All I Want for Christmas: A Kinnison Legacy Holiday novella by Amanda McIntyre Page B

north wind outside howled through the tall pines beyond the clearing of their yard. Another Christmas was upon them and with all the chaos of getting the bakery done and Cody’s arrival, he hadn’t yet had time to go shopping for her. “You know; Christmas is coming up. I happen to have an in with the guy in the red suit. You thought about what you’d like to ask for?”
    He drew her close, letting his hand rest on her hip. They’d grown accustomed to wearing pajamas in bed now to guard against being caught unawares. Still, the long gown she wore teased his mind knowing she wore no panties beneath. Rein turned to breathe in the scent of her hair, his hand caressing her hip.
    “Have you thought about what you want?” she asked, tapping his chest with her finger.
    The song he’d heard earlier—the one that rang so true in his heart—played in his head, even though the radio had moved on to a new tune. “Sweetheart.” He kissed the top of her head. “I have everything I need, right here.” He kissed the top of her head.
    “So, I should take back the Rolex?” she teased. Her cheek flexed against his chest with her grin.
    “Yeah, and you can cancel that trip to Paris while you’re at it.” He shifted to his side, holding her gaze as he ran his fingers down her cheek. “Honestly, Liberty, what more do I need? To hell with need. What more could I possibly want than what I already have?”
    She pressed his hand to her cheek and kissed his palm.
    Guilt for how he’d behaved the other day in front of his brothers surfaced, nudging his conscience. He’d said things in front of Liberty while wrapped up in his pity-party about not having a linage, and he’d been blind to how it might have sounded to his wife. “Baby, I’m sorry for how I behaved the other day with Wyatt and Dalton. I was feeling sorry for myself and I wasn’t thinking about you—us—and everything we have together.”
    Liberty silenced him with her finger to his lips. “It has been a stressful time, Rein, and if trying to have a child right now is adding to that stress, we can wait.”
    He pulled her into his arms. “Listen, I want a child as much as you and I don’t mind being determined about getting there.” He grinned. “But I want you to understand, if—and I mean if—there is some unknown reason that we don’t have kids of our own, I’d like to adopt. Maybe five or six.”
    She sat up and looked at him. “Five or six?”
    “Too many?”
    She smiled. “I can’t recall that we’ve even discussed numbers. We’ve been so busy just trying to have one.”
    He stroked her bare arm. “I guess what you said made a lot of sense. Look at Wyatt, Dalton, and me. We were raised by a single rancher. No mother figure, unless you count Betty’s watchful eye. And I think we turned out okay.” He pulled her down into his arms. “Besides, how lucky could a kid get to have a mom like you?”
    She rested her forehead against his chest, then looking up, searched his eyes. “But you do think we should keep trying, right?”
    “Good Lord, woman, there isn’t any place I’d rather be than here with you—day and night.” He held her face. “All I’m saying is that whatever happens—whether we have ten kids of our own or adopt that many—or whether we’d decide it’s just going to be you and me out here. Either way, I’m a happy man.”
    “Just when I think I can’t love you more,” she said, “you raise the bar.”
    Her lips found his and he locked his arm around her waist, the other sneaking beneath her gown, finding the warmth of where she straddled him.
    She reached between their bodies and eased her hand into his boxer shorts.
    “What are you doing there, darlin?” he asked, grabbing the headboard with both hands as he watched her bunch her gown around her hips. She freed him from the confines of the Ninja Turtle boxers he’d found that matched a pair for Cody. Incentive to get potty-trained, he’d explained to