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

back. “I just didn’t want to disappoint you.”
    “ You can’t as long as you’re yourself. I don’t want you to try to be what you think I want. We’ll both lose if you do that.”
    “ I don’t—
    She stopped herself before she could say what she knew was the truth, but she suspected he ’d already figured it out for himself. She didn’t know who she was.
    “ Tell me.”
    She shook her head. When she looked at Carson she saw so much of what she wanted to have for herself. His confidence in his place in the world, his family and those ties to Marietta and the Paradise Valley. But more than, she saw a man she wanted to be able to claim as her own. But she couldn’t.
    She couldn ’t because she wasn’t really sure what she wanted.
    “ I don’t know who I am.”
    He nodded. “That’s the first honest thing you’ve said to me since you’ve been back.”
    “ I’m scared,” she admitted
    “ Of what?” he asked, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
    For the first time he made her realize that she wasn’t alone.
    “ Marilyn won’t talk to me,” she said. “I… I didn’t come back for dad’s funeral because my life was falling apart but I didn’t want to admit it and now she thinks I’m just a super-bitch.”
    He hugged her close. And then pulled back. “One step at a time. She’s coming to the tree farm on Saturday to collect her tree. Why don’t you show up early and wait for her?”
    That frightened her too but she was done laying her soul bare for this afternoon. “Thanks for the suggestion. I will.”
    “ Good. Now about this painting…”
    They worked together in the living room with Carson painting the walls and Annie doing the trim. She felt the first tingle of something that she wasn’t sure she could define as they worked together, but she liked it. She learned that he loved being a dad and that scared her because Annie and kids didn’t mix. But then she reminded herself of Carson’s advice…one step at a time. That was all she had to do. Slowly work through the holidays and into her new life.
    “ Looks good,” she said, when he was finished. “Thank you for your help. I don’t think I could have hired a better painter in Manhattan.”
    “ Did you do that a lot?” he asked.
    “ Yes. When I first got married I completely gutted our apartment and re-did the entire thing. It took me eighteen months to get it finished.”
    “ Why did you leave it behind?” he asked. “Why not stay there? I’m guessing it was your divorce that drove you back here.”
    She shook her head and took a deep breath. “It was and it wasn’t. My ex-husband was indicted for fraud and I lost everything.”
    “ What kind of fraud?” Carson asked.
    “ A Ponzi scheme that involved a lot of really nice senior citizens. Everything was sold to reimburse them and Davis is in jail now.”
    “ How did that affect you?”
    She didn ’t really want to tell him how stupid she’d felt when she realized what Davis had been doing. She’d trusted him and defended him and the entire time he’d been lying and using her to help further his schemes.
    “ I lost everything too. Everything except this,” she said gesturing at the living room. “And I must thank you again for your help. Now the living room looks cheery.”
    He seemed like he might want to ask her more questions but she was raw and didn ’t want to expose anything else right now. “I hate to rush you along but I’m working the dinner shift tonight and I was planning to stop at the bank and cash my paycheck. I should have done it earlier.”
    But she hadn ’t wanted to risk having too much cash in her purse when she went to the Mercantile. Everyone had their weaknesses when it came to spending and hers was home decoration. She knew she’d have bought all kinds of picture frames and ornaments to decorate the house and she had budgeted to buy gifts for her sister and her family.
    “ I’ll get out of your hair then,” he said, picking