Miles' Christmas Roundup (Holiday Hunks Book 2)

by Angela Stevens

  Cady stuck her borrowed boot on his hand, and on the count of three, he had her bounce as he lifted her into the saddle. After adjusting the stirrups, he gathered up Miss Molly’s reigns and put them in Cady’s right hand. “Hold the pommel with your left hand, it’ll help you feel secure.

  “Huh, don’t I need two hands for the reins?”

  “Not for western riding, no.” He climbed up on to his father’s big stallion. The horse was almost thirty years old but it was still like riding a bundle of dynamite. So much so, that only Miles or Caleb rode him these days, as he was too fast and unpredictable for the guests.

  “You steer like this.” He moved his hand right then left. “And keep the reins loose, especially when we head down the ridge. Miss Molly will pick her way down by herself, so you just give her, her head. Just hold the reins right at the end so she can choose her way. All you have to do is sit back in the saddle, and relax.”

  “Loose rein… sit back in the saddle down the ridge. I can do that. Huh, what about when we go up the other side?”

  “Well, then you are going to lean forward and balance on your stirrups like this.” He demonstrated, shifting his weight and standing up in the saddle.

  “That looks a little harder.” Cady chewed on her lip and her brows knitted together.

  “Don’t worry, by the time we come back up, you’ll be used to her.” Miles looked around and found his family and half a dozen guests who were joining them were all in the saddle waiting patiently to go.

  “Caleb, why don’t you take the lead, and I’ll bring up the rear.”

  Caleb walked his horse forward, and as he made his way to the front of the line, Cady’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that horse is so pretty. Is that dark mane and tail with a tan body unusual?”

  “No, not really. It’s a dun. You can’t see it very well, as the saddle blanket is covering it, but he has a dark black stripe down his back, too.”

  The rest of the group started up, and one at a time, they fell in line behind, Caleb.

  When it came time for them to move, Miles reached down and attached a lead rope to Miss Molly’s halter. “We’ll see how you go, and if you feel good later, I’ll let you ride solo.”

  Honestly, Miles never had so much pleasure riding as he did with Cady. The sun was out, warming up the air temperature and melting some of the snow. The sound of the horses’ hooves crunching in the snow and the birds chirping as they fluttered in and out of the trees just about summed up why he loved his job. But the cherry on top was Cady’s reaction.

  Her wide eyes and excited gasps filled his heart with joy. He’d been riding since he was four, and could hardly remember how excited he’d been the first time he’d got in a saddle. For the first mile or so, Cady clung to the pommel with her left hand, her knuckles white, and her eyes glued to where she was going. With the right, she held her reins up comically high, and Miles leaned across to her to adjust them.

  “Relax. Let Miss Molly do the work.” Cady did as she was told and a little while later he noticed her looking around at the scenery, a huge grin on her face, leaning back in the saddle like she’d done it for years.

  He slipped the lead rope over Miss Molly’s neck and patted the mare. His stallion was champing at the bit to get up to the front, but Miles put his weight in the stirrups and held the animal back by sheer willpower. Later, he’d have to give the animal a fast gallop to placate it, but for now, he’d put up with its prancing and pulling on the bit.

  On the way back to the ranch, Miles decided Cady was ready to try to lope. “You ready for some more excitement?”

  “Just how exciting are you proposing?”

  “Nothing you can’t handle, we’ll just shift up a gear.”

  She nodded nervously. “Okay, but not too fast.”

  “You’ll be fine. Just sit back and keep hold of the pommel.”

  “How do you make her go?”

  “No need to worry about that.” He took hold of the lead rein again. “You yell if it’s too fast, and I’ll slow her down.”

  Cady looked up at him. “Okay.”

  “Right, then we’ll cross the field first because I think the others are gonna race.” He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and flicked the reins from the left to the right flank. The stallion immediately changed its gait and took off. Miles held him back to a slow lope, and Miss Molly set her stride with the stallion.

