Jingle Bell Cowgirl

by Lacy Williams

  Jingle Bell Cowgirl

  Heart of Oklahoma

  Lacy Williams

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Dear Reader

  Heart of a Cowgirl sneak peek

  Also by Lacy Williams

  1

  It was too cold today.

  Lila Andrews sat in her 1970 Chevelle tapping her fingertips and rolling the lame excuse over in her mind.

  It was cold. Cold enough that she hoped the Chevelle's temperamental engine would start back up.

  She'd sat here with the engine off long enough that her breath puffed out in white clouds in front of her face. She'd always found the familiar scent of long-gone burritos and old leather soothing, but not today. Today, she could almost smell the frozen fields and pungent dried grasses across the fence.

  After the long, warm autumn they'd enjoyed, winter had blasted into the small town of Redbud Trails, Oklahoma, bringing an early December ice storm that had shut down the town and left most people homebound.

  It might not have been the smartest move to drive her classic muscle car so far out of town in these conditions. But then, she had a lifetime of bad decisions behind her.

  The jury was still out on whether returning to her hometown after so many years was another one.

  Looking at the spread laid out before her tightened the coil in her chest. Ever since her bouts of childhood asthma, she'd imagined the tightness inside as a coil ready to spring. And boy, was it coiled tight today.

  From this vantage point, parked on the side of the red dirt road on a hilltop—or what passed for one in this part of western Oklahoma—she could see a good portion of the 1,040 acre property.

  The ice-blue sky arced above dried winter grasses covered in a translucent skin of ice. The pasture was one long wave of land that extended toward the horizon. She couldn't see it from here but knew that beyond a dip in the land lay a small pond. She'd gone fishing there every summer during her childhood.

  A line of trees formed protection for a woodsy canyon that extended from edge of the property inward. And obscured the view of the far-off ranch house and the big barn. Which was a blessing. In the winter, the hands and—most importantly—the foreman would stick close to the house and barn.

  And if Ben Taylor saw her loitering near the family ranch, he'd likely throw her over his shoulder to get her onto the property. At least, that's what he'd threatened several times when he'd approached her in town.

  But back here, there was no one to see her.

  Maybe he wouldn't really haul her bodily onto the property, but every time he'd accosted her—once in the grocery store—she'd felt raw for days.

  He couldn't understand why she didn't run back to what had been her home for the first twelve years of her life.

  Her dad was gone now, and Ben was her only link to the Circle A ranch. Since her dad's death two years ago, Ben had emailed her monthly reports. Long detailed descriptions of what was going on with the property and herd, along with information about maintenance the house had required.

  Those reports hadn't brought back memories the way seeing the Circle A in person did.

  She thought about starting the car. Following the dirt road almost another mile. Turning into the drive her father had had graveled and lined with a black plank fence—barbed wire was too cheap for her dad.

  She couldn't do it.

  She dialed her cell phone instead.

  "What's up, Lila?" her friend Melody answered. "It's too cold to go skydiving. Or hot air ballooning. Or—"

  "Build a snowman?" Lila teased.

  "There's no snow. Only ice."

  "Build an ice-man?"

  Melody giggled. "What's going on?"

  "Just checking on you. You all set for the day?" A part of her hoped Melody would decide to close her Main Street dress shop for the day so they could hang out. Maybe not go skydiving, but Lila was a pro at devising fun. The freelance bookkeeping work that supplemented her income could be put off until later.

  But Melody was opening the store today and Lila's fun would have to wait.

  The coil in her chest eased as instead she started the car and pulled a three-point turn. She would take the long way back to the two-lane state highway, not daring to chance passing Ben's farm truck on her way.

  Maybe coming to Redbud Trails had been a mistake.

  It had been an impulse, like so many of the things she did. Probably a bad one, given that she hadn't planned well and had run out of gas a few miles out of town. If Melody Carter, a resident and now one of Lila's closest friends, hadn't stopped, Lila would have been forced to endure a humiliating hike to town to buy a gallon of gas.

  Melody carried an extra gallon in her trunk, just in case. She must've been a Girl Scout in her childhood. When it was Melody's turn to schedule the weekly girls' night outing, she planned everything down to the last detail.

  Like the night they'd binged on three Jane Austen movies in a row. Melody had timed their between-movie breaks to make sure they stayed on schedule.

  She and Anna Brown, soon-to-be Anna Matthews, were Lila's two best friends.

  She hadn't had friends in a long time. She hadn't let herself get close to anyone.

  Maybe coming home had made her nostalgic, or maybe the constant loneliness, keeping everyone at arms'-length had worn her down.

  If she wasn't going home, then she needed to get out of Redbud Trails. Cut ties.

  First, she had to get through Christmas.

  Somehow the elderly Mrs. Potts, a pillar of the local church since Lila had been a girl, had wrangled her in to being a part of the live nativity the small-town church would hold the three weeknights leading up to Christmas.

  Lila hadn't been able to say no to the older woman when Mrs. Potts had caught her outside church last week.

