Christmas in Cowboy Country

by Janet Dailey

  It wasn’t a blizzard, just a pretty good storm, puffy and soft as a down comforter. A few vehicles crawled by, avoiding the parts of the street with swerve marks.

  The teenagers scattered, running and sliding, and were soon gone. So was the cop cruiser.

  Annie got out to look at the back wheels. The problem was the mix of melting snow and the fresh, much colder snow on top of it. She doubted her tires were even touching the surface of the street when they spun. Essentially, the truck was floating.

  Deputy Keene came back, driving even more slowly.

  “Wouldn’t try it,” he called to her. “Do you have somewhere to stay in town?”

  “Of course. Don’t worry about me.” She waved him on as she got back in the cab. There were several options, starting with Nell.

  She called the saloon directly and got no answer. Nell must have closed right after Annie had left. She frowned when she realized that she didn’t have any other number for Nell.

  All right. There was Darla.

  No answer there either. She looked at the screen. An icon indicating a problem with her service popped up. Cell phones didn’t do too well during storms up here. She put the phone in her pocket, wanting to save the battery.

  Annie kept the wipers going, waiting for the deputies to drive back around.

  “Hey,” she called to Keene and his partner. “I can’t get a call out.”

  “Want me to radio the dispatcher and tell her to contact your folks?”

  “Could you? They still have a landline. Works better than a cell in these conditions.” She gave him the information he needed and watched him type it into the laptop attached to the dashboard. The dispatcher replied in seconds.

  “What do you want her to tell them?”

  “That I’m staying with a friend.”

  “Which friend?”

  “They won’t care once they know I’m all right for the night.”

  The officers seemed to assume that she had temporary accommodations all figured out, Annie realized when they drove away again.

  She could knock on a few doors. Someone had to be home.

  The streets were still walkable. Barely. She would have to slog through the snow. Good thing she had on high waterproof boots and a heavy jacket with a hood. Annie switched off the engine and considered her next move.

  It took her a few seconds to realize that a large, gleaming black truck had pulled up next to hers, its powerful engine muffled by the heavy snowfall.

  She rolled down her window and so did Stone.

  “You all right?”

  “I’m stuck,” she admitted. “I can’t get home and my cell phone service conked out. The deputy’s been by a few times. He’s going to have the dispatcher contact my mom and dad, so I don’t have to worry about that. What I need right now is a place to stay for the night.”

  He pulled up ahead of her and double-parked to stay out of the icy slush by the curb, turning on the emergency blinkers. Then he got out and tromped back.

  “You can use my phone.” He handed it over.

  “Thanks. Want to get in?”

  “Okay.” She heard him walking around as she consulted her otherwise useless phone to get her friends’ numbers from her contacts. Stone got in, staying quiet as she tried several.

  Every call went straight to voice mail.

  “Shoot. Guess they don’t have cell service either.” Annie handed back his phone. “How come yours works so well?”

  “Different model,” he said, as if that was enough of an explanation.

  “Oh. Thanks anyway.”

  The deputies pulled up again. “Dispatcher reached your folks. They said to hunker down.” Keene glanced at Stone without concern. “Glad you’re not alone. We gotta get out to the main road.”

  “Not a problem. Thanks for checking on me.” She settled back. “Now what?”

  “You really don’t have any place to stay?”

  “Not yet. I was about to get out and start walking, knock on a few doors.”

  Stone gazed out through the snow-clogged windshield. “Probably not a good idea at this point. Want to call your parents from my phone and tell them you’re with me?”

  “They think I’m going to stay with a friend.”

  “And I don’t fit that definition.”

  “Um, no. Look, let me try Nell again. You’re her tenant—do you have her cell number?”

  “Yes, I do.” He scrolled through his contacts, found the number and tapped it, and gave her the phone again.

  The call rang through. “How about that. She must have the same type of phone you do,” Annie said.

  “Wouldn’t know.”

  The ringing stopped. “Hellooo,” Nell trilled.

  “Hey, it’s Annie. How are you making out? Are you okay?”

  “Never better.”

  Sounded like Nell had been indulging in her favorite peach brandy. Annie wished she could have a shot herself. “That’s great. Ah, I was wondering—with this snow—”

  “It’s fabulous, isn’t it?”

  Annie heard a muffled sound as if Nell was covering the receiver and speaking to someone else.

  “Sorry. I have company.”

  Annie checked the clock in the truck, surprised to see that over an hour had passed since she’d left Nell.

  “We’re going to make hot toddies and get snuggled up.”

  Annie made out a male voice, but not the words.

  “The rum is in the other cabinet, Chester.” Nell spoke to Annie again. “I have to go. See you after the snowstorm.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” Annie ended the call and gave Stone a puzzled look. “I don’t want to be a third wheel. Apparently Nell has company. Someone named Chester. For some reason, I know that name. Just can’t put a face to it.”

  “Good for Nell. Look, we can’t stay out here all night. It sounds like you really have no other place to go. Why don’t you stay with me?”

  “I wouldn’t want to impose,” she said, a faint edge to her voice. She wondered if Bunny—no, Kerry—stayed there sometimes too.