  At the end of the field, he pulled up both horses and turned to see Cady with flushed cheeks, her red hair escaping the knitted hat with stray strands plastered against her cheeks. Her nose ran from the cold, but she was laughing, exhilarated by the speed.

  God damn it, she looked so beautiful he wanted to kiss her. Thundering hooves behind him brought Miles to his senses, and instead he patted his steed. “You enjoy that?”

  “God, that was so much fun. You are so lucky, Miles. You get to do this every single day.”

  You could, too, if you stayed. The thought was there in an instant, but Miles managed to keep it to himself. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I am.”

  After the ride, they all worked together to put the horses back in their stalls and clean the tack, then they headed back to the ranch house.

  “You ready to make dinner?”

  Cady clapped her hands together. “Of course. You know, this is the best Christmas Day ever.”

  Miles caught her hand and tugged her to him. As the rest of his family disappeared into the house, he brushed the hair from Cady’s face and kissed her.

  When they finally parted, Miles grinned back at her. “I agree. I don’t think any Christmas in the future will be as fun as having you here.”

  14

  Cady

  There was a lull after the early dinner, and Miles headed out to the stables to feed the horses and put them away for the night. Cady offered to go with him to help, but a yawn slipped out. “You go and put your feet up. Nolan and Caleb are going to help me, so it shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

  Cady wandered into the great room and found Juliet sitting on the couch, her feet tucked under her, and a glass of wine in her hand.

  “Where’s everyone else?”

  “Napping, I think. You want a glass?”

  “Yes, please.” Cady sat down next to Juliet and as soon as her bottom hit the couch, she realized just how tired she was. “Huh, riding really takes it out of you.”

  Juliet nodded. “It’s all the fresh air, too. Are you enjoying yourself?”

  “This has been lovely, Jules, I am so glad you invited me. After all that shit with Paul, I needed this.”

  “You’re welcome. And how are you and Miles getting along?”

  Cady blushed. “Okay.”

  “Only okay? I couldn’t help but notice that Miles didn’t sleep in his bed last night.”

  Cady raised an eyebrow at Juliet. “Now, how would you have noticed that?”

  “Because I deliberately went and looked when I got up this morning. I thought I heard him sneak out last night.”

  Cady’s cheeks heated up. Maybe he just made the bed before he got up.”

  “Or maybe, he slept somewhere else?”

  “Jules…”

  “Oh, come on, are you really going to hold out on me?’

  Cady didn’t know what to say. She and Miles had a sort of agreement to keep this to themselves. Not that they had specifically discussed it, but rather it was more something they had individually decided to do. She sighed. “Please don’t say anything, I’m not sure Miles wants anyone to know.”

  “I knew it!” Juliet could hardly contain her excitement. Cady looked around to see if anyone else had entered the room. Finding them still alone, she grinned back at her friend. “Oh, God, Miles is just so…” She felt awkward confiding in Juliet, “S-sorry, he’s your brother. This must be so weird.”

  “No. Except maybe don’t fill me in on the details because, yeah, that would be gross. But you like him?”

  Cady put her hands in he
r lap and studied her wine glass as she twisted the stem. “Yes.”

  “Damn it, I knew you two would hit it off. Will you continue seeing him?”

  “How can I, Jules? It’s just not fair. Miles is the perfect guy, but we live thousands of miles apart.”

  “Well, you can still see how it goes. You guys talked to each other for four months before you even met. You can do distance relationships.”

  “But… you know?”

  “What?”

  “There’d be no,” she lowered her voice, “sex.”

  Juliet’s eyes widened. “And that would be a problem?”

  “Hell, yeah, Miles is very good at it.”

  Juliet grimaced. “I thought we agreed no details, though there is always phone sex to tide you over until you could visit again.”

  Cady mulled that over for a moment. That was true, and it might be a little fun, but really it couldn’t be as satisfying as being with Miles. “I suppose we could try.”

