The Chef, The Holidays & The Husband (Country Brides & Cowboy Boots)

by Erica Penrod

  The Chef, the Holidays and the Husband

  Erica Penrod

  Copyright © 2017 by Erica Penrod

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Also by Erica Penrod

  Sneak Peek at The Horse Trainer, the Buyer, & the Bride

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Lexi bit the inside of her cheek as the engine shut down and she coasted to the side of the road. She tried the ignition again. Nothing. Somewhere between the last populated area of helpful human beings and her unfound destination, her car opted for a rest stop. Yet she found little tranquility in the prospect of being stranded on an isolated canyon road with what appeared to be six feet of snow closing in on her.

  Reaching for her phone, she squeezed her eyes shut and ushered a quick prayer. Please have service, please have service. Lexi peeked through one eyelid, hoping to see the little tower of bars on the top of the screen. Blank. Her eyes shot open and blinked in disbelief.

  Crap! She pounded her hands on the chilly steering wheel. Peering through the windshield, the dusky hour was hard to gauge beneath the tree line stretching across the expansive Utah Wasatch Mountains, but Lexi didn’t need to check the view to know frostbite was on the horizon. She knew the dark of night plus negative degrees equaled one less appendage she’d need to pay for at her next mani-pedi, even if she was a Southern California girl.

  She decided to check out the engine. Maybe she could wiggle a cable or something. Popping the hood with the inside button, she donned gloves, grabbed the handle, and swung the door open.

  “Ahhhh!” she shouted as the frigid weather smacked her in the face. A string of colorful curse words, brighter than the floating Christmas lights on the California Bay, lit up her mind. This kind of cold came with a language of its own. Lexi slammed the door shut and wrapped her arms around her middle.

  Think, think, think.

  Shoving the bag loaded with her favorite cookbooks to the side of the passenger seat, she snatched her purse. Rummaging through, she found a half-eaten protein bar and three pieces of gum. She wouldn’t starve—at least not for fifteen minutes or so. There was the bottle of water in the console’s cupholder, and on the way up the contents swayed like a hula dancer in a grass skirt, but with the thermometer headed south she’d have a stationary snowman in no time.

  Lexi twisted the lid for reassurance before she tucked the bottle beneath her shirt. Survival 101: body heat, something they didn’t teach her about in culinary school. Although she always imagined herself in a somewhat more romantic situation if she were stranded in a snowstorm: wrapped in a hot muscled man’s arms as a matter of life and death, the heat radiating between their bodies. She threw her head back against the seat. It was too early to start hallucinating.

  If only she was still on the main road of Big Cotton Wood Canyon. There’d been a lot of traffic on the snow-packed two-lane road as skiers headed up the mountain. Someone would’ve seen her and stopped. But no, she had to take the turnoff towards her new job, in a cabin as remote as the North Pole.

  As the light faded, the reality of the situation began to sink in. Her heart raced, pumping the warm blood through her body, but fear was a temporary fix to the dipping temperature and intensified her imagination of what waited in the dark. Then she recalled her pack of cutlery knives, also tucked in her bag, a graduation gift from the Culinary Institute of America. They’d slice through frozen chicken like the meat was butter, but were they sharp enough to fend off a predator?

  I can defend myself against a herd of squirrels, she thought as she unsheathed the six-inch serrated blade. If the herd consisted of two sleeping squirrels and a groggy sibling. Practicing her sword-wielding skills, she paused. Do squirrels bite?

  Placing the knife on the seat, she pulled her collar up and sunk into her coat. She knew had two choices: wait and freeze to death, or walk and freeze to death. Neither choice seemed favorable.

  Lexi closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle.

  Thump, thump.

  Lexi screamed as she opened her eyes to something knocking on the glass.

  She wiped away the fog with her hand and saw two piercing blue eyes staring back at her.

  She screamed again, fumbling for the knife.

  The man took a phone from his pocket, then yanked off a glove with his teeth. He tapped the screen and held it up to the window.

  “I’m Lucas Royal. Are you Lexi Evans?” she read.

  Nodding, she unlocked the door and he pulled it open.

  “I was worried that was you,” he said, eyeing her weapon. “How long have you been here?”

  Lexi swallowed as she stared at her new employer. The man was just above average height, with a stocking cap pulled down over his ears. He wore a thick tan coat with jeans tucked into snow boots. Black brows framed his ice-blue eyes while rich lashes swept across his eyelids. Strong cheekbones rose beneath heavy stubble and his lips were a holly-berry red.

  “I … I …” she managed. Her body was frozen, but a fervent heat rose in her belly, melting her words into a mumble. “I …” She pulled her gaze from his face to the windshield covered in snowflakes, composing herself. “Not long. I haven’t been here long,” she said, looking up again.

  “Good.” He smiled. “I wouldn’t have found you in a few more hours.” He looked up into the sky, where the stars were beginning to shine and large flakes fell like confetti. “Not on a night like this. We’ll have a few more feet of snow before morning.”

