The Kidnapped Christmas Bride (Taming of the Sheenans Book 3) by Jane Porter

quickly to climb into Trey’s truck to escape the cold. He started the truck and turned on the heater but it’d be a while before it put out hot air, and McKenna wrapped her arms around TJ to keep them warm.
    He glanced at the shivering pair. It was damn cold. None of them had proper clothing for a Montana winter night. “What now?”
    “What do you mean, what now?” McKenna answered, her gaze lifting to his, her winged eyebrows arching higher. “I thought you were the man with a plan. I thought you were determined to spend this Christmas with your son.”
    Her expression was mocking. She was throwing it down, daring him, challenging him, just as she had all those years ago when she was an innocent freshman and he the big bad high school senior.
    Heat swept through him, blood surging through his veins, making him hot, and hard, filling him with longing for the life he’d had. The life he’d lost.
    He missed her. He missed her body and her mind, her curves, her lips, her fire, her sweetness and that flash in her eyes. She knew him so well.
    “That hasn’t changed,” he said, his voice low and husky.
    “Then give TJ a special Christmas. Give him a Christmas he’ll never forget.”
    *
    Trey didn’t tell her where they were going. He just drove and she was fine relinquishing control and being the passenger, settling in while he took them wherever it was he wanted to take them.
    As they headed west on Highway 12, she’d wondered if they were stopping in Helena, but he kept going, passing through Helena, and then north on 83. They’d been driving for three hours and TJ had crashed out a couple hours ago, leaning against McKenna.
    It was getting late and they were traveling a mountain road but McKenna was relaxed. Trey was an exceptional driver and he might make her nervous in a bar, but he was good behind the wheel, and his truck was a four wheel drive vehicle with snow tires so if they hit snow or ice they’d be fine.
    And she felt fine, now.
    Mellow. Thoughtful. A little sad, but not heartbroken.
    That told her something, didn’t it?
    Shouldn’t she feel a little devastated?
    Shouldn’t she feel something besides…relieved?
    “Cold?” Trey asked, glancing at her.
    She shook her head, and wrapped her arm more securely around TJ’s hip.
    They drove another five minutes in silence.
    She could tell Trey had something on his mind from the way he glanced at her every now and then but she didn’t press him to speak, thinking no conversation was better than conflict and she was enjoying the quiet and the lack of tension and the big night sky which wrapped the truck.
    Traveling together like this was both familiar and intimate. Trey on one side, she on the other with TJ in the center.
    Trey cleared his throat. “Were you able to reach Lawrence?”
    She shook her head. “Tried twice, got his voice mail each time. I left a message the second time.”
    He was silent for another minute, before shooting her a side glance. “What did you say in the message?”
    “That you and TJ needed to catch up and I thought it was a good idea for you to spend Christmas together.” She could tell he wanted to ask another question and so she headed him off, adding, “I also left a message for my friend Paige, letting her know everything was okay and that we were with you. I asked her to let my brothers and Aunt Karen know.”
    “Your family won’t be happy.”
    “I don’t know who will be more upset, my brothers or Aunt Karen.”
    “Your aunt’s never liked me.”
    “She didn’t dislike you until she found us naked together in my bedroom.”
    “I wasn’t naked, and you had…a few things…on. Your blouse…your bra…” His voice trailed off and his lips curved in a rueful smile. “You know she wouldn’t have come running if you hadn’t been loud.”
    “Don’t blame me! How was I to know how good it would feel? It’s your fault for being so…talented…that way.”
    “We didn’t see each other for a while