But it also brought a cascade of memories and the sting of tears.
Ben pressed the reins into her trembling fingers, one hand lingering on her knee. "I'm right here."
Don't leave me.
The things he'd said to her, that had taken guts, especially since she hadn't given him any indication that she returned his feelings.
"I've got one more present for you. It's in the barn."
She'd been too grief-stricken to venture inside this morning, even though she'd wanted to check on the new colt and its mama. But with Ben beside her...
He mounted up, easily settling into the saddle. When he looked at her, he allowed her to see the warmth, affection, and yes, even love shining in his eyes.
They rode at a walk, side by side. Being here with him, allowing herself to feel the grief for Andrea, even her grief over the relationship she'd never had with her father, over the choices she'd made in the wake of her young life falling apart. It felt like, despite all the running, she was finally taking the first step to healing.
Maybe she would seek out a counselor again, talk things out.
In the yard outside the barn, he caught her hips in his hands and swept her off the horse.
Holding her loosely, he bent his head and captured her lips in a searing kiss. Before things could get too involved, he pulled back and brushed another kiss against her forehead. "I love you," he said again.
She wrinkled her nose at him, and he smiled. "Just wanted to remind you."
He followed her into the barn, the horses trailing.
She stopped short just inside the threshold. "What did you do?"
"Something impulsive."
Every stall had been decorated with an evergreen wreath. Every wreath sported a festive red bow.
"You decorated?" she asked.
"You should see my house. It's like Santa vomited all over the place."
Every stall had an occupant.
The sorriest looking horses Lila had ever seen. As Ben unsaddled and cared for the two horses they'd just ridden, her feet took her on a meandering walk up one side of the corridor and down the other.
The horses were under-nourished. Neglected.
"You rescued them?" she asked when Ben returned to the main corridor.
"Bought most of them, just this morning, from owners who didn't want them or couldn't care for them anymore. The sheriff gave me a list of horses that had complaints on them."
"This must be all of the complaints in the whole county."
He shrugged. "I figured I better use every weapon in my arsenal to get you to stay."
"We want you to stay, too."
Melody and Anna stepped through the open barn doors.
"What are you doing here?" Lila protested half-heartedly. "You're supposed to be with your families,"
"Are you kidding?" Anna widened her eyes comically. "The kids were done with presents by seven a.m. And I've got Kelly watching over the turkey."
"You can't leave. Our girls' nights won't be the same without you," Melody said.
"And I think it's Melody's turn to fall in love," Anna said. "She'll probably need our help,"
Melody laughed, a startled sound.
Lila hugged her friends, watching Ben over their shoulders. He stood with arms loose, open and ready to take on the world. For her.
"Did you tell him yet?" Anna whispered.
Lila shook her head.
"Then we'd better get out of here."
"Did you grab her car keys?" Melody asked Anna as they made for the door.
"I've got a wrench in the truck. We can steal her spark plugs."
"Don't touch my car!" she called after them.
Ben moved in close again, his hands coming to span her waist. "So?"
"So..." She tilted her head back to look up into his face. "Maybe I was too hasty when I said I wanted to sell." She tipped her head to one side. "It looks like I have a stable full of mangy, underfed horses that need caring for."
"And once you find them good homes, we can fill the barn up all over again," he offered helpfully. "But no more stealing in the night. Especially in snowstorms."
"Unless you're with me," she countered.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Agreed."
She reached up with one hand and fanned her fingers across his jaw. It was stubbled, like he'd been in too much of a hurry this morning to shave.
"This is the best Christmas gift I've ever gotten," she whispered.
"The horses? Or me?"
She popped up on her tiptoes to brush a kiss across his lips. "Both. Can I stay?"
The last bit of tension bled from his shoulders, and he laid a passionate kiss on her.
"Wait, wait," she said with a laugh, pulling back from the kiss. "I want to tell you I love you, too."
His eyes softened, emotion clogged his voice when he said, "Good."
He hugged her tight this time, his chin resting on top of her head. "It's about time you figured out I was right."
Dear Reader
Thanks for reading the Heart of Oklahoma series. Turn the page for an excerpt from the next book...
* * *
Connect with me online:
lacywilliamsbooks
www.lacywilliams.net
[email protected]
Heart of a Cowgirl sneak peek
"I see they let any old trash in here."
