Cowboy Boots for Christmas (21 page)

Double doors opened into a massive room filled with round tables covered with snowy white cloths waiting for the guests. A poinsettia sat in the center of each table, and wall candles filled the room with soft light.

Several waiters lined the walls, and starting with Declan and his sister, Leah, they checked a chart in their hands and led the guests to their tables. Finn and Callie were seated near the middle at a table with Quaid Brennan and Kinsey, Polly and Gladys, and one other couple that Callie had never met.

Kinsey made introductions. “This is our foreman and his wife. They’ve been with us for years.”

Callie leaned in close to Kinsey’s ear and asked, “Why are you willing to sit at the table with me? You have to know about the thing with Honey.”

“We invited Finn because he owns Salt Draw, and you are his plus one. And, honey, what you did to Betsy was far better than what you did to Honey,” Kinsey answered.

Waiters came around with bottles of champagne and filled fluted stems so effortlessly that Callie didn’t realize her glass was full until Declan rang the bell again and stood up. “We’ll have our traditional Irish blessing to serve as grace tonight before the waiters bring our food. ‘The light of the Christmas star to you, the warmth of home and hearth to you, the cheer and goodwill of friends to you, the hope of a childlike heart to you, the joy of a thousand angels to you, the love of the Son and God’s peace to you.’”

“Amen,” Gladys said loudly, and everyone in the room echoed it.

Dinner started with a lovely potato soup, followed by a crisp salad, and then the entrée, which was the best steak Callie had ever eaten. The small dessert carts rolled around the room held cheesecakes of every kind and description, pecan pie with or without vanilla bean ice cream, pumpkin cake, and chocolate mousse. After that, coffee was served in china cups with the River Bend logo imprinted in gold on the side.

Callie leaned over and whispered softly, “Think Wild Horse can outdo this?”

Finn smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “I’d really rather be home eating fried chicken with the kids.”

“But Verdie said we have to socialize.”

“And we can’t argue with her. This reminds me of the officer’s ball over there. Remember?”

“Honey, it wasn’t nearly this fancy, and the steaks weren’t this good either.”

“Hey now. You wait until you taste my steak,” Finn said.

“What makes it so special?”

He didn’t give a damn if it was bad manners or not, he cupped his hand over her ear and said, “Because I will feed it to you with my fingers, and the only thing either of us will be wearing is a smile.”

Crimson filled her cheeks, and he chuckled.

***

“What did he just say to you?” Kinsey asked.

“This place would catch on fire if I said the words out loud,” Callie answered.

“Well, shit! I do like a cowboy who talks dirty. I might give you a run for your money even yet. I figure I can shoot as good as you can,” Kinsey said.

“But can you outrun a bullet?” Callie asked.

“I’d love for you to be in the Brennan family with your attitude.” Kinsey smiled. “Looks like it’s time to move back into the cattle pens while they take out the tables and get this room ready for dancing.”

Finn pushed back his chair and pulled Callie’s back as she stood. Soft Christmas music played as he put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her tightly. “Good food. Beautiful woman by my side. Only thing that would make it better would be if we were alone and not in a crowd of people.”

“Amen,” she said.

The Brennans were efficient, because in fifteen minutes the big doors opened to a different room altogether. Small tables for four circled the room, leaving the shiny hardwood floor ready for dancing. Tables were covered in red-and-green plaid with a red jar candle flickering in the middle of each one. Longer tables had been set up on each side of the double doors with finger foods, cheese cubes, tiny bite-sized sweet tidbits, and a punch bowl on each. Polly winked when Callie caught her dumping another bottle of tequila in the punch bowl after it had been refilled.

Good
grief!
Callie thought.
Where
is
she
hiding
that
much
liquor
anyway? She must have brought one hell of a big purse in
here.

The band’s guitar player struck a chord. The lead singer stepped up to the microphone and, with only the guitar behind her, started singing “White Christmas.”

Finn waited for the first Brennans to take the floor before he picked up Callie’s hand and asked, “May I have this dance, Miz Callie?”

