“Oh, looky! Candy canes with green and purple stripes!”
“Do they taste green and purple? Or do they set your mouth on fire, like the Dragon Candy? That’s my favorite!”
“My stockin’s so full it’s gonna spill out! Thanks, Elfie!” Tess smiled at the children who’d gathered around her in the hotel’s decorated ballroom. Their pinched faces brightened as they discovered the treats in their felt stockings, and she found herself drawn to every one of them, tucking flyaway curls behind ears and looking deeply into their wide eyes. Who could’ve guessed they would touch her heart this way? Did one of the girls have Claire’s shy, dimpled smile? Or did she only imagine her daughter’s features because she so badly wanted to see her?
“How’s it going, Tess?” Blythe, also decked out in her formfitting suit of short green overalls with a white shirt and candy-striped tights, tossed back the pom-pom of her red fur hat. “You’re a natural for this job!”
Tess shrugged, excruciatingly happy. “So many children without families. What a fine thing Edgar does, handing out these gifts.”
“He’s a kid at heart. Was an orphan himself, you know, until a kindly old couple adopted him to help with making candy in their kitchen. That’s how it all started.” Blythe smiled brightly as a new bunch of children entered the ballroom, their eyes aglow with anticipation. “If today’s orders are any indication, the season’s going to be the best ever for Penney Candy. See those merchants and mine owners crowding Daphne’s desk to place their orders? I’d better go help her.”
Well-heeled gentlemen in vested suits were lined up at the table draped in a candy-striped tablecloth, grinning at the other Penney Candy elf. As Daphne enticed them with her display of colorful, imaginative candies, what man wouldn’t increase his order? They were dealing with a flirtatious blue-eyed blonde whose clothing fit her like a second skin. Edgar Penney might be an eccentric recluse, but he knew how to market his product to male merchants.
“Say, lady, can ya gimme two of those stockings?”
Tess turned, thinking how she should phrase her polite but firm refusal—until she saw the little boy’s twisted leg and the crutch that supported him. He could’ve been a carrot-top Tiny Tim stepping out of the Dickens Christmas story. He gestured toward the wall where more children sat, eagerly awaiting their turns to come forward.
“My sister Gracie, she’ll get trampled if she walks over here,” he explained in a winsome voice. He was probably ten but seemed much older. “Last year a kid yanked her stocking out of her hand, but I’ll whack ’em with my crutch if somebody grabs it from me!”
Tess’s heart rose into her throat. What a brave little boy—and what a loving brother. “Shall we go together? I’d like to wish Gracie a Merry Christmas,” she answered in a quavery voice.
He led Tess by the hand, and then she knelt before a redheaded girl who looked like a doll in her wicker wheelchair . . . a doll with only one shoe protruding from her skirt. How could it be that both brother and sister had malformed legs? How long had they lived at the orphanage? It seemed unlikely anyone would adopt such a pair. . . .
Gracie flashed a gap-toothed grin. Coppery curls bounced around her face as she peered at her bright, shiny candy. “You weally are one of Santa’s elves, huh?” she queried.
“I am!” Tess tweaked her freckled nose. “And Santa knows you’ve been very, very good this year.”
“Good enough that he’ll bwing me and Stefan a mama? We pway weally hard, but we been waiting . . . and waiting.”
Tess could barely look this angel, Gracie, in the eye. Stefan stood beside his sister, awaiting Tess’s response as though his young life depended on it. How could she possibly answer such a heart-rending request? “I-I’ll remind him, honey,” she murmured.
Stefan shrugged. He’d heard that before. “Lotta kids are askin’ Santa for moms, I guess,” he said, glancing toward the children who headed toward the door. “But thanks for the stockings. And if ya see that Mr. Penney who’s on the package, tell him he makes the best dang candy!”
“I’ll do that, Stefan.”
Heart thudding, she watched the children line up by the ballroom door and waved at Gracie and her brother when they turned to smile at her.
“See ya next Chwistmas!” the little girl sang out, waving a pink and green Pinwheel Pop.
Why did that thought claw at her soul? How many of these events had those two children attended, yet still they asked Santa for a mother? Such hope in their hearts . . .
A movement by the huge Christmas tree caught her eye, and Tess smiled at Johnny Gazara. He’d driven them into Cripple Creek today, to the Imperial Hotel, as Edgar rarely attended these events. The more Tess heard about Edgar Penney’s idiosyncrasies, the more she marveled at the man’s ability to delight millions with his candy creations while turning an astounding profit.
