Lone Star Holiday Proposal

And then there was his manner with JJ. Even at the store, on the first day she’d met him, he’d been so good with her little boy—so understanding after the disaster with the ice cream. Nolan was an out-and-out gentleman, there was no denying it. And he treated her like a lady. Going out on a date with him would be something special. Suddenly Raina was swamped with regret that she’d said no to his invitation. She shifted in the bed again and thumped her pillow into shape. If only she could as easily reshape her life, she thought as she settled back down.

Nolan was the last thing on her mind as she drifted off to sleep. Nolan, and the knowledge that the next time he asked her out, if he asked her out again, she might even say yes. After all, what harm could it do?

Five

Nolan walked back to his hotel rather than grab a cab. He was filled with an energy that demanded release—although walking wasn’t the first activity that sprang to his mind. No, his mind was filled with the image of a certain dark-haired, blue-eyed storekeeper who had somehow inveigled her way into his thoughts and lodged there like a burr under a saddle.

He could still see the flare of awareness that had dilated her pupils when they’d touched only a short while ago. Hell, he could still feel it within himself. The only other person he’d ever felt that way about had been Carole. The reminder was a daunting one, and it should serve as a reminder that Raina Patterson was not the kind of woman he needed in his life. He’d been there and done that. He’d lived and loved within a perfect marriage with his perfect woman and they’d had the perfect little family—until it all fell apart.

Nolan went to step off the curb and was jolted into awareness by the blast of a car horn. Damn, he needed to keep his wits about him and Raina had managed to scatter said wits to the four corners of the earth. She was definitely not what he was looking for. He didn’t even know why he’d asked her out, except that, for all his mental flagellation, deep down he still wanted her.

He nodded to the doorman as he entered the hotel and headed for the elevators. The sounds of music, conversation and laughter echoed across the marble-floored lobby from inside the hotel bar, catching his interest. He looked at his watch. It certainly wasn’t too early to return to his suite but he was sick of his own company right now. Perhaps a distraction could be found elsewhere—one that would hopefully erase or at least dull the throb of desire Raina had left him with.

At the bar he ordered a brandy. It wasn’t long before he had company. A blonde woman took the stool next to his and cast him a smile. He reacted in kind automatically and waited for the flicker of heat that usually signified an initial burst of interest. As they embarked on conversation there was no mistaking her interest in him, and yet he couldn’t seem to kindle an answering response in himself.

Instead, before he’d even finished his brandy, Nolan excused himself and went up to his suite. And as he lay staring at the dark sky through his open bedroom windows over an hour later, he wondered if sleep was as distant for Raina as it was for him. He forced his eyes closed, but even then all he could see were still shots of her beautiful face—sometimes smiling, sometimes pensive.

Nolan reached into his memory for the sense of loss he’d carried with him since losing Bennett and Carole, but it was further away than it had been before. Instead, he found his thoughts drawn to another woman, one whose gentle personality and sensual warmth somehow had begun to fill a hole inside him he didn’t even want to acknowledge that he had.

* * *

It was late when Nolan finally rose the next morning. As he shaved, he considered his next step. He’d always prided himself on being a man of action. It was what had gotten him through the bleak empty horror of the death of his son soon followed by that of his beloved wife. And if something was worth doing, it was worth doing well. He also had never been one to take no for an answer.

As soon as he’d finished getting ready and had enjoyed a late breakfast in the coffee shop next door to the hotel, he was in his rental and heading out to the Courtyard. He didn’t even bother trying to mentally dress this visit up as being in the course of his work.

Fact-finding mission be damned. He’d had a niggling feeling that Raina was merely going through the motions when she’d turned down his invitation to a date yesterday. The words had fallen all too easily from those sexy lips of hers. As if she’d trotted the phrases out often enough for them to become automatic. That left him with two options. The first was to find out if she really meant what she said and the second, to discover what it was that she’d left unsaid.