by Kim Redford
“And shock Ruby?”
“I doubt anything’d shock her.”
“Not when it comes to cowboys, right?”
“Something like that.” He grinned as if remembering lots of things he wasn’t ever going to tell.
“Guess we’d better get this show on the road.” She picked up her phone and put it in her pocket. She reached behind the seat and got her Gene’s Boot Hospital sack that held her athletic shoes and the small fire extinguisher she’d borrowed from Trey.
“Yep. Christmas won’t wait.”
She watched as Trey got out of the truck, walked around, and opened her door. She stepped down into his arms and he hugged her tight. She inhaled his scent and felt his strong body surround her. Images of him naked above her, bringing her to peak after peak of pleasure, filled her mind.
He kissed her earlobe. “Better be good while I’m gone.”
She decided to tease him. “Can I only be bad with you?”
“Absolutely.”
She chuckled as she walked over and patted Big John’s trunk. “Hey there, you big, handsome boy.”
Trey joined her laughter. “Now don’t go making me jealous or I’ll start thinking chain saw.”
She quickly turned back. “Don’t you dare think such a thing, particularly not in Big John’s presence.”
Trey laughed harder as he put an arm around her shoulders. “Okay. So long as he doesn’t get any ideas about stealing my gal.”
“‘My gal’?”
“You know it.”
“That’d make you ‘my guy’.”
“In a heartbeat.” He gave her a hot look before he opened the sliding glass doors.
She stepped indoors, caught the scent of cinnamon, and trailed her fingers up and down the poinsettias wrapped around the swing’s chain.
“Ruby knows how to make a place feel like home, doesn’t she?” Trey said.
“She’s not the only one.” Misty tucked her hand around Trey’s arm as they walked to the inside door.
She hesitated with her hand on the doorknob, savoring their last intimate moment for a while, before she opened the door and stepped inside. She walked into the living room, saw the beautiful peacock tree, and smelled spice cake.
“Hey, Ruby.” Trey closed the door behind him.
“Welcome home,” Ruby called. “We’d about given up on seeing you two ever again.”
“Been a little busy,” Trey said.
“Busy enough to keep you out of trouble?” Ruby grinned as she looked from Trey to Misty and back again.
“Never that busy.” Trey chuckled as he walked deeper into the room.
Misty moved over to the tree, nodding in greeting to J.P. and Charlene, who were sitting together on the sofa. Ruby sat in a recliner near the fireplace with a Santa Claus mug in her hands.
“J.P. and Charlene have been asking after you,” Ruby said.
“We’d hoped you’d join us for dinner.” Charlene uncrossed her legs, drawing attention to her shapely legs—revealed by her short skirt—and her black-and-white spike heels, then crossed her legs again.
“Sorry we couldn’t make it,” Misty said.
“Ate a bite at the ranch,” Trey added.
“If you grilled bison steaks and didn’t bring me any, I’m gonna pout.” Ruby took a sip from her mug.
“Catfish. Delicious, too.” Misty smiled at the group. “Trey’s a great cook.”
“You didn’t try to impress her with steak?” Ruby appeared puzzled.
“She wanted fish,” Trey said in a neutral tone.
Ruby shrugged a shoulder. “Glad you’re here. Time to touch base on the chili cook-off.”
“We’re so excited about the benefit. We wouldn’t miss it.” Charlene turned to J.P. “We like to help animals. Don’t we, sugar?”
“Sure do, sweetkins. And I never turn down a good bowl of chili.”
“That’s great,” Misty said.
“Let’s see.” Ruby set down her mug and held up a hand to count items off on her fingers. “Slade volunteered to oversee the chili entries. Teddie’s putting your Wildcat Bluff Chili Cook-Off announcement in tomorrow’s paper. Notices are up in stores across town, not to mention word of mouth. Everybody’s excited as all get-out.”
“It’s all coming together so fast.” Misty realized the town had put on a lot of benefits so they had a system in place.
“You and Trey are judges,” Ruby added. “That’s important work, too.”
“I’d sure like to be one,” J.P. said.
“Misty?” Ruby asked.
“Why not?”
“Thanks,” J.P. said, grinning. “That’ll be fun.”
“Guess you know I got the school cafeteria squared away,” Trey added.
“Yep,” Ruby agreed. “You won’t need to do much there. Staff will take care of setting up, cleaning up, and taking down.”
“Sounds perfect,” Misty said. “Y’all are making this seem easy.”
“That’s what comes from experience.” Ruby smiled as she glanced around at the group. “We’ve danced to this tune a time or two.”
“What about decorations?” Misty asked, suddenly realizing she hadn’t even thought about that important part of an event.
“No problem. Place is already decorated for the holidays.” Ruby patted herself on the back. “And I even got my vendor to accept a special order and overnight trophies for the event. That took some doing, but Wildcat Bluff is a good customer.”
“Is there anything else we need to do?” Misty asked.
“Think we’ve got it covered for the moment. Last-minute foul-ups are bound to happen. If and when, you get to step up and solve problems.”
“I’ll be happy to do it,” Misty said. “Thanks for all the help.”
