Home For Christmas (A Copper Mountain Christmas) by Melissa Mcclone Read Free Book Online Page B

sound. Down the street in front of the bank, a woman dressed in red and wearing a Santa's hat shook a bell in front of a charity's collection bucket.
    "I'm so out of my element." Rachel didn't mean the winter weather. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this."
    "Come on." Nate wore a black wool coat over his button down shirt and slacks. He'd left his cowboy hat in the truck, but the gingerbread creations he held in a box looked out of place. "You thought canvassing businesses was a great idea yesterday."
    "I did." On their drive back from Bozeman, he'd shared his idea. Giving businesses gingerbread replicas of their storefronts in return for them displaying her order forms had sounded brilliant at the time. She'd spent the evening baking and this morning perfecting each miniature shop, but now the prospect of rejection made her nerves as taut as wire cutters. She loosened her grip on the folder and wiggled her fingers. "I wasn't thinking straight. I was caught up in a flurry of excitement."
    The wicked gleam in his eyes sent a shiver shooting through her. He cocked a brow. "I excited you."
    Yes, but Rachel would die before she admitted that. She'd been trying to take Ty's advice to heart and let Nate help her. Yesterday afternoon, that had worked.
    Talking during the drive, shopping at the warehouse, every minute she'd spent with him yesterday had been exhilarating. She'd never shopped with a man who wasn't family or a cook. Had no idea that mundane activities like loading bags of flour and sugar onto a cart and chatting in the checkout line could feel so much like a date.
    She must have misread his intentions, her chronic problem tripping her up again. Because Nate's raised eyebrow suggested he was joking around with her, making fun of her or trying to annoy her. Maybe all three. Like a friend of her brother's. She gave him a drop-it-now look. "I'm talking about buying supplies."
    He staggered back. "And here I thought I was more than your driver and baggage carrier."
    "Don't forget cart pusher," she teased.
    "I need to push you right through the diner's door."
    His lighthearted tone told Rachel he was kidding, but the courage she'd mustered on the drive from the Bar V5 to Marietta had shriveled like a rotten grape, leaving her insides trembling. Her stomach churned, clenched, and churned again.
    "I don't think I can do this." Her voice sounded breathy, barely above a whisper.
    "Why not?"
    Her feet felt glued to the pavement. The queasiness in her tummy intensified with each passing second.
    "I…" She stared inside the diner. Customers sat at tables, eating and drinking and laughing. A waitress dressed in black carried plates full of food. A dark blonde in a long, patterned skirt and black sweater answered the phone. Nothing strange or out of the ordinary as far as restaurants went. But a spider web of apprehension made Rachel feel like the diner's entrance led to the underworld of doom. "I'm a baker. I don't have a head for business. It's one thing to push sweets and treats when I'm standing behind the counter, but to go in and do a hard sell…"
    Nate shifted the box to one hand then touched her shoulder, a comforting gestures, something Ty would do. Except this felt different. Not brotherly. More boyfriendly.
    Her throat tightened.
    Nerves were one thing, but the concern in Nate's eyes did funny things to her tummy. Butterfly things. Things she wasn't used to feeling and didn't want to feel.
    Maybe Ty was right when he'd said starting a business was insanity. Maybe she was insane, had lost her mind, somewhere between taking off from Phoenix International Airport and landing in Bozeman.
    Nothing else could explain what she was feeling for a guy she'd known three days.
    Had to be insanity, right?
    "You're a baker, a salesperson, and a businesswoman." Nate squeezed, a gentle pressure that soothed and gave her strength. "You know how to bake. Now you're learning a new way to market your talent. This is a new territory