A Soldier for Christmas by Jillian Hart Read Free Book Online Page A

you’re good to go.” She took another backward step to the door. “Bye, Mitch.”
    “Wait.” As if he was going to let her escape. She was wrong, his mission wasn’t close to being completed. Mitch scribbled his signature on the slip the shop owner slid toward him. “Kelly, don’t run off on me.”
    “I’ve got to study.”
    “Flimsy excuse.” Done, he dropped the pen but Kelly was already heaving open the old-fashioned wood-frame door. The cowbell over the door clanked as she tried to evade him.
    Emotion struck him hard in the chest, and he remembered the fear he’d seen in her eyes. “Ma’am, could you wrap this for me? I’ll be back.”
    He hardly registered the owner’s agreement; he was already out the door and into the blinding burn of daylight. He turned toward Kelly instinctively, as if he could feel the tug of her spirit against his.
    She’d gained some distance on him, he had to give her that. She speed-walked in those purple sandals as efficiently as if they were cross-trainers. The hem of her pretty dress swirled around her slender knees, and her long honey-blond hair swung with her gait, like lustrous liquid gold.
    Yeah, she was in definite retreat. What had scared her? He puzzled over that as he bounded after her, cutting around a couple holding hands. She had that strict no-dating outlook on things. Was she bolting because he’d gotten too close? What he needed to know was what had happened with Joe. Otherwise, she was going to run off and he’d never see her again.
    Maybe that was as it should be. Maybe it would be best just to let her go. His chest tightened. The tenderness and confused emotions inside him tangled up into an unbreakable knot.
    What he did was dangerous. There was no denying it. He’d learned the value of making sure to start each day without regrets. To leave nothing unfinished.
    If he let her go, he’d regret it. No doubt about that.
    So he continued after her. He could have closed his eyes and found her by heart and by the cadence of her gait. In the reflection of a coffee-shop window he could see her profile, her soft mouth downturned, her chin set with determination. Then her slim shoulders tensed more as if she, too, sensed him behind her. She kept going.
    There was a clue, but did he get the hint? No. He kept going. “Kelly? Did I do something wrong?”
    “No, you didn’t do anything.” She spun with a swirl of cotton, stark pain clouding her eyes. “I really do have to study.”
    “Yeah, but you’re running scared, I think. And I want to know why.” He towered over her like a bear. “Do I scare you?”
    She swiped at a shock of blond hair that fell across her eyes, tucking it delicately behind her ear. He knew she was biding time, trying to think of the right answer—one that was still the truth but not the whole truth, either. She wanted to hold that back, the real reason she was afraid. Maybe because it was too personal or too painful.
    But if he wanted to have a chance of seeing her again, then he had to know. He folded his arms over his chest and waited.
    She stared long and hard down at the crack in the sidewalk between them. “I know you said you wouldn’t mind having a friend, but this doesn’t feel like friendship. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. But there’s something—”
    He knew exactly what she meant. It should be a relief that she felt this, too. It wasn’t one-sided. But the tangled mess of emotions in his chest clamped tight enough to make him wince. “You know what we can do? Let’s find a place to sit down, have lunch and figure this out.”
    “Figure what out? I don’t want to figure anything out.”
    “Running away from this isn’t going to make it go away. Or keep it from happening the next time we get together.”
    “The next time?”
    “See? That’s something else we can talk about. There’s a taco place right behind you. How about it?”
    “No way am I going to let you turn this into a date, Mr. Dalton.”