A Very Crimson Christmas

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“My son’s class is performing here this afternoon. Holiday songs mostly.” She realized how lame her invitation sounded. Liam Donovan ran a multinational corporation. He didn’t have time for grade-school musicals.

“I’d love to,” he answered.

She gave a sharp nod in response. Why had she made the offer? The less time she spent in Liam’s company, the better for her sanity. “Let me just check on a couple of the other residents and I’ll walk down with you.”

“I’ll be here.” Liam smiled and her mind went blank. She remembered that same feeling from high school. The weeks after he’d first arrived, before she’d known him, she’d spent stealing glances, hoping to catch his gaze, then too embarrassed to hold it when she had. It was like that even now. After several moments, his eyebrow lifted. “The residents?”

“Right.” Mortified, she turned and fled into one of the rooms off the hall. She took more time than she needed, especially since the few residents left on the hall were resting. Part of her hoped Liam would get tired of waiting for her and she’d have a few extra minutes to get her emotions in check. Even after ten years, he had the ability to unnerve her, and Natalie craved control. She made sure the other nurse on duty knew she was heading down to the community room, then peeked back into the common area. Liam stood facing the far wall, examining the resident artwork hanging there.

“We have a local artist come in to teach a painting class.”

“Some of them are quite good,” he said, turning to her.

“More importantly, they all enjoy it. Evergreen offers a variety of enrichment activities. Even if she doesn’t stay here, we make sure Ruth has access to everything.”

He slid her a look. “She’s in good hands. I’m sorry if I insinuated anything else.”

She led the way down the hall. “This is my job, but I feel a personal connection to every one of my patients.” Her voice lowered. “Especially your nanny. She’s been good to Austin and me. I owe her a lot.”

His step faltered and Natalie found herself blushing again. Was he thinking of how he’d accused her of stealing money from Ruth? She’d tried to talk to Ruth while Austin was brushing his teeth this morning, but the older woman had an uncanny ability to turn forgetful when she didn’t want to discuss a certain subject. Natalie didn’t know whether Ruth did it on purpose, or her memory truly failed when she became agitated. Natalie wanted to be sure Brad wasn’t involved so she could reassure Liam that the missing money had nothing to do with her.

“She’s happy you’re here,” she went on quickly, realizing he was staring at her. “I know she’s missed you.”

“What about you, Nat? Do you ever miss me?”

* * *

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Liam regretted them. He wanted to know that she’d missed him—that she’d spent as many moments remembering their time together as he had. He was scared to death she hadn’t.

She opened her mouth to answer just as a small voice cried out, “Mom, over here.”

Natalie whirled to where a row of kids lined the hallway wall. Her son was waving furiously, almost jumping up and down with excitement. She glanced back at Liam, her gaze unreadable.

“Pretend I never asked the question,” he said quickly.

Her mouth quirked. “As if.”

“Mom!”

She walked over to Austin, then bent at the knee to look him in the eye. Liam couldn’t hear what she said but the boy’s face lit up, his smile wide. As Austin threw his arms around his mom, Liam’s chest tightened. Of course Natalie was an amazing mother. For all her tough exterior, she was one of the most nurturing people he’d ever met. She had that in common with his former nanny.