Free Her Mistletoe Cowboy by Alissa Callen Page B

pleasant.”
    She shrugged. “I’m a big girl. I know how to handle difficult men.”
    Rhett set his mug on the barn floor, the action pressing his knee against hers. She didn’t move.
    “What about belligerent, argumentative and intimidating men?”
    “Yes. I’ve got them covered too.”
    He lifted a hand, intending to brush the silken hair away from her chin. The need to kiss her drowned out all calls from his self-reservation to stand down.
    Then sadness filled her eyes, coloring them green. “I also have arrogant, egotistical and unfaithful covered too.”
    He lowered his arm. The knowledge his suspicions had been correct and someone had hurt her didn’t bring any satisfaction. “Now that’s one difficult man. What was his name?”
    “James Hunt. My boss and my biggest mistake.”
    “And why you’ve also come here by yourself for Christmas?”
    She sighed. “Yes. I broke off our engagement and resigned as soon as I discovered he’d made a move on the new intern at a conference, just like he’d once done with me. Even though it’s not so much him sleeping with Elise I can’t stop thinking about but more … how could I be so foolish not to have seen through him earlier.”
    Rhett gave in to the urge to comfort her and gently squeezed her knee.
    “Ivy, each and every one of us is human and makes mistakes and poor choices.” He smiled. “I once had long cowboy hair and wore jeans a size too small.”
    As he’d hoped a smile lightened her eyes.
    “My mom told me before she died it’s not our mistakes that define us but what we learn from them. It’s how we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get on with being who we were meant to be that counts.”
    “Your mom was a wise woman.”
    He swallowed past the wedge in his throat. “Yes. She was.”
    Ivy reached out and touched his cheek. Her caress was as light as the brush of an angel’s wings. “Rhett, go and see your dad. Your mom made you give her that promise for a reason. Just have faith even now she is looking out for you.”
    Rhett managed to nod. But it was unease and not grief holding him silent. Ivy was so close if he angled his head his mouth would meet hers. Finally he’d be able to taste the sweetness that was Ivy Bishop. But knowing for sure that she was here because her heart had been broken changed everything.
    Ivy had suffered enough and he couldn’t abuse the trust she seemed to have in him by pushing their relationship out of friendship territory. The last thing she needed was a whirlwind rebound romance. And the last thing he needed was to be the rebound guy. He wasn’t in the market for a relationship but that didn’t stop feelings for Ivy from forming. It was more important than ever that things remain casual and low-key between them because if they didn’t when the festive season ended he could be the one with the broken heart.
    He leaned forward, pressed a brief kiss to her forehead and stood. “I’ll give Kendall a call and see if we can go around tomorrow for dinner.”
    She stood too and bent to collect the coffee mugs. “Sounds good. And in the meantime, I’ll dust off my boxing gloves.”

Chapter Seven
    ‡
    “Y es. I know, Milly. It’s official. I’ve lost the plot.”
    The pup watched from her kitchen bed as Ivy took the milk carton out of the cupboard where she’d placed it instead of in the refrigerator. She was about to make fudge and had spent the past five minutes working out where the milk carton had gone. But the reason for the milk being in the wrong place wasn’t the reason she’d expected.
    She was still waiting for her cathartic meltdown to happen which meant that the reason why the milk ended up in the cupboard had nothing to do with her emotional flood-gates opening.
    But it did have everything to do with yesterday’s barn visit. Not only had she found her grandfather’s initials and the discovery had further anchored her to her Christmas home, but she now felt strangely free. It was