A Rancher's Christmas (Saddlers Prairie)

by Roth, Ann

  Inside, he added another log to the fire. He helped Gina unload the dishwasher and put away the clean dishes.

  “Now I’m getting really hungry,” she said. “Let’s make turkey and cranberry sandwiches.”

  “We can use the dinner rolls for bread.”

  “You liked those?”

  He nodded and licked his lips. She laughed again, making the day that much more perfect.

  Sitting side by side on the sofa, they dug in, the fire crackling merrily.

  “Do you know why Corinne broke things off with my uncle?” she asked after a while. “She wanted to get married, and he wouldn’t commit. I think that’s so sad. He could’ve had a child—someone besides me to inherit the ranch.”

  She almost sounded regretful. Zach couldn’t help but wonder if she was beginning to have second thoughts about selling the ranch. He wasn’t about to push her by asking. “Some guys just aren’t wired for marriage,” he said.

  “What about you?”

  He shrugged. “I was engaged once.”

  “Really?” she said, clearly surprised. “What happened, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  The man who’d bought the Horton Company from Zach had started dating his ex-fiancée. A year later, they’d married. Gina didn’t need to know about that—she’d only ask questions Zach wasn’t going to answer. “She didn’t like the direction my life was taking and married someone else,” he summarized.

  The sharp look she gave him could’ve cut glass.

  “What?” he said.

  Gina smoothed her napkin. “Was it because you were a ranch foreman?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with what I do, but back then, I didn’t even know what a ranch foreman was.”

  “Where did you work?”

  “It’s not important. Turns out, I like being single.”

  Zach saw that she had more questions. Before she could voice them, he asked one of his own. “What about you, Gina? Are you a commitmentphobe?”

  “Not at all, but I’ve been so busy working that I really haven’t had time to date. I thought things might work out with my last boyfriend, but it turned out that we didn’t have much in common. We didn’t have great chemistry, either.”

  “You and I have chemistry.” Zach took her plate and set it aside. “Lots of it.”

  When he leaned in for a kiss, she didn’t stop him. One kiss wasn’t enough—for either of them. He was already hard and aching, but then, just looking at her aroused him.

  He cupped her soft, full breasts. He brushed his thumbs over her nipples and felt them sharpen, heard her suck in her breath and release it in a sweet, low moan.

  He wanted to hear that again. Wanted her under him, begging for more. He unbuttoned her blouse. She was helping him get rid of it when he heard the landline ring.

  Gina frowned. “Who’d call at ten-thirty on Thanksgiving—and on the landline? Nobody uses that except my family....” Face paling, she shrugged back into her blouse and jumped up. “Oh, God, I hope nothing’s wrong.”

  She hurried to the kitchen, buttoning the blouse on the way. Zach was right behind her.

  Reaching across the counter, she snatched up the phone. “Hello? Uncle Redd—hi. Is everything okay?” She sent Zach a worried look. “You think you’re having a heart attack?”

  Please, not Redd, too.

  “Did you call Dr. Mark?” She listened. “That’s good. I’m relieved that the medics are on their way. You wait for them and don’t move an inch. Zach and I will be right over.”

  By the time she hung up, Zach had his coat on and his keys in hand.

  * * *

  SOME FIVE HOURS later, Gina let out an exhausted yawn and tucked Uncle Redd into his own bed. “I’m awfully glad you only had indigestion. No more overindulging, okay?”

  He gave a sheepish nod. “A fifty-mile round-trip drive to Flagg Memorial hospital in Elk Ridge is no fun, especially late at night. Sorry I bothered you and Zach.”

  She glanced at Zach, standing back out of the way. His eyes were hot and his expression intense, and she knew he was remembering what they’d been doing when her uncle’s call had come in.

  Zach’s mouth on hers, his hands... If not for the interruption, she might have done something she regretted. “That’s okay, Uncle Redd. You get some sleep, all right? Zach and I will be back in the morning to check on you and clean your walkway.”

