Snowbound at Christmas

by Debbie Mason

  They climbed over a snowbank to reach the sidewalk, wading through another foot of snow to get to the station doors. Turner, a tall, lanky man with his silver hair buzzed short, stood waiting for them. And if that didn’t indicate how hot and heavy the man was to railroad Cat, nothing did. Given the road conditions, it would have taken him at least six hours to get here from Denver.

  “Special Agent Alexander.” He extended his hand.

  Grayson ignored it. “Gage, mind if we use your office?”

  “Be my guest.”

  Less than thirty minutes later, Turner slammed from the office and stormed out the doors. Grayson had laid out a concise and persuasive case in Cat’s defense for both her involvement in the Ponzi scheme and Redding’s charge that she’d hired him to kill her sister, which Turner had, as Grayson repeatedly pointed out, no jurisdiction over. Turner ignored him on all counts.

  And that’s when Grayson went over his head, pulling out his cell phone to call Turner’s superior and leveling abuse of power and harassment charges against the man. His superior had been more than interested in hearing them. This wasn’t the first time he’d had such complaints brought against Turner, something Grayson had been aware of thanks to Easton.

  But Grayson didn’t have a chance to savor winning this round with Turner because there was something else weighing on his mind. It had been gnawing at him ever since he’d laid out why Cat couldn’t be behind the attempts on her sister’s life. Other than when Chloe broke the heel on her shoe, which could have been accidental, each attempt on Chloe’s life had actually put Cat in danger. She’d been pretending to be her sister when the railing broke and when the chandelier fell, and the boom had nearly taken her out, and not one of the bullets Redding had fired had ended up hitting the float. And the incident with the lights at the tree lighting had come back as inconclusive. The extension had shown signs of previous wear and tear. The only thing that kept throwing Grayson off was the latest attempt on Chloe’s life. Unless Easton had been right and…

  “That’s one unhappy man,” Easton said. “Is Turner going to give you problems?”

  “Probably…” He rubbed his face, unable to get rid of the thought that the answer was right in front of him. Then it came to him, and his head jerked up. “It’s Cat.”

  “What’s Cat?”

  He laid out each attempt to Gage and Easton. “Last night, Molly said she knew Chloe was behind the changes to the story line and not Cat. But all along, Chloe let them think that Cat, as her manager, was behind the requests.” He repeated the letter to them verbatim. “Just as easily could be a threat against Cat as Chloe.”

  “First off, take the attempt on Chloe two days ago out of the equation. I’ll guarantee she faked it. But—”

  “She wouldn’t do that, Easton,” Gage protested.

  “Yeah right, you don’t know her like I do. And while your theory makes sense on one level, Grayson, here’s where it falls apart for me. They’re identical twins. You put hair and makeup on Cat, and there’s no telling her apart from Chloe. Even her mother can’t.”

  “I can.”

  “Yeah, but that’s because… Hang on, what do you think you’re doing?” Easton said when Grayson removed the keys from his pocket and headed for the door. “Where are you going?”

  “To the ranch,” Grayson said, trying to tamp down his panic as he raced to the snowmobile. “Try to get through to Cat on her cell phone and warn her she’s in danger.”

  “She’s well trained. She’ll handle George and Molly if she has to,” Easton said, pushing past his brother, who was already on his cell.

  “I wouldn’t worry if she knew she was the target. But she’ll be trying to protect Chloe and won’t protect herself.” He was over the snowbank and on the snowmobile before Easton got down the station steps.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Cat looked up from filling a bucket with hay when the stable doors opened. Her sister, wearing the same jeans and thick cream sweater and hat as Cat had on, walked toward her. “I told you to stay locked in my room with Ty. And I don’t swagger, so cut it out.”

  Chloe grinned and continued walking like a cowboy in an old western. “He fell asleep. They’re all asleep. Besides, Molly and George would think I’m you anyway.”

  Cat sighed. “Not if they catch us in the same room together, they won’t.” She’d decided the best way to keep Chloe safe was to have her sister pretend to be her. Now that the storm system had cleared out and life was beginning to return to normal, Cat was afraid one of them would make their move here instead of back in LA. Maybe it would be better if they did. They still didn’t have anything to go on. Right now their only hope was that Grayson managed to break Sam. “Head back inside. I’ll be finished up in a couple minutes.”

