Cowboys & Angels (17 page)

“Nothing wrong with having a double motivation.” Trey glanced sideways at Elle. Hard to tell what she was thinking, but she didn’t seem to be enjoying the conversation the way the rest of them were.

Emmett and Pam stood on the top step giving hugs and handshakes to family members clustered around them. Then they turned toward the limo.

“Get your bubbles ready,” Mary Lou said. “It’s time.”

The driver opened the door. Hand-in-hand, Emmett and Pam hurried down the steps in a shower of iridescent bubbles. Once they were tucked inside the limo, everyone followed the car a little ways down the drive, waving and blowing more bubbles.

Throughout the send-off, Trey kept track of Elle. She’d blown bubbles along with everyone else, but her shouts of good cheer had sounded hollow to him. That might be his mood, though.

After the limo pulled away from the resort, he glanced down at her. “Ready for that walk?”

“Sure.” She started to tuck the bottle in her jacket pocket. “Oh, do you want these back?” She took the bottle out again.

“You can keep it.”

“All right. Some of the younger skiers might have fun creating bubbles going downhill. Where are we walking?”

“I’d hoped you’d make a suggestion. You know the area better than I do.” Their careful formality sliced him to ribbons.

“This way, then.” She started across the driveway.

He walked beside her in silence. He’d rather not say his piece where they might have an audience. Within about five minutes they’d entered a groomed trail that wound through the trees.

“This is for cross-country skiing,” Elle said. “We have a few guests who’ve asked for that over the years, so Carl built a small trail for them. Nobody will be on it now.”

“I wonder if cross-country would suit me better.” His boots crunched on the packed snow, but he didn’t sink in.

“It might, at that.”

“I don’t suppose you care much for it, though. Too tame.”

“It’s okay for a change of pace.” Her steps kept time with his.

“Maybe I’ll check it out.” He didn’t know why he was discussing this. Procrastination, probably. They were out of sight of the resort. The air was still and cold. Then a breeze sighed through the pines, and ahead of them, a branch showered snow onto the path.

He stopped and turned to her. “Elle, I pushed you with that request last night, and I realize it set you off. You’ve decided there’s no hope for us, and if that’s the case, I’m ready to cut my losses.” He watched her eyes, hoping against hope that he’d see denial there.

Instead, she gazed at him with sad resignation. “It’s for the best, Trey. I’m not the one for you. I pray that you find her someday, and that she’s as romantic and loving as you are. You deserve that.”

So that was it, then. He wished an avalanche would come along and bury him under it. But he wouldn’t want her to be buried under it, too, so he couldn’t really wish that.

Instead, he had to man up and get through this. Except he wasn’t sure what to do next. Shake hands? Give her a farewell kiss? No, that was out. One kiss and he was liable to do something stupid, like beg her to change her mind.

She looked away and cleared her throat. “Maybe we should walk back.”

“Uh, yeah. You go ahead. You have that lesson with Cassidy. I’ll stay out a little longer.”

She glanced up, her blue eyes moist. “You’re sure?”

“Elle, I won’t get lost.”

“Okay, then. Goodbye, Trey.” She looked as if she might touch him, but then she didn’t. “Goodbye.” She walked away from him, her pace faster this time, her feet making a noise like a popcorn machine.

He stared after her, his whole body aching. Then he turned and walked in the other direction, because that was easier than standing still. He’d promised her he wouldn’t get lost. But he’d never felt so lost in his life.

17

E
LLE
MANAGED
TO
avoid Trey for the rest of the time the Last Chance folks were at the resort. Doing that kept her on edge. She didn’t sleep well, either, knowing he was there. She woke up in the middle of the night, certain he’d knocked on her door, but no one was outside when she looked.

She told herself that once Trey had left, she’d be able to relax. Instead, she got the flu, or what felt like the flu. She didn’t run a fever or get sick to her stomach, but she ached all over. A soak in the hot tub didn’t help. A massage didn’t help. Getting drunk with Amy didn’t help.

