Mistletoe Cowboy: A Cowboy Inspirational Romance

by Lacy Williams

  Everything in him clenched tight. He'd asked her a personal question, and he supposed it were only fair that she do the same. But he didn't like to talk about those days—tried not to think about them, except when he was rehashing his life story in the twelve-step program he worked.

  "Long enough," he said through stiff lips. "Couple weeks by the time the surgeries were through."

  And he'd been bedridden at home for months after that.

  Either she'd picked up on his tension, or her mind had flitted in an entirely different direction, because next she asked, "What's your major? What are you going to do with your degree when you graduate?"

  "I'm undeclared."

  "It's a lot of money to spend on a piece of paper if you're not going to use it."

  He laughed. "I guess it is. Haley—that's my sister-in-law—pushed me to go back to school. I think she was hoping I'll figure something out by the time my four years are up."

  "What do you do when you're not taking classes?"

  What was this, Twenty Questions? Or had she been storing up all this curiosity when they were in class together? He'd been trying so hard to keep his distance, maybe he hadn't noticed.

  "My brother, Maddox, and I have joint ownership of a family farm. He's a high school football coach, so I do the work—grow alfalfa and manage a couple of cows, couple of horses. My brother has custody of our niece, and I try to help out with her when I can, too."

  "So you're really a cowboy, even though you're not on the rodeo circuit anymore?"

  He nodded and then spoke before she had a chance to ask another question. "How many jobs do you have? You're always rushing in to class like you barely have time to breathe."

  And he shouldn't admit to having noticed, but there it was.

  #

  Valri took every opportunity to study Justin's profile, as he had to concentrate on the road.

  She'd noticed the fine lines that had appeared around his mouth and at the corner of his eyes when she'd mentioned his injury and the hospital stay after. And how his eyes had softened when he'd talked about his sister-in-law and his niece.

  But he'd turned a question back on her. "Paying jobs or everything?"

  "Everything."

  She started counting on her fingers. "I work at the Coffee Hut, as you know. I also fill in at my dad's hardware store, volunteer at the free clinic, and help take care of my brothers and sisters. And I'm a student."

  "That's a lot of responsibility."

  She shrugged. She hadn't known any different. She'd been working at her dad's store unofficially since she was twelve—all her siblings did. There was never enough money to go around, and she had big goals. She loved her mother, but she didn't want to end up like her.

  "I'm trying to limit my student loans to actual med school, because I know my study load will be higher then. It makes sense to work now, before that time hits."

  He glanced at her, high brows slightly furrowed. She couldn't read him. Maybe he was trying to figure her out, too.

  The truck lurched and the tired locked, sending them spinning toward the ditch. Her seatbelt snagged her waist. Her heart thudded in her ears.

  Justin calmly corrected their trajectory.

  She didn't want to distract him, didn't want anything to make their journey more difficult.

  "What are you worrying about over there?" he asked.

  "Hmm?"

  "I recognize the signs from sitting next to you all these weeks. You're chewing your lip and you have a little crinkle right here." He pointed to the bridge of his own nose.

  She didn't want to admit that her thoughts had been centered on him. Again.

  "I'm concerned about my car. I can't believe I didn't know the spare was flat."

  She wasn't a car person per se, but she knew how to check the oil.

  "One tire shouldn't set you back too much."

  He said the words casually, but her budget was so tight... She hadn't even thought about the monetary implications. Maybe that was a by-product of being too cold. Not to mention the brain-fuddling that came along with riding in a truck beside Justin.

  The money. She didn't want to think about it now. She'd have to do some juggling in her checkbook to pay for the repair.

  "Where is your farm?" She'd given him basic directions to her parents' house on the outskirts of Redbud Trails earlier. They'd shared a chuckle over the fact that they'd grown up in the same town, but their age difference meant they hadn't been in school together. Funny how that one connection at the Coffee Hut had turned into something more.

  "Opposite side of town from you. Assuming I can get there."

