The Cowboy's Christmas Bride

by Patricia Johns

  Dakota had decided early that morning to ride as far from Andy as possible. But the closer they got to the mountains, the rockier and more narrow their path became and they were all forced into closer proximity.

  “I can hear the river,” Harley said, pulling his horse next to hers as they plodded along.

  Dakota could hear the rush of water, too, so much deeper and intense than the trickle of creeks. It was still distant, but they’d be there soon, and on the other side would be the cattle.

  “The real work starts today,” she said, shooting Harley a smile. “You ready?”

  “Always.”

  She was looking forward to this—the actual rounding up of the cattle. This was where they had less time for talk and their attention would be monopolized by keeping the cattle together and moving in the right direction. From today on out, she’d no longer be “the girl” on the drive, but another hand on a very big job.

  Andy rode ahead of the team and for the next few minutes she could feel the anticipation growing with the men around her. This was what they’d signed on for.

  “So what’s your story with him?” Harley asked, nodding in Andy’s direction.

  “There isn’t one,” she replied.

  “You sat up with him last night.”

  Irritation replaced her previous good humor. She wasn’t about to have her reputation bandied about in the Hope gossip mill, and the fact that she’d had a conversation with Andy Granger didn’t make her available for anything more than talk.

  “I spoke with our boss,” she said icily. “Got a problem with that?”

  A leafy twig from a nearby tree slapped her in the chest and she pushed it away irritably.

  “Hey, not picking a fight here,” he said, easing his horse away. “It just looked like there was something more between you, that’s all. Just curious.”

  So they’d been observed last night. The realization frustrated her. She’d thought the conversation had been private—the moment between the two of them. Realizing that it wasn’t came as a rude awakening, because anything more than a professional discussion left her feeling like a sellout herself. If there was one thing Dakota believed in, it was loyalty to her family, and memories of her emotions last night left her feeling guilty.

  Plus, she didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about her and Andy. She wasn’t along for the ride as the girlfriend, she was a hired hand. The difference mattered—one relied on a man’s feelings for her, and the other relied on her own skill.

  Her father deserved her loyalty, as did her brother fighting overseas. Andy Granger deserved nothing, and she needed to keep her position here straight in her own mind, as well as the other drovers’.

  And yet she had liked him and definitely found him attractive in the way his direct green eyes met hers, pinning her to the spot without once touching her. If he had made contact, she would have pulled back, stomped off...but he hadn’t. He’d just looked at her and shifted where he stood to keep the wind from hitting her so squarely, and somehow that act of protectiveness had kept her rooted to the spot.

  Dakota kicked her horse into a faster pace, leaving Harley behind. Harley might have opened up to her about his sister, but that didn’t mean she needed a confidant of her own. She had her situation well in hand.

  Hell Bent River was close enough to see now as they crested a hill. It was an oxbow river meandering through the foothills. The banks farther upstream toward the mountains were lined by evergreen trees and a spattering of deciduous saplings glowing orange in the late-morning sunlight. Overhead, great, boiling clouds were moving in and, for a moment, the sunlight vanished and the trees turned from blazing orange to dull sienna. They sparked back into glory as the clouds pushed past, but the sky looked like rain wasn’t too far off. That was the effect of the mountains, pushing the warm air upward until storms crashed down in a regular rhythm.

  Across the river, before a stretch of forest, several acres of grassland spread out and a few cows were scattered across it, grazing lazily.

  The sight of the cattle brought with it a flood of calm. Cattle had always done that for her. She wasn’t sure what it was about bovine grazing that settled her in the deepest part of her soul.

  “From what Chet said, the rest of the herd should be further on,” Andy said.

  Was he asking her input? She glanced at him and he raised his eyebrows expectantly.

  “These are just a few stragglers, but we’re close,” she confirmed.

  Andy didn’t answer, but she knew he’d heard her. Whether he liked it or not, he needed her expertise out here. It wasn’t bragging to note the obvious—she was better at this part of the drive than he was. The cattle would be spread out as far as they could comfortably wander over a summer, and it was the drovers’ job to spread out wide and start moving them in toward the center. The river would act as a natural corral the cows wouldn’t cross without some significant persuasion. It was an ideal setup.

  The other drovers had reined their horses in close by and Andy raised his voice.

  “Carlos and Finn, you go north. Dave and Elliot, go south. Dakota and I are circling around back to the west, and Harley, you stay with the pack horses and start setting up camp. Come west once you’re done. We’re bringing them all back to this spot here, and then we’ll camp for the night on the far side of the river. First thing tomorrow, we’ll take them across the river and start for home.” He glanced around at the men who stared back, faces immobile. “Stay safe, take time to think, and let’s do this!”

  Andy glanced at Dakota and she pushed her hat more firmly onto her head and shot him a grin. “Let’s ride!”

  Without any further prompting, the six of them kicked their horses into motion, came down the other side of the hill and toward the river. The work had officially started.

