Christmas with the Rancher

by Mary Leo

  He waited some more.

  Nothing.

  She didn’t come out of the bedroom nor did he hear anything.

  After a good ten minutes he thought he better make sure she hadn’t fallen down the stairs or had some other type of accident.

  When he entered the bedroom and walked around to the stairway, he called out her name, but didn’t get a response. Panic tightened his chest and he took the stairs two at a time.

  “Bella! Are you all right?”

  Still no answer.

  His heart beat heavy against his chest until he saw her, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the ceiling-high tree, wearing her tiara and her gram’s black lace scarf, the trunk lid open in the corner of the decorated room. Travis had turned the loft into a Christmas room primarily for his nieces and nephews whenever they stopped by. He knew it made them happy. He hoped it had the same effect on Bella.

  “How did you get all this? I saw those moving guys cart everything away.”

  Travis sat down on the floor next to her. “I couldn’t let your trunk go. Not yet. I thought you might have a change of heart.”

  She nodded, and the tiara slipped sideways on her head making her look a little drunk. “You never gave up hope, did you?”

  “About us? No, not really.”

  More tears flowed down her cheeks as she leaned in and kissed him, a salty kiss with all the passion Travis had wished for.

  * * *

  THEY KISSED BESIDE the tree for as long as they could tolerate the hard wooden floor, then Travis picked her up in his arms and carried her downstairs to his king-size bed. They fell onto the bed in a frenzy of arms and hands trying to pull off each other’s clothes all the while kissing each other with such intensity that Bella felt she would faint from the excitement of it. Never in her life had she been kissed like that, and never had she felt such desire for any man as she felt for Travis.

  She tugged on his whiskers. “I feel as if I’m making love with a naughty cowboy.”

  “If that’s what it takes to turn you on, I’ll never shave again.”

  She giggled and he kissed her again. Harder this time, with more urgency, his beard tickling her face and adding to her excitement.

  When they were completely naked and his hands caressed her body she knew this was right, was always meant to be. His body felt hard and wonderful pressed up against hers and when he caressed her breasts and gently tugged on her nipples a fire bolted through her, causing her to moan with pleasure.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Bella,” he whispered in her ear, his breath hot, his voice raspy. A voice she’d never heard before.

  “Me, too,” she answered as she nibbled on his earlobe and caught her fingers in his thick hair.

  She was on fire with desire for him, and wanted him to take her now. He pulled back and stared down at her body, the Christmas-tree lights from the loft throwing a warm golden glow on every surface it touched.

  “You’re more beautiful than I imagined,” he told her with a smile on his lips.

  He caressed her for a minute more, then leaned in and gently kissed her closed eyes, then her mouth, but stopped when she tried to bring him in tight on top of her.

  “It’s going to take me a little time to capture every part of you. I don’t want to miss anything.”

  He moved back again gently stroking her body with his fingertips, lightly kissing her breasts, her nipples, her stomach, then going back to watching her move every time his fingers ran across her body. She tingled with anticipation for him, and goose bumps danced along her skin as his fingers danced over every curve.

  “Do you even know how this is making me crazy?” she asked.

  “Uh-huh. It’s supposed to. I’ve been dreaming about seeing you naked for days. Now that you’re here, in my bed, I don’t want to rush it.”

  She couldn’t help but smile as she arched her back and offered herself up to him with complete abandon. His smooth rhythm and tender touches slowly caused her to call out his name. Soon after, as her body trembled with pleasure, she reached her climax.

  “You’re so beautiful, Bella. So lovely to watch. To feel. To taste.”

  His words only added to her fever and when she thought she couldn’t handle another minute, that she was completely spent, he slipped on a condom and gently entered her, and the excitement began to build once again.

  This time, despite her thinking she couldn’t possibly experience another orgasm, her lust for him increased with his every movement and when they reached their climax together she thought for sure her body would combust from the heat that surged through her veins.

  Instead, the climax was deeper than she’d ever experienced with any other man, and the feeling of euphoria that flowed between them was almost more than she could understand. It felt as if years of pent-up emotions had finally been allowed to break free. She didn’t want the experience to end, and she especially didn’t want to cry in his arms. She’d done enough crying in the last few days.

  He held her tight against his body while the minutes passed. Neither of them spoke. She knew she couldn’t or the waterworks would begin and now she didn’t think she could control them. It felt as if all those lonely years she’d lived without him, without her friends, without the comfort of her small town had finally come to an end. She was too frightened to say it out loud, terrified that he’d start making plans for her to stay, to move into his house, to be his wife one day.

  She couldn’t possibly see how that could happen.

  This was just sex.

  Nothing more.

  Wasn’t it?

  But as she found herself drifting off to sleep in his arms a thought came crashing in. A thought that gave her a shiver so profound he must have felt it because he pulled the blanket up over them.

  She was falling in love with him. Only this time, there was no one there to force her to leave.

