Harlequin American Romance November 2014 Box Set: The SEAL's Holiday Babies\The Texan's Christmas\Cowboy for Hire\The Cowboy's Christmas Gift (15 page)

Ty shook his head. “This is ridiculous. Donovan should be in jail, if for nothing else but being a creep and a son of a—”

“You tell Robert Donovan that he's footing the entire bill for the next ten years of haunted houses out at the Hanging H,” Jade said, and Ty felt a surge of pride wash through him. “You tell him that he pays for ten years of Haunted H family gatherings, every single penny. And then maybe, just maybe, we'll think about whether we ever want to invite him to Christmas dinner!”

Ty glanced at her. Jade looked at him, feeling like a firecracker ready to explode.

“That's what this is all about, Ty. He's trying to clear the past so he can get forgiveness. So he can be with his granddaughters, and so he can be invited into our family.”

“Is that likely?” Ty asked the sheriff. “Does Donovan actually think in terms of family?”

“My guess is yes. At least that's what it sounded like to me. He's an old man who's done a lot of wrong. It's time for him to come clean. And he's a smart man. He knows that eventually skeletons pop out of closets.”

“Tell me about it,” Ty said.

Jade grabbed her coat. “And he cancels every single sale and contract he may be negotiating, or may have negotiated, with any entity to come here, whether it be government or not. He stops trying to bulldoze people out of their homes and their businesses, and most especially, he leaves Phillipe and Cosette Lafleur alone.” Jade buttoned her red coat and slipped on some white mittens, looking very Christmassy and darling to Ty. Sexy, and somehow like a Christmas angel, too.

“And all business decisions he makes concerning sales, any sales of any property, have to go through the town council, which consists of Ty or myself, and Cosette, Phillipe, Jane Chatham and her husband, Ralph, Betty, Mackenzie and Justin Morant, as well as yourself, Sheriff. Those are my conditions. He'll have to take it or leave it.”

Jade glanced at the two men, who seemed disinclined to argue with her, or tell her that she was asking for the moon.

“If he wants to see his granddaughters, and hold them, and be part of their lives. If he wants to darken the door of this home at Christmas or any other time, that's my final and only offer. And now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I'm off to man the hot-cocoa stand at the creek. My husband has a race to win for me today.” She rose on her tiptoes to kiss her hunky husband goodbye. “I love you. Swim like Flipper.”

He grinned. Time and two babies had not knocked one ounce of sass out of his lovely redhead. “See you at the finish line, gorgeous.”

Jade went out, bundled to the max, her red-and-white scarf flying in the breeze.

“I guess you know that she's the only woman who could have tamed your heart,” Dennis observed. “She's got a helluva lot of spunk.”

Ty just smiled hugely.

Chapter Seventeen

To say that Ty swam like seven devils were after him was no understatement. He felt awesome, as if he was back in BUD/S, pitting himself against himself, the weather and all the men who had the same goal he did—to be the very best.

He won, easily. Way ahead of the pack. Climbed out of the frigid water to be rewarded by his wife throwing herself into his arms.

“Superstition or not,” he said, gasping for air, “I know I'm married to the only woman who is my better half. My significant other. The apple of my eye,” he announced to the cheering crowd. “The milk in my cereal, the cherry on my pie. Long live Bridesmaids Creek!”

Jade laughed, kissing him. “You'd better sit down, husband, and drink some cocoa. You sound a little punchy. A little bit like you've been to Daisy's bonfire and gotten into the hooch.”

“Yeah, but it was romantic,” he said, collapsing on the bench where she led him. “Wasn't it?”

She smiled and put a warm blanket around him. “Very romantic. Silly, but romantic. When you catch your breath, there are warm, dry clothes waiting in your truck.”

Clothes could wait. He got to his feet, lumbered to the side of the creek to see how the other fellows were doing. How fast could men swim for a hundred thousand dollars?

Daisy stood on the bank, wearing a drop-dead black cashmere pantsuit that clung to her every curve. She had on black boots, and her long hair whipped around as she cheered the swimmers on.

It looked as if Squint was going to win. Ty breathed a sigh of relief. The Plan was, as he'd instructed his brothers, that all three of them would swim faster than Daisy's gang—but then, at the last second, Squint was to touch the bank first. Frog and Sam were to cede the lead, though discreetly, thereby throwing the race to their friend.

The three would split the money, according to the terms Ty set forth for his brothers.

