Harlequin American Romance October 2013 Bundle: Twins Under the Christmas TreeBig Sky ChristmasHer Wyoming HeroA Rancher's Christmas

by Marin Thomas

Along the way he stopped the truck at an overlook. Here they got out to take pictures and enjoy a sweeping view of Jackson Hole and the panorama of the spectacular Tetons. With the fast-moving clouds gathering, it took her breath.

  They eventually drove on and started climbing through the pines. The higher they drove, the darker it became because of the towering trees and the approaching storm. A change in the weather added a mysterious element to the landscape the children could feel as they gazed about in wonder. She heard thunder rumble in the distance. Before she could say anything, Ross stopped the truck and got out.

  “This storm’s going to be exciting. Let’s get you inside the cab while I throw the tarp over the back.” He reached for Jenny. “Down you go, honey.” The boys climbed out.

  Ross’s eyes lifted to hers. “You last,” he said as the children scrambled inside the truck. With effortless strength he lifted her out, crushing her against his hard body. Before he let her feet touch the ground he kissed her on the mouth.

  “That wasn’t fair,” she whispered shakily.

  “I don’t always play fair. You’re going to find out all sorts of things about me this trip.”

  On legs weak as water, she walked to the back door. “Andy? If you’ll ride in front with Ross, I’ll sit back here between Jenny and Johnny.”

  “Okay.” He sounded happy about it.

  In a minute Ross joined them, and they started on their way again. Around another curve and they came out of the trees just as the sky lit up.

  “Whoa!” Johnny cried. “That lightning was close.”

  “It’s really far away,” Ross said over his shoulder, “but it’s so bright it’s like daylight.”

  Kit put her arms around both children. “This is exciting being together like this.” More lightning flashes lit their way up the mountain as they wound in and out of the trees. The thunder cracked and shook the ground.

  “Pretty spectacular, huh?” He reached over to rub Andy’s head. “This makes the Fourth of July fireworks look like a couple of candles on a birthday cake.”

  His comment made everyone laugh. “We need some heat if we’re going to enjoy the show.” He turned it on and they kept going. Under normal weather conditions, it wouldn’t be dark till nightfall, but the thunderheads were moving in fast, blocking out the light. “We’re almost to the meadow. This is better than going to an outdoor movie.”

  Andy turned to Ross. “I’ve never been to one. Is it fun?”

  “Yup. Especially when I could drive and take a girlfriend.”

  What would it have been like to be his girlfriend? Kit would never know and needed to put him out of her mind, but the kiss he’d given her was still on her lips, making that impossible.

  “I would have loved to take you to one, honey, but we know why I didn’t.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  “When my grandmother was alive, she drove us to the drive-in between Providence and Woonsocket. That was one of our favorite things to do. We’d buy treats, and she’d let me sit on the hood of the car with a blanket and pillow to watch the movie.”

  “I want to do that.”

  “We will,” Ross declared. “One of these days we’ll take a balloon ride to Cody and go to the outdoor movie there in a rental car.”

  Kit wished he wouldn’t say things like that to Andy when he knew her plans.

  “Can we?” Andy cried.

  “Can we go, too?” the other kids asked.

  “I don’t see why not.” When Ross looked at Kit through the rearview mirror, it was like one of those lightning bolts spiking the atmosphere had just gone through her.

  Suddenly there was another flash that illuminated the forest. In that instant they caught sight of an enormous elk with an even more enormous rack of antlers crossing the road.

  “Ross!” Johnny cried. “Did you see that?”

  “It’s the same one I took a picture of last month. That’s the granddaddy you’ve been dying to see. He must be nine feet from nose to rump and sure gets around. Wait till you tell your dad you finally saw him.”

  Johnny bounced up and down on the seat in reaction. Just then another giant thunderclap shook the ground. Andy let out a yelp that caused Ross to laugh. “We’re perfectly safe.”

  Ross brought the truck to the edge of the clearing but still under the dense shelter of the trees. For the next little while they huddled together to watch nature’s show. Ross passed out licorice for everyone. When the hail came down the size of marbles, it filled up the windshield and covered the ground. Soon it was followed by a downpour of rain that drowned out every other sound.

  “Now you know how people felt who got in the ark with Noah.”

  “Would you have gone in it, Ross?”

  “I’d like to think so, Andy.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Me, too,” Kit echoed with the other children. “Can you believe that at this time yesterday there wasn’t a cloud in the sky? The quick changes in weather are a constant source of wonder to me. I can see why you love it here so much. It’s like the earth has been baptized. There’s no place like it.”

  Ross turned in the seat so he could look back at her. “Certainly not in Texas.”

  “Not in Maine either,” Andy piped up, sounding very grown up just then.

  Both comments disturbed her in more ways than one.

  In a few minutes the rain turned to drizzle. “The storm has passed over us. Pretty soon the sun will be peeking out of the clouds again. Keep watching for the elk.”

  They all kept their eyes peeled. “I can’t see him,” Johnny complained.

  “He’s probably sought shelter under a big pine by now where it’s dry and he can eat.”

  “What does he eat?” Andy wanted to know.

