Mistletoe Cowboy (13 page)

“Problem?” he asked.

“We've got a blown bulb somewhere. I'll get a good one from the bin.”

“Why?”

“Because these are those old lights and if one is blown none of them work. And you have to replace them one at a time to see which one is bad.”

“Sage, there is no electricity.”

She popped her palm against her forehead. “Duh!”

“Don't beat yourself up. I still turn the light on in the bathroom every time I go in there and the oil lamp is right there to remind me.”

“Crazy, ain't it? If you are finished, let's go get two boxes of decorations and start on the tree.”

They had barely shut the door to the bunkhouse when a rat came out of nowhere, ran across the toes of Creed's boots, kept moving until it hit Sage's leg, climbed up one side of her jeans, scooted across her butt, and hurried back down the other side.

Like a contortionist she tried to turn her upper body around on the lower. She slapped at her butt without touching it, screamed, and did a fancy dance.

Creed's grin went to a chuckle which quickly turned into a belly laugh.

“It's not funny!” she said.

“That was one fast rat.”

“I hate those things. They get in the barn and stare at me with their little beady eyes, and you can stop laughing at me.”

“I'm not laughing at you, darlin'. I'm laughing at the way that crazy rat turned you into a pretzel. Your pretty long legs and cute little butt were pretty close to break dancing. I hadn't ever seen a real person do that kind of dance. Don't worry about them pesky rats. Angel will take care of them for you. We'll put her and the kittens out in the barn and believe me, there won't be a rat problem.”

“We can't put them in the cold. Maybe when they are older.”

Creed crossed the floor and hugged her tightly to his chest. “It startled me too when it dashed across my boots.”

She looked up. A kiss would go a hell of a long way to settling her nerves.

If
you
think
that, you've lost your mind. Every time that cowboy kisses you, every nerve in your body starts wiggling and whining for more than kisses.

His eyes closed and his mouth settled over hers. His hands were suddenly under her shirt and on her bare back. This time she felt the hooks of her bra coming undone and his fingertips massaging from bra level to her neck. The rat was completely forgotten.

“Hey, anybody home? Sage, where are you?” a voice singsonged between the house and the bunkhouse.

She stepped back, quickly redid her bra, and adjusted her breasts into the cups. “It's April,” she said.

“Didn't sound like one of my brothers.” Creed grinned.

The door burst open. “You in here?”

***

Another ten minutes and they would have damned the torpedoes and rats and it would have been full speed ahead right there on the old worn-out sofa in the bunkhouse. If it wasn't for bad luck, Creed wouldn't have a lick of luck at all.

April looked from one to the other. “Hey, I figured y'all were decorating when I saw the lights around the barn. Got electricity yet?”

“Not yet. Y'all got any over on the Canyon Rose?” Sage left Creed's side and hugged April.

The woman reminded him of Macy, his old flame. She was short, blond, and built on a small frame. Her face had those delicate features that took a man's breath away and made him want to protect her forever.

Creed looked from one to the other. How could he have ever been attracted to someone like April? It was Sage, with her dark hair, chocolate-colored eyes, and long legs that threw extra beats into his chest.

“Have you met Creed Riley?” Sage asked.

April removed her stocking hat and shook out her blond hair. “No, I haven't, but Daddy says that Grand said good things about him when he took her to the airport.”

“Well, then Creed meet April Pierce. And April, meet Creed. Since you are here, you can carry a box of decorations to the house and have dinner with us,” Sage said.

“I'll help carry, but then I have to go back home. Hilda is bakin' a ham and she'll skin me alive if I'm not there for dinner. I was going stir-crazy in the house with all this snow and no electricity. Daddy called the power company. They said they'd have ours up and going by Monday or Tuesday. Lord, I didn't realize how much I depended on a hair dryer and a curling iron until they weren't available. How y'all been handling it over here?”

Sage handed April a box and led the way outside. “Not too bad, but we need to do laundry, so we'll be glad to have the electricity back. It's been early bedtimes with nothing but lamps.”

