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She shook her head, a mass of reddish-brown curls tumbling over her shoulders. She had an awful lot of hair. “Why did I know you’d say that?”

“Because you brought a small car?”

She rolled her eyes, blue like her brother’s, only Anna’s were less calm, more . . . electric. “We can strap one on the roof, you know, if we want to get a big one.”

“Why on earth would we want a tree which has more needles to drop, more branches to decorate. More expanse to light?”

“Because not all of us hate Christmas.” Her eyes found his, a sheen of tears making them glisten. “Because Colin always picked the biggest tree that would fit in the condo.”

“But he’s not here now, is he.” The moment he said the words he wanted to retract them. They were the wrong thing to say to a woman already on an emotional cliff edge just being here. But damn it, he was harboring so much anger, anger he’d been forced to bottle up, to hide, ever since Colin had finally told him he was dying. Yes, the only person Luke talked to, shared his deepest thoughts with, hadn’t shared the most important detail of his life until it was almost too late.

As he’d expected, as he deserved, Anna shook her head in disgust, tears rolling over the freckles on her cheeks. Everything about her was soft, her skin, her curves, her hair—no he hadn’t touched it deliberately, but when she stood close it was impossible not to feel it, not to smell her apple shampoo.

She stomped ahead of him towards the entrance. He hung back, swallowing the apology that hovered on his tongue. It could wait until she’d cooled down. And she would, because that was another thing he’d learned about her in the six weeks they’d lived together. She was quick to temper, but also quick to forgive and move on.

“I’d like to cut my own tree.” Anna spoke to the old guy on the reception desk.

“Have you pre-booked?”

Anna’s body stilled. “No. Is that going to be a problem?”

“’Fraid so honey. All our slots have gone for today.” He scratched his chin. “Don’t think we’ve got any left. People usually plan this well in advance.”

From his view behind her, Luke saw her body sort of crumple, like she’d been kicked in the stomach. “I . . . didn’t think. I came here with my brother last year, but I guess he must have forgotten to book it this year. Hardly surprising.”

He’d heard that shake in her voice enough times over the last six weeks to know she was fighting back tears. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d taken a stride forward and wrapped his right hand around her shoulder. “She’s just lost her brother,” he told the guy quietly. “One of his last requests was for her to buy a tree. Surely you can slot us in at some point today?”

The man’s face fell, his expression full of sympathy. “I’m sorry to hear that, real sorry. We can’t slot you in without letting someone else down, but we can sell you a pre-cut tree. Let me know what size you’re after and I’ll get someone to show you.”

“Tall,” he cut in before Anna could speak. “Tallest you can fit on the roof of a Toyota Corolla.”

Anna stared back at him. “You said you didn’t want a tall tree.”

“I don’t. But you do.” He’d watched and listened to her enough to know she put everyone else’s needs before her own. “And so would Colin, if he was here.” If he was here. Like he’d just not been able to make it, rather than being reduced to ashes and stuffed in an urn while Anna and her family decided what to do with him. As he’d learned to do—he was an expert at it now—he hid his pain behind a shoulder shrug. “I guess I’m outnumbered.”

Her eyes searched his, as if she was checking he really was okay with a big tree. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her. “I guess you are.”

An hour and a half later, he trudged up the steps to Colin’s ridiculously expensive three bedroom condo, the trunk of a seven-foot tree wedged on his shoulder.

No, not Colin’s condo. Anna’s now.

“Elevator or stairs?” She asked once they were in the foyer.

The condo was on the top floor. He gave her a nonplussed look and punched the button to call the elevator.

He cursed as he banged his elbow shoving the tree inside. And cursed again as he banged the same elbow dragging it out.

Anna, who’d gone ahead to unlock the front door, turned and winced. “Careful.”

He grunted. “Worried for the tree?”

“Of course. Poor thing, having to put up with your cussing and general crankiness.” Her smile was on the wicked side of playful. “Maybe we should have taken the stairs after all.”

He could point out the tree didn’t have feelings. And that he didn’t particularly enjoy having his elbow bashed. But she was smiling for the first time in weeks, so he kept quiet and carried it into the main living room where he heaved it off his shoulder and leant it against the wall while she hunted down the holder.

He wrestled the damn thing into it, emerging covered in pine needles and scratches. It was like the tree sensed he didn’t want it and was determined to fight back.

“Colin would have loved it.” Anna’s voice wobbled as she stared up at the Fraser Fir. Whether it was the chill from outside, or the joy at having fulfilled Colin’s first request, her cheeks were flushed. He had to concede she looked kind of cute, almost childlike. Except those curves were definitely not the curves of a girl. They were all woman.