The Christmas Gift

Chapter 7

by Alias

e-mail: <a href="/py/wmailCompose.py?Pyt=TWmail&[email protected]&FormId=,232,5FBAE78,3E84702,6031400F">[email protected]</a>

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Disclaimer: See part one.

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She was trying, she really was. This last week she’d been…well, maybe

nice wasn’t the best word, but at least she’d been trying to be nice

to Chris. She was certainly being much nicer to him than he was to

her. It was just that the man was so incredibly frustrating. Even a

saint wouldn’t be able to handle that man. And if a saint didn’t

stand a chance, what hope did she have? And the fact was, Chris just

didn’t want to be nice, or to have people be nice to him. He was

perfectly happy being a sullen, ornery cuss.

She supposed that he was also upset that his ‘lesson’—that was the

only way she could think of as being the intention of his kiss, even

if it had turned out differently—hadn’t worked. If anything, it,

along with what Mr. Larabee had said, had made her even more intrigued

by him.

Which, she supposed, was why she had asked him to come to town with

her today. Actually, she hadn’t had to ask. All she’d had to do was

tell him that she was going to town, and waited until he realized that

neither Buck nor Kyle could come with her.

Unfortunately, he was worse than he was at the ranch, and the third

hour of the silent treatment was just to much. "I thought I’d go to the telegraph office, see if there’s anything from my father, and then go to lunch." She thought she saw something flicker across his face, but couldn’t tell what

it was.

"You eating at the hotel?"

"Uhm, yes."

"Go ahead and eat, I’ll check for you." She felt her eyes widen in

surprise. Chris was actually being…well…nice.

She supposed it was as good a time as any to be nice in return.

"Actually, I was hoping that perhaps you’d…join me?"

The light blue eyes focused on her, his expression unreadable.

"Ok, I’ll be there in—"

"Chris?!?!?" Squealed a feminine voice. "Oh my goodness, it IS

you!!!!"

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Chris suppressed his groan. Of all the rotten luck…what the hell was

she doing here?

He’d barely escaped Amber Heath’s husband hunt in Bolton, the last

thing he needed in his life right now was her.

Before he could do something to protect himself—such as make it look

like Sarah was his wife, propel her through the doors and barricade

them, or just run for cover—Amber had latched onto his arm and was

chattering about how her life had been, how much she missed him, and

oh, what an incredibly dreadful and uncivilized place this was. He

had to forcibly set her at arms’ length before he could say anything.

"Listen, Miss Heath, I’m here with someone, so—"

"Not anymore."

"What?" He glanced around, and couldn’t see Sarah anywhere. "Where’d

she go?"

"I didn’t see—"

"Amber! This isn’t time for any of your stupid little games. Where

is she?" He didn’t realize that he was squeezing her arms until she

flinched in pain. Quickly, he let go and took a step back from the

woman.

Amber rubbed her arms. "She went into the hotel."

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Sarah stabbed the fork into the empty plate. No wonder Chris had been

nice to her for those few moments, he probably couldn’t wait to get

rid of her so that he could go to that woman. Lord! She couldn’t

believe how that woman had been draping herself all over Chris. Well,

at least the other woman had spotted Chris before he could get rid of

her. Otherwise, Sarah might never have known.

She jumped in her seat, startled, when two hands slammed down on the

table. She looked up and found Chris’s stormy eyes staring into her

own.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?"

"Having my lunch—or about to—as I told you I was going to do."

Apparently, he couldn’t think of an argument for that, and it calmed

him somewhat…until he noticed that there was only one chair at the

table.

"I though we were eating together."

"I assumed you would want to eat with your…friend."

He stiffened at the emphasis that she put on the word ‘friend’.

"She’s not my friend."

"Oh? What is she then? Some mere acquaintance whom you don’t even

like who hangs all over you for fun?"

"Well, actually, that’s all sh—"

"I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!! You can’t even come up with your own

excuses!!!" She grabbed the glass of water and threw it in his face.

"You eat, I’ve lost my appetite."

As she stalked out, she heard someone say something about how she

obviously didn’t want anything to do with him, and the sound of a

fight, but didn’t bother looking back. Her mood wasn’t helped by

almost literally running into the woman who had draped herself all

over Chris earlier.

"Oh, hello, I hadn’t expected to see you here."

"Excuse me?" Sarah asked, confused. Hadn’t the woman seen her go

inside the hotel earlier? Of course not, she’d been to busy draping

herself all over Chris.

"Oh, you know, ladies of your sort."

"My…sort?"

"Why yes. You know," She lowered her voice.

"Ladies of the night."

Sarah bristled. She knew the woman wasn’t being

sincere, just catty. She cast a derisive glance down the woman’s body,

which was clothed in a dress far more daring than those of most of the

women in town, including Sarah’s own, and showed an amount of

cleavage that was almost scandalous. Of course, a part of that was

the fact that she was so overly endowed that it was a miracle she

hadn’t fallen on her face. Actually, that was a rather nice idea…

The older woman cast the look off with a wave and a laugh.

"You must understand dear, Chris has always had a fondness for those

women. No emotional ties and all that." She sighed sadly. " And he

was never very discreet about it. I’m afraid I had to break off our

courtship because of it, before it became something more."

"Your…courtship?"

"Oh yes, Chris can be quite charming if he wants to. In fact, he once—"

"Lady, if you believe half the garbage this woman tells you, then you

aren’t half as smart as I gave you credit for."

They both started at the sound of Chris’s voice, and Sarah noticed

that the other woman grew slightly paler before she hastily mumbled

something about having to meet someone and hurried inside.

"Why shouldn’t I believe her? It’s not like you you’ve given me any

reason not to. Not that you would have any reason to." She hastily

added the last part.

"First of all, if you believe that I’d be the least bit interested in

someone like that, you’re crazy."

"Oh? So I’m not crazy to believe the rest?" He didn’t answer, and

she knew it was true. "I see."

She started to walk off, wondering why it mattered. It wasn’t as if

she had any sort of claim on him. She only got as far as the alley

before Chris pulled her into it and behind the building.

"Let go of me!!!"

"Not just yet. First of all, I can’t stand that woman, as I was

trying to explain. When she doesn’t get what she wants, she tries to

hurt it. She thought hurting you would hurt me."

"Did it work?"

"I didn’t like it lady, if that’s what you’re asking." It would do.

"What’s the second?"

"Why do you care?" She hesitated. If she couldn’t tell herself, then

how could she tell him?

"I...it doesn’t. I just don’t approve of…well…of..."

He pulled back from her, scowling, and she realized just how close he

had been standing to her.

"Go to the stable and have them get the horses and wagon ready, I’ll

get us some sandwiches from the boarding house. We can eat on the way."

She started to retort, but he was already walking away.

"CHRIS!" She called after him. He paused and glanced back at her. "What is it

lady?"

"Why don’t you ever just call me Sarah?" He almost, but not quite,

grinned.

"Go get the horses Sarah."

She waited a moment, then started to follow him. But she never made

it back to the street.