A Cowboy for Christmas

by Cat Johnson

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  Dedication

  It takes a village, and that is certainly true of this book. Yes, this is romance fiction, but my undying thanks go to the people who help me keep my details as accurate as possible.

  There are countless others involved but I’d particularly like to thank the following people:

  Carley and Darrell for checking the detail in the ranch scenes, Whitney for his last will and testament expertise, AlliedBullriders.com for the bull riding school idea, my unfailing head cheerleaders and #1 fans Shannon and Kimberly who keep me motivated from afar, Sandy for keeping the Oklahoma rodeo folk well stocked with my Let’s Buck stickers, and last but certainly not least, Lori Perkins, whom I can thank for both the story idea and title.

  Prologue

  Twenty years ago

  Casey Harrington stood on tiptoe in her pink sneakers to reach the display above her head. She touched the box’s front cellophane panel with one fingertip. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

  Her older sister, Jody, shook her head. “Boy dolls can’t be beautiful, silly.”

  “Sure they can.” Casey tried to hide her pout.

  What did stupid Jody know anyway? The Cowboy Cody doll on the toy store shelf was beautiful to her, with his blue plaid shirt that matched his eyes perfectly and his white cowboy hat that sat atop his brown hair. She tried to peer past the cardboard to get a look at the cowboy boots popping out from the bottom of his jeans. It was hard to see in the box, but she knew from having seen him on the television commercials so many times that his boots were a beautiful brown leather.

  She wished she had a pair just like his, but if it was a choice between asking for Cowboy Cody or a pair of boots, she was definitely going to ask for Cody. Casey wasn’t taking any chances by putting two things on her Christmas list when there was only one thing she really and truly wanted. Only one gift she couldn’t stand the thought of living without. Cowboy Cody.

  Jody, a whole twelve-years old and acting like she was way more than just four years older than Casey, folded her arms. “Can we go look at some other stuff now?”

  “No. I want him.” Casey stood her ground.

  Jody rolled her eyes dramatically. “I’m sure this toy is meant for boys, not girls. If you insist on getting a doll, why don’t you ask Mom for the new Barbie? She comes with a really cool dress and matching luggage.”

  Casey shot her sister a look of disbelief. Who could possibly want another old Barbie when they could have Cody? “I don’t want Barbie. I want him.”

  “Whatever. Come on. Let’s go. Mom’s probably looking for us by now.”

  “No. She said we could shop by ourselves for half an hour.”

  “And we’ve been here for like an hour already staring at that boy doll.”

  “Fine.” Dragging her feet so heavily the rubber soles of her sneakers squeaked against the store’s floor, Casey followed her sister. She glanced over her shoulder at the object of her desire one last time before they turned the corner.

  Just looking at him made her heart flutter. Cody and his cowboy code—that was the focus of each weekly episode of the Cowboy Cody Show that had her glued to the TV every Saturday morning. It made Casey wish she lived on a ranch out west like Cody’s, instead of in stupid Connecticut. There were no horses, no cowboys, no prairies, nothing fun where she lived. Just rows of houses that all looked the same with little tiny patches of grass in front of them.

  She let out a big sigh. It didn’t matter if Jody didn’t understand her obsession with the show or the doll. It didn’t even matter that their mom didn’t understand Casey’s burning need to get the Cowboy Cody doll. None of it mattered because Casey planned to go over all their heads. She was going directly to the big guy, Santa Claus himself. And since it was only two weeks until Christmas, she’d been extra good lately.

  Cowboy Cody was as good as hers. She could feel it.

  After Jody oooh’d and ahhh’d over some stuff in the store that didn’t interest Casey at all as she continued to imagine waking up to Cowboy Cody under the tree, they finally moved on.

  They’d just turned a corner when they ran head on into their mother. She was breathless and a little pink in the face. “You girls ready to go?”

  Casey frowned. “Why do you look like you do after you get off your treadmill?”