April giggled.

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Sage whispered.

“With that hunky cowboy, there's not a chance of that happening,” April whispered back.

Even though they were whispered, Creed heard every word. He wouldn't have minded a trip to the gutter that morning. No, ma'am, not one bit!

Sage and April set their boxes on the kitchen table. Noel didn't growl, but her tail didn't wag in acceptance of the new human either.

April pointed. “What is that?”

“That's my new dog. Her name is Noel and she going to have puppies.”

“I don't believe it,” April whispered. “You got a dog and a pregnant one at that. That is even more amazing that Grand selling the ranch. And it's ugly, Sage. Grand would have bought you any kind of dog out there on the market and you buy that thing?”

Creed kicked the door shut with his boot. “She didn't get the dog. The dog got her. Someone must have dumped her and the cat on the road just before the blizzard. They found their way here.”

He put the box he'd carried in on the table, hung his coat on the back of a chair, and went straight to the pantry for a mop and bucket. “I'll get the water mopped up before it gets into Angel's basket and she moves the kittens.”

April peeled out of her heavy coat and hung it on the coatrack before she slouched down into a chair. “You're kidding me.”

Sage removed her work coveralls, set a pot of coffee to perking on a back burner, and joined Angel at the table. “No, Angel is the cat. We think she got tossed out at the same time Noel did. We found her and the newborn kittens in the barn the next morning and it was evident that Noel knew her. I'll make a small pot of coffee. You can take time for a warm-up before you go back home. It's not dinnertime yet.”

“A dog. A cat. A hunky cowboy that mops the floor. What happened over here?” April whispered.

“Crazy, ain't it?”

Creed finished mopping up and emptied the water into the sink, used some dish soap to wash out the bucket and the mop, and carried them back to the pantry. “I'm going out after those next two boxes. Be back in a minute.”

“And he has the sense to get out and let us talk,” April said. “If you don't want him, kick him over the fence onto the Canyon Rose. I won't let him get away.”

“I'm mixed up about this whole thing. He's a good man but…”

“Ain't no buts involved except the way he fills out those jeans. I can see where you'd be in a tizzy though, girl. It would break my heart if Daddy sold the Canyon Rose even if he did hand me a cowboy like that one on a silver platter,” April said. “Is he good in bed?”

“April!”

“Well, that ought to have some bearing. And I can see the way he looks at you and he mops, for God's sake, Sage.”

Sage pushed her chair back, poured two mugs full, set one in front of April, and shoved the sugar bowl across to her.

“Well we aren't going to solve my problems, so let's work on yours.” Sage turned the subject around.

April flicked her wrist. “My problems aren't ever going to be solved. Momma wants me to finish college and go on to vet school, and I want to learn to run the ranch that I'll inherit. Momma says that Daddy is still young enough to produce another baby or two and that the new wife will insist that the new kids wind up with the ranch, especially if the new wife gives Daddy a son.”

“If Lawton was going to remarry, he would have already done it,” Sage said.

“That's what I think.”

“He'll always love Eva.”

April nodded. “She hasn't remarried either. She used to date a lot but lately she's married to her job.”

“Think they'll ever come to their senses?”

“I didn't, but then I come over here and you've got the ugliest dog on the face of the earth and there's a cat and kittens. I think I believe in miracles again. Hell's bells, Sage. Santa Claus might even come down the chimney at Canyon Rose again!” April laughed.

“Want to see Angel and the babies while the coffee cools?”

April followed Sage into the living room.

The yellow cat looked up at the intruder with indifference and curled tightly around her kittens.

“Ahh, they are so cute. What are you naming them? Going to keep them all?” April asked. “That was one of my favorite parts of coming to the ranch in the summer. There were always baby kittens to play with.”

“Haven't decided on names, but they'll be taking up permanent residence in the barn as soon as it gets warm. Creed assures me that Angel will kill her weight in rats at least three times a day.”

