Wyoming Winter--A Small-Town Christmas Romance

by Diana Palmer

  “Well?” she asked.

  He shook his head, with his hands deep in his jacket pockets. “She wasn’t there. I waited for an hour. There’s no note on the door, no nothing.”

  Tira sighed miserably. “It’s all my fault. Me and my big mouth. I had no idea who she was, and I didn’t know that what I was telling Clarisse was just a bunch of bull that you’d handed me to keep me from seeing how much you cared for the woman.” She looked up accusingly. “See what happens when you lie to your friends?”

  “You didn’t have to tell her that!”

  “I didn’t know she was there! And we had agreed to go to the Coltrains’ party together, you and me and Charles Percy.”

  “You didn’t mention that you had a date for it, I guess?” he asked irritably.

  “No. I didn’t realize anyone except Clarisse was listening, and she already knew I was going with Charles.”

  He tilted his hat farther over his tired eyes. “God, the webs we weave,” he said heavily. “She’s gone and I don’t know where to look for her. She might have gone back to New York for all I know, especially after yesterday. She had every reason to think I was dead serious about her until this morning.”

  Tira folded her arms closer against the cold look he shot her. “I said I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I tried to stop her and tell her that she’d misunderstood me about the party, that I wasn’t your date. But she wouldn’t even look at me. I’m not sure she saw me. She was crying.”

  He groaned aloud.

  “Oh, Corrigan, I’m sorry,” she said gently. “Simon always says you do everything the hard way. I guess he knows you better than the others.”

  He glanced at her curiously. “When have you seen Simon?”

  “At the cattle convention in San Antonio last week. I sold a lot of my Montana herd there.”

  “And he actually spoke to you?”

  She smiled wistfully. “He always speaks to me,” she said. “I don’t treat him like an invalid. He feels comfortable with me.”

  He gave her an intent look. “He wouldn’t if he knew how you felt about him.”

  Her eyes narrowed angrily. “I’m not telling him. And neither are you! If he wants me to be just a friend, I can settle for that. It isn’t as if I’m shopping for a new husband. One was enough,” she added curtly.

  “Simon was always protective about you,” he recalled. “Even before you married.”

  “He pushed me at John,” she reminded him.

  “Simon was married when he met you.”

  Her expression closed. She didn’t say a word, but it was there, in her face. She’d hated Simon’s wife, and the feeling had been mutual. Simon had hated her husband, too. But despite all the turbulence between Tira and Simon, there had never been a hint of infidelity while they were both married. Now, it was as if they couldn’t get past their respective bad marriages to really look at each other romantically. Tira loved Simon, although no one except Corrigan knew it. But Simon kept secrets. No one was privy to them anymore, not even his own brothers. He kept to himself in San Antonio. Too much, sometimes.

  Tira was watching him brood. “Why don’t you file a missing persons report?” she suggested suddenly.

  “I have to wait twenty-four hours. She could be in Alaska by then.” He muttered under his breath. “I guess I could hire a private detective to look for her.”

  She gave him a thoughtful look and her eyes twinkled. “I’ve got a better idea. Why not tell your brothers she’s gone missing?”

  His eyebrows lifted, and hope returned. “Now that’s a constructive suggestion,” he agreed, nodding, and he began to grin. “They were already looking forward to homemade biscuits every morning. They’ll be horrified!”

  * * *

  AND THEY WERE. It was amazing, the looks that he got from his own kinfolk when he mentioned that their prized biscuit maker had gone missing.

  “It’s your fault,” Rey said angrily. “You should have proposed to her.”

  “I thought you guys had all that taken care of,” Corrigan said reasonably. “The rings, the minister, the gown, the invitations...”

  “Everything except the most important part,” Cag told him coldly.

  “Oh, that. Did we forget to tell her that he loved her?” Leo asked sharply. “Good Lord, we did! No wonder she left!” He glared at his brother. “You could have told her yourself if you hadn’t been chewing on your hurt pride. And speaking of pride, why didn’t you tell Tira the truth instead of hedging your bets with a bunch of lies?”

