High Country Christmas

by Joanna Sims

  Her mother-in-law took her plate after she had devoured a second piece of chocolate cake and put an envelope in its place.

  “What’s this?”

  “Open it...” Barb had an excited expression on her face. She was definitely up to something.

  London didn’t pick the envelope up. “But you’ve already done so much for us already.”

  Earlier Hank and Barb had given them a check big enough to cover the renovations to create a third bedroom in the cabin for her son. It was a very large check. In fact, she’d never actually seen a check that big in person before.

  “This is from me to you...mother to daughter.” Barb had that I’m not taking no for an answer kind of look on her face. “Open it!”

  London picked up the envelope and pulled the flap open. Inside was a thin piece of paper. She unfolded it, and when she saw what it was, she couldn’t stop herself. She started to cry.

  “What is it?” Tyler took the paper out of London’s hands.

  “She gave me Rising Sun.” London’s voice was wobbly with emotion. She stood up, went to Barb and flung her arms around her neck.

  “Welcome to the family, London.” Barb hugged her new daughter-in-law tightly. “I think he’s always belonged to you.”

  “I give her a ring and marry her and I didn’t get tears,” he said to his father. “Mom gives her a horse and waterworks?”

  “It doesn’t make a bit of sense, son, but you may as well start getting used to it,” Hank told him.

  London wiped the tears off her face, blew her now red nose and rejoined her husband.

  “Well...I don’t know how I’m going to follow that female bonding moment, but I do have something special planned for tonight,” Tyler said.

  “What?” She had thought that they would be spending their first night as a married couple in the cabin.

  “You’ll see.”

  But she didn’t see. Not at first. Because she couldn’t see. He blindfolded her, which she didn’t like, and put her in the truck. No matter how many times she asked for a hint, he wouldn’t budge.

  “Okay...” She heard Tyler shift into Park and shut off the engine. “Take off your blindfold.”

  She pulled the blindfold off and looked through the windshield.

  “Oh! It’s beautiful.”

  Tyler had brought her to the tree house where they had first found out that she was pregnant with their daughter. A large “Happy Honeymoon” sign hung on the trees and the family had decorated the stairs that led up to the tree house.

  “Let’s go inside and get you warm.”

  Tyler met her on her side of the truck, offered her his hand, and they walked, holding hands, through the thin layer of snow and ice to the tree house. The stairs had been cleared of ice, which made it safe for her to navigate now that she was in her third trimester.

  Tyler held the door open for her and she walked into the magical house way up high in the trees. Someone had already been there—a fire was built, and there was a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries and sparkling grape juice on the table.

  “Who did all of this?”

  “Luke and Sophia.” Tyler helped her out of her coat. “They wanted to do something special for us.”

  London looked around at the thoughtful touches that had Sophia’s hand. She had created a large mobile of pictures of her and Tyler and J.T. on the ranch.

  “Your family is unreal.” London sat down on the love seat in wonder. “I didn’t even know that people like your parents, your brother, your sisters even existed.”

  “Brands take care of their own.” Tyler hung up his winter coat and hat. “Now you’re a Brand and J.T.’s a Brand. I’ll take care of him, London.”

  She put her hand on his cheek. “I know you will.”

  “And I’ll take care of you...” He put his hand on her stomach. “And our little girl.”

  She kissed him lightly on the lips. “And I will take care of you, Tyler Brand. For the rest of my life... I promise that I will always be by your side.”

  They ate a couple of the strawberries and drank a little bit of the sparkling grape juice, but they were both full from the festivities earlier. Tyler made a makeshift bed in front of the fire and they both took off some of their clothes to get more comfortable.

  London looked down at her maximum-coverage hold-’em-in-place support bra and matching pregnancy panties.

  “I wish I could have worn some sexy lingerie for our wedding night.” She frowned down at her body.

  Tyler, who had stripped off his shirt and his socks, walked over to her, bare chested and barefoot. Without a comment, he took her into his arms and kissed her. There was so much packed into that kiss: love, desire, tenderness and friendship.

  “Are you tired?” He brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

  “I really am,” she admitted. It had already been a long day.

  “Let’s lie down in front of the fire...if you fall asleep, you fall asleep.”

  “That isn’t much of a honeymoon night for you.”

  “Hey,” he told her sincerely. “You’re here with me. That’s all that matters. Okay?”

  And so she slept in his arms in front of the fire, high up in the mountains of Montana. Tyler slept, too. When she awakened, he had flipped onto his stomach and he was sound asleep. She didn’t want to wake him, so she went to the bathroom with the superdeep claw-foot tub and drew a bath.