  “It’s not a problem. Leave your truck here,” he instructed. “We’ll take mine.”

  For a few seconds, Annie contemplated telling him that she would rather freeze, but she decided against it. The deputies would come back eventually and she would end up sleeping in a jail cell for the night if she didn’t go with Stone.

  Rowdy burst out the door, did his business, barked at the snow, and ran back in again, going in crazy circles on the rug.

  “He likes the snow,” Stone said.

  “I can see that.”

  He took her jacket from her and hung it over a chair, pushing it near a baseboard heater. She was glad there was backup for the little woodstove in the corner.

  Stone offered her a glass of wine, which she accepted. She wasn’t very hungry after the lasagna, but she nibbled at the snack plate he put together for both of them, perching on a bar stool at the kitchenette counter. They chatted for a while. Not about the dance. It was as if they had never kissed, never held each other.

  And there was that giddy redhead. That was still on her mind. She couldn’t guess what Stone was thinking, though.

  He kept a careful distance from her. Tired as she was, Annie was fine with that. She kept up the neutral small talk, twirling a lock of hair in her fingers as he got through the rest of his household routine in silence, feeding the dog and putting things away.

  She moved to the love seat.

  “Would you like another glass of wine?”

  Annie yawned. She was feeling sleepy. And safe. Being in such a cozy space while a storm raged outside was great.

  “Sure.” She held out her glass and he filled it halfway, bringing over the snack plate and setting it down before turning away. Rowdy sneaked a chunk of cheese off it before either of them could stop him.

  Annie laughed, finishing the glass of wine so that she could rest her head on the back of the love seat. The cabin was blissfully w
arm. Before she knew it she had dozed off.

  Her eyes opened. Rowdy was beside her, flopped on the folds of an afghan that she guessed Stone had thrown over her. Annie focused on the face of a clock across the room. She’d drifted off for no more than half an hour.

  Stone was busy. Putting up a clothesline. Unless she was dreaming it.

  “What are you doing?”

  He made sure it was tight. “Guarding your virtue.”

  “What? I can do that myself,” she said. She watched him throw a blanket over the clothesline.

  “You can take the bed,” he offered. “I have a sleeping bag and a pad for the floor. This is a wall.”

  “Is that really necessary?”

  A smile played at the corners of his sensual mouth. “I don’t have anyone to guard my virtue.”

  Annie reached out and ruffled Rowdy’s black and white fur. “What about your faithful dog?”

  “Not in his job description.” Stone kept on with his task. “This blanket is going up and it’s staying up, just in case you’re suddenly overcome by flaming lust.”

  Annie rolled her eyes, knowing he wasn’t looking at her. He was pulling out the wrinkles in the blanket by dragging it along the clothesline.

  “Just wanted to give you some privacy.”

  She didn’t know what to say. But it was gentlemanly of him to rig something up. Her dad, who would never know that she’d been here, would have appreciated it. Annie wasn’t entirely sure that she did.

  “Okay.” He stood back and looked at the makeshift wall. “You can get ready for bed.”

  “What about you?”

  “I changed while you dozed off.”

  Annie checked him out more closely. So he had. Stone was wearing sweatpants and a long-sleeved T-shirt and thick clean socks. She looked at the puffy white bed. Identical items were laid out on it for her, many sizes too big.

  “Your pajamas. Best I could do under the circumstances.”

  “Thanks.” She couldn’t bring herself to tell him that she usually slept in nothing but her underwear and a tank top. The situation was charged enough as it was.

  He dimmed the light by the bed and went over to his side of the Great Wall of Blanket, getting into the sleeping bag on the floor and turning his back to her.

  Rowdy jumped down from the love seat and investigated, sniffing at his master with the intent concern of a search-and-rescue dog.

  “Scram,” Stone growled.

  Rowdy obeyed the terse command and went back to Annie, wagging his tail.

  Annie bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud and told him to lie down. She settled for the long-sleeved T-shirt and huge socks, and folded up the sweatpants at the bottom of the bed. Then she scrambled under the poufy comforter. She’d definitely gotten the better deal.

  “Sweet dreams,” she said softly.

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Yeah. Same to you,” Stone muttered.

  Annie didn’t remember falling asleep. Daylight poured in the windows, brightening most of the cabin. But the blanket on the clothesline had kept the sun off the bed where she lay, utterly content. The storm had passed.

  Stone was in the kitchen making noise.

  “Are you up?” she called.

  “Obviously.”

  She guessed by the irritable edge in his voice that he hadn’t been comfortable on the floor.

  “I’ll buy you breakfast,” she said coaxingly.

  “No. I mean, there isn’t any coffee or eggs or bread, and we do need to go out, but I’m buying.”

  “If you insist.” She sat up and reached for the folded sweatpants, pulling them on and hanging on to the waistband so they didn’t fall off. Then she came out, pushing the blanket aside.

  Stone hadn’t shaved. His jaw was shadowed with attractive dark stubble and his hair was tousled. He ran a hand through it, not looking at her.

  “Gotta find my boots. Gotta get the snow off the truck. You can shower. Plenty of time.”

  Out he went.