They'd readily agreed. They'd had to. It was his sister, he'd pointed out, his father-in-law's money, and Ty planned to beat their heads in if they didn't do exactly what he told them.

Squint was the fall guy, the sacrificial lamb, because he actually had, as Ty had pointed out with no thought to a pun, half an eye for Ty's dangerous sister. And Squint wasn't as easygoing as Frog. Frog wasn't capable of handling a woman like Daisy—she'd run all over him.

“Swim, Squint!” Ty yelled, unable to help himself. He'd known he'd be far in front of his brothers, but they seemed to be swimming slowly, by his calculations.

Even retired SEALs should be in reasonable shape.

To his shock, Daisy's gang began to pull in front. Something was terribly wrong. His brothers were slowing to a crawl.

“What's happening?” Jade asked. “Does something seem not right to you?”

He shook his head, his jaw dropping when all of a sudden, Frog touched first and jumped out of the water, dripping and gasping from the last-ditch effort he'd put forth.

Daisy's gang came in second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth.

Sam came in seventh. And Squint—he was dead last.

And everyone knew what coming in last meant.

It meant he didn't have a chance in hell of a happy marriage—or any marriage at all—in Bridesmaids Creek.

* * *

“I
T
DOESN
'
T
MATTER
,” Jade said as they went upstairs to their bedroom that night. Ty let his bride tuck him into bed, insisting he get under a pile of blankets. She was just certain he'd caught a chill.

Ty had never felt better. But he certainly wasn't opposed to letting his wife warm him up. She had that look on her face, as if she was in the mood for some Christmas fun, and he smiled. This was the real prize, the real win, being in bed with his beautiful wife, with the babies tucked into the nursery down the hall. The tree was twinkling downstairs, and so many presents billowed out from under it that it was clear Santa had arrived early.

Santa SEAL. “Come here, wife.”

She snuggled up to him, warming him the way he'd known she would. “It's just a race in a pond, a fund-raiser for our small town. Deep inside, you know that, Ty.”

“You're trying to say it doesn't matter that somehow Squint didn't win. How does Squint suddenly get a leg cramp? He knows better than to let pain be his guide! What a wienie.” Ty was outraged by his friend's sudden weakness. “I think he threw the race on purpose.”

“We'll never know.” She kissed Ty, trailing her fingers along his jaw. “Daisy gigged herself a Frog, and he claims he had to take one for the team because he could tell that Sam and Squint were struggling.”

“I don't believe a word of it. I think Frog's competitive side kicked in.”

“The money helped his time, no doubt.” Jade laughed. “And although Suz is beside herself, it's for them to straighten out. But I have a question. Why did you do the swim? Truthfully? You didn't have to.”

“For the traditional reasons, and then my own personal reason.” He thought he felt a bit of breast underneath the frilly white gown Jade wore, and it was making it hard to concentrate on what was a very important conversation. “I wanted you to know that I wanted to win you. I knew those guys couldn't beat me. I'm in shape, and clearly, they're not.”

“Frog, Squint and Sam donated their winnings to the BC hospital. What do you think about that?”

He kissed her fingertips, loving every minute he got to spend holding her. “That I picked them because I knew they were good men. So I expected nothing less from the three wild boys. They get a little crazy on occasion—”

“And that's why we love them. All of you.”

Her hand drifted lower to his abdomen, her fingers moving over his muscles, which he wasn't too proud to admit were washboard tight, thanks to the SEALs. “You're going to be all right with being a navy wife?”

“You mean, with you being gone all the time?” Jade nipped his shoulder lightly. “I plan to give you plenty to remember while you're gone. So, about these reasons.”

He smiled at his wife's curiosity. “I wanted you to know that I believe in us. That I trust you. All that bit about you ruining my trust because you didn't tell me about the babies, and other things, is something that belongs in the past. Buried.” He kissed her, loving how she melted against him. “Some things
can
stay buried in BC.”

Jade looked up at him. “You mean that, don't you?”

“Of course I do. Didn't I just prove it? I've still got the shivers that back up my words,” he said, fibbing a bit. “You can get a lot closer. It'll help me warm up.”

He put her on top of him, and she kissed his lips, bringing him a hot, sexy rush. “And the other reasons?”

He looked at Jade, the woman he'd dreamed of for so long. “Why else does a man rise to meet a challenge? I wanted you to have your own memory to brag about. And I believe that people will be talking about today's race for a long time to come.”

