“That’s fine,” Ginny purred, dragging her gaze down to his chest. “As long as you don’t wear a shirt. We need these puppies to sell, if you know what I mean.”
Oh, he knew. They wanted the equivalent of one of those firefighter calendars where the poor schmucks were all greased up and flexing their muscles. “I haven’t committed to anything yet,” he said for at least the tenth time during the course of the hour-long meeting. Mostly because he had no clue how he was going to convince his friends to cooperate. Serious riders competed for the thrill, the status, the grit of competition. Hell, that was why he’d gotten roped in. He didn’t take too kindly to being used as a sex symbol, and his friends likely wouldn’t either.
It’s a good cause though, he reminded himself. And they’d likely all agree solely because this was Mateo they were helping out. One of their own. A brother who’d lost his business and had a baby on the way. Damn it. There was no way he was gonna get out of this.
“Well, at least I think we’ve all agreed on the benefit rodeo.” Darla flipped through some of her notes. “We just need to make a final decision on the bachelor auction and the calendar. It’s not like we have much time.”
Ty noticed she wasn’t looking in his direction. She knew exactly what he thought of her ideas.
“All in favor of the calendar?” Darla called out before he could put in his two cents.
“Aye!” Ginny Eckles waved her hand in the air. The other ladies at the table were shyer about it, but they all agreed. Of course. Ty remained silent. He didn’t have a vote anyway since he wasn’t an official member of the Chamber.
“And all in favor of the bachelor auction event?” Darla rushed on, still refusing to look directly at him.
Another round of hearty ayes came at him.
A sigh grumbled out. He might not have a vote, but he could still voice his opinion. “I’m not excited about it, but I’ll do my best to make it happen.” He tried to relax his jaw so he didn’t sound so irritated. “Just so you all know, I’m gonna have a hell of a time convincing the guys to do this.”
“Remind them what a good cause it is.” For the first time during the meeting, Darla looked him in the eyes. She raised her eyebrows and he could practically hear her whisper, Baby. They’re having a baby.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn’t like he could tell the rest of their friends that. Couldn’t ruin Mateo and Everly’s chance to make an announcement when they were ready. So he’d likely have to get creative…
“We’ll need at least twelve cowboys,” Darla said, all businesslike again. “And we definitely need your brother to attend the bachelor auction.”
Whoa. Hold on a second. “My brother?” Ty gaped at her. How did Darla know about his brother? He’d never mentioned Rhett to her. Though he shouldn’t be surprised she knew about him. His brother had made a name for himself in the NFL. Even on injured reserve with the Dallas Cowboys, Rhett got more attention than most of the players out on the field.
“Rhett absolutely has to come,” Darla said. Her eyes were always so emphatic—deep and dark and lit with whatever emotion she happened to be feeling at the moment. He recognized this one as stubbornness. “Everyone knows who he is. Think of the publicity he’ll get us.”
It wasn’t meant as a slight, and yet Ty flinched anyway. Blame it on years of conditioning. Even with all his experience competing and winning some nice prizes, no one knew who he was, but everyone knew Rhett Forrester. His brother had been a star linebacker practically his whole life. First at their high school, then at the University of Idaho, and now for the Dallas Cowboys.
“It shouldn’t be a problem for him to travel out here since he’s on injured reserve the rest of the season, right?” Darla asked, giving him a coy smile. She was buttering him up, but it would not work this time.
“My brother is not coming. You can get that idea out of your head right now.”
Everyone sitting at the table trapped him in curious stares, but he was not about to discuss his issues with Rhett. He didn’t discuss them at all. As long as he didn’t see Rhett, he didn’t even have to think about their issues.
“Why not?” Darla demanded.
Ty considered the best response. “He already has plans for the holiday.” The whole Forrester family had plans, and if Ty invited Rhett out here, then he’d have to invite everyone, and he’d already given them an excuse for why he wouldn’t be able to come home for Christmas this year. An excuse that might have involved the woman sitting next to him wearing that familiar glare.
“Well, you could at least ask him to come,” Ginny suggested. “Maybe he’ll want to change his plans. You should let him decide.”
Forget playing nice. He gave them all a stern frown so they’d drop it. “I’m not asking.”
First of all, he’d had enough of living in the golden boy’s shadow. Second, he might have led his parents to think he and Darla were engaged…and that she was unable to travel for the holidays because of her very successful and very busy wine bar.
When they’d called and told him they expected him home for a good old-fashioned family Christmas, it had caught him off guard. It happened to be the day after he and Darla had hooked up, and the lie tumbled right out. He figured after the holidays he’d simply tell them they’d broken up and that would be that. Simple. He wasn’t about to complicate everything by inviting them to Topaz Falls.
“Well if you won’t ask him, I will. I follow him on Instagram, you know.” Darla pulled out her phone as if she wanted to prove it was more than a threat. He wouldn’t put it past her. Darla could be about as persistent as a bull in the bucking chute when it came to getting her way. But this was one argument she couldn’t win.
“You’re not asking him either.” Ty set his jaw so she’d know he was serious. “You ask him and my cooperation with this whole festival thing is over.”
