Winchester Christmas Wedding (12 page)

“We're getting married!” he announced as if everyone in three counties hadn't heard.

McCall couldn't take her eyes off him as he returned to his seat. She'd thought about telling him what she'd overheard today on the ridge, but she didn't want to talk about it or what she'd realized. It was too painful. She told herself it could wait until after her wedding, but she wasn't even sure that was true.

“To us!” Luke said raising his glass of beer. “I know it should be champagne but—”

“We don't like champagne. We like beer,” McCall
said, raising her own glass. They touched glasses with a soft clink, smiling at each other across the table, and she promised herself that she wasn't going to let anything spoil this night with Luke.

“It's going to be a wedding we'll never forget,” he said.

Her fear exactly.

 

A
S
TD
DROVE INTO THE
Winchester Ranch, the thought hit him like a brick. He'd been born here. He was a Winchester. Was it true? Of course he'd noticed the resemblance, but it had never crossed his mind…

At the top of the hill, he looked down on the ranch dwellings and felt a start. The yard was full of vans and trucks and people. He slowed, wondering for a moment what was going on.

Caterers and florists and party rental crews were unloading box after box as he drove on past and parked down by his cabin. Lizzy pulled in beside him. As they both got out, they looked back at where all the activity was going on.

He spotted Enid standing outside overseeing the unloading. She saw him and pretended to be busy. “Make yourself at home in the cabin,” TD said to Lizzy. “I'll be back in a minute.”

As he approached the elderly cook, he saw her tense. “We need to talk.” He drew her over to the side of the lodge away from prying eyes, then checked to make sure no one was within hearing distance.

“You told me that you were on this ranch even before Pepper came here as a newlywed, right?” he asked.

Enid nodded. She looked nervous.

“So you're the one person who should know if I was born here.”

“What?”
It was a halfhearted attempt to seem surprised.

“Are you the one who called me?”

This time her surprise seemed real. “Called you?”

“Asking for fifty thousand dollars to tell me the truth about my birth mother.”

Enid groaned. “Fifty thousand?”

Only the amount seemed to shock her.

“Someone called me from here. Any idea who that might have been?”

“From this ranch?”

“You and I spoke that night after I got the call.”

Her eyes widened with the memory. She let out a curse, then seemed to catch herself.

“Talk to me. If anyone knows the truth, I'm guessing it's you.”

She looked around as if searching for a way to escape.

“Am I a Winchester?”

He saw the answer in her face. “Fine, if you don't want to tell me, then I'll ask Pepper.” He started to step away but she grabbed his arm with her bony fingers.

“I'll tell you. She doesn't know.”

“Doesn't know what? Who gave birth to me? Or that I'm a Winchester?”

Enid leaned back against the outer wall of the lodge as if needing support. “She doesn't know you're alive. She thinks you died the night you were born. She thinks
you're buried in the family cemetery up on the hill.” She motioned to a hill beyond the barn.

His heart felt lodged in his throat. “Who was my mother?”

TD stared at the elderly cook, trying to decide if she was serious.

“It's true,” Enid cried. “Pepper Winchester is your mother. She was forty-five when you were born. Rather a surprise to us all. That's the real reason she became a recluse twenty-seven years ago. She was pregnant with you. That's why she sent all her grown children away so that they wouldn't find out.”

He shoved back his Stetson and rubbed his forehead. “Pepper? But I thought you told me her husband Call had been dead for forty years or so?”

“Call wasn't your father. He was already dead and buried, so to speak.”

“Then who was my father?”

Enid seemed to hesitate. He took a step toward her. She held him off with a look that said she'd been threatened by the best and to not even bother. “Hunt McCormick.”

He stared at her aghast. “I was the product of this tragic affair that caused the bad blood between the families?”

“What can I say?”

“How about the truth?”

“I'm telling you the truth,” Enid snapped. “But you can't go to Pepper with this.”

“Can't I?”

She grabbed his arm again. “I told you. She doesn't know you're alive. She isn't going to believe you.”

“I think you'll be surprised.” He'd seen the way Pepper had been watching him. Had she seen something in him that reminded her of her other offspring?

“I'm begging you,” Enid said, a note of panic in her voice. “Don't do this now. The wedding is tomorrow. Pepper has waited for this day for months. Let her get her granddaughter married, then… You've waited this long. What is another day?”

He looked at the old woman. He knew she was trying to save her own neck. She'd lied about the baby dying and sent her sister to the Whitehorse Sewing Circle to get rid of the infant.

“Why did you let her believe the baby died?” he asked, then realized he already knew the answer.

“Money. One more Winchester after the ranch.”

“And the fortune that goes with it,” she snapped.

“But that wasn't the only reason. Look at the bang-up job Pepper did with her other children. She didn't need another one to raise. Not that she was interested in the first place. She didn't even look at the baby, made us take it away.”

Because she thought the baby had died.

