Merry Cowboy Christmas (7 page)

“So you couldn't sleep, either? Worried about the new houseguests?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“I'm not sure I'm comfortable turning so much of the housework over to Dora June. I know she can do it and she wants to, but dammit! I like to cook and this is the first time in ages that I can make anything I want. I've been looking forward to making Christmas cookies and decorating them,” Fiona admitted.

“Just tell her that you are making cookies or candy or cakes. Do you make those Martha Washington candy things? I'll shoot them both and drag their bodies off to the back of the property if they get in your way of making those. Next to Aunt Bill's fudge, they are my all-time favorite and I don't get either very often.”

Fiona nodded. “Yes, I make both but I didn't have anyone to eat them with this past year. And I was too busy to make candy or cookies when I was married.”

The thin ray of light from the bathroom lit up a smear of chocolate icing on the corner of her mouth. He shifted his position until he was in front of her, sitting with his legs crossed and his knees touching hers.

“What?” she said as he leaned forward.

“Chocolate. Be still.” He wiped it away with his thumb and then licked it off.

Little lightning bolts shooting around in the landing were so real that he expected to hear thunder rolling, but nothing happened. Women had never affected Jud Dawson like that, but there was something about those luscious full lips that begged to be kissed and it was far different than any bar bunny he'd ever picked up.

She scraped the icing stuck to her plate with her finger and licked it off.

He followed her lead and cleaned his plate with his finger. “Want me to take the plates down to the kitchen? No need in both of us going.”

She shook her head. “We'll leave them on the credenza and take them in the morning. Good night, Jud.”

He stood up, took the dirty dishes from her, set them on the credenza, and then offered her his hand. When she took it, he pulled her to her feet and kept right on until she was plastered against his chest. He hadn't planned on kissing her until he saw her moisten her lips with the tip of her tongue. He shut his eyes and simply followed sparks right to those sweet lips he'd wanted to kiss all evening.

The bristle of Jud's beard tickled Fiona's face as his lips moved over hers. She'd never been an impulsive person, so why in the devil was she kissing Jud so passionately? Using both hands, Jud brushed her hair back, kissed her on the forehead, then the tip of her nose and moved back to her lips.

His tongue eased its way into her mouth, igniting fires that she thought she might never feel again. Her insides went all oozy, begging for more than a touch, more than a series of hot perfect kisses.

She covered his hands with hers and gently pulled them away from her face. “Enough,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Depends on who's calling the shots.” His sexy drawl had deepened to a rasp.

“Let's not start something we can't finish,” she whispered, and then gasped when she heard the turn of a doorknob across the landing.

She backed up against the wall just as the door opened and Katy stepped out in a long flannel nightgown that went from neck to toes.

“There's more cake in the kitchen if y'all can't sleep.” Katy yawned.

“We just had some and were about to turn in,” Jud said, as if nothing had happened.

“Well, then hand me those dirty dishes. I woke up hungry and I'm going down to the kitchen for a glass of milk. Good night to you both,” Katy said.

“I feel like a sophomore,” Jud chuckled when Katy disappeared down the steps.

“Me too, but we can't do this again.” Fiona's breath came out in a long gasp.

He ran a finger down her jawbone. “Why? I kind of enjoyed it.”

She turned around and opened her bedroom door. “I'm leaving town, maybe not next week or even before summer. But still, I'm not going to be here long-term. Can't get any simpler or easier to understand than that.”

“But you'll be around for a little while. I'm not asking for a lifetime commitment here, Fiona. We are two adults and we could have some fun. Besides, it might help you forget that rotten ex of yours,” he said.

She had a smart remark on the tip of her tongue that got lost in his soft brown eyes. She wanted to kiss him again. Hell, she wanted to do more than act like sophomores in high school. She wanted to be half of a consenting adult couple and pull him through the open door into her bedroom.

No, no!
the voice in her head screamed.
Get a hold of your emotions or you'll make the second biggest mistake of your life. This is not a part of your new plan.

“What are you thinking about so seriously, Fiona? A few kisses don't mean a stroll down the aisle. I enjoyed kissing you,” Jud said.

“I was thinking of my new plan, and it doesn't involve getting into a relationship of any kind,” she said honestly.

“You are beautiful when you are serious. But then you're pretty damn cute when you are kicking the shit out of a blown truck tire.” He grinned.

It had been a very long time since anyone had told her that she was pretty or had teased her about her temper. “I guess it goes with the red hair and green eyes. I'm told that the original owner of this place, Miz Audrey, had red hair and a wicked temper.”

