Christmas at Colts Creek

by Delores Fossen

  “Any idea who that is?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.

  “No.” Lifting her gaze to meet his, she gave the photo back to him. “I have no idea.”

  “You’re sure? Because Margo thought that bracelet looked like one you used to wear.”

  “Well, it’s not my bracelet, and it’s not me.” Now there was a little anger mixed with a smidge of outrage. “I don’t appreciate Margo saying it was, either.”

  “Duly noted,” he said and continued to watch her. “Whoever sent this to Sophia might have been the one who sent you the photo of Layla. Janessa thinks it could be someone stirring up trouble. Maybe because of Abe’s will.”

  “That has nothing to do with me,” she insisted. “Neither does his will. You said you thought the person who sent Layla’s picture did it as a sick prank.”

  Brody nodded. “I still think that. I also believe it might be connected with Sophia. Maybe someone who wants to take a jab at Janessa and me by sending pictures like these to our mothers.”

  She touched her fingers to her mouth. “Are you talking about that young man who came to the ranch? The boyfriend of the girl who’s staying with Janessa?”

  “Ex-boyfriend,” he corrected. “That’s the one.” And now he needed to do something to soothe the worry on her face. “I don’t believe he’d do anything to harm you.”

  “But Rowan—”

  “I don’t think he’d try anything with Rowan, either. But I’ve already talked to him and told him to be on watch. You should be, too.”

  “I will,” she assured him. “In fact, I’ll ask Rowan to go to the party with me.”

  “Where is he?” Brody asked.

  “In town with friends. They’re eating at O’Riley’s, but I can stop by there on the way to the party and pick him up.”

  Brody was about 100 percent sure that Rowan would rather hang with friends than attend a party with his mother, but his kid brother knew the score. Rowan would see that Darcia was worried, and he’d do whatever it took to make her feel safe. Even if he believed there was no reason whatsoever for her safety concerns.

  He kissed his mother’s cheek, said goodbye and went back to his truck. Unlike his mother, he had no plans to change into anything dressy or fancy. He’d put on clean jeans and a shirt and made sure there wasn’t any horse shit on his boots. Oh, and he’d combed his hair with his hand after he’d showered. That was about as good as it was going to get.

  When he got to the ranch house, he found his “escorts” waiting for him in the foyer. Margo had definitely gone the fancy route and was wearing a sapphire blue cocktail dress with matching neck-breaker heels. Sophia had opted for a little black dress. Teagan, a white maternity top and pants. But Janessa had apparently decided to see if his tongue could land on the floor because she had on a body-skimming red dress that made him take notice of her curves.

  Her wicked little smile told him she knew exactly what she’d done.

  And what he had done right back to her.

  She took a breath through her mouth when her gaze skimmed down his body and back up again. That gaze-skimming certainly seemed like multiple carnal invitations. Ones that at best would have to wait. At worst, they might be invitations he should wisely pass up. Of course, nothing about him was feeling wise at the moment.

  A ranch hand brought around one of the SUVs, and after they’d gotten on their coats, they started out of the house toward it. Janessa stayed back, though, keeping pace next to him.

  “My mother said it wasn’t her in the photo,” Brody volunteered since he knew she’d want to know.

  “She was positive?” But she waved that off. “Do you believe she was positive?” Janessa amended.

  Brody jumped straight between a rock and a hard place. No, he wasn’t at all sure he believed Darcia, but it seemed like backstabbing his mother to admit that to Janessa.

  “I don’t know,” he settled for saying.

  She didn’t scowl or sneer over his holding back. Janessa simply nodded. “Sophia wants to have the photo analyzed by one of the computer geeks who works on some of her cases.”

  “Why would your mother care after all this time?” Brody asked.

  Janessa sighed. “Because that’s just the way she is. Someone has taken a jab at her. A jab that’s brought back some bad memories, and she wants to get to the bottom of it. If her computer geeks get an ID, the truth will come out.”

  Yeah, and he’d deal with it if and when it turned out to be his mother. “I just don’t know why she’d lie,” he admitted. “I mean, no one knows exactly when the photo was taken so it could have been done when Abe and she were still together.”

  But the moment he spelled it all out, Brody thought of a reason for a possible lie. If that snuggle and neck kiss caught on camera happened when Abe was married to Sophia, then Darcia might believe a good fibbing was in order rather than confess something like that to her son.

  So, they were back at square one.

  As the women got into the SUV, they all agreed that he should drive and that Teagan should sit up front with him so that she wouldn’t have to climb into the back seat. The girl was nervous, and Brody noticed her glancing at their surroundings as he drove away from the ranch. He silently cursed Riggs for putting her through this, and if Riggs was behind the mystery photos, then Brody would do more than curse. He’d hunt him down and have a little chat with him about being an asshole.

  Since the party guests living in town had likely gone on foot to the party, that left room in the parking lot for the SUV so Teagan didn’t have to walk far to reach the shop.

  Once Upon a Time was a good fit for its name since it was one of the first Victorian homes built in Last Ride, and it’d kept most of its original exterior. Along with taking up a third of the block, it had porches, lattices, towers and even a gargoyle.

  The wide front window featured a Victorian Christmas display, complete with old editions of Charles Dickens’s books. It definitely wasn’t a place that Brody frequented, but he’d been here once or twice with Darcia.

  Millie’s shop assistant, Monte Klein, greeted them at the door, and he was dressed in party mode with his Santa’s helper outfit. He took their coats, stacking them on a table behind him. “The new art display will be unveiled in about a half hour so feel free to follow the signs and mingle.”

  The signs were on easels just inside the entrance. The one to the left said G-rated, For All Ages. The sign with an arrow pointed straight ahead said PG-13. The one on the right said, Adults Only—Prepare to Blush.

  Millie hadn’t limited the holiday decorations to just the display window. Nope. There were lit-up trees tucked in every available space and tiny lights were scattered everywhere. It was a reminder that it was something Abe normally did at Colts Creek. For a man who didn’t seem to care much for others, Abe had definitely enjoyed decking the halls.

  “FYI,” Monte added to Sophia, “Curt Dayton’s already here, and he went that way.” He tipped his head to the PG-13 area. “He might have been influenced by the promise of O’Riley’s sliders and nachos, but he said I was to let you know where he was.”

  Sophia hooked her arm through Teagan’s. “Well, why don’t we go that way, too? A blush won’t look good with the shade of lipstick I’m wearing so we’ll avoid the Adults Only.” She led her in the direction of the PG-13 section, and Curt.

  “A second FYI,” Monte went on, talking to Brody now, “your mom and brother went that way.” He motioned to the G-rated section. “Not sure it was much of a lure for Rowan, but there are Christmas cookies to die for and hot chocolate so it won’t be a total bust for him.”

  The food would surely appeal to his brother, but since Rowan was fifteen, he probably would have preferred the PG-13 area. Or the Prepare to Blush if no one would have objected to him going in there. Brody made a mental note to have another chat with Darcia a
bout treating Rowan like a teenager and not a toddler.

  “Well, I’m going there,” Margo insisted. She apparently wasn’t worried about color-clashing issues because she went straight into the Prepare to Blush.

  “My advice,” Monte whispered to Janessa and him. “Go for the blush. Along with having some yummy party food, Millie’s got a serious stash of sexy antique stuff that she had us put out for this shindig.”

  Brody tried to wrap his mind around that. Millie was as wholesome looking as wholesome got, and she hardly seemed the sexy antique type. Then again, he’d heard some stories about her wild grandmother so maybe this was something that’d been handed down to her.

  Apparently, Janessa was all for the blush because she took hold of Brody’s arm to get him moving in that direction. “I’ve never seen sexy antique stuff,” she said to explain her choice.

  Brody blamed it on his guy genes, but he didn’t have to be convinced to go in any area where sex was involved. Even if it was stupid to go into such areas with Janessa along. Then again, he thought about sex with her even when she wasn’t in a room that would stir up such things.