Darla didn’t seem to know what to say to that.
“We don’t need your brother,” Ginny offered, nudging his boot with her foot. “You’re enough of a man.”
Ty wasn’t sure if he should thank her or run away.
“Of course we need him.” Darla started tapping on her phone. “The guy has over a million Instagram followers.” She waved the screen in front of Ty’s face, as if he didn’t already know how popular his brother was.
“We don’t have much time to generate publicity,” she went on. “But if he posts something, women are going to flock up here for this event. Isn’t that the point? To raise as much money as possible?”
Murmurs of agreement went around the room, but Ty had had enough. He pushed back from the table and stood. “If you want my help organizing the rodeo, my brother is not invited. Let me know what you decide.”
Before Darla could try again, he walked out of the building.
* * *
“Wait!” Darla frantically zipped up her coat and darted down the sidewalk after Ty. Typically, she didn’t resort to chasing after men—especially in her over-the-knee leather heeled boots—but this was an emergency. If she couldn’t convince him to get his brother involved, they had absolutely no shot of attracting the kinds of numbers they’d need to make this event successful. “Hey! Hold on,” she called to his retreating back.
At the end of the block, Ty stopped to wait for her, his left shoulder sagging with obvious impatience.
Darla jogged all the way to him, her heels skidding on a patch of ice right before she got there. She screeched a little and tried to balance herself, but he ended up catching her in his arms.
“You’re not going to seduce me into changing my mind,” he said, securing his hands on her upper arms and standing her back up straight. His physical strength combined with that playful grin proved to be a lethal combination. It never failed to turn her insides gooey.
“I’m not trying to seduce you.” Darla straightened her coat and gazed up at him. Light from a streetlamp poured down on them in a soft glow. Romantic, some might have said. Especially this time of year
. Topaz Falls had one of those storybook town centers—cobblestone sidewalks, mismatched brick buildings with large storefront windows and charming striped awnings. Garlands were strung from lamppost to lamppost, adorned with red velvet bows and twinkling with white lights that seemed to make everything sparkle. Fat snowflakes floated down, getting stuck on Ty’s eyelashes. He had nice eyelashes. Nice eyes. A dreamy sigh broke loose in her chest, but she locked it down before he could notice. What was the matter with her? She didn’t look at Ty like that. It had to be the seasonal ambience.
A-hem. Get it together. Before her eyes started twinkling like the Christmas lights. She was on a mission here. “I’m only trying to understand,” she said in a soft, placating tone. “I know you want to help Everly and Mateo as much as I do, so what’s the problem with your brother?” Talking about personal things happened to be a line they had never crossed, but she had to get to the bottom of this if they had any hope of making the festival a success.
“I already told you.” Ty’s hardened stare grazed hers. “He has plans for the holidays. Since it’s the first year he hasn’t had to play football, my family is having this huge Christmas celebration up in Montana.”
A tension in his voice made the words sound brittle. It was a tone Darla had never heard from him. Ty joked around a lot. He laughed. He got along with everyone. But it seemed he had an issue with his brother. Curiosity drew her eyes back to him, but she bolted her hands on her hips to make it seem like irritation. “Well, why aren’t you going back to Montana then? If it’s a family celebration and all?”
Ty turned his head from hers and watched a car roll past. When he looked at her again he wore a smirk. “Why aren’t you traveling to be with your family over the holidays?”
And there was the cowboy she knew. Deflecting every question that went deeper than What would you like to drink? At least she had a good answer though. “I can’t leave town because of the bar.” Christmas was one of her busiest seasons, and she had some pretty great employees, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a total control freak. “Besides that, my dad will be in France with his new wife, and my mom is going on a trip to Mexico with her crazy sisters, so…” The holidays had never meant anything to either one of her parents. There were no big family gatherings or turkey dinners or gift exchanges. They both had always viewed Christmas as an opportunity to get out of town, and that was fine with her. After all these years she’d made her peace with it. Besides, she loved Christmas in Topaz Falls.
The quaint holiday spirit was one reason besides the bar that she never left town this time of year. It offered the kind of magical Christmas she’d always dreamed about, complete with the thick layer of snow frosting everything from the granite mountain peaks surrounding them to beautiful evergreen trees to the quaint buildings to the festive Christmas light displays that popped up all over town. She swore there was nothing more beautiful in the world than the glow of colorful lights buried beneath a powdery snow.
Ty didn’t seem to know what to say at the mention of her own parents. This was new territory for them. “Listen…” She eased a step closer. “I don’t like my family much either. That’s totally normal. But if I had a famous brother who could help rake in the cash for one of my best friends, I would suck it up and invite him to come be a part of the festival.” Of course, if she had a famous brother who played in the NFL, she might’ve tried hitting him up to buy her an island in the South Pacific so she wouldn’t be here right now, but she was getting off track. “Having to tolerate your family for a week seems like a small price to pay. That’s all I’m saying.”
According to the pained look on Ty’s face, it wasn’t that simple. “I can’t suck it up. I told my parents I couldn’t come home because I had other plans. And if I invite my brother out here, they’ll all know I lied.”