“Hey…” He braced his back against the wall. “Since you don't like it here and you could live anywhere in the whole world, where would it be?”

“Any big city where no one knows me or my past,” she answered quickly. “I've been thinking about Austin or maybe San Antonio. What about you?”

“Right here. I've waited for the Lucky Penny my whole life.”

“Why?” She frowned. “It's a run-down old ranch except for the part that Lizzy bought from Deke. Even that isn't anything to brag about.”

“Because all three of us have always wanted to build something from nothing. To be able to tell our kids when we are old that no one gave us this land or this ranch, that we had to dig it out of the earth and work our asses off to have it. There's something satisfying about that,” Jud said.

“Didn't Toby already do that with some place he had up around Muenster?” She looped her hands around her legs and braced her chin on her knees.

“He did but it wasn't nearly the challenge this is. We were all born a hundred years too late, I guess. We should have been ranchers back in free-range days or when the state was being settled.”

“You wouldn't have had bulldozers and tractors in those days,” she said.

“We would have had Audrey's in all its glory. I wonder what those ladies who lived in our bedrooms looked like.” He grinned.

She slapped at his shoulder. “I hated the stigma of this place when I was a teenager. Boys thought Lizzy and I would be easy because of the reputation it has.”

“Not Allie?”

“No, she started dating Riley when they were kids and she never went out with anyone else. It broke her heart when she found out he'd been unfaithful their whole married life.”

“And you? How bad was your heart broken?”

“At the time, I was more angry than hurt. Especially about my job. We'd been fighting so much that divorce had crossed my mind several times.”

“Y'all still up?” Katy asked as she topped the staircase and headed to her room.

“Just going to bed now. Good night, Miz Katy,” Jud said.

“'Nite, Mama.” Fiona took a couple of long strides and gave her mother a hug.

She'd started back across the hall when Jud put a finger over his lips and pointed. Sure enough, there was the squeak of the refrigerator door as it opened and then the definite sound of the light switch. After that they heard Dora June asking Truman if he'd eaten half the chocolate cake and him fussing about not having a single bite.

“Sleepy?” he whispered.

She shook her head.

“It isn't even ten o'clock yet. Let's take this conversation into my room. I promise to leave my bad boy ways out here and you can have the rocking chair,” he said.

She followed him into his room and noticed he hadn't been lying about neatness. Everything in the room was in place. Not even a magazine thrown on the dresser or a pair of boots kicked off beside the bed.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor, hands folded in her lap. He took the rocking chair and nonchalantly propped his bare feet up on the footboard of the bed. Her imagination jumped the tracks and went completely wild. What would it be like to have those feet tangled up with hers in this very bed? Would they be cold in the night or would his whole body be as hot as it looked in those Dallas Cowboy pajama pants and that navy blue thermal knit shirt?

“My sister, Josie, and I argue about everything, but I miss talking to her since I came here,” he said.

“I thought you'd been living out in the panhandle and working for an oil company. Did you major in geology in college?” Fiona pulled her feet up on the bed, glad that she was wearing socks. There was something personal and even sexy about bare feet.

“Josie and I both did. Geology with a business agriculture minor for both of us. The oil company gave us a trailer to live in as part of our benefit package. She's still got a couple of months left on her contract and then she'll decide whether she wants to sign on for another year or not.”

Fiona propped two pillows behind her and got comfortable. “I've missed adult conversation, too. Talking to my sisters on the phone was nice, but it's better to see who you are visiting with.”

Especially when he was a damn fine-looking cowboy.

“So tell me more about Fiona the businesswoman,” Jud said.

“She was a hardworking woman who went in early, stayed late, and got the job done. She had a few promotions and raises and then it all went in the crapper and she found out how the other half lives.”

“Starbucks?” He laced his hands behind his head and leaned back in the overstuffed rocker and recliner combination. “Would you please toss me one of those throws on the end of the bed?”

She picked it up and threw it over the footboard as he pulled the lever on the side of the chair. Suddenly his feet disappeared. He covered them with the burgundy throw and looked at her from a reclining position.

“Not Starbucks. Just a little coffee shop that went belly-up when Starbucks put in a shop at the end of our block,” she answered, disappointed that he was covered completely.