As the two of them sat in Amy’s room working on their second bottle of wine, Amy listened to Elle describe her peculiar symptoms. “Is there a chance you’re in love with the guy?” she asked. “Could that be what ails you?”

Elle’s head jerked up. “Hell, no!”

“Don’t look so horrified. That would explain why you feel so rotten. You’re in love with him. It’s possible.”

“No, it’s not possible. Not after four days.”

“So you don’t believe he’s in love with you, either?”

She shook her head violently. Too violently. She had to put her hand over her eyes and take a deep breath. “Whoa. Dizzy.”

“Not to mention that you overreacted to the question. I think maybe—”

“Nope, nope.” Elle held up her hand like a traffic cop. “Trey is not in love with me. He’s in love with the angel who came to his rescue. He’s a romantic dreamer who fell in love with an idea, not a flesh-and-blood woman.”

“Hmm.”

“What?”

“I watched him at the reception. I watched both of you. If he wasn’t a man in love, he gave a damned good impression of it. You seemed to be into him, too.”

“Amy, you were seeing what you wanted to see.”

“That is so not the case. First of all, I wish he hadn’t been so stuck on you, because I would have dated him in a heartbeat. Second, I was fascinated by the change in you. You can deny it all you want, but you acted way happier when he was around. More open, somehow.”

Elle frowned. That sounded too much like Jared’s comment. “So I’ve been closed in the past?”

“That sounds bad. I didn’t mean that in a critical way.”

“Jared said I don’t let people get close to me.”

Amy’s gaze was filled with compassion. “That’s sort of true. Part of it is that you’re only here for six months. I just start getting to know you again, and you’re gone. But...I have the feeling that’s on purpose. By going somewhere else for six months, you don’t get too attached to the place or the people.”

Elle didn’t know what to say about that, especially because Amy might have scored a bull’s-eye. “It’s...it’s what I’m used to.”

“I know, hon. When you grow up like that, always on the move, it becomes a habit. But if you’ve fallen for this guy, and I think you have, then maybe it’s time to break that habit.”

“That scares me to death.”

“I’ll bet.”

Elle held out her glass. “More wine, please. I’m not ready to examine this concept sober. Not yet, anyway.”

Amy poured wine for both of them. Then she picked up her glass. “Here’s to facing down fears.”

“Maybe.” Elle raised her glass. “To quote Scarlett, I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

But she didn’t. The next day she rejected the idea that she was jetting between continents because she was afraid to let herself become attached to people and places. What nonsense. Unfortunately, her mysterious aches and pains refused to go away. She took aspirin and pretended she was fine.

Three days before Christmas, Dominique Chance emailed a link to the wedding pictures along with a chatty note about the fun they’d had at Serenity. Elle put off opening the link for another day. She wanted to see the pictures, but also knew Trey would be in them.

When she woke up at four in the morning on Christmas Eve Day with a burning desire to look at those pictures, she surrendered to the urge to click on that link. For the next hour, she sat on her bed and watched a slide show of the wedding.

Some shots made her laugh, but others...well, she had to hit Pause, climb out of bed and grab the tissue box. It wasn’t only the pictures of Trey that made her cry, either. She teared up at the tender scene of Jack holding Archie at the altar, and the loving expression on Emmett’s face as Pam walked toward him down the aisle.

She got weepy when she came to the image of Pam and Emmett dancing at the reception. And then...there she was in Trey’s arms when they’d waltzed to “If I Didn’t Have You in My Life.” Dominique had several shots from different angles, as if she hadn’t wanted Elle to miss the message.

She didn’t miss it. Trey gazed down at her in the same way Emmett had looked at Pam. But that wasn’t all. Dominique had captured the emotion on Elle’s face with stunning clarity, too.

It was a portrait of a woman in love. Jetting from continent to continent hadn’t worked this time. She’d become attached to Trey Wheeler, and if she ever wanted this horrible ache to stop, she had to admit that attachment and honor it. Her roving days were over.