  "Maybe you should stay for a while. Until the snow stops, at least."

  His nose was only inches from the windshield, he was leaning so far forward in an attempt to see through the snow.

  The truck skidded as he turned on the street leading into her neighborhood. "I may have to. The roads are getting worse."

  "Does Redbud Trails even have a snowplow?"

  She felt the hum of his laugh through her shoulder, which was pressed again his upper arm.

  "One, I think."

  The truck crawled along her street. The snow had really drifted here, and his tires spun, searching for traction.

  And then he turned into her drive, and the truck tires refused to grip at all. Her parents owned five acres, and the house was set well back from the street. Lights glowed within, an anchor in the swirling snow and dark.

  "Looks like we're walking from here." He cut the engine.

  "My dad and brother can come back and help you try to get unstuck."

  She roused from her comfortable nest up close to his side, reaching for her backpack. "I'm sorry you had to drive me home. If my tire hadn't been flat, you could've been home by now."

  He had one hand casually over the top of the steering wheel, a pose she'd seen him in often as he drove through the Coffee Hut.

  But his other hand came up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then the meaty part of his thumb rested against her cheek.

  Heat swept through her and up into her cheeks as he stared down into her eyes.

  "I'm not sorry. If your tire had blown out on your way home, you could've been stranded out in the middle of it."

  His eyes flicked down to her mouth, so briefly that she might've imagined it. Because she wanted him to kiss her...?

  Had his head tilted down an infinitesimal amount?

  And then suddenly, he let go and popped his door open, cold swirling in and breaking the spell.

  She grabbed her backpack and shrugged it on, then followed him out of the car. She sank into snow up over her ankles, and she gasped as the cold seeped down into the tops of her tennis shoes.

  "You good?" Justin asked. He slammed the door closed behind her.

  "Yeah. I'll be better when I'm inside." Her teeth were already chattering.

  The wind whipped icy pellets against her cheeks with stinging force until they felt raw. The moisture slithered down the neck of her coat, and she wished again for a scarf.

  She stumbled up the long, gravel drive, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other.

  And then Justin's arm came around her shoulders, steadying her. With his broad shoulders breaking the wind, she was slightly warmer.

  "I sh-should warn you," she said, teeth still chattering.

  "About what?" His voice was warm in her ear, even if his breath wasn't.

  "My two older brothers are married and gone, but there are still eight of us at home."

  She lost her footing, and his tight grip kept her from falling face-first into the snow.

  "That's right. I know you're one of ten. But what's the warning for?"

  "Just…" She half-laughed, the sound whisked away by the howling wind. "They won't leave you alone, from the moment you step inside."

  She thought he chuckled, but she couldn't be sure. "I think I can handle myself."

  At least he couldn't say she hadn't
warned him.

  Chapter Six

  Justin had thought that Valri was exaggerating about her siblings, but when they pushed in through the front door, four little people fell on them immediately.

  He squinted in the bright lights—at least they seemed bright after being out in the elements—as a child of four or five grabbed his hand and hung on, the tyke's weight surprising him. His arm naturally flexed to catch the boy.

  "All right, let them have some room!" exclaimed a boisterous male voice. Justin looked up to see a man who shared Valri's sparkling brown eyes and dark hair coming in from another room—what looked to be the kitchen.

  "My dad," Valri said, disengaging from him, and Justin realized he'd still had her secured under his arm. Snow cascaded off of their coats and onto the floor.

  "John North."

  "Justin Michaels."

  There was a glint of recognition in the other man's eyes as he squeezed Justin's hand in a bone-breaking grip, sending more snow drifting to the floor.

  "Who's Justin?"

  "Do you have a boyfriend?"

  Little voices turned Justin's head down to the four still jostling between him and Valri. Two towheaded boys of approximately eight years old had to be twins, they looked so much alike. A girl with brown hair was in between them and the youngest, who still hung on Justin's arm, regardless of his dad's earlier order.