  Mom pressed her palms to her cheeks. “I guess I’ve been walking fast looking for you two.”

  Just shopping shouldn’t make her mother out of breath. It was almost as if she’d been running around out in the parking lot or something. Her hair looked kind of windblown and even the tip of her nose was pink, like she’d been out in the cold. Oh, well. It didn’t matter if her mother wanted to act like a weirdo. Casey didn’t know anyone in this store. It wasn’t like they were at school where her mom’s behavior could, and usually did, embarrass her.

  Besides, Casey had other things to worry about. “Mom, can we go see Santa now?”

  “Santa. Ha!” Jody’s outburst earned her a look from their mother.

  “Jody...”

  Casey recognized the warning in her mother’s tone. She’d been the recipient of it enough times herself. She couldn’t help but smirk that this time it was all for Jody.

  “Mom, I don’t wanna go to the mall.”

  As they exited into the cold, Mom frowned at Jody’s whining. “Well Casey does and I want a picture of you both with Santa for the collection on the mantle.”

  Jody let out a huge sigh. “I’m too old to sit in Santa’s lap.”

  “Then stand next him.” Mom clicked the locks open for the SUV.

  Since Jody got to sit up front because she was older, Casey crawled into the back seat. She strained her neck to see behind her. The far back of the car was packed with big plastic bags with the toy store’s name on them. “Mom? What’s in the back?”

  Her mother’s glare found Casey in the rearview mirror. “Casey Jean Harrington, turn around this instant or I’m telling Santa you don’t do what you’re told.”

  “Fine.” She rolled her eyes.

  It couldn’t be for her anyway. Whatever was in those bags was huge and the only thing she wanted and had asked for was Cowboy Cody. He certainly didn’t need a bag that big. It was probably stuff for the cousins she was forced to play with when they came for Christmas dinner.

  She couldn’t give much more thought to it now. She was going to get to see Santa and put in her live request to back up the letter she’d written to the North Pole a month ago, and she got to watch Jody be unhappy about going to the mall at the same time. It was a good day. Hopefully, it was just the beginning of the best Christmas ever.

  * * * *

  The sun streaming through the window next to the bed woke Casey Christmas morning.

  Uh, oh. Wait. The sun was up? Casey jumped out of bed. She’d planned on being up early. How had she overslept?

  Not stopping long enough to put on slippers, she skidded in her socks into the hallway where she tripped along the wooden floor to the carpet runner. She slowed only long enough in her sprint to peek into Jody’s room and make sure her sister was still sleeping.

  The lump in the bed under the covers remained unmoving. Good! At least she hadn’t slept later than her sister. Being first to get to the presents under the tree was almost as important as what was waiting there for her: Cowboy Cody. Casey couldn’t wait.

  She barreled down the stairs and ran to her parents’ bedroom, grabbing onto the doorframe to stop her momentum. “I’m opening presents.”

  “Casey, you wait for the rest of the family.�
��

  “Mom, no. Jody’s still sleeping. I wanna open them now.” It didn’t matter if she was whining. Santa had come and gone. No need to be good now.

  “Wait for your sister, your father, and me, Casey Jean, or I’ll call Santa right now and tell him to come take your present back.” Her mom even went as far as reaching for the phone on the bedside table.

  Ha! As if Santa would really come back. He’d be too tired for that. But just in case, Casey figured she’d give in. “Fine.”

  “Let the girl go and open her presents, Margaret.” Her father’s voice sounded sleepy and muffled as he lay facedown in his pillow.

  “Thanks, Dad. Love you.” She could have kissed her father, but first she had a cowboy to unwrap.

  Without waiting to hear if her mother had agreed with her father, Casey ran to the living room and dove beneath the tree. With pine needles poking her in the back of the head, she began dragging presents out, flinging them to the side when they didn’t have her name on them, or if they were the wrong size to be Cowboy Cody. Finally she sat in the middle of the still-wrapped presents surrounding her, but the one she wanted wasn’t there.

