CHAPTER TWO

Kate Castle rolled off her husband, still finding her face holding onto the smile she had most of the night. She loved her husband more each day, and continued to thank her great fortune that he had put up with her for so long and had never completely given up on them.

It wasn't all that early, but the past few years of not having to get up to go into the precinct had taken a toll on her habit of getting up early to get ready for the day. Over time, she found her body clock becoming more attuned to her husband's routine. That, and the fact that whenever they decide to go to bed does not necessarily mean that they were going to sleep.

Even so, she couldn't ignore decades of morning habits completely. She was slipping out from under the sheets, and Rick's arm when she heard her phone go off. She quickly grabbed it and took it into the bathroom with her. She glanced at the caller I.D.

"Hey Lexi, what's up?"

The voice on the other end was cheery. "Hi Kate, I didn't figure dad would be awake yet but I thought you would be."

"Yep, just got up actually." She grinned into her phone. "What can we do for you? Are you looking forward to spending some holiday time with Max's folks?"

"We are, but I know that dad is bummed because no one is going to be around for Christmas this year."

"Hey, what do you mean? I'll be here for him." Kate tried to sound indignant but the giggle at the end kind of gave her away.

"I'm sorry Kate, but you don't count. You and dad 'are' joined at the hip now that you aren't working for the police anymore." There was a brief chuckle on the other end of the line. "I shudder to think what the two of you do all day long."

"There's no need to be mean. I'll have you know that we spend a lot of time working on the next best seller nearly every day."

Another chuckle. "So that's what the 'old' folks call it now days."

Alexis couldn't see the glare that Kate was giving her. "You best be careful girl. You may be younger, but I'm still bigger and was trained in hand to hand combat."

All Kate could hear was her daughter-in-law laughing. "Was there a purpose for this call, or did you just want to poke fun at us old folks stuck at home, alone for Christmas."

The young woman was still laughing at Kate. "Well, the real reason I called was to see if you and dad would be available this afternoon."

Kate did a quick mental check on anything they might need to be doing. "No, I can't think of anything we have planned?"

"Good, I know that dad is probably going to be grumpy because everyone has other plans."

"It's not been too bad yet, but it's only the twenty second, give it a day and he'll be in full Grinch mode."

Alexis' laugh rang in Kate's ear. After she calmed herself she got to the point of the call.

"I was thinking that maybe Max and I could come over this early afternoon for a simple luncheon. Then we can see the tree and all the decorations, and have a chance to chat before we have to leave tomorrow morning for San Francisco. Do you think that would be alright?"

Kate's mouth stretched into a big smile. "That would be wonderful. He'll be thrilled, and I'll be saved from a miserable day of trying to cheer him up."

Alexis laughed again. "Great, we'll be there around one, and we'll bring the dessert."

"No, don't bring a dessert. Rick will surely want to make something special. But otherwise it sounds like a great idea, Lex. I'll be looking forward to it." Kate let go a little snort. "Now I just have to get your father out of bed before that."

"You know Kate, you two should do something just for the two of you this Christmas. Everyone will be back, and we'll do the family thing just before New Year's, but you two should find a little hideaway where just the two of you can celebrate your own personal Christmas."

Kate was nodding while Alexis talked. "That doesn't sound half bad. I'll do some thinking on that while we're waiting for you to come."

"Great, see you this afternoon, luv ya."

"Luv ya too, Lex

Kate disconnected, then turned toward the bedroom. She needed to get Rick out of bed and into lunch fixing mode, and it better be soon because she wasn't sure what they might have in the house to feed their guests.

She stood briefly at the foot of the bed, and with a sinister smile on her face, she crawled up the full length of Castle's large frame. She made sure that she placed her hands at strategic points as she made her way up toward her goal.

She could see that he was slowly coming out of his slumber, but she didn't let him come fully awake before she attacked. She planted her lips on his and began to suck his face for all she was worth. At the same time her hand was busy playing below his waistline.

Rick rolled her over and began to join in the fun that Kate instigated. She only let it go on for a few more minutes when she pulled back.

"We have to get up."

