Her Cowboy Billionaire Bodyguard

by Liz Isaacson

  Rose and Vi blended into the crowd effortlessly, having played the social scene for years. They were much better than Lily at it, actually, and she stuck closer to her grandparents before finally passing them off to Amanda and Jason as a conversation about the black bears in Yellowstone began.

  “Last call for gifts in the stockings,” Laney yelled, and Lily ducked out of the room. She hadn’t come completely unprepared, but in the safety of her bedroom, she found the idea of slipping cash into the stockings quite ridiculous.

  But she didn’t have anything else, and she didn’t want to skip this tradition. Beau had assured her that gifts were optional, but Lily knew that wasn’t really true.

  As she pulled out the money envelope from the bank, someone tapped on her door. Vi ducked inside a moment later, saying, “Rose went to get the CDs. We need to sign them fast. Do you have any wrapping paper?”

  “CDs?” Lily asked.

  “Yeah, we brought our latest album for everyone.” Vi cocked her head. “Did you forget? Rose said she’d bring them. We just need to sign them, and wrap them, and get them in the stockings.”

  “I don’t know if we have time for that.” Lily stepped toward the door. “Let me go ask Beau what time he’s planning on the—oof.” She caught the door before it could do too much damage to her body and backed up as Rose entered with a big box in her arms.

  “We don’t have time to wrap,” she said between puffs of breath. “Graham—I think it was Graham? He’s the one with kids, right? Anyway, he just said five minutes until the tree lighting.”

  She dumped the CDs on the bed, and Lily’s panic bloomed. Maybe she’d be giving out those twenties.

  “So let’s sign quick,” Vi said. “We can do that.” She opened the box and pulled out a few permanent markers. “I want the gold.” She handed Lily silver, and Rose took bronze.

  Five minutes later, they had quite the stack of signed CDs, and Beau knocked on the door. “Lily?”

  “Ready?” she asked her sisters.

  “Ready,” Rose said, finishing her name with a flourish.

  Lily opened the door and said, “We just need to put these in the stockings, okay?”

  “All right. Want me to carry them?”

  “Yes, please.” Lily stood back and let Beau pick up the box off the bed. She waited until her sisters had followed him out, then she grabbed her money envelope again and scurried down the hall to the living room.

  People milled about, but no one really paid attention to the stockings. So adding the CDs, even though they were unwrapped, worked out fine. Lily slipped cash into the kids’ stockings, as well as some for Bree and Celia, who had helped her so much while she’d been here the past few months.

  Then she joined Beau as he stood beside the fireplace. “Welcome, everyone,” he said in a booming voice that lifted right up to the rafters. “And Merry Christmas.”

  Choruses of “Merry Christmas” came back to him, and he grinned around the room. “Is everyone here? Did Celia come in from the kitchen?”

  “Right here,” she said from her perch on the steps leading to the second floor.

  “All right,” he said. “Welcome to Whiskey Mountain Lodge for our fourth Christmas together.” He paused for a moment, his hand searching for Lily’s. Once he found it and latched onto her, he continued with, “I love this tradition. We’re going to light the tree, and then we’ll take down our stockings, and then Celia has dinner in the dining room.”

  He surveyed the crowd again, and Lily felt every eye on her too. She shifted a bit before finally catching Vi’s gaze. Her sister looked happy, a smile on her face, and she nodded a little at Lily.

  “Let’s see,” Beau said. “I didn’t think through who was going to light the tree this year.”

  “Have Lily do it,” Graham called out, and heat shot to Lily’s face. If everyone wasn’t staring at her before, they certainly were now.

  “Lily?” Beau looked at her. “You want to?”

  “I don’t know how,” she said.

  “It’s a switch,” Beau told her. “You just push it.” He indicated a bank of light switches on the wall that separated the living room from the hallway and the kitchen. “Right there.”

  Lily released his hand and stepped over to the other wall. “Okay, ready?” For some reason, her heart seemed to be bobbing in her chest when it should’ve been beating.