  “Because Tira has a big mouth and I didn’t want the whole town to know I was dying of unrequited love for Dorie!” he raged. “She doesn’t want to marry me. She said so! A man has to have a little pride to cling to!”

  “Pride and those sort of biscuits don’t mix,” Rey stressed. “We’ve got to get her back. Okay, boys, who do we know in the highway patrol? Better yet, don’t we know at least one Texas Ranger? Those boys can track anybody! Let’s pool resources here...”

  Watching them work, Corrigan felt relieved for himself and just a little sorry for Dorie. She wouldn’t stand a chance.

  * * *

  SHE DIDN’T, EITHER. A tall, good-looking man with black hair wearing a white Stetson and a Texas Ranger’s star on his uniform knocked at the door of her motel room in Victoria. When she answered it, he tipped his hat politely, smiled and put her in handcuffs.

  They were halfway back to Jacobsville, her hastily packed suitcase and her purse beside her, before she got enough breath back to protest.

  “But why have you arrested me?” she demanded.

  “Why?” He thought for a minute and she saw him scowl in the rearview mirror. “Oh, I remember. Cattle rustling.” He nodded. “Yep, that’s it. Cattle rustling.” He glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “You see, rustling is a crime that cuts across county lines, which gave me the authority to arrest you.”

  “Whose cattle have I rustled?” she demanded impertinently.

  “The Hart Brothers filed the charges.”

  “Hart... Corrigan Hart?” She made a furious sound under her breath. “No. Not Corrigan. Them. It was them! Them and their damned biscuits! It’s a put-up job,” she exclaimed. “They’ve falsely accused me so that they can get me back into their kitchen!”

  He chuckled at the way she phrased it. The Hart brothers and their mania for biscuits was known far and wide. “No, ma’am, I can swear to that,” he told her. His twinkling black eyes shone out of a lean, darkly tanned face. His hair was black, too, straight and thick under that wide-brimmed white hat. “They showed me where it was.”

  “It?”

  “The bull you rustled. His stall was empty, all right.”

  Her eyes bulged. “Didn’t you look for him on the ranch?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he assured her with a wide smile. “I looked. But the stall was empty, and they said he’d be in it if he hadn’t been rustled. That was a million-dollar bull, ma’am.” He shook his head. “They could shoot you for that. This is Texas, you know. Cattle rustling is a very serious charge.”

  “How could I rustle a bull? Do you have any idea how much a bull weighs?” She was sounding hysterical. She calmed down. “All right. If I took that bull, where was he?”

  “Probably hidden in your room, ma’am. I plan to phone back when we get to the Hart place and have the manager search it,” he assured her. His rakish grin widened. “Of course, if he doesn’t find a bull in your room, that will probably mean that I can drop the charges.”

  “Drop them, the devil!” she flared, blowing a wisp of platinum hair out of her eyes. “I’ll sue the whole damned state for false arrest!”

  He chuckled at her fury. “Sorry. You can’t. I had probable cause.”

  “What probable cause?”

  He
glanced at her in the rearview mirror with a rakish grin. “You had a hamburger for lunch, didn’t you, ma’am?”

  She was openly gasping by now. The man was a lunatic. He must be a friend of the brothers, that was the only possible explanation. She gave up arguing, because she couldn’t win. But she was going to do some serious damage to four ugly men when she got back to Jacobsville.

  * * *

  THE RANGER PULLED UP in front of the Harts’ ranch house and all four of them came tumbling out of the living room and down to the driveway. Every one of them was smiling except Corrigan.

  “Thanks, Colton,” Leo said, shaking the ranger’s hand. “I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”

  The man called Colton got out and opened the back seat to extricate a fuming, muttering Dorie. She glared at the brothers with eyes that promised retribution as her handcuffs were removed and her suitcase and purse handed to her.