He stroked the burgundy-red hair that stayed aflame even in his dreams. “I told you, I'm a traditional guy. I go by a plan, although I'm learning that sometimes the plan goes rogue, which, when it comes to you and my daughters, is okay. Redheaded-and-rogue suits me fine. And I love you. Like crazy.”

“I love you, too.” She smiled down at him. “Merry Christmas, my sexy SEAL.”

He grinned and pulled Jade against his chest, holding her close to his heart. It
was
a very merry Christmas, and as Christmases usually went in Bridesmaids Creek, it was magical.

* * * * *

There are more stories in Tina Leonard's
BRIDESMAIDS CREEK
miniseries!
Watch for THE TWINS' RODEO RIDER,
coming February 2015, only from
Harlequin American Romance!

Keep reading for an excerpt from THE TEXAN'S CHRISTMAS by Tanya Michaels

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Chapter One

The smell of someone's take-out food filled the crowded elevator, and Nicole Bennett's stomach clenched in protest.
Seafood. Why did it have to be seafood?
Her destination was another five stories up, but when the doors parted at the next floor, she seized her chance to escape. Otherwise, she might make the elevator ride very unpleasant for the other passengers.

Taking deep, cleansing breaths, she headed for the stairwell at the end of the hallway. She'd planned not to tell anyone she was pregnant until after the first trimester, but these attacks of nausea might force her hand. She and Adele had dinner reservations in an hour and a half. How was Nicole going to survive the restaurant if she couldn't stomach food smells?

Every time Nicole thought about sharing her news with Adele Black, she was swamped with conflicting emotions. Her boss had mentored her since Nicole interned at AB Windpower in college. In the past couple of years, when Adele's cancer made it impossible to carry out her normal responsibilities, Nicole had been her second-in-charge. The two women had grown very close—closer than Nicole had been to any of her foster moms during childhood.

There was no one Nicole wanted to share her joy with more, but motherhood was a complicated subject for Adele. Decades ago, after her postpartum depression had spiraled out of control, Adele had abandoned her own four children. When she'd asked later for visitation rights, her powerful ex-husband had said the kids were better off without her and threatened to ruin her if she ever contacted them. Adele had changed her name and built a company, but she'd never had a family again. Would Nicole's news be bittersweet for her?

Then again, since the two women were temporarily sharing the apartment Adele kept near AB Windpower's satellite office in Dallas, maybe hiding the pregnancy wasn't practical.

Trudging up the next set of stairs, Nicole weighed her decision. As vice president of operations, she had a lot of responsibility. The company had lost a few employees this year, and she didn't want to cause her mentor stress about being shorthanded during Nicole's eventual maternity leave. Nicole had hoped to have a couple of new hires in place before she told Adele. Some strong candidates had sent in résumés, but with Christmas right around the corner and holiday plans scheduled, no one wanted to start until after the first of the year.

And can you blame them?
What wouldn't she give for family plans? For eager kids insisting it was time to get up and see what Santa had left, for siblings and cousins and grandparents sipping coffee in their flannel pajamas and robes?

She still had one last flight of stairs to go when the cell phone in her suit jacket buzzed. Probably Adele, trying to figure out what was taking so long. But to Nicole's surprise, the name that flashed across her screen was Chris Miller.

Happy holidays, Nic! Any chance you have time to talk this week?

She smiled at the coincidence. Calling her former coworker was actually on her to-do list for tomorrow. Last spring, Chris had been Adele's top choice to run the Dallas office. Life had thrown him some curveballs, though, and in the wake of finding out he was going to be a father, he'd left the company. Maybe his absence was for the best. Nicole didn't know how she would have been able to face him regularly while keeping Adele's secret. Through an odd quirk of fate, the woman Chris had recently married was Adele's oldest daughter.

If this visit to Dallas went the way Nicole hoped, maybe there would no longer be a need for secrecy. She paused on the landing to text him back.

Great minds think alike! Just got to town & was hoping we could all have dinner one night. I'd love to see Lizzie & the baby.

No answer followed. She chalked it up to either his needing to check with Lizzie about details or being interrupted by their newborn. If Nicole didn't get a response tonight, she'd phone him in the morning. In the meantime...

She pulled out her keycard and opened the door to the suite. “Hello? It's me.”

