Be Mine at Christmas(64)
Author: Brenda Novak

“But you knew his ex-wife.”

“She was angry, bitter. She come over to argue with him about divorce all the time.”

“Did he have kids?”

“No. He said that was what he wanted from me. A baby.”

“So that’s a yes? You slept with him?”

A grimace twisted her lips. “He said we were married…in our promise to each other, sí? And I was afraid…I was afraid he think I no keep my word.”

She’d feared he wouldn’t help her sisters if she refused. That was the real story, and it was exactly the type of thing Ken had been afraid of. “That’s definitely a yes.”

She didn’t confirm it, but she didn’t deny it, either.

Stuart Baker cornering a young woman in the high school lavatory didn’t seem a whole lot different. Cierra had felt cornered, too, or she never would’ve agreed to marry this Charlie, let alone allow him to touch her. If he’d really wanted to help someone in a third-world country, why hadn’t he donated to the Red Cross?

Because he wanted to help himself, first and foremost. It was the self-interest driving this “buy a bride” scheme that bothered Ken. That and the inequitable distribution of power in such an arrangement. “And?”

The question surprised her. “And?” she repeated as they finished with the lights and added garland.

“Was it as bad as I’m imagining?”

Lines formed on her forehead. “I no want to talk about it.”

Ken interrupted her as she reached into a box of ornaments. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

She stared at the angel she’d grabbed. “No.”

Could he believe her? Maybe. Maybe not. But he had one other concern. “Is there any chance you could be pregnant?” In his view, that was the only way her situation could get worse.

“No.”

He released her. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“How positive?”

“Stop! I know because…he could not…could not…” She sighed in frustration as she struggled to find the right words. “Father a child. You understand?”

“You mean he was sterile? Or impotent?”

“I don’t know the meaning of those words.”

“He couldn’t get it up, couldn’t get hard?”

Face flushing crimson, she whirled around to hang her angel ornament on the tree.

“That’s right, isn’t it?” he pressed.

“Sí.” Her answer was muffled, but he heard it.

“So how could he expect to father a child?”

“He said a doctor would help.”

“So how did he have sex with you.”

She waved him off. “Stop!”

“Okay.” He waited until she finally looked up at him. “Just tell me one more thing.”

“What?” she asked suspiciously.

“How’d you get through it?”

Climbing the short ladder he’d brought in, she began hanging ornaments on the upper branches. “I close my eyes.”

“And pretended he was someone else?”

She didn’t respond but a guilty smile gave her away.

“Who?” he pressed. “An old boyfriend?”

“No.”

He handed her another box of ornaments. “Who?”

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, she attached several snowflakes to the tree. “I can no tell you!”

“Why?”

“You will laugh.”

She tried to return the empty box, but he wouldn’t take it. “Now you have me really curious.”

“The cowboy lawman in…a movie, okay?”

“What movie?”

“It was called…High Noon?” She scratched her head as if puzzling out whether or not she’d named the correct one. “Sí, that is right. High Noon. May I have more snowflakes?” He did laugh. “Where did you see that old show?”

“Charlie played it for me after I arrive.”

Accepting the empty box, he passed her some icicles. “So you think Gary Cooper was handsome?” “Sí.”

“I’m sure my mother, and her mother, would agree with you.”

Her hair caught in the tree, and Ken got up on the ladder to free it. “How did it feel when Gary Cooper made love to you?” he murmured as they stood there together, only inches apart.

He thought she’d refuse to answer this, too. It was more inappropriate than anything he’d asked so far. But she surprised him.

“Like it should, I think.”

“You’ve never been with anyone else?” he asked.

“No. My father, he was…very strict.” She made a fist to show “strict.”

“A woman who is not a virgin is no worth much.”

She wasn’t a virgin now. But that didn’t matter to Ken. “Your father planned to sell you?”

“Sell me? No! Make a contract.”

Wasn’t it the same thing? In a situation like that, how was a marriage license any more than a piece of paper? “That’s what you call it?”

“He had heard of others…doing the same. But he no want to do it. Only if…if things get bad…really bad.”

“Desperate.”

“Sí. Why else would he send me away?”

Learning that even her father planned to use her upset him enough to curb the arousal playing havoc with his thoughts and emotions. He wouldn’t take advantage of her. He wanted to help her without making her feel she had to perform any “services” for him. Granted, Ken was tired of Russ creating his own problems and then flailing around, looking for someone to rescue him. But Cierra wasn’t like that. Cierra was a victim of circumstance.

Stepping off the ladder, he plugged in the lights. “What do you think?”

“Beautiful,” she whispered.

“That’s what I think, too,” he said, but he wasn’t talking about the tree.

CHAPTER NINE

THAT NIGHT, CIERRA LAY in bed awake, staring up at the ceiling and breathing in the scent of pine, which pervaded the whole cabin since Ken had brought the Christmas tree inside. After they were done decorating, he’d lit a fire while she grilled the steaks he’d taken out of the freezer and they’d eaten together.

Being with him was completely different without Brent. It was far more intimate and, because of that, more unsettling. Every once in a while, she’d glance up to find him watching her. She knew what he wanted. She was pretty sure she wanted the same thing. She’d never made love to a man of her own choosing, a man as virile as the lawman she’d always fantasized Charlie to be.