  Chloe crouched beside her. “I’m bored. I don’t know how they can sleep away the entire day. I mean, I can understand why Estelle does… What’s with the frown?”

  “Ty hates to sleep. He’s afraid he’ll miss something.”

  “It was kind of weird. All of a sudden he said ‘I’m exhausted’ and fell back on the bed. I thought he was joking, and then he started to snore.” Chloe’s eyes widened. “You don’t think he was drugged, do you?”

  Yes, she did. But she didn’t want to scare Chloe. Cat reached under the back of her sweater for the gun Grayson had left her. She froze at the sound of a male voice. “It should wear off in a couple of hours. Imagine his surprise when he wakes up to find his best friend dead.”

  “Don’t react. You’re me, remember?” Cat whispered, dropping her hand. Chloe wouldn’t have a gun. She came slowly to her feet, pulling her sister with her. Together they turned to face George.

  He caressed the rifle in his hand. He must have seen her with the gun yesterday and searched the den. It still didn’t explain how he’d broken into the case. The glass was unbreakable. “I see you’re wondering how I came to have this beauty in my possession. I hid in the den and watched you punch in the combination. It didn’t work the first time, but I’m a very patient man.” He came toward them. “But you’ve tried my patience long enough, Cat. Tessa my dear, come here. Your sister is done interfering in our lives.”

  It wasn’t easy, but Cat locked down her emotions. She couldn’t let him see the shock on her face upon realizing it was her he wanted dead and not her sister. Chloe’s gaze shot from George to her. She tightened her grip on her sister’s hand. She recognized the calculating look in Chloe’s eyes, and it didn’t bode well.

  Chloe made a small, terrified sound in her throat, then jerked her hand free and ran to George. “Oh, Byron, I knew you’d save me. But why did you take so long? She nearly ruined everything.”

  Cat’s heart skipped a panicked beat at the possibility her sister had been in on it all along. She immediately pushed the thought aside. They had their problems, but deep down she knew Chloe loved her.

  “She’s a cat. She has nine lives.” George smirked, wrapping an arm around Chloe’s shoulders while he held the gun on Cat.

  What was her sister thinking? Cat couldn’t get off a clear shot with Chloe pressed against him.

  “You should have let me in on your plan. I could have helped.” Her sister lightly slapped his chest. “All this time I’ve been terrified someone was trying to kill me, Byron.”

  “How do you know he wasn’t trying to kill you, Chloe? He couldn’t know it was me the day the railing broke or the day the chandelier fell.”

  “Of course I did. Your sister’s graceful, you’re a klutz. And I heard Ty call you Pussy when he was doing your hair. And you have a dimple when you smile.”

  “What about the day Chloe’s heel broke? You weren’t trying to kill me that day, were you?”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill her.” The vein in his forehead throbbed. “I didn’t like how she was behaving with Rand. I had to teach her a lesson.” His features hardened and became menacing. “Just like my wife. Flirting with your fiancé at our party. Investing all our m
oney behind my back.”

  Cat didn’t understand what he was talking about until she remembered the time two years earlier that she and Michael had gone to visit Chloe in LA. Michael had loved the Hollywood scene. He’d wanted to go out every night, and now she knew why. He’d found more victims to prey on.

  George continued. “Everything gone like that”—he snapped his fingers behind Chloe’s back—“because of you and your thieving boyfriend. And you thought you got away with it, didn’t you? But now you’ll pay.”

  “My sister’s a lot of things, Byron, but she’s not a thief. She gave all her money to the victims’ fund.” Chloe lifted his arm from her shoulders and took his hand. “Let’s leave now. You don’t have to do this. We’ll—”

  Tilting his head, he stroked Chloe’s cheek. “You’re so naive, my dear. That was guilt money. It’s how I knew what she’d done. And it hardly made up for what’s been stolen from me. We’re not going anywhere until she’s out of our lives for good.” He gave Cat a chilling smile. “Her life insurance will just about cover what she owes me. You will give it to me, won’t you, Tessa darling?”