  She twisted her hair up on top of her head to keep it from getting wet. Sophia...thoughtful Sophia had left sweet-smelling bath beads next to the bathtub for her. She felt as though she was in heaven, sinking into the steaming water with the tree canopy, heavy with icy white snow, as her view. After her bath, she wrapped up in a towel and went back to her husband.

  He was on his back now, still fast asleep. She lay down facing him so she could watch him sleep. Lately, she hadn’t been feeling sexy. Lately, she had been feeling round. Tyler didn’t approach her as much for intimacy now... He had been giving her space. It was very possible that he wouldn’t even try to make love to her tonight.

  That’s not going to work.

  London had to make her first decision as Tyler’s wife. They were going to make love tonight. She let the towel fall away from her body. The fire heated the skin of her naked back as she ran her hand over his chest, over his flat abdomen and down to the snap of his jeans. Tyler stirred but didn’t open his eyes when she unsnapped and unzipped his jeans. He did, however, open his eyes and look at her when she slipped her hands into his underwear.

  “Hi...” she said with an impish smile.

  “Hi...” he said groggily. He glanced down at his groin. “Can I help you?”

  “As a matter a fact, Mr. Brand...” London tightened her grip on his shaft. “You can.”

  He eyed her heavy breasts hungrily, but his next question was one of concern. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I want to make love to my husband.”

  Tyler smiled that sensual smile he reserved only for her. He stripped out of his jeans and stood before her naked, half-erect, looking like the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. She moved up onto her knees, so she could take him into her mouth. He hadn’t expected it, so his gasp of surprise and pleasure was exactly what she wanted. She wrapped her tongue around the salty tip of his cock, drawing him deeper into the hot cavern of her mouth. He was hard and thick and ready to please her now. She kissed the inside of his thigh and then looked up at him. He was looking down at her, watching her pleasure him, with the look of a man who lusted after his own wife.

  He took her hand and helped her to her feet. Together, they climbed the spiral staircase up to the second-story bedroom. It was there that he loved her as his wife for the first time. The contrast between the coolness of the air and the heat of his
skin—everything was pleasure.

  Tyler’s hands knew her body. His mouth knew her body. Before he entered her, he always wanted to have the taste of her first orgasm on his lips—on his tongue. And when she could get herself into the mood, everything down there was so incredibly sensitive.

  His tongue just kept working and working and the sensations got stronger and stronger until she felt herself wanting to...

  “Ah!” She pushed down on his head and lifted up her hips. “Tyler!”

  He devoured her with his mouth until she rode the last waves of an orgasm like none other. Her entire body had been jolted by it.

  Tyler was laughing as he lay down next to her on his back.

  “How was that for you?”

  “Holy moly!” London laughed. “I didn’t even know that my body could do that!”

  She turned toward him, wrapped her fingers around his shaft to keep him hard.

  “I have no idea what position is going to work, Tyler...we’re just going to have to experiment a little...”

  “I can do that.”

  On top, her hips hurt too much. With him on top, she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Doggy style, he was too long and went in too deep.

  “I’m running out of ideas,” Tyler said.

  They had both been chuckling through their third-trimester sex foibles. Her belly was in the way! Every time they failed at another position, Tyler’s arousal level waned.

  “We are going to make love, Tyler! It’s our first night as a married couple!” London was determined to make this work.

  She lay down on her side. “We haven’t tried this one.”

  Tyler pressed his chest into her back and they curled their bodies into a C.

  “You haven’t lost it, have you?”

  “Shh,” he whispered against her neck. “Don’t talk.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to relax. If it didn’t happen, then, okay, it didn’t happen. Tyler had one hand supporting her heavy belly, while the other arm was under her body so he could massage her breast. He moved behind her, slowly, slowly, kissing her neck, arousing her nipple. And then he slipped his long shaft inside her.

  “Oh...” Her head fell back.

  He groaned her name into her neck. Connected now, they intertwined their legs and threaded their fingers together. This was love. This was an abiding love.

  “You are the love of my life, Ell...” It was a lover’s confession.

  Slow and sensual, Tyler stroked the inside of her body, driving her higher and higher until she shuddered with another orgasm. Her orgasm was the prize he had been seeking. He quickened his pace, holding on to her shoulders to drive her body downward onto his shaft.

  “Ah!” Tyler surged forward one last time before he exploded inside her.

  After his release, Tyler curled back around her and they held each other while the snow started to fall outside. He turned her in his arms so he was on his back and she had her head on his shoulder.

  “Do you know how much I love you, London?” her husband asked. “Do you have any idea how much?”