So? She didn’t say it. Hard to believe Ty was that worried about disappointing his parents—but then again that was easy for her to say, since her parents had exactly zero expectations for her. “What did you tell them you were doing?” she asked.
“Spending the holidays with my fiancée.”
“I’m sorry, what? Did you say ‘fiancée’?”
Ty raised his head. “I told them I couldn’t come home because I got engaged and my fiancée is too busy to travel during Christmas,” he said loud and clear. And yet she still wasn’t getting it.
“Your fiancée?”
“My fake fiancée,” he corrected. “It worked like a charm. They were so ecstatic I was in a relationship with someone they didn’t even give me a guilt trip about missing the family celebration.”
It was actually pretty brilliant. And incredibly amusing. “Who did you tell them you were engaged to?”
Ty immediately dropped his gaze to his boots and shook his head.
Darla ran through all of the possibilities. It didn’t take long. “Me? You told your parents we’re engaged?” She busted out a laugh. If that didn’t beat all. Her and Ty Forrester—the two most commitment-shy people in Topaz Falls—engaged!
“It just came out.” His voice got louder, defensive. “It was that Sunday after we’d…” The words trailed off, leaving behind a small smile.
Oh, she didn’t need to be reminded. She remembered exactly what they’d done that Saturday night. Ty had taken her home from a party at the Cortez Ranch, and of course she’d invited him in. Not that she’d ever admit it to anyone, but after spending so much time with all the married people, she sometimes felt a little lonely. Maybe he did too. They’d turned on some music and she’d opened a bottle of wine exactly like they had a few times before. Things always started out innocently enough, but when Ty kissed her, it was all over. He happened to be a very good kisser. That particular evening, they’d ended up naked in her kitchen. Throw in some canned whipped cream and chocolate sauce from her refrigerator, and it had definitely been a memorable night.
Whew, was it hot out here? Suddenly her down jacket felt like the inside of a volcano. She could feel the snowflakes melting on her cheeks on contact.
“Anyway…” Was it just her, or did Ty’s face suddenly seemed to have a shade more color to is as well? “Yes, my parents and my brother think we’re engaged. But don’t worry. A few weeks after the holidays, I’ll tell them things didn’t work out and life will go on.”
Oh no, he wouldn’t. This was perfect. Perfect! “We can pretend to be engaged.”
The man’s eyebrows nudged his hairline. “Say what?”
“I’ll pretend to be your fiancée.” The answer to this whole dilemma was so obvious. “We’ll pretend that we’re planning to get married, and that’ll solve everything. You can still invite them out, we can still raise a ton of money for Mateo and Everly.” Problem. Solved. In the process, she could remind him she wasn’t some poor fragile widow who needed to be handled with care. “Of course, we’ll have to convince the rest of the town before your parents arrive so no one accidentally ruins the secret.” She knew how people talked in Topaz Falls. Visitors were welcomed right into the local gossip scene. “But that shouldn’t be a problem.” They had enough time to go on a few public dates and then rush into an engagement.
For some reason Ty still had his jaw hinged open with a dumbfounded look. “You want to pretend we’re engaged? To be married?”
“It wouldn’t be that hard for people to believe.” She could no longer hold off the impatience. While the rest of her still felt toasty, her toes were starting to freeze. “We already know each other. I’m sure there’ve been rumors about us. My neighbors have to have noticed your truck parked in front of my house more than once. We’ll hardly have to lie at all. We can go out on a big public date to that town cookie-decorating event next week, and news about us will be all over by the time your family comes for the festival.” Their closest friends would never buy it, but none of them would rat them out to Ty’s parents and brother either.
“You really think we can pull it off?”
“I think we have to.” He
didn’t get it. Topaz Falls wasn’t Vail or Aspen. If they wanted to get visibility they needed a major draw. Enter Rhett Forrester. “I know people around here will support the cause, but we need tourists. We need to make this thing Colorado’s Christmas celebration of the year.”
And the only way to do that was to convince Ty’s family that the two of them were headed for a happily ever after.
Chapter Four
Ty tossed a charred and splintered two-by-four into the dumpster that had been parked at the edge of the Farm Café’s parking lot. He and Mateo had been working on clearing the debris since the sun had risen over Topaz Mountain, and they’d hardly made a dent in the massive pile of rubble. It would likely take weeks to clear it out. Mateo had hired a salvage company to come in after Christmas, but he’d wanted to do some of the work himself so they could watch for anything of significance that could be recovered. So far, they’d found nothing.
Ty adjusted the mask he wore over his nose and mouth. Digging through someone else’s ruined livelihood really put things in perspective. Crazy how fast everything could change, how something could be taken away without warning.
He tromped back to what had once been the kitchen to help Mateo lift what was left of an oven. The once pristine stainless steel bore the black scars of a hot fire, and yet somehow the appliance had retained its original shape.
“So Everly mentioned something about a cowboy calendar?” His friend grimaced under the weight of the oven as they carried it toward the dumpster.
A Cowboy for Christmas Page 4