  “Of course, but you don’t need Cat’s insurance money, Byron. I have more than enough for both of us.”

  “I know you do. But there’s poetic justice in getting it from her, don’t you think?” As he started to walk toward Cat, Chloe stayed behind. “Now let’s get this over with, shall we? We don’t have much time. In you go.” He waved the gun at Blackheart’s stall. “You didn’t think I’d be stupid enough not to make it look like an accident, did you? I’m smarter than that pothead Sam. I should have known the idiot would get caught.” He glanced back at Chloe. “I hope your writing is as identical to your sister’s as your face is. We want the suicide note and her confession to look authentic.”

  Chloe lifted her assessing gaze to George and nodded, then glanced at Cat. Her sister was up to something. Cat prepared for Chloe to make her move.

  “Good. Then all that’s left for us to do is make sure Sam doesn’t talk. We’ll pay a visit to the hospital on our way out of town.” George turned back to Cat and lifted the gun. “Move—”

  Chloe ran and jumped on his back. George got out a startled “What—” at the same time Cat kicked the gun from his hands.

  He lurched toward her before she’d lowered her foot and regained her balance, grabbing Cat by the neck.

  “Get your hands off my sister!” Chloe shrieked, trying to pry his fingers from Cat’s throat.

  “Eyes. His eyes.” Cat attempted to direct her sister, but because of George’s stranglehold on her neck, the words were barely audible.

  George bent at the waist, moving several steps back so Cat couldn’t kick him. As stars sparked in her vision, she reached behind her for her gun. Chloe, as though realizing what she was trying to do, slid off George’s back and ran behind Cat, taking the gun from her waistband. She pointed it at George and said in Cat’s cop voice, “I said, get your hands off my sister.”

  Distracted by Chloe, his grip on Cat’s neck loosened. She took advantage of his brief moment of inattention and quickly raised her right arm, twisting to the left, slamming it down across his arms. His hands dropped from her throat. She gave a hard, open-palm hit to his nose, then dropped him with a knee to the groin. He curled up in a ball, writhing in pain.

  Cat bent over, hands to her thighs as she caught her breath. Chloe scooted past her, rolled George onto his stomach, and straddled him. She stuck the gun in the back of her jeans, grabbed his arms, and pulled them behind his back.

  “Oh, God, I’m lying in… Let me up, let me up now!” He turned his head to squint through his red and running eyes. “How could you betray me like this, Tessa?”

  “Shut it, George. You mess with my sister, you mess with me.” She twisted to look at Cat with a huge smile on her face. “Sounded just like you, didn’t I?”

  The crazy woman was actually enjoying herself. “Yeah, you did.” Cat shook her head with a raspy laugh. “I still can’t believe you did that. For a minute there, I thought you were in on it with him.”

  “That’s because I’m a fabulous actress.” Her smile faded, and her eyes filled. “I redeemed myself just like Daddy said I would, Kit Kat. I wasn’t afraid. I was mad… furious that”—she shoved George’s face into the hay-strewn floor—“he was going to hurt you—”

  “Cat!” Grayson ran into the barn with his gun drawn. The fear etched on his handsome face subsided when he saw George on the ground. A slow smile curved his lips as he crossed the stable. “Good job, Chloe.” He patted her sister’s shoulder and walked straight to Cat, pulling her into his arms. “Thank God.” He pressed his ice-cold cheek to hers.

  She pulled back and touched his face and his hair. “You’re frozen.”

  His mouth flattened as his fingers gently feathered over her throat, and he raised glittering, ice-blue eyes. “He did this to you?”

  “It’s—”

  “Cat.” Easton tucked his gun in the back of his jeans and limped toward her sister. Gage and Chance followed behind him and asked, “Everyone okay?”

  Cat and Grayson nodded, watching while Easton drew Chloe to her feet and his brothers hauled George off the ground, shouting, “Tessa, Tessa.” They dragged him out the stable doors.

  “Are you okay?” Easton asked Chloe. Lifting his hand to her face, he gently touched her cheek. “Cat, honey, answer me.”

  Chloe twisted a strand of hair in her fingers. “Um-hm,” she murmured, leaning in with her face tipped up.