Weston Moore heard the words and knew they were directed at him. He worked at keeping an implacable expression on his face even as his temper simmered. His buddy Maddox's New Years' Eve party wasn't the place to air old business.
He turned to face the man who'd spoken. "Ezra." He stuck out his hand. "It's been a long time."
Not long enough, apparently. Weston's outstretched hand went ignored, and finally he dropped it.
Had Ezra approached just to insult Weston? He'd known the now-high school principal over a decade ago, but since Weston's return to Redbud Trails a few months earlier, they'd managed avoid each other.
Weston met Ezra's stare head on. He was four or five years older than Weston's thirty-three, and obviously, those old family grudges had never been resolved.
"Hey, man."
Maddox Michaels came from the crowded front hallway and clapped Weston's shoulder. He gave Ezra a nod. There was no way Maddox had missed the tension between the two. Maybe that's why he'd come over.
"I heard your season went well," Ezra said to Maddox, who was the junior high's football coach.
"We definitely missed having Jeremy on the roster," Weston returned. "I bet Coach Franks loves having him on the team." Franks was the high school varsity coach. Ezra's son must have been a sophomore if he'd made varsity.
"You guys okay over here?" Maddox looked from one man to the other. "Need a drink or anything?"
Weston was reminded that Maddox was new on the school payroll. Junior high might be in a different building than the high school, but Weston wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his bud's career—if Ezra tried to start something.
"Everything's fine," Weston said.
Ezra drifted away to talk to someone else in the crowded living room. Maddox turned raised eyebrows on Weston, but he only shrugged his friend off with a smile.
You can't go home again.
Weston vaguely remembered some famous book with the title in a long-ago college literature class, and obviously it was true. He felt battered from the exchange with Ezra, but he wouldn't let it show.
He shouldn't have come.
The New Year's Eve party was in full swing, people talking to each other, eating from the spread Maddox's wife Haley had laid out in the kitchen.
Weston didn't belong.
He'd left town a month after high school graduation, and he hadn't looked back.
Until he'd had no choice but to return three months ago, thanks to a frantic phone call from one of his twin sisters.
Maddox had pushed him to come to the party tonight. Knowing he was heading back to the city soo
n, Weston had done his best not to make new ties, but Maddox wouldn't be denied.
They'd always been seated next to each other back in high school, at least when the teachers had used alphabetical seating charts. But they'd been on opposite ends of the social spectrum—Maddox, the beloved football star, and Weston, barely eking out an education.
After Weston's return to town, Maddox had struck up a conversation with him in the church parking lot and then insisted Weston come to his early morning Bible study, which they had every week. Between Maddox and another new friend, Ben Taylor, Weston was surrounded by good men, good friends.
He'd hoped that things could change with folks in town. But if Ezra were any indication, the folks in Redbud Trails had long memories.
And Weston would be better off when he got home to Oklahoma City. It wouldn't be long now. Maybe another two months.
He'd miss his sisters. They were the only ones who could've brought him back here to the town that despised him.
He shook himself out of his funk. So much for enjoying the party. He made a circuit of the room and couldn't help but notice a cute blonde shooting him covert glances from where she stood near the fireplace.
He'd seen her around town. Knew she must have some kind of retail business on Main Street, because she seemed to be there all the time. She'd had as many hairdos as the weeks he'd been here. Purple, red, pink.
Tonight's blond curlicues seemed kind of tame for her. But maybe the flirty red dress beneath a stylishly faded jean jacket was wild enough, because he couldn't keep his gaze from following her around the room.
She was pretty, no doubt. But he wouldn't do more than look. He didn't need a Redbud Trails complication. Especially in light of the way folks around here held grudges.
Besides, he was still licking his wounds after his last relationship detonated over the summer. He'd been looking for the one since...well, it seemed like forever.
The chances that he would meet her in Redbud Trails?
Zilch.
Still, something inside Weston chanted let's have some fun! He couldn't place this gal from his past. She must be a transplant. Which meant she might not know about the things that had chased him out of town.
He could have all the fun he wanted with her.
Yeah, right.
For some reason, the sensible part of him wasn't getting a word in edgewise as fun Weston tracked her progress across the room.
She started in a triangle with two other very attractive women in what seemed like an intense conversation. Didn't stop her from darting quick looks in his direction.