  She'd lost her touch.

  She could only hope she wouldn't lose any more of herself before she could get out of town.

  She slowed to a crawl before she reached the turn-off for the highway, and not because of ice on the road. He was still there. A neighbor.

  The bay gelding she'd noticed on her last trip out here—and several times before—stood close to the rusty barbed wire fence. Lila could see the definition of his ribs. His mane and tail were matted and unkempt. Lila couldn't see any food in the small fenced pen. Nor was there any shelter for the animal. Had it weathered the ice storm out in the elements?

  Lila blinked at the tears blurring her vision even as she reached for her cell phone.

  She dialed the number by memory.

  The man on the other end answered with a grunt. "What now, Lila?"

  "Eric, he's starving."

  The county sheriff sighed in her ear. "I've made two visits to the owner. He claims the animal is fine."

  The animal. "He's starving," Lila repeated.

  "There's a legal process," the sheriff said.

  She tuned him out. She'd heard it before. He had the power to remove that horse, but his hands were tied.

  It made her so angry.

  She flexed her mittened hands on the steering wheel, knowing there was nothing she could do this very moment but hating that she had to drive away.

  She was powerless.

  2

  Ben Taylor stood in the church vestibule and allowed the diminutive Velma Potts to drape a brown robe from the VBS costume closet over his shoulders.

  It was weird being in the building with everything quiet and dark. He was
used to all the lights on, not just the few in the foyer that Velma had lit. And the familiar smell of coffee and donuts was missing.

  "I'm glad to see you're getting back in the spirit of the holiday, dear."

  He tried to smile, but it felt more like his lips stretched across his teeth. He didn't feel in the spirit. Not at all.

  Did they really expect him to stand outside on the lawn for hours in this getup?

  He would freeze his butt off. Already he fought the urge to rub the scar under his ribs, just thinking about it tightening up in the cold.

  Why had he agreed to this, again?

  Because Velma had told him Lila had agreed. And he was ready to end this Mexican standoff they'd been playing at.

  Although worrying about Lila provided some distraction from his memories of Mia. Christmas had always been Mia's favorite season. She'd decorate the entire house well before Thanksgiving and sing carols from Halloween through December twenty-fifth.

  After her death four years ago, he'd boxed up the decorations and tried to ignore the season passing. Stayed on the ranch.

  Sometimes he still walked in the door after a long day in the barn and expected to see her just around the corner.

  Maybe he should've moved away after her death. Maybe that would've been easier. They'd fallen in love here in Redbud Trails. Made memories that he relived everywhere he went.

  But he'd made Tom Andrews, Lila's father, a promise before the old man had died. To bring Lila home and teach her the ranch. Turn it over to her when she was ready.

  It was a difficult task when she refused to set foot on the property. And when he saw the shadows in her eyes every time he mentioned it.

  He didn't understand why she wouldn't come home. She was the rightful owner of a nice-sized ranch. A profitable one.

  But she hadn't come home even when her parents had died. She cashed the checks he sent to her ever-changing address. Never answered his emails, including the last one that he'd intended to push her buttons. He'd asked if she wanted to sell the place.

  Was she or was she not going to take over the operation?

  He was determined to find out, and if he had to wear this costume and freeze his bum off for a couple of days, so be it.

  Lila came in the door with a rush of cold air, her hair blowing out of her bun and into her eyes.

  She brushed at the fine wisps, her head turning toward him and Velma.

  And when her hair and her hand had cleared her vision, her gaze collided with his.

  "What...?" Her eyes snagged on the robe or his chest—he'd like to think it was his chest—and stuck.

  "Am I doing here?" He finished when it seemed she wouldn't complete her sentence. "Getting fitted, same as you."

  She started backing away, shaking her head, but good ol' Velma was too quick for her. Velma had Lila's elbow in her clutches before Lila'd even realized it. She pushed the shocked woman almost shoulder-to-shoulder with him and draped some tan material around her.

  "I don't think this is a good idea," Lila mumbled.

  He was starting to agree with her as their shoulders brushed and a twang of something lit up his insides. Looking sideways at her, he couldn't help noticing the wind outside had pinked her cheeks. Usually she kept her hair more tamed, pulled back in a severe braid or ponytail, but her bun was slipping, and strands of her dark, almost black hair curled around her face.

  Her dishevelment made her seem more approachable. And he knew she wasn't. She was as cool as this frigid winter.

  It wasn't the first time he'd felt the zing of attraction between them. He really couldn't help it—Lila was slender and tall and exceptionally beautiful. He was six foot himself, and even now her forehead was about even with his chin.

  The perfect height to kiss.

  The thought struck him right between the eyebrows. Painfully, he shook off his distraction.

  "I think we can say this fits," he told Velma as he shrugged out of the costume. He draped it across a nearby high-backed chair then turned and crossed his arms, waiting for Lila to be finished.

  He'd gotten this close to her. It was time to press her for a decision. Time for her to come home.