  Lexi shivered. “I’m glad you found me … Mr. Royal.”

  “Me too, and just call me Lucas.” His gaze wandered over her, sizing her up like she was a lobster about to be boiled and he needed the correct pot. “So you’re my new cook?” he asked, trying to peer around her and into the back seat.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Just me.”

  His weight shifted as he touched his chin. “Never trust a skinny chef. Isn’t that what they say?” He chuckled at himself.

  “Ha, ha,” she said evenly, as she climbed out of the car. The water bottle fell to the ground.

  He leaned over, picked up the bottle. His brows arched as he looked down at her shoes. “You did know you were coming to Utah, right?”

  “Yes.” She crossed her arms, took the water bottle, and tossed it in the seat before she closed the door.

  “In December?”

  “Yes.” She smoothed her hair as the moisture undid her Brazilian Blowout. “And your point is?”

  He stepped back and crossed his arms. “My point is, you’re not exactly dressed for the weather.”

  She exhaled as the steam rose in the air. No one had ever accused her of being inappropriately dressed for any occasion. “I’ll have you know this is an expensive coat and these—” She pointed to her black leggings. “—are wool-lined.”

  “I don�
��t care how much they cost or what they’re made of. Without your head covered or warm, dry feet, you’ll freeze to death out here.”

  “I wasn’t planning on being out here. I assumed I would be in the car until I parked in your drive, and then, assuming you’re a civilized individual, I’d go into your heated house.”

  “All right, all right.” He raised his hands. “Let’s not waste time arguing. Do you know what’s wrong with your car?”

  She shook her head.

  “You checked your fuel before you started up the canyon, right?” He walked to the front of the car.

  “No.” She rolled her eyes. “It didn’t occur to me to fill up the tank before I headed up Mt. Crumpit.”

  Lucas peered around the hood, his dark brows pulled in a Grinch-like scowl. She gave her best Cindy Lou Who impression and batted her eyes, offering him a gift of sarcasm.

  “Okay,” he said, exhaling. A big puff of steam floated into the air. He pulled out his phone. “It’s getting late. We better get out of here.” He pushed the hood down tightly. “We’ll come back for your car tomorrow.”

  As the phone light lit up his face, she tried to ignore the reflected glow in his eyes and how he reminded her of the ghost from boyfriends past that still haunted her at night.

  “Let me grab my purse.” She spun around to open the door.

  Her feet slid on a patch of ice, as if Fate had pulled the world out from beneath her, and she fell into Lucas’s strong arms. He held her tight and she tipped her head back, heat flushing her cheeks as his eyes bore through hers. They were two strangers in the dark, but as a spark ignited her short fuse between reality and fantasy, her mind ran away like the white horse in a fairy tale. Lexi immediately dismissed the childish impulse, but she couldn’t deny the way he made her body melt like a marshmallow in hot chocolate, all ooey and gooey and wonderful.

  She didn’t move and neither did he, until he reached up and touched a lock of her hair that had fallen loose. Time stood still as the snow fell in the silence all around them. Then, somewhere in the distance, there was the soft cry of a night owl, and as the magic drifted into the trees, she recognized the man in front of her as an unfamiliar person; she didn’t know him from Adam.

  Pulling back, she apologized. “Sorry about that.”

  Turning gingerly, she opened the car door and leaned in. Her heart raced and she tried to slow down her breathing.

  What just happened?

  There was nothing professional in her reaction to his touch. He was her boss, for heaven’s sake! She’d be fired before she even started, but she hadn’t acted alone … had she?

  Resolving to make amends, she reached for her bags as she considered what to say. But when she stood up, there nothing apologetic in Lucas’s eyes, and she couldn’t find a sorry bone in her body for the way she felt in his arms.

  In less than an hour, he stirred up emotions that took her six months to bury back in California, painful memories she thought she’d left six feet under the sand. But like a powerful tide, Lucas Royal threatened to wash away the earth and reveal the shattered remains of her broken heart.

  And here she thought she’d come to Utah to stand on solid ground.

  Chapter 2

  Lexi wiggled her toes in the hot air pouring onto the floorboards. Lucas’s truck had a powerful heater, powerful motor, and powerful “new truck” smell. She’d never admit it to him, but he was right. She wouldn’t have lasted long on her own in her Christian Louboutin heels in the snow. Her body may have survived, but she would have lost a toe or two and then where would she be? A chef on crutches wasn’t listed in the job description when she applied. She couldn’t turn back now, not when she’d burned most all her ties to California to a crisp. Not that her family wouldn’t welcome her with open arms, but there would be the cloud of “I told you so” floating over her like the thick smog trapped over her hometown of Berkeley.

  Massive flakes hit the windshield, and as the wipers shoved the white sleet to the side, she imagined her thoughts of home swirling away in the blizzard.

