Jillian Hart by Sara's Gift (A Christmas Novella) Read Free Book Online Page A

blood thrumming through his veins.
    "I should have suspected something like this could happen." Connie snuggled her hat over her ears and took a step, following her brother. "When I came to town to help out, when Ann was failing, I had six men bring me flowers before I'd walked from the train station to the house."
     "Six men?" Sara lifted her skirts to step off the icy road and into the softer snow of Connie's yard. "I guess I should have figured on it too. In Oak's Grove there's a shortage of marriageable women."
    "And yet look at you, still unmarried."
    "For a long time after Andrew's death I wasn't ready." Sara thought of the gentle man, his loss made all the more difficult for the love he'd given her. Somehow, seeing a hint of Andrew every time Mary smiled made it easier now. "And then, when I was, my father felt he had the right to interfere."
    "I'm glad you're free of him." Connie's touch was pure comfort, the kind that warmed from the inside out.
    Sara was glad too. Returning home to her father, after she'd been widowed, had been difficult. Had she had one other choice, she would have taken it. And she'd worked hard to make her own life, a tough thing in a world where a woman couldn't vote, couldn't make a man's wages to support herself. "That's why this job offer from my aunt is so important to me."
    "Don't you worry. The men will get the train running and you'll be on your way to a happier future. Although we're going to hate to see you go."
    "Sara, you're gonna stay and watch me sing, right?" Mary spun around, a bright red angel against shimmering snow. The girl might have had Andrew's smile and Sara's eyes, but there was no mistaking that Mary's face was her own, soft and not quite oval, and so very dear.
    "I would love to stay, but I can't risk being late. I never meant to stay so long in Moose Creek—" Her mouth clamped shut when she realized what she'd said. I never meant to stay so long.
    "Who knew a blizzard was going to hit the mountains?" Connie reached out. "Come, Mary. Take my hand. Let the men pass."
     Sara bit her lip, grateful. Connie hadn't noticed her slip. Her chest squeezed so that the cold air burning in her lungs could not escape. In today's happiness, in the excitement of shopping for gifts and keeping them secret, she had forgotten who she was. She didn't belong here. And if Connie and Gabe knew the truth, they couldn't help but hate her for every minute of her deception.
    Ashamed, she bowed her face, unable to meet the men's gazes as they filed by, tipping their hats to her, murmuring hellos. Maybe in Missoula she could hope to find a man with broad shoulders and a kind smile, someone who could love her. Someone she could love in return.
    "They were disappointed, but I chased them off, like the tough sheriff I am." Gabe held open the front door, his confidence as brazen as his smile. "I tell you, it was dangerous there for a few moments."
    "Then they realized you weren't any competition." Connie tossed her brother a saucy grin. "They saw you land on your behind on the ice and thought, 'Hey, that clumsy sheriff isn't good enough for the lovely Sara.' "
    Sara's face flamed as he winked at her.
    Mary giggled. "Pa's not clumsy. Not all the time."
    "That's a comfort to know." Sara stepped into the warm home, cozy with its papered walls and braided rugs. Connie already knelt before the potbellied stove in the parlor, stirring the embers to life.
    "Pa, where'd you put my dress?"
    "I hid the packages in the kitchen, because I knew someone would want to rifle through them." Gabe stepped close.
    Sara's skin tingled at his nearness, at the way he towered over her, iron strong and dependable. Mary's shoes pounded against the wood floor as she raced to the kitchen, and Connie sprung up to catch her, reminding the girl there were surprises hidden in those packages and she would search for Mary's dress herself.
    "Let me help you with your coat." How warm his voice was, deep but not dark, rich as hot