Sleigh Bells in Crimson

by Michelle Major

  Garrett nodded. “From the time we got off the interstate and drove into town, at least two inches of snow fell. I can only imagine the conditions on Jackrab—”

  He broke off as Maureen let out a startled cry.

  “Lucy!” she screamed into the phone. “Are you there?”

  “What happened?” Caden rushed forward and snatched the device from her hand.

  “She yelled something about sliding,” Maureen said, her voice shaking. “Then there was a terrible sound. Metal on metal. Like a crash.”

  The screen had gone dark, and he immediately punched in Lucy’s number again. The call went straight to voice mail.

  Caden tossed the phone to his dad and grabbed his coat. “Get a hold of Cole Bennett. See if anyone from the sheriff’s department is out that way. Then try the fire department and Jeremy. They should have plows running out that way. Someone has to be close to her. Call me if Lucy contacts you.”

  “Where are you going?” his father asked as he reached for his phone.

  “Jackrabbit Pass,” Caden answered, snow billowing into the house when he opened the door. “I’m going to bring Lucy home.”

  * * *

  It took Caden almost an hour to reach the summit, although he drove like he was qualifying for the winter version of the Indy 500.

  The plows had taken care of the main highway, but as soon as he turned onto the winding, two-lane road that led up Crimson Mountain and south toward Jackrabbit Pass, conditions worsened with every passing minute.

  His rear wheels lost traction several times even though his truck had studded snow tires and sandbags weighing down the back end. He couldn’t imagine Lucy’s cracker-box rental car driving up and over the icy pass. Hell, she must have been desperate to put miles between the two of them to attempt it.

  He’d seen a couple of big SUVs making their way slowly down the curvy road, but neither of them had stopped despite him flashing his brights to flag them down.

  His cell phone remained maddeningly dark where it sat on the console next to him. He didn’t put a lot of stock in prayer, but he’d offered up a litany of silent pleas, mainly addressed to his brother, begging to find Lucy safe.

  With his heart thudding against his ribs and tension pounding through his bloodstream, it was difficult to remember why he’d been so angry with her. He quickly realized pride and fear had mingled together to drive his reaction. It was tough to admit he’d so misjudged a man he thought was a family friend, especially after the deception by his lying, cheating ex-girlfriend had caused the rift with Tyson.

  But he’d allowed his anger toward one woman to make him wrongfully mistrust another. Lucy’s mother did truly love his father. He’d been so convinced that he couldn’t trust any woman again, but part of that had been fear of being hurt overshadowing what his heart felt.

  He loved Lucy in a way he’d never imagined himself capable of feeling. That scared the hell out of him. Love meant being hurt. But nothing could hurt as much as the thought of losing her.

  He had to find her and convince her to give him another chance—to make sure she was safe.

  He couldn’t lose her, too.

  Snow swirled in the light of the truck’s lights as he started down the other side of Jackrabbit Pass. The storm raged so fast and hard that there were no other tire tracks on the road, and he was forced to slow down and pay close attention to the snow markers along the shoulder. The side of the mountain dropped off sharply on his right, with the tops of snow-covered pine trees forming a blanket across the landscape.

  Although he was used to winter driving in the mountains, his whole body was rigid with tension. How the hell could Lucy handle this?

  As if in answer to his question, his lights picked up the flash of taillights about a hundred yards ahead of him around the bend of a sharp switchback.

  He swallowed back a rush of terror when he inched closer and recognized Lucy’s car. It had crashed into the guardrail and the front quarter of the vehicle was hanging over the shoulder. He pulled off and bolted from the truck, racing through the snow and darkness toward the small car.

  “Lucy,” he shouted, but the only answer was the wind whistling around him.

  The car looked stable, but as he got closer he noticed the driver’s-side door was slightly ajar. Panic almost brought him to his knees as a hundred terrifying scenarios ran through his head.

  “Lucy,” he called again, shining the flashlight from his phone toward the interior of the car. A thick layer of fresh snow covered the windows, and he dusted it off, praying to find her uninjured.

  “Caden?”

  He whirled around at the sound of her voice behind him. Suddenly headlights from a truck he hadn’t noticed when he pulled up illuminated her. Terror changed to relief but the power of what he felt still threatened to bring him to his knees.

  He moved toward her, hardly believing she was real.

  “How did you get here?” she asked. “The snowplow driver told me—”

  He crushed his mouth against hers, needing to feel her for himself. He needed to inhale her breath into his lungs, trying to regain his footing from the emotional abyss on which he still teetered.