“I worked flipping burgers one summer at a Sonic,” he said. “And one summer in college, I spent the whole three months doing gigs as a rodeo clown. Josie wants to invest in rodeo stock—bulls mostly. She would like to ride but she's about as coordinated as a hippo on ice skates.”

“She sounds like she could be my friend,” Fiona said.

“Probably. You are both strong-willed, determined, and outspoken,” he chuckled.

They talked until midnight when Fiona made a joke about turning into a pumpkin and stood up, stretching from one side to the other with her hands over her head.

“And now it's time for Cinderella to rush away across the hall in her golden coach, right?”

She giggled. “This Cinderella doesn't even have a rusty old pickup anymore.”

He popped the recliner down and walked her to the door. “I'll take you anywhere you want to go.”

“Ahhh,” she sighed theatrically. “My Prince Charming will race to my rescue in a big black club-cab truck.”

“You bet your sweet little Southern ass he will.” Jud tipped up her chin with his fist. “He will even let you ride in the front seat.”

She fought the desire to roll up on her toes for a good night kiss. “Thank you for that and for the conversation.”

He kissed her on the forehead. His soft lips right above her eyes at that time of night when everything was so intimate anyway was almost more than her nerves could stand.

She had to get out of his room or else drag him back to the bed, tear that shirt up over that muscled abdomen, and slip her hand beneath the elastic band of those Dallas Cowboy pajama pants.

With that vision in her head, she backed out of his room and hurried to her own bedroom. She threw herself on the bed and stared at the dark ceiling. It was going to be a long, long winter.

F
iona awoke to the aroma of bacon and coffee blended with something sweet reaching her nose as she threw the covers back. Noises across the hall told her that her mother and Jud were getting around, too, so that meant Dora June was serious about taking over the kitchen. The sun wouldn't be peeking over the horizon for another hour, but things had always started early in Dry Creek. The store was open by seven so the old guys could come for their morning coffee and discussion of politics.

“Politics, aka town gossip,” she said to herself. She was used to getting up early because she'd had the early shift at the coffee shop. Folks who had to be at work by eight wanted time to drink the first cup in the shop and then take one with them to sip on throughout the morning.

Fiona dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a soft dark green sweater and fished an old comfortable pair of cowboy boots from the back of the closet. Seven years she'd been gone and had only been home for a short while and yet old habits had come back as if she'd never left. Shaking the bugs out of her boots. Sitting on the step to put them on. Tucking the legs of her jeans down into them.

Katy laid a hand on her shoulder. “Good morning. Ready to go to work again?”

Fiona stood up and hugged her mother. “Good morning to you, too. Hey, I forgot to tell you that Lucy Hudson wants me to take over her books, too. She might come by and talk to me this morning.”

“Ladies?” Jud stepped out of his room. “Books? What books?”

“Fiona went to school to be an accountant. She's always been good with figures,” Katy said.

The pride in her mother's voice made Fiona's heart swell. She'd always known that her mother loved her but that morning she felt it down deep rather than just heard the spoken words.

“We might need to talk about the Lucky Penny business, then,” Jud said.

Fiona blinked and tried looking away, but it didn't work. Wearing snug jeans, a dark blue thermal knit shirt with the top two buttons undone and the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and scuffed cowboy boots—well, that was definitely sex-on-a-stick right there. Then add in bedroom eyes that hadn't had enough sleep and blond hair that curled when it was too long, and it was enough to make a saint sit up and take notice.

“Mornin', Jud,” she said. “I'd be glad to take on the accounting for the Lucky Penny.”

He nodded slightly toward her and then turned his attention to Katy. “Smells like Dora June was serious.”

“I love home cooking.” Fiona started down the stairs.

“My girls have always had healthy appetites,” Katy giggled.

Dora June was bustling around in the kitchen. She wore a red sweatshirt with a picture of Santa Claus on the front and green sweatpants that were rolled at the hem. “I know I must look crazy but I love the way this feels. All soft and Christmas like.” She pushed the sleeves up to her elbows. “Sit right down and have a nice cinnamon apple muffin while I fix y'all some eggs. I didn't want to cook them until you were here because cold eggs are horrible.”

“Dora June, you don't have to wait on us.” Fiona buttered a warm muffin and rolled her eyes. “You should be baking for a fancy coffee shop. These would sell for five dollars each where I used to work.”

Dora June beamed. “Aah, honey, wait until you taste my orange cranberry. I like to make them in the holiday season. Speaking of that, I make cookies every Saturday during the season so I can have them for my Sunday school class. Y'all will have to eat the broken ones.”