  Chapter Nine

  Travis awoke in a kind of blissful haze, reaching out for Bella but finding only a jumble of cold blankets and sheets. He thought she must be in the kitchen cooking up some wonderful egg creation, that is if she could cook. Just because Nick was a natural, didn’t mean it came naturally to Bella.

  He quickly showered, thought about trimming his beard, but then flashed on how it seemed to turn her on the previous night and instead left it alone. He usually didn’t shave it off until after Christmas, but this year, if Bella hung around, he decided he may just leave it be for a spell.

  He finished cleaning up, got dressed in a sweater, jeans and his favorite Christmas socks, and went out to the kitchen to find Bella, imagining that she’d be standing behind the stove, naked except for a Santa hat.

  The likelihood of that vision being a reality was slim to none, but a guy could dream.

  He called out her name a few times to no response, and when he walked into the kitchen she wasn’t there. He looked outside in the corral, but didn’t see her anywhere. Then he went back to the bedroom and looked for her clothes.

  They were gone.

  Travis didn’t understand why she would leave without telling him after they’d spent such an amazing night together. The only conclusion he could draw was there must be something wrong with either Nick or something bad had happened at the inn.

  He immediately hightailed it out of there, calling Nick several times as he sped up the slippery roads. The plows had been out early that morning and most of the roads were fairly clean, but the surrounding trees were still heavy with white powder, as were the Teton Mountains in the distance.

  When he finally pulled up in front of the inn, parked his truck and took stock of his surroundings, he noticed a large moving van parked alongside the inn, with a ramp leading up to open doors. He could hardly believe his eyes when he realized the
roof Santa was gone, along with the N-O-E-L sign on the front lawn.

  His heart pounded against his chest. There had to be some mistake. She couldn’t go through with the sale. Not now. Not after last night.

  Travis pushed open the front door only to find the room almost empty and three burly guys making preparations to carry out the piano. All the decorations were gone, even the Christmas tree had been stripped of all the ornaments. The mantel was bare and the banister on the stairway had been stripped of the festive garland his sister-in-law Maggie had spent an hour getting just right. He could see into the dining room and the tables were gone, the chairs were stacked up and the entire place was being ripped apart. A sense of dread swept over him. He now knew what tornado victims felt like when they witnessed the aftermath of destruction to their homes, their town. A mixture of sadness and nausea was taking hold and he had to work hard not to let those feelings overpower his reason.

  When he spotted two men working on moving the piano out of the lobby irrational instinct took over.

  “Wait! There has to be some mistake. I’ll sort this out in a minute. Only please don’t move that piano.”

  He yelled out for Nick, but didn’t get an answer, instead Bella walked out from the back with another burly guy at her side. When she looked up and saw Travis, her face instantly drained of all its color.

  “Travis, I can explain.”

  “I told these guys to wait. This is some kind of mistake, right?”

  He could see the hesitation on her face before she spoke. “Travis, I—”

  His breath caught in his throat, as if all the air had been knocked clean out of his lungs.

  “Please don’t tell me you’re going through with the sale. Not after all that’s happened. Not after last night.”

  She blushed. “You have to understand. I don’t have a choice. This is business. TransGlobal phoned me early this morning and I—”

  He walked over to her and looked into her eyes, wanting to see if there was even a shred of the girl he’d made love to in his bed mere hours before.

  But he saw nothing. No emotion. Only Bella Biondi, real-estate mogul from Chicago.

  “There’s always a choice, Bella. No matter what, there’s always a choice.”

  She glanced at the guy standing next to her, and when she gazed back at Travis, he saw anger in her eyes.

  “Sometimes we all have to grow up and face the facts. In business there are no choices. Once the ink dries, reality sets in. This is reality, Travis. My father has agreed to sell the inn. The paperwork is signed and TransGlobal will take possession in fifteen days. There’s absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. Even you.”

  He felt physical pain as he watched the three men roll the now covered piano, sans its legs, out on a dolly.

  Not only did he feel as though all the lovemaking meant nothing, but he felt as though a big part of him would never be the same. The sensations reminded him of when his mom took her last breath and there was nothing he could do to revive her. No medicine or words that could convince her to stay one more day.

  Now as he studied Bella’s beautiful face, he felt the same loss. The same heartache and the powerlessness of the emotion overtook him.

  “I guess you’re right, there’s nothing I can do about it. Have a good life, Bella.”

  Then he turned and walked out just as she called for him one last time.

  * * *

  BELLA HAD TRIED to tell Travis she didn’t have a choice. She wanted to explain that TransGlobal would sue her and her dad if she didn’t go through with the deal. That she had already faxed over her dad’s signed documents. And besides, she stood to lose over a million dollars on the deal. She’d have to be silly to give up that kind of money.

  She needed Travis to understand, to support her decision, but apparently he didn’t want to hang around and let her explain. Instead he told her in no uncertain terms they were through. What had been passionately rekindled was now over.

  Forever.

  She had lived without him before and she could do it again. She’d never been dumped by a lover before. This was something new. Normally she was the one who did the dumping.

