“Rex told me that,” Tanner said, closing the door. “He also said he’d sent a telegram for Doc to stop here on his way home.” Homer was only eight miles north of the ranch, while Rawlings, where he’d picked up Anna, was fifteen miles south. The doc’s route home would bring him within a mile of the homestead, but Tanner no longer saw an imminent need for the doctor to stop in. Taking a seat in one of the wingback leather chairs, he added, “Fred’s all stitched up. Your granddaughter did a mighty fine job.”
The judge leaned back in his chair and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. His hair, gray for years, had turned whiter lately, and the curves of his fingers, plagued with arthritis, had grown more prominent. “Merilee told me. Said Anna saved Fred’s life,” Walter replied roughly.
“I suspect so,” Tanner agreed. “I hadn’t planned on checking the line shacks for a couple more days.” The somewhat disgusted sigh Walter let out had Tanner saying, “I don’t get it. You’ve wanted Anna to come home for years, yet you act like you don’t want her here.”
“Maybe I don’t want her here.”
Tanner was taken aback, and more than a bit concerned by the coldness in the judge’s tone. “Why not?”
Walter rested both elbows on his desk and took on an almost deflated appearance. “Maybe Will was right. The ranch is no place for her.” He let out another long sigh. “The Anna who arrived isn’t a girl—she’s a woman.”
Tanner had already deduced that and was still struggling with how it affected him. “Yes, she is.”
Walter stood and walked to the window, where he stared out into the fading daylight. “At one time, her grandmother and I lived in a cabin no bigger than that line shack, and when I saw Anna standing in that doorway today, I was taken back. Years.” Shaking his head, he almost whispered, “Her grandmother died on this land, and her mother. That could happen to Anna, too.”
Tanner held his opinion on just how hardy he thought the Anna who’d just patched up Fred was, yet knew that wasn’t what Walter needed to hear. “Accidents happen everywhere, Walter. People die in Kansas City just like they do here.”
Walter turned from the window. “That lawyer wants to get married on Christmas Day,” he said, as if he hadn’t heard Tanner’s statement.
“You still want me to get rid of him?” The idea had taken on more appeal.
“No,” Walter said, leaning against the window frame. “Marrying him is what Anna needs. He’ll take her back to Kansas City where she belongs.”
“Walter,” Tanner started, prepared to argue his point.
The judge shook his head sadly and walked across the room, toward the door. “I have to go see Fred.”
This morning, Tanner might have agreed that Anna marrying the lawyer and going back to Kansas City was the best thing all the way around, but what had happened today had changed his mind. The strange part was, and he questioned it as the door shut, the steadfast alliance he’d always held toward Walter had shifted. Whether the judge saw it or not, Anna belonged here.
What scared him was there was no guarantee she’d stay. Her father might request her to return to Kansas City and she’d go. Where would that leave the judge? Or him?
Tanner exited the office more torn than when he’d entered it, and he was still questioning his motives hours later when he entered the room off the kitchen to check on Fred. He wasn’t surprised to see Anna sitting in the rocking chair. She hadn’t joined the family for supper, nor had she left the room after Doc Andrews had stopped by.
The doc had told everyone, especially Walter, that he couldn’t have done a better job of stitching up Fred himself, and assured everyone the man would be up and walking in no time. Neither Walter nor John Hampton seemed impressed by the doctor’s declaration, and that irked Tanner more.
“How’s he doing?” he asked, walking up to the bed.
Her smile was brighter than the lamp flickering on the table beside her. “Good. He ate an entire bowl of chicken soup, not just the broth, and drank a full cup of coffee. I’d say that’s a good sign.”
“Me, too,” Tanner agreed, watching the steady rise and fall of Fred’s chest. “No temperature?”
“No, and Dr. Andrews left some medicine for the pain. I gave it to him after he ate. That’s why he’s sleeping so soundly.” Anna couldn’t keep the joy out of her voice or the grin off her face when Tanner smiled as he sat in other chair the doc had pulled close while questioning what she’d done before stitching up Fred’s wound.
“So he’s going to be all right?” Tanner asked.
She had no reservations sharing her one niggling doubt with him. “Fever could still set in. I’ll know by morning if he’s clearly on the mend or not.”
“I take it that means you don’t plan on leaving this room all night.”
That was Tanner. Not telling her she shouldn’t, just accepting her behavior at face value. A frown tugged at her brows. If John was handsome, what did that make Tanner? Then again, it wasn’t just his looks that made Tanner so, well, memorable. His dark hair, long enough it wedged beneath his shirt collar, only added to his overall charisma—an attractiveness that caught her off guard every time she looked at him. He caused her heart to flutter, too, and her stomach. Even her blood pulsed harder in her veins.
Yesterday at the train station, she’d assumed it was simply because she recognized him, and in the barn, because he irritated her, but if so, why would it continue to get stronger every time they encountered each other? It might be because he was the only one not upset with her. Grandpa and John certainly were. Which was partly why she wasn’t leaving this room. Either one of them might corner her, and she wasn’t prepared to take them on. She wasn’t afraid, just exhausted, and she wanted a bit more time to consider all her options. Her ability to assist Fred had turned both men into tyrants. Only Tanner, and Doc Andrews, seemed pleased by her actions.