"No we don't." He shook his head. "This is more fun."

"We're having company for lunch."

He groaned. "Who is going to come over today?"

"I invited Gina and Paula over for a pre-Christmas luncheon."

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing when he snapped up and looked at her in horror.

"You didn't! You couldn't!" He looked around the room like he expected them to come out of a closet and yell 'Boo!'. "I thought you liked me."

Kate fell back on the mattress laughing. "You are so easy."

Rick placed his hand over his heart. "I see your plan. You're trying to give me a heart attack so you can take all the money and run off with the pool boy."

Kate chewed her bottom lip. "We don't have a pool boy."

Rick harrumphed. "With the money you'll have, you will be able to find one pretty easily."

She leaned over and kissed him on the nose. "I've already got the pool boy that I want."

She stretched and sat back up. "No, I just got a call from Alexis and she and Max want to come over for lunch. Since they can't be here for Christmas they thought they have a little pre-Christmas, and then a post-Christmas, low key celebrations."

Rick snapped upright, and as suddenly awake. "I have to get cleaned up."

Kate kissed her finger and placed it on his lips. "And you'll have to see what we have to feed them." She rose slowly, and sensuously in front of him. "But first, we need to shower." She walked into the bathroom, dropping items of clothing along the way.

He was quick to follow.

The shower was relatively short… for them. But once they were out and dressed, it was go time. With one quick look around Rick decided that he would call for some take out, and just make a fabulous dessert to top the luncheon off. Just as Kate figured he would.

Rick decided on his apple crumble for the dessert, and began pulling out pans and ingredients. Kate went into the office and called Alexis back to ask what they would prefer for lunch from the long list of take-out places that the Castles had compiled over the years. Just because it seemed out of place for a Christmas meal, Alexis and Max opted for Chinese. Kate quickly dialed in their favorite Chinese take-out place, from memory, and placed a generous order. They could always eat the left overs later tonight.

Kate peeked out and saw that Rick was deeply into the preparation for his special dessert, so she sat down at her desk and booted up her laptop. She had an idea, and she wanted to see if it would be feasible.

She started with general information, then began to narrow her search down based on what she wanted. Once she found what she felt she was looking for, she switched to what arrangements would need to be made to make Kate's idea come to fruition.

It was touch and go for a while there because of the lateness of her request with the holiday pressing on. She had to change her choices a few times before she got lucky and found exactly what she wanted that had opened up because of a late cancellation.

A gleeful Kate Castle made the necessary bookings and with a sneaky smile tucked the information away for a more appropriate time later this evening.

She usually didn't do things like this. Especially something as wild as this was. But she hoped that Rick would be up for the idea. She certainly was.

Checking the time, she decided she'd best go out and see how Rick was doing with his masterpiece dessert. Alexis and Max would be here in less than an hour.

She hoped their lunch would make it on time.

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The luncheon was a big success, and Kate could see how much Rick had needed to see his little girl before they left for California.

There had been a lot of package shaking of those that were already under the tree. They all knew there would be more to come, but since they planned the family post-Christmas Christmas for New Year's Eve there would be time for wrapping more presents.

Rick's dessert had been a big success, but he refused to give Alexis the recipe and to divulge his secret ingredient that made it so good. He claimed he needed all the weapons he had to entice his daughter and her husband to come over once in a while.

Kate just stood back and watched the two of them together. It had only been the two of them and Martha for long time. Kate hoped that Alexis and Max would begin to have children soon, because her over grown child of a husband needed to have some little ones around to play with and spoil.

Truthfully, Kate had become ambivalent about the idea of having children. And wasn't overly disappointed that she couldn't have them. Using her mother as a model, she never felt she would be great mother material, but she did look forward to becoming a Grammy, and spoiling Alexis' children. She could enjoy the little monsters, then send them home to their parents.

After hours of Rick telling tales of little Alexis to Max she decided her husband had heard enough and that they needed to get home. They still had some packing to do before catching their plane in the morning.

