Chapter 7
Holly Grace turnedto find the person shouting her name. It sounded like Piper Elliott. Sure enough, when she scanned the courthouse lawn, there was Piper, along with Ian. And Gage Lewis.
She tried to tell herself that seeing Piper again after all these months was the sole reason for her sudden surge of happiness. Her brain wasn’t buying that though. Somehow, she’d managed to fall for the infuriating Gage.
How could this have happened? Another military man when she’d sworn never to give her heart to one again. Her heart tried to tell her he was no longer in the military if he worked with Ian, so there was that. But her brain kicked in and mentioned that the agency Ian worked for made their money protecting people. Hence the name Brotherhood Protectors. And protectors got shot at sometimes.
Ignoring the internal argument, her feet led her right over to the threesome.
Piper engulfed her in a tight hug. “Girl! I’ve missed you so much! How’s everything going?”
“Great! I’m loving my job at the rescue group. I’m fostering two lab mix puppies.”
“How’s Grover taking that?”
Holly Grace frowned. “He’s not crazy about it, but he’s just being distant with them. Not aggressive at all.”
“Any romantic interests?” Piper inquired with an innocent look on her face.
Holly Grace concentrated to keep a blush from staining her cheeks. Of course, Piper had an innocent look in her face. She had no idea that Holly Grace had discovered feeling for the visitor. She carefully did not look in Gage’s direction, but sensed he was waiting to hear her answer. Could it be possible he had feelings for her as well? The thought that he might caused an upsurge of excitement inside her. Stop it, she told herself. Don’t read something into the situation that isn’t there. He’s just paying attention because he has nice manners.
“Uh. No.” She answered Piper’s question. “Nothing going on in that department.”
Was that a glint in Gage’s eyes? Was he glad to hear her say there was no one?
“Come on, Piper.” Ian said, breaking into Holly Grace’s thoughts. “Leave her be.” He grinned at Holly Grace. “I want to hear more about how you were going to kick Gage’s butt out on the county road yesterday.”
A blush she couldn’t control this time crept up her cheeks. “It was just adrenaline. Y’all know. Fight or flight. Somebody almost ran me down, so I pushed back.”
“As well you should have.” Gage replied, coming to her rescue. “I had no business driving that fast on any road. Much less one I’d never driven on before.”
Before Holly Grace could think of a reply, someone shouted in the distance.
“Piper! Ian! Y’all get on over here and hug my neck. I can’t believe y’all didn’t let me know you’re in town.”
Holly Grace glanced at Gage as Piper and Ian, holding hands, strolled over to greet their old friend.
“Soooo. Are you enjoying your visit to Mercy?”
Gage’s lips curved into a smile. “I came out with Ian and Piper to get some experience of Christmas in a small southern town. I was assured that there are some local characters that I should meet.”
Holly Grace quirked an eyebrow. “Which ones did you hear about? We have a town full of characters.”
“One is named Miss Edna. I was told she not only is she informed about most people’s business but that she is also the maker of the Christmas punch for the party tonight. And that the secret ingredient is moonshine.”
Holly Grace burst into laughter. “Oh my! Piper and Ian were certainly shooting the moon with that one. Miss Edna is notorious.”
Excited chatter in the direction of the courthouse caught her attention.
“And, you’ll get a bird’s eye view of her in just a minute. It looks like they’re about ready to light the Christmas tree and Miss Edna is pulling the switch this year.”
Gage held his hand out to her. “In that case, let’s get a ringside view. I’d hate to miss anything.”
As their hands connected, Holly Grace felt the sizzle all the way to her toes. Gage’s fingers tightened on hers and she wondered if he felt it too.
They strolled through the crowd, right up to the front so that they had the ringside view Gage had wanted.
Miss Edna moved to the platform where the switch had been set up for the celebratory first lighting of the tree. One of the younger men made the mistake of trying to help her up the single step to the platform.
