by Liz Isaacson
“Okay,” he said with plenty of sarcasm. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”
“I do, by the way. Want to kiss you every day for the rest of my life.” She beamed at him, and Bishop reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Thank you for completing me,” he said, and when he kissed her this time, it was a real kiss, with plenty of passion and feeling behind it. All of his love and adoration, and everything he hoped their relationship already was and all it could be.
And the best part? She kissed him back the exact same way.
Read on for the first couple of chapters of the next book in the Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers series, THE SECRET OF SANTA, available now.
I hope you enjoyed Bishop and Montana, meeting Aurora and revisiting Oliver Walker (!) and going back to our beloved town of Three Rivers. Reviews are welcome and appreciated. They can be as long or as short as you’d like. Even a star rating is amazing and appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Sneak Peek! The Secret of Santa Chapter One:
Ace Glover ignored the knock on the front door of his house, though he sat in the office only a few paces away. He knew who it was, and he didn’t want to talk to Bishop. Besides his brothers, his cousin was his best friend, but Ace didn’t want to explain anything.
“I’m not going away,” Bishop called through the front door. “I know this thing isn’t locked, and I’m coming in if you don’t come open the door.”
Ace sighed and pressed pause on the video he’d watched four times already. He should’ve known he couldn’t just leave the family party without someone noticing. Truth be told, there were a ton of people at the homestead, and he’d hoped and prayed that maybe, just maybe, he would be overlooked this one time.
“Just another prayer the Lord didn’t answer,” he muttered to himself. Louder, he called, “Come in then,” and Bishop wasted no time entering the house. Three steps later, he appeared in the doorway of the office.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Ace said. “I just don’t want to be there.”
“You missed dinner.”
That was saying something too, as Ace could barely boil water. His brother, whom he lived with, was a good cook, though, and there was always something to eat next door anyway.
Ace swiveled in the office chair he’d spent entirely too much money on. But he needed it for the computer gaming he participated in with Preacher, though they hadn’t played in a couple of weeks now.
He smashed his cowboy hat further onto his head and avoided Bishop’s eye. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Holly Ann didn’t show up.” Bishop entered the office and sat in the chair across from Ace. “Why not?”
“Did you not hear what I just said?” Ace growled. The more time he spent with Cactus, the more he thought the man had the right idea about everything. Live far away from the epicenter of the ranch. Give short, curt answers. Never smile. Eventually, everyone would leave him alone.
The problem was, Ace loved to laugh, and he loved living right at the heart of Shiloh Ridge Ranch. He usually liked talking, and he definitely enjoyed big family meals, movie and game nights, and horseback riding on Sunday afternoons with anyone who wanted to saddle up and go.
“It’s just me,” Bishop said. “You tell me everything.”
“Not everything,” Ace said, though Bishop was ninety-nine percent right. He sighed, his stomach growling loudly.
“Just come eat,” Bishop said. “Or I’ll bring you something.”
He was missing the angel tree decorating too, and Ace loved that family tradition more than any other. “Bring me something,” Ace said, and Bishop got to his feet without hesitation.
“Be right back.” His cousin walked out, and Ace frowned at the laptop in front of him. Part of him wanted to pick it up and hurl it through the front windows. The other part wanted to watch the video again.
He leaned forward and pressed play, the image of his beautiful Holly Ann coming up on the screen. “She’s not yours,” he practically growled as a smile lit her face and she surveyed the crowd he couldn’t see.
She spoke into the microphone about how “delighted” she was to be named this year’s Christmas Festival chairperson, and that she pledged to do her best to make this holiday season the best one Three Rivers had ever seen.
She’d texted him an hour ago, when she should’ve almost been to the ranch. They’d held a family meeting before dinner, and while he was serious about Holly Ann, he didn’t think they were quite to the point where he involved her in the business decisions of the ranch.
Bishop had had his girlfriend there, and of course, Bear and Ranger had their wives. Cactus had not invited his girlfriend, but Ida had her boyfriend there with her.
Ace picked up his phone, which he’d silenced after Holly Ann’s first text, and found at least a dozen more.
Ida had sent the most messages, and that didn’t surprise him one bit. He was close with the twins, and while they were identical, Ida was far more approachable than Etta. She was also worried about him.
I’m okay, he typed out. Bishop is getting me something to eat, and I’m just going to hole up here for a while. I’m really fine. Hang one of the cowboy boots for Daddy for me, okay?
If Ace was a betting man, he’d put ten bucks down that Ida had already hung the boot, and that she’d call within the hour.
Got the boot for you already, her next text said. I’ll call you on the way home, okay?
Ace grinned at the predictability of his sister. His heart expanded too, because he knew she cared about him. Genuinely cared about him.
Just like Bishop did. He walked right into the house, no knocking or doorbell ringing, only a few minutes later, a plate laden with more food than both of them could eat.
“Here you go,” he said, putting the plate in front of Ace. “What’s playing?”
Ace hastened to pause the video again, but Bishop had already come around the desk to see.
“Holly Ann,” he said. “She’s the new chairperson. No wonder she couldn’t come.” He looked at Ace, their eyes meeting for a long moment. A lot was said there, and Ace should’ve known he wouldn’t have to explain. He’d just have to look at Bishop, show him the video, and sigh.