“Well, they should have Christmas names since their momma is Angel and they were born in a manger. If there's a boy, name him Rudolph.”

Sage picked up one of the fat little kittens and held it to her cheek. “This one looks like a Rudolph, doesn't it? Boy or girl, I christen you Rudolph today.”

“Well, I've done my day's work. I named a kitten for Sage Presley. Call the Smithsonian or at least the Guinness people because it has to be recorded in someplace real special,” April said. “I'm headed home now. I'll be back. Next time I'll knock before I rush in. I wasn't thinking about the cowboy and you being in the bunkhouse together.”

“We were just getting Christmas decorations.”

“Sage, honey, you don't lie worth a damn.”

April took a couple of sips of the coffee, donned her coat, and closed the front door just as Creed opened the back one. He brought in another big container and carried it all the way to the living room. “Looks like the tree has dried out. Want to eat or start decorating? Where's April?”

“I'll put a frozen pizza in the oven and we can string the lights while it cooks. April went home,” Sage answered.

“Cardboard pizza. My favorite,” Creed said.

“Don't make fun of them. It's better than a bologna sandwich, and that's the alternative.”

“I was serious. When I was a little kid, Grandpa Riley would make them for me. I don't know if it was really the pizza or spending time with my grandpa that I liked. The tape on this box says it's got the tree lights in it. I'll hold them on my arms and you can put them on the tree.”

“This ain't your first rodeo, is it, Creed?”

“No, ma'am. And none of us want to suffer the wrath of Momma if we don't put the lights away right when they come off either,” he answered.

“She must be kin to Grand. Don't matter if it takes a whole week—the lights best be stored just right without any tangles.”

He got the first strand ready and waited for her to slide the pizza in the oven. She kicked off her boots and giggled on her way across the living room floor.

“Do I look crazy standing here with lights around my arms like knitting yarn?”

“No, I was thinking that you are pretty vulnerable. If you drop those lights one might break and we'll have to test them all. And if you drop them they'll tangle all up and we'll have to spend hours getting them ready to go on the tree.”

“So don't drop the lights, right?” he asked.

“So I could do whatever I wanted to you right now, including hanging those jingle bells on you somewhere,” she teased.

“I'll stand very still.”

“Creed Riley, you aren't any fun at all.”

“Sounds like fun to me.”

The air around them crackled with heat and suppressed desire. The back of Sage's neck tingled. If someone had told her the week before that she'd be flirting with a cowboy on the Rockin' C by the next Saturday, she would have had them declared insane.

She grabbed the end of the light string and deliberately brushed her breasts against his arm. His sharp intake of breath said that it affected him every bit as much as it did her. She bent over to start at the bottom tree limbs and his knee touched her fanny, setting it on fire.

She was flirting like a teenager, but it was so much fun that she didn't want to stop. When the lights were finally perfectly strung, she plugged them in to see if they worked.

“Still no electricity,” he said.

“Shit! I knew that. Habits die hard.”

Habits
die
hard. I hate change. But it happens and I'll have to deal with all of it when it does.

With the aroma of cedar and pizza combining and a Christmas tree right there in front of her, Sage decided that none of it was going to kill her.

She turned to find him so close that she threw up her hands to land on a chest full of hard muscles. His lips touched hers in a kiss that was a blend of sweet and hot. With a gentle probe his tongue asked permission to enter her mouth. She gave it by opening up and inviting him right inside.

And then the timer on the stove buzzed, telling them that the pizza was ready.

“God hates me,” Creed moaned.

“No, He loves me,” she laughed.

Creed followed her into the kitchen. “How do you figure that?”

“Twice today we've been interrupted. I think it's an omen. It's not time for the next step, Creed.”

“That commitment word?”

She pulled the pizza from the oven. “No, that Creed word. We need to slow the buggy down and step back to think about what we're doing.”

“That's not cardboard pizza. That is the real thing,” he said.

“It's just a better frozen pizza than those little thin ones. I'll pour some sweet tea if you'll slice it up.”