“Well, now, that is surely a chore I will look forward to.” Jud smiled. “Where's Truman this morning?”

“He eats at five every morning and goes out to do chores by six. I expect he's over at the house trying to prove it was the Christmas tree that caused the fire. I cried and worried until after midnight, but finally a voice in my head had a talk with me and I'm fine with things this morning. I'm sixty-eight years old and…” She prattled on as she cracked eggs into a bowl and whipped them into a yellow froth. “I've been praying for two years that God would show Truman that it's time for us to retire and do something else. I didn't want the answer to be what it was, but who am I to question God?”

Fiona buttered another muffin and got the message as loud and clear as if it had been delivered through the voices in her head. The old truck barely making it to Dry Creek, the way things were working out, they were all answers to the prayers that she'd had in her head those weeks when she ran out of food and had no money. She'd been led to Dry Creek for a reason.

“Now Truman”—Dora June poured the eggs into a cast-iron skillet with melted butter in the bottom—“he's got to make his own peace and God has a little harder time convincin' him than he does me. He'll be back in the middle of the morning and we're going to Wichita Falls to buy clothing.”

“Don't worry about supper,” Fiona started.

“Oh, we'll be back by then. I've got a chicken in the slow cooker and plan on making dumplin's tonight.”

After he'd finished breakfast, Jud carried his dishes to the cabinet, rinsed them, and put them in the dishwasher. Fiona followed so close behind him that she caught a whiff of his aftershave with every breath.

“Y'all been raised right,” Dora June said seriously. “Now get on out of here and go to work and I'll busy myself with my jobs.”

Fiona wanted to remind Dora June that she wasn't the boss, that she might have taken on the job of chief cook and maid, but that didn't give her any parental rights or even grandparent rights, but she kept her tongue.

“You got that right, Miz Dora. I'm procrastinatin' going out there in the cold wind to feed cows but I suppose it's got to be done,” Jud said. “Thank you for the mighty fine breakfast. You mind if I tuck a couple of those muffins in my pockets for a midmorning snack?”

Dora June beamed. “Let me get you a couple of them plastic bags to put them in. Don't want crumbs in your pockets drawin' ants. You want to take along one or two, Fiona? There's plenty.”

“I'd rather have two biscuits stuffed with leftover eggs and bacon. That would make a great lunch,” Fiona answered.

“I'll get the bags and, honey, around here it's
dinner
and
supper
.”

Fiona nodded and pasted on a smile.

Katy parked beside a line of five pickup trucks with their engines still running and old ranchers huddled down over the steering wheel like a buzzard over roadkill.

“Mercy, the old guys are here early today,” Fiona said.

“They're always waitin' for me to open up on Monday so they can talk about the whole weekend. Men gossip every bit as much as women,” Katy laughed.

Doors slammed as the guys crawled out of their trucks and followed Katy and Fiona into the store. They'd barely gotten inside when the pastry man arrived bringing in the usual order of pastries. Katy flipped on the lights and adjusted the thermostat while the fellows headed for the table in the back corner. Before Fiona could get the coffee made, Herman Hudson yelled at her to bring a dozen doughnuts to the table.

“I know Miz Lucy made you a good breakfast,” Fiona said.

“That was two hours ago, darlin'. Man my size has to eat more often than three times a day. Besides, these old codgers here are going to help me out with the doughnuts,” Herman chuckled.

Herman lived in bibbed overalls and always had a smile for anyone he met. He and his wife, Lucy, had been friends with Fiona's grandmother, Irene, since long before Fiona was born. He'd always felt more like a surrogate grandfather than a customer and he'd fallen right back into that place that cold November morning.

“Old! Who you callin' old?” one of the other men said. “And where in the hell is Truman this mornin'? I wanted to talk to him about that fire.”

“Lickin' his wounds, I imagine,” Herman said. “Katy took him and Dora June in over at Audrey's Place. He didn't want to go, but Dora June…well, let's just say she stood up to him and he don't mess with her when she takes a stand. She'll put up with a lot of shit but when she sets her mind, he'd better go on and do what she says.”

“I'll be damned,” another old guy said.

“He'll get over his snit, I expect, and we'll see him right here tomorrow mornin',” Herman said.

“Hey, I heard that them boys has got half the land cleared at the Lucky Penny. I swear they're going to make that ranch something to sit up and notice for sure. They ain't afraid of hard work or long hours neither one.”

