Read A Cowboy For Christmas (A Copper Mountain Christmas) for Free Online Page A

breeze that blew her back into his life.
    She wrapped one arm around her waist, her gray eyes frosty as the snow covered ground, but lonely too. “I guess I am. What would it take for you to stay?”
    Honestly if she asked him he ’d stay. And that made him feel sad because he had hoped after all the years he’d be stronger where she was concerned. He was still sort of mad at her and a part of him wished—really wished—he could use her, make her feel something for him and walk away. Because then maybe she’d know what she’d done to him.
    But there was a better chance of it reaching eighty degrees on Christmas day than that ever happening. Because he couldn’t be around her and not fall a little under her spell.
    “ Ask me,” he said at last.
    “ Please stay.”
    He nodded, turned around, and walked back into her house, picking up the paint roller he ’d left by the door on his way. He was damned glad his brothers weren’t here to witness this because they’d call him a stupid fool.
    Her house smelled like Christmas and he attributed it to the pine garland she had draped over the table in the hallway and on her mantel in the living room. But he knew it was more than that.
    It was December and he was dreaming like he always did of a holiday miracle. The kind that his mom used to read to them about when they were little. She’d covered the furniture with drop cloths.
    “ Looks like you’ve been busy.”
    “ I needed it,” she said. “I’ve had too much on my mind.”
    “ Like?” he asked, inviting her to be real with him but assuming she wouldn’t be.
    “ You. This place,” she said. “I don’t get why I can’t ever manage to be happy.”
    He leaned the paint roller against the wall and took off his hat and jacket, placing them over the back of the arm chair in the middle of the room. Her dog lay on a big blanket next to the empty fireplace.
    “ Only you can answer that,” he said. “But I’ll tell you what I learned when Rainey died. You can’t keep looking back and wishing for things to change.”
    She nodded. “I guess that was hard for you.”
    “ You have no idea,” he said. He knew she figured he was talking about losing his wife and that had been hard. But lately he’d been wondering what might-have-been if he’d been willing to leave with Annie.
    And that had bad idea written all over it. “I’ll get this room done if you want to work on something else.”
    “ Need me out of your hair?” she asked.
    “ Something like that,” he said, knowing he didn’t need the distraction of Annie and the dreams she made him think might come true.
     

     
    She had that wild out-of-control feeling that she got just before she did something stupid and she couldn ’t help herself. But she walked over to Carson and leaned up to kiss him. He was a good guy. He always had been and she’d always felt just a little bit broken.
    He sighed opening his mouth and she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close. She stood there as the warmth of the embrace engulfed her. He pulled his head from hers and cursed under his breath before bringing his mouth back down on hers. The embrace wasn’t gentle. His anger was palpable and so was his desire. He put his hands on her hips, drawing her closer.
    She opened her eyes and looked up at him. Her heart beat faster and deep inside where she’d been cold for so long, a spark was ignited as she saw the flush on his face and his half-closed eyes.
    With Carson there were no games and she knew if she wanted a chance at kissing him again she had to be honest. But her old instincts were kicking into gear. She started to moan because Davis had liked it when she made noise when they kissed and almost as soon as she did it, she knew she’d screwed up.
    He pulled back and looked down at her.
    “What the hell was that?”
    “ I was…I’m sorry.”
    “ You can’t even be honest when you kiss me?” he asked. “What are you hiding?”
    She shrugged and pulled