“Why?” he asked as he pulled up the lever and popped ice cubes from an old metal tray.

“Because it's hot.”

“I make you hot?”

“I don't think we're on the same page. I was talking about pizza and needing tea because it is hot.”

“Okay, why slow the buggy down?”

“Because. It's going too fast.”

***

Creed understood, but like she had said earlier, he didn't have to like it. He wanted the ranch, but he didn't want there to ever be reason later in life for her to think he'd used her as a pawn to get it.

He set two glasses of iced tea on the table at the same time she put a big round pizza on a hot pad in the middle. He bowed his head and laid his hand on top of hers for grace.

“Amen,” they said in unison when he finished.

“I'm starving.”

“It takes a lot of energy to find a tree and put it up. Think we will survive all this?” he asked.

“What kind of question is that?”

“We managed to get through the blizzard without killing each other. I even decided you weren't such a bad person after all.”

“Oh, you thought I was at one time?”

“Hey, put yourself in my shoes. Woman sells me the ranch but I have to sign a paper saying you can live on it until you die. Then she tells me that when you get home get ready for a shit storm because you don't want her to sell and you are going to pitch a fit like what ain't never seen in these parts. What would you think?”

Sage smiled. “Did she really say it like that?”

“She did and I was so damned glad to hear the news that the roads were closed that I almost danced a jig, woman. Truth is, I was about half-afraid of you. That morning when I found you in the kitchen I was stunned out of my mind. It's a wonder I could speak.”

“So I wasn't what you thought I'd be?” she asked.

“I was expecting something way, way different, lady. Your picture doesn't do you justice. You are one beautiful woman.”

“Thank you for that. But put yourself in my place.”

“Are you going to be really angry when she sells me this ranch?”

Sage thought about the question while she chewed. “Not angry. Sad.”

“That's what you were thinking about this morning, isn't it?”

She nodded.

“My momma was hoping I'd hate this place. All of her kids are within a thirty-minute drive but me. I'm the only one who won't be there for Christmas.”

Sage looked up quickly. “But you can go home for the holidays if you want to. Grand will be back for those days. She and I can do the chores.”

“This is my home. I knew it when I walked up on the porch that first day. Home is where the heart is, not where you hang your hat, and for the first time in my life I want to be here. Going to Ringgold now is going to Momma's house, not home. And I want to spend my first Christmas on my very own ranch, not at Momma's house.”

“Okay then, let's eat and start decorating the tree. I bet we can get it done before time for chores,” she said.

***

They looped the tinsel on the tree and then began hanging the ornaments. He removed each one from a bit of tissue paper and handed it to Sage, who told stories as she hung them.

She'd made the reindeer ornament from an old wooden clothespin with the glued on eyes and red felt nose in kindergarten. The long, skinny glass ones had belonged to Grand's mother, so she hung them in the middle of the tree to make sure Angel and later Rudolph and his siblings wouldn't bat them off.

“How do you remember all that?” Creed asked.

“I've been reminded every single Christmas that I can remember. I loved hearing the stories behind the ornaments and Grand loved telling them. Grandpa bought a new ornament for her every year. This is the last one he gave her.”

She held up a gingerbread man made of cedar. “He made it himself.”

“He was pretty good with a whittlin' knife, was he?”

“He was gone before I was born but he must have been because some of the ornaments are made of wood. Grand said that those were the lean years when he couldn't afford to buy her anything so he made one. It just dawned on me, Creed. Grand took over running the whole ranch all alone when she was in her early forties, after a bad year. And then in the next seven years she lost her son and her daughter-in-law and was left with me.”

“She must've always been tough.”

Sage nodded. “She ran this place and raised me with a steel hand, but she's also soft. I remember… we've got to make cookies.”

He looked up at Sage and grinned. “Lord, girl, you can turn the course of conversation around on a dime.”

Sage's lungs burned as if the air was hot and her mind really did plunge into the gutter. If he walked into a room full of women and looked out over the crowd and smiled, the women would flock to him like bees to a honey jar.