On a Snowy Christmas Night (7 page)

She nibbled at her lower lip. “Guess I’ll find out.”

“I hope you’re kidding.”

“The roads will be plowed, right?”

He studied her face. She had to be pulling his leg. Nobody came to Montana in the middle of winter unable to drive in snow. Except, she was beginning to look more uncertain by the second.
Shit.
“I’ll drive you tomorrow.”

“Absolutely not.” She pulled away and grabbed the doorknob. “But thanks, anyway.” She hesitated. “Should I ring the doorbell?”

He pushed open the door, tension coiling in his gut. He didn’t want to be the bad guy and bully her into accepting a ride. He’d mention something to Rachel and let her talk to Shea. This was her doing after all.
Her
guest.

Once they entered the foyer and were met with a wave of warmth from the fireplace, he gave reasoning with her another shot. “At least plan to get back before dark so we don’t have to send out a search party.”

“I can do that.”

Her gaze was glued to the tree. Anyone would think she’d never seen one before. “Christmas must be your favorite time of year.”

“Not really,” she said. “You?”

“It was when I was a kid.” A lot had happened since then—his father’s death, the recession, going to war. “Rachel still gets excited.” He pulled off his gloves. “Don’t tell her Santa isn’t real. It would crush her.”

Shea blinked and looked at him with a guileless expression. “Why would I do that? Santa is real.”

Jesse saw the glint of humor in her eyes and something inside him shifted. Something that had been dormant a long time. Okay, so maybe there was a little magic in the season. “What did you say you did for a living again?”

She sniffed, lifting her chin, exposing the slender column of her throat. “Excuse me, but even nerds can have senses of humor.”

His gaze drifted to her top button right at the hollow of her throat. That was another thing about winter that sucked. Too many clothes. “
Nerd
was not what came to mind.” He raised his eyes and caught the faint blush that stole across her cheeks. “How about something hot to drink? Coffee, chocolate, brandy? I could use something.”

“There you are.” Rachel came from the dining room, a dish towel slung over her shoulder. “I was beginning to worry,” she said to Shea.

“I’m sorry. I stopped in town.”

“No problem. Dinner’s in the oven whenever you’re ready.” Rachel’s smile faded as she looked at Jesse. “I could’ve used your help in the kitchen. You know Hilda’s off for two weeks. That doesn’t make me the maid around here.”

Jesse snorted. “Yeah, because I’ve been twiddling my thumbs all day.” He glanced pointedly at the tree, then slid Shea a private wink. Hard to tell if she understood that Rachel was only messing with him. “Where’s Trace? I’d like to see him walking around in an apron for a change.”

“I heard that.” Trace’s voice came from the den, a second before the distinct clack of billiard balls bouncing off one another echoed through the first floor.

“Rachel, Shea...” It was Jamie’s voice rising above the sound of male laughter. “I need backup in here.”

“You play pool?” Jesse asked Shea.

She shook her head and was already moving toward the staircase. “Rachel, thanks for keeping dinner for me...it’s so nice of you, but I wish you hadn’t gone to the trouble.” Her arms were pressed against her body as if she were trying to make herself smaller. “I’ve already eaten in town. But again, I appreciate your concern.” She swept a glance toward Jesse, then took a final look at the tree. “It was a long day. I think I’ll crawl into bed.”

They watched her hurry up the stairs and disappear.

“Hmm, a woman around here who doesn’t want to be any trouble,” Jesse murmured. “Imagine that.”

“Yeah, you’re hilarious.” Rachel studied the empty landing at the top of the stairs. “Is she okay?”

“I think so.”

“Weren’t you guys talking for a while?”

He nodded, his mind still trying to process what had just happened. She’d been warming up to him in the last few minutes.

“You didn’t say anything boneheaded, did you?”

Giving his sister a dry look, Jesse blew out a stream of air. Without another word, he turned around and left through the front door and headed for the solitude of the barn. Thinking about Shea was getting him in deeper and deeper. Hell, he knew better. He should’ve trusted his first instinct to keep as far away from her as possible.

She might seem timid and fragile, like the animals he rescued, but she was a grown woman with her own mind. She didn’t need him.

