Levi stopped long enough to pack a snowball and aim it right at Justin’s shoulder. “That machine would have your number on it, not mine. And the sun is barely up and it’s not like there was anything to do. It was going to be a long day if you hadn’t been able to rescue us, so why not sleep as long as possible?”
Justin sidestepped the snowball and packed one into his hands. He hit the mark right in Levi’s chest. “It’s seven o’clock, and the sun’s been up for an hour. In my book that’s lazy.”
Levi grunted and shot a mean look toward Justin. “I’m not wastin’ my time and energy on a snowball fight. Let’s just get shovelin’.”
“You started it,” Justin reminded him.
“Well, I’m ending it because I’m hungry and I need caffeine.” Levi put his shoulders into the digging.
“Five bucks says I get to the middle faster than you do,” Justin said.
“Forget the money. If I get to the middle first, you do all my work today.” Levi would have rather bet that Justin would be flirting with Claire by the time they got from the cabin to the house. He’d win that one for sure!
Justin shook his head. “Let’s just get this done. Then we should turn off the water and drain the pipes. It could be a real mess if they froze and busted and flooded the place.”
“We’re lucky it hasn’t already happened,” Levi said.
“Yep.” Justin kept digging. “So tell me more about these two.”
“Who?” Levi leaned on the shovel a few minutes.
“The pistol-totin’ lady and her niece,” Justin answered.
“Zaylie is almost five years old. Cute as a button with her blond hair and blue eyes. Claire’s got these strange aqua eyes that lean more toward green than blue, kind of like the color of the water down in the gulf. Remember when your folks took us to the rodeo down there? Her eyes are that color. She barely comes to my shoulder.”
Justin stopped and leaned on his shovel. “Is Claire young, old, or somewhere in between? Is she seriously out of our league?”
“She’s about our age, I’d guess. Don’t know if she’s out of our league or not. I only met her yesterday, for God’s sake.” Levi cleared the last two feet and started slinging snow as he dug toward the well house. “This won’t take long, and then I’ll turn off the water so we can get out of here.”
“I’ll do that. You go on in and get the fire put out and make sure the pipes are drained soon as I turn off the water,” Justin said.
Levi stomped the snow from his boots on the porch and shoved the door open to find Claire and Zaylie sitting on the sofa. They were both dressed, and their coats were on the top of the suitcase.
Zaylie’s gaze darted around the cabin, and she moved closer to Claire, but when Levi removed his cowboy hat and face mask, she smiled up at him. “I didn’t know if that was you. You look so big with all that stuff.”
“It’s me, and we’re almost ready to go. Justin is…”
“Got it! Drain the pipes now,” Justin yelled from outside. “I’ll warm up the tractor.”
Levi went to the bathroom, turned on all the water faucets, and then headed to the kitchen, where he caught the last of the water in a pitcher. Using that, he drowned the remaining embers in the fireplace while Claire and Zaylie bundled up.
“That’s everything,” he said. “The snow has drifted, so, Miz Zaylie, may I carry you to the tractor? It’s pretty slick out there.”
Zaylie lifted her arms. “You going to carry Aunt Claire?”
He picked up the little girl with one arm and the suitcase with the other hand. “I’ll come back for her as soon as I get you up in the tractor with Justin.”
“Oh look!” she exclaimed when Levi carried her outside. “It’s all shiny and white and pretty like in Frozen.”
Levi glanced over his shoulder.
“It’s one of her favorite movies,” Claire explained.
He could feel Claire’s eyes boring into his back as he waded through snowdrifts halfway up his knees to the tractor. She should be putting a little faith in him by now. After all, they’d spent the night together, and he’d been a perfect gentleman.
He dropped the suitcase on the trailer beside the four-wheeler and put Zaylie in the passenger’s seat. It would be a tight fit for all of them, but it was only a couple of miles.
When he reached the cabin the second time, Claire was waiting with the tote bag in her hand and her purse over her shoulder. He scooped her up like a bride and pulled the door shut.
“Put me down. I can walk.” She squirmed. “My shoes might get wet, but they’ll dry.”