“What about my father? Was he told I died, as well?”

Enid looked away.

“He never knew I existed?”

“Keep your voice down,” she warned. “It's a long story, one I'm sure Pepper will tell you when the time comes.”

“I'm sure she'll be real forthcoming about her and her married lover.”

“Don't be so judgmental. Things aren't always what they seem,” Enid said.

“You can say that again,” he muttered. “You aren't planning to hightail it out of here, are you?” he asked her.

“Where would I go?” She sounded defeated, but he wasn't sure he believed it.

“Just in case you were wondering, a friend of mine is staying with me,” he told her.

“I saw. I thought I told you to stay away from the McCormicks?”

“She's just a friend of the McCormick family.”

Her lips pursed in disapproval. “I won't say anything if you don't.”

“I'll wait until after the wedding, but then all bets are off.”

 

R
OGER
C
OLLINS PACED IN
front of the glass wall that looked out on the city below him. Elizabeth Calder hadn't called in since her first report that Waters was at the Winchester Ranch. Maybe he should have sent someone else, he thought angrily.

No, Elizabeth had never let him down. She wouldn't this time. She would come through for him. She was perfect for this assignment. He had to trust that she could handle TD Waters.

Stepping over to his desk, he sat down. He hesitated
a moment before he unlocked the bottom drawer and took out the photograph. Elizabeth had been such a beautiful baby. The Calders had done a wonderful job of raising her.

He noticed how young he'd been in the photo of him holding Elizabeth after she was born—just before he'd handed the baby over to Will and his wife to raise. He frowned, remembering how Will had let him down.

“I don't want my daughter going into your damned secret agency,” Will had argued years later. They'd ridden away from the McCormick Ranch so they wouldn't be overheard. “
Your
daughter?” Collins had snapped. “Have you forgotten whose blood courses through that girl's veins? Or the deal you made for her?”

“She's wrong for your organization. Please, I'm begging you—”

“Don't bother. Nothing you can say will change my mind.”

“I can't let you have her. I'm going to tell Lizzy the truth. I'm going to tell everyone.”

Collins swore now as he quickly put the photograph back into the drawer and locked it. Will Calder had actually thought he could go back on their arrangement.

He didn't like to think what he'd had to do to stop Will. At least with TD Waters he'd picked the right parents first then found them a child. At least he'd thought he'd picked the right parents. Still, TD had made one hell of an agent. Until now.

Collins had never expected more betrayal. Not all his experiments with forming his own force of agents
had worked out, he reminded himself. But enough that he could dispose of those who didn't. Still, he hated losing an agent like Waters. Worse would be to lose Elizabeth.

“Any word from Agent Calder?” he barked into the intercom.

“Nothing, sir. Do you want me to try to reach her?”

“No!” he shouted into the intercom and then began to pace again, unable to shake the uneasy feeling he had. Maybe sending Elizabeth to the McCormick Ranch had been a mistake. He thought he'd covered his tracks. But what if he'd overlooked something?

It dawned on him that his two sharpest agents were in Montana together. If they were to put their heads together… He scoffed at the thought. He'd made sure his daughter had heard all about TD Waters's alleged exploits when it came to women. Elizabeth Calder was too smart to let a man like that turn her head.

But Roger Collins hadn't gotten where he was by taking chances, he reminded himself. Maybe it was time to sacrifice Waters. As much as he would hate to lose him, he also couldn't afford a loose cannon.

 

L
IZZY LET HERSELF INTO
the bunkhouse and looked around the small cabin. She'd already searched it and doubted there was anything new to learn here.

His two bags were on the top bunk, tucked back from the edge. She took a quick look, not surprised that he'd hidden the weapons he'd brought. Either that or they were in his pickup.

She glanced out the window to make sure he wasn't
coming back for anything before she took a look in the other bag. Just clothing, like before.

That's when she realized what else was missing besides the weapons.

The framed photograph.

She found it on a small wooden ledge by the bottom bunk. Picking it up, she sat down on the bed and studied the young boy. She'd been right. The photo had been shot near the house where TD had taken her today.

So it had to have been taken prior to his adoptive parents being killed. For some reason, the thought gave her a chill.

Although he was smiling into the camera, there was something in his eyes that made her sad. She wondered about his childhood, about the man he'd become. Her image of him was so different from the rogue agent that she'd come to Montana to find.

Lizzy was so lost in thought that she didn't hear TD return.

“What are you doing?” His voice was sharp.

She dropped the framed photograph. It hit the floor, the glass shattering. “I'm sorry,” Lizzy cried as TD rushed to pick it up. “I was just looking at it.”

“No, I'm the one who is sorry,” he said, rising with the photograph, the frame broken as well as the glass.

“I shouldn't have startled you. It's just that…”

“I had no business touching anything of yours,” she said as she watched him dump the broken glass into a wastebasket. “Maybe I shouldn't stay.”

