong chin beneath high cheekbones indicated determination and resolve, while the tiny scar above his left brow hinted he was a man who didn’t back down when things got tough?

She didn’t need to feel Rosie’s shoe nudge hers again to know exactly why she’d noticed his bare finger. Had her friends been nowhere around, she still would’ve noticed the handsome stranger. He wasn’t a man a woman could ignore.

She’d have to be careful not to encourage the Butterflies, or they’d really be playing

Cupid.

Even if she’d been interested in meeting someone—which she wasn’t—a man who had yet to smile wasn’t her type. No matter how handsome he was.

Chapter Two

Bodie hadn’t been surprised when the old man on Main Street had told him he’d find Sarah Smith at church. She’d talked about church in her note. That the stately woman he’d identified wasn’t Sarah did confuse him.

He took in the women at the table, trying to figure out which one was Sarah. All the women were sixty-plus, save one who he’d guess to be in her twenties.

A blue-haired, ruby-red-lipped woman bared her gleaming white dentures in a flirty smile, then waved and batted her lashes at him. Was that Sarah Smith?

“As you can imagine from the ad, Sarah needs a man desperately,” a dyed redhead pointed out.

What kind of ad had Sarah put in the paper?

“You have a resume? Any photos of past jobs so we can see your work?” This came from the woman he’d first thought was Sarah Smith. “Just because she’s desperate doesn’t mean just any man will do.”

“She’s picky,” a petite woman with a grayish white bun and a round face confirmed. Had she not been sitting on the opposite end of the table from where the blond had pointed, he’d have guessed she was Sarah Smith.

“You’ll have to have references,” Blue-hair said, her face overly friendly. “And be affordable.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can compromise on the work. Doing the job right is a must.”