Adele moved into view, carrying a bottle and two champagne flutes from the kitchen area into the living room. “About time, dear! I didn't want to celebrate without you.”

A grin split Nicole's face. “You got the results?”

Technically, Adele had already been declared cancer-free in San Antonio, but now that she was feeling well enough to travel, she'd wanted a second opinion from a respected specialist in Dallas. It was as if she'd been too afraid to believe she was in remission—as if, perhaps, she didn't believe she deserved it. Adele had done a lot of soul-searching during her illness. At her sickest, she'd frequently spoken about the four children she'd left behind.

Lizzie, Savannah, Carly and Jet had been raised by their father, oil tycoon and rodeo legend Brock Baron. When Adele had feared she might die without getting a chance to tell her grown daughters and son that she was sorry or that she loved them, Nicole had urged her friend to contact them. Adele had balked, insisting she'd caused them enough pain already. It was too cruel to pop back into their lives just to tell them she was dying and to say goodbye. But perhaps now...

“Is that champagne?” Nicole asked, hesitating in the foyer. “I, uh, haven't eaten much today. I'm afraid it might go straight to my head. Wouldn't want to fall asleep on the cab ride to dinner.”

Adele shook her head. “Like I'm going to put alcohol into my body on top of everything else? It's just fancy juice. But the exhilaration is real.”

Nicole stepped forward to hug her. Despite Adele's fragile frame—she'd lost a ton of weight during treatment—there was strength in the return embrace.
She's improving every day.
Adele's graying hair was short and thin, and she still tended to sport shadows beneath her eyes, but she looked nice tonight. The red tunic sweater she wore added some pink to her cheeks. She was a spot of festive color amid the neutral decor. It gave Nicole an idea.

“You plan to be in Dallas for at least a couple of weeks, right? What if we...what if we get a Christmas tree?” She felt almost shy making the suggestion. Decorating for Christmas was traditionally a family endeavor.

“A tree?” Adele glanced around the room, as if seeking the perfect place to put one. “Yes, I think so. That's a lovely idea. We'll need to buy some ornaments and lights, though.”

“And we'll have to figure out how to get it up here. I'm sure we can pay for some kind of delivery. I'll look into options this week,” she volunteered.

“Thank you, dear. I don't know what I'd do without you.”

“Back at you,” Nicole said, trying not to think about the darkest days when she'd been afraid Adele wouldn't make it. Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked rapidly. She sometimes wondered, in occasional guilty moments, if she'd decided to have the artificial insemination procedure because she was so aware she might lose the person who mattered the most to her. But she'd assured herself that the decision was not merely a reaction to fear. Nicole had wanted to be a mother as far back as she could remember. Some of her earliest memories were singing to and “feeding” baby dolls.

Granted, she'd thought she would be raising children with a husband, but she was almost thirty and couldn't remember the last time she'd gone on more than four dates with the same guy. She still hoped to fall in love and marry someday, but it had begun to seem silly to put her dream on hold, waiting for something that may or may not ever happen. She'd always been the kind of person to take initiative.

And sometimes taking initiative meant giving a friend a swift kick in the tush. Accepting her glass of sparkling juice, Nicole said, “Chris Miller texted me on my way up. I'm going to try to see him and Lizzie this week.”

Adele was so still, it didn't even look as if she were breathing. “Well, naturally. I figured you would.”

Although Adele had refused to contact her children directly during her chemotherapy, she'd sent Nicole to Dallas with a merger proposal between AB Windpower and Baron Energies. Nicole had never believed the industry giant would link themselves with the much smaller alternative energy company, but it had given her the opportunity to meet Lizzie Baron in person, to report back to Adele that her daughter was savvy and kind and on the verge of motherhood herself. During one of Lizzie and Nicole's meetings, Lizzie had begun cramping and bleeding; it was Nicole who'd driven her to the hospital. Although the women didn't know each other well, Nicole considered Lizzie a friend.

“And you figured I'd let you in on how they're doing? Maybe take a few pictures of the baby?” Nicole asked. Despite her loyalty and affection for her boss, she didn't enjoy feeling like a spy. And she didn't enjoy lying by omission. “I have a better idea. You should make plans to see them for yourself.”

Reaching blindly behind her, Adele groped for the cream leather sofa and sank onto it. “Surely you don't think I should call my grown daughter out of the blue and say, ‘Hey, can we grab coffee?'”