Ace picked up the fork Bishop had brought. “She texted to say she’d been nominated and voted in as this year’s chairperson, and I should go watch the press release.” He looked at the plate of food, noticing the extra tall pile of shredded brisket. Bishop knew him so well.
“So I ducked out to the porch to do that, and there she was, live. Live. Not on her way here. Not pulling in.” He stabbed his fork into a roll and split it open, then stacked meat onto that. “What’s so important in Three Rivers that we need a live press release?” He shook his head and swiped his utensil through the barbecue sauce Ida spent hours perfecting. With that slathered on his meat, he folded his roll over and took a bite of his sandwich.
Ace liked nothing more than smoked meat sandwiches. Fine, maybe Holly Ann. Maybe even Christmas. She loved the holidays as much as he did, and they both volunteered at the town’s six-week Christmas Festival. Ace had been looking forward to it with everything inside him.
“Can I see it?” Bishop asked.
Ace pulled the indicator back to the beginning of the video and hit play. He turned the laptop around, because he’d seen it enough to have some of it memorized already.
“This is Winn Clark with Channel Three in Three Rivers. We’re live outside the City Council chambers, where we’re expecting to hear who the chairperson for this year’s Christmas Festival will be.”
Ace rolled his eyes at the exuberance in the man’s voice. Did he honestly think this was news? Was he seriously so excited about this announcement?
“Here we go,” he said a few seconds later. “It looks like Mayor Hall is going to make the announcement.”
>
Pause, shuffle, mic feedback.
Ace added a fork full of pea salad to his next bite of brisket sandwich, the bright pop of the peas and the addition of mayo to the meat and barbecue sauce was a match made in heaven.
“I’m pleased to announce that long-time volunteer and small-business owner, Holly Ann Broadbent, has been appointed as this year’s Christmas Festival chairperson,” the mayor said, his voice deep and rich and rolling with plenty of Southern accent. “She recently started Three Cakes Catering, which quickly shot to the top of the review charts online, as well as our own Three Rivers Two Cents app.”
“That’s not what it’s called,” Bishop said, which was exactly Ace’s reaction. Ace had yelled some different choice words about how he had been the one to recommend Holly Ann and Three Cakes to literally everyone, in every online forum, on Two Cents itself, and to anyone who even got close to mentioning a party or get-together.
He’d gotten her all that business. He’d put her at the top of those charts, where organic visibility took over after that.
Ace wasn’t an idiot. He’d earned a business degree with an emphasis in marketing, thank you very much. He knew what it took to get a business off the ground, and the power of word-of-mouth should never be overlooked.
He’d been that mouth.
She’d still be baking in her momma’s kitchen without him.
Surprised at his bitterness, he shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth, already looking at the plate for the next thing to soothe his bruised ego. His heart had already been cracked by this woman, and he felt it starting to flake off piece by piece.
“She specializes in desserts, I’ve heard,” the mayor continued, chuckling. “And she comes with the greatest endorsement of all—that of long-time chairperson and founder of the Christmas Festival, Ruth Deerfield. Ruth?”
“This part is stupid,” Ace said. “She drones on and on about the festival, as if we don’t know what it is, and then says Holly Ann is literally the only person she trusts the festival to.”
“So I can skip ahead?”
“Yeah.”
Bishop did that while Ace loaded a ridged potato chip with his mother’s famous frog eye salad. The salty chip only added to the cool salad, which also had a fruity tang to it.
“Oh, she’s on now.” Bishop sat back down. “She looks good, Ace.”
“She always looks good,” Ace said. That was true. Holly Ann knew how to put on the exact right shade of eye shadow to convey a message. She never wore too much lipstick, and her eyelashes always looked a mile long.
Her nearly black hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, and Ace knew exactly what it felt like between his fingers as he kissed her. He shoved another potato chip in his mouth so he wouldn’t grind his teeth together.
She wore professional clothes tonight, almost like she’d known—she’d known—she’d get selected as chairperson. He scoffed but ignored Bishop’s curious look.
“Hello, Three Rivers,” she said, her voice bright. It wasn’t the same one she used when she was alone with Ace. When she wanted him to kiss her, she spoke in a low, throaty tone that made his blood burn like fire. When she was excited to see him, her voice pitched up as she laughed and squealed.
This was such a fake, fake voice, and Ace hated it. He kept his head ducked as he shook it, hating the sound of her presentation voice.
“Who’s ready for an amazing holiday season?” he asked with her, waving his fork as the crowd cheered.
“Wow, you’re really bitter,” Bishop said.
“Yes,” Ace said, deciding to own the feeling. “Read this.” He used his fork to push his phone closer to Bishop.
His cousin picked it up, and it didn’t take long to read Holly Ann’s few texts. The one where she said she’d been appointed as the chairperson.
The one that said she wouldn’t make it for dinner and the angel tree decorating.
The last one where she’d said she was so, so sorry, but she’d be so busy for the next few months, and maybe they should take a break.
“Take a break?” Bishop asked. “Why?”
“Did you read my mind?” Ace asked.