  Every day, she felt his love for her a little bit stronger, a little bit more clearly. It was the type of love she hadn’t known before. It was the kind of love that was hard to trust. But she was learning, day by day, to open herself up to that love.

  “I know how much I love you, Tyler.” She put her hand over his strong, steadily beating heart. “And if you love me even half as much as I love you? I’m a very lucky woman.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from WYOMING RUGGED by Diana Palmer.

  SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM

  When oilman Blair Coleman and the much younger Niki Ashton fall for one another, can the two overcome tragedy to find forever in each other’s arms?

  Read on for a sneak preview of

  WYOMING RUGGED,

  the latest WYOMING MEN tale from New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer.

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  Wyoming Rugged

  by Diana Palmer

  SHE SIGHED. He was very handsome. She loved the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. She loved the strong, chiseled lines of his wide mouth, the high cheekbones, the thick black wavy hair around his leonine face. His chest was a work of art in itself. She had to force herself not to look at it too much. It was broad and muscular, under a thick mat of curling black hair that ran down to the waistband of his silk pajamas. Apparently, he didn’t like jackets, because he never wore one with the bottoms. His arms were muscular, without being overly so. He would have delighted an artist.

  “What are you thinking so hard about?” he wondered aloud.

  “That an artist would love painting you,” she blurted out, and then flushed then cleared her throat. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  He lifted both eyebrows. “Miss Ashton,” he scoffed, “you aren’t by any chance flirting with me, are you?”

  “Mr. Coleman, the thought never crossed my mind!”

  “Don’t obsess over me,” he said firmly, but his eyes were still twinkling. “I’m a married man.”

  She sighed. “Yes, thank goodness.”

  His eyebrows lifted in a silent question.

  “Well, if you weren’t married, I’d probably disgrace myself. Imagine, trying to ravish a sick man in bed because I’m obsessing over the way he looks without a shirt!”

  He burst out laughing. “Go away, you bad girl.”

  Her own eyes twinkled. “I’ll banish myself to the kitchen and make lovely things for you to eat.”

  “I’ll look forward to that.”

  She smiled and left him.

  He looked after her with conflicting emotions. He had a wife. Sadly, one who was a disappointment in almost every way; a cold woman who took and took without a thought of giving anything back. He’d married her thinking she was the image of his mother. Elise had seemed very different while they were dating. But the minute the ring was on her finger, she was off on her travels, spending more and more of his money, linking up with old friends whom she paid to travel with her. She was never home. In fact, she made a point of avoiding her husband as much as possible.

  This really was the last straw, though, ignoring him when he was ill. It had cut him to the quick to have Todd and Niki see the emptiness of their relationship. He wasn’t that sick. It was the principle of the thing. Well, he had some thinking to do when he left the Ashtons, didn’t he?

  * * *

  CHRISTMAS DAY WAS BOISTEROUS. Niki and Edna and three other women took turns putting food on the table for an unending succession of people who worked for the Ashtons. Most were cowboys, but several were executives from Todd’s oil corporation.

  Niki liked them all, but she was especially fond of their children. She dreamed of having a child of her own one day. She spent hours in department stores, ogling the baby things.

  She got down on the carpet with the children around the Christmas
tree, oohing and aahing over the presents as they opened them. One little girl who was six years old got a Barbie doll with a holiday theme. The child cried when she opened the gaily wrapped package.

  “Lisa, what’s wrong, baby?” Niki cooed, drawing her into her lap.

  “Daddy never buys me dolls, and I love dolls so much, Niki,” she whispered. “Thank you!” She kissed Niki and held on tight.

  “You should tell him that you like dolls, sweetheart,” Niki said, hugging her close.

  “I did. He bought me a big yellow truck.”

  “A what?”

  “A truck, Niki,” the child said with a very grown-up sigh. “He wanted a little boy. He said so.”

  Niki looked as indignant as she felt. But she forced herself to smile at the child. “I think little girls are very sweet,” she said softly, brushing back the pretty dark hair.

  “So do I,” Blair said, kneeling down beside them. He smiled at the child, too. “I wish I had a little girl.”

  “You do? Honest?” Lisa asked, wide-eyed.

  “Honest.”

  She got up from Niki’s lap and hugged the big man. “You’re nice.”

  He hugged her back. It surprised him, how much he wanted a child. He drew back, the smile still on his face. “So are you, precious.”

  “I’m going to show Mama my doll,” she said. “Thanks, Niki!”

  “You’re very welcome.”

  The little girl ran into the dining room, where the adults were finishing dessert.

  “Poor thing,” Niki said under her breath. “Even if he thinks it, he shouldn’t have told her.”