Ben Taylor and a man he didn't know came and claimed the other two, and the blonde bombshell slipped away, circling the room. She stopped to talk to an older couple, animated, showing off her dress. She was closer now.
And those looks were getting more frequent. And of longer duration.
He shouldn't encourage her. If she was grounded in her life here in Redbud Trails, there would be no future with her.
But the stupid part of him sent his feet wheeling into the empty farmhouse kitchen. With the overhead lights off and only a small light above the sink, the room was darker. Too intimate.
He heard the soft click of her boot against the wood grain floor. Closer.
Finally, he turned.
"Hi." She sounded shy for someone bold enough to chase him in here.
"Hey."
She was even more beautiful up close, with startling violet eyes. Could that even be her natural eye color? The end of her nose turned up the slightest bit. And she had a smattering of freckles.
His throat had gone dry. He cleared it. "Great party, huh?"
"Yeah." She looked back over her shoulder where the noise of the party still went on. No one seemed to have noticed them both slip in here.
She wore a blue-green scarf twined around her neck. It had dangly beads that clicked softly when she moved. She was over a foot shorter than his six-two, and slender.
Everything about her interested him, and that was dangerous indeed.
"I'm Weston." He stuck out his hand, and she gave hers. Thank God, not a repeat of earlier.
Her slim, cool hand disappeared entirely in his huge paw, and sparks skittered up his arm and down the back of his neck.
"I know." A mottled pink blush climbed her throat above that scarf and made its way into her cheeks.
His stomach hollowed out. What did that mean? I know.
"I'm Melody Carter."
Melody. It fit her. Her voice was a soft alto that he knew he'd be hearing in his dreams tonight.
"I wondered if you..." She faltered. Must've shored up her courage, because her shoulders straightened beneath that jean jacket. "Would you like to go out sometime? On a...date?"
The last word seemed almost to strangle her.
It was cute.
The women in Oklahoma City would eat her for lunch. She was entirely too sweet. He was used to the urban dating scene, women who weren't afraid to let a guy know what they wanted.
He really wanted to say yes. But she'd hit some kind of warning gong inside him a moment ago, and he hesitated.
Long enough for her to rush on. "I don't know if you're in town for very long, but that's okay, because I'm not looking for anything serious, and I know you must..."
Her words had tumbled over each other until they ground to an awkward halt. Her eyes had gone wide, and he didn't want to know what his expression looked like. Black. Ugly.
I'm not looking for anything serious. I know you aren't either.
Words that cut. Words that took him right back to his senior year in high school. When whispers had followed him around the hallways. When he'd skipped his commencement ceremony because it was too painful.
"I'm not interested." He probably should've attempted some semblance of politeness, but the words emerged harsh.
She took a step back, her eyes huge and locked on his face. She turned and fled.
You can never go home again.
He'd thought after fifteen years that people would be able to forget his reputation, but apparently he'd been wrong.
He couldn't wait to get back to the city where he belonged and forget about Redbud Trails. For the second time.
* * *
Buy now
Also by Lacy Williams
Triple H Brides series (contemporary romance)
Kissing Kelsey
Courting Carrie
Stealing Sarah
Keeping Kayla
Cowboy Fairytales series (contemporary romance)
Once Upon a Cowboy
Cowboy Charming
The Toad Prince
The Beastly Princess
The Lost Princess
Heart of Oklahoma series (contemporary romance)
Kissed by a Cowboy
Love Letters from Cowboy
Mistletoe Cowboy
Cowgirl for Keeps
Jingle Bell Cowgirl
Heart of a Cowgirl
3 Days with a Cowboy
Prodigal Cowgirl
Wyoming Legacy series (historical romance)
The Homesteader’s Sweetheart
Courted by a Cowboy
Roping the Wrangler
Return of the Cowboy Doctor
The Wrangler’s Inconvenient Wife
A Cowboy for Christmas
Her Convenient Cowboy
Her Cowboy Deputy
Not in a Series
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Dates
Santa Next Door
The Butterfly Bride
Secondhand Cowboy
Wagon Train Sweetheart (historical romance)
Marrying Miss Marshal (historical romance)
Counterfeit Cowboy (historical romance)
Copyright © 2015 by Lacy Williams
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permi
ssion from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Jingle Bell Cowgirl Page 8