  “We found the bull,” Cag told the ranger. “He’d strayed just out behind the barn. Sorry to have put you to this trouble. We’ll make our own apologies to Miss Wayne, here.”

  Colton stared at the fuming ex-prisoner with pursed lips. “Good luck,” he told them.

  Dorie didn’t know where to start. She looked up at Colton and wondered how many years she could get for kicking a Texas Ranger’s shin.

  Reading that intent in her eyes, he chuckled and climbed back into his car. “Tell Simon I said hello,” he called to them. “We miss seeing him around the state capital now that he’s given up public office.”

  “I’ll tell him,” Cag promised.

  That barely registered as he drove away with a wave of his hand, leaving Dorie alone with the men.

  “Nice to see you again, Miss Wayne,” Cag said, tipping his hat. “Excuse me. Cows to feed.”

  “Fences to mend,” Leo added, grinning as he followed Cag’s example.

  “Right. Me, too.” Rey tipped his own hat and lit out after his brothers.

  Which left Corrigan to face the music, and it was all furious discord and bass.

  She folded her arms over her breasts and glared at him.

  “It was their idea,” he said pointedly.

  “Arrested for rustling. Me! He... That man... That Texas Ranger tried to infer that I had a bull hidden in my motel room, for God’s sake! He handcuffed me!” She held up her wrists to show them to him.

  “He probably felt safer that way,” he remarked, observing her high color and furious face.

  “I want to go home! Right now!”

  He could see that it would be useless to try to talk to her. He only made one small effort. “Tira’s sorry,” he said quietly. “She wanted to tell you that she’s going to the Coltrains’ party with Charles Percy. I was going to drive, that’s all. I’d planned to take you with me.”

  “I heard all about your ‘plan.’”

  The pain in her eyes was hard to bear. He averted his gaze. “You’d said repeatedly that you wanted no part of me,” he said curtly. “I wasn’t about to let people think I was dying of love for you.”

  “Wouldn’t that be one for the record books?” she said furiously.

  His gaze met hers evenly. “I’ll get Joey to drive you home.”

  He turned and walked away, favoring his leg a little. She watched him with tears in her eyes. It was just too much for one weekend.

  * * *

  JOEY DROVE HER home and she stayed away from the ranch. Corrigan was back to doing the books himself, because she wouldn’t. Her pride was raw, and so was his. It looked like a complete stalemate.

  “We’ve got to do something,” Cag said on Christmas Eve, as Corrigan sat in the study all by himself in the dark. “It’s killing him. He won’t even talk about going to the Coltrains’ party.”

  “I’m not missing it,” Leo said. “They’ve got five sets of Lionel electric trains up and running on one of the most impressive layouts in Texas.”

  “Your brother is more important than trains,” Rey said grimly. “What are we going to do?”

  Cag’s dark eyes began to twinkle. “I think we should bring him a Christmas present.”

  “What sort of present?” Rey asked.

  “A biscuit maker,” Cag said.

  Leo chuckled. “I’ll get a bow.”

  “I’ll get out the truck,” Rey said, shooting out the front door.

  “Shhh!” Cag called to them. “It wouldn’t do to let him know what we’re up to. We’ve already made one monumental mistake.”

  They nodded and moved more stealthily.

  * * *

  CORRIGAN WAS NURSING a glass of whiskey. He heard the truck leave and come back about an hour later, but he wasn’t really interested in what his brothers were doing. They’d probably gone to the Christmas party over at Coltrain’s ranch.

  He was still sitting in the dark when he heard curious muffled sounds and a door closing.

  He got up and went out into the hall. His brothers looked flushed and flustered and a little mussed. They looked at him, wide-eyed. Leo was breathing hard, leaning against the living-room door.

  “What are you three up to now?” he demanded.

  “We put your Christmas present in there,” Leo said, indicating the living room. “We’re going to let you open it early.”

  “It’s something nice,” Cag told him.

  “And very useful,” Leo agreed.