* * *

T
REY
VOWED
THAT
he was going to enjoy his first Christmas at the Last Chance and put all thoughts of Elle clean out of his mind. Around four in the afternoon he left the bunkhouse. The other hands were taking their sweet time getting showered and dressed for the big night, but Trey was eager to join the party.

A light snow fell as he took the short walk uphill to the massive two-story log structure that was the heart and soul of the ranch. According to Watkins and Mary Lou, the house had begun as a two-story box shape. As the family had grown, a wing had been added on each side, canted outward so the house seemed to be reaching out its arms in welcome.

A covered porch ran along the entire length. In summer, the porch was lined with rockers and became a good spot for socializing. But winter was not the time for rocking on the porch. Winter meant gathering around the giant stone fireplace in the living room, and that’s what Trey looked forward to.

Most folks had arrived, judging by all the vehicles parked near the house. Although the Chance brothers each had a house of their own on ranch property, they’d all driven the few miles to the main house and would spend the night here, along with their wives and kids.

They’d be the only ones to stay overnight, but there’d be plenty of other guests. Josie’s brother, Alex Keller, and his wife, Tyler, would be here. Trey wanted to ask her about recording a few songs, just to see what would happen if they put them out there. He planned to train horses for the rest of his life, but a little extra income never hurt.

Nash Bledsoe’s truck was parked with the others, so he and his wife, Bethany, had driven over from the Triple G, a small ranch that bordered the Last Chance. Bethany wrote motivational books. Trey didn’t know her well yet, and he’d had no opportunity to talk with her at the wedding, either. But gatherings like this one were a good place to get acquainted.

No doubt other members of the Chances’ extended family would show up, too. Jack’s half brothers, Wyatt and Rafe Locke, along with their wives, had promised to make it. Neither couple had been able to attend the wedding, so they were adamant they’d be at the Christmas Eve party.

Trey figured he was forgetting several other folks who would be there, too. Good thing the house was big and Mary Lou had cooked a whole bunch of food. Watkins said she’d been cheerfully slaving away in the kitchen for two days. Apparently, she liked nothing better than preparing for a party.

Lights glowed from every window, and as Trey approached, snatches of Christmas music filtered outside. A huge wreath hung on the front door, and two miniature trees with sparkling lights stood on either side of it. When the temperature dipped lower tonight, those little trees would be brought in so the lights wouldn’t pop in the cold, but Sarah loved making the entrance festive.

Trey had told himself not to think about Elle, but damn, he wished she could see this. She might not fall in love with him, but she’d have to fall in love with this big old ranch house and the wonderful people inside, celebrating the season. She wasn’t here, though, and that was her loss.

Taking a deep breath of crisp air, he walked up the steps and opened the door. Inside, the scene was even better than Trey had imagined. The noise level was high, with a mixture of Christmas music, conversation and laughter―it was a happy noise. A few people sat on the comfortable leather furniture, but most of them stood so they could move around and talk to everyone.

A graceful wooden staircase spiraled to the second floor. Trey noticed little Archie navigating his way down the stairs, a Barbie doll clutched in his pudgy fist. About the time he reached the bottom step, Sarah Bianca raced down the upstairs hallway. “Archie! No!”

Archie looked at Trey, pure mischief in his expression, before taking off toward the crowded living room.

“Archie!”
Sarah Bianca pounded down the stairs in hot pursuit.

As Trey watched the drama unfold, Jack snatched up his son and took him over to admire the lights on the giant tree in the corner. While Archie was distracted by the lights, Jack quietly took the doll away. Gabe put a hand on Sarah Bianca’s tiny shoulder, steered her toward Jack, and retrieved the doll. His daughter marched back upstairs, and all was well.

Trey had often wondered if Jack and Gabe’s work with horses carried over to their method of child care. If so, he might turn out to be a pretty good dad himself. But that thought reminded him of Elle and their failed love affair.

“Hey, cowboy, no long faces tonight.” Watkins approached him, a beer in each hand. He gave one to Trey. “Merry Christmas, son.”