Kate immediately saw the droop in Rick's face, and the sad smile he gave them. She just hoped that the little surprise she had for him would perk up his spirits. It wasn't the first time she'd ever surprised him with anything, but she'd never planned one this big. It was more like something that Castle would do. She just hoped he would want to go.

The goodbyes at the door were heartfelt and long, but eventually being reminded that they'd be seeing each other in a week calmed the feeling of loss. Time will move on no matter how much one might want it to slow down.

Kate led Rick over to the couch and they sat down next to each other. She laid her head on his shoulder. He immediately began to play with her hair.

She swatted his hand. "Would you stop that! You do that all the time, and you get my hair so tangled up it's a real pain to comb it out every morning."

She felt his shoulder shrug. "I like playing with your hair."

She turned slightly so she could glare at him. "Well maybe I should just buzz it all off so you can't tangle it into knots all the time."

"Oh, that would look really bad ass."

She pinched his cheek and waggled it a bit. "You're forgetting that we both work out of our home. I'm not a cop anymore. I don't need to look bad ass."

He smirked. "You'll always be bad ass to me."

Kate frowned for a few beats. "That was supposed to be a compliment, wasn't it?"

"What else?"

They snuggled for a few minutes more until Kate had worked up the nerve to tell him what she had done earlier today.

"Rick," she began to play with his fingers. "There's no reason for us to just stay cooped up in the loft all through Christmas. Why don't we go somewhere, just the two of us?" She kissed the back of his hand. "We could find a nice quiet place. Someplace with some beautiful views, but also has a room with a large stone fireplace where we can cuddle up and make out to the crackle and the warmth of the fire."

He reached down and tilted her chin up toward his face. "You should have said something earlier. It sounds like a great idea. But I doubt you could find someplace like that this late."

She smirked. "I almost didn't."

He leaned back and gave her a raised brow. "Are you saying you found a place?"

She nodded. "Where? When?" He shot back.

Kate grinned. "When you were creating your masterpiece dessert, I was hunting the internet and making phone calls." She trails her finger down his arm. "How do you feel about a mountain lodge resort in the northwest of Vermont?"

He smiled. "I've never been to Vermont."

She chuckled. "Neither have I, but it has a four star rating, and the scenery shown in the pictures looks breath taking."

Castle nodded. "What's the name of this wonderful place?"

"The Woodland Lodge. I'm guessing that there are some trees nearby."

Rick put his arm around her. "And you've already been able to book a room?"

She nodded. "Yep, I got lucky. There had been a cancellation just a half an hour before I called to inquire. It was one of their prime rooms, with the large stone fireplace and an actual bearskin rug in front of the fireplace."

He chuckled. "I'm guessing this is one of their most expensive rooms."

She shrugged. "I didn't care. I married rich." She giggled. "And it's Christmas, so why not splurge?"

He had a big smile on his face. "Sounds like a good idea to me. When are we expected?"

"Tomorrow evening."

Rick startled. "We'd better check into how we are going to get there."

Kate patted him on the cheek. "Already been taken care of." She gave him a quick kiss. "We fly out tomorrow morning and land in Burlington International in the afternoon. After a nice meal at the airport restaurant, we pick up our four wheel drive SUV at the rental counter and we're on our way." She kissed him again. "It's only a couple hours from the airport."

He pulled her onto his lap. "You've got all that handled already." She nodded with a grin. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

She turned her head slightly and let her eyes stare at the ceiling. "Dammed if I know, but you better get used to it buster, because you no longer have any choice in the matter."

Rick lifted her off his lap and stood her up as he stood as well. "We'd better hurry and get packed for this little Christmas get away you've planned, because I plan to spend the rest of the night telling you how wonderful you are."

She raised a brow. "Telling me?"

He held up his hands. "I meant showing you. Really."

"Much better." She grabbed his hand and dragged him into the bedroom.

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The flight into Burlington International was a pleasant experience.

The scenery along the way gradually became less highways and cities and more lakes, rivers, and woodlands. The mountains out their window also made for some nice viewing.

The service in first class was enjoyable as the stewardesses wore red vests and Santa style hats complete with the white fur banding. Also the drink menu had added a few cocktails often served during the Christmas holidays. Rick had a Hot Toddy, but Kate soon fell in love with the Peppermint White Russian.