  “Just promise me one thing—wait until I’m out of the house before you guys do anything like that. As I told you, the walls in our apartment are paper thin, and I do not want to hear my brother talking dirty to you.”

  “Jules!”

  “I’m just being practical. Tell you what, I’ll buy some of those noise cancelling headphones with my Christmas gift card, and then you can just let me know when to put them on.”

  Cady laughed at her friend’s teasing. It had cheered her up a little, as the thought of leaving the day after tomorrow was preying on her mind. She knew she should just enjoy her time before it was over, but she dreaded getting on that plane and leaving Miles behind.

  Wanting to change the subject before she became overemotional, Cady pulled up the pictures she’d taken on the ride and showed them to Juliet.

  “Those are fab, Cady. You’ll have to send some of them to me.”

  “I’m thinking of uploading a few onto Miles’ website. I’m helping him revamp it, trying to make it more appealing. What do you think?”

  “Yes, definitely. They’d look great. Miles should let you have free rein on this. Perhaps you could do it as a little project while you’re looking for work. I’m sure Miles would pay you.”

  “I don’t want to be paid, but I would love to play around with it. I think with a fresh, crisp color scheme and nicer fonts, a few pictures… this could look really cool.”

  “I say go for it. Ask Miles to give you his password for the website. Let’s face it, anything would be an improvement.”

  Harriet walked into the room and looked around. “Are the boys not here yet?”

  Juliet shook her head. “They’ll be back soon, they’ve been gone an hour.”

  Harriet seemed to weigh Cady up for a moment, then turned and left.

  “I don’t think your sister likes me much.”

  “Nah, it’s not you, it’s—” Juliet looked away and sipped on her wine.

  “What is it? Tell me, Jules.”

  “It’s all to do with Miles’ ex-wife.”

  Cady wished she hadn’t asked, but she was also curious. “Were Miles and Clarissa together long?”

  “About two years. She was Harry’s best friend at college. Between you and me, I think Harriet feels a bit guilty for introducing the two of them. She came here with Harry for a holiday once and Miles was smitten.”

  “Like me.” Cady’s mood crashed.

  “No, what Miles and Clarissa had was nothing like you. To be honest, I never got along with her and have no idea why Harry was her friend. You could tell from the start, Clarissa was going to be bad news. I mean, she and Miles had this tempestuous thing going on, which everyone could see was all about sex and nothing else. Everyone knew it was a train wreck waiting to happen and I told him as much when he asked her to marry him about a month later. But Miles wouldn’t listen, and almost as soon as that ring was on her finger, the lust wore off and Clarissa decided small town life was too dull for her. Then when Miles got over his head with the business, she got bored with playing the good wife and looked for more excitement elsewhere.”

  “Poor Miles.”

  “Yeah, it hit him hard. I think he knew shit was wrong between them, but he is not the kind of guy to walk away from stuff without giving it his all. But with the financial trouble with his business, he didn’t have the time or energy to put into keeping things sweet with Clarissa. Harry was torn up about it, and she fought with Miles. They haven’t spoken much these last two years.”

  “So, she thinks I’m like Clarissa?”

  “No, it’s not that.”

  Cady wasn’t so sure. Hell, there were plenty of similarities, weren’t there? She was here for the holiday, and she had most definitely fallen in lust with Miles Carmichael, though her feelings ran deeper than that.

  “You, know, I think I’ll go read my book. Text me when everyone gets back and I’ll come down.”

  Before Juliet could object, Cady put down her wine glass and flew out the door. She was just running across to the steps to her bedroom when Miles called out to her. She blinked back the tears that threatened to fall, and turned around to face him. He jogged over to her, leaving Caleb and Nolan to go into the house.

  “Hey, are you okay?” He wrapped his arms around her waist and bent his head to look at her.