Even though Watkins’s use of
son
put a lump in Trey’s throat, he wouldn’t ever want the older man to quit saying it. He smiled. “Same to you, Watkins. Cheers. How’s Mary Lou doing in the kitchen?”

“Just fine, but I’m fixing to go back and help her and Cassidy. I wanted to make sure you had a beer, though, before I left the area.”

“I’ll come and help, too.”

“Nah, you don’t have to do that. Stay out here. Have fun. Get you some munchies.”

“I can do that in a little while. Let’s go.” He started down the hallway that led to the dining room and kitchen area.

“Okay, if you insist.” Watkins walked along beside him. “This is a big crowd, bigger than usual, so Sarah’s asked Mary Lou to set up a buffet in the dining room instead of trying to serve the food in the living room, like they used to do.”

“Makes sense. I— Whoops, there’s my phone. I don’t know why I brought it. Habit, I guess. If we hadn’t walked down here I doubt I would have heard it.” He couldn’t imagine who’d be calling him. Maybe some cowboy from his old job, wanting to wish him a happy holiday.

Then he stared at the readout in disbelief. “Oh, my God.”

Watkins’s swift glance was filled with concern. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. Elle’s calling. Excuse me a minute.” Heart pounding, he put the phone to his ear. “Elle?”

“Trey, I can’t believe this. I’m stuck in a snowdrift.”

His heart beat faster. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but this truck isn’t going anywhere without a tow.”

For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why she was calling him. “Where are you?”

“On the road to the Last Chance.”

“What?” Then he said the first stupid thing that popped into his head. “What the hell are you doing there?”

“I was coming to see you, and I don’t know the road, and it’s dark out here, and it’s snowing, and I somehow lost track of where the road was.”

“You were coming to see
me?
Why?”

“Because I—listen, instead of telling you all this on the phone, could you come and pull me out? Then I can follow you to the ranch.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be right there. See you soon.” He disconnected the phone and looked at Watkins. “She’s stuck out on the ranch road.”

“So I gathered.” Watkins clapped him on the back. “Looks promising, son.”

“Maybe.” Trey was afraid to hope for too much. “I need to go pull her out. I know I offered to help you and Mary Lou, but—”

“Don’t give it another thought. But can I offer a suggestion?”

“Like what?”

“Don’t take your Jeep out there. You’ll be fumbling around in the dark, and when you’re done, you’ll still be in one vehicle and she’ll be in another, which isn’t very romantic. Save the towing for when it’s daylight.”

“And do what?”

“Rescue her the cowboy way. Ride out there on a horse and bring her back tucked in front of you. You have the advantage, son. Maximize it.”

* * *

E
LLE
PONDERED
THE
irony of her situation as she watched for headlights on the road. Maybe it wasn’t ironic, after all, but fitting. Supposedly she’d saved Trey’s life last spring, but by doing so, she’d apparently saved her own.

Without realizing it, she’d blindly followed a pattern stamped into her by her parents. They’d adjusted to constant moves by becoming detached from people and places. Or maybe they’d chosen their life paths because they preferred to stay detached.

She wasn’t like them. Trey had shown her that by jolting her out of a numbing lifestyle and making her feel again. She’d needed a dyed-in-the-wool romantic to accomplish that, and she’d found him.

But getting to him tonight had been more of a challenge than she’d anticipated. Honest to God, they needed streetlights on this road. She’d never driven in such total blackness. If Trey hadn’t answered his cell phone, her predicament could have been dire.

He had, though, and he should arrive any minute. She’d left her headlights on so he’d see her. Beyond the reach of those beams, she searched for evidence that he was coming in her direction.

Then her phone rang. Why the hell was he calling her? She pushed the connect button. “Where are you? I have my lights on. I shouldn’t be hard to spot.”

“I decided to warn you that I’m not coming in my truck.”

“What do you mean, you’re not coming?” She sounded panicky, but she couldn’t help it. Darkness surrounded her, not to mention snow, and she needed to be rescued, damn it!