All in all the two of them had a good time on their flight. The most difficult part of the trip had been the fact that they had to behave during the flight.

They landed on time, and had little problem picking up their luggage. Each had only packed a single suitcase since they were only staying through Christmas and heading home on the twenty sixth.

They had an excellent meal at the Burlington Steak House, and had a few more drinks, with much less alcohol content. They still had a bit of a drive.

Rick was amazed how well everything just fell together.

They had found the car rental place easily and had a nearly new four wheel drive Jeep Cherokee to use while they were on their personal holiday.

There was plenty of snow on the ground but the roads were well tended, and at no time did they feel that they would have any trouble getting to their destination. A sleepy little lodge on the edge of Mount Mansfield State Forest. As Kate had mentioned, it was The Woodland Lodge. It was located on the northern end of the Green Mountains, which were considered the northern most edge of the Appalachians.

The scenery along their drive was impressive, but then Kate had always liked the outdoors even if she was a born and raised New Yorker. Their little cabin in upstate New York had always been a sanctuary for her.

She loved the peace and the quiet in such places. It allowed her to be able to just think, without all the noise and the chaos. That was why she had gone there to heal and recover from her first shooting.

She was never sorry for going away like that. But she'd been thoughtless and had to apologize to most of her friends for not letting them know where she'd gone and why.

The sun had set about an hour before they arrived at the front door of The Woodland Lodge. The stars were starting to peek through the last of the sparse cloud cover. It looked like it was going to be a clear night, and the almost full moon was just coming up on the eastern horizon.

They handed off the keys to their vehicle to the valet and took their single suitcases in themselves.

The check in was quick, and in no time they were standing in front of a solid wooden panel door.

Kate stood on her tip toes and gave Rick a quick kiss. "Are you ready?"

His eyes practically sparkled in the light of the overhead mini chandeliers. "Oh, you have no idea how ready I am."

She patted his cheek. "I can guess, because I'm betting it's about as ready as I am."

She used the card key and pushed open the door. "Oh." Escaped from Kate's mouth.

The room was everything she had wanted it to be. A large four poster bed occupied one end of the room. It was heavily built of dark wood that matched all the woodwork in the room. A white lacy canopy arched over the bed, and a comfy looking quilt was spread over the king sized mattress.

The carpet was thick and the tufts were a combination of light browns and tans, with a sprinkling of a rusty red color. She could see herself digging her bare toes into that carpeting.

She could see the bathroom on the opposite wall because the door was partially open. The hardware all looked like it was old fixtures, but the shiny, excellent condition spoke of being new and only designed to look old.

Everything that Kate saw she just glanced at. What really grabbed one's attention and kept it was the huge stone fireplace. It covered half the outside wall. A large dark mantel, that matched the rest of the wood in the room, held a miniature grandfather style clock. No digital read out. Just a brass face with actual numbers and two arms which meant you had to actually look at the thing to figure out what the time was.

There was a large dark leather couch facing it, and a matching side chair next to it.

"Ohmygod, it's real!" Castle rushed over and fell to his knees.

In front of the fireplace was a large bear skin rug. A real bear skin rug. And it was a big one. Rick kept running his hands through the thick dark brown fur. The head had the typical growling open mouth.

"Kate you have to come over here and feel this."

She smiled at her fifty three year old child playing on the bearskin rug. "I'll be down there with you before the night is over." She dragged her suitcase over toward the large dresser that sat against the wall next to the bed. "But first I'm going to unpack, and decide what I'm going to wear the rest of the night."

Rick rolled over on the bearskin. "Make sure it's something comfortable and see through." He waggled his brows.

She reached into her case and pulled out a lacy black negligée, with only a single flimsy tie to hold it together. "Why do you think I brought this with me?"

Castle stood up and walked slowly toward her, a big grin on his face.

"Because you know me so well?"

She grinned back. "Something like that."

T.B.C.

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A/N: So far so good for our couple enjoying their own love haze.

All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish