A Cowboy For Christmas

by Kristen James

  “Sorry, ma’am, just messing around.” His dazzling smile faded into a remorseful grin. She licked her lips and tried to make it look like an angry gesture. Brows scrunched, she placed her hands again and tried to do what he’d shown her. She made it halfway up before the thought of him behind her, so close, sent her right back down.

  “Darn it!” Not only did Brent laugh, but his men joined in from their spot by the fence. She hadn’t been aware they watched her.

  “Ignore them.” Brent rested an arm against the horse, then rested his forehead against his arm. He couldn’t be fed up with her already, she worried, before gritting her teeth and waiting.

  “Let’s just breathe.”

  Did he say breathe? She crossed her arms, but he straightened up and grabbed her wrists, pulling them to her sides. He’d trapped her so she had to look at him. Even with the shade on his eyes, she could see their cool blue color and knowing look.

  “Just like that, Missy. Now close your eyes.”

  “What?”

  “Close them.”

  They snapped shut. Knowing he was inches from her face, watching her, made her breathe faster and faster. She couldn’t hear anything but the air she sucked in.

  “I want you to stay just like that until you calm down.” His hands softly squeezed her arms. She could do this, she could! Sounds of the countryside became louder as her breathing became quiet. But his strong, quiet voice still sounded in her head.

  She never liked it when men told her what to do, so she didn’t understand the pleasant chills his commands sent through her.

  Also surprising was the comfort she felt from his hands on her.

  “Calm now?” His voice sounded so near. Close enough to tilt her mouth up and kiss him. No, no, no! Breathe.

  She nodded to his question after several deep breaths.

  “Good, now open your eyes and try again.” He let go and stepped back, ending the closeness.

  Now steady, she felt riled for reacting to him that way. But she was back in her game.

  “Once more, and that’s it?” She poured on the sugar with that one, just to let him know she wouldn’t fall prey to his charm. He raised an eyebrow at her, like he was questioning her cockiness.

  “You sure you’re cut out for this?” His teasing tone was back as he watched. She swung up and made it this time.

  After the men whooped, she said, “I’m glad I’m at least giving you some entertainment.”

  Jeffery snorted, but remained still. She became fully aware now that she had a live animal under her, one that had a mind of his own.

  “Yup, now you’re in the saddle,” Brent said from below. “Do you know what to do up there?”

  “What?” Her concentration went to crap. Jeffery decided to show her what to do and started moving slowly around in a circle.

  “Grab the reins!” One of the men yelled from the fence.

  “I got it.” She declared to all three men and the horse. “I watched you guys do it, I read how to do it, and now I’m going to do it.”

  “All right, Missy, do you know how to lead him?” Brent prompted her and then watched.

  “Pull in the direction I want to go, right?”

  “Hope you kept your job back home,” he joked.

  “I lost it before the lawyer called me.” She spoke, but kept her mind on her task this time. “The jackass I worked for sent me packing when I thought we should cool things.” Her hands gripped the reins like she was hanging over a cliff, but the horse finally let her lead. She risked a quick glance over at Brent to grin in victory. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  He looked displeased about something.

  “You slept with your boss?”

  “Huh?” Her horse took the opportunity to jerk her the other way. She had to twist her head sharply to look at Brent. “What are you talking about?”

  “What you just said. He fired you over it.”

  “That’s not what I said!” She jerked the reins and the horse made an angry noise. Oh, crap. Jeffery jerked upward again.

  Heart flying up her throat, she bit off a scream.

  “Calm now!” Brent called in a mellow voice. She remembered, from her reading, to lean forward to keep on top of the monster.

  She sucked in air like she was drowning. Since she had to keep both hands on the reins, she couldn’t rub her chest like she wanted. Brent’s laughter sang out, startling her almost as much as the horse had.

  When he was serious again, he said, “Calm down, take him around.”

  On her first trip around, he walked a few steps from the horse. If he was nervous about her riding Jeffery, it didn’t show. Thankful for his calmness, she felt herself relax. They came along side the two men who still watched.