  “Okay, honey. I still get to come to dinner tomorrow night, right?”

  “Of course, but you’re only allowed a small sliver of pie. Sleep tight.” She kissed his whiskery cheek.

  She and Zach left. “I’m sure relieved he’s okay,” he said as he pulled away from the curb.

  So was Gina. “I’m glad I was here for him. Can you imagine going through all those tests alone? Sophie and Gloria don’t drive in the dark, and I wouldn’t want them to.” She’d phoned her cousins several times, first to tell them what was happening and later with the results of the tests. “I don’t ever want to be away again during a family emergency.”

  “If and when something happens, the only way you can be sure of being here is by moving back to Saddlers Prairie,” Zach said.

  He was right, but she was happy living in Chicago. “You don’t quit, do you?”

  “As the poet said, ‘I have promises to keep.’”

  “I’m not going to live here, but I do intend to visit more often.” She would come back in the spring to check on the ranch—if it hadn’t sold by then—and again next Christmas. Though the thought of celebrating a family Christmas somewhere besides the Lucky A was unbearably sad.

  At almost 4:00 a.m., it was already Friday. Only two more days until she flew back to Chicago. She would miss everyone, including Zach. Especially him.

  Want to or not, she liked him. A lot more than she should.

  She was silently chiding herself for letting him kiss her and more when he pulled up close to the back door and set the brake. With country music softly playing on the radio, he kissed her—a long hot kiss that erased all rational thoughts and left her aching for more.

  He pulled back. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes.

  “Sleep tight, Gina,” he said in a low, throaty voice that stroked her like a caress.

  Her whole body quivered. “You, too,” she managed, doubting that she’d calm down enough to sleep for a long time.

  Chapter Twelve

  Zach’s alarm went off Friday morning, waking him from an erotic dream involving him and Gina and a big, rumpled bed. His body was hard and pulsing, and he groaned—both from fatigue and from waking up to the reality of a double bed with only him in it.

  He wanted to fall back to sleep, but Chet, Pete and Bert were gone over the holiday and this was Curly’s morning to sleep in. Someone had to get up and do the chores. Grumbling, he padded into the bathroom for a shower and shave. After a quick breakfast, he headed for the barn. Snow swirled around him, stinging his face. It was still dark and he couldn’t see the sky, but the air felt wet, heavy and cold. They were in for a big snow.

  To his surprise, Curly was waiting for him in the barn, a steaming mug between his hands. “I didn’t expect to see you up this morning,” he said.

  “Couldn’t sleep. How was your Thanksgiving?”

  Zach thought about all that had happened yesterday—the laughter and the great meal, kissing Gina and more. Redd’s worried call had interrupted them before things went too far, and he was both relieved about that and frustrated. “Good and not so good,” he summarized.

  He explained about the trip to the hospital. “Gina and I didn’t get back until almost four in the morning.”

  “Huh.” Curly gave a knowing nod.

  “Huh, what?”

  “It’s that look on your face. Things between you
and her must be heating up.”

  Not about to share any details, Zach shrugged. “Like I explained before, she’s looking for a different kind of guy. Anyway, she’s leaving Sunday.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The weather people are forecasting a bitch of a storm. We’re talking a mammoth blizzard.”

  Of all the weekends for a storm—and for Bert, Pete and Chet to be away. Zach swore. “We’d best start getting the cattle fed and into the west pasture, where the trees will give them more shelter.”

  Moving the stock took a while. They didn’t finish until after midafternoon. Not long after they’d fed and stabled the horses, the wind picked up and the snowfall grew heavier, until Zach could barely see his own hands. With the cattle sheltered and fed for now and the horses cared for, it was time to head inside.

  “Let’s keep in touch,” Zach said. “Have your walkie-talkie handy in case our cell phones go out. And stay warm.”

  Curly nodded and moved quickly toward his trailer, disappearing in the thick snow.