7

“W
HAT
’
S
ALL
THIS
?” Dressed in the same battered parka as yesterday, her blond hair crammed under a woolen cap, Annie stopped in the middle of scooping grain when she saw Shea approach. She dropped the cut-out plastic milk jug she used as a scoop and moved toward Shea. “You’re an angel,” Annie said, relieving her of one of the cans of coffee. “Seriously, a damn angel.”

Shea chuckled. “I have another can in the car. Some other things, too, that I’ll need help unloading. Take a look and tell me if I should move the car closer.”

Annie stashed the coffee on a railing, and with her longer legs hurried ahead of Shea toward the SUV. She stared at the bags of oats and corn, not looking nearly as pleased as Shea had hoped.

“I bought the wrong thing,” Shea said, trying to hide her disappointment. This was her second letdown of the day and it was only seven-fifteen. She’d come downstairs to find that Jesse had been called away an hour earlier to fly a rescue mission.

“No, not at all.” Annie’s mouth curved in a gentle smile. “It’s just that...this feed probably won’t go as far as you’re expecting.”

“Oh. No, I get that. This is just kind of a special treat for Caleb and the sick mares.” She hadn’t planned on blabbing about the hay delivery yet. It would’ve been fun to keep it a surprise, but she wanted to relieve Annie’s concerns. “Mr. Jorgensen from the hardware store is arranging for a truckload of hay in a couple days.”

“A truckload?” Annie frowned. “How did you manage that?”

“Nothing magical.” Shea shrugged. “I wrote him a check.”

“Hay isn’t cheap, especially this time of year.”

“It’s okay, Annie. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have the money.” She almost touched the other woman’s arm. A totally natural display of comfort or affection, she supposed, just not for her.

Annie covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes moist. Except her hand was gloved and she jerked it away, sniffed and said, “Ew.”

They both laughed.

“You’re getting a hug,” Annie said. “Too bad about my gloves.” She threw her arms around Shea before she could utter a word, and amazingly, it was okay. She didn’t get all squeamish like she normally did when someone got touchy-feely.

Still, Shea pulled back first. “Jesse said he and Trace would come help unload if you need them.”

“He knew about you doing this?”

“After the fact.”

Amusement gleamed in Annie’s eyes. “Sounds like you might be getting to Jesse.”

“What?”

“I swear, he’s said more to you in the short time you’ve been here than he has to anyone in a month.”

“That can’t be true,” Shea said, feeling the heat crawl up her neck. Luckily, she heard a vehicle turn into the lot.

Molly and Hank, the other new volunteers, pulled up in Hank’s late-model Ford pickup and parked closer to the barn. They were a middle-aged couple from Billings. At least Shea assumed they were a couple...she really wasn’t sure. They seemed nice, and eager to learn. That’s all she knew about them. Every free moment yesterday she’d spent with Caleb.

Annie waved them over. “Good, we have help carrying these bags.” Her lips pursed, she turned back to Shea as they waited for the couple. “I wasn’t giving you a hard time about Jesse. If anything I’m glad he’s showing signs of coming back to life.”

Shea still felt uncomfortable over how much she’d talked about Jesse yesterday, but she couldn’t exactly tell Annie to stop. It didn’t help that she was a little flabbergasted at what Annie’d actually said. “What do you mean?”

“I didn’t know him before he went to Afghanistan, but the buzz around town is that he’s changed. He’s always been a quiet kind of guy. I’ve never thought much of it but you hear people who’ve known him his whole life talk and...” She shrugged and quickly switched her attention to Molly and Hank, who were walking toward them. “Obviously I’ve lived here too long,” Annie muttered with a self-deprecating frown. “Gossiping like an old lady. God help me.”

The volunteers who Shea, Molly and Hank were replacing started arriving for their last day before the holidays. They all pitched in to carry the bags of feed, make coffee and cut up the homemade banana bread that Molly had brought. Shea tried to be patient and not seem rude through the small talk and early chores, but she would have much rather been spending time with Caleb. She’d always found the company of animals soothing, but there was something special about the roan.

