A Christmas Blessing

opposition. The family and all of its complicated antagonisms and hurts would be like an insurmountable wall.
Well, she wouldn’t have it. Maybe what she thought she felt for Luke was wrong. Maybe what he felt for her was some sort of terrible sin. Maybe they were both betraying Erik.
In a perfect world, her marriage would have fulfilled all of her dreams. It would have lasted a lifetime. And no man would ever have come along who was Erik’s equal. She would have dutifully mourned until the end of time.
But her marriage hadn’t worked. Erik had died. And Luke Adams was twice the man Erik had been. That wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t Erik’s. In his own way, Erik had tried to make her happy. He had never realized that she couldn’t be happy as long as he was so obviously miserable with the choices he alone had made for his life.
Nor, though, was the fault Luke’s. Their feelings simply were there. He had done nothing to exploit them.
And she couldn’t believe a benevolent God would have conspired to force her here to have her baby, if something more hadn’t been meant to come of it. If there was one thing Jessie believed in with all her heart, it was fate. Surely God had brought them together not just to forgive, not just to rid themselves of guilt, but to love.
“I will only go to White Pines if you will come with me,” she announced, her chin set stubbornly.
Luke stared at her, an expression of incredulity spreading across his handsome face. His mouth formed a tight line. Disbelief sparked in his eyes. “No way.”
“Then Angela and I are staying.”
“No way,” he repeated more firmly, reaching for the cellular phone that had started them inevitably down this path and now lay forgotten in her lap.
Jessie’s hand closed around it first and before Luke could react, she opened the car door and threw it with all her might. Landing silently, it disappeared slowly, inevitably in a soft drift of snow.
Luke’s shocked gaze followed its path, then returned to her face. His jaw worked. Jessie waited for an explosion of outrage, but instead his lips curved into an unexpected smile. Amusement sparkled in his eyes. He seemed to be choking back laughter.
“The situation is not amusing, Lucas.”
“It’s not the situation, it’s you. I can’t believe you did that,” he said at last.
She glared at him, not entirely sure what to make of this new mood. “Well, believe it.”
“We might not find it till spring.”
“So what?”
“You were the one who mentioned how cruel it was to leave my parents wondering and worrying about you.”
Jessie’s determination faltered ever so slightly. Apparently she was every bit as thoughtless as he was. “The phone lines are bound to be up soon. We’ll call then.”
He regarded her quizzically. “And if there’s an emergency?”
“What kind of emergency?” She couldn’t seem to keep a faint tremor out of her voice.
“The house burning down. The baby getting sick.”
Jessie felt the color drain out of her face. “Oh, my God,” she murmured, clambering out of the pickup. She tumbled into the snow, then struggled back to her feet. Before she could steady herself, Luke was beside her.
“You okay?”
“We have to get that phone.”
He gave her an inscrutable look. “I’ll get it. You go on inside. Despite the charming winter attire you appropriated from me, you’re not really dressed for this weather.”
She eyed him distrustfully. “You’ll bring it inside?”
“Hey, I’m not the one who tried to bury it. I knew exactly where it was in case we really needed it.”
She scowled at him. “Don’t start trying to make yourself into a saint now, Lucas. It’s too late.”
He turned back and, to her astonishment, he winked at her. “It always was, darlin’.”
* * *
Luke retrieved the cellular phone and barely resisted the urge to roll in the snow in an attempt to cool off his overheated body. The effect Jessie had on him was downright shameful. His blood pounded hotly through his veins just getting a glimpse of her. The kiss they had just shared could have set off a wildfire that would consume whole acres of prairie grass.
Damn, why had she been so willing? Why hadn’t she smacked him, put him in his place, blistered him with scathing accusations? The instant he had hauled her into his arms, he’d half-expected the solid whack of her palm across his cheek. When it hadn’t come, he’d dared to deepen the kiss, dared to pretend for just a heartbeat that he had a right to taste her, a right to feel those cool, silky lips heat beneath his, a right to feel her body shuddering with need against his.
The truth of it was, though, that he had no rights at all where Jessie was concerned. Even though she seemed to feel that that kiss had opened up a whole new world for the two of them, he knew better. He knew it had paved the way to hell, destroying good and noble intentions in its path.
He stuck the phone in his pocket and continued on to the barn, where he fed Chester and the horses. Chester nudged his hand away from his pocket, searching for his treat. Instead, there was only the phone.
“Sorry, old guy. I left the house in a hurry. I forgot your apple. I’ll bring two when I come back later.”
The old goat turned a sympathetic look on him, as if he understood the turmoil that had caused Luke to fail him.
“Good grief, even the animals are starting to pity me,” he muttered in disgust and made his way back to the house, where he found Jessie singing happily as she worked at the stove.
The table had been set with the good china. Orange juice had been poured into crystal goblets. The good silver gleamed at each place. Luke eyed it all warily.
“It’s awful fancy for breakfast, don’t you think?”
“We’re celebrating,” she said airily.
He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. It hinted