Something else the doctor had said filtered through her thoughts. “So,” she said, setting the rocking chair into motion, “you’re courting Rosalie Andrews?”
Tanner lifted a single brow as he gave her a penetrating stare. “No, we aren’t courting.”
“Hmm,” she mumbled through a fake smile. “Doc said she’s excited about the Christmas party this weekend because she hasn’t seen you in some time. That you’ve been too busy to visit.”
“Walter says you and John are getting married on Christmas Day.”
Fire shot up her spine and both her heels scraped the floor, bringing the chair to an abrupt stop. “John and I may be engaged,” she had to admit, “but a wedding date has not been set.”
“Oh,” he said, scratching at the back of his neck. “Sorry. Maybe I just let the cat out of the bag.”
“I assure you, Tanner, there is no cat to be let out of the bag. John knows I’m not ready to set a date.”
“So you’re engaged, but you aren’t ready to marry him?”
She nodded.
“I don’t get it.”
“What?”
“I don’t get it,” Tanner repeated. “Why did you say yes if you weren’t ready to marry him?”
Anna didn’t have an answer, not one she could tell him. “Because he’s handsome and kind and generous.” Those things were all true.
“But you don’t love him?”
Annoyed at how quick he pointed that out, she replied, “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t say you did, either,” he insisted rather snidely.
“What about you?” she asked with arrogance. “Do you love Rosalie?”
“No,” he replied in a snap. “And I’ve never given her any reason to believe I do.”
Anna couldn’t challenge that. Tanner would never pretend to feel something he didn’t. That had been obvious years ago. Wishing she had more of the ability to see things as black and whit
e instead of several shades of gray, she asked, “How do you know you don’t love her?”
His expression softened, as if he understood the battle going on inside her. With a shrug, he answered, “I just do.”
The air that moments ago had seemed charged toned down, almost as if night had just fallen, filling the room with its peaceful quiet. Something else she’d missed. “It’s never quiet like this in Kansas City. There are always train whistles, and wagons traveling about, and people. Hordes of people everywhere. Even in the middle of the night you can hear them.”
Tanner’s only response was a simple nod.
“Have you ever been there?” she asked.
“No.”
“You wouldn’t like it,” she said, and then proceeded to tell him why. While chuckling, he agreed she was right. They continued talking, and laughing now and again at memories or something she’d tell him about, until late into the night. So late that Anna didn’t remember when they stopped. When he left the room. It had to have been after she’d fallen asleep because when she awoke, still sitting in the rocking chair, and there was a quilt covering her and a pillow resting beneath her head.
She stretched her arms over her head while inhaling the familiar aroma filling the room.
“I sure could use a cup of that coffee,” Fred said, apparently smelling the same thing.
“How are you feeling?” She pushed aside the quilt to stand and press a hand to his forehead.
“Leg feels like it should belong to someone else, but the rest of me is good.”
“I’ll take a look at your leg and then get you some coffee.”
A good amount of the swelling had gone down, so she did as promised, delivered a cup of coffee to Fred. After he’d eaten a hearty breakfast, all the while insisting he didn’t need her sitting beside his bed, Anna left his room to visit her own. There she changed her clothes and took a moment to gaze out the window at the new day dawning.
She recognized Tanner as he stepped out of the barn, not from his swagger or clothing but by the reaction inside her. That, as well as the inspiration she’d gained while watching the sun rise, made her spin around. There were five days until the ranch’s Christmas party, and then three more until Christmas Day, and she was going to need every minute.
Some miracles needed help.
Chapter Eight
If a man didn’t know when he was being taken, that was his own problem. Therefore Tanner kept his mouth shut. Watching John darling being run roughshod over didn’t bother him a bit, but Walter was a different story. However, the man was so grumpy—probably because he knew what was happening and couldn’t stop it—that Tanner let it slide. After all, Anna had learned from the best. She was Walter’s granddaughter, and the man hadn’t presided over the territory for so many years without knowing how to manipulate a few things when needed.
Even with all her party preparations, Anna hadn’t let her care of Fred slip. The man was well on the mend and glowing like a freshly shined apple at the attention he was receiving. The house glowed, too, inside and out, with all the cleaning and decorations she had the hands hauling in and putting up. Every breath Tanner took was full of pine and spice, and there was a sort of festive fever rampaging through the place.
He’d caught it, too, and didn’t mind helping Anna out when he’d find her searching for some type of decoration or tool. Seeing her eyes twinkle and hearing her laughter was all the reward he needed. There was a downside, though. The desires she evoked inside him were wreaking havoc.
“There you are.”
Tanner dropped the can into the feed bucket at the sound of her voice, and when he straightened after picking it up, she was standing next to him.
“What do you need now?” he asked, trying to sound grumpy. “There can’t be another pine tree on the property.”
