Free One Special Christmas & Home for the Holidays by Irene Hannon Page A

and he swallowed with difficulty.
    â€œSo am I,” he admitted, his voice suddenly husky. “I always believed marriage was forever, that if things got rough you worked them out. But by the time I brought up the idea of counseling, it was too late. Cindy had already given up. She finally asked for a divorce, and under the circumstances I agreed. But in my heart I still feel married. I spoke those vows in the sight of God, and I can’t forget them as easily as she did.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œShe remarried a few months after the divorce became final. She and her new husband live in Denver. It’s not that I’m judging her, Kate. I leave that to God. But it wasn’t the right thing for me.”
    â€œSo that’s what your mother meant when she said she’d better take this opportunity to play grandmother,” Kate mused aloud.
    Eric looked surprised. “She told you that?”
    â€œYes. The day I met her.”
    â€œWell, maybe my message is finally sinking in. But I know she’s disappointed. As the only child, I was her one hope for grandchildren,” he said ruefully.
    â€œHey, hey, hey! This conversation looks way too heavy,” Frank interrupted with a grin. “Time to liven things up a little. Okay, Kate, one more round of lawn darts. I feel renewed after that meal.”
    Kate smiled and glanced at her watch. “I really need to get home,” she protested.
    â€œEric, convince her.”
    Eric shrugged. “He’ll be a bear to work with if he doesn’t get a chance to redeem himself.”
    Kate laughed. “Okay. One more round.”
    Fifteen minutes later, after she had once more soundly beaten her host, she and Eric said their goodbyes.
    â€œHe’ll never live this down, you know,” Eric told her with a chuckle as he escorted her to his car, his hand again placed possessively in the small of her back.
    â€œOh, people will forget,” she replied with a smile.
    â€œI won’t,” he declared smugly.
    â€œEric! You aren’t going to use this against him, are you?”
    â€œYou’d better believe it,” he asserted promptly, grinning as he opened her door. “What are friends for?”
    Kate shook her head and slid in. A moment later he took his place behind the wheel. “You know, he’s going to be sorry I came tonight,” she predicted.
    Eric smiled. “Maybe so. But do you know something, Kate?” At the odd note in his voice she turned to look at him. “I’m not. I had a really good time.”
    At his words, a feeling of warmth and happiness washed over her like a healing balm. “So did I,” she admitted quietly. “Thanks for asking me.”
    â€œIt was my pleasure.” As he pulled away from the curb, he glanced over at her. “Maybe we can do it again sometime.”
    Again? Kate wasn’t sure that was wise. It wasn’t that she found Eric’s company lacking. He was a great conversationalist, an empathetic listener, intelligent, well-read—not to mention incredibly handsome. She liked him. A lot. And therein lay the problem. She liked him too much. While she might have reached a turning point in her life tonight, she wasn’t ready to deal with relationships—at least, not the male/female variety. And that included Eric—despite the fact that he wasn’t even in the market for romance.
    Like Eric, Kate believed in that “till death us dopart” vow. Even though she was no longer bound by it, in her heart she still felt married. Yet being with Eric tonight had awakened feelings long suppressed—and best left undisturbed, she decided firmly. Though her reactions had been subtle, they spelled danger. Intuitively she knew that Eric Carlson’s very presence could disrupt her life by raising questions she wasn’t yet ready to address and forcing her to examine issues she wasn’t prepared to face.
    She