  Rey heard muffled noises getting louder. “Better let him get in there. I don’t want to have to run it down again.”

  “Run it down?” Corrigan cocked his head. “What the hell have you got in there? Not another rattler...!”

  “Oh, it’s not that dangerous,” Cag assured him. He frowned. “Well, not quite that dangerous.” He moved forward, extricated Leo from the door and opened it, pushing Corrigan inside. “Merry Christmas,” he added, and locked the door.

  Corrigan noticed two things at once—that the door was locked, and that a gunnysack tied with a ribbon was sitting in a chair struggling like crazy.

  Outside the door, there were muffled voices.

  “Oh, God,” he said apprehensively.

  He untied the red ribbon that had the top securely tied, and out popped a raging mad Dorothy Wayne.

  “I’ll kill them!” she yelled.

  Big booted feet ran for safety out in the hall.

  Corrigan started laughing and couldn’t stop. Honest to God, his well-meaning brothers were going to be the death of him.

  “I hate them, I hate this ranch, I hate Jacobsville, I hate you...mmmfff!”

  He stopped the furious tirade with his mouth. Amazing how quickly she calmed down when his arms went around her and he eased her gently out of the chair and down onto the long leather couch.

  She couldn’t get enough breath to continue. His mouth was open and hungry on her lips and his body was as hard as hers was soft as it moved restlessly against her.

  She felt his hands on her hips and, an instant later, he was lying between her thighs, moving in a tender, achingly soft rhythm that made her moan.

  “I love you,” he whispered before she could get a word out.

  And then she didn’t want to get a word out.

  * * *

  HIS HANDS WERE inside her blouse and he was fighting his way under her skirt when they dimly heard a key turn in the lock.

  The door opened and three pairs of shocked, delighted eyes peered in.

  “You monsters!” she said with the last breath she had. She was in such a state of disarray that she couldn’t manage anything else. Their position was so blatant that there was little use in pretending that they were just talking.

  “That’s no way to talk to your brothers-in-law,” Leo stated. “The wedding’s next Saturday, by the way.” He smiled ap
ologetically. “We couldn’t get the San Antonio symphony orchestra to come, because they have engagements, but we did get the governor to give you away. He’ll be along just before the ceremony.” He waved a hand at them and grinned. “Carry on, don’t mind us.”

  Corrigan fumbled for a cushion and flung it with all his might at the door. It closed. Outside, deep chuckles could be heard.

  Dorie looked up into Corrigan’s steely-gray eyes with wonder. “Did he say the governor’s going to give me away? Our governor? The governor of Texas?”

  “The very one.”

  “But, how?”

  “The governor’s a friend of ours. Simon worked with him until the wreck, when he retired from public office. Don’t you ever read a newspaper?”

  “I guess not.”

  “Never mind. Just forget about all the details.” He bent to her mouth. “Now, where were we...?”

  * * *

  THE WEDDING WAS the social event of the year. The governor did give her away; along with all four brothers, including the tall, darkly distinguished Simon, who wore an artificial arm just for the occasion. Dorie was exquisite in a Paris gown designed especially for her by a well-known couturier. Newspapers sent representatives. The whole world seemed to form outside the little Presbyterian church in Victoria.

  “I can’t believe this,” she whispered to Corrigan as they were leaving on their Jamaica honeymoon. “Corrigan, that’s the vice president over there, standing beside the governor and Simon!”

  “Well, they sort of want Simon for a cabinet position. He doesn’t want to leave Texas. They’re coaxing him.”

  She just shook her head. The Hart family was just too much altogether!

  That night, lying in her new husband’s arms with the sound of the ocean right outside the window, she gazed up at him with wonder as he made the softest, sweetest love to her in the dimly lit room.

  His body rose and fell like the tide, and he smiled at her, watching her excited eyes with sparks in his own as her body hesitated only briefly and then accepted him completely on a gasp of shocked pleasure.

  “And you were afraid that it was going to hurt,” he chided as he moved tenderly against her.