  Maybe she’d missed it. She’d have to go back through them all again.

  “What are you doing?” Jody yawned in the doorway while tying the belt on her pink and white polka-dot robe.

  “Looking for my present.”

  “Maybe you didn’t get any.” The smirk on Jody’s face was absolutely evil.

  Casey had felt bad before that she’d flung one of Jody’s gifts so hard it had landed against the wall behind the tree, but not anymore.

  “I did too get some, smarty. I got lots of presents.” Just not one the size and shape of the Cowboy Cody box she’d seen on the toy store shelf.

  Wait. Maybe Santa had put that box into a bigger box and then wrapped it. That would make sense. He wouldn’t want her to guess what it was. He’d want her to be surprised. Of course! Casey spun around to locate the big box she’d shoved to the side before. She spied it and dove, ripping at the paper the moment her hand made contact.

  The torn wrappings revealed a picture of a pink oven and a smiling girl holding a tiny cake. Santa was very tricky putting Cowboy Cody inside this box—the box of something she hadn’t asked for. Something she didn’t even want.

  Casey’s short nails slid right over the thick clear tape sealing the cardboard closed. “I need something to cut this tape with. Mom! I need a scissor.”

  Her mother was up and in the kitchen. Casey could smell the coffee. Mom was always happier after drinking her coffee.

  Camera in one hand and a scissor in the other, her mother came into the living room. “You need a scissor, please…”

  “Please.” Casey scrambled to her feet and grabbed for it.

  She used the edge to slice through the tape and then yanked the sides of the box apart. She held her breath, waiting for her first sight of what she’d waited so long for…but it wasn’t there.

  Filling the whole box, held in place by white Styrofoam, was a pink plastic oven.

  “Isn’t that nice? Now you can bake cakes on your own. You always like to be in the kitchen while I’m baking.“ Casey’s mother smiled and snapped a picture of her with the pink oven.

  She was speechless. How could Santa do this to her? She’d been so good. Her mother had to have gotten to him somehow. That was the only explanation. Casey didn’t want to bake little cakes in a plastic oven. She only hung out in the kitchen when her mother was baking because then she’d get to lick the icing off the beaters or eat the cookie dough raw.

  Her mother was still looking at her, as if waiting for her to get excited about this. Even Jody had paused in her gift opening and was watching Casey.

  “Um. I have to, uh, go to the bathroom.”

  “Okay, but come right back. There’s more gifts that Grandma shipped up from Florida for you to open.”

  Casey nodded and scrambled to her feet. She had to get away from that pink thing sitting in the box that should have held the one item that would make her happy. She ran up the stairs and made a beeline to her room. Inside, she flung herself facedown onto the rumpled covers.

  She didn’t know how long she lay there, but all too soon Jody appeared in the doorway. “Mom wants you to come back downstairs so she can take pictures of us opening Grandma’s gifts.”

  “I don’t want to.” Casey stayed facedown on her bed. “I was so good and I didn’t get what I asked for.”

  “I know.” The mattress dipped as Jody sat next to her. “I’m sorry you didn’t get your doll.”

  Casey let out a snort. “No, you’re not.”

  “Yeah, I am. I know you really wanted it. I don’t get why you wanted it, but you did and I’m sorry you’re sad.” Jody’s voice sounded pretty sincere, so Casey decided to believe she really meant it.

  She turned over and tried to wipe the tears clinging to her lashes before Jody saw them. “Thank you.”

  “You wanna know a secret?”

  She nodded. Maybe it would distract her from the biggest disappoint of her life.

  Jody leaned in close. “Santa didn’t give you that oven. Mom pretending to be Santa did.”

  Eyes and mouth wide open, Casey stared at Jody. “But—”

  “Listen. Remember at the toy store when Mom told us to shop by ourselves and then came running to find us and she was all out of breath? And then she yelled at you for looking at the packages in the back of the car? What do you think was in that bag?”

  Realization hit. Casey sucked in a breath. “Santa is really Mom.”

