LOGAN WAS GONE, Pansy was livid, and West was fit to be tied. Rose felt like she was split in half. Because part of her desperately wanted to go after him, and another part of her figured she needed to stay at her sister’s wedding reception and deal with the intense amount of drama that was happening.
“You knew,” Pansy said. “You knew that he was West’s brother.”
She understood. Her sister could only feel defensive of the man she loved. The man she was afraid might be hurt by this.
But Rose felt the same.
Logan had protected his mother with everything he had. Logan had felt rejected by the Daltons. He owed them nothing.
“He didn’t want to make today about him,” she said. “And he didn’t. Hank’s the one who did that. Logan doesn’t deserve your anger.”
The Daltons were having a heated discussion among themselves, which Rose had the sense was common in that group.
“She’s right,” West said. “Look, I handled it how I did but he doesn’t owe us or me anything. He had a different life. That’s the thing. We all had different lives.”
“Whatever Logan wants to do is up to him,” Ryder said. “Let’s get back to the wedding.”
And they did, to the best of their ability. Rose felt torn because it was her sister’s wedding, but knowing Logan was in pain made it impossible for her to enjoy herself.
It took another two hours for the guests to disperse and then for the Daltons to go home. It had been decided that today was not the day for anyone to try and enforce a family reunion.
“I should go talk to him,” West said.
“No,” Rose said firmly. “You go on your honeymoon. He’ll be here when you get back. I’ll talk to them.”
She knew that the way she had taken the lead on this issue said a lot. But still, it wasn’t anything her family seemed willing to call her on at the moment. And she was going to go ahead and take that. If there were hard conversations to have, and there were, they could wait until after the dust settled. They could wait until after the wedding was over. Until after Pansy and West returned from their honeymoon.
Yes. It could wait. It could all wait.
For now, it was a wedding. And it was Christmas Eve.
And there was a big stack of presents with Logan’s name on it, and she was going to make sure he got them.
They saw the bride and groom off with great fanfare, and then Rose began to fill a plate with leftover dinner from the buffet table.
“Hungry?” Ryder asked.
“No,” she said, stubborn. “I’m taking some food to Logan and I’m going to see how he’s doing.”
The glare she gave everyone came with a warning.
“You’re going to go talk to him?” Jake asked.
“Yep,” she said, daring him to comment.
The girls, for their part, were looking in other directions because they suspected Rose’s deeper connection to Logan, and obviously weren’t going to be the ones to confirm anything.
“Maybe I should go,” Ryder said. “He’s my friend.”
“He’s my friend,” Rose said. “I work with him all day every day. I... He’s my friend.”
That seemed to shut her brother up, and set him back a little bit. He didn’t say anything, though. Not as she took a plate of food and beers and loaded them up into the truck.
She drove across the property and picked up all the ingredients for the cookies, concealing them in a tote bag, then hauled it all to Logan’s cabin. Gathering her items, she tromped up the porch with her arms full, banging on the door with her foot.
The door jerked open, and there was Logan, his suit jacket gone, the tie gone as well, his shirt unbuttoned halfway down and untucked from the black slacks.
This was a whole different kind of hot.
Him all angry and disheveled. She had never particularly thought about the way that suits looked on men. But today had been quite educational, and this was yet another moment of pure fascination. “What are you doing here?”
“I brought you dinner.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“It’s Christmas,” she said softly.
“You know I don’t like Christmas,” he said, his voice rough.
And what a mess of a Christmas it had been. Everything had gone wrong. Everything. And this pain he’d hidden for so many years had been dragged out in the open with a full audience.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “I know you didn’t want that to happen. I just... Let me try to make it better?”
“You can’t.”
“Then can I make you feel better for a while?” She shifted. “My hands are full and I’m freezing. This dress is pretty, but it’s not doing anything to keep me warm. Can I come in?”
“Where does Ryder think you are?”
“Ryder knows where I am.”
She let that truth settle between them.
“So anyway. Food.”
“I don’t know what all this is going to mean. If everyone is pissed at me. West married Pansy. He’s part of the family.”
“Not the way that you are. Not to me.”
“That’s awfully sweet of you, Rose. But still...”
“No.” She unburdened herself, setting all her items down on a side table. “Logan... You’re part of us. You’re part of me. I understand why this was all...terrible timing.” She fidgeted, looking down at the bag with the ingredients she’d brought. Maybe this was bad timing, too. “I have something for you...”
“The only present I want to unwrap is you,” he whispered. “As long as you’ll have me, Rose Daniels. You’re the only Christmas present I really want. And ever since I saw you for the first time, in that beautiful bridesmaid dress, I was imagining taking it off you.”
“Were you really?” she asked, her voice hushed.
“Yes. Oh, you have no idea. Honey, when I first started fantasizing about you I thought there was something broken inside of me.” He laughed,