  Ross let out a cough. “Grass and low-growing plants, about twelve pounds a day.”

  “Twelve?”

  “Yup, and ten gallons of water.”

  “My daddy says an elk has four stomachs,” Jenny informed them.

  “Whoa!”

  “Can we get out now, Uncle Ross?” Johnny was getting restless. “The rain has stopped.”

  “You can as soon as I drive out into the clearing. After I remove the tarp, we’ll eat sandwiches and go for a hike.”

  * * *

  IT HAD BEEN a day to remember. That evening Ross’s partners arrived in the Jeep with hot food because they’d dispensed with the idea of building a bonfire. Ross couldn’t recall ever having this much fun. Everyone pitched in before going to bed. All food had been put away in the bear locker in Carson’s Jeep parked away from them.

  While Kit talked with the girls, it was Andy who worked right alongside him like a buddy as they erected the last of the three-man tents.

  “Here. Have some more licorice on me.”

  “Thanks. I wish—” Suddenly he stopped talking.

  “What do you wish, Andy?” he prodded.

  “Oh, nothing.”

  “That didn’t sound like nothing to me. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

  The boy averted his eyes. “I wish Mom would buy a bookstore in Jackson. Then we wouldn’t have to move to Texas.”

  Ross had to fight his sudden rush of adrenaline. The papers he’d printed out early that morning were burning a hole in his back pocket. “Texas isn’t a bad place. I grew up there.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know anybody there.”

  “I thought your mom said you were friends with Nila and her daughter.”

  “I am, kind of, but I really like Johnny and Jenny.”

  No one could help liking those two children. “I’m sure the idea of moving to a brand-new place makes you feel nervous. But just remember your mom loves you, and she’s going to do everything she can to make you happy.”
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br />   “I know.” Andy helped him lay out the three sleeping bags. “Were you nervous when you came out here after the hospital?”

  “Very nervous, but in a different way.” He coughed.

  “How do you mean?”

  “I’d already made friends with Carson and Buck, but I was afraid I might not be good at ranching. There was so much to learn.”

  “You can do everything!”

  “You know how to make a guy feel good, but you should have seen me in the beginning. Carson told me it was like he was teaching a kindergartner.”

  Andy grinned. “He was just teasing.”

  Kit’s boy just kept growing on him. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, what if I didn’t like it after I got here and then had to let the guys down because I didn’t want to stay? It upset me so much that I might disappoint them, I didn’t feel very good for a while.”

  “But you love it now, right?”

  Ross nodded. “More than anything in my whole life. Maybe that’s how you’ll feel about Galveston after you’ve been there a while.”

  Andy didn’t respond to that. “Do you miss Texas?”

  “Let me put it this way. It’s where I was born, and my family lives there, so it will always have a place in my heart. But as I told you before, I wasn’t happy there. Do you think you’re going to miss Bar Harbor?”

  “Not now that my dad’s gone.”

  “I can understand that.”

  “Mom says she’s glad we’re moving. I am, too, but I’d rather move here. I like it a lot. Johnny and Jenny told me they love it here more than anything and wouldn’t ever want to leave.”

  This ranch had a stranglehold on all of them.

  “Have you told her how you really feel about all this, Andy?”

  “I’m afraid to.”

  “Why? She’s not scary.” He turned on the Coleman lantern to make sure it worked. “You’re her son, right? You always talk everything over, so why don’t you tell her what’s on your mind? All she can say is no.”

  “But I don’t want her to say no.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe she’ll surprise you. Today she kept saying how much she loved it here.”

  “I know, but she’s already made plans with Nila.”

  “Plans can be changed. She hasn’t bought a bookstore yet or paid money for an apartment.” Her money problems made him break out in a cold sweat. Maybe because of talking to Andy like this, Ross would be struck by one of those lightning bolts that had lit up the forest hours earlier, but he didn’t care.

  “I guess I could talk to her.”

  “You’ve got time. You haven’t even finished your whole vacation here yet. Maybe tomorrow night or the next when you’re back at the cabin. I know she’ll listen to you. She loves you to death.”

  “I love her, too. You’re going to sleep in here with us tonight, aren’t you?”

  Ross had been waiting for that invitation. He coughed. “I was planning on it, provided it’s okay with your mom. Otherwise I’ll sleep in the back of the truck. Have you ever camped out overnight before?”

  “No. Once my dad took me sailing and we stayed out overnight.”

  “Just the two of you?”

  “No. Grandfather came, too, but he got seasick.”

  “That’s one memory I bet you’ll never forget.”

  They were both laughing when they heard, “Knock, Knock.” Kit lifted the tent flap and came in. “You were both in here so long, I wondered if you’d fallen asleep.”

  “No,” Andy murmured.

  Ross smiled. “We were just talking and time got away from us.”

  “Everybody has gone to bed.”

  “Then I’ll leave the tent while you and Andy get ready.”

  He stepped outside and looked up at the sky. A few clouds partially hid the moon, shrouding parts of the Grand Teton. One day his house would sit on this spot where their three tents had been pitched. When Ross had been flown home from Kandahar to Walter Reed half dead, he could never have dreamed up a night like this, in a place like this, with a woman like Kit Wentworth.