“Glad to assist our volunteer firefighters any way I can.” Ruby stood up. “May I get you something to drink or eat?”
“Thanks, but no,” Trey said. “I’m gonna run Misty up to her room and then go. Plenty to do tomorrow.”
Ruby winked at him. “You do just that.”
“Good night, everybody,” Misty said.
She quickly headed up the stairs with Trey right behind her. After she entered her suite, she set her boot bag on the desk, then turned to watch Trey shut the door. He took her in his arms and held her tight for a long moment.
“Want to try out the bed?” he asked.
“Not with folks downstairs.”
“Better let me check your room then.”
“I doubt anybody got in here.”
“Locks can be picked. No point taking chances.” He quickly looked in the bathroom, under the bed, and then opened the closet door.
She glanced over his shoulder. “That’s odd.”
“What?”
“That towel shouldn’t be on the floor. I used it to cover up a decoration.”
He walked into the closet, picked up the towel, then reached up and pulled down the angel. “You didn’t want to see this?”
“Too many memories.”
“What about now?”
She smiled warmly. “Let’s set her back on the desk. I’d like to share my room with a Christmas angel.”
“I’d like to do the same.” He grinned at her with a knowing glint in his eyes. He set the angel on the desk. He hit the button and played “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
“Beautiful.” She looked down at the angel in her white satin gown playing a golden harp. Only good memories came now. “I’m so glad I can enjoy Christmas. Thank you again.”
“Least I could do for my Christmas angel.” He pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose, and then glanced around the room. “Would you look and see if anything else is disturbed? Maybe the towel fell when your room was cleaned today.”
�
�Ruby and I agreed no cleaning till I asked for it.” She walked back into her closet and reached behind her large suitcase for the small bag containing her laptop and handbag. She froze. The bag was there, but off to one side. She quickly pulled it out and set it on the bed to check the lock.
“What is it?” Trey walked over to her.
“Nothing, I guess. I put my laptop and purse in here and hid it behind my suitcase. This bag wasn’t exactly where I thought I’d left it. But maybe I’m mistaken.”
“Is it still locked?”
She quickly checked. “Yes.”
“That’s good. But I’d rest easier if you were with me.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m probably overthinking the situation.” She hesitated and looked up at him. “And if somebody is watching us, we don’t want to change our pattern.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “If anything odd happens, call me. Day or night.”
“Will do.” She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him, languidly and indulgently, stoking the fire between them.
He finally lifted his head, eyes dark with banked desire. “Best I go before I can’t go.”
She stepped back, feeling cold without his warmth.
“Do me a favor. Lock your door and wedge a chair under the knob.”
“I’ll do it.”
Then he was gone, taking all his energy, strength, and sensuality with him. And she felt lonely.
Yet she wouldn’t let herself feel down in the dumps, not after her amazing day. She knew the best cure. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, sat down on the settee, and hit speed dial for her BFF.
“Tell me you’ve got the big guy wearing nothing but his cowboy hat,” Cindi Lou said by way of greeting.
“I’m back at Twin Oaks and I just sent him on his way.”
“Bless your heart, you don’t know when you’ve got it good.”
“Oh yes I do.”
“Well now,” Cindi Lou lowered her voice suggestively. “How many fires did he put out in your bed tonight?”
“Let’s see—let me count the times and ways.”
“Oh lordy! That calls for a celebration. Hang on.” Cindi Lou set down her phone with a snap, then came back. “Found these adorable retro glass bottles with metal lids of the very best Dr Pepper. You know, it’s got real cane sugar. Tiny bottles, mind you, but supreme taste.”
“We ever get you up to Wildcat Bluff, maybe we’ll get you hooked on cowboys instead of Dr Pepper.”
“Doubt my heart could take it.” Cindi Lou smacked her lips. “Now if one of those darlings knew how to wrangle me up a Dr Pepper float with just the right touch of vanilla bean ice cream, then I might follow him anywhere.”
Misty chuckled. “To a rodeo?”
“Let’s not get too wild here. You know I’m a city gal through and through.” She made a loud slurp. “Your guy’s hot stuff, isn’t he?”
Misty felt a tingle all over. “I hate to say it, but you were right from the very first.”
Cindi Lou guffawed loudly. “I knew it! He’s the one, isn’t he?”
“Yeah.” Misty got up and looked out the window at Big John’s dark silhouette. “This is the most amazing place.”
“That’s what I hear.” Cindi Lou’s voice changed from playful to serious. “I got a call from Audrey. She figured—and rightly so—that she’d better come clean with me. Who’d a thunk it? National Timber.”
“Trey’s working with me now.”
“Good. He’s an insider and that always helps.”
“Now that we’ve got all the pieces in place, we’ll catch those culprits.” Misty paced across the room.
“Big business equals big money equals big trouble.”
“I know.”
“So, stay safe.”
“I’m on it.”
“And, darlin’, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Cindi Lou chuckled in her low, husky voice and cut the connection.
Misty walked over to the Christmas angel. She stroked a fingertip across the blond hair, down the satin gown, and pressed the button. Soon joyous music of the season filled the air.
And she felt at peace.
