Risky Christmas (16 page)

Mason's phone rang again. This time Chloe slid her hand into his pocket and answered.

“This is Chloe Bradford. I'm in the stable with Agent Jaffee. His partner is in here with us and he has a gun!”

“Bitch!” Tanner spat.

Mason managed to pry Tanner's gun from his grip and hand it over to Chloe, who took it with her free hand and aimed for Tanner's chest.

“Yes. Tanner. He's alive.” She paused. “Mason has him under control now.” She paused again, this time longer. “Okay, I'll tell him.” She disconnected and tucked his phone into her own jean pocket. “There are agents down at the end of the driveway,” she explained. “They're on their way.”

“Good.”

She turned to him again. “You knew they were here?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn't you tell us?”

“To keep it real for Axel…and Tanner,” he added with disgust.

“They have Axel.”

He shot her a quick look. “Where was he?”

“He was waiting for Tanner down on the road.” She turned to Tanner. “Apparently, it wasn't his idea to come here and he's angry he's caught.”

Tanner roared and lunged, charging like a bull into Mason. They fell to the ground together, Mason struggling to maintain control of his pistol.

Horses shuffled and whinnied nervously.

“Mason!” Chloe shouted.

Tanner was a madman with nothing to lose, clawing and punching wildly. Mason slammed his gun against his head. They wrestled. Breaking free, Mason rolled and jumped to his feet. Tanner was slower to stand. Mason punched him and moved behind him, hooking his arm around his neck. Tanner twisted away. Mason raised his gun, ready to fire.

Tanner hesitated.

The sudden bang of the stable doors opening preceded a swarm of four black-clad agents. “FBI! Don't move!”

They surrounded Tanner, who stared at Mason with crazed fury.

Chloe gave the gun she held to one of the agents. After flipping the safety on his pistol, Mason tucked it into the back waist of his jeans and went to Chloe. She slid her arm behind him as he curved his around her upper torso.

Tanner was cuffed and taken out of the stable. Mason followed, taking Chloe's hand. They walked along the pathway to the front of his parents' house. Everyone was
outside. His mom and dad, CC, Deirdra and Teddy. The kids stood up on the porch in their pajamas, bundled in jackets and boots, huddled together by their older brother.

Axel sat in an unmarked car. Tanner was led to the other side and forced inside. Mason could see the two begin to argue.

Slipping an arm around Chloe, he would have walked with her toward the house, but she moved away, eyeing him warily before walking ahead of him.

With Axel and Tanner caught, there was no longer any danger standing in her way. She could leave tonight and go back to her new apartment. She could be out of his life for good if that was what she wanted…what she truly wanted.

Somehow, he had to make her want to keep seeing him. He wasn't running anymore.

C
hloe saw the way Mason was looking at her and moved to stand beside CC. Once again, everyone had gathered in Bevy and Karl's huge kitchen, where Bevy had busily prepared late night snacks and everyone had a glass of wine to relax and celebrate the resolution of an eventful night. Mason stood near the entryway underneath that damnable mistletoe. She could feel his desire to be alone with her and that scared her.

After the way he'd withdrawn the morning after Christmas night, she wasn't anxious to give in to hope just yet. They'd been under a lot of pressure with Axel on the loose. Things would be a lot different once they returned to normal. And normal for her was getting away from here and starting her new life in Woodland, Montana.

CC elbowed her. “Mason's under the mistletoe.”

“I see that.”

“I think he went there on purpose.”

Chloe watched the way Mason answered something Teddy said and resumed staring at her. His eyes had a twinkle to them, as if he were smiling without it showing on his mouth.

“You kiss him, then,” Chloe said.

CC sent her an incredulous look. “He's my brother.”

“I'm not kissing him.”

“I talked to him earlier. He said he was taking more time off from the FBI than he originally planned.”

“Good for him.”

“That means he'll be around awhile.”

Not so good for her.

“Did you know Dad asked him if he was ready to start working the ranch?”

Chloe turned from Mason's intoxicating green eyes. “Why did he ask him that?”

Flipping her blond-streaked hair back over her shoulder, eyes twinkling with mischief, she smiled big. “Didn't think you knew that.”

Was his entire family conspiring to get them together?