  “You scared the hell out of me,” he whispered against her skin, trailing kisses across her cheeks and over her eyelids. “You’re okay?” He pulled back, cupping her face between his palms. “Tell me you’re fine, Lucy.”

  “A little shaken up,” she admitted. “And the car is in bad shape.”

  “Tell me—”

  “I’m okay,” she said, putting a finger to his lips. “I was going really slow and I know I should have pulled off, but I was—”

  “Leaving me,” he finished.

  Her brow furrowed. “You made it clear that we had no future. You didn’t trust me. You accused me of... How could you think those things? How can we ever have a chance when you’re willing to believe the worst?”

  * * *

  Lucy was proud her voice remained steady as she asked the questions that had been plaguing her since she’d driven away from Sharpe Ranch.

  She wanted to lean into Caden, to let his strength melt away the lingering terror from the drive up the mountain and the rental car’s slide across the icy road and into the guardrail.

  But while her time in Crimson had been short, the town and the friends she’d made there had changed her. She’d always been satisfied with scraps of a life because she hadn’t believed she deserved anything more.

  Now she did, and even though she loved Caden, she wouldn’t allow anyone to make her feel less than who she knew herself to be.

  He studied her for several long moments, snowflakes clinging to his hair and his breath coming out in tiny clouds of air.

  “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “You have every reason to walk away from me, Lucy. I tend to make a mess of things with the people I love most.”

  She sucked in a breath, almost choking on the cold air. “You love me?”

  The tips of his warm fingers melted the snowflakes that stuck to her cheeks. “I love you with everything I am, but I have a hard time believing that’s enough.” He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, she saw the scared little boy that had survived so much before coming to live on Sharpe Ranch. “I can’t believe I’m enough, so it’s easier to create a reason why things won’t work out. Because if I end it first, the break will hurt less.”

  “Does it hurt less?” she asked quietly.

  He shook his head. “It feels like I ripped out my own heart.”

  “Mine, too.”

  “I’m sorry I hurt you. You’re everything to me, Lucy. My very own Christmas miracle, and I don’t even believe in miracles. Not until you came into my life and turned it upside down. You’re beautiful and smart and have the sweetest heart I could ever i
magine. I know I don’t deserve another chance but give me one, anyway. Please. I can do better. I will do better. I’ll make you so happy.”

  “You already do,” she told him, hope blooming warm and bright in her chest, like they were standing in a sunny field of flowers instead of on a remote mountain pass in the middle of a blizzard.

  He leaned in and kissed her gently as if mending the pain he’d caused. “Will you take me on, Lucy? I promise I’ll leave my idiot days in our past.” The words were soft against her lips. “You’re the only future I want. I can’t imagine my life without you. Please say—”

  “Yes,” she whispered and wrapped her arms around his neck, sighing when he pulled her tight against him. “I’ll give you a million chances. I love the man that you are, although we’re definitely going to need to work on the idiot tendencies.”

  “Reformed idiot,” he said with a smile. “You’ve reformed me.”

  “I wouldn’t want that job to go to anyone else.” She laughed as he lifted her and spun her around.

  A loud whistle had them both turning to see the snowplow driver waving from the cab of his truck. “Y’all think you might want to take that lovey-dovey stuff indoors? If you haven’t noticed, the snow’s not letting up. We need to get off this mountain sooner than later.”

  “Let’s go,” Caden said, tucking Lucy against his side. They spoke to the driver for a few moments, and he suggested they follow him down the mountain in Caden’s truck and come back for Lucy’s car once the storm passed.

  “I’m sorry you had to come out in this to find me,” she said after they’d collected her things and climbed into the truck. Caden turned it around and pulled back onto the road.

  “You never have to apologize,” he answered. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, Lucy. I’d drive through a thousand storms to bring you home. I love you.”

  “Home,” she repeated, cherishing the thought of finally having a place she belonged. And knowing without a doubt that her place was with Caden. Forever.

  Epilogue

  “It’s almost midnight,” Lucy told Caden one week later as she glanced at her watch.

  “Time for a New Year’s Eve break,” he said, plucking the paint roller from her hand.

  “But we’re so close.” She stepped back to survey her progress. As Caden worked on installing new trim and crown molding throughout the cozy family room, Lucy had been busy painting the decades-old pine paneling a fresh shade of creamy white.

  Although they’d been invited to ring in the New Year with friends in Crimson, Lucy and Caden had chosen to stay on the ranch and continue renovations on the little guesthouse behind the barn. Garrett and Maureen weren’t scheduled to return from their honeymoon for another week, and Lucy wanted to make sure Caden was settled in the guesthouse before they got back. They wanted to give the newlyweds privacy and also retain some for themselves where they could.