Chapter 35
On Christmas Eve, Misty rode beside Trey in his pickup down Wildcat Bluff’s Main Street. Christmas in the Country was in full swing on a beautiful sunny day with bright blue skies. A horse-drawn carriage festooned with red and green ribbons and filled with a family of merrymakers clip-clopped its way along the redbrick lane. Gene Autry’s melodious voice on the outdoor sound system filled the air, along with the scent of kettle corn. A proprietor stirred sugar into popcorn in a big kettle under a bright red awning. A row of folks waited in line to get the fresh-popped kettle corn.
Misty had plenty of time to look through her open window as traffic stalled in a long line while folks found parking places. The town teemed with people wearing holiday clothes. Adelia’s Delights, Morning’s Glory, Gene’s Boot Hospital, and the Chuckwagon Café looked to be doing big business along with other establishments. A line of children waited with their parents to talk with a jolly-looking Santa Claus wearing a bright red suit and sporting a long white beard as he sat on a bench in the shade on the boardwalk.
“Guess I should’ve taken the back road,” Trey said.
“Oh, no. I wanted to see Christmas in the Country.”
“You couldn’t believe we’d get this big a turnout, could you?”
“It’s amazing.”
“And a tradition for some families. They come with their kids, grandkids, and grandparents in tow.”
“I’m so happy to be here.”
He smiled at her. “And enjoying Christmas, too.”
“Thanks to my Christmas angel.” She smiled back at him as she touched the angel on the macramé cord around her neck.
“I’m not going to have to fight you for that necklace, am I?” he teased with a twinkle in his eyes.
She grasped the horse harness hardware and gave him a cautionary look. “You brought it back to me, so that means I get it.”
He laughed. “Come to think of it, I don’t want to get on Morning Glory’s bad side, so you’d better keep it.”
“Bet she’d make you one if I asked her nicely.”
“Thanks but no thanks.” He laughed. “I’m doing fine with my usual holiday clothes.”
He looked heart-stoppingly handsome in a forest-green Western shirt, pressed jeans, and snake cowboy boots. He was wearing his big Santa Claus belt buckle on a brown leather belt. He’d set a dark brown felt cowboy hat with a snake hatband on the backseat.
She’d worn a simple short-sleeve, crimson cotton top, jeans, red boots, and a gift from Trey. He’d brought her a pin in the shape of three green Christmas trees with five dangling miniature sleigh bells that jingled every time she made a movement. Kitsch at its finest.
“Did I tell you Ruby gave me that shirt I borrowed from her?”
Trey cast Misty a sidelong glance with plenty of heat. “Maybe it wasn’t in too good a shape after we got done with it.”
She tossed him an even hotter look in return. “You mean, after you practically ripped it from my body.”
“Now you know why cowboys are partial to snap shirts.”
She ran her fingers down the pearl snap buttons on his shirt. “How fast do you think I could get this shirt off you?”
“Not fast enough.”
She felt a sizzle of heat jump from his chest to her hand. She quickly patted him, then leaned primly back in her seat. “Better get our minds on something else.”
“Nothing better.”
“Appreciate you bringing my stuff over from your place.”
“Hoped you’d come back to get it.”
“If not for Christmas in the Country, I would’ve.”
“I’d like to see you
r stuff all over my house,” he said in a low, husky voice that carried the promise of hot nights and satin sheets.
She felt his words go straight to her heart. She wanted to be in his big bed—and not just for a few hours. But she had to see this job through first, as well as the chili cook-off, so she decided to lighten the moment. “That’s what you say now, but I can be messy.”
“No problem. We’ll get you an apron from the Chuckwagon Café.”
She laughed at the idea. “Not bad. Those are snazzy. Slade looks mighty good in ruffles.”
Trey joined her laughter. “Don’t let him hear you say that.”
“I think he’s big enough to take it.”
“With a large helping of chili.”
“Reminds me.” She turned to Trey in concern. “We’d better get our minds on business.”
“Chili, yeah. But I’d hoped like all get-out that we’d catch those culprits before Christmas in the Country.”
“Me too. But there wasn’t enough time.”
“Or leads.”
“I keep thinking something’ll come to me.”
He hit the steering wheel with the flat of his palm. “Maybe all that chili tasting will set fire to our brains.”
“At the least it’ll set fire to our tongues.”
“Bet we could do that without the chili.”
She waved her hand in front of her face as if trying to cool off. “If you make me any hotter, I’ll never make it through the chili tasting.”
“We could skip it and go back to my house.”
She cast him a narrow-eyed look. “Trey Duval, just shut your mouth.”
He threw back his head and laughed hard. “Guess that puts me in my place.”
“Hope so or we’ll be in so much trouble with the other volunteers we’ll never hear the last of it.”
“True enough.”
She leaned back as he finally made it to the end of Main Street. He turned off the road and threaded his way to the school in back of Old Town.
Wildcat Bluff ISD was a collection of redbrick contemporary buildings nestled in a park-like setting. Strings of blue lights outlined the flat rooflines and filled the large oak trees. In front of a two-story building, a sign read “Go Wildcats!” in red letters on a white background. Another sign was posted in front of a smaller building and announced “Wildcat Bluff Chili Cook-Off Benefit.”