“He'll inherit the ranch when Mom and Dad die. Everybody's known for a long time that Teddy doesn't want to work it and neither do I. I wouldn't be any good at it.”

“Good for him.”

“I think dad asked him for a reason.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

Not so good for her.

“Chloe, why don't you and Mason go bring more firewood in?” Bevy suggested, sugar-sweet.

A blunt
no
was on the tip of her tongue.

“I'll help Mason,” Teddy said. “You girls stay in here where it's warm.”

“Teddy, you will stay right where you are.” Bevy gave him an obvious warning look.

Teddy glanced from her to Chloe and then to Mason. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” CC mocked. “You idiot.”

Teddy grinned. “Hey, I've been happily married for years. I forgot how much of a chess game dating can be.” He went over to Deirdra and kissed her smiling mouth.

Chloe looked from one expectant gaze to the next, ending with Mason's triumphant one.

“I need to talk to you anyway,” he said.

CC elbowed her again. “He needs to talk to you.” She nudged her firm enough to make her take two steps toward Mason.

With the kitchen silent and all eyes on her, Chloe slowly approached him. He led her to the front entry.

“There's plenty of wood by the fireplace,” Chloe pointed out.

Mason looked there and then back at her. “We'll just bring in a bundle,” he said, and then lower, “just enough to satisfy the family.”

Satisfy the family.

They'd be satisfied if she ended up with Mason. The idea kept her from reaching for her jacket.

“I'll carry the wood. You're still limping a little.”

After putting on his jacket, Mason took hers off the rack and presented her with it open and ready for her arms.

Reluctantly, she slipped her arms into the sleeves and he adjusted it on her shoulders. She zipped it up and he handed her some gloves. She put those on and
he pulled a hat down over her head. She was still wearing her hiking boots and so was he.

Outside, the chill made her long for a fire right now. She followed Mason to the woodshed. There, he turned to face her.

She bent to begin loading an armful.
Just get this over with.
Her leg was fine, she could carry a few sticks of wood. She'd endure the night and be alone in her own place in the morning. She'd start over. Fresh. New. It would rejuvenate her.

Mason stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Wait.”

Abandoning the wood, she straightened and faced him. Seeing his face worked to undo her.

“I'm sorry I didn't stay with you on Christmas night,” he said.

The all-out apology might be enough if she didn't know what had driven him away. “Don't worry about it.”

“And the way I avoided you yesterday morning.”

“It was a mistake. We let it happen too soon, that's all. No big deal.”

“You don't understand.”

“Don't I?”

“That night…”

Hearing his difficulty, Chloe wondered if he was only being nice because he'd saved her from Axel. It didn't change the way he felt about women, or didn't want to feel.

“I wasn't expecting it to happen, Chloe. And afterward, I wasn't prepared for the way I felt.”

Chloe stiffened. Letting her heart go free over this was risky. They had a long road ahead of them if they decided to make a go of it. She'd never been afraid
to end a relationship with a man she didn't trust, no matter how much she liked him. But she was afraid with Mason. He'd already shown her he could walk away. She wasn't ready to trust him. She couldn't invest all of herself for a man who'd only end up disappointing her later.

Somehow she had to make him understand that. “What are you saying? That you'll move to Montana to be with me?”

To his credit he didn't avert his gaze. “That is a logistical problem.”

Meaning, he was still too injured from past experience to take that big of a leap. “I don't even know where you live.”

“That's obvious.”

She could tell he was fighting a grin. Shock and something too close to blind hope flared up in her. “You live here?”

“Well, no, not
here.
Missoula.”

“You live in Missoula.”

“We'd have to manage the long drive if we're going to start seeing each other.”

Was he serious? Catching herself falling for more of that the hope, the survivor in her cut it short.

“You're off the hook, Mason. You don't have to do this.”

“You know this is for real, Chloe.”

Angling her head with all her doubt, she folded her arms.

“You know, and you're afraid.”

“
I'm
afraid?”

“I was afraid, too. I'm not saying I wasn't. I was afraid of falling in love with someone who wasn't real,
of not finding someone like that.” He paused. “I have, Chloe. I found you.”

Oh. That was so sweet. And deep down, she heard the truth of what he said.

“You're real,” he continued with the torture. “You don't say things you don't mean. I know that if you're with me, you won't be with anyone else.”

