Christmas in Winter Valley

by Jodi Thomas

  She didn’t say a word. Flirting was a skill she’d never learned. When she’d been seventeen, her ex had come to work on her parents’ place. They’d talked, worked cattle together some. He’d kissed her on her eighteenth birthday, and three months later, he’d asked her to marry him. He’d talked of all the fun they’d have traveling, and Dani had wanted to see something besides the farm.

  None of his promises had come true. In less than a year, she’d been pregnant, and all she saw was him leaving her for the open road. When he’d come back and seen how her belly had grown, he’d turned away from her as if she was nothing to him.

  Dani had said she’d never let another man get close, but there was something about Tye Franklin. Something she couldn’t turn her back on. She swore she could see gentleness in the hard man. It was a quality he probably let few people see. It was almost as if she’d been waiting for him all these years and simply no one else would do.

  Her hopes were small. If he left her with a memory, that would be enough.

  She watched as he walked all the way to the bunkhouse before he removed the lid of the lunch she’d brought him.

  He looked back and waved. He must have noticed there were two biscuits on top of his chicken-fried steak.

  Dani smiled, allowing herself, for just a moment, to think of what the night might bring. Then she pulled her mind back to reality. She had a bucketful of worries to deal with first. Cooper would be coming back in a few hours with a broken leg and who knew what else hurting. She had to get the cousins packed and gone. Elliot didn’t have time to entertain right now and deal with his brother.

  There were things that had to be done, things to be prepared for and things to worry about. She didn’t have time to think of Tye today. But tonight, when all was in order, they would have midnight to live out a few fantasies.

  Walking back to the house, she let herself remember how he’d touched her so softly. He was a man with a slow touch, and even with the cold wind blowing hard, she could almost feel the warmth of him.

  Maybe they could have a kind-of date. Drive around one afternoon and look for one of the clues in his grandfather’s book of drawings. The county-road sign with bullet holes in it wouldn’t be hard to find. Maybe they’d count windmills. Maybe they’d pull over and explore one another in the sunset’s light.

  She shook her head for even thinking of doing such a romantic thing. Then giggled at the chance it might happen.

  Just before she stepped inside, she watched a black Lexus pull up to the front porch. A stranger on Holloway land, and not one of the boys home to either welcome or turn him away.

  The accountant...of course. Dani had forgotten all about him coming. Elliot said Griffin had hired an expert accounting firm to handle their taxes this year.

  His room was ready. All she’d have to do was feed him at some point. She’d show him the work piled on Elliot’s desk, and no one on the place would even notice he was around.

  Dani headed toward the car. Might as well get him settled in on the third floor. The room was a fancy suite with its own bathroom, study and a huge bedroom with floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the morning sun. The third floor had been Sunlan’s room before she’d married Griffin. After the wedding and as she grew with the pregnancy, she’d had a wing built on so she didn’t have to climb the stairs, and the third floor became a guest room along with the old second floor the boys had used as bedrooms growing up. Sunlan had talked Cooper and Elliot into moving into the ground-floor master bedrooms. She’d said the second floor rooms had small closets, and the smaller the closet, the shorter the time the guest will stay.

  Dani had almost reached the car before she looked up and froze when a woman, dressed in a black suit and heels four inches high, stepped gracefully out of the car.

  With a quick smile, the woman turned and reached in for her briefcase. Her hair was short and stylish, like only the big-city salons could cut, and she looked a bit lost in the open country.

  “May I help you, miss?” Dani asked.

  “I’m with Moore, Brantley and Karter. I believe I’m expected.”

  “You’re the accountant?”

  “Yes. I’m Jessica Brantley. I believe Griffin Holloway is expecting me.”

  Dani offered to help the lady with her bag, but she shook her head slightly, so the cook waved her ahead. “Griffin Holloway is away at the moment. His father-in-law is ill. Elliot was told to expect an accountant, but he’s not here right now, either.” Dani had no idea how much she should tell this stranger. “If you’ll come in, I’ll show you to your room. We’ll get you settled in while you wait.”

  “I suggest I pack the records and take them with me back to our offices. I can work faster from my home base. It’s no trouble to fly back with my findings. I’ll double-check to see that I have everything, consult with Mr. Holloway on his needs and be out of your hair by dark.”

  Dani might not know much about bookkeeping, but she’d heard Elliot say once that no document leaves the ranch unless it was in Holloway hands. “I’m sorry, Miss Brantley, but I thought there was an understanding you’d be working from here.”

  “There was, but I thought...”

  Dani smiled and said simply, “You’ll be working here.”

  The very proper lady looked agitated but not surprised.

  “Well, I came to work. The sooner I start, the sooner I’ll be finished and gone from here. I’d like to get this done in as short a time as possible. I’m meeting my fiancé for the Christmas holiday.”

  “I understand.” Dani couldn’t figure out if she liked this accountant or not. She wanted to work and, after all, she wasn’t a guest. She was just like Dani—hired help. “Mr. Holloway said the books are lying out on his desk if you’d like to look at them before he returns. There are two other desks in the office, but the other two brothers rarely use them. Feel free to spread out.”