She stepped into his arms, and instant heat flowed through her veins as one hand possessively rested on her lower back and one loosely held her hand. The fabric of his black Western-cut jacket kept her from feeling the muscles in his shoulder, but his heart kept time with hers, and his eyes were glued to hers.

The candlelight flickered in his crystal-clear blue eyes rimmed by the blackest lashes she’d ever seen on a man. She was wallowing in them when suddenly he twirled her out and then brought her back in a move that sent her arms around his neck, and both of his hands came to rest a little lower than the small of her back.

“I’m wondering how this dress would hold up in a hayloft,” she said.

“I’m glad I’m wearing a jacket, or everyone in this place would know I’m about to bust out my zipper,” he whispered.

“We can’t leave yet, can we?” she asked.

“Playdate isn’t over until midnight,” he said.

“Then we’d best dance with other people so we don’t catch the place on fire.”

“I don’t want anyone else to dance with you.”

“Jealous?” she asked.

“Hell yes.”

Quaid Brennan tapped Finn on the shoulder and said, “May I cut in?”

The minute that Finn stepped back, Honey looped her arms around his neck, and just like that, they’d changed partners.

“You are beautiful tonight, Miz Callie. I’m going to cut to the chase without the flirting because this song is about to end. Can I take you to dinner tomorrow night?” Quaid was pretty with his blond hair, green eyes, and chiseled, ruggedly handsome face, but he wasn’t Finn O’Donnell.

“Thank you but no thank you.”

“Are you and Finn more than boss and hired hand?”

“You might say that.”

“My ranch is bigger than his,” Quaid teased.

“It’s not the size of the ranch, darlin’. It’s the heart that runs it,” she answered.

The song ended and Quaid was quickly replaced by another cowboy. “May I have this dance, ma’am? I’ve been watching you from across the room, and you float like an angel with your feet not even touching the floor.”

He pulled her in for a two-step as the male singer started a traditional tune from Alabama called “Christmas in Dixie.”

He was Quaid’s opposite with a crop of jet-black hair that looked like he’d just crawled out of bed, brown eyes rimmed with black lashes, and heavy brows. Put him in a three-piece suit and Hollywood could make him into a member of the Italian mob.

“I’m Cam Brennan, and I’d be honored if you’d come to dinner here at the ranch after church this Sunday,” he said.

“Thank you, Cam, but I’ve got four kids at home that I’m responsible for. I don’t think I’ve ever known a Cam before,” she said.

“Mama liked Cameron, but Daddy shortened it,” he said. “You sure I can’t change your mind about dinner? How would it be if I challenge Finn to a duel and whoever is left standing gets to have your company on Sunday?” he said.

“Finn O’Donnell was a sniper for the army. That’s classified, so don’t go tellin’ anyone. I only know because I was his spotter. We’re both pretty good with firearms, so my advice, Mr. Cam Brennan, is that you don’t mess with either of us.” She smiled sweetly.

“I like a feisty woman. If you ever decide to get out of a puddle and go swimmin’ in the ocean, come on over to River Bend. I’ll give you a job doin’ anything you want. Hell, you can just sit on the porch and look pretty, and I’ll pay you double whatever Finn is giving you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Callie said as the song ended.

The clock on the pickup dashboard read twelve ten when Callie buckled her seat belt. She was irritable because she’d seen far too many women staring up into Finn’s pretty blue eyes all evening, and she had only gotten the first dance, the last one, and part of one in the middle of the evening with him.

“Tired?” He started the engine and drove down the long lane toward the road.

“To the bone. I’m glad the kids are home tomorrow. The boys can help you feed in the morning. And I’m damn glad that it’s Saturday, so we don’t have a workout. Are you aware that I haven’t had any target practice since I got here, though?”

“Then we’ll set up some targets in the barn tomorrow and do some shooting. You feelin’ like you might need to shoot something?” Finn asked.

“A whole bunch of somethings. If I took out one of the families, then there couldn’t be a feud, could there?”

“I was thinking that I’d stay in bed until about ten o’clock, you’d take care of chores, and then we could go play army until noon.”

“You’re the boss,” she smarted off.