  They stepped in through the opening created by display shelves. There were more Christmas decorations and lights here, but Brody immediately saw a table with some sheets of paper. The sign sitting on top of the paper said, Take One, and When You Finish, Collect Your Prize. An arrow pointed to some small gold-foil-wrapped gift boxes on the table. Your Prize was on a label lying next to them.

  When Brody complied and took one of the papers, he realized it was a scavenger hunt. They were to look through the fifteen hundred or so square feet of wall-to-wall “stuff” and find the items on the list.

  Not alone, either.

  There were at least a dozen other people, including Margo. Judging from the way she was walking around with her gaze volleying between the paper and the displays, she was already on her own scavenger hunt.

  “The first thing we have to find is a dirty cocktail,” Janessa said, leaning in to read the paper.

  Since Brody had already noticed the small bar in the corner, that’s where they headed. Millie’s other shop assistant, Haylee Rickert, was obviously playing bartender. Or something similar anyway. She was dressed like Santa’s elf but had added some jewelry and a headband that seemed more suited for the 1960s.

  “What will it be?” Haylee asked. “Pink Panty Dropper, Slippery Nipple or a Super Stud of Many Inches beer?” She offered those without so much as a blush or a smirk.

  Brody wasn’t sure he wanted any of them. Or to say them aloud. So when Janessa ordered a beer, he held up two fingers to let Haylee know he wanted one, as well. Haylee retrieved the longneck bottles from an ice-filled barrel, wrapped napkins around them and passed them to Janessa and him.

  “Since this is sort of our first date, sort of,” Janessa emphasized, “I didn’t figure our relationship was at the Slippery Nipple or Panty Dropper stage.” She opened her beer, dropped the cap into an antique bowl on the bar and smiled around the sip she took of the brew.

  “But you’re okay with the Super Stud of Many Inches?” Brody asked before he thought his question all the way through.

  He really should have given it some thought.

  “Walked right into that one, didn’t you?” she said, giving him a playful jab with her elbow.

  But there wasn’t much playfulness in that look in her eyes. There was lust. Oh, yeah. He had no trouble recognizing it, and since looks could lead to kissing, Brody decided it was best to look at the next item of their scavenger hunt.

  “Find and take a picture of a naughty cowboy,” he read aloud. “Well, there’s no way we can get lusty thoughts when searching for that,” he added with more than eight inches of sarcasm.

  Janessa laughed, and mercy, was it good to hear. She’d laughed plenty when they were teenagers, but there hadn’t been much of a reason for it in these three and a half weeks since she’d been here.

  Stepping away from the bar, they headed into the maze of displays, some on tables, others on shelves, easels and even the wall. Obviously, someone had spent a lot of time putting this all together. There were semi-nudes on old postcards, a hand-crank spanking machine, corsets with holes for the nipples to peek out and some weird devices labeled as Self-Pleasurers that looked like kitchen utensils.

  Some of the items had tiny price tags on them, a reminder that this was Millie’s business. A successful one from all he’d heard. But most of the items in this area were labeled as Private Display, Not for Sale. Brody could see why. Last Ride wasn’t exactly a thriving market for Smutty R Us paraphernalia. Not in public anyway. But he was betting Millie would get plenty of takers if a buyer’s identity was guaranteed to remain anonymous.

  “I was in the market for one of these,” Janessa joked when they stopped to study, well, whatever the hell it was.

  It looked like a cross between a spinning wheel, a lady’s black lace glove and a bicycle. The label on this one said “It’s a Victorian Cure for Hysteria. As for how it manages to do that, your guess is as good as ours.”

  “Have you found a Peeing Peeping Tom?” Margo asked when she spotted them. She hurried in their direction. “Or a hand-crank air blower for personal areas?”

  Brody frowned. “Are you making that up?”

  “No,” Margo assured him. “It’s right here.” She tapped her paper. “Have you found them?

  He shook his head. “Haven’t seen either of those things, and they’re not on our list. We’re looking for a naughty cowboy.”