  “Howdy, ma’am,” one said, touching his hat.

  “That’s Dale,” Brent introduced him, “And the tall one’s Ivan.”

  She glanced over and nodded, but that was all she could do at the moment.

  Brent told the men, “You two should be working, not gawking.”

  Jeffery moved away so she didn’t hear their responses. With the sun shining brighter than before, she grew warm. This was work, but it wasn’t as bad as she imagined. She’d dreamed the night before that she fell off while Brent watched. So far, so good.

  She rode Jeffery around again. As she approached Brent, he told her to stop the horse.

  “Huh?” Yeah, he was being mean. She tugged on the reins, but as gently as she could. She didn’t want to tick the horse off again.

  Jeffery stopped.

  Brent, next to them, nudged back his hat to look up at her. She gave him a sweet smile. “That wasn’t hard.”

  “You’re done?”

  That was a trick question, but she did want back down on the ground.

  “Yeah, I want down from here. Are you going to help me?”

  A smile tugged on his lips. What else could she do? She’d rather ask for help than land on her butt trying to get off by herself.

  “You want my help?” he asked as he held her gaze. “That means I’ll have to touch you.”

  The word ‘touch’ rolled off his tongue as if he’d said ‘caress’. She knew he teased about her reaction to his rear swatting, but she wouldn’t react this time around.

  She asked, “Afraid of my cooties?”

  She made light of his comment, but her body was on a completely different wave length as she thought about his hands on her. Listen up, she thought to herself, he’s a man, just a regular guy working a ranch. A regular guy with a sexy, quick grin, and a voice that could soothe her rattled nerves back from the edge.

  “Grab the horn and swing your leg back over.” He stepped close, ready to ease her down. She gripped the pommel and pulled her leg over. Just then he pressed his hand against her hip. “Easy now.”

  That was not - was not! - the place to touch a woman while telling her to take it easy. She felt her traitorous body jerk and could only pray he didn’t notice.

  She slid against him the entire way down, and fell back into his chest. He hadn’t moved, so she couldn’t either. Her heartbeat jack hammered into overdrive as her back pressed into him.

  Could be worse.

  Could be her front pressed into him.

  “I . . . I, ah, need a bath.” I need out of here! His arms encircled her and she couldn’t look away from his bare forearms. Lightly tanned. Strong.

  “A bath?” he asked as if he’d been thinking about it.

  She recognized the bedroom voice. “I’ve never been on a horse before. It tends to make a person sore.”

  He eased back, holding the reins still, and gave her room to step away.

  “Would you like to see how to take the tack off and cool down the horse before you go?” he asked with a hand on her shoulder to guide her back a step.

  “Sure.” She walked beside him into the stable yard, glad for the space between them. This touching didn’t mean anything. At least it shouldn’t.

&
nbsp; She didn’t say much while she helped him, but her mind ran around in self-defeating circles.

  How could she have accidentally mentioned Russ and what happened at her old job? After that, Brent had turned on the charm. Now he thought she was easy.

  “Well, that was fun.” She nodded and marched outside like she had important things to do.

  * * * *

  She didn’t do bad at all in the end, he thought as he watched her go. So why did she turn into a stiff greenhorn when he brought Jeffery out? He wouldn’t have thought he could make her nervous . . . or that he could calm her down like that.

  He’d gotten an aching erection while he watched her breathe with her eyes closed. As far as he could tell, no one saw. Boy, he’d never hear the end of it.

  “That little lady’s got you already.” Dale’s voice boomed from behind him. Brent turned, giving the robust man a hard look.

  “I can’t send her away.” He yanked his gloves off and stuffed them into his jean pocket. “I explained it to you.”

  “You said she’d be helping out around here. Looks like she don’t know a lick about horses.” Dale shook his head like this was one of the worse offenses committable.

  “She’s learning fast.” Was he defending her?

  “What about our work?” Dale pressed.

