Christmas at Colts Creek

by Delores Fossen

  “You okay?” Kyle asked. “I hear rustling.”

  “Christmas wrapping paper,” she supplied, tearing off another swatch to reveal, well, a doll. One that was about three feet high, and it looked a lot like her when she’d been six—which was how old she’d been when Abe had gotten this particular gift.

  “It’s December twenty-eighth,” Kyle pointed out.

  “Yes, but I’m still going through the old gifts I found from Abe. I need to get them all opened so I can either give them away or burn them.”

  Though Janessa wasn’t sure she could do either. That would seem ungrateful. And she wasn’t. So far, everything she’d unwrapped had taken plenty of thought and money, and it didn’t seem right just to get rid of them. Which meant they’d likely end up in yet another storage room.

  “Three days after Christmas,” Kyle repeated. “As it’s only five more weeks until the end of January.”

  She knew that was a prompt for her to spill her feelings about there being only one month left on Abe’s wonky will conditions. She’d been here two months, and while time hadn’t exactly flown, it had gone by pretty fast. She suddenly wished she could dig her fingernails into time and slow it down a bit. Because then she could spend those slowed moments with Brody and the baby. After all, Sweet Pea wouldn’t be here much longer, either.

  Well, probably wouldn’t.

  Char was still on bed rest, still on the fence about the adoption, and Janessa had decided not to try to fix that particular situation. She’d leave it to Char and Teagan to work out, or rather to continue to work it out since they’d already spoken about it several times on the phone. But each day Sweet Pea was around, Sophia and Margo were growing more and more attached.

  “Are you coming home at the end of next month?” Kyle came out and asked when she didn’t say anything.

  “That’s the plan,” she settled for saying. “Sophia says she’ll tie up any legal loose ends for me with Abe’s estate.”

  “Because she’s not coming home,” Kyle concluded.

  “To be determined. She’s buying Brody’s house and land and says it’s just a vacation home, but she’s pretty cozy with the lawyer.” Janessa suspected the vacation home would be a nookie nest where Sophia hooked up with Curt anytime she was in Last Ride, which could be often if the youth house actually became a reality.

  When she heard the movement in the doorway, she looked up and saw exactly whom she wanted to see.

  Brody.

  “Gotta go,” she told Kyle, and she ended the call.

  Brody had been way too busy the last couple of days with Rowan and the new ranch, and she hadn’t seen nearly enough of him. Since she wasn’t on baby duty, she’d planned on letting him see plenty of her by showing up at his house, stripping off her clothes and greeting him butt naked.

  And had then planned on getting him equally butt naked.

  “You’re having dirty thoughts about me,” he said. “I can tell.” He went to her, hauled her up off the floor and kissed her. All in all, it was the best form of hello, and she wished she could bottle it.

  He was smiling when he pulled back from the kiss. “You’re in a good mood,” she remarked.

  “I am. Just checked on the baby, and she was sleeping, well, like a baby. All’s going well with the new place. And last but certainly not least, Rowan’s still a little shaky, but he’s back with Mom.”

  That was indeed a reason for a good mood since Rowan had been staying in the ranch bunkhouse. Brody had offered Rowan his guest room, but the boy had apparently wanted some space from family. That apparently included Janessa, though Brody doubted Rowan had completely come to terms with the fact that she was his half-sister. He would though. Eventually, it would all sink in.

  Brody glanced around the room, his attention settling on the doll she’d just unwrapped. “I guess that’s supposed to be a replica of you.”

  “Yep. Me, minus the plastic skin, glassy eyes and vacant stare.”

  “Damn, I don’t know if that’s creepy or creative.”

  “It’s both. It’ll go someplace where it won’t scare small children.” She pointed to another recently unwrapped gift, this one for her tenth Christmas. “That, on the other hand, isn’t creepy.”

  It was an oil painting of the ranch, not the way it looked now, but the earlier days. Abe had included a clipping on a newspaper article and photo that the artist had used to recreate it.

  “I want to hang it somewhere in the house,” she explained as he went closer to examine it. “Maybe in Abe’s office to replace that horrible portrait of him.”

  “I think that’s supposed to be Abe.” Brody pointed to one of the barns in the painting.

  Janessa went closer, too. She hadn’t seen it earlier, but she certainly saw it now. The little blond-haired boy in the doorway of the open barn. She reexamined the newspaper photo, and Abe was indeed ID’d as the child.

  She did the math and realized the photo would have been taken when he was about ten, right around the time his mother had deserted him. In the painting, he was all smiles, but in the photo, he looked lost and sad. It broke her heart a little to know that he likely had been and that he’d tried to erase some of the loss and sadness by making the boy happy in the painting.

  “I just can’t reconcile the mean-spirited man with the father who’d have something like that painted for me,” she said. “In some ways, it feels as if Abe was bragging, but in other ways, I think he was trying to make me a part of what he’d built.”

  Brody turned from the painting and back to her. “You are a part of it. That’s why Abe left the ranch to you.”

  “Maybe. But since he knew about Rowan, he should have left something to him and to you. I suspect, though, that he knew I’d make it right. I’m trying very hard to make it right,” she added in a mumble.

  She cursed the tears she had to blink back. This wasn’t a boo-hooing moment. She had nothing to boo-hoo about, and she sure as heck wasn’t going to become another poor little rich kid like Abe.

  “You’ll make it right,” he insisted, and there was absolute confidence in that. “You’ve probably already started.”

  She shrugged, but she was pleased with the plan she was coming up with. A plan with holes, yes, but she had started one, and she wanted to bounce some of her ideas off Brody so he could start helping her plug those holes.

  “Along with Velma Sue, there are two full-time housekeepers, one part-time and a part-time cook,” Janessa explained. “Abe hasn’t given them raises in years, and they don’t have retirement packages. I’ll fix that.”

  He gave a nod of approval. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.”

  “Abe’s businesses make a lot of money,” she went on, “and if this house is turned into a youth home, some of that money from those businesses can be funneled into the daily operation instead of stockpiling it the way Abe did. I’ll also set up salary packages for Margo and anyone else who ends up running the house.”

  Another nod of approval. “You’ll put the money to good use.”

  She’d certainly try. “That leaves you.” Janessa looked him straight in the eyes, and in that moment, she got clarity that had been floating away before she could latch on to it. Well, she latched on now. “I can’t replace you, Brody.”

  He nodded as if it were only part of the plan and changes she’d just been doling out to him. “I told you I’d help you find another ranch manager—”

  “It’s not just about the ranch, though I will need a manager. It’s about other things.” Things that she had been mulling around, but clarity had fixed that little red wagon. “I’ll give you a whole bunch of horses from Colts Creek in exchange for sex.”

  “Really?” He didn’t sound at all serious.

  “Well, I want the sex whether or not you take the horses. I was looking over the paperwork for the ranch, and it look
s as if we’re due to clear out some stock soon. I want you to take those horses.”

  His really remark amusement faded, and she knew he was taking it seriously now.

  “Think about it,” she added when he just kept staring at her.

  He finally nodded after some snail-crawling moments. “I’ll think about it.”

  Which was Brody-speak for “no way in hell will I take that from you. It’d be like charity,” yada yada. Maybe she could put bows or gift-wrap on them so it felt less charity-like and more like a gift. Which it was.

  “When you look out the window of your new house and see the horses in the pasture, I want you to think of me,” she added. “Yes, that’s selfish, but I think the horses would be a better keepsake than a doll or a painting.”

  He continued to stare at her, and she could tell she’d totally cooled down the heat from their earlier kisses. She’d have to work on building it back up.

  “One more thing,” she went on. Best to get all the business finished first. “I was also thinking about offering the ranch itself to Rowan when he turns eighteen. He could still hire a ranch manager until he’s ready to take over. If he wants to take over, that is,” she amended. “I don’t want it to be a burden, but it should be his birthright.”

  “You’ve given this a lot of thought,” Brody said after several moments.