  * * *

  ROMEO STRETCHED OUT beneath Andy, lengthening his stride. The horse’s hooves thundered beneath him, a rumble that moved up his thighs and into his stomach. The river was wider and deeper than the other streams they’d crossed and he could feel Romeo tense the closer they came to the water. Ahead of him, Elliot was the first to plunge into the river, the water coming up to the horse’s stifle as he slowed, pushing against the lazy current. Elliot urged the horse forward with a shouted, “Hya!” Behind him, Carlos surged in.

  Dakota had slowed, taking up the rear, and Andy glanced back, wondering if she were keeping her distance from the other drovers for a reason. Had someone been bothering her when he wasn’t looking? Because he had been looking...watching, observing. Women could ride with men and do the job equally well, but not all men saw them as equals. He wouldn’t have a woman mistreated on his drive. Especially not Dakota.

  The pebbles rattled under Romeo’s hooves as they approached the river, but Romeo balked and Andy could feel it in the horse’s muscles.

  “Let’s go, Romeo,” he muttered, giving him a kick to get him moving in the right direction. But the second the water hit the horse’s fetlocks, he backed out again.

  “Romeo, move it!” Andy ordered. “Hya!”

  The other men were coming up out of the water on the other side and Elliot had already looked back, taking in the situation.

  Andy grit his teeth in irritation. This wasn’t the way he wanted the drovers to see him—inept in getting his horse across a river. Leadership counted, especially now.

  Dakota came up beside him and Barney’s big body moved right up next to Romeo.

  “Let the horse do the thinking,” Dakota said, her voice low.

  “I would if—” Andy started, but Dakota’s expression held an order. She knew horses better than he did—heck, better than anyone around these parts—so if she gave direction, he’d be wise to follow it.

  “Loosen the reins,” she commanded.

  He did as she said, lettin
g the reins go so that Romeo could choose his own way, and as Barney moved forward into the water, so did Romeo. They rode side by side, their knees pressed together, as the water rose up the horses’ legs, splashing against their boots as they came to the middle of the river. Romeo stayed close to Barney, and Barney, being the more experienced horse, led the way. The solid muscles of the animals beneath them flexed as the horses pushed forward against the current, and soon enough, their footing grew more solid and they clambered up on the bank at the opposite side.

  “Thanks,” he said quietly.

  “It never happened. You were waiting for me.” She shot him a smile and eased Barney away.

  The other drovers carried on without a backward glance, horses prancing forward as the water dripped off their sleek bodies. The grazing cows looked up in interest, trotting away as the horses approached.

  She’d rescued his image back there. She could have taken the reins and led Romeo across, but she hadn’t. She’d made it appear that they’d simply crossed the river together when, in reality, she’d been giving his inexperienced horse the support he needed, allowing Andy to keep face at the same time.

  “That’s why I recommended Patty,” she said, shooting him a sidelong look.

  “Point made.” He grinned. “I still like Romeo.”

  She laughed. “You just hate taking your brother’s advice.”

  Maybe he did. Chet had gotten it all, and there were times he wished his older brother would come to him for advice, to need something from him—anything—that would allow him to be the savior for once. But that had never happened. What did Chet need from him when he had everything already?

  Except for this—Chet had needed someone to look out for the ranch when he couldn’t be there. He’d needed this favor, and Andy didn’t have it in him to turn his brother down. They had their own tangle of resentments, but at the end of the day, they were brothers.

  “I’ve been away for too long,” he admitted after a moment of silence. “I’m used to being the boss in my own world, not the stand-in for my brother’s.”

  “Me, too.” Her voice was almost too quiet to hear her, and he nudged Romeo closer, closing the gap between them. “I’m the hired hand here, but at home, I’m the boss’s daughter. Trust me, I know the feeling.”

  “And here we both are, stepping down to help out the same guy.”

  “No, I’m stepping down because I need the money.” Those brown eyes caught his for a moment before she looked away again. “I don’t have much choice.”

  “I had no way of knowing, Dakota.”

  “I know.”

  She seemed to blame him all the same. He heaved a sigh. She’d be rid of him soon enough, anyway.

  “But even if you’d left well enough alone, I’d have done this for Chet,” she said after a moment. “He’d do the same for us.”

  Would Chet do the same for Andy? He hadn’t yet. Chet had held on to this land with a stranglehold, and he’d showed no inclination to loosen his grip—just like their father had. However, this was temporary, and it would all be over soon enough. Then Chet could take over again and Andy would go back to his own life.

  “So are you saying that you helping me out back there...that was for Chet?” Andy asked with a wry smile. If it was for Chet, that was going to sting, but it might be better to know it up front.

  Dakota didn’t answer, but the color bloomed in her cheeks and she looked softer again. There was something about those pink cheeks that melted away his need to win this one.

  “Seems to me that in spite of my mistakes—and you have to know that I’m sorry for what happened to your land—you might actually like me,” he said. “You could have let me look like a fool. You could have led me across like a riding student, but you didn’t.”