  "He's a friend. From my Comm 2 class," Valri explained. "My car had a flat, and the spare turned out to be flat too."

  Her dad's forehead wrinkled. He knew the danger of such a situation, that much was obvious. He clapped Justin on the shoulder, hard enough that Justin had to move one of his feet to keep from stumbling. "Thanks for bringing my girl home."

  Justin nodded, not sure what was the right thing to say in a situation like this. He'd never met a girl's parents before. Never had a real relationship, unless you counted one-night stands. And he didn't.

  It wasn't like he and Valri were dating, but being here brought a strange intimacy that disoriented him.

  "Justin's truck got stuck at the end of the drive. Can you and Steven help push him out?"

  "Did I hear my name?" A lanky young man, probably seventeen, wandered in from a second hallway, munching on an apple. He looked more like a basketball player than a football player, and Justin wondered how much help he'd be pushing a truck.

  Steven shook hands with Justin, sizing him up with a glance.

  John shot a worried look at the windows that flanked the door. "It's coming down pretty hard out there."

  Uh, yeah.

  "Truck's stuck pretty good," Justin said.

  There had been a significant dip in the driveway, a place Justin was sure flooded in heavy rains. If he had known it was there, he would've parked on the street, but Valri hadn't warned him. "I'm not sure it's worth it to try and dig out the truck—it's snowing so hard it will fill the tracks right back up." And without chains on his tires, the roads he would need to traverse to get home would be dangerously slick, too. Maddox would have already stabled the horses and there wasn't a lot they could do for the cattle, just hope they huddled up in the three-sided building at the back of the property that would afford them some protection from the wind and snow. He didn't have any reason to put himself in danger by rushing home.

  Or was he making excuses to stick close to Valri?

  "I told Justin he could stay the night here," Valri said quickly.

  Her dad and brother crossed their arms at nearly the same time, affecting such a similar pose that Justin nearly chuckled.

  But her dad nodded. "It's the least we can do as thanks for bringing our girl home."

  And yet, he had the feeling he would be watched all night. Which the old Justin would've hated, but was probably for the best. "Thanks."

  "I've got to balance the month-end reports," John said. "Val, you need anything else?"

  She shook her head, and her dad disappeared down a dimly-lit hallway, presumably to a home office.

  Steven lounged with one shoulder against the nearest doorjamb, crunching loudly into the apple.

  "Mama said we could make hot chocolate and popcorn. Valri, will you help us?" One of the twins scampered off toward the kitchen.

  "C'mon," the boy attached to Justin started pulling in that direction, but Justin hung back, waiting to see where Valri would direct him.

  "I guess I should've introduced everyone," she murmured, stepped closer. "That imp attached to you is Vinny, the twins are James and Eli, and this is Patti." She touched the girl's shoulder, but Patti's face was downturned.

  Shy, Valri mouthed to him.

  "Let me take your coat." She shrugged out of her dripping, ice-encrusted leather jacket.

  He slid off his coat and gave it to her, then toed out of his boots and left them near the pile of shoes that sat to one side of the doorway.

  She left her backpack at the foot of a set of stairs just off the foyer.

  In his stocking feet, he followed her to the kitchen, which was blessedly warm.

  The kitchen had a big butcher-block island with barstools along one side. Out-of-date appliances of avocado green matched the rooster wallpaper. An open package of bread and unscrewed jar of peanut butter had been left beside a jelly-covered butter knife on one counter, alongside a crockpot with the remains of what had probably been their supper baked onto the sides.

  On the island, pieces of a solar-system model lay in disarray. At the back of the kitchen, laundry spilled from another doorway that he guessed led to the combination mudroom-laundry room.

  Two teens, a boy and a girl, sat at a long picnic-style dining table in an adjacent eating area, heads down and poring over textbooks. They looked up when the younger children bustled into the room and their curious gazes landed, and stuck, on Justin.

  "Hey," he said with a tip of his head.