  Well, he hadn’t objected or said it was a totally stupid idea, so that was something at least. “I’m a fixer,” she settled for saying. And now it was time to start fixing this moment and making it more about them than the situation Abe had left behind.

  “Let’s play a sex game.” Janessa hurried across the room to lock the door.

  The corner of his mouth lifted. “Let me guess. A game that will lead to, well, sex?”

  Janessa matched his naughty smile, went back to him and touched her tongue to his lips. “You got it. But maybe we can make it more interesting by spelling things out in a smutty kind of way.” While his hot gaze stayed on her, she trailed her fingers down the front of his shirt. “Something like feel my mouth here.” She circled his left nipple. “And here.” She slid her hand lower to his stomach. “Then here.” She pressed her palm to the front of his jeans.

  His gaze heated up even more, and Janessa expected him to start touching her. And he did. Sort of. “Feel my mouth here,” he mimicked. But it wasn’t only his hand he put on her.

  In one quick motion, she was in his arms, and his mouth was on hers. He stole her breath along with pretty much the rest of her. He pressed hard, shaping her lips with his, making their bodies fit in a way that was already well past the foreplay stage. Brody simply kissed and took. It was as simple and as complex as that.

  And Janessa welcomed it.

  She was lost. Willingly lost and wasn’t sure she ever wanted to find her way back again.

  Apparently, Brody was ready to be lost, too, because with the kiss still raging, he pulled her to the floor onto the heap of Christmas wrapping paper that crackled, crumpled and shifted beneath them. Not exactly the most comfortable of beds, but they were past the point of comfort. They were already in that desperate I-have-to-have-you-now zone.

  It wasn’t words that undressed her. It was Brody’s hands. Janessa didn’t mind one bit because he continued to use his mouth for kissing. Her mouth and then, as he peeled off her jeans and top, he went after the very spots on her that she’d touched on him when she’d been trying to do the sexy talk. Her nipple, her stomach and the front of her panties. She wasn’t sure how he managed to get that much of his breath through the fabric, but he did. It was like getting an incredible preview to what would no doubt be kisses to remember.

  Janessa liked kisses in that particular area, but there was times, and this was one of them, when she wanted their bodies pressed together. With his weight on her. She wanted him inside her and let him know that by latching on to him and pulling him back up so she could take his mouth.

  And his belt and zipper.

  She shoved his jeans and boxers down his hips while Brody got out the condom from his wallet. Later, she’d thank him for replenishing his supply, but for now she just lifted her hips and took him inside her the moment he had the condom in place.

  The slam of pleasure came. That desperate ache to take more, more, more. Thankfully, Brody didn’t have any trouble with her taking, and he let her set the pace. The rhythm.

  The blood rushed to her head. And other parts of her. She could feel her pulse, thick and throbbing, which was also what those other parts of her were doing while he pushed into her.

  She could feel the edge of the climax and tried to hang on. Tried to harness this delicious, desperate need so she could savor it a little longer. She managed it for a few incredible seconds before her body said to heck with this, and the orgasm avalanched through her. Brody wasn’t far behind.

  Janessa buried her face against his neck and just held on to him. Her body was floating, and she was getting those cheap thrill aftershocks of the climax. But the best part was having his weight on her while they were still puzzled around each other. Evidently, Christmas wrapping paper made a good bed after all.

  After he’d returned to planet earth, Brody did a quick stop in the hall bathroom, but he came right back to her. He located her mouth and kissed her. Then he looked down at her. Not with post-orgasmic hazy eyes but as if he were studying her.

  “I know this isn’t something you want to hear,” he said, “but I’m falling in love with you.”

  Well, that finished off her hazy eyes and mind. Janessa mentally snapped to attention. “Uh, what?”

  “I’m falling in love with you,” he repeated. He didn’t choke on the words. Didn’t wince. Didn’t fumble around and say it was mindless sex talk. “I know it doesn’t fix anything, but it’s how I feel.”