However, even Caleb wasn’t enough to keep her thoughts from Jesse and what she’d just learned about him. She wondered what would’ve happened last night if Rachel hadn’t shown up, or if the others hadn’t been playing pool in the next room. Would they have continued to talk? Maybe even sat down at the table together? It hadn’t occurred to her until she’d been lying in bed that when they were alone she was completely comfortable with him.

Well, not completely...he did tend to make her heart beat a little faster than normal. And she was starting to become a bit obsessive about the cleft in his chin. And the way his smile always started off real slow, like he had a secret he couldn’t share.

It wasn’t until close to noon that Shea had a chance to breathe without feeling guilty. The new volunteers were still learning the daily routines and she was starting to feel the stiffness of yesterday’s physical labor. When Annie suggested she take a break and give Caleb some oats, Shea didn’t object.

She scooped a generous portion into a plastic pail and carried it to his stall. For today, he was still getting preferential treatment and being kept in the stable with the sick mares even though Doc Yardley had given him a clean bill of health. Tomorrow he would be turned out to pasture with the rest of the horses. She hated the idea.

For one thing, today the sky wasn’t as clear and blue. The clouds weren’t threatening, but it was overcast, the sun only intermittently breaking through, which meant the air was colder than yesterday.

“Hi, sweetie.”

At the sound of her voice, Caleb lifted his head, saw it was her and lowered his muzzle with his ears forward.

Shea laughed. “Is that for me or do you smell these oats?” She faced him nose-to-muzzle and blew gently into his nostrils just as Annie had taught her. He promptly responded by lowering his head, and Shea grinned with delight at the gelding’s open display of friendship.

“Look what I have for you.” His attention had already turned to the pail and she had to move quickly before he ended up sticking his muzzle too far in.

She gave him his oats, felt guilty that she’d brought none for the mares on either side of him, though she hadn’t gotten permission to feed them. They’d both come to the shelter sick last week and had only just recovered.

While Caleb ate, she went to the back of the stable to check on Maisy, an older bay mare who was being kept in isolation and treated for a parasitic infection. Her previous owners had thrown up their hands when the vet bills mounted. Safe Haven couldn’t afford the poor horse’s care, either, and if Shea let it, thinking about the myriad problems and expense of so many of the animals that had been abandoned, neglected or injured could really depress her.

Instead, she focused on the good things the sanctuary was doing for their wards. Tomorrow Annie was going to review the individualized diets they provided, and in the evenings Shea was going to work on a computer program that would simplify the files and records to avoid mistakes by the volunteers.

She heard Caleb trying to get her attention with his quiet nicker. “You ate too fast, mister,” she said, moving toward his stall. He looked at her with his large soft brown eyes and she sighed. “No, I can’t give you any more. Maybe later. But I do have another surprise. Annie says I can exercise you this afternoon. How would you like that?”

Shea squeezed a section of his beautiful strawberry mane between her thumb and forefinger, and rubbed the strands together, trying to mimic how another horse would groom him with its teeth. Another friendly overture Annie had shown her. He liked that a lot. Though not so much when she worked her fingers up and down his tangled mane. Sad how his owner had neglected his grooming.

According to Russell, who knew the man, he wasn’t a bad person, simply another victim of the struggling economy. She understood...sort of. The upside was that Russell knew enough about Caleb that Annie felt comfortable allowing Shea to ride him.

She heard voices coming from outside the stables and her gaze went to her watch, her insides clenching because she knew it was time for shots. It was a good thing, relieving the colic horses of pain, but even thinking about needles gave her the willies. Hank was diabetic. He had no problem administering the shots. Besides, he had two horses of his own at home.

“He is a handsome fella,” Hank said, stopping to admire Caleb. Jim, the volunteer who was taking off for the holidays, was with him. “You thinking about adopting him?”

“Me?” Shea blinked. “I live in an apartment in California.”

“Too bad. He’s sure taken a liking to you.” Hank stepped closer, squinting over the rim of his thick glasses. “Good teeth. Plenty of lean muscle. Hasn’t been neglected for too long.” Hank grunted. “That’s the trouble with volunteering in a place like this. You wanna take ’em all home with you.”

She wasn’t prepared for the surge of jealousy that swelled in her throat. Her reaction was totally inappropriate. Caleb wasn’t her horse. And the idea was to find him a home, after all. “Annie said I can exercise him later,” she said for no reason.