  She’d moved in with Erin MacDonald and planned to sublet her new friend’s apartment once Erin and David were married over Valentine’s Day weekend. As much as she loved Caden and her time with him, she felt strangely old-fashioned about living with him at the start of their relationship. Everything felt so fresh and new, and she wanted them both to have time to adjust to the changes in their lives before they moved in together.

  “Can’t we just count down later?” she asked. “I’m so close to finishing this wall.”

  “Maybe you want to rethink the business degree,” Caden said with a laugh, gently taking her wrist and tugging her toward the door, “and go for your contractor’s license. I’ve never met someone who wants to work like you, and I grew up on a ranch.”

  “I might consider that,” she said. “Some of the online programs I’m looking at have specializations in construction management.” The truth was, she loved everything about renovating the old space and turning it into something new. Although just a month ago, she would have dismissed the idea of trying a new focus for her career, she’d come to see that she had way more to offer than she’d ever realized.

  “You’d be a natural,” he said, pulling a coat from the rack and draping it over her shoulders. “But I believe you’d be a success at anything you set your mind to.”

  “I like the thought of that,” she said, slipping her hand into his. They walked out into the cold, clear night and Caden led her behind the house, to the edge of the field where they had an unobstructed view of Crimson Mountain.

  “It’s pretty in the moonlight,” she said.

  “Just wait.”

  As if on cue, there was a loud whistling in the distance, and a bright light shot into the air from the base of the mountain. A moment later, a booming sound reverberated through the night, and fireworks exploded above the peak.

  Lucy gasped with delight. “It’s amazing.”

  Caden shifted so that he was standing behind her, and she leaned back against his chest as his arms came around her. “Happy New Year,” he whispered against her ear. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” she said and turned her head to kiss him, letting the happiness she’d discovered this holiday season light her heart until she flared as bright as the fireworks on Crimson Mountain. “Always and forever.”

  * * * * *

  If you loved this book, you’ll be happy to hear that Michelle Major is kicking off the newest Fortunes of Texas continuity,

  THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS:

  THE RULEBREAKERS!

  HER SOLDIER OF FORTUNE

  will be released in January 2018.

  And don’t miss Michelle’s previous books in the CRIMSON, COLORADO miniseries:

  ROMANCING THE WALLFLOWER

  CHRISTMAS ON CRIMSON MOUNTAIN

  ALWAYS THE BEST MAN

  Available now wherever Harlequin Special Edition books and ebooks are sold!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from MARRIED TILL CHRISTMAS by Christine Rimmer.

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  Married Till Christmas

  by Christine Rimmer

  Chapter One

  “God, you are beautiful. That red hair, those big green eyes. That amazing body. And those lips. Baby, those lips were made for a man to bite. Can I tell you a secret?”

  Nell Bravo had a one-word answer for that one. “No.”

  But the handsome gu
y in the expensive suit wasn’t listening. He leaned extra close, breathing Booker’s Rye—and no, he wasn’t really drunk, only buzzed enough to get pushy. “I don’t usually go for tattoos on a woman.” He eyed the half sleeve of bright ink that swirled over her left arm from shoulder to elbow. “But, in your case, I’m definitely making an exception. I’d like to jump you right here at the bar.”

  Nell considered summoning the energy to be offended, but that would be faking it. She’d never minded the brash approach, not as long as she was interested. Too bad she just wasn’t—and hadn’t been for a long time now.

  Except for one man.

  One man who managed to show up every time she turned around lately, a guy she was not letting close to her ever again, thank you very much—and that did it. That finished it. She’d had enough of the handsome fellow in the pricey suit.

  Not only did he refuse to take a hint, he’d gone and made her think of the one person she wanted nothing to do with.

  Ever again.

  Not even in her mind.

  Somewhere behind her, bells and whistles went off as a lucky slot player hit a jackpot. Nell grabbed her clutch, whipped out a twenty and slid it under her cocktail napkin for the bartender. “That’s it for me.”

  “Whoa now,” said the guy beside her, whose name was Ron. “Put your money away.”

  “Great to meet you, Ron,” she lied. “I’ve got your card and I’ll be in touch.” He owned Ron’s Custom Tile, with five stores in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Her company, Bravo Construction, ordered a lot of tile. Maybe they could have done some business. Probably not now, though. Ron was just way too interested in looking down her dress. “Good night.” She spun on her stool, lowered her Jimmy Choos to the floor and set off for the lobby area and the elevator up to her room.

  But Ron was no quitter. “Hold on a minute.” He was right behind her. “Baby, don’t go...”