  Beau nodded, and Lily flipped the switch up. The lights came on, all white and lovely and reflecting off the ornaments. People oohed and ahhed, and Lily stood there and felt absolute joy. Peace. And love.

  Beau tucked her into his side, and Lily sighed as she gazed at the tree they had decorated together. Hopefully it would be the first of many, right here in this lodge.

  “Before the stockings get passed out,” Andrew said, standing. “We have some news we’d like to share.” He gripped his wife’s hand, and Becca stood too.

  They both grinned at the crowd and Becca finally said. “Oh, you want me to say it? You’re the one who writes all the speeches.”

  People laughed, and Lily watched them interact with such love and adoration for each other.

  “Fine, I’ll do it.” Andrew pressed a kiss to her temple. “Becca’s pregnant. We’re going to have a baby!”

  Amanda launched herself off the couch, a squeal filling the living room. She grabbed onto Becca, and then Andrew, and there were a few minutes of congratulations and celebration. Lily had never particularly wanted children—until she’d met Beau. Now, it seemed that was all she could think about.

  “Help me pass out the stockings?” His breath tickled her ear his mouth was so close, and Lily almost jumped. She did shiver, and then she nodded. She took stockings to people, and then accepted hers from Beau.

  “Mom, I got money!” Bailey yelled, and Lily paused to watch the reaction.

  “That’s great, Bay,” Laney said, seemingly undisturbed by the gift. “Oh my goodness.” Her hand fluttered around her throat and she glanced up at Lily. “You guys signed these.” She held up her CD. “Signed by all three sisters!”

  Lily grinned at her, and she left her stocking on the hearth so she could stand with Vi and Rose and Laney and get her picture taken. That set off quite the round of picture-taking, and she heard people saying things like, “We’ve never had a celebrity at our Christmas Eve dinner,” and “Who knew they’d be so nice?”

  By the time she got back to her stocking, it had disappeared. She glanced around for it, and someone said, “Hey, over here,” in a really bad stage whisper.

  She found Beau holding her stocking and standing in the hall, and she walked over to him. “Holding that hostage?”

  “Kind of, yeah.” He glanced into the living room, which still seemed abuzz with the activities of pulling treats and small packages out of stockings. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”

  “Sure.” She followed him down the hall to his bedroom, which she had never actually stepped foot in before. Now she did, and he pushed the door closed behind them.

  He swallowed and then cleared his throat, and that kept Lily’s attention on him instead of taking in what this master bedroom looked like. “You’re kind of freaking me out,” she said.

  “I’m kind of freaking out, because I’m not sure you’re ready for this, and I might die if you say no.”

  Lily’s own heart seemed to be in a dead sprint for some unknown finish line. “Are you going to ask me to marry you?”

  “You’re ruining it.”

  “Because I was actually going to talk to you about that….”

  Beau shook his head, his eyes taking on an electric edge she’d only seen a few times—when he was agitated or angry. “No. No way are you asking me to marry you.” He dropped to both knees. “I don’t have a ring, but I’m madly in love with you, and I want to make your life as wonderful and joyous as this day has been.”

  He paused to take a breath, and Lily couldn’t help herself. She opened her mouth and they said together,
“Will you marry me?”

  Beau shook his head though he was smiling, and laughed.

  Lily knelt in front of him too, and took his handsome face in both of her hands. “I will, if you grow the beard back for the ceremony.”

  “Done,” he said.

  “Done,” she repeated, and then she kissed her fiancé.

  Twenty-Five

  The following Christmas

  “Are you sure, Mom?” Beau stood in the airport with his mother, searching the crowd for his brother Eli. Or Meg. Or his nephew Stockton. They were supposed to be on this flight, but it felt like two hundred people had walked by and there was still no sign of them.

  “He said flight seventy-four-fifty. It should be here.” She looked at her phone, but Beau knew she was less than reliable when it came to using technology. He scanned the crowd one more time, and then pulled out his own phone. He swiped and typed, scrolled and tapped before learning that flight seventy-four-fifty had been delayed for over forty-five minutes leaving Denver.