Jim’s smile was kind and knowing. He was a retired schoolteacher who’d been raised on a ranch. “After you ride him, I’ll have to remove his hind shoes before we turn him out to pasture with the others.” Jim glanced outside. “I’d like to do it by two. I’m leaving a little early to beat the snow.”

“Why remove his shoes?” she asked, alarmed, then vaguely considered that she should’ve been more concerned about the weather.

“They kick out at each other even when they’re just playing. We don’t need any of them getting hurt.”

It struck Shea that since Caleb was being let out to pasture he didn’t need exercising. Annie was simply being nice. And if Shea wanted to be a nice person, she shouldn’t hold up Jim from his duties just so she could ride Caleb.

Apparently she wasn’t that nice. It was just that she wanted to ride Caleb so badly....

Both men had already moved to the rear of the stables where the sick horses were kept. She refused to so much as glance back there, not wanting to see the needles come out, but she stopped at the door and, staring at the gray sky, called to Jim. “I’ll go find out if I can ride him now.”

She didn’t wait for an acknowledgment but ran toward the corral, where she saw Annie talking on her cell phone. Shea stood several feet out of earshot, waiting impatiently, and ended up getting roped into helping Molly refill water troughs for the pigs and goats. By the time Annie got off the phone, Jim was finished in the stables and had rounded up the volunteers to cover the stacked bales of hay with tarp.

An hour later, Shea caught up with Annie and obtained her permission. By then everyone seemed worried about the snow. It had already started coming down in Kalispell and the higher elevations, and there was some disagreement among the local forecasters over when it would hit the rest of the state and how many inches to expect. All Shea could think about was riding Caleb.

As soon as she ran into the stables she sensed something was wrong beyond the nagging doubt that she’d be able to saddle a horse unsupervised. The problem was the gate to Caleb’s stall—it was wide open. She held her breath as she moved close enough to look inside.

Her beautiful strawberry roan was gone.

* * *

“I
CAN
DO
THIS
,” she pleaded. “Please, Annie, give me an hour.” Shea could tell by the tight pull of the woman’s mouth that Shea wasn’t getting anywhere. “Okay, how about half an hour? I’ll ride for fifteen minutes, then turn around and head back to Safe Haven whether I find him or not.”

“It could start snowing before then. You could get lost. Caleb will be all right.” Annie used the back of her wrist to wipe the sweat from her brow.

A last-minute donation of produce discards from a Butte food chain had been delivered and had to be stored properly. Everyone was hustling to beat the possible storm and Shea knew she was being utterly selfish in badgering the poor woman, but all she could think about was Caleb, cold and hungry with no shelter. She wished she didn’t need anyone’s blessing. But the only way she could go after him was to borrow a horse. Maybe she was being irrational, maybe Annie was right and Caleb would be fine....

She couldn’t let it go. “First flake that hits my face I’ll turn around. You said yourself Caleb likely didn’t stray far. Chances are I’ll find him in a few minutes.” Using all her might, Shea dragged a crate marked
bruised apples
toward the barn. She wanted to help, but mostly she could no longer look into Annie’s eyes and see the toll her persistence was taking on the poor woman who already had too much on her mind right now.

“Please let me borrow a horse,” she said quietly, guilt stabbing deep this time. This was it. She wouldn’t ask again. “I promise not to endanger him.”

Annie visibly took a deep breath and held up a gloved finger. “First sign it’s snowing.”

“The very first.”

“You follow the fence line, stay on flat land and ride only fifteen minutes, then turn around no matter what.”

“No matter what,” Shea repeated, her legs suddenly quivering from pent-up nerves.

“Candy Cane knows you, take her. She’s gentle but headstrong.” The corner of Annie’s mouth quirked. “Sound familiar?”

“Thank you, Annie.” She’d already started backing up. “I’ll be careful.”

“You rode with Jesse—that tells me something, or the answer would’ve been no. Use the tack on the far wall and take your time saddling her. I know you’re in a hurry but you don’t wanna start off by making her edgy.”

“Got it.” Shea understood the truth in that and focused on her deep breathing exercise.