  “Hey, I’ll handle it.” After a pause, Brent added, “I saw you and Ivan watching her today.”

  “Yeah, you aren’t the only one.” Dale seemed to think it was funny. He had a mustache, black like his hair, and he always had a half smile on his face.

  It wasn’t that he wanted her, Brent just didn’t want anyone saying something suggestive about Missy. “Listen, you’re right about how much work we have to do around here.”

  “So leave the drooling to you?”

  “This isn’t funny.” At least, only in a really irritating way. “I’m not drooling over her. I’m showing her what we do around here so she’ll see she isn’t cut out for it.”

  “Oh.” Dale gave him a conspiracy-style nod before going into a good belly laugh. Brent turned and strode away, straight for Ben’s house.

  But it was Missy’s house now. Everything felt out of whack with Ben gone. With Missy around. No joking with Ben, riding together, talking about next year and their dreams for their ranch.

  How was he supposed to feel about the woman?

  He banged on her door twice and waited, but she didn’t answer. He knew she’d gone inside, so he cracked it and called her name.

  A muffled noise came back. Irritation made him itch all over as he wavered at the door.

  Cursing himself, he quietly walked across the front room to the hallway. She’d made a good dent in the mess, he saw, by stacking boxes and papers in the corner. “Missy?”

  “Brent?” she called from the bathroom. He heard either surprise or panic in her voice. “Do you mind? I’m taking a bath.”

  “Oh,” he tried to remember why he came. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Now?” She sighed. “Well, you’re here. Start talking.”

  “For a city girl, you don’t have much class.” That didn’t sound as funny out loud as it had in his head.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you, cowboy. I grew up in a small dirt town.”

  She did? She didn’t look like it, though she didn’t exactly talk like city dweller, either. “My men spent all day watching you instead of working.”

  “So talk to them, not me.”

  He opened his mouth, an argument in mind, but just then his mind came up with a picture of Missy on the other side of the door . . . in the bathtub . . . surrounded by pretty pink bubbles. A nice hot bath sounded pretty darn tempting at the moment.

  “Are you still there?” she asked through the door.

  “Uh, sorry. I was thinking about what I’d say to Dale and Ivan.”

  “Hmm, I bet.”

  Now what? He tried to think up a comeback, but what could he say to a naked woman in the tub? Can I join you? He spun around and headed out.

  Chapter Three

  The darkness, the cold, but mostly the quiet didn’t make for a good evening as Brent stood with Dale outside the stables. He thought about inviting him up to the house, but while he thought about it, Dale excused himself to go home. He wanted to see his girl, Alice.

  Brent couldn’t remember the last time he was alone and actually felt alone. He sighed and walked through the stables to say goodnight to the horses. Missy hadn’t asked which ones had been Ben’s, meaning they were hers now. Seemed odd to him. If she wanted money, she could sell them. He didn’t like that thought one bit.

  Dancer snorted at him, like he was asking where Ben had gone.

  “Sorry, buddy.” Sorry Ben’s not here. He faced forward, and though he wanted to turn and look at the stallion, he couldn’t.

  Shaking his head, he left. How had he gotten so spooked about the whole thing? The horse couldn’t blame him. No one did. So why did he feel so guilty about Ben?

  Outside again, he headed for his house, but he spotted Missy walking on the road, bundled up in her red coat and a scarf. Guess the cougar comment hadn’t scared her enough to keep her inside after dark.

  “Want company?” he called out because she looked lonely. How could she not be when she’d left her life to come out here? It looked like she shrugged, so he jogged over. “What are you doing out here by yourself? It’s late.”

  “It’s seven in the evening.” She rubbed her nose in the cold.

  “And cold.”

  “You’re out here, too.” She blew out a breath. If she hadn’t run earlier, he might have asked her to go into town for a movie or dinner.

  “Did you eat dinner yet?” Where had that come from? That was worse than inviting her into town. One look at her expression in the yard light confirmed that she was not going anywhere alone with him. He spared them both. “Guess not. Are you heading back?”