  Margo snickered. “There’s a mirror over there. Go and take a look, and I’m betting you’ll see plenty of naughty.” She fluttered her fingers to her right, and she was still snickering when she hurried off in another direction.

  “Funny,” he grumbled under his breath.

  Brody didn’t especially want to see his own reflection, which was what he thought Margo had meant. However, as Janessa and he got closer to the tall stand-alone mirror, he saw the engraved Texas flag at the top. He also saw the two dozen or so men and women who had been carved into the wood frame. They were naked except for the men’s cowboy hats. While the couples weren’t actually having sex, or even kissing for that matter, there was enough touching, fondling and clothing removal going on to land them in the naughty category.

  “Well, they’re certainly agile,” Janessa remarked. Setting down her beer, she took a photo with her phone. She put the phone back in the purse that she had hooked over her shoulder and then ran her finger over one of the men’s butt cheeks. “But he’s not anywhere near worthy of Super Stud of Many Inches status.”

  Maybe it was the sexually charged vibe in the air, but it felt as if she’d touched his own butt cheek—and that unlike the carved guy, she might actually consider him Super Stud worthy.

  “We only have one more thing on the list,” he said, hoping to get his mind back on the game. Not that he especially wanted to play the game, but it was better than standing there and watching Janessa touch carved naked people. “Get a photo of a hot summer kiss,” Brody read from the paper.

  Of course, there was no mention if it was a statue, birdbath, mirror or a weird spinning wheel cure for hysteria. After Janessa picked up her beer, they started strolling again while they continued to look around. They passed by the table of party food, which did indeed look good, and just a few feet away he spotted what appeared to be a small birdbath.

  “Ah, it’s Margo’s Peeing Peeping Tom,” Janessa said.

  It was the figurine of a peeing man, who was also peeping up the long billowing skirt of a woman on the perch above him. The little card next to it identified it as an Edwardian conversation garden piece. Obviously, someone had thought this was worthy of being made. And preserved.

  They went past a display of feather whips, masks and other pieces that had likely belonged in some early version of a red room. Jan
essa stopped a moment to linger over a display of antique jewelry and memorabilia. There was an etched Cupid on a bracelet, lovebirds on a necklace and tiny dangling heart earrings with pearls inside. An antique brass compass with a turquoise-studded arrow had been positioned to point at the lovebirds.

  It was all interesting enough, but there wasn’t a kiss in sight. When they reached the end of the displays, Brody figured they would either just have to give up or start back through again.

  Then he saw it.

  A framed photograph no bigger than his hand. It was hanging on the wall, surrounded by much larger ones. Ones of provocatively clothed people in various poses. But the couple in the photo were fully clothed. They were standing in the dark beneath a tree and were locked in a heated kiss while fireworks lit up overhead.

  “It’s us,” Janessa blurted out.

  Brody had just brought his beer to his mouth for another sip, but he stopped. Leaned in. And he cursed. Because it sure as hell was them. Crap, what was it doing there on display?

  “Dewayne took it,” she added in a mumble. Janessa pointed to the label beneath the photo that ID’d the photo as Hot Summer Kiss and Dewayne as the photographer. The label also said more of his photos were on display at the new local artists’ exhibit in the shop.

  Great. Brody only hoped the “more” didn’t include Janessa and him. He especially didn’t appreciate Dewayne doing this without so much as mentioning it. Or asking their permission. If Dewayne had said something about it at the holiday gala when he’d given them the other photo, then Brody would have told him no way in hell did he want their picture on display.

  “Might as well finish the game.” Janessa handed him her beer so she could snap a picture of the photo with her phone. “Maybe no one else will see it.” Looking up at him, she smiled a little. “I suppose we should be flattered that Dewayne considered us art quality subjects.”

  There was that. And Dewayne had gotten the title right, too. It was indeed a hot kiss. Hotter than any of the antiques and other pieces they’d seen in this part of the shop. Then again, maybe he felt that way because he remembered that kiss in perfect detail. Hell, he remembered lots of kisses with Janessa.