“As short as you are, you’d sink up to your butt in that drift.” He nodded toward the place where the snow had blown against the porch. “Drop the tote bag between the suitcase and the four-wheeler. It’ll ride fine there. We’ll come back soon as we can and get the rest of your stuff and haul your van to the repair shop.”
“You can take me to a hotel, and I’ll get in touch with a tow company and…” she started.
He interrupted. “Honey, we aren’t going to be able to get off this ranch until this stuff melts. I’ve only ever seen snow before Thanksgiving in this area one time in my whole life, and this kind of thing cripples us.”
The door swung open from the inside, and he settled Claire on the seat beside Zaylie, then climbed in behind her. She shifted over to the side and put Zaylie in her lap, but there still wasn’t enough room for Levi. So he picked both of them up and set Claire in his lap.
Justin stuck out a hand. “Hello, Claire. I’m Justin Maguire. Welcome to the Longhorn Canyon Ranch.”
She shook it. “Thank you for rescuing us.”
“You’re very welcome.” Justin put the tractor in gear. “It’s a tight fit, but we’re only fifteen minutes from the house.”
“We appreciate your hospitality.”
“Oh, we’ve got plenty of room. And from what the weatherman says, we can’t expect to do much until after next weekend. Then the cold front will move out. But right now Retta has the girls’ bunkhouse warmed up and ready for you,” Justin said as he expertly turned the tractor around and started back toward the ranch.
Levi couldn’t believe his ears or his eyes. Justin hadn’t put on his pickup drawl or flirted. Did Claire intimidate him, or had he finally found a woman that just flat didn’t set his vibes to quivering?
Thanksgiving with strangers—not exactly what Claire had envisioned for the holiday, but it didn’t seem like she had a lot of choice. She’d thought she and Zaylie would be back home by now, sharing their dinner with Franny, their sweet little elderly neighbor.
She bit back a sigh. Things could be far worse. She and Zaylie could have been hurt too badly to get to the cabin or stranded in a place where there was no shelter. There was no sense in asking why they’d been put in this situation. She’d learned from past experience asking that question seldom got any kind of answer. Otherwise, she’d know why she was always the one everyone turned to for help, but when she needed something, she was the last in line to get it. Not that she was whining about her lot in life—she loved her brother and Zaylie. And she’d adored her grandmother.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Zaylie reached out to warm her hands by the tractor’s heater vent. “Feels good. Almost like the fire Levi made for us.”
“Didn’t you bring gloves?” Justin asked.
“They’re at our house in Randlett,” Claire answered.
“Know what works pretty good for gloves? Big old thick socks,” he said.
“Levi gave me socks in the cabin when my toes was cold.” Zaylie picked up Claire’s hands and held them toward the vent.
“Did you count all your toes before you put your shoes on?” Levi asked.
Zaylie’s brows drew down over her blue eyes. “Why?”
“Some of your toes might have frozen plumb off,” he teased.
“Uh-uh,” she argued.
“You better count them tonight to be sure,” Levi told he
r.
“I will. I can count to a hundred,” Zaylie informed him.
“Do you have a hundred toes?” Justin asked.
“No, silly. I gots ten toes and ten fingers.”
Claire stretched her fingers toward the heat vent, but sitting in a stranger’s lap was truly heating her up a lot more than the warm air. Levi’s warm breath tickled the soft skin on her neck, sending tingles down her spine. A woman would have to be stone-cold dead not to be affected by a cowboy as sexy as Levi Jackson.
“Just look at all the snow, Aunt Claire.” Zaylie waved her hand around the cab. “It’s everywhere. Can we build a snowman? We gots to take a picture to show Daddy.”
“Yes, darlin’ girl, we can, but first we’ll have to borrow a phone charger.” If she could get her phone up and running she could call Franny, tell her the predicament she was in, and that it would be a few days before she could get home.
“Little problem there,” Justin said. “The wind has knocked out our cell phone service, and internet will be out for several days. But we’ve got electricity, and you’re welcome to make calls on our landline.”
“We lose any cattle?” Levi asked.
