A Cowboy for Christmas

by Bobbi Smith

  It was just what Dan had feared. The blue norther came tearing across the countryside with its harsh, freezing winds. The temperature had been cold to start with, but it quickly dropped another twenty-five degrees. Dan knew it was only a matter of time before the snow started. Wanting to have Penny in a safe, warm place before it got too bad outside, he urged his horse on to a quicker pace and covered the final miles to the second hiding place. By the time they neared the site, the snow had begun to fall.

  Penny shivered, and Dan tightened his arms around her.

  “If things go as easily this time as they did at the first place, I should be able to get us to the next line shack in less than an hour.”

  “I never thought I’d be so excited about staying in a line shack, but right now it sounds really luxurious.”

  Dan remembered Jack’s directions and rode to the location. It surprised him, and challenged him, to discover the place where the money was hidden was halfway down a steep incline. He knew this one was going to be harder to find, especially the way it was snowing right then. They were going to have to leave the horses tied up a distance away and make their way on foot to the location indicated on the map.

  “So it’s down there?” Penny said, looking down the steep, rocky hillside. In good weather it would have been difficult to reach, but in the snow, it was going to be slick and treacherous. Even so, they had no choice. The weather wouldn’t be getting any better any time soon.

  “If you want, you can wait here for me, and I’ll go see if I can find it,” Dan offered as they both dismounted.

  “I’m not letting you go down there by yourself. It’s too dangerous.”

  “That’s why I want you to stay here,” he told her.

  Penny touched his arm and looked up at him. “We’re in this together, Dan.”

  He was so tempted to kiss her, but he knew it was definitely not the time to even think about it, with the way the snow was coming down. “All right. Let’s go, but stay right with me. I don’t want you to fall.”

  Dan started down the incline, taking great care as he made his way among the rocks heading in the direction indicated on Jack’s map.

  Penny slipped several times, but managed to stay on her feet. She was impressed at how agilely Dan moved over the rocks, never wavering even in the treacherous ground. She was glad when Dan finally stopped and started to clear a place so they could begin to dig for the buried money.

  “Do you think this is it?” she asked, studying the area for another clue.

  “According to the map, this should be the place,” he told her.

  John couldn’t believe his luck. Things were turning out far better than he’d ever hoped. He knew this was going to be perfect. First, he’d set their horses loose and run them off, and then he’d get the money and take off himself. His plan was perfect. This blue norther would take care of everything else for him.

  Dan and Penny were so far away from any of the line shacks that they wouldn’t last out in the freezing cold and heavy snow, and even if they did survive, he would be long gone by the time anyone rescued them. They’d never find him.

  Feeling more confident than ever, John cautiously moved down to where they’d left their horses tied up. He was silent as he approached the horses, and he quickly looked through their saddlebags. He found the metal box he was looking for from the first dig and set it aside. Grinning broadly, he ran their horses off and then went to find them.

  As John reached the drop-off on the side of the road, he was surprised to find Dan and Penny already on their way back. They were carrying another box of money. He stepped back to stay out of sight until Dan was up on the trail. Then he’d do what he needed to do to get the money and run.

  Dan was helping Penny keep her footing on the treacherous hillside. The cold was numbing and the snow was coming down even harder now. He was surprised to see John there waiting for them and immediately feared the worst—that he’d come to find them because Jack had died.

  “John, what happened?” Dan asked as he reached the trail and helped Penny up to stand with him.

  “Nothing’s happened . . . yet,” John said, his tone serious.

  “Then why are you here? You’re supposed to be out working stock,” Dan demanded.

  “I’m here to get myself a raise, Dan.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  John grew deadly serious. “I want the money.” He drew his gun and aimed it directly at them. “Just toss the box over here, real easylike.”

  Dan was furious. The weather was hard enough to deal with, without having a fool like John show up, wanting to rob them. “Don’t do this, John. You’ll never get away with it.”

  Penny was standing right behind Dan. She was as angry as Dan was. She’d actually buckled on her gun belt that morning, and she was tempted to try to draw on the man, but it had been so long since she’d used it, she feared she wouldn’t be fast enough. She waited, biding her time to see if there was anything she could do to help.

  “Thieves only get in trouble if they get caught,” John sneered, “and they ain’t never going to catch me. I’ll be so far gone before anyone finds out what I did, they won’t have any idea where to start looking. Now throw that box over here, or I’ll shoot the girl.” John saw the anger flare in the foreman’s eyes and he knew he’d struck a nerve with him. It just made him feel even more powerful and more in control. “That’s right, I’ll take care of Jack’s daughter first if you don’t cooperate. Now give me that money.”

  Dan had no choice. Out of fear for Penny’s safety, he tossed the box toward John and it landed close beside him.

  “Good, that’s a start. Now throw your gun over here, Dan—real slowlike.”

  Dan wanted to draw and shoot. He’d had a time a few years back when he’d been known as a fast draw, but right now he didn’t want to take the risk for fear that Penny might be wounded in the shoot-out that would follow. He slowly drew his gun from his holster and tossed it a few feet in front of him.

