The Maverick's Christmas Secret
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Brenda Harlen
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Prologue
If he wanted to learn about Bobby Stone, he needed to talk to the people who knew him. And wasn’t that the reason he’d come to Bronco in the first place? Even though, almost five months later, Sullivan Grainger still didn’t have any of the answers he sought.
Today, that was going to change.
He paid for his purchase and exited Bean & Biscotti, then stood on the sidewalk, nibbling on a sugar twist and sipping his coffee as he studied the festive window across the street at Sadie’s Holiday House.
The display was set up like a living room decorated for the holidays. At the center was an electric fireplace, the mantel draped with natural evergreen garland with “snow-dusted” pinecones and red berries, and half a dozen assorted stockings. To one side of the fireplace was a red-velvet wing chair and a small table with a brass lamp. A plush white throw embossed with silver snowflakes was draped over the back of the chair and on the table was a pile of books—all with holiday titles. On the opposite side of the fireplace was a Christmas tree, beautifully decorated with colorful lights and ornaments. Brightly wrapped presents were piled beneath it.
A sign on the door counted down the number of days until Christmas—30—and in the short time that it took him to eat his donut and drink his coffee, he watched several shoppers make their way in and out of the store—most of them exiting with more bags than they’d carried when they’d entered. Apparently, the residents of Bronco were almost as big on celebrating the holidays as his mother.
Adoptive mother, he mentally amended.
Though he’d only recently discovered that truth. And while it wasn’t easy to get over the sense of betrayal and let go of the resentment, he was trying.
He tossed his now-empty coffee cup in the garbage can on the sidewalk, crossed the street and pulled open the door of Sadie’s Holiday House.
A musical chime, like the sound of sleigh bells, announced his arrival, though he doubted it was audible to Sadie Chamberlin, the store’s proprietor, over the Christmas music playing.
From the bits and pieces that he’d been able to gather around town, Sadie was the sister of Bobby Stone’s ex-wife. And so Sullivan had decided that she would be a good source for insight about his missing brother.
He passed a man and a woman each carrying a bag stamped with the shop’s logo. He recognized the woman as Brynn Hawkins and the man as one of the many Abernathys who populated Bronco. Garrett, he guessed, since he’d heard talk around town that the eldest of Hutch and Hannah’s sons had been keeping company with the stunning rodeo rider.
Garrett did a double-take as they passed, but Sullivan didn’t pause. He moved purposefully into the shop, toward an attractive young woman with long, wavy blond hair who was tidying a display of nutcrackers.
She looked up at his approach. When she met his eyes, her easy smile slipped and all the color drained from her face. Then she let out a startled cry and crumpled to the ground.
Lunging forward, Sullivan managed to catch her just before she hit the floor.
In the movies, the heroines always seemed to faint slowly, giving the hero plenty of time to swoop in and catch them.
This one had dropped like a bag of rocks.
But she didn’t feel like a bag of rocks, he acknowledged. She was soft and warm, and it had been a long time since he’d had a woman in his arms. This one was really pretty, too. And she smelled good. Like apple cider and gingerbread. Or maybe it was the candles around the shop that smelled of those things.
“Bobby?”
The query came from Garrett, who’d paused at the door.
Sullivan, still holding the shopkeeper, glanced over his shoulder to shake his head. “No. But I understand why you might think that.”
Sadie finally started to stir.
Her eyelids flickered then opened to reveal warm, dark brown eyes. She lifted a hand to touch his cheek. “Bobby? Is it really you?”
“No,” he said again, feeling sincerely regretful that his response was going to disappoint her. “But I guess we really do look the same.”
He heard Garrett murmur something to Brynn, though they were too far away for him to make out the words. And anyway, he had his hands full—literally—with Sadie Chamberlin.
“You and Bobby could be twins,” Sadie responded weakly.
His mouth twisted in a wry smile. “Funny you should say that.”
Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
He intended to tell her everything—or at least as much as he knew—but right now, he had a more immediate concern.
“Should I call 9-1-1?” he asked.
“What?” She blinked. “Why?”
“Because you fainted,” he reminded her.
A tinge of color returned to her cheeks. “I did, didn’t I? I’m so sorry. I’ve never done anything like that before. If anyone had asked, I would have said for certain that I wasn’t the type of woman who fainted. Then again, I’ve never before felt as if I was face-to-face with a ghost.”
“Is that a yes or no about 9-1-1?” he prompted.
“No.” She seemed to realize she was still in his arms and pulled away, rising to her feet and reaching out a hand to steady herself on one of the display cabinets. “I’m fine. Really.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I just...” She lifted her gaze to his again. “It was a shock, that’s all. It’s still a shock,” she admitted. “You just...you look so much like Bobby.”
And Sullivan finally spoke aloud the words he’d kept buried deep in his heart for so long: “Probably because he’s my twin brother.”