  She pushed her hat back and wiped a hand across her brow. “Don’t start rumors now, Andy. I care about the integrity of our team. That’s it.”

  But her expression had eased and there was a sparkle in her eye. She was warming up to him, he could see that much. Whether it would last was another story.

  They rode due west, side by side, the sun warming their backs as they went. Harley peeled off and dismounted, and when Andy glanced back, Harley was loosening the ties on one of the pack horses.

  “Give it time,” Andy chuckled. “I’ll grow on you.”

  As they cantered across the field toward the distant tree line, Andy knew for a fact that Dakota would never be a woman to lean back on. She was no quiet support, she was a mouthy challenge, and he liked that even better. Besides, she’d come back to lend a hand, and that said more to him.

  If he’d made fewer left turns in life, he’d have liked to end up with Dakota Mason. But there was no undoing his past and Dakota wasn’t about to step down for the likes of him.

  The horses opened their strides into a gallop and Andy loosened his hold on the reins. Let him run! He looked over in time to see Dakota bending low over Barney’s shoulder, and the bigger horse thundered beside him. She was inching forward, and in response, Andy flicked Romeo’s flank with the end of the reins.

  So she wanted to race. He couldn’t help the grin that came to his face. This feeling he had as they rode across the open field, his heart racing as their horses galloped—it was best to remember it was short-term.

  The land, the ranch, the cowboy life—Chet had it all. Andy’s life was in the city. And what was it that their dad used to say? Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

  He could have danced until his feet were raw, the ranch had never been an option. Andy had done what he’d needed to do, and he knew that looking back wasn’t productive. But when he looked to the side, there was nothing better than a woman matching your stride, ponytail bouncing behind, body surfing the rhythm of the animal beneath her...

  But the timing wasn’t right for Dakota, either, and keeping his eyes forward was the best thing for him.

  Chapter Six

  Rounding up the cattle was a release, as if a spring had been snapped and everything holding Dakota back had suddenly flung away. This was the kind of work she loved—riding at full gallop across a field as she angled around a group of cattle. Then she’d pull up, head them off and heel her horse into motion again.

  Barney knew this work, too—a reason why she’d chosen him. The horse loved this part as much as she did, and she could feel his joy as they raced across the land together, mane and hair blowing back in tangled knots that would take forever to brush out. But worth it. Oh, so worth it.

  Andy worked about a hundred yards off. Romeo had been a good choice for this part of the job. He was young and wound up like an explosion about to happen. He could turn on a dime, and Andy held him in easy control. He held the reins close and tight, his knees gripping expertly, and when his gaze passed over her, he shot her a grin.

  Andy could ride. It was odd to only be realizing his skill level now, and she found herself feeling grudging respect. She should have had a sense of what he could do, since they’d been on horseback for two days now, but this kind of riding was different than the slow plod toward the herd. This was daring—it took guts, and it took an instinctive trust of the animal beneath you.

  “Surprised?” He laughed as he cut off the last of the escaping cows and reined in next to her.

  “A bit,” she admitted ruefully.

  “We can’t all be horse whisperers like you,” he said, Romeo’s hooves dancing beneath him. “But I can hold my own.”

  She had to admit he was absolutely right about that. He was holding his own quite admirably, and for a man who hadn’t been honing his skills for the last decade, he obviously had natural talent. Had his family realized this? she wondered. Or had it gone unnoticed?

  “Over there!” Dakota pointed toward some cows making a dash for the golden, blazing tree lin
e. They exchanged a look and then heeled their horses into motion. The trees were like a carpet of autumn glory rolling up the mountainside. The farther up the mountain, the sparser the deciduous trees were, heartier evergreens taking over in the shallower, rocky soil.

  The cattle had a lead on them and Dakota’s heart sank as several cows disappeared into the foliage. Rounding up the cattle in an open space was a much easier task than winding after them through the trees.

  “Blast it!” she heard Andy mutter, and she mirrored his sentiments.

  “How many went in?” Dakota asked. “I counted three.”

  “Me, too,” he confirmed, and he let out a shout, turning around a couple steers heading toward the tree line, as well.

  “Let’s go in on foot,” Dakota said as they approached the trees. Riding in would be more difficult, and the cows would naturally run from them. But if they went in on foot, they could get closer and encourage the cows back into the open.

  They both dismounted and went in a few yards apart to try to get around the sides of the cattle and get behind them. The trees were ablaze in golds and oranges, but once they went in, it was dimmer. The fragrant leaves under their feet crunched.

  “There’s one,” Andy said, picking up a long switch as he angled around the other side of the steer. He swatted the steer’s rump and it bawled out its annoyance but headed back in the right direction. Dakota took over as the cow came closer and spread her arms to encourage it to keep moving. It erupted into the open and she turned her attention to the next cow.

  It took about ten minutes to get all three cows out of the trees and back into the field. When the last one shot back out into the open sunlight, she and Andy shared a grin.