  No, it definitely didn’t fix stuff. It complicated an already complicated situation. All the plans and fixes she was making were so that the ranch, the house and Abe’s other businesses could operate with her being in Dallas. All the plans Brody was making with his new ranch would require him to be here.

  Janessa was trying to figure out how to remind him of that when she heard Velma Sue’s shout.

  “Brody, Janessa,” the woman called out. “Come quick. That boy, Riggs, is here, and he’s trying to get the baby.”

  * * *

  BRODY LEAPED UP, thankful that he’d already zipped up his jeans, and he didn’t wait for Janessa. He had a gun in his office up the hall, but he didn’t use up what might be precious seconds going to get it. Instead, he ran toward the sound of Velma Sue’s shout.

  A dozen things went through his head, none good, but he pushed possibilities aside and hurried to stop Riggs. No way was he going to let that hothead SOB get anywhere near the baby.

  There was another shout. Not from Velma Sue this time. It was Riggs. “Bring our baby out here now!”

  A dozen hells would freeze over before that happened. Brody ran to the foyer where he found Velma Sue peering out the side window of the closed front door.

  “He’s out there,” Velma Sue said, pointing to the yard.

  He eased the woman aside to have a look, and he spotted Riggs all right. He was at the bottom of the porch, and he wasn’t alone. Shit.

  Teagan was with him.

  One glance at the girl’s face and he knew she hadn’t come willingly. She was terrified. Added to that, Riggs was behind her, his arm around her neck in a choke hold.

  Teagan’s hands were tied in front of her with a bright yellow bungee cord. She wasn’t struggling, probably because Riggs would tighten his grip on her throat if she did, and there were tears spilling down her cheeks. Brody intended to make this asswipe pay for every single one of those tears.

  “Where is he?” Janessa called out, and Brody heard her running footsteps. “Oh, God,” she said when she had her own look out the win
dow.

  Brody glanced at her, then at the top of the stairs where he saw Margo clutching the baby against her. Good. That ruled out one of his worst-case scenarios, that Riggs had already managed to get the baby.

  “I’ve already called the cops,” Margo said, her voice as shaky as the rest of her. In contrast, though, the baby was quiet, maybe even still sleeping which qualified as another good.

  “Margo, take Sweet Pea to the nursery,” Brody instructed. He hadn’t seen a weapon on Riggs, but in case the idiot had one, he didn’t want the baby to be anywhere near this. “Stay back,” he added to Janessa and Velma Sue.

  And he opened the door.

  The cold blast of air hit him, and he stepped out onto the porch that had some patches of ice. There was some leftover Christmas snow still on the ground, too. Only thin patches of it since it hadn’t snowed a lot, but it was enough to make his footing unsteady.

  Of course, Janessa didn’t stay back. Neither did Velma Sue. With an umbrella aimed like a sword, Janessa came out, and Velma Sue was “armed” with her sturdy thick-soled shoe. Not her own since she was wearing hers, but neither Janessa nor Velma Sue were wearing coats.

  “You can’t do this,” Janessa insisted.

  Riggs kept his attention on Brody, no doubt because the idiot wisely considered him the bigger threat. He was, and Brody gave him a stare straight from those twelve hells that he’d just imagined.

  Brody had felt this kind of fear before. When he’d seen his sister crash into that tree. But he’d been just a kid then. Now, he used that anger to pinpoint everything inside him so he could deal with this piece of shit.

  “You’ve got one chance,” Brody warned Riggs. Several of the ranch hands ran toward the house, but Brody motioned them back as he stepped closer to Riggs. “Let go of Teagan, or you’ll be yelling in pain.”

  Riggs tried to sneer. Hard to do that, though, with all his jaw muscles locked up in anger. Anger that was in his fiery eyes. “Me and Teagan are a family. Give us our baby now so we can get out of here.”

  Brody didn’t bother repeating his threat or clarifying. He didn’t intend to wait for the cops, either. Or for Janessa and Velma Sue to do whatever it was they were planning on doing. Without taking his eyes off Riggs, Brody snatched the shoe from Velma Sue and bashed it against Riggs’s head.