  * * *

  Lila smelled a setup. Either Ben had been behind Mrs. Potts wrangling her into playing Mary, or he'd watched her get wrangled and then had volunteered.

  She stood numbly as Mrs. Potts draped a robe over her shoulders, then clucked when Lila was apparently too tall for the women's robe.

  "I'll have to alter this one." Mrs. Potts tucked her into a pale blue robe that fell past her ankles but was voluminous up top. The older woman rifled through a small tin of sewing pins and started tucking in and pinning the excess fabric.

  Sure, it was only three nights. And they were really supposed to stand next to each other silently—just present a visual of the nativity as it might've been all those centuries ago and allow whoever stopped by to interpret the beauty of the scene for themselves. They didn't even have to talk.

  But since he'd worked for her dad and was a part of the ranch now, being around Ben made her feel things she'd rather forget about.

  Hence the long hiatus from home.

  She'd stuck her phone in her jeans' pocket before coming inside, and now it buzzed, startling her.

  She jumped, and Mrs. Potts jumped, and as a result, Lila got pricked in the arm with a straight pin.

  "Ow!"

  "Dear, you've got to hold still."

  Yeah, she'd had problems doing that her whole life.

  "I'm really sorry. I need to take this phone call." And find a way to slip out a back door or something. They could find someone else to play Mary. Maybe Melody or Anna, either of whom was more suited to it than she was.

  Mrs. Potts narrowed her eyes, taking the pins she'd been holding between her lips out. "I'm only half-done, dearie. You can't take the costume off yet, or we'll have to start all over."

  "Fine." Her phone stopped buzzing against her leg, but she turned and escaped down the hallway adjacent to the darkened sanctuary and slipped into the first classroom.

  She didn't bother turning on the light. This was one of the kiddie classrooms, and seeing the art stapled to the walls would just bring back more painful memories she didn't need right now.

  It smelled the same as it had fifteen years ago. Like pencil shavings and old linoleum.

  She dug for her phone, and the screen lit up as she lifted it from her pocket.

  Sheriff Eric.

  "Did something change?" she asked. "Are you going to confiscate him?"

  "Hello to you, too," the sheriff all but barked. He was her age, but she would swear he acted like a crotchety grandpa.

  "Are you?"

  He sighed. "I wish I had better news for you about the horse close to your place."

  She bit back a correction that it wasn't really her place.

  "Then what do you want?"

  "You made all kinds of promises trying to get me to rescue that horse. Like that you'd take care of it. Put it somewhere nice and pay vet bills and feed it right."

  "Yes, I did." Even though half of what she'd said had been stretching the truth. She'd been living in a tiny apartment since she returned to Redbud Trails. But surely Anna would give her space in her barn. And she had some money socked away from the penance funds her father had sent her. And a little saved from the freelance bookkeeping jobs she picked up.

  "I need to know if that offer is still good. I've got a mare the county just confiscated in about the same condition as the horse you described, and I need somewhere to put her."

  Was this a ploy to try and get her to forget about the gelding? Because if it was, it wouldn't work.

  But she also couldn't stand the thought of another animal being mistreated so badly.

  "I'll take her," she blurted. She just didn't know where she'd take her.

  He rattled off an address outside of town on the opposite side of where the Circle A was located and then said, "Be there in an hour. Wit
h a horse trailer."

  He hung up, leaving her stunned and panicky. She'd thought he would deliver the horse to her. At least give her some time to get things set up. She didn't have a horse trailer. And where was she going to put the animal?

  Mind whirling, she chewed on her lip.

  Her impulsiveness had gotten her into scrapes before. And just like always, she would find a way to fix things.

  It was what she did.

  She dialed Anna and pressed the phone to her ear. Glanced toward the hallway, where a shadow shifted.

  Velma coming after her? Or Ben?

  Anna's voicemail message kicked on. Great.

  "Hey, Anna! I need to see if you've got an empty stall where I can board a horse for...a little while. Also, can I borrow your horse trailer? Um...and your truck? I know it's a lot to ask but I promise I'll be really careful. And...it's sort of an emergency. Call me back, okay?"

  Her stomach cramped. If she couldn't reach Anna soon, where could she find help?

  Except for Anna and Melody, she'd been careful to avoid entanglements.

  Then she straightened her shoulders. She would find a way. A horse depended on her now.

  * * *

  Ben shifted his boots from where he eavesdropped outside the preschool classroom like a kiddie spying on his parents.

  Lila spoke softly into her phone. Now it sounded like she'd called a rental car place in Weatherford. She questioned someone about whether they rented horse trailers.

  Where was she getting a horse? She had ten at her disposal on the ranch. And an ATV.

  He heard her frustrated sigh before the door that had been half-closed swung open. She almost walked into him, giving him a whiff of spicy-smelling shampoo.

  She wobbled, and he reached out to steady her, but she was quick to shift out of his reach.

  "What are you doing out here?" she demanded. "Spying on me?"

  "Velma sent me after you. She needs to finish up."

  She opened her mouth as if she would argue with him, but then she shook her head slightly and pushed past him.