But money was the last thing on her mind when she looked at Johnny. Again he wore a white shirt that set off his olive complexion, and his hair framed his face like wings of midnight. “The children adore you!” he exclaimed as he grabbed her hands. “Is it any wonder? You’re not much taller than they are, and you look so much like an elf—well, except for these.” When he gawked at her breasts, his wolfish expression made her giggle.
“What a day,” she replied wistfully. “I had no idea I’d be so drawn to these orphans. Just the thought of them spending Christmas in an institution, without families, well . . .” She looked away, blinking rapidly.
Johnny gently thumbed her tears. “That’s why Daphne and Blythe pressed Edgar to hire another Penney Candy girl. The hardest part is seeing the same little faces, year after year, as their eyes grow hopeless and their voices lose their music.”
Tess nodded. She felt silly, crying this way. She couldn’t solve all the problems of the world no matter how badly she wanted to.
“If you’ll come to my room tonight,” he whispered, “I’ll restore your sense of fun and frolic. I know a game to get you back into the Christmas spirit. Naked.”
“A game?” She’d never considered sex as play. “If it’ll remind me of these children, I won’t guarantee you—”
“Tess? Tess Bennett, is that you in that elf costume?”
She dropped Johnny’s hands, turning to see who’d called to her. The children had gone and the merchants were leaving, too, so there was no mistaking the two mustachioed, vested men who approached with wide grins. “Spec! And Charley!” She hurried toward them, suddenly more aware of how her costume accentuated body parts she’d always camouflaged. “Thank you so much for looking after me on the train. And for your message to Mr. Penney.”
“It was the least we could do, my dear.” Spencer Penrose bowed slightly. “And didn’t I promise you’d be the perfect Penney Candy girl?”
“Well, no. You were too busy teasing me!”
“And talking you out of those widow’s weeds, thank God,” Charley chimed in. “Begging your pardon, my dear, but you look much prettier in red and green than you did in black.”
“Especially red and green that clings, so it wiggles when you do!”
Tess’s cheeks flared. It wasn’t good policy to reprimand guests who’d probably ordered hundreds of dollars of Penney Candy, and yet... “I . . . I suppose that was intended as a compliment—”
“Please excuse Mr. Penrose’s breach of etiquette,” Charley Tutt interrupted with a stern glance at his companion. “He’s so overwhelmed by the improvement in your spirits—your generosity and kindness toward the orphans—that he lost track of his tongue.”
“Please forgive me, Tess,” Spec implored as he reached for her hands. “That was a crude remark. What might I do to make it up to you?”
“I think we’d best move on, gentlemen. Mr. Penney doesn’t tolerate such behavior around his female employees.” Johnny Gazara stepped up beside her to gaze pointedly at the two men. “Thank you so much for participating in our charity event today.”
The pair in tweeds and ties gave Johnny a looking-over, but then they nodded and walked toward the door. Tess felt even more uncomfortable now. Johnny had been protecting her honor, yet she hadn’t really felt offended by Spec’s suggestive remark. After all, Blythe and Daphne wore the same costume, and neither of them seemed ill at ease.
“And how do you know Penrose and Tutt?” Johnny demanded.
Tess almost told him it was none of his damned business. Or did that edge to his question imply he was seriously interested in her? Watching out for her in public? “I met them on the train. They were kind enough to get my connections changed so I would arrive in Cascade rather than Denver,” she replied evenly. “Is that jealousy I hear, Johnny? Envy, because—from what I’ve been told—they own a great deal of Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek, between them?”
His mouth clapped shut. His eyes shone like hot obsidian.
Tess knew an advantage when she held one. “I thought it very kind of Mr. Tutt, when he saw that I had no luggage, to offer assistance and the name of a seamstress,” she remarked with a purposeful smile. “And if Spec’s behavior seems inappropriate, well, he at least hasn’t hidden in my bathroom to catch me napping naked. Has he?”
She pivoted on the heel of one pointy-toed elfin slipper, to help Blythe and Daphne gather the remaining candy and stockings. Then she turned to address Johnny again, hoping she wasn’t overplaying her ace. “Do I wiggle in these clingy clothes, Mr. Gazara? If I deserved Spec’s lewd remark, perhaps it’s I who should mend her ways.”
His slow, wicked grin spoke volumes. “Don’t change a thing for me, Tess. But if you’d like more . . . personalized advice, come find me tonight. We’ll see who’s naughty—and who’s nice.”