Free Gift Wrapped for Christmas: A Contemporary Romance by Mona Ingram Page A

at him.
“I didn’t notice.”
    He ran his thumb over her bottom
lip, and every nerve ending in her body caught fire. “To be continued,” he said
softly, just as Annie skated up.
    * * *
    “That was fun.” Annie climbed
into the front seat of Brent’s SUV and reached for her seatbelt. “Was Maddie
surprised to see you?”
    Brent made sure she was settled,
then pulled out of the garage. “I’m not sure,” he said, his thoughts returning
to Maddie, recalling how the snowflakes had dusted her hair, and the taste of
her lips. What he was sure of was that nothing could have kept him away
from the rink this afternoon. From the moment Maddie LaRocque had fallen into
his arms, he’d been a goner. Nothing in his scientific training had prepared
him for the surge of emotion he’d felt the first time he looked into her eyes.
There had been something...an instant connection...that had him wondering just
what he’d been doing with his life up until that moment.
    He looked across to see Annie
fiddling with her camera. “Did you get some good pictures?”
    “Uh-huh. I’ll show you when we
get home.” She scrolled through the shots and paused when she came to the one
of Brent and Maddie. “The one of you and Maddie is good. I think I’ll print it
out and put it in a frame in my bedroom.” She was silent for a moment.
    “What is it, Munchkin? You look
sad.” He reached across and squeezed her hand.
    She continued to stare at the
photograph. “Do you think it will be wrong for me to have some happy pictures
in my bedroom? You know, besides my pictures of Mom and Dad?”
    A lump rose in Brent’s throat,
but he managed to get past it. “Not at all.” He paused. “Are you saying that
the pictures of your mom and dad make you sad?”
    “Yeah.” She rubbed a finger across
the display screen. “Maddie said it’s okay to be sad. She told me I’ll never
forget them, but after a while it will stop hurting.” She gave him a sideways
look. “Do you think that’s true?”
    “Yes, I do.” A stab of jealousy
caught him by surprise. He wanted Annie to confide in him, and in Chase, and
yet she’d been discussing her innermost secrets with a woman she’d only known
for a short while. And yet somehow he wasn’t surprised. If Annie was going to
talk to anyone, he’d prefer it to be Maddie.
    “Maddie says that happy memories
will start to crowd out the sad ones.” She clutched the camera as if it were a
lifeline. “So I’ve decided. I’m definitely going to put your picture up in my
bedroom. The one of you and Maddie together. You both look so happy.”
    Brent relaxed his grip on the
steering wheel. The child was right. All it had taken was sitting beside Maddie
and happiness had washed over him. How had he gotten his personal life into
such a mess?
    * * *
    Brent turned off the highway and
rolled down his window as he drove along the road leading to the sprawling
family home. He did this every time he came home; there was something about the
air out here on the edge of the prairie that had a calming effect on him. His
grandfather had built the home on a section of rough land that wasn’t suited
for farming, but had been an amazing place to grow up. ATVs in the summer, Ski-Doos
in the winter, fishing in the trout stream that meandered through their
property...the memories crowded happily together.
    A small sports car sat off to the
side of the six-car garage. “Cynthia is here,” said Annie, her tone flat.
    Brent raised his eyebrows and
pressed the garage door opener.
    Chase’s vehicle was parked in its
usual spot. “Oh, look. Uncle Chase is home already.” Annie jumped out as soon
as Brent parked and grabbed her backpack from the rear seat.
    They entered the mudroom and were
met with the enticing aroma of chicken. Annie wiggled her nose. “Smells like Hannah
made chicken again.” She dropped her backpack and ran into the kitchen to greet
the housekeeper. Hannah and Declan O’Farrell had worked on the estate