  “Yeah, of course. I was just going to read, but now you’re all back…”

  He put his hands to her face and tilted her head back. “Mmm, I’ve been dying to kiss you all day.” His lips brushed hers, and as soon as they did, she was powerless to resist. Hell, she had less than two days left, she was damn well going to make the most of this!

  He pulled away after the kiss with a huge grin on his face. “I see you missed me.”

  She blushed. “I really did.”

  Miles groaned. “I want to take you upstairs, but I think my family might guess what we’re up to.”

  “Would that be so bad?”

  He looked down at his feet. “Not bad, but…”

  “But you’d prefer no one to know about us?”

  “No. I just don’t want anything to spoil what little time I have with you. Call me selfish, but I like our secret, I like sneaking behind their backs—it’s kind of exciting.”

  Cady laughed. “Okay, um how long before they miss us?”

  “I’d say about ten minutes.”

  “Mmm, do you think ten minutes is long enough to—”But she didn’t get to finish her sentence because Miles grabbed her by the hand and tugged her up the stairs to her room.

  Once inside, things turned frenzied. Both of them yanked off a layer of clothing, dropping them to the floor before grappling with another piece, until Cady was in her underwear and Miles had his pants around his ankles. He grabbed her by the waist, and lifted her into his arms. One hand went to her underwear and he tugged it aside, lining himself up with her entrance. As he pushed inside her, she came to her senses. “Miles, protection.”

  “Shit.” He put her down, and stumbled over to the bed, swiping up the box of condoms he’d left there last night. The jeans around his ankles made him trip as he turned to come back to her, and Cady giggled at his haste.

  He sat down on the bed and slid on the condom. “Come here.” He beckoned her with his finger. She went to him and climbed into his lap. “This will have to be quick.”

  In a second, she was on her back, and he was looming over her. Gasping, she whispered, “I can do quick.”

  “I bet you can.” Miles thrust inside her, and to be honest, things were almost over before they started.

  Cady’s earlier worries were forgotten, and it all became about a carnal need. Friction, and the sight of Miles’ taut body straining over her as he pounded into her, did the rest.

  She came first, and then Miles gave one last thrust, and a loud guttural groan escaped him. He collapsed back on the bed, pulling her with him and they lay panting against each other, their skin gleaming with sweat, and their hearts racing like they’d just comple
ted a two hundred-meter sprint.

  Cady had barely gotten her breath back when Miles rolled away. “We should get back.”

  It was hard for either of them to keep a straight face as they scrambled back into their clothing, but less than three minutes later, they were dressed and halfway across the lawn.

  Harriet appeared at the door to the farm house. “Oh, there you are. What on earth were you doing?”

  “Miles was just pointing out the constellations. I’ve never seen so many stars, it’s so amazing that the night sky is so clear here.”

  Harriet seemed unimpressed. “I suppose. Come on in, we’re all going to play charades.”

  * * *

  As if Christmas Day couldn’t get any more perfect, at around nine o’clock the whole Carmichael family bundled up with hats and gloves and Sarah filled flasks with mulled wine and a picnic basket with gingerbread and sugar cookies. Miles handed Cady a wad of sheet music and they all traipsed out to the big Christmas tree in the middle of the yard. To her surprise, there were cars lined up along the verge, and a small crowd had begun to gather. The wine and cookies were added to a makeshift table that had been set up to one side.

  “What’s this?”

  “Carols. We always have the neighbors and any of the guests who are staying over for carol singing. To be honest, it’s just an excuse to have a few drinks and make a lot of noise. Do you sing?”

  “Um, some people might not describe it as that, but I’m always enthusiastic.”

  “Yeah? Well, it so happens I come under the ‘enthusiastic’ category, too.”

  As they arrived at the group, people seemed to be getting into some sort of position around the tree. Caleb stepped up on to a crate in front of them and raised his hand. The crowd grew silent, and someone strummed a guitar. As they finished the introduction, Caleb opened his mouth and sang.