  Zach turned toward the house. Toward Gina.

  * * *

  NOT LONG AFTER lunch, cupping the landline to her ear, Gina peered out the window and frowned. “Yes, Uncle Redd, it’s coming down hard.” So hard she couldn’t see beyond the back stoop, let alone the barn. She guessed that Zach and Curly were taking care of the cattle—a huge job for only the two of them, made worse by the heavy snow.

  “They’re saying this will be the blizzard of the century,” her uncle said.

  Gina hoped they were wrong. She needed to fly home on Sunday, both to get to the office and to get away from Zach.

  “It goes without saying that your cousins and I won’t be over for dinner,” Uncle Redd went on.

  “I’ll miss you, but I’m glad you’re staying safe at home. Do you have enough to eat?”

  “Plenty. If you need anything, don’t forget that Zach is close by.”

  Forget? The man hadn’t been out of her thoughts since she’d first opened her eyes this morning.

  “Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Well, I better let the dogs out to do their business while they can still get there. Call you later, honey. Or you call me.”

  “Will do. Love you.”

  With no family dinner to look forward to, the rest of Gina’s day loomed heavily ahead. She hoped Zach was still planning to stop by for leftovers.

  At the thought of seeing him tonight, she let out a dreamy sigh. She certainly wouldn’t object to another evening of kissing and more....

  “No,” she firmly told herself. She couldn’t.

  If she were smart, she’d uninvite him to dinner, but that would be rude. She would tell him up front that there would be no kissing or anything else tonight. That made her feel safer.

  If she could just stop thinking about him...

  She needed to keep busy, which wasn’t a problem because she still needed to clean out both of the bathrooms. She decided to start with the smaller one on the main floor.

  Like all the other rooms in the house, the bathroom was cluttered with old magazines. In the linen closet she found enough towels and soap for an army. The packaging on some of the soap looked decades old, and she guessed that years ago, her thrifty Uncle Lucky had bought a case or two on sale—just as he had all those unopened office supplies. Which made her both smile and shake her head.

  She decided to share the supplies with Zach and the other hands. What they didn’t want, she would donate to charity. She was nearly finished, wondering whether Zach was hunkered down in his trailer or outside battling Mother Nature, when she heard a knock at the back door.

  With the weather as bad as it was, it couldn’t be anyone except Zach. Her heart thudding, Gina smoothed her hair, hurried to the kitchen and opened the door.

  The eaves over the stoop provided some shelter, but snow coated Zach’s wool face mask and coat.

  “You look like a yeti,” she teased, beckoning him inside.

  He wiped his boots on the mat. “It’s damn cold.” Instead of moving into the kitchen, he stopped just inside the door. “I should tie a rope between the door and the barn so that I can find my way there later—unless you threw it away.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve been focused mostly on papers and the worthless junk Uncle Lucky saved. Whoever buys the ranch might want it and some of the tools down there. I’ll get the rope.”

  Gina hurried down the wood steps. Moments later, rope in hand, she returned to the kitchen. “When you finish tying it, come back. I’ll make a fresh pot of coffee.”

  He was gone awhile, so long that the coffee finished perking and started to cool. Gina was beginning to worry when he entered the house again, bringing a gust of cold air with him.

  She shivered. “Perfect timing—the coffee’s ready.”

  “Good. I need something hot.”

  Zach met her gaze, and her desire for him flooded back.

  He pulled off his gloves, removed his boots and then shrugged out of his coat. He wore faded jeans and a thick sweater over a plaid flannel shirt.

  Gina glanced out the window. “It’s snowing so hard. How can you even see out there?”

  “That’s why I wanted the rope. I’d guess a good two feet and counting have accumulated so far. With the wind, some drifts are twice that size. And it’s only been a few hours since the storm began. It’s a good thing Curly and I got the cattle moved and fed.”

  She knew that cattle ate and drank a great deal and had to be fed and watered daily. “How will you feed them tomorrow?” she asked as she filled two mugs.

