“You want three trees?” Gideon’s brow quirked upward.

Alaina grinned. “Just making up for lost time. Mason and I spent most of our holidays on research projects.”

“Surely wolf biologists don’t have to be in the field every minute.”

She shrugged. “It varies, but Mason was determined to study wolf populations all over the world.”

“Is that what you wanted?”

Alaina hesitated. “In the beginning I was thrilled to be part of those studies,” she said slowly. “But living that way got old for me. It’s one of the reasons I wanted a home base to work from this year.”

“And why you want all these Christmas decorations.”

“Of course. Making up for lost time, remember?”

“Then how about that one?” Gideon asked.

Alaina regarded the tree, picturing it in the cabin. “Perfect,” she pronounced. As a kid she’d loved falling asleep in the light of a Christmas tree and hoped to re-create the magical feeling it had once given her.

And, speaking of magic, what was she going to do about Gideon...