by Caroline Lee
Belle froze in Elf’s arms, while all around her, wordless noises of confusion and alarm replaced the countdown. But in a matter of seconds, Elf’s warm breath against her cheek and his strong arms around her reminded her she was safe, and Belle relaxed.
“Calm down, everyone.” Daddy’s voice cut through the confusion. “It’s just a blown fuse.”
“Of course it is.” Mom sounded relieved, the impatient edge to her voice probably faked. “I knew that engineer couldn’t be trusted to fix anything.”
Remembering that Andrew had been out here two weeks ago when Mom had blown a fuse by microwaving a potato, Belle tried not to grimace for Elf’s friend. Oh well. He wasn’t here, so what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
Mom continued to take charge. “Dear, you see if you can find the circuit board. Matt, do you still have that flashlight on your keychain?”
“Yeah. I’ll see if I can find it in the dark.”
“Good,” Mom said from somewhere over by the door to the kitchen as Matt and Daddy shuffled off towards the back of the house. “I’ll see if I can find some candles. I think I saw some…”
Her voice faded as she left the room, and there was an odd noise from over by the fireplace. At first Belle thought it was Tootles snuffling, but soon realized that it was Faith clearing her throat.
“I’ll just, uh… I’ll go help Mom.”
She bumped into some piece of furniture and muttered something under her breath, and then Belle heard her knock against the wall as she fumbled for the door. Belle pressed her face against Elf’s chest to keep from laughing. Her little sister might be a world-class moguls skier, but she sure could be clumsy.
“What was that about?” Elf’s soft question rumbled through her, since they were clasped so tightly together.
Belle pulled away just enough to giggle. “I think she was embarrassed to be alone with us. Who knows what I might do to you!”
He chuckled silently. “We’re not alone. Tootles is in the corner.”
“Yeah, but he’s been asleep for hours.” They’d been snickering at the little pig’s loud snores since the New Year’s Eve celebration began. “He hardly counts.”
“Well then…” Elf tightened his hold on her, pressing her body against his. “I guess this is as alone as I’m likely to get with you after all, huh?”
“Mmm,” she agreed, smiling despite the fact that he couldn’t see her. “Whatever shall we do?”
“Well, it seems a shame that the countdown got ruined. We missed ringing in the new year.”
“We could do our own countdown.”
“Good idea.”
To Belle’s surprise, Elf reached over his shoulder and snagged her left hand. As he pulled it forward to tuck it between their chests, he caressed the ring on her finger. The sensation sent a jolt of happiness through her. She was engaged! And to Hunk of all people!
They’d spent the day planning for their future. The wedding would be right here at the ranch, in Pastor Kevin’s sweet little church. Her sister and his sisters would be her bridesmaids, and Matt and his brothers-in-law would be his groomsmen. She was going to wear the white sarong her mother wore to marry her father, and they were going to ship in plumeria blooms from Maui for her hair.
But the wedding was still a few months off. More importantly, they’d met with Bernie—Wade Weston’s assistant—to see if there might be a place for Belle here at River’s End Ranch. As Jaclyn had hinted all those days ago, the new childcare facility—the Kids’ Korral—was looking for teachers with degrees in early childhood education, and Bernie gave her all the forms to fill out to have the necessary background check done and CPR certification started.
And because the Korral wasn’t quite ready to be opened, Bernie hired her to do the kids’ ski lessons for the next three months, to tide her over. She was going to start next week, after her family went home to Orofino, and she couldn’t wait. Faith and Matt were excited too, because it meant that they could come back to the ranch to practice on the slopes whenever they wanted.
Throughout this whirlwind of planning, Belle had kept glancing down at the ring on her finger. The stunning, unique ring Elf had made her. It reminded her so much of him—with the coal and embers, the fire and the metal—but it also reminded her of the deep black of cooled lava surrounding an open fissure, the very rock that made her home island.
It was a perfect ring, symbolizing both of them in the most wonderful way.
Elf took a deep breath, and she felt it through her soul. “We were at number three, weren’t we?”
His touch—the way he traced small circles on the back of her hand—was making it hard to concentrate, but Belle made an effort. “Uh. Two, I think?”
“Yeah,” he drawled. “I’ve always liked the way two becomes one.” The way he touched her ring told Belle exactly what he meant. “Say it with me?”
She might’ve nodded, but he couldn’t see it anyhow, so it didn’t matter.
“Three,” he whispered, his breath warm against her lips.
“Two,” she breathed, there in the faint light from the fireplace’s embers.
“One,” they said together, right before their lips met.
Happy New Year indeed.
Keep reading for a sneak peek at another River’s End Ranch book!
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Jaclyn’s Peanut Butter Blossoms
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 stick Crisco Baking Butter flavored All-Vegetable Shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon sugar (set aside)
36 Hershey Kisses
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat on medium speed with electric mixer until well-blended.
Add egg, beating just until blended.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to cream mixture at low speed, mixing just until blended.
Form into 1 inch balls, then roll in sugar you sat aside.
Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until just beginning to brown.
Add Hershey Kiss to cookie once removed from oven. Cool 2 minutes. Place on wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 3 dozen.
SNEAK PEEK
The Redfern family first arrived in Idaho when Ellie met Will. Find out how this unlikely couple found a Happily Ever After with the help of Indy, the remarkable border collie, in
Whitewater Wooing
River’s End Ranch, Book Four
By Caroline Lee
Wow. Idaho was a lot prettier than she’d thought. I mean, Idaho. That’s practically Canada, and to a girl raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Canada might as well be the ice planet Hoth, right? But gosh, the landscapes she’d seen as the small plane had flown northward were gorgeous; all distant snow-capped peaks and rushing streams and stretches of fir trees and bucolic clumps of cattle in the meadows. Surely someplace like this couldn’t actually be real? Ellie felt like she was flying over a movie set.