  Of course, with Travis there were no rules. Nothing was hard and fast with him, nothing but his ranch, his family and his stubborn streak. Why couldn’t he see how important this deal was to her? Was he that blind with his own desires that he couldn’t look past them to see hers?

  She told herself she didn’t need that kind of guy in her life, even if he was the one and only guy she ever loved. Even if he did make love to her like no other man. And even if he was Cowboy Santa.

  It was time she stood tall and took back control of the situation. She knew better than to allow her emotions to dictate her business decisions, and selling her dad’s inn was strictly business. Nothing more. Nothing less.

  She’d called a cab that morning to take her back to the inn while he slept in his big, manly bed, alone. The only thing she couldn’t find at his house was those darn Santa puppet gloves, so she’d slipped her hands in her pockets, hoping her fingers didn’t freeze on the drive into town. She told herself those silly gloves didn’t matter, but for some reason she couldn’t shake having to leave them behind and every time she thought about not having them, she’d mist up. A ridiculous reaction to possibly the corniest gloves she’d ever seen.

  Once back at the inn, she’d packed up all her things that had been scattered about her room and shoved her now overstuffed bags into her rented truck. Her dad had apparently done the same because when she went looking for him all his personal things were gone. She had no idea where he’d got to, but she suspected wherever he was Audrey was there with him.

  “Ms. Biondi, we’re all set. Every room is empty. All you need to do is sign the yellow copy and we’ll be moving on.” The tall man waiting beside her seemed like a nice enough guy. Probably had a loving family somewhere in the valley. Maybe he had a couple kids, a dog named Rover and a pretty little wife who did everything for him. Oh, and a white picket fence, too.

  He stood to make a sizable chunk of change on her father’s things. Probably enough so he could put a down payment on a new house, or send his kids to private school for a year and buy that new flat-screen TV he’d seen at a discount store.

  All she had to do was sign on the dotted line and both their lives would improve.

  But she didn’t.

  “Ms. Biondi? We can’t leave unless you sign right here.”

  He shoved the clipboard with the paperwork in front of her, pointing to the dotted line. She looked down at it, noticed where she had to sign and took the pen he held out to her.

  “When will you hold the auction?” she asked, stalling for time.

  “After the holidays. It’s too difficult right now. Maybe sometime in mid-January after everything calms down and the kids are back in school.”

  “Do you have any kids?”

  “Me? No.” He shook his head. “Don’t want any kids. Too much of a liability. I’m more of the free-spirit kind of guy.”

  She held the pen over the paper, but still couldn’t sign.

  “What about your wife? Doesn’t she want kids?”

  “Not married. Footloose and fancy free, that’s my motto.”

  She always thought she was a good judge of character. What did this mean for her past deals? Had she been wrong about all her clients? Or was this affliction something new? Something she’d gleaned in Briggs, like the flu or a bad cold.

  “You stand to make a sizable sum of money from all of this furniture.”

  His features suddenly took on a harder look. “I gave you a fair market price. If I make a few bucks at auction then it’s a good deal. Most of the time, I hardly break even.”

  She knew he was exaggerating. “You can’t stay in business
if you don’t make a profit.”

  He shifted his feet, and inched the clipboard closer to her.

  “Look, lady. I got another business to stop at this afternoon, but before I do, I gotta unload all your stuff and put it in my warehouse. Are you gonna sign or not ’cause I got better things to do than stand here and argue over the virtues of being married or my profit margin.”

  “And I’ve got a cleaning crew coming in less than fifteen minutes, so we have to come to terms.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  It was times like these that got under Bella’s skin. She didn’t like being pushed and she most certainly didn’t like giving up all her father’s things to some guy who obviously prided himself on taking advantage of a situation.

  “Please bring the piano back inside, and I’ll sign.”

  No way would she give up her dad’s piano, the most expensive item on the truck to this guy. Instead, she decided to ship it to her dad in Florida. It would serve as a piece of home for him, and maybe he’d make friends easier because of it.

  “I already got it loaded. And if I bring it back, I’ll have to pay you less.”

  “How much less?”

  “A thousand.”

  “Four hundred.”

  He smirked. She stood her ground.

  “Seven hundred,” he offered.

  “Five hundred, and not a dime less. You made out like a bandit on all this stuff. Unload the piano, and put it back...carefully, or I won’t sign.”

  They stared at each other intently. She could tell Mr. Footloose was knocking around the pros and cons of the deal.

  So she did what she thought was necessary to close the deal in her favor.

  She walked out and left Mr. Fancy Free standing in the empty lobby, contemplating his next move while she went off to say goodbye to her best friend.

  * * *

  “WHAT’S WRONG WITH Georgie?” Bella asked Jaycee. The two women sat across from each other in the hospital cafeteria drinking surprisingly good coffee and nibbling on a cookie the size of a tall man’s shoe. Georgie was fast asleep up in his hospital room and Jaycee’s husband was home tending to their other two children. Bella had wanted a long visit with Georgie, but sleep had overcome him five minutes into their conversation.