“No. This is my fault. This photograph is all I have from the first eight years of my life. It has little sentimental value. I'm not sure why I've hung on to it.”

“I noticed it was taken at the old homestead where you took me today,” she said.

He looked up at her. “You have a good eye.” He was watching her now in a way that made her realize she'd messed up worse than dropping the framed photograph. Her pulse leaped at her mistake, but she tried to hide it as she turned away to look at the bunks on the opposite wall.

A part of her desperately wanted to tell him the truth about who she was and why she was here. But first she had to talk to Director Collins. She had to be sure.

She could feel the heat of his gaze on her. When she turned toward him again, his dark eyes were guarded. Lizzy mentally kicked herself for making such an amateurish mistake. She'd been too interested in the photograph—and his past—and now TD Waters was acting like an agent again and was suspicious as hell of her.

“Look, I'm sorry, I'm a little jumpy,” TD apologized as he studied Lizzy. For a moment there… No, he was still shaken by what Enid had told him. He couldn't trust his feelings, let alone his instincts.

And he realized he had feelings for Lizzy. He didn't just like her, he wanted her. And never more than he did right at this moment. She looked upset, scared almost.

“Hey, it's all right, it's just a picture frame,” he said, taking her shoulders in his hands as he smiled into her beautiful face. “It was old and needs to be replaced anyway. I've just never got around to it.”

She nodded, and kissing her again seemed like the only thing to do. Her lips trembled under his. He drew
her closer, breathing in her sweet scent. He couldn't remember ever wanting a woman as much as he did this one, and yet he held back, kissing her gently, lovingly.

That thought made him draw back. He cared about this woman. The last thing he wanted was to put her in harm's way. And yet he'd stupidly invited her to stay with him. What the hell had he been thinking? Collins would be sending agents after him to bring him in. Or more likely, to make sure he disappeared for good.

But he couldn't send her away. Not yet. He'd have to protect her until he knew for certain what the McCormicks were up to. It would be dark in a few hours. With all the people running around the ranch right now getting ready for the wedding, no way would any agents after him make a move. They would wait until tonight. But tonight, TD would get Lizzy out of here. She would take him to that shed. After that, he'd send her to town and out of harm's way.

“Look, I have to go help in the kitchen, but I'll be back,” he said. “You should be fine here until I get back, right?”

She nodded, even smiled. “I'll be fine.”

“Good.” He wanted to kiss her again but there wasn't time. “Tonight we'll check out that shed. I'm afraid you might be right about the McCormicks being up to something. If they wanted to cause trouble, McCall Winchester's wedding at the ranch with all of the family in attendance would be the perfect place.”

“Did you speak to one of the Winchesters?” she asked.

“I decided to wait until after the wedding tomorrow.”
He laid the photo now in the glassless frame on the top bunk, his gaze lighting on the boy's face. Was that boy the son of Pepper Winchester and Hunt McCormick?

How ironic that the only thing he had from the first eight years of his life was this photo of him holding a rifle. Years later when he'd picked up a rifle again, he'd been surprised at how well he shot.

“It was those years hunting deer in Montana,” Roger Collins had said after complimenting him on his excellent target-shooting aptitude.

“How did you know I used to hunt deer?” he had asked.

“I just assumed, growing up in Montana like you did.”

Collins had looked uncomfortable. How much had the man known about his past? More than he let on, TD thought now.

Not even Collins knew about the small framed photograph that he'd gotten out of the house before he was whisked away. Some things were best kept secret.

Maybe that's why it had startled him to see her looking at the photograph when he came into the cabin, he thought, studying her. What had it been in her expression that had shaken him so?

If there was one thing he'd learned as an agent, people often surprised you. What surprises did Lizzy Calder have in store for him? he wondered, then swatted away the thought like a pesky fly.

He had let the agency and that life make him cynical and paranoid. Lizzy Calder was just what she seemed.

“I'll get your bags for you,” he said. “Top bunk or bottom?”

“Top, I think,” she said turning to smile at him.

He smiled back. He liked a woman on top.

 

E
NID WENT BACK TO THE
kitchen, her mind awhirl. What was she going to do? She'd put TD Waters off until after the wedding. Maybe she should go to Pepper and confess everything—beat him to the punch, so to speak.

She'd told TD to come over and help her serve dinner tonight. Pepper had insisted on having it catered.

“You and Mr. Waters have been working hard enough,” she'd said when she'd come into the kitchen earlier looking for TD. “I'm having dinner catered. Maybe you should think about retiring after the wedding. Or at least taking a long vacation.”

“If you're trying to get rid of me—”

“I would use a blunt object,” Pepper had said with a small chuckle.

“You wouldn't know what to do without me,” Enid had quipped.

Pepper had laughed. “Boy, some days I certainly would like to try.”

Enid couldn't help but think about the strange look Pepper had gotten in her dark eyes before she'd left the kitchen. Did she already know about TD?