Free A Down-Home Country Christmas by Nancy Herkness Page B

end of Holly’s scarf and flipped it into her face as she was slipping her gloves on. Robbie reached out to pull the scarf away and his fingertips brushed against her cheek. She glanced up to thank him and found his gaze riveted on her lips. Unable to stop the reflex, she licked them. A muscle in his jaw twitched and he looked away.
    A mixture of confidence and a whole different kind of nervousness surged through her.
    His jacket flapped open as he yanked on his gloves. The wind flattened his white shirt against his torso, revealing the definition of his muscled chest and abs. She was torn between appreciation and worry. His body was so perfect. After two pregnancies, hers wasn’t.
    “This way,” he said, offering her the crook of his arm.
    He kept up a running commentary on the various planes they passed, but Holly was focused on the feel of him against her side as she deliberately tucked herself in close. Sneaking glances up at him, she learned he had fine lines at the corners of his eyes and an inward curl at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. He must have shaved for her because there was barely a glint of a blond whisker on his cheeks or chin.
    When Robbie said something about Santa Claus, it broke through her distracted haze of fascination. “Santa Claus?” she repeated, looking around to see they were standing in front of a bright red helicopter.
    “I’m flying Ed Hardy to the regional hospital over at Broadmoor tomorrow to take the toys to the kids there.”
    Ed was a rotund man with a long white beard who was in great demand to play Santa Claus every holiday season. The rest of the year he ran Hardy’s Hardware in downtown Sanctuary.
    “I dropped off three boxes of new toys donated by the school staff for the toy drive,” Holly said. “The kids are going to love them.”
    “Most of the donations went over in a truck today,” Robbie said. “Ed has just enough to fill up his pack for when he arrives in the helicopter.”
    Holly eyed the helicopter and said a silent prayer of thanks that she didn’t have to ride in the unwieldy-looking metal contraption crouched under its drooping rotors.
    Robbie led her past the chopper to a gleaming white single propeller plane with black-and-gold stripes swooshing down its sides. It looked fast just sitting on the apron. “But this beauty is pure pleasure to fly. Her owner loaded her up with everything top-of-the-line.”
    He fitted a key into the lock and pushed the door upward.
    “It looks just like the inside of a car,” Holly said, amazed at the luxurious leather seats in a golden tan. “But where’s the steering wheel?”
    Robbie pointed to something that looked like a video game control stick, one on each side of the plane. There were video screens across the dashboard and between the seats, so she guessed that made sense. “She handles almost like a jet,” he said.
    He showed her where to step and wrapped his hands around her waist to boost her up with a power that made her feel almost weightless. She scrambled into the contoured seat as Robbie climbed up beside her. “I’m going to do a visual check on the exterior.”
    Holly nodded and he lowered the door, locking it down so firmly the plane rocked slightly. She took a deep breath and peered around the cabin. It seemed very small for something that was going to take them thousands of feet up into thin air. She wrapped her arms across her chest, telling herself it was the cold that was making her shiver.
    A few minutes later, the other side of the plane dipped as the door opened, and Robbie dropped into the seat beside hers, giving her a grin and a thumbs-up before he closed his own door.
    His smile lingered as he brought the engine to life and ran through a series of tests, flipping switches and scrolling through screens, explaining all the time what he was doing. She almost forgot her nerves in the pleasure of hearing his deep voice and watching his big, square hands move with such sureness