Frank, the pilot of the little Cessna, had been chatty, and Ellie had been able to ask as many questions as she wanted over her headset. He’d wanted to tell her about the history, but all of Ellie’s questions had been about the landscape; what kind of trees are those? What’s the name of those mountains? What’s the biggest town up here? He hadn’t laughed
at her, but she could hear the smile in his voice as he answered.
It wasn’t until he was setting down on a small airstrip that reality really sank in. She was going to be here an entire month. An entire month stuck way up in the panhandle of Idaho, which might as well be a foreign country to someone used to saltwater swamps and ‘gators. But even the Lowcountry was a long time ago for Ellie; after the last four years in Los Angeles and three years in college up in Philly, she was more used to skyscrapers than mountains.
However, she had to admit that she was looking forward to meeting some real cowboys. Her coworkers back at the Ritz had teased her, talking about how Idaho must surely be overrun with hot guys in jeans and boots. So far, she’d seen some at the airport in Boise that she wouldn’t mind looking at further. And Frank looked and sounded exactly the way she’d always assumed a cowboy would, down to his charming manners.
No, ma’am! She definitely wouldn’t mind a full four weeks of cowboys, even if it did mean being stuck in Idaho.
When the plane’s rotate-y things stopped spinning and Frank opened the little door to help her climb out, Ellie got her first real taste of Idaho. The fresh air was almost heady, full of pine and woodsmoke and scents she couldn’t even begin to recognize. When Frank rolled her bag over to her, she considered asking him, but then her brain momentarily stopped working.
Strolling toward them was a man who looked more at home in Southern California than an Idaho ranch, but she discovered that she didn’t mind one bit. His dirty-blonde hair was a little too shaggy to be stylish, and he wore a pair of dark board shorts, a plain white tee-shirt, and flip-flops. Pretty much the exact opposite of a cowboy, but one she wouldn’t mind looking at for a while, either. Loping along at his side was a beautiful black-and-white collie, which he’d occasionally say something to, judging from his hand gestures.
Maybe she’d been standing there with her mouth open at the surprisingly handsome man, but she quickly snapped back to herself when Frank cleared his throat. “Looks like your welcome committee has arrived, miss.”
Him? He was the one who’d been sent to pick her up? Across the airfield, she saw a dirty pick-up truck, and had to guess that this good-looking not-a-cowboy was a member of the aquatics staff. If so, then she’d been hired to straighten him out, not gawk at him like a horny teenager. So she straightened her shoulders, hefted her carry-on bag a little higher, and got ready to introduce herself when he got close enough.
But he beat her to it. “Hey, Frank!” he called when he was still a distance away. “Who else you got on board? ‘Morning, ma’am, welcome to River’s End Ranch.” He dipped his chin respectfully when he welcomed her, but she could tell that his attention was on the plane behind her.
Thank goodness, because her knees had gone weak. Had she thought him handsome before, just talking to his dog? Well, when he smiled the whole world seemed to center on him. He had blue eyes about four shades lighter than her own, which reminded her of the froth on top of the southern California waves. Suddenly the sun was just a little too bright; surely that explained Ellie’s almost overwhelming need to sit down.
“Howdy, Will. Nope, no one else on board. You expecting someone?”
A brief look of panic crossed that gorgeous face before fading to a look of chagrin. “Yeah, but maybe I got confused about his flight times. Nine p.m., maybe? My phone’s charging in the truck. I can drop him a message.”
Frank shrugged, and just as soon as Ellie could find her voice, she’d ask if she could hitch a ride to the main ranch buildings. “Sorry. I only had the one passenger today.” He waved his clipboard. “Elliot Redfern. Says so right here.”
“Yeah, that’s who I’m waiting on.”
And that’s when Ellie understood, and closed her eyes on a little groan. Thanks a lot, Muz and Dad. It definitely wasn’t the first time she’d been completely embarrassed by the quintessentially Southern habit of giving daughters last names as first names.
Only one thing to do. She readjusted her shoulder bag, took a fortifying breath, and stepped forward. “I’m Elliot Redfern.”
Find out what Ellie really thinks about Idaho in
Whitewater Wooing (River’s End Ranch, Book Four).
ACKNLOWEDGEMENTS
Back in May of 2016 I had the utter pleasure of meeting Kirsten Osbourne, Pamela Kelley, and Cindy Caldwell in Chicago during a conference. Soon after, they invited me to be part of this delightful world they were creating, and introduced me to the wonderful Amelia Adams. I was thrilled to join their team, and have had hours and hours of fun, playing via our imaginations at River’s End Ranch.
Thank you, ladies, for letting me be a part of the magic.
And thank you to Julie and Alyssa, to my beta readers and Cohort members, to our continuity reader Amy, and to CM Wright, my awesome editor.
And to Janet, who loaned me her recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caroline Lee has been reading romance for so long that her fourth-grade teacher used to make her cover her books with paper jackets, but it wasn't until she (mostly) grew up that she realized she could write it too. So she did.
Caroline is living her own little Happily Ever After in NC with her husband, sons, and brand-new daughter, Princess Wiggles. And while she doesn't so much "suffer" from Pittakionophobia as think that all you people who enjoy touching Band-Aids and stickers are the real weirdos, she does adore rodents, and never met a wine she didn't like. Caroline was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2006 and is really quite funny in person. Promise.
You can find her at www.CarolineLeeRomance.com.