  Cat couldn’t believe her sister actually meant to kiss him. So much for turning over a new leaf. When would she ever learn. “Chloe,” Cat said sharply.

  Easton drew back, his gaze jerking from Chloe to Cat. “No way. There is no way this is Chloe.”

  Her sister crossed her arms. “Really? Why is Grayson holding Cat in his arms and not me, then?” She stamped her foot. “I mean, if that’s me, Chloe, why is he holding me… Ugh, I’m confusing myself.”

  “He’d be holding Chloe because she probably fainted… You really are Cat?” he asked, looking from her to Grayson.

  “No, I’m Chloe.”

  He looked down at her sister. “I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to her.”

  Chloe threw up her arms and stomped away, then pivoted, pulling the gun from the waistband of her jeans. She dangled it from the tip of her finger. “Maybe someone should take this.”

  “Jesus, it really is Chloe.”

  * * *

  Cat stood with Grayson by the window. Sipping her eggnog while he talked on the phone, she looked at the colored lights from the tree reflected in the glass, the happy faces of the O’Connor and McBride families gathered in the great room. They’d started arriving an hour ago by snowmobile loaded down with food and holiday cheer.

  Gage and Chance had taken Molly into town for questioning when they arrested George. She had been cleared of any involvement. Turns out George had left the magazine clipping in Molly’s dressing room in the event suspicion fell on him. Despite that, Molly refused to leave her old friend and costar’s side. She blamed Chloe for pushing him over the edge.

  They’d also discovered how Sam had gotten Cat’s gun. George had stolen it from her room the night of Estelle and Grayson’s party. He’d asked for a tour of the house, which her mother had graciously provided.

  It was finally over, Cat thought, turning to look at her family. Ty, along with Annie, Gage and Madison’s oldest, swayed in front of the crackling fire singing “Believe” with Josh Groban on the karaoke machine. Her sister lay on the couch, looking like a movie star in a gold lamé wrap jacket and long black skirt, her hair and makeup perfect, since she had her own stylist in the house. Their mother stroked her sister’s hair as Chloe told the story of how she’d saved Cat to an attentive audience. She was in her glory—Christmas’s hero. Easton sat in the wingback chair, talking to Chance and Vivi, but every so often his gaze flicked to Chloe.

  Grayson disconnected
and shoved his phone in his jeans pocket. He smiled down at her. “I have a Christmas present for you.”

  She winced. “I don’t have one for you. I haven’t had a chance—”

  He leaned in, whispering in her ear, “All I want for Christmas is you in my bed for twenty-four hours. No interruptions, no drama, no one trying to kill someone, just you and me together.”

  She flushed, and not from embarrassment. “Um-hm, I think that can be arranged. Maybe not for a couple of days though.”

  “Guess that’ll have to do.” He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face the room. “I think everyone’s going to want to hear this. Whistle.”

  She laughed. “You want me to whistle?”

  He grinned and took her glass of eggnog. “Yeah, it’s hot.”

  She shrugged and put four fingers in her mouth and whistled. Everyone stopped mid-conversation. Ty pointed the microphone at her. “We’re at the best part.”

  “Sorry, Grayson has an announcement.” She looked up at him. “Floor’s yours.”

  “I just got off the phone with the deputy director. Special Agent in Charge Turner has decided to take an early retirement. An official apology is being sent to Cat, and her file closed and expunged from the record. She’ll also be hearing from her former captain with a job offer.” He smiled down at her. “Merry Christmas, love.”

  The sound of cheering barely registered as she stared up at Grayson. She’d heard about his meeting with Turner, but she never expected anything like this. He’d given her her life back. She went up on her tiptoes and whispered, “You know how I said I’m falling in love with you? Well, I’m not falling anymore. I love you, Grayson Alexander. Without a doubt, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” She lightly brushed her mouth over his.

  He framed her face with his hands. “You know how you said you didn’t have a present for me? Well, you just gave the most wonderful gift of all. I love you, Cat O’Connor.” He kissed her, not a kiss that would embarrass her family and friends, but one that promised a future. Lifting his mouth from hers, he said, “What are the chances we’re going to get some time alone anytime soon?”