  “Now what?” Dan demanded.

  “I want Penny’s gun, too. I ain’t blind.” He looked straight at her, his expression full of hatred. “Come on, city girl. Throw the gun up here.”

  Penny stepped up beside Dan and did as she was ordered. “My father will catch you,” she threatened.

  “No, he won’t, ’cause he’s going to be dead,” he came back at her as he kicked both their guns toward the edge of the trail. “I won’t have to worry about any of you. You’ll be dead, too.”

  Dan knew he had to do something fast. When John bent down to pick up the box, he would go after him. If he jumped him fast enough, he just might be able to overpower him.

  John was keeping a careful eye on the foreman. He knew what a hard man Dan was, and he didn’t trust him for a minute. “Don’t even think about trying anything, Dan,” he threatened. “I’ve got you good, right now—real good, and you know it.”

  John was smirking as he moved forward and cautiously bent down to pick up the cash box.

  The moment John looked away, Dan launched himself at him.

  John wasn’t caught totally off guard. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dan move, and he fired blindly in his direction. The shot winged Dan in the upper arm just as Dan managed to knock him to the ground. John’s gun flew from his grip.

  The pain jarred Dan, but he couldn’t let it stop him. With all the strength he could muster, he attacked John.

  Penny was horrified as she watched the two men fighting wildly on the rocky ground. She wanted to help, and she rushed over to try to find her gun.

  John cursed himself for not getting off a better shot at Dan. In a desperate move, he hit Dan’s wounded arm as hard as he could. Dan gasped in pain and his grip slackened. Taking advantage of the moment, John managed to shove his opponent away and scramble to his feet.

  He looked over just in time to see Penny running to get one of the discarded weapons. John threw himself at Penny and knocked her down just as
she was about to grab up one of the guns. She was fighting him fiercely as he held her down on the ground. Until he could get his gun back, he’d use her as a shield.

  Before John could do anything else, Dan grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him off Penny. John savagely kicked out, knocking Dan down, and they battled again on the hard, rocky ground, rolling dangerously close to the edge of the trail.

  Penny quickly scrabbled off the ground and retrieved her gun. But before she could get close enough to use it, she heard a shout. She spun around to see the two men tumble off the side of the snow-covered, icy trail. Horrified, Penny raced to the trail’s edge and looked down to see them nearly halfway down the steep incline. Dan had landed on a large boulder while John was hanging on to a nearby rocky ledge, screaming.

  “Help! Help me!”

  “Dan! Dan, are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” Dan struggled to sit up, clutching his bleeding arm. He heard John’s cries and carefully made his way over to see where the other man was. Dan was tempted to leave him there to fend for himself, but he knew he couldn’t. Somehow, he was going to bring him back up and take him into town to turn him over to the sheriff.

  “Can you get up here on your own?”

  “Go get the rope off his saddle!” Dan called to her, knowing he had to try to save him.

  She ran to do as he’d ordered.

  “All right, toss it down here!” Dan told her when she returned.

  “Toss it down to you? Don’t you want me to pull you up?”

  “No, I’ve got to try to get it down to John—”

  He wanted to help John? Penny was shocked after all that had happened, but she didn’t argue.

  Dan caught the rope and inched over to the rim of the boulder where John was holding on for dear life. “John! Grab the rope and I’ll pull you up!”

  John reached out and tried to make a grab for the rope. In an instant, though, he lost his grip on the ledge. His cry of terror echoed off the canyon walls as he fell. By Dan’s reckoning, there was no way he could have survived. With a heavy heart, he pulled the rope back up and then started to climb the rocky incline. The footing was dangerous, and it was hard to get a solid hold on any of the rocks because of the snow. He moved slowly, favoring his injured arm as he cautiously climbed ever higher.

  Penny stayed by the trail’s edge, watching his every move and praying for his safety. Those were the longest moments of her life as she waited for Dan to make his way back to her.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  The moment Dan managed to climb back up onto the trail, Penny was at his side. She put an arm around him.

  “How bad is your arm?” she asked.

  “I’ve had worse,” he managed to answer, his jaw locked against the pain. He could tell the gunshot wound wasn’t serious, but it did need some doctoring.

  “We need to bandage it. Let me take a look at it,” she offered.

  They went over to the horse, and Penny quickly went through John’s gear looking for something they could use for a bandage. She cut some strips from the bedroll, and after seeking shelter from the freezing cold under a rocky overhang, Dan took off his coat and shirt so she could bind the wound tightly to keep it from bleeding.

  “That should hold for a while,” she told him as she helped him get his shirt back on.

  “It feels better,” Dan said as he shrugged into his coat. “Now let’s ride. The other line shack isn’t far.”

  “Thank heaven John’s horse didn’t run off.” Penny knew they would have been in real trouble if they’d been completely stranded.

  “If he had, we might not have made it back until the spring thaw.”

  “If at all—”

  “We would have found a way to survive,” he said. He had been in worse situations, and he’d survived. He would do it again, and he would make sure that Penny was safe.