“None yet. We’ve moved most of them into the pasture around the barn. Still got a couple of stragglers that we’re planning on rounding up soon as breakfast is over and we get the four-wheelers refueled,” Justin answered. “We got the bull in a stall in the barn. He’s not real happy, but he’ll get over it.”
“Why is he sad?” Zaylie asked. “Me and Aunt Claire was glad to get out of the cold.”
“Yes, we were.” Claire tucked a strand of wispy blond hair under the edge of Zaylie’s stocking hat and studied Justin with a sideways look.
His black felt cowboy hat was crammed down over his brown hair, and his square face was a study in angles. He was one of those cowboys who could walk into a bar and every woman in the place would turn and stare. But when his hand brushed hers she didn’t get a single vibe from him—not like all the sparks flitting around her and Levi.
Sweet Lord! I’ve already got Stockholm syndrome. He cooks a couple of meals for us and I think he’s wonderful.
For heaven’s sake, the man’s not kidnapping you. You don’t have any kind of syndrome. The voice in her head belonged to Franny, an eighty-year-old outspoken old girl who’d been her grandmother’s best friend and was still Claire’s neighbor. Be thankful that the good Lord sent help to you and that precious baby, or you might be frozen to death.
Yes, ma’am, Claire mouthed, and then cut her eyes around to make sure that she hadn’t said the words out loud.
“Moses doesn’t want to be in that stall because, Miz Zaylie, he doesn’t like Gussie, the cat, and she hates him. I imagine it’s because she has a litter of kittens in the barn, and she’s afraid something as big as Moses might hurt them,” Justin explained.
His drawl wasn’t nearly as deep as Levi’s, and although she hadn’t seen them standing together, she’d bet that Levi was a lot taller. She blushed when she found herself looking at his big, square hands and his feet.
Dammit! What’s wrong with me? she thought.
You’re just wondering what all women would. Franny was giggling so hard that had Levi been clairvoyant, he could have heard the cackling.
Zaylie’s light blue eyes popped wide open. “Moses got lost in the snow too?”
“Not the real Moses in the Bible. Our bull is named Moses. So you know about Moses in the Bible?” Justin asked.
“I’m almost five, and next year I go to school, and I go to church, and I know about Moses and Joshua and even Nomie.” She squared her shoulders and looked him right in the eye. “And Moses is a crazy name for a boy cow. Why’d you name him that?”
“We didn’t,” Levi said. “The people we bought him from did, and he won’t answer to anything else.”
“Why’d them people name him Moses?” Zaylie persisted.
“We didn’t think to ask them,” Justin answered. “Who’s Nomie?”
“Naomi,” Claire answered.
“Can I pet Gussie?” Zaylie changed the subject. “That’s a funny name for a cat.”
“Gussie is real friendly and likes to be petted. She’s named after Levi’s first girlfriend.” Justin chuckled.
“I was in the third grade, and she had pretty blue eyes,” Levi said quickly.
So the girls had chased after him even when he was a little boy. That sure enough wasn’t hard to imagine. Had one caught him? He didn’t wear a wedding ring. But that could have been because of the ranch work he did all the time.
“I wanted a kitten my whole life.” Zaylie sighed.
“Well, since you’ve wanted a kitten for so long and since Gussie don’t like Moses in the barn, we might even bring them in the house. Would you like that?” Levi asked.
Zaylie clapped her hands. “Yes. And I can pet them and Gussie won’t bite me?”
“Naw, she’s a sweetheart.” Levi grinned.
“Franny’s got a cat and his name is Willie, but he don’t like kids,” Zaylie said, and then her finger shot past Levi’s nose to point out the window. “Look, I see a house.”
“Franny is our neighbor in Randlett,” Claire explained. “She and my grandmother were best friends. I’ll need to call her and ask if she’ll keep a watch on things until we get home.”
Justin stopped the tractor as close to the yard fence as possible. “Cade has shoveled a path to the back gate. It’s still pretty slick since we got the layer of ice before the snow started, so be careful.”
Levi opened the door, slid out from under Claire and Zaylie, and held up his arms. “Zaylie first. You want me to carry you inside or you reckon you can walk?”