“Renee was faithful to you.”

“Yes, she was, but that wasn't meant to be. This is. You and me. Don't you feel it?”

Yes,
her heart cried out. Yes, she felt it. She felt it too much. What was beginning to brew to life between them was strong. Undeniable. Like nothing she'd ever experienced.

She looked toward the house. Losing the last family she'd gotten close to had shattered her. She couldn't bear to lose this one, too.

“Like me, they already love you,” Mason said.

Chloe grunted to hide how much she needed to hear that. But she couldn't. She just couldn't take that step.

“I don't know, Mason. You've been through so much with women. And I…I've been through my own trouble. Maybe it's not such a good idea.”

“Marry me, then. I'll prove to you how much you mean to me. How much I believe in this. In
us.
”

“Mason,” she whispered, tingles of love and affection spreading all over her body. But it was so soon. Was he serious?

“We can pick a date sometime next year so we have time to date first,” he said.

He wasn't going to give up on her. Even if she put him off now, she doubted he'd stop pursuing her. That touched her. She also thought his suggestion wasn't so
off the mark. They'd be engaged while they dated. He'd do that. For her. She was worth that much to him.

All this time she'd thought he was the only one doing the running. But the only one doing the running right now…was her.

She
was running from the risk of belonging to a family, only to have it ripped away, leaving her once again alone, as she had been since her senior year in high school.

“I'll go get you a ring tomorrow,” Mason declared. “I'll do anything to keep seeing you, Chloe.”

Yes!
Instinctually, she knew she'd never stop wanting to be with him. What they had was an all-encompassing infatuation. Over time, it would grow into deep love. She felt it in her heart. And he felt it, too.

“Mason…” She stepped closer to him.

He put his gloved hand on the side of her face. “Marry me.”

“Okay.”

He searched her eyes. “Do you mean it?”

She nodded. “Yes. Oh, yes!” She could recognize his need not to wait this time. As soon as he saw that this was the real thing, he'd asked her to marry him. He wasn't doing it just to prove his love to her, or his belief in the love that would grow between them. He was asking because he'd been afraid to ask Renee to marry him, and this time he wasn't going to let the woman who mattered most to him go.

“Yes.” She threw herself against him. Holding her close, he kissed her. She shivered, and not just from cold. “Let's get the wood and go inside.”

“I'll get the wood.”

She pushed him aside to make room for her at the woodpile. “I'm fine, Mason. I can carry some wood.”

“Okay.” He handed her three pieces. “Take those.”

Letting him get away with that, she carried the split logs as he carried a full armful toward the house. Inside, a fire already crackled in the fireplace and no one was in sight. The kitchen was in a rare state of silence.

She exchanged a look with him.

“I guess it's obvious what they want.”

“Us together.” She was so thrilled about that.

He dumped his armful of wood onto the already burgeoning pile and helped her deposit her three pieces.

“Instead of staying here tonight, why don't we stay in the other house?”

The original house his grandfather had built. She hadn't seen the interior yet. She couldn't wait. Would they live there? What a dream.

Her smile must have given her away.

“We can live there if you want.”

She nodded vigorously. “Yes! Yes!”

He chuckled. “Good. We'll wake up with each other in our new house and spend the day together. Drive into Great Falls to find you a ring. Then we'll spend New Year's Eve with the family tomorrow night.”

The family.
Her family. Their family.

Pure joy all but burst inside her. They'd see her ring tomorrow night. “Oh, Mason. Is this really happening?” She looped her arms around his shoulders and he loosely held her around her waist.

“Yes. And I couldn't be happier.”

“Me, neither.”

“Merry Christmas, Chloe.” He kissed her.

“Happy New Year, Mason.”

He kissed her again. “The best ever.”

Clapping and cheers erupted.

Chloe moved back with Mason and turned to see his
entire family in the kitchen. They must have hidden out of sight when they'd entered. Now they all stood clustered in the wide entry of the kitchen.

Looking from one smiling face to the next, Chloe reveled in the sparkling joy that consumed her. This was her family now.

Mason took her hand with his.

“Leaving Chicago was the best decision I ever made.”

“Bringing you here was mine.”

When his family approached and surrounded them with heartfelt congratulations, she couldn't agree more.