  “Ross?” Andy called to him from the tent door. “Mom says you can come in anytime.”

  More progress. She hadn’t relegated him to the truck. Though she’d done it for Andy’s sake, he’d like to think she wanted him inside with them, too. “Thanks. I’ll be right there.”

  After a trip into the forest, he was ready for bed and found Andy in the middle sleeping bag. Kit was over on the other side, leaving him guardian of the tent door.

  He removed his Levi jacket and boots, then turned off the lantern and climbed in his bag.

  “Good night, you two.”

  “Good night,” she said.

  “Thanks for bringing us up here, Ross.”

  “You’re welcome, sport.”

  Andy turned a couple of times in his bag. Pretty soon Ross could hear the kind of breathing that meant he’d fallen asleep.

  Before long he heard sounds of movement coming from the other bag. “Ross?” Kit whispered.

  “Yes?”

  “Thank for being so good to Andy.”

  “He’s a wonderful boy.”

  “I can see changes in him. All the worries he’s had bottled up are coming out. He’s talking more than he has in years. It’s because of you.”

  “I can’t take the credit. When you told him he didn’t have to live with his grandparents anymore, you’re the one who changed history for him.”

  “But you have to know you’re the one representing security right now. Andy lost what little he had when his father died.”

  “You’re not giving yourself any credit. You’re his mother. Don’t you know you’re his whole world?”

  “He’s my whole world, too,” Kit said quietly. “But until that letter from the ranch came, I didn’t know where to turn. I’m afraid you’ve become his hero.”

  “Why afraid? I’ve never been anyone’s hero and kind of like the idea.”

  “Joke all you want, but it’s true. In fact, it has me worried.”

  He sat up. “For what reason?”

  “Last night he told me that now Winn was gone, he wished you could be his dad.” The words sank deep in Ross’s soul, causing his heart rate to triple. “Apparently he and the other children have been doing a lot of talking about the recent changes in their lives. I’m afraid Andy’s going to talk to you about it, and I want you to be prepared.”

  Ross needed to maneuver his way carefully through this minefield. “Do you know when I was in the hospital, I got pretty down and worried I might never have a family of my own. Since you came, I’ve been thinking how great it would be to have a son like Andy.”

  “But if you were to tell him that to make him happy, he’d hang on to it.”

  “I’d only tell him that because it’s true. Would that be such a bad thing?”

  “You know it would.”

  “Because you’ll be in Texas.”

  “Yes.”

  “Wherever you go there’s nothing wrong with Andy knowing he’s got a friend who loves him here in the Tetons. Yesterday when you were talking to the sheriff, that son of yours climbed right into my heart. You couldn’t see what I saw. Andy stood next to you without flinching. For a moment I felt like I was back in Afghanistan.

  “We occasionally came across a broken-down car in the road with a mother asking for help, her son at her side willing to protect her, a fearless expression on his face. I never knew if they were the enemy lying in wait. I always held my breath as I approached, anticipating fireworks.

  “Andy dealt with the fireworks like a man. The truth is, I couldn’t love that boy more if he were my own son. Considering he and I were raised the same way in terms of the emotional and financi
al environment, plus the domination factor, it’s not so strange that we’ve bonded this fast.”

  “You’re right,” she admitted in a croaky voice.

  “His vulnerability makes him that much more lovable. I don’t need to tell you how terrific he is. Don’t worry that he might talk to me about his feelings. He already has.”

  “What has he said?” She sounded alarmed.

  “He’s told me he doesn’t want to live in Texas. He likes Nila and her daughter well enough, but he really likes Johnny and Jenny and wishes you would buy a bookstore in Jackson so you can live there. I told him that, given time, he might learn to love Texas the way I love the ranch. That’s the way we left our conversation. The point is, we’re buddies whatever happens in the future. I’ll always be his friend.”

  Silence filled the interior of the tent.

  He lay back down. Having delivered his salvos, he hoped they kept her tossing and turning until morning. For the first time since she’d come to the ranch, he knew he was going to get a good night’s sleep for a change.

  * * *

  KIT GOT DOWN with Jenny to examine the bluebells that grew in profusion around the end of the lake. “Aren’t they beautiful?”

  “I want to pick some, but daddy told me I couldn’t.”

  “I know. The problem is, they’re wildflowers and they’ll die too fast to enjoy them.”

  She could hear Johnny talking to Ross in the background. “Are you sure there are fish in here?”

  “I know there are, but they’re not feeding today. Maybe the storm yesterday has caused them to feed on the bottom of the lake. We’ll have lots of chances in the future to hike up here again.”

  “I won’t,” Andy muttered.

  “’Cos you have to go to Texas, huh.”

  “Yes.”

  “Hey, guys—I’m afraid it’s time for us to hike down to the truck and drive back to the ranch. You have Back To School Night and I promised your folks I’d bring you home in time for baths and dinner first.”

  “I don’t want school to start. I want to stay up here.”

  Ross chuckled. “When you see all the cute girls in your class, Johnny, you’ll change your mind.”

  “Girls?”