  “Yes, want to walk me again?” They turned together. He spotted mud on her boots. She hadn’t balked at hard work or getting dirty. Maybe she’d done this before.

  “So you didn’t grow up in a city?” He remembered her expensive suit, the glitter on her ears and fingers, and the perfume that made him want to lean in closer to sniff.

  With a laugh, she asked, “You don’t believe me?”

  “Tell me about it.” The fancy clothes and jewelry were gone, but she still smelled like that perfume. It was a light smell that seemed to evade him. He got whiffs of it here and there.

  “Not much to tell, really. My dad owned cattle, but we didn’t live on a ranch.”

  He could tell her mind was going off somewhere.

  “Did you want to?” Could that be what she was sad about? He knew so little about her.

  “No, not at all. I wanted to go somewhere bigger and better. So I went off to the closest city at the first chance I got.”

  Maybe that’s where things went wrong. He was sure something had somewhere along the line, but he didn’t know how to ask her about it.

  She looked at the ground like she was ignoring him, but she started talking. “I think that’s why our father left his money to Ben.”

  “Whoa, because you didn’t want to live on a cattle ranch?” he asked, hearing the hurt in her voice. A picture of her came to mind, when she came to his house the first time, and looked so hurt and lost.

  “Ben chose a more traditional lifestyle, and our father was proud of his Nez Pierce heritage.” She shook her head as if she wanted to end the conversation. But she added, “I didn’t mean to insult that, I just wanted excitement. I was raised as an only child, and it was quiet. All the time.”

  Hearing this made him want to reach out to her, but again, his instincts told him she’d freeze up on him if he did. “Most young people do.” And she did look young, maybe twenty-five. Her age didn’t agree with the hurt he saw in her eyes sometimes.

  “That’s why I didn’t come here sooner . . . to see Ben.” She rubbed her nose again to wa
rm it up, but she still didn’t look at him. “Our father left everything to Ben. I didn’t even know about him until Dad died. I didn’t want to know him at first.”

  They reached her house and she stepped up, turning to say goodbye.

  “Missy, I got the wrong impression of you.” He didn’t like saying he was wrong, but he figured that came pretty darn close.

  “Thanks, I think.” She tried for a laugh and turned. He didn’t want this to end and grabbed for something to keep her talking.

  “What about your job? What happened there?”

  She glanced back while keeping her hand on the door handle. “Listen, I appreciate your interest, or concern if that’s what it is, but there’s certain things I can’t share with you. Goodnight.”

  The door shut before he could answer. Yeah, things went wrong for her, and it had to be her job, and the boss she’d mentioned. Russ.

  Turning, he started back. So they both had their secrets.

  * * * *

  She left the cabin when the morning light was strong enough to see. Brent hadn’t mentioned what time he started in the morning, but she usually found him working when she headed down to the stables.

  Though he’d never admit to it, she felt certain he was taking it easy on her, and that was both endearing and disappointing. When she said she wanted to prove herself, she meant it.

  The high, thin cloud cover cracked here and there, showing off stretches of innocent blue. She couldn’t ignore the sweet scent in the air or the bright colors all around, from the thick green grass to the array of oranges in the autumn oak leaves. A squirrel stopped on the road ahead of her and clicked as she approached.

  The road took her past Brent’s house on the way to the stables. She looked over when a door shut. Brent jogged down the stairs and came her way, wearing a bulky green coat that hid his torso, but his jeans didn’t hide anything about his legs.

  He touched his hat when he reached her. “Morning, Missy. You’re up early.”

  She got a shiver when he said her name, but she blamed it on the cold. “Yeah, I’d thought I’d come by and try to catch you in the shower.” She hoped for his grin and wasn’t disappointed. It wouldn’t bother her to spend some time appreciating his easy style and charm while she was here. Nothing wrong with that, right? As long as he didn’t show any interest in her, or in taking advantage of her, she liked this setup.