  “And when will at least one of the Holloway men be back?”

  “I have no idea. Elliot’s gone to get his injured brother off a hill that has no road and a foot of snow. They had to hike up with enough gear to carry him down.”

  The accountant started up the steps to the main door. “I’m not surprised Cooper is hurt. He must be as wild as ever.”

  Dani followed her in. “You know Cooper?”

  “I don’t know him, but I saw him once.” She stepped inside and walked toward the headquarters’ office. “I’d like to go to work. You can show me where I’m staying later if I don’t finish today.”

  A scream stopped her progress. Jessica and Dani both turned as Apple and Bethany rushed down the stairs in short robes and bare feet.

  “Dani, Dani, Dani,” Apple squealed. “Can you make us tequila sunrises while we pack? We just must have one for the road.”

  “Of course,” Dani answered, thinking one drink might help with the shock of finding out that the Garrett boys would be driving them to Lubbock.

  The girls thanked her and giggled their way back upstairs.

  When Dani turned and saw the accountant’s shocked face, she almost laughed. “Don’t worry, Miss Brantley, they’re leaving today. It’s been a real party around here lately.”

  “Is it always like this? Half-dressed women running around ordering drinks before noon and injured men being carried down mountains?”

  Dani couldn’t help herself. “Yeah. It’s just an ordinary day on the Maverick.”

  She should have been honest and said no, it was usually just dull, ordinary ranch work, but that would make it seem too sad. When Griffin and Sunlan were here, there were dinner parties. All fall, they’d hosted Texas Tech football evenings with everyone screaming at the TV. Then there was last month, when Cooper let two wild piglets into the house. Everyone had laughed ’til they cried.

  “It’s a wild time, miss, but you’ll be sleeping on the third floor. It’s usual
ly quiet up there unless a bat flies in. If that happens, just ignore it and leave the windows open until it flies back out.”

  The accountant’s face paled.

  Dani grinned. The poor girl would probably work twenty hours a day so she could get out fast. “I’ll make a pot of coffee for you to have in the study.”

  “No, tea. Herbal, if you have it. I’d like to get started right away.”

  The sound of sirens coming closer echoed throughout the house.

  “What’s that?” Miss Brantley looked like she’d gone from worried to panicked.

  “Oh, it’s only the ambulance and probably a fire truck. They usually come together in case they’re both needed.” Dani turned and headed to the kitchen. She didn’t want to try to explain, and she knew nothing but rumors. “I need to go tell them to turn off the sirens and come in and have lunch. They’ll have a while to wait before they bring Cooper down.”

  When Dani reached the foyer, she glanced back. The accountant had vanished into the study.

  Dani didn’t have time to worry about her. She had to make drinks for the cousins and get them on their way, feed the ambulance drivers and the firemen, and try to find some herbal tea.

  She was so busy she didn’t have time to daydream of what she’d do to Tye tonight.

  Maybe she’d just have to surprise him—and herself.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  December 18

  Winter Valley

  COOPER FELT LIKE someone had crammed him into a blender full of rocks. Every few seconds, Elliot ran over a hole in the dirt road, and he went spinning again.

  The little doctor held his head as steady as she could, but she wasn’t anchored in the bed of the truck. He tried to look up at her, but all he saw were those two nicely rounded blue bumps on her chest. Perfect, he thought.

  He was going to hell for staring at her breasts. No doubt. Maybe it was the concussion? Women usually cuddled up to him, but the doc didn’t even like him. She’d lectured him about walking on ice. Which he’d done. Then on bringing a kid up to the shack. Which he hadn’t done. She’d even complained that whiskey was not considered a first-aid kit.

  The doc obviously thought he had no positive qualities, and he wasn’t about to mention the few he saw in her. It was possible that they might never have a normal conversation. Which was fine with him. She was too smart for him. Too short. And way too bossy.

  He could hear Tatum crying. Even in a semidelirious state, Cooper thought he should reach out to help the kid. He lifted his scraped-up hand and said, “Take my hand, Tatum, and hold it tight.”

  The boy did as he was told.

  “Now, hold it tighter. We’re making a hard fist with our hands. If we lace our fingers, no one is going to break that hold. That’s what my brothers and I do when we want to pass strength from one to the other.”

  The kid’s hand reminded Cooper how his hand had once felt in Griffin’s fist. Their mother had just died, and Cooper was losing it, but Grif’s hold was strong.

  “I’m going to need your strength to get through this, Tatum.”

  The kid sniffed and said, “I got you, Coop.”

  Cooper closed his eyes as the pain washed over him, but the boy’s grip never lessened.

  The sun was high, warming him, but Coop had lost track of time. Riding down on the stretcher seemed to have taken hours, and the ride in the pickup was endless, but over and over, he kept saying that he was heading home. He’d get through this like he’d gotten through other breaks. He’d mend.

  Finally, he felt the pickup bump onto a better road, and knew he was close to the headquarters. Elliot sped up. Now the pickup was rocking him gently against the hay and blankets.

  Cooper looked up at the doctor, who was sheltering him from the bumps. “Thanks, Doc. I owe you one. If you ever need me, I’ll be there, I swear.”

