Page 85 of Sergeant's Christmas Siege

“Here’s a word of advice, Templeton. You’ve already witnessed one half of the greatest gaslighting duo in the history of the world today. You’re about to witness the other. My suggestion is that you not try to step into anyperceived void here. I was raised by two people who spent their lives trying to convince me and everyone else around them not that we were all insane but thatthe entire world was insane, except for them.” She shook her head, that mirthless smile almost too much for him to take, especially with twinkling lights all around. “Don’t jump on board this train.”

“I have rules,” he told her. And then couldn’t believe that sentence had come out of his mouth. Here, now. She glared at him, waiting. “I don’t get involved with women I work with.”

Kate scowled. “Weirdly, I remember saying something similar and getting a lecture about being grown up enough to make my own decisions.”

“I decided it would be fine as long as I didn’t get emotionally involved.”

He expected her to look as if he’d kicked her. To swing at him, maybe.

What he could not have predicted was her laughter.

It wasn’t a bark of hollow laughter, tossed out into a night that, at about thirty-five degrees, felt warm and cozy after a visit to Fairbanks. She really laughed. So hard that she stepped back, covered her face with one hand, and eventually had to wipe at her eyes.

Templeton was pretty clear that this did not bode well for him. But all he could do was watch.

“I’ll give it to you,” she said when she could finally speak. “I did not see that coming.”

Templeton gritted his teeth. “There was an op a long time ago. I can’t tell you where. I got... involved.”

“And the hilarity continues.” She shook her head at him. “I’m not awesome at relationships, or whatever this is, but even I know that you don’t start talking spontaneously about your past flings with the current one.”

“She died.” He belted that out. Because apparently he could control himself in every single scenario on this earth unless it had to do with Kate Holiday. Somethinghe was going to have to find a way to come to terms with. Apparently. “I dropped the ball, she paid the price. I decided one way to make sure that never happened again was to put down a few ground rules.”

“That’s great for you.” Kate stepped closer, and the hand that held the strap of her bag over her shoulder balled into a fist. “I’m delighted that you’re having some kind of emotional moment here, Templeton, instead of laughing maniacally and pretending you don’t care about anything. I’m sure it’s really meaningful for you.”

“I’m trying to tell you what’s going on,” he said stiffly.

“That’s really good of you,” she said in that sharp way of hers that was as hard as a blow. And did more damage. “I’m sure you even think that’s true.”

“I know I’m going to regret this,” he growled, his eyes narrowing as he stared down at her. “But what the hell do you mean by that?”

“I understood how you operated the first time I met you,” Kate told him, and there was no trace of laughter on her face then. “You put on a big light show, Templeton. But it’s precisely calculated to make sure you only ever give anything away, if you ever give anything away, on your terms.”

He kept being amazed by all the ways she could land a punch without swinging. And he shouldn’t have been. “Great. A character assassination.”

“I don’t have time to assassinate your character, actually. I’m in the middle of a joyful family reunion. Maybe you missed that part.” Her head tilted slightly to one side, and her expression was as scathing as her voice. “It’s been one for the books. Who doesn’t want to get shot at in a creepy compound, follow it up with a little prison time, and then come back to what’s supposed to be a safe space only to discover that your favorite gorgon is waiting for you?”

“You skipped right over Christmas Eve. I found that part pretty memorable.”

“Yes, Templeton, we had sex,” Kate said, and he told himself that she was trying to sound that patronizing. She was doing it deliberately, trying to poke at him, get under his skin, play her little cop game. “And yes, it was good.” She jutted out her chin at him. “Too bad it clearly scared you half to death.”

“Army Rangers aren’t scared of anything, Trooper. Especially not sex.”

Something moved over her, intense enough to make it look as if she was reeling for a moment. And Templeton had to fight himself to keep his hands where they belonged. Meaning, not on her.

“I learned something important today,” Kate gritted out at him, and it took him a moment to realize why he was reacting to her voice the way he did. As if he were under attack. It was because she didn’t sound like a cop. She sounded like a pissed-off, emotional woman, and Templeton couldn’t decide if he wanted to get the hell away from that or celebrate it. “I’ve spent my whole life feeling like an alien walking among humans, trying to figure out their ways. At a certain point I gave up. Sometimes it’s easier to let people call you all the usual names instead.Ice queen. Aloof. Intimidating. Unfriendly.Or worse.”

“You’re not any of those things.”

She shifted closer to him and jabbed a finger toward him, as if she was thinking about thumping him on the chest. He wished she would. He had always excelled at the physical. It was the emotional where he clearly didn’t know what he was doing.

“That’s the point I’m trying to make. I’m not any of those things. Maybe I became those things, in reaction. I don’t know. But I was raised by sick, twisted people. That doesn’t make me one of them.”

“Kate. You’re not. You’re nothing like your father.”

She wrinkled her nose. “And yet I can look back at every relationship I’ve ever tried to have with anotherperson and see the moment where it all turns. Because it always turns.”

Templeton understood where this was going now. He stopped battling himself and his urges and reached over to wrap his hand around her shoulder, holding on to her through her coat. Just because he needed to touch her.

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