  "Samantha and Sean." Valri nodded in their direction. "A friend from university, Justin."

  She sighed. "I'm sorry it's such a mess."

  He shrugged, but she didn't seem to see him as she turned away. She twirled the bread bag and then tied it off, screwed the lid on the peanut butter and tossed the dirty knife in the sink. She quickly put all the PB&J ingredients away and wiped down the counter.

  One of the twins rifled through a cabinet at her feet, coming up with two microwave bags of popcorn.

  "Let me do that," she said before he'd even stood up, snatching the popcorn out of his hands.

  She sent a wry glance over her shoulder to Justin. "He's fried one microwave," she said.

  "It was awesome!" the other twin exclaimed.

  The girl at the table, Samantha, joined the conversation. "You almost burned the kitchen down." Her gaze was on Justin, not on her brothers.

  The smallest boy, Vinny, had climbed onto one of the barstools and then, as Justin watched, climbed onto the island, kicking several of the solar-system's planets off as he did so.

  "Vinny," Valri warned.

  "My model!" cried one of the twins.

  Justin made a grab for the boy, catching him around the waist.

  "Sorry," Valri muttered as she scrambled after the bouncing planets.

  This was crazy.

  #

  Heat burned Valri's chest and face as she tried to settle her siblings.

  They weren't usually so wild, but she guessed that Justin's presence had heightened the normal chaos—the twins' energy, Vinny's tendency to show off, Patti's shyness.

  She scooped up Mars and returned it to the island, along with Saturn and Earth, lining up the planets neatly. "We'll finish this after the hot chocolate, James." She accompanied the words with a don't argue with me look.

  Her brother nodded meekly, but she would be surprised if he didn't argue when it came time to actually do the work.

  She nodded to Justin, who was still holding Vinny with the boy's feet about eighteen inches off the floor. "You can put him down. Vinny, if you climb again, no hot chocolate for you." She turned to Justin
. "Is it too late for coffee?"

  Justin's head swiveled like a ping pong ball momentarily—maybe she had run on her sentences a bit. His answer was a disbelieving expression and then a shake of his head.

  She winked, scooped some grounds into the basket, and started the coffee machine gurgling and spitting.

  Quickly, she grabbed the full bag of popcorn from the microwave, juggling the steaming bag, and tossed the other one in there to pop.

  The kids were waiting in a line with empty bowls. As soon as she had poured Eli's portion, he grabbed a handful and stuffed it in his mouth, dropping several kernels to the floor.

  "Eli," she warned.

  "Sowwy," he mumbled, his mouth full.

  She sent them to the table and pushed a bowl into Justin's hands, though he hadn't asked for one.

  She put a pot of milk on the stove to heat and started running hot water into the crockpot with dish soap. After she'd dispersed the second bag of popcorn, she poured Justin a mug of coffee. Their fingers touched when she handed it to him, and their eyes caught as well. Something almost tangible crackled in the air between them.

  Until James and Eli cooed, "Oooh."

  She knew she was blushing as she turned back to the kitchen. She scrubbed out the crockpot, listening to the voices behind her.

  "So do you like my sister?" Samantha asked.

  Valri sloshed hot water out of the crockpot and onto her shirt. It burned almost as much as her face.

  "Sure," came Justin's voice, easy and calm. "She's pretty cool. For a girl."

  "No…" said James with a giggle. "Do you like like her? Like a girlfriend?"

  A cry from upstairs had her sighing. The milk on the stove was just right to melt the chocolate. If she went upstairs, it would burn.

  And then Justin was behind her. He touched her lower back, a reassuring brush of his hand. "What can I do?"

  "Do you know how to melt chocolate?" she asked, setting a block of baking chocolate on the counter near the stove.

  "Nope."

  She let a small sigh escape and started to push the pan to the back of the stove. It would be ruined, and she would have to start over.

  But then his hand covered her wrist. "I'll go up and get the baby if you tell me where to find it. Him. Her."