  “They’re late,” he said. “Let’s go sit down again.” He was glad he hadn’t brought Lily, as she had a million-plus-one things to do for their wedding the day after Christmas, and they still had to decorate the tree for the Christmas Eve dinner the following night. Beau wasn’t sure why they hadn’t done it earlier, other than it now felt like a new, private tradition of their own to save the decorating for the morning of Christmas Eve.

  Lily’s sisters and parents had arrived a few days ago, and all the Everetts were in prep mode for what would likely be the biggest event Coral Canyon had ever seen. Maybe even the whole state of Wyoming.

  Beau hadn’t wanted anything grand, but Lily had, and he’d let her do what she wanted. As long as she showed up and walked down the aisle, said “I do,” when it was time, and became his wife, he didn’t care what else happened. They could have salmon or bison or beef. He didn’t care. She could have daisies or roses or lilies. He didn’t care.

  He just wanted her to be his wife so badly, and his impatience for that event bled over into everything these days—including waiting for his brother’s delayed flight.

  He hadn’t seen Eli in a while—since he’d come in June when Becca had had her baby. Meg and Stockton had stayed for about a month, but Eli had only come for a week.

  Beau’s leg bounced while he waited, and what felt like forever later but was probably only twenty minutes, his mom said, “Oh, he just texted. They just landed.”

  “Great.” Beau stood up, though it would probably take another several minutes for his brother to get off the plane and make their way out of the airport. They’d need to pick up their bags, but at least they’d pass security before then.

  Sure enough, another ten minutes went by before he saw his brother bobbing through the crowd. “There he is.” He wasn’t sure why he was so excited to see Eli, other than they’d been close growing up, and Beau wanted Eli there for Christmas and the wedding.

  He bent down, and then Stockton came shooting through the people. Beau laughed as he scooped his nephew up, groaning. “Holy cow, boy. You’ve gotten heavy.”

  “I’m nine years old now,” he said, his smile full of odd adult teeth mixed with baby ones.

  “Wow, you’re ancient,” Beau said, setting him back on his feet. “What took you guys so long?”

  “They wouldn’t let the plane take off. Something about de-icing the wings.”

  Eli showed up, his grin just as wide as Beau’s. He grabbed onto him and clapped him on the back. “Finally doing it. Finally getting married,” Eli said.

  “Yep.” Beau pulled back and beamed at him as Meg arrived, carrying a little girl with skin as dark as coffee. Beau’s heart swelled until he thought it would burst. “You got her.” He looked into the little girl’s eyes, wonder and joy and love coursing through him.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” His mother reached for the girl, and Meg passed her over.

  “This is Averie,” she said. “We’ve only had her a couple of weeks, and Eli thought it would be a nice surprise.” She linked her arm through his. “He was very worried about overshadowing the wedding, so he didn’t want to say anything.”

  Beau’s mom ran her hands over Averie’s head and grinned at her. “Well, aren’t you the cutest thing ever? How old is she?”

  “She just turned three,” Meg said, also beaming at the child. “She seems to be doing quite well.” She swiped quickly at her eyes, and her smile was a bit wobbly when she met Beau’s gaze.

  “Oh, come on,” he said, gathering her into his arms and holding her while she sniffled. “I’m so glad you got her, Meg. She deserves to overshadow the wedding.”

  “Don’t say that in front of Lily,” Eli said with a chuckle. “All right. Let’s get our bags and get out of here. I’ve had enough of airports today.”

  The morning of Beau’s wedding dawned with rays of sunlight coming in the office windows. He’d been up for hours, his excitement preventing him from sleeping. He’d been praying for a solid month that there would be good weather on December twenty-sixth, if only so he and Lily could catch their flight to Paris.

  It was a city Lily had always wanted to visit and never had—which was quite a feat, as Beau had learned as he’d tried to plan the perfect honeymoon.