“You didn’t ask her.”
“I don’t need to ask her,” Ace said. “She gave me this exact same excuse when she started Three Cakes. It’s like, she’s…I don’t know. She can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. She can’t have a boyfriend and do anything else, it seems.”
“That’s just ridiculous,” Bishop said.
“You’re telling me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Eat another brisket sandwich,” he said, looking over the lid of the laptop. “What can I do?”
Bishop closed the laptop, and he hadn’t even gotten to the part where she laughed like a hyena about the addition of a children’s bike parade this year. A fake hyena.
“You like this woman, right?”
“Of course I like this woman.” Ace glared at Bishop. “She’s dominated my life for almost a year now. Even when I want to walk away, I can’t. She’s….” He shook his head. For him, Holly Ann was who he wanted. When they were together, she sure did act like he was who she wanted.
She’d said those words right out loud. To his face.
Then she sent texts about “taking a break.”
“You don’t need to explain,” Bishop said quietly. “I understand.” He took a long, deep breath. “Here’s what I think, and it’s going to go against what we always do.”
“Honestly, what I always do isn’t working for me,” Ace said.
“You stop stuffing your face,” Bishop said. “You go brush your teeth real good. Get your hair all fixed up under that cowboy hat. Make sure your clothes are clean.”
“I was going to see her at dinner,” Ace said. “I’m ready.” Maybe he should brush his teeth, though.
“You know where she lives. You know she’s still dealing with press or City Council members. You go wait in her driveway, and when she gets home, there you are. You hold up your phone, and you say, ‘I don’t want to take a break. Life is busy, Holly Ann. Are we going to break-up every time you get a little busy? Heck, I’m busy all the dang time. I work overnight during birthing season. I ride for twenty hours during round-up. I go out at three a.m. to start planting, which takes over a month. I—”
“I get it,” Ace said, holding up his hand so Bishop would stop.
He did, and the two of them looked at one another. Hope started to collect in Ace’s chest, and it pressed against his heart, which banged like a drum.
“I go tell her no, I don’t want to take a break,” Ace mused. “I don’t just let her dictate to me how things are going to be.”
“That’s right,” Bishop said. “You go fight for her. For the two of you. For your relationship." He grinned at Ace. “Women like that. And we—” He gestured between the two of them, and then around the room, likely indicating every man on this ranch. “We never do that. We never just say, ‘no, that won’t work for me.’”
“Ranger did,” Ace said quietly. “When Oakley wanted to date him and other men…he said no. That won’t work for me.” He looked at Bishop, his eyes wide.
“And now she’s his wife.”
“This might work.”
Bishop chuckled and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. The moment sobered, and then he asked, “Why are you still here? Go. Go already!”
Ace got to his feet, his heart racing. He didn’t do things like this. He wasn’t even sure where to start.
“Teeth,” Bishop said. “Just in case there’s any kissing, you don’t need that frog eye breath.”
“Teeth,” Ace said, striding out of the office and taking the steps up to his room.
Bishop followed him, saying, “Then you need to wipe your face. Spray some of that sexy cologne on your collar. Drive down to her house, and wait. That’s it, Ace. You can do that.”
Ace brushed his teeth and washed his face. He
let Bishop spray the cologne, and then he was ready to go.
“Drive, wait, talk to her,” Ace said, his fear diving through him. He really didn’t do things like this.
“You look great,” Bishop said, looking down to Ace’s boots and back to his hat. “Everything is on-point. You’ve got this.”
“Thanks.” Ace drew in a lung full of air and held it. “Okay, well, will you tell Mister and Ward where I am?”
Bishop started to say yes, and then said, “Mister?”
“He lives here,” Ace said.
“No, he doesn’t,” Bishop said. “He lives up in a cabin by my mother.”
Ace shook his head. “He told everyone that, but there aren’t even dishes in that cabin. Or toilet paper. He sleeps in one of the bedrooms in the basement.” Ace started downstairs to the kitchen to get the keys to his truck. “We keep tellin’ him to go get his clothes and just bring it all down here. He doesn’t want anyone to know he lives here.”
“Of course we’re going to know. We’ll see him go in and out.”
“You live right next door and didn’t know.” Ace cocked his eyebrow at Bishop. “He’s been here for months.”
“Huh.”
“He just needs to be left alone,” Ace said. “We all feel like that from time to time.”
“Yes, we do,” Bishop said.
“Okay.” Ace opened the drawer and took out his keys. “Here I go.”
“Good luck,” Bishop called after him, and Ace leaned on his luck all the way to Holly Ann’s.
Her windows were dark, but she had outside lights on. He pulled right into her driveway, leaving only half for her, adjusted the radio so it wasn’t quite so loud, and unbuckled his seatbelt so he could settle in to wait.
He didn’t have to wait long, actually. Only about twenty minutes went by before a pair of headlights carved their way through the darkness and her SUV eased to a stop next to his truck.
“Now or never,” he whispered to himself. He’d steadfastly refused to pray, because he felt like he jinxed himself every time he did. The Lord seemed to think it would be funny to do the exact opposite of what Ace prayed for anyway. He didn’t see the point anymore.