Enjoyment filled her eyes. “No, I have plenty of pine boughs.”
She smelled as good as the house, except instead of pine needles and spice it was sugar and vanilla. “Then what is it?”
“I want you to ride to the line shacks with me,” she said, moving aside so he could walk to the next stall.
“What for?”
“Because I have cookies and apple cider for the men out there,” she said. “In case they can’t make it to the party tomorrow.”
“They can ride in for the party if they want to. Walter won’t deny them that.” He continued going about his morning feedings. Filling buckets of grain for the stalled horses.
“I know. But if they’re as dedicated as you, they might not. Therefore, I want to take them each a bit of Christmas joy.”
He tried not to smile at that. Her and her Christmas joy had become contagious the last couple of days. “It’ll take most of the day to visit all three shacks.”
“I know. That’s why I’m all set to ride.” She gestured to the clothes beneath her red velvet cape.
Britches and well-worn boots, as well as... “Is that one of my shirts?”
“Yes, I hope you don’t mind. It’s warmer than anything I own, and I want to wear my cape.” Flipping up the white fur-lined hood, she asked, “It looks Christmassy, don’t you think?”
He thought, all right, but he wasn’t about to admit to what. “Why don’t you ask John to ride with you?”
“He doesn’t know where the line shacks are. Besides, Grandpa said the only way I could go is if you’d take me. I have everything ready for the party—the things I can do before tomorrow—so will you? Please?”
Tanner was about to give in and didn’t like it. “Why do you want to go so badly?”
She took the can from his hand and filled it from the large bucket he was carrying from stall to stall. “Because it’s Christmas, and I want everyone on the ranch to know I’m thinking about them.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what a good ranch owner should do. If not for the men who work here, we wouldn’t have a ranch.”
He couldn’t fault her on that. The past two years there hadn’t been a Christmas party, and drooping morale had shown the men missed it.
“While we’re visiting,” she continued as she dumped a can full of oats into Thunder’s bucket. “We can personally invite the men to attend the party, just as long as they return to their posts as soon as possible.”
“Why is this so important to you?” He was stalling. Being alone with her could be dangerous.
Seriousness overtook her features, had the smile on her lips strained. “Because I want all the men here to like me. That way, if Grandpa tries to send me away, they’ll stick up for me.”
“It’ll take more than cider and cookies to make men go against Walter’s orders,” he warned.
“I know.” She dropped the can into his bucket. “He doesn’t want me here, Tanner, and that hurts.”
The sadness on her face had him wanting to pull her into his arms. “Fine,” he said, irked by how strongly the change in her demeanor affected him. “Go get your goody bags.”
She pointed to several flour sacks decorated with red bows lying near the barn door. With eyes once again sparkling, she said, “I’ll saddle Thunder.” Then she stretched onto her toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Tanner.”
* * *
Half an hour later, as they rode out of the ranch yard, Tanner’s left cheek was still tingling. He was no better than her fiancé and grandfather, falling into her trap like this, but he could handle it. He wasn’t in love with her the way the other two men were.
The snow that had fallen previously was mostly gone, and the ride was easy. The men, Padre, Weston and Slim, were all happy to see her, and touched—he could tell that by the pink hue of their cheeks—that she’d ridden out to personally invite them to the party.
She’d packed lunch for the two of them, too, which t
hey shared between visits beneath an outcropping of rocks that sheltered them from the wind, and gave the horses a chance to rest after drinking their fill from the still-flowing stream. Conversation flowed easily between them, as it had the other night, but this time it didn’t include memories. The future was what she talked about, and it pulled him in. She spoke of how meatpacking plants in Kansas City were doubling, and having one nearby would increase their profitability. Shipping meat in refrigerated cars eastward, where the demand for it continued to grow, would secure the ranch for years to come, she insisted.
Tanner was amazed by all she knew, and told her so.
“All the while I was gone, the ranch was never far from my mind,” she said.
She jumped to her feet then, claimed it was time to continue, and they did.
Tanner wasn’t about to admit how much he’d enjoyed the day, nor how disappointed he was when the homestead appeared before them, signaling it was over. Anna grew quiet then, too, as they rode the last half mile home. Outside the barn, once they dismounted, he took Thunder’s reins from her hands. “I’ll put the horses up, you can go in the house.”
“No,” she said, moving to the barn door. “I’ll brush down Thunder first.”
He didn’t argue; there wasn’t any use.
* * *
Anna held the barn door as Tanner led both horses inside, and then pulled it shut behind her, letting out a sigh both at the strength it took to close the heavy door and at the perfection of the day.
In a sense, this had been her plan all along—a way for her and Tanner to share the ranch. Being with him as she had today had her imagining just what the future could be like if her plan worked.
Pushing off the door, she strode toward Tanner and the horses he was now unsaddling. “Where’d you live before coming here?” she asked while putting up Thunder. He never talked about his past, and she had a desire to know everything about him.
“Nowhere really,” he answered.
“It had to have been somewhere.”
“I met up with the Taylor gang down in Colorado, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
Christmas Cowboy Kisses Page 19