A dog ran out from the porch to greet them, and Zaylie wiggled out of his arms as soon as she could. “Can I pet that dog? He won’t bite me will he?”
Thank goodness Cade had shoveled the walk because Zaylie dropped down on her knees to wrap her arms around the dog’s neck. He licked her on the chin, and her giggles rang out across the fields. If the snow had still been there, she would’ve been buried up to her neck.
“His name is Beau, and he won’t hurt you.” Levi knelt down beside her. “He loves kids, and pettin’ is right down his alley just like it is Gussie’s. Looks like you two are goin’ to get along real good.”
A kid and a dog tell the character of a man. If either one is afraid of him, then you’d better be scared too. Franny’s advice came back to Claire’s mind.
If that was the case, then she had nothing to fear, because Zaylie wasn’t a bit afraid of Levi anymore. The dog’s tail wagged so fast that it was a blur, and Levi’s grin was so big that it lit up the gray skies.
Levi straightened up. “Old Beau missed me. Had to stop and let him know that I missed him too.” He scooped Claire out of the seat as effortlessly as if he were picking up a feather pillow. When he set her down, her feet almost went out from under her, so he picked her up again.
“I’ll carry you inside,” he said.
Claire did not like being helpless. She’d taken care of herself most of her life. But before she could protest, she was in his arms again, her ear pressed against his chest. His heartbeat seemed a little fast, but then so was hers.
Zaylie followed along behind them. “Can the dog come in the house?”
“If he wants to,” Justin answered.
Zaylie picked her way slowly toward the house with Beau right behind her and Levi and Claire bringing up the rear. When the door opened, she and the dog rushed inside. The woman holding the door for them was fairly tall, but then everyone looked tall to Claire. Skinny jeans and a sweatshirt showed that she was curvy like Claire instead of model thin. Dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and her big brown eyes looked kind and sweet.
“Hello, I’m Retta. Welcome to Longhorn Canyon,” she said. “Levi told us no one was hurt. Is that right?”
“Pleased to meet you.” Claire wiggled, and Levi set her down. “And thank yo
u for the offer to stay here.”
There had to be a way to get to Bowie. If a tow truck could rescue a pickup that had slid off the road, then it could come out to the ranch and take her and Zaylie to a hotel.
“No one is hurt. But she could have been if she’d tried to walk on that ice in the shoes she’s wearin’,” Levi said. “This must be heaven. I smell coffee and bacon.”
Zaylie slipped out of her jacket, handed it to Claire, and sniffed the air. “And cimamum. I love cimamum!”
Claire chalked up the antsy feeling making her nervous to hunger and relief. A cup of coffee and maybe whatever smelled like cinnamon should put her to rights, and then she’d call someone to give them a ride, even if it was in a tow truck.
Retta laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve met Justin and Levi. My husband, Cade, is out in the barn, but he’ll be in pretty soon. Take off your coats and have a seat.” She motioned toward the table where breakfast was already waiting.
Claire nodded. “Thank you for going to so much trouble. It smells delicious. By the way, I’m Claire…”
Zaylie butted in. “I’m Zaylie. Are the kittens in the house?”
“You are very welcome, Claire. And, Miz Zaylie, the kittens aren’t here yet, but Cade is going to bring them from the barn this morning.” Retta poured mugs of coffee and carried them to the table. “Moses doesn’t like to be penned up, and the cats are making him nervous. Do you like kittens, Zaylie?”
“Yep, I do, but we can’t have pets ’cause Daddy goes on ployments and missions too much.”
Claire was surprised she felt at ease with these people. Growing up she’d lived in so many places that most of the time she barely had time to make a friend, but that was the way of the military life. Move in. Get everything put away. Orders arrived. It was time to pack again. And from the time that Claire was ten years old, she did a lot of the organization of getting things ready to move—again.
“Well, how would you like to keep a watch on Gussie and her three babies in the bunkhouse where you and Claire will be stayin’ while you are here?” Retta asked.
Cowboy Honor--Includes a bonus novella Page 4