  Cupping his hands around the warm ceramic, Zach carried his coffee to the table and sat down. “We’ll use the plow and tractor to deliver the feed.” He tasted his coffee. “While I was out there, I did some thinking. This house is much closer to the barn than my trailer. Curly’s trailer is close, which is good, but he doesn’t have room for me. For the sake of the cattle, I should bunk here tonight—if that’s okay with you.”

  Zach here, all night? The very thought was unnerving, but he was right about the barn. “With two empty bedrooms upstairs and one down here, there’s plenty of room, so why not?” She sat down across from him. “But no more kissing or anything else.”

  “I’ve been thinking the same thing,” he said, but the heat in his gaze didn’t match his words.

  Her anxiety must’ve shown, for his mouth quirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll behave.”

  Part of her was relieved. At the same time, she also wanted him to ignore her hands-off rule. Feeling as if the devil sat on one shoulder and an angel on the other, she gave a jerky nod.

  “I’ll take the bedroom down here tonight.”

  That they would sleep on different floors felt somehow safer. Gina let out a breath. “Great.”

  “Great,” he repeated. “Have you spoken with Redd today?”

  She nodded. “A little while ago. He’s fine, but with the storm, he won’t be here for dinner tonight. Neither will Sophie and Gloria, and we have so many leftovers. I wish I’d given them each a plate to take home last night, but I assumed they’d be here.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll help you get rid of the extra food.” His eyes twinkling, Zach licked his lips, making her laugh.

  Then she sobered. “It’s a good thing the storm held off until today. Otherwise, Uncle Redd would never have gotten to the hospital and we’d all be worried sick about him.” The thought made her shudder.

  “He’s fine,” Zach said. “That’s what matters.”

  Gina bit her lip. “I worry, though. Both my dad and Uncle Lucky had heart attacks that killed them. Uncle Redd could be next, and I’m not ready to lose him.”

  “Don’t court trouble. If it were me, I’d schedule a physical and get
him checked out.”

  “I’ll nag Uncle Redd about that. Not that he’ll listen to me.”

  “I’ll back you up.”

  They lapsed into comfortable silence, like longtime friends. Or an old married couple.

  Married? Gina frowned. They weren’t even dating. Even if she lived here, they would never go out. They wanted different things.

  She glanced out the window over the sink, where snow was rapidly accumulating on the windowsill. “How long is this storm supposed to last?”

  “Days. The people on the radio are calling this the blizzard of the century.”

  “Well, I’m going to hope for the best,” Gina said, crossing her fingers. “Big winter storms in eastern Montana aren’t exactly rare, and it’s a sure bet that as soon as the snow stops, the transportation people will clear the roads. By Sunday, everything should be fine.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it.”

  She couldn’t be stuck here! She needed to prove herself at work. “This is a really crucial time of year for my clients, Zach. I have to get home.”

  “Fine, but you can’t control Mother Nature. Your boss knows that. He’ll understand.”

  Under normal circumstances, maybe, but with her recent screwups and Kevin already upset, Gina had her doubts. She didn’t even want to think about Evelyn Grant.

  The storm had to stop, and soon. She closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle.

  * * *

  “LOOK WHAT WE did tonight,” Zach said, gesturing at what was left of the turkey and trimmings. “We made a huge dent in the leftovers. Sophie, Gloria and Redd would be proud.”

  He waited for Gina to laugh or at least crack a smile, but the corners of her lips barely lifted. Come to think of it, she hadn’t eaten all that much. She seemed nervous, really uptight.

  Zach looked her straight in the eyes. “I said I wouldn’t make a pass at you tonight, and I won’t.”

  “I know.” The smile she attempted fell short.

  “Well, something sure has you bothered.”

  Resting her chin on her fist, she gave a glum sigh. “I told my boss I’d be in the office Monday morning. I want to be there, need to be there, but I’ll probably be stuck here.”