  “Yeah. Sorry. I thought it was time for you to know.”

  Her entire world shifted. It all made sense now. Putting aside the disappointment that the man she’d believed in for eight years didn’t exist, Casey clenched her teeth in anger. “Mom still knew I wanted Cowboy Cody. Why didn’t she get him for me?”

  Jody shrugged. “Mom usually gets me what she wants me to have, not what I really want. You think I asked for those rainbow striped rain boots? I wanted the ones with the leopard print on them.”

  Breath coming fast and with a violent mix of emotions warring inside her, Casey made a vow to herself. She’d grow up, get the best job in the world and then buy herself whatever she wanted for Christmas. And she’d never ever bake anything in that stupid oven, or in any other oven, for that matter. Ever!

  Chapter One

  Casey stood at the head of the long table in the World Bank’s meeting room. She glanced down the two rows of businessmen seated on either side. Good thing she’d been there long enough to know them all by name, because at first glance they all looked exactly the same to an outsider. Same navy blue suit. Same conservative tie. Same appropriate length hair gelled back to keep it in place. She even thought they might all be wearing the same cologne. How sad was that? They didn’t even smell different.

  It was no wonder she was single. Not one of these guys had ever tempted her. How could they? Not one stood out from the rest. She was drowning in a sea of sameness.

  Their matching tablets were held poised in front of them on the conference table as they followed along with her presentation on their matching screens. There was not one woman among them, save for herself. She stifled a sigh. The glass ceiling was still firmly in place. At least in this company.

  How she’d managed to crack it, she didn’t know. Hard work and determination played a part. That she’d never married and had kids, and in fact hadn’t even dated in what felt like forever, meant she could work sixteen-hour days. That probably had helped her ascent in the ranks too.

  It didn’t matter. She was only twenty-eight. There was plenty of time for her to settle down, find a man, have some kids…later.

  “Any questions, gentleman?” She glanced at their faces again and saw them shake their heads in unison. Like synchronized swimmers in Italian suits. “All right, then. Thank you for your attention.”

  Outside of the Wall Street building, the Manhat
tan skyline was beginning to twinkle as dusk fell and lights flickered on. It was a beautiful sight. One she could enjoy from the window of her apartment as well—when she finally got home each night, usually carrying a bag of take-out food.

  What did she feel like eating today? Sushi maybe? Though it was getting chilly. Autumn weather had set in fast. Maybe some Udon noodle soup from the sushi place.

  Decision made, and with the room rapidly emptying of the clones who worked beneath her in the bank’s corporate headquarters marketing department, Casey headed for her office. She could check her messages, then head out. Now that she had soup on the brain, her stomach was beginning to rebel from having skipped lunch.

  A latte and a pastry did not a meal make. She’d have to remember that in the future as her stomach let out a loud grumble. Good thing that hadn’t happened during the presentation. She laughed to herself at the thought and glanced at the phone on her desk. There was no blinking red light to indicate she had a message. Excellent. That soup was getting closer by the second.

  Grabbing her oversized bag, she was about to head out the door when the phone in her suit jacket pocket vibrated. She’d been so close… Casey sighed and pulled it out to look at the display.

  It was a Manhattan area code, but she didn’t recognize the number. She hit the button to answer. “Casey Harrington.”

  “Ms. Harrington. I’m so glad I got you. This is Madison at Smith and Brown.”

  She knew of Smith and Brown. They were headhunters. They called her a few times a year with some job offer or another.

  “Yes, Madison. What can I do for you?” This call wasn’t World Bank business or even important, so Casey figured she could walk while she talked. She always let the headhunters have their say, and then she’d politely tell them she wasn’t interested. She was happy in her position at World Bank.

  Casey gave the woman at the front desk a wave good bye and poked the button for the elevator.

  “I have a position I think you’d be perfect for. Director of Marketing. Multi-national company but the corporate headquarters are located in Manhattan. Impressive benefits package and salary.”