  They were spending three weeks in Europe, and Beau had spent long hours reviewing the itineraries, booking flights and B&B’s and making sure everything was going to be perfect for the next twenty-one days.

  “You’re working?” Lily’s voice interrupted him, and he glanced away from the window.

  “Obviously, I’m staring outside, marveling at why a woman like you has stuck around this long.”

  “Mm.” She slipped one hand between his body and his arm, and latched onto it with the other. “Must be because of the horses.”

  “Which you still haven’t ridden.”

  “Okay, then, the part-time chef.”

  “You’re as good as Celia now.”

  “Fine, it must be because of the cowboy that lives in this lodge.” She tilted her head back and smiled at him, and Beau leaned down to kiss her.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  “I’m so glad the beard is back,” she said with a giggle. “Now, go on. You better get your stuff together. We have to leave in thirty minutes.”

  “It’s ready.” He returned his attention out the window.

  “Are you sure?” Lily asked, and that brought Beau’s eyes back to hers.

  “Oh, boy,” he said when he saw that coy smile on her mouth. “What have you done this time?” She’d spent the last twelve months making him the happiest man on the planet. He had not taken on another client, but he’d worked with her on her songs, and flew to Nashville with her when she needed to go, and took care of his beloved horses.

  She’d spent time in the kitchen, learning to cook. And out with the horses, just talking to them in the pastures. And writing songs and recording an album.

  “It’s nothing, really,” she said, though Beau had learned that all of Lily’s surprises were something. Usually something that had taken her weeks or a month to prepare to give him, like the stained glass window.

  “And it’s really a token of peace, because I’m about to ask you for a huge favor.”

  Beau twisted toward her. “Oh? What is it?”

  “Go check your room first.”

  He squinted at her and then walked out of the office, knowing she’d follow him. She never could let him open one of her surprises in private. Just inside his bedroom door, his garment bag with his tux was still draped over his bag, so that hadn’t changed. He was packed and ready to go over to the church where they would be married.

  But now a bright red package sat on top of the garment bag. It wasn’t a terribly large box, but definitely more substantial than a set of cufflinks. He picked it up, surprised it weighed so little.

  “What is this?” he asked, somewhat nervous now.

  “Just open it.”


  He did, ripping right into the paper and finding a box about the same size as a manila folder. Inside, there was only one sheet of paper, along with a bookmark with a horse’s hoofprint on it.

  He scanned the paper, reading quickly, and then exclaiming, “You bought me a horse?”

  Lily grinned and shrugged. “Seemed like a good wedding present for a cowboy.”

  Desire dove through Beau. She knew him so well, and he loved her so much. He kissed her again, really taking his time to let her know what he couldn’t wait for once they left Coral Canyon.

  “So,” he said, his mouth still only a breath from hers. “What’s the favor?” He kissed her again before she could answer, and he suspected it might be something he didn’t want to do when she carried on for so long.

  He finally pulled away and said, “Lily.”

  “Vi wants to make a change in her life. She’s struggling, Beau, really struggling.”

  “Yeah, I know. You’ve told me all about it. Bob still being an idiot?”

  “She broke up with Bob,” she said. “At least in her mind. He hasn’t seemed to have gotten the memo.”

  “Oh, one of those.”

  “Yeah, one of those.”

  Beau waited, because the favor still hadn’t come out yet.

  “So I told her she should move here. Hire you.”

  Beau blinked, surprise flowing freely from head to toe. “But I’m not doing the lawyer thing anymore.” He rubbed the beard. “Mountain man, remember? Horse trainer.”

  “Oh, please. You’re in that office by five AM every morning. You can handle a simple stalking case.”

  Beau cocked his head. “And?”

  “And I might have told her the whole basement was open and she should move in here.”

  Beau fell back a step. “She’s going to move in with us?”

  She picked up the paper with the quarterhorse’s breeding and name on it. “I bought you a horse to keep you busy.”