While her mother took a couple of doughnuts up the street to Lizzy's feed store, Fiona refilled the coffee cups and went back to dusting shelves. Besides, she could hear what those old codgers were saying a lot better from that vantage point than she could back behind the counter.

A blast of warm air greeted Jud when he pushed his way into the feed store that morning. Lizzy looked up from the counter and licked the chocolate frosting from the second doughnut from her fingers. It was the eyebrows and the shape of the faces that proved the Logan ladies were sisters. And maybe the attitude and that hip-swaying walk that made men take a second look and drool.

“Gettin' colder. Feels like snow out there,” he said.

Lizzy laid a catalog to one side. “Weatherman says we're in for another cold blast. I can't believe we're getting hit two years in a row. How's things with Truman in the house?”

“Haven't seen him. He was gone at breakfast. According to Dora June, he leaves earlier than we do. I feel sorry for them. It can't be easy losing everything like that, but Dora has accepted it.”

Lizzy poured a mug full of coffee and handed it to him. “She surprised me last night. I thought he always ran the show but it sounds to me like whenever she digs in her heels, he'd better obey.”

Jud sipped the coffee. “They've been married a long time. I guess she picks her battles. This is so good after being out in the cold all morning.”

Lizzy motioned the last chocolate doughnut. “Help yourself if you want.”

“No, I just ate two big muffins that Miz Dora gave me this morning.”

“What are you in town for?” Lizzy hopped up on the counter and crossed one leg over the other.

“About ten bags of cattle feed,” he answered.

“I heard that Lucy Hudson is going to talk to Fiona about doing bookkeeping for their ranch. We should get her to take care of the Lucky Penny.”

“I've been thinking the same thing all morning. We all hate to do the paperwork and there's lots of it with a ranch.”

“I worry about her, Jud. She thinks she won't be happy here.”

“Do I hear a
but
in there?” Jud asked.

Lizzy nodded. “But I'm not sure what it is. We've always wanted her to come back, but it has to be her decision or she will never be content.”

“Why did she leave?” Jud asked.

“All I know is that she wasn't happy here.”

“Here's my credit card. I'll go load up the feed and run back through here to sign the bill. And, Lizzy, you and your older sister are wise to love her enough to give her wings to fly and not try to hold her down.”

“Thanks.” Lizzy smiled.

Jud didn't actually need a thing from the convenience store that morning, but he wanted to see Fiona.

Tell a man he can't have something or that he can't do something and that will give him incentive to go after either with a full head of steam.
The voice in his head sounded remarkably like his grandfather's.

A few flakes of snow fell from the sky as he stepped out of his truck at the convenience store. It was shaping up to be a second hard winter in Dry Creek. Last year Blake had to run things by himself. At least this year there were three of them to share the work load, plus two women who were absolutely the best rancher's wives in the whole state of Texas.

“I'm in the back room at the table trying to make heads and tails of Mama's books. Holler when you get ready to check out,” Fiona yelled.

He stopped long enough to pour a cup of coffee and carried it to the door where a floral curtain had been pulled to one side. “Looks like you aren't going to get any moss on you today.”

She looked up and frowned.

“A rolling stone gathers no moss,” he explained.

That netted him half a smile.

She laid her books aside. “Well, there won't be a bit of moss on me if that's the truth. I'll be here until eternity dawns getting Mama's books in order. If she'd ever been audited, they'd have never found their way through the maze.”

“I heard Lucy Hudson is bringing her things to you, too.”

Fiona rolled the kinks from her neck. “That's probably fifty years' worth of work.”

Jud removed his coat and hat and tossed them on the table in the corner, set the coffee on the end of the desk, and rounded the end. He stopped behind her chair and massaged her shoulders and neck muscles, his fingers digging in the knots that had been there far longer than the four days he'd known Fiona.

“Why are you a rancher?” she asked.

“Because I love the job,” he answered.

“Women would pay big bucks for you to do this for them. If you did it naked from the waist up, you could charge double,” she teased.

“And if I did it totally naked?”

“Oh, honey, the sky would be the limit.”

“Want me to close that curtain and take off my clothes?”

Fiona shook her head. “I'm just sayin', not askin'.”

“You need a break. Come up front and have a cup of coffee with me,” he said.

“After that massage, I'd follow you to the moon and back.” She stood up, got her foot tangled in a cord, and stumbled right into his arms.

“Whoa, there, darlin'. I know I worked the kinks out of your neck, but I didn't touch your legs,” he teased.