can remain outdoors or in one of the bedrooms with the door closed. When we’re working in the field, sometimes she hangs out in the office anyway. She won’t like being left out, but it will only be until Jade feels more comfortable with her around.”
There she went again, tossing kindness around like party confetti. He had to stop setting himself up this way. Liking Lindsey Mitchell could not be part of the deal. “I’m sorry about this. Sorry to be so much trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it. Jade’s fear isn’t your fault, and she certainly can’t help it.” She shot a wink toward Jade who looked up, green eyes wide and solemn. “Not yet, anyway.”
The child was poised over a drawing of the Sermon on the Mount, red crayon at the ready. Jesse swallowed hard.
“Daddy, I want to see the Christmas trees.”
The knot tightened in Jesse’s chest. Pictures of Jesus. Christmas trees. What was next? “How about tomorrow?”
Jade didn’t fuss, but disappointment clouded her angelic face. She resumed coloring, trading the red crayon for a purple one.
“Come on, Jesse.” Lindsey rose from the armchair. “You may as well see where you’ll be spending most of your time. While we’re down there, I’ll show you the little office where I keep the equipment and explain my plans for this Christmas season.”
He’d have to do it sooner or later. Feeling as if he were being led to the gallows, Jesse swigged down the remainder of his Coke and stood.
“Where are the Christmas trees?” Gripping Jesse’s hand, Jade took in rows and rows of evergreens, swiveling her head from side to side plainly searching for something more traditionally Christmas.
She might be disappointed, but Jesse inhaled in relief, feeling the pungent pine-scented coolness in his nostrils. They were just trees. Plain ordinary pine trees, no more Christmassy than the thousands of evergreens lining the woods and roads everywhere in this part of Oklahoma. The only differences were the neat rows and carefully tended conical shapes of a specific variety. Nothing to get all worked up over.
“Where are the decorations? And the presents?” Jade was as bewildered as she was disappointed.
Kneeling in the rich dirt, Lindsey clasped one of Jade’s small hands in hers. “Listen, sweetie, don’t fret. Right now, the lot doesn’t look like anything but green pine trees, but just you wait another month. See that little building over there?”
After turning to look, Jade nodded. “Are the Christmas trees in there?”
Lindsey laughed, that warm, smoky sound that made Jesse’s stomach clench. “Not yet. But the decorations are in there. Lights, and Santas, and angels. Even a nativity set and a sleigh.”
“Yeah?” Jade asked in wonder.
“Yeah. And with your daddy to help me this year, we’ll set out all of the decorations, string lights up and down these rows, hook up a sound system to pipe in Christmas carols. Maybe you and I can even decorate one special tree up near the entrance where cars pull in. Then every night and day we’ll have a Christmas party. People will come to choose a tree and we’ll give them wagon rides from the parking area through the tree lot.”
The woman fairly glowed with excitement and the effect was rubbing off on Jade. Pulling away from her dad for the first time, she clapped her hands and spun in a circle.
“Let’s do it now.”
“Whoa, Butterbean, not so fast.” He laid a quieting hand on her shoulder. “Lindsey already told you that part comes later.” The later the better as far as he was concerned.
“But soon, though, sweetie.” Lindsey couldn’t seem to bear seeing Jade disappointed. She motioned toward an open field where a large brown horse grazed on the last of the green grass. “See that horse down there? He loves to pull a wagon, does it all the time for hayrides—but at Christmas he gives visitors rides from the parking area through the tree lot.”
“What’s his name?”
“Puddin’. Don’t you think he looks like chocolate pudding?”
Jade giggled. “No. He’s big.”
“Big, but very gentle. He likes kids, especially little girls with green eyes.”
“I have green eyes.”
Lindsey bent low, peering into Jade’s face. “Well, how about that? You sure do. You’ll be his favorite.”
Jesse watched in amazement as Lindsey completely captivated his usually quiet daughter. If he wasn’t very careful, he’d fall under her spell of genuine decency too. Given his mission, he’d better step easy. Common sense said he should discourage Jade from this fast-forming friendship, but she’d had so little fun lately, he didn’t have the heart to say a word.
“Can I go see the Christmas in your building?”
“Sure you can.” Popping up, Lindsey dusted her knees and looked at Jesse. His reluctance must have shown because she said, “If we can convince your daddy there are no monsters in there.”
Mentally shaking himself, Jesse forced a smile he didn’t feel. Santas and angels and horse-drawn wagons. Great. Just great. He wanted no part of any of it. But he wanted this job. And he wanted this farm. To get them both he’d have to struggle through a couple of months of having Christmas shoved down his throat at every turn. It was more than he’d bargained for, but he’d have to do it.
Somehow.
Chapter Three
Delighted to see Jade so excited and to find a fellow Christmas lover, Lindsey clasped her small hand and started toward the storage building. Jesse’s voice stopped her.
“You two go ahead. I’ll get busy here in the trees.”
Lindsey turned back. A crisp October breeze had picked up earlier in the afternoon, but the autumn sun made the wind as warm as a puppy’s breath. “Work can wait until tomorrow.”
“You have plenty of trimmings here to get rid of. I’ll start loading them in the wheelbarrow.”
If reluctance needed a pictorial representation, Jesse Slater had the job. Hands fisted at his side, the muscles along his jawbone flexed repeatedly. Lindsey’s medical training flashed through her head. Fight or flight—the adrenaline rush that comes when a man is threatened. But why did Jesse Slater feel threatened? And by what? She was the woman alone, hiring a virtual stranger to spend every day in her company. And she didn’t feel the least bit threatened.
“Don’t you want to see all my Christmas goodies?”
His expression was somewhere between a grimace and a forced smile. “Some other time.”
He turned abruptly away and began gathering trimmed pine branches, tossing them into the wheelbarrow. Lindsey stood for a moment, observing the strong flex of muscle beneath the denim jacket. His movements were jerky, as though he controlled some deep emotion hammering to get loose.
Regardless of his good looks and his easy manner,