“Nothing that glib.” Nicole sat next to her. “Now that your health is better, you should get in touch with them. Adele, you have a second chance. Don't waste it. I can't keep stalking them. It's creepy.”

“It's not as if I asked you to hide in the shrubbery and watch them through binoculars.” Adele tried to joke about the situation, but her light tone didn't last long. “What if my reaching out only upsets them? I don't want to intrude where I'm not welcome. Can you...can you ask Lizzie about me, about whether she'd
want
to hear from her estranged mother after all this time? I know she doesn't necessarily speak for all of them, but she's the oldest. When they were little, her sisters looked up to her. Lizzie might be a good barometer of how they feel.”

Now that Lizzie's baby was born, conversation about motherhood would be natural. Nicole could ask gentle questions about whether Lizzie missed her own mom. She hoped she'd handle the situation delicately enough; Chris and Lizzie probably weren't getting a lot of sleep these days. Their emotions could be on edge—to say nothing of Nicole's own pregnancy mood swings. She'd been a bit of a tomboy growing up and had almost never cried when she fell off a bike or when her foster brothers teased her about being “too short” to play basketball. Yet for the past week, she'd constantly felt on the edge of tears. Was now really the best time to play mediator?

It's Christmas—the season of miracles.
And a miracle may be exactly what Adele and her children needed.

* * *

E
VERY
TELEVISION
CHANNEL
seemed intent on reminding the viewer that Christmas was around the corner—classic animated movies, Christmas episodes of popular sitcoms, commercials promising “perfect gifts” for loved ones. Daniel Burke Baron punched the power button on the remote with an internal
bah, humbug.
Pain made him cranky. While Texas wasn't known for cold weather, the low temperature tonight was frosty enough to aggravate the lingering ache in his bruised ribs and make his recovering shoulder feel stiffer than normal.

Last month, he'd had surgery after being thrown from a bull in the rodeo ring, and he was damned impatient to get started with physical therapy. He wanted to feel like himself again.

With the television turned off, silence pressed in around him. But it lasted only a moment before a knock resounded through the one-room, remodeled bunkhouse. This building had once been part of a ranch that sold off its acreage to neighboring spreads decades ago. Daniel had wanted something simple, just a comfortable, low-maintenance place to crash when he wasn't out on the rodeo circuit. It was a few miles from the practice ring and livestock on the Roughneck, his stepfather's ranch, but lately Daniel had been wondering if he should have struck farther out on his own.

Annoyed with the fresh throbbing in his side when he stood, he answered the door, unsurprised to find his older brother, Jacob.

In lieu of a greeting, Jacob stated the obvious. “You missed Sunday dinner.”

It was traditional for the Baron siblings and step siblings to gather at the ranch on Sunday evenings for a family meal. Those meals had become increasingly crowded lately. Two of his stepsisters had married within the past year. Jet, Carly and Jacob were all engaged. And it wasn't just spouses or fiancés who'd been added to the mix. Until a few months ago, the only kid under the roof had been Alex, the son of Brock Baron's third wife. Now the five-year-old was surrounded by new cousins. Daniel had been as stunned as his brother when Jacob discovered in October that he had a toddler son, but in a very short time, Cody had become the center of Jacob's world.

“Sorry,” Daniel said. “Didn't quite feel up to it tonight.” If he were being honest with himself, it wasn't just the shoulder pain that had made him reluctant to go. This was the time of year he always missed his mother the most, and his seasonal melancholy seemed like an ill fit for all the nuptial bliss around the dining room table. Why dampen everyone else's festive mood?

“Well, Anna sent leftovers.” Jacob held out two Tupperware containers.

Daniel's mouth lifted in a half grin. He'd always been fond of the housekeeper. She was like him, a member of the household, but not exactly a Baron. Although Brock had adopted Daniel and Jacob after marrying Peggy Burke, he'd never treated them as entirely equal to his real children.

“Thanks. I haven't actually eaten yet.”

Jacob followed Daniel to the kitchen. “The other reason I stopped by was to let you know I found you a replacement chauffeur for tomorrow.” Ever since Daniel's accident, Jacob had been driving him to his medical appointments.

“I could drive myself.”

“In downtown traffic? That sling on your arm limits your reflexes and range of motion.”

They might be adults now, but Jacob was still the same protective big brother who'd tried to look after Daniel when their biological father was arrested for embezzlement and sent to prison.