  Dan got his own gun and John’s, while Penny found hers. They loaded up Jack’s boxes and put John’s gun in a saddlebag just in case they might need it. They mounted up, ready to ride to the second line shack. Dan had thought about trying to make the ride back to the first one, so they would be closer to the ranch house, but as bad as the weather was, he didn’t want to risk it. This line shack was closer, and he was going to get them there as quickly as he could. Right now they just needed to wait out the bad weather.

  The snow seemed to let up a little as they rode on, and he was glad. He just hoped they were already through the worst of the storm. It would make it far easier for them to find the third box and get back home.

  “There it is,” he told Penny as the line shack came into view.

  While Dan took care of the horse, Penny carried their gear inside. Together, they brought in a load of firewood and quickly closed the door against the harsh wind and blowing snow.

  Relief swept through the both of them as they stood for a moment in silence just looking around the room.

  “I was so afraid—” Penny turned to Dan, all the terror of the day’s events showing in her expression as she finally realized it was over.

  Dan opened his arms to her and she went to him. “It’s over. You’re safe now,” he reassured her.

  She looked up at him, seeing the strength of him in his handsome features. “Only because of you.”

  Penny couldn’t resist. She drew him down to her and kissed him.

  Dan held her close and savored the moment. He was thankful things had turned out the way they had.

  When the kiss ended, they moved slightly apart.

  “You’re warming me up, Penny, but I think I’d better start a fire in the stove for us, too,” he told her, giving her one last, gentle kiss.

  Penny felt the same way. She was finding that there was nothing she loved more than being in Dan’s arms. The fear that had haunted her during the showdown with John had only made her realize even more how much Dan meant to her. She stood back and watched as he quickly got the fire started. When she could feel the warmth spreading through the shack, she shed her coat.

  It was starting to get dark outside, so Penny lit the one lamp that was on the table and set about seeing what food there was stored there. There wasn’t much, only a few cans of beans, but she knew it was better than nothing. Penny went to look out the window and found it was snowing harder again.

  Dan took off his coat and went to stand with her at the window. “I was hoping it was letting up, but it doesn’t look like it. We may be here for a while.”

  “How long?” She was worried about her father and wanted to get back to the ranch house.

  “It’s hard to tell with these storms. We’ll have to wait it out. There’s no way we can get back to the ranch house right now.”

  “It is beautiful, as long as you’re not out riding in it,” she finished with a grin. “I wonder how Dwylah would have done if she’d been with us?”

  Dan grinned, too. “Well, for sure, we wouldn’t be bored right now, if she had ridden along.”

  Suddenly, Penny got a twinkle in her eyes as she gazed up at him. “You’re bored?”

  Dan bit back a groan at her teasing look and pulled her close. “Not at all.”

  His lips sought hers in a passionate exchange that let her know he was glad Dwylah wasn’t there.

  When they finally ended the kiss and moved apart, Penny asked, keeping her expression innocent this time, “Which do you like best? Being on the top or on the bottom?”

  “You are a troublemaker, woman,” he growled at her while he was chuckling.

  “I know,” she teased. “I had a good teacher.” Then she grew more serious as she told him, “Right now I like the bottom. Take off your shirt and lie down. I want to take care of your arm.”

  Dan did as he was told. As he watched her get ready to doctor his wound, he realized he’d had some hard times in his life, but staying here alone with Penny in the line shack was going to be one of the hardest things he’d ever done. He wanted her as he’d never wanted another woman, and he remind
ed himself that it was his job to protect her and keep her safe. She was a challenge—that was for sure, but it was one challenge he was never going to give up on.

  Penny came to sit beside the bed. She carefully removed her makeshift bandage and took a good look at the wound before beginning to wash it with the water she’d warmed on the stove.

  “It doesn’t look too bad,” Dan said, glancing over at his arm.

  “You were lucky.”

  “I know.” He was grim as he thought of what might have happened if John had gotten off a better shot. He forced the thought away. They were here, and they were safely out of the weather.

  Penny had never cleaned a gunshot wound before, but she did her best. As she was drying him off, her gaze traveled over his broad, hard-muscled chest. Forcing herself to concentrate on taking care of his injury, she bandaged his wounded arm up again with clean strips of cloth she’d cut from the sheets on one of the beds. “That should hold you.”

  Dan swung his long legs over the side of the bed and sat up, flexing his arm. “It feels better already.”

  “Good.” She gave him his shirt back, regretting that they didn’t have a clean one for him to wear.

  Dan put his shirt on and got up to go look out the window again. The snow was still falling, and he knew they were going to be there for a while. He just hoped he could get her back to the ranch in time for her to spend Christmas with Jack.

  Penny came to join him there. “What are we going to do?”

  “The only thing we can do—stay here and wait.”

  “What do you think happened to our horses?”

  “If we’re lucky, they headed back to the ranch, and Jack will send some of the boys out to try to find us.”

  She looked at him through lowered lashes. “I hope they don’t get here too soon.”

  Dan knew she was trouble—the kind of trouble he had come to love. “Me, too.” Alone in the warmth of the line shack, he kissed her tenderly. “I love you, Penny.”