  Annie shrugged, looking at his back as he closed the cabin door behind him. She might as well take him up on that. Two glasses of wine had her feeling just a tiny bit woozy this morning. A hot, pounding spray all over her body would take care of that. But she didn’t want to wash her hair.

  She scrabbled through her jacket pockets for a hairpin, finding a long one that would hold up her mane for a few minutes. When she came out, she dressed quickly and joined Stone outside. He glanced at her, frowning as if she looked different.

  “Nice hairdo,” he said gruffly. He seemed to mean it.

  Annie had forgotten to take down the careless knot. A few damp tendrils of hair still clung to her cheeks. She pulled out the hairpin and let her hair tumble down to keep her neck warm.

  Stone went past her, whistling to the dog to follow, and put Rowdy inside. Annie was already in his truck, enjoying the heat blasting from the sleek dashboard console. He soon joined her.

  “Anyplace in particular you’d like to have breakfast?”

  “Jelly Jam is always good.”

  He nodded and rolled out.

  Main Street was virtually empty of people, although the town snowplow had cleared it. Her red truck was pretty much buried as a result.

  “Looks like they’re open,” she said happily. Stone pulled his vehicle into a cleared spot and they went in.

  He ordered the biggest breakfast on the menu, and finally smiled when a waitress brought over a huge jug of hot coffee. There were more people coming in. The town was waking up later than usual. Stone poured Annie’s coffee first and then filled his own mug.

  “Whew. I need this.”

  “Thanks for last night,” she said, sipping her own. She looked over his shoulder, not really seeing the man who’d just come in.

  But Tyrell Bennett saw her. He stared at Stone and at Annie, until she felt the force of his gaze and set down her cup.

  “What’s the matter?” Stone asked.

  “My dad just walked in.”

  Marshall Stone turned around. But Tyrell had already gone.

  “Annie. It’s not like you’re a teenager. And nothing happened. Just explain, okay? I can’t.”

  She looked out the plate glass window of Jelly Jam, swallowing hard when her father’s pickup roared by. There was a tall blue spruce tied inside the back.

  He didn’t look in her direction.

  Annie sank her head into her hands and closed her eyes. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

  Chapter 19

  “Let’s go,” Stone said. He put several bills on the table to cover the meal and the tip. “I’ll help you dig out the truck.”

  Annie shook her head. “I can do it.”

  Stone got up and put on his jacket. “Suit yourself. But I really don’t think—”

  With the barest nod, she indicated the other customers at tables a little distance away. No one was looking at them, but that didn’t change the fact that Velde was a small town. “I’d rather not get into it here,” she muttered.

  Stone was silent as he escorted her through the doors of Jelly Jam out to the snowy pavement. “How about here?”

  Annie walked ahead, knowing that he would quickly catch up to her. “No,” she said when he did. “Just no.”

  “Mind if I ask if you talked to him about me? Like, after the dance?”

  “Actually, I didn’t.” Annie stopped and turned to face him. “I just told him that I had a good time, not with anyone special.”

  “Oh.”

  “Last night, when the deputy offered to contact my folks, I only told him to say that I was staying with a friend. I never gave a name. So for my dad, seeing me with you first thing in the morning—it just looks bad, that’s all. I have to figure out how to tell him nothing happened.”

  “You sure that’s the way to go?” His dark eyes held her gaze. He wasn’t smiling. At least he didn’t think it was funny.

  “I have to be honest with him,” Annie insisted.
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  “What if he thinks you’re not telling the truth?”

  “Please. Both my parents can read me like a book. Although I would say my mom’s better at it than he is.”

  “That’s unfortunate,” Stone said, scuffing snow with his boot. “Because he already doesn’t like me and I have yet to meet your mom.”

  “Whatever. They know I have my own life. I mean, I did until I broke my leg and had to move home.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “I didn’t date anyone from here, not when I was hobbling around, if that’s what you mean. It’s just that—well, he has to adjust to the fact that I can. When I was working in Vail and Aspen, I never had to deal with guys meeting my dad. But I was never serious about anyone, so it didn’t matter.”

  He studied her for a few seconds, his strong jaw set and his mouth in a firm line. “And now it does. That’s interesting.”

  Annie made a frustrated sound as she whirled away and strode on. Her emphatic steps began to slide on an icy stretch. She struggled for balance, about to slip. Stone caught her by the waist and set her down on a dry patch of sidewalk that someone had shoveled off.

  “Sorry,” he said flatly. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”

  “It’s not like that. I have to talk to him, that’s all. By myself.”

  They walked to her truck without saying anything more.

  Stone looked it over. “Not too bad. I suppose you can do it yourself.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

  She heard the muffled ringing of a cell phone and realized it was his. Stone took it from his pocket, looked at the number, and frowned. He put the phone away.

  “Aren’t you going to answer it?”

  “Some other time,” he said casually. “I’m with you.”

  That remark could be interpreted in more than one way. Annie didn’t want to think about it too much. “You should go.”

  “All right.” He stepped back as they said their good-byes, and she felt a pang of longing, realizing that she had been unconsciously expecting some sort of touch or kiss. Stone’s nod was all he would offer as they parted company. He went down the street, walking as briskly as the slippery sidewalks would allow.