  “Can you even see where we’re going?” Lexi asked as she tugged on her seat belt. Once she was inside of the truck, her body relaxed. She kept her eyes on the interior. When she stared out the window into the white sheet blanketing everything around them, her mind seized up in fear.

  “I can see well enough. Besides, I know these roads like the back of my hand.”

  She bit her lip as she glanced outside and then at the man sitting next to her. He exhibited a confidence few men possessed, drawing her interest. Second and third thoughts about her knee-jerk decision to relocate to the middle of nowhere began to sift through her mind.

  They’d briefly spoken on the phone, but otherwise they’d communicated through email. Her new employer was a successful businessman and he’d only recently ventured into running a home for troubled boys. She’d Googled him, and as she pored over his credentials, she somehow missed the part where he was hotter than her Mexican jalapeno soup. Her forehead beaded up in sweat as spicy thoughts of what he might taste like scorched the tip of her tongue.

  “Lexi?”

  “Yeah?” she asked. Maybe she’d been caught in the cold longer than she thought. Her ability to control her appetite was frozen, trapped in the moment she was in his arms. Besides, she’d never reacted like that to anyone, not even Brian, the man she thought she’d love for the rest of her life. Her jumbled concoction of hot and cold sensations left her feeling like the last time she had pneumonia.

  “I asked you why someone like you would want to take a job like this.”

  Someone like me? Clearing her throat, she straightened up in her seat. “What do you mean?”

  “I just wondered why a chef who graduated top of her class, and who could prepare a five-star meal for the president, would come live in the mountains with a house full of rowdy boys to cook up a batch squirrel stew every night.”

  “I am good at my craft and I enjoy cooking—” His words reverberated through her head. “Wait.” She shook her head. “Did you say squirrel soup?”

  “Yeah.” He followed a curve in the road. “I’ve got growing boys here and they need a hearty meal.” He gave her a half smile. “Besides, part of the experience is that they live off the land. We eat whatever they can hunt, trap, or catch on a hook. Gopher steaks, rattlesnake rolls, and skunk eggs are some of their favorites.” He shifted the truck into a lower gear. “I assume you know how to skin an animal and that kind of stuff?”

  Lexi’s eyes bulged while her gut squirmed like she’d swallowed a bowl of worms. “I … I …” She drew in a breath and grabbed the seat beneath her. “I … I’m not sure I understand. There was nothing mentioned in the interview—”

  Laughter erupted and Lucas shook her knee. “I’m just kidding.” He chuckled again. “You should’ve seen your face.”

  She didn’t know whether to smack him or melt in relief. “Very funny.”

  He winked at her and her anger dissipated into the air of laughter in the cab. She giggled and slugged him in the shoulder. His face tightened.

  Oh crap, I just hit my boss.

  He rubbed his shoulder and laughed. “You’ve got good upper body strength. That’s good to know. You’ll be able to chop your own firewood for the stove.” His voice sobered. “Did I forget to mention we don’t have electricity?”

  Lexi didn’t want to play the fool again. “Yeah, right.”

  But the serious tone of his voice left her full of doubts. How much did she really know about this new job? She assumed modern amenities were part of the package and that she’d be preparing meals in a well-equipped kitchen. After what she read about the money that Lucas Royal had, she didn’t think to ask, but maybe she was wrong.

  The truck slowed and he looked over at her. His blue eyes were nearly black in the dim light. “I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself,” he said as the truck climbed around at a thick patch of oak brush.

  Suddenly a reflection
of light stole her attention, and she followed the glow to the cabin in the distance. Nestled into the quilt of winter sat a house stolen from a winter scene on a Christmas card. Snow gently wrapped around the log beams like a grandmother’s shawl, while a golden hue spilled from the many windows of the three-story home like a Thomas Kinkade painting. Pine trees iced with a snowy frosting wrapped around the lower level, their tips pointing to the second story, draped with wood railing. A third story was trimmed with a smaller deck and the angular roof was topped with a cobblestone chimney puffing out swirls of smoke. The front door, adorned with a pine bough wreath, was visible through the tunnel of snow shoveled into heaping mounds of white on either side. Four-wheelers and snowmobiles were parked to the right under an open shed.

  “No electricity?” she mused.

  “I had to tease you once I found out about your expensive coat and shoes.” He glanced over and grinned. “And you are from Berkeley, so there’s that.”

  Lexi wanted to kick herself for her earlier comments. This was her chance to be her own person, not the daughter of one of the most successful land developers in California. She couldn’t take back her words; that would be like trying to shovel her way down the mountain. Lucas pulled the truck up to a massive garage behind the cabin. He paused as they waited for the garage door to open. Lexi felt the weight of an uncomfortable silence as she wondered just how much Lucas Royal knew about her.

  “I’m surprised you hired me,” she said, breaking the silence.

  “Why’s that?” He eased off the brake and they rolled into the garage.

  “I specialized in vegan cooking. I thought that’s why you gave me the job.”