  “I’ll remember that, Mr. Holloway, but you’ve got to heal first before I can ask for a favor.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  December 18

  Maverick Ranch

  ELLIOT PULLED THE pickup close to the ambulance, jumped out and began yelling. Ranch hands came running, even though there was nothing for them to do except watch. The front drive of the ranch headquarters looked like a busy emergency way station with men running from every direction.

  Even the weather seemed to feel the panic. Wind whipped in bursts of cold air and the sunny day turned cloudy.

  The EMTs went to work even as the firemen were lifting Cooper out of the bed of hay. They seemed to be talking in a code Elliot couldn’t understand. It reminded him of the night Cooper thought he’d try bull riding. He’d been eighteen. He and Creed were a calf-roping team. They’d even won a few prizes. But that night, no one could tell him what to do. Cooper had wanted to try his luck atop a thousand pounds of mean.

  The only thing he’d ridden that night had a siren blaring. Cooper’s only trophies were three broken ribs and a scar on his forehead. Elliot and Griffin had taken turns sitting up with him for two weeks to keep away the nightmare of his first, and only, seven-second thrill.

  Still, even with the spills, Elliot had always wished he could be more like his little brother. Impulsive. Adventurous. Bold. But he didn’t want the knocks that came with Cooper’s wild life. With chance came falling now and then.

  Elliot raised his hands and offered the doctor a lift down from the pickup after Cooper had been moved away. Like him, the boy and the doc wanted to stay with Cooper, but Elliot knew the routine.

  “Only one passenger in the ambulance,” the EMT yelled from the back door of the ambulance.

  “You go,” Elliot said to Hayley. “You know more about his condition. I’ll follow right behind.”

  She nodded and climbed into the ambulance.

  Elliot grabbed the boy just before he jumped in behind her. “You need to stay here.”

  Tatum reared up, ready to fight. “I’m going with Coop. I have to. You can’t tell me what to do.”

  Great, Elliot thought, I’m being bullied by a kid. Tatum reminded him so much of Cooper. The wildness. The independence. “All right, but you ride with me. We’ll figure out what to do with you later, but right now, you’re part of the family if anyone asks. Keep your mouth shut and I’ll bring you to whatever waiting room they send me to. Then, as soon as they’re finished with him, you can go in with me.”

  Tatum nodded once.

  Before Elliot could head toward the side of the house, where his Land Rover was parked, Dani stepped away from the crowd. “Take the pickup. Your car isn’t back—Pete and Patrick are still delivering the cousins to the airport. And, Elliot, the accountant has arrived.”

  “Tell him I’ll get to him when I have time.” Elliot climbed back in the truck. The kid was already in the passenger seat, buckled in. He didn’t say a word on the way to the hospital, and Elliot didn’t feel like talking, either. Memories of other runs to the emergency room or the doctor traveled with him in the silence.

  At the hospital, Elliot barged into the main waiting room with the boy one step behind him. Elliot filled out paperwork and made a few calls. He stared at the clock for a while, then finally seemed to notice the kid beside him.

  “You hungry?”

  “No.”

  “When did you eat today?”

  “I haven’t, but I’m not leaving.”

  Elliot rubbed his forehead and took on one more load. “See those machines? I’m going to walk over there and buy whatever looks good, and you’re going to do the same. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  Tatum followed him over and picked out juice, two candy bars, a bag of chips and three packs of peanut-butter crackers. He stuffed all but the chips and drink in his pockets.

  “Anything else?” Elliot asked. The kid must have been squirreling away food for winter.

  “N
ope. I’m not very hungry.”

  While the boy ate, Elliot watched the doors that barred visitors and drank a cup of coffee. It wasn’t even dark, and he felt like he’d lived ten days in one. The waiting room seemed too hot after spending so much time in the cold.

  He leaned back in the hard chair, rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep. An hour passed. Two. Three.

  Hayley finally stepped through the double doors and hurried toward Elliot. “It’s looking good. The leg was a clean break. They’re setting it now. He has a concussion but shows no sign of damage. They want to keep him for a few days, but all in all, I think he’s very lucky.”

  Elliot hugged her, then the kid. He noticed that they both had cuts on their arms and faces from branches they’d fought while going through the trees. The blood had dried, darkening into scabs. He probably had them, too, but it didn’t matter. They’d gotten Cooper out.

  Hayley pointed to a cup beside Elliot’s chair. “Coffee?”

  She took a drink before he could tell her it was cold.

  She made a cute, disgusted face and they both laughed.

  While Tatum went to get her a hot cup of coffee, she continued her report to Elliot. “They are keeping him in ICU tonight under close watch. The surgeon said we might as well go home. We’ll be able to see him tomorrow morning.”

  Elliot wanted to demand to see his brother, but in truth he was sleepwalking now, and he still had to drive home. “What about the kid?”

  Hayley’s dark eyes filled with tears. “It seems cruel to pass him off to strangers tonight. He’s as worried about Cooper as I am. Would it matter if we wait one more day to call social services? Cooper told me no one is looking for him.”

  “I guess not. I’ll call home and tell my housekeeper to have two rooms ready. One for you and one for him.”