“Hey, I was teasing. What’s got a burr under your saddle? I thought the evening went fine, except I didn’t like all those cowboys dancing with you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, leaned back, and shut her eyes. “Then why didn’t you dance with me more?”

“It’s called being polite. Shit!”

He hit the brakes, and the truck went into a long, greasy sideways slide.

“What?” She grabbed at the dashboard.

“Those fools. Don’t they know that a pup will freeze in this kind of weather?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Someone just tossed a puppy out the door of a car and then drove away. I almost rear-ended their car before I could get stopped on that slick snow and ice,” he said.

For a split second she could see the red taillights disappearing down the road, but then the new falling snow covered them completely.

“How far back?” she asked.

“It’s snowing like hell, and I might have run over the dog before I even saw him.”

“Then I’ll walk back until I find him. I won’t let a little puppy freeze to death,” she said.

“In that getup? You’ll ruin your shoes and your dress and catch pneumonia to boot,” he said.

“We are going back to get that dog,” she said. She’d have nightmares if she left a poor defenseless puppy out there in six inches of snow with the promise of another two inches before morning.

“Bossy after dancing with all those big important ranchers, aren’t you?” He put the truck in reverse and backed up slowly. “If I run over that dog and kill it, I don’t want a single tear or whimper out of you.”

Her forefinger came up in a blur. “You kill that dog, and I’ll sling snot all over this truck and there won’t be a damn thing you can do about it.”

***

If the pup hadn’t had a black spot on its head and if it hadn’t been huddled down close to the side of the road, Finn would have never seen it. He braked, slid a few feet, and opened the door to find not one but two bundles of white fur whimpering in the snow. He reached down without getting out of the truck, picked up one by the scruff of the neck, and set it down behind Callie’s seat.

“See, that didn’t kill you, did it?” Callie said.

He started for the second one and the critter ran. White dog. White snow. Woman who was turned around in the seat talking baby talk to the puppy hunkered down in the floorboard of the backseat. He could shut the door and go and no one would be the wiser, but he couldn’t leave that puppy out there to freeze.

He engaged the parking brake and crawled out of the truck.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Keeping you from slinging snot,” he said gruffly.

Stepping out in the blinding snow, he caught a movement to his right. He whistled and the pup whined but kept backing down into the ditch. The ground was uneven and slick with several inches of snow on top of a thick layer of ice. One second Finn was bending to catch the dog; the next he was sprawled out on his stomach, snow in his nose, his mouth, and down the front of his shirt. But, by damn, he had that critter by the leg.

“Finn! What is going on?” Callie yelled.

He came up with the wet dog and carefully carried it back to the truck. “There were two of them, and this one is shy. I had to run her down.”

“My God, Finn, are you all right?”

He put the whining pup on the back floorboard, crawled into the driver’s seat, and started home. “Are you happy now?”

“Coming from the man who takes in strays more often than I do,” she said.

“They are not living in the house. We will put them in the barn. They’ll be big dogs, and we’ve got enough animals in the house.” His focus was straight ahead. If he looked at her and she cried, he’d give in, and this was one fight he didn’t intend to lose.

“Yes, sir, boss man. I was going to suggest the same thing. I believe they’ve got some Great Pyrenees in them, so they’ll get big quick. But they’ll be great cattle dogs,” she said. “I can’t wait until the kids see them. I’m glad there are two. One would be lonely.”

Her tone had changed, but Finn wasn’t ready to make up, not yet. He hadn’t liked the way she’d flirted with all those Brennan cowboys, and he damn sure hadn’t liked the way they had looked at her.

If he stopped outside the barn, she’d get out and ruin her shoes and possibly her dress. Then tomorrow that would be his fault, so he told her to stay in the truck while he opened the big doors and he drove right into the barn.

Just as he thought, she bailed out of the truck and went straight for the tack room to get a bowl of dry food for the new babies, who were both cowering behind a bale of hay. Finn made a dog pen by arranging eight bales of hay, tossed a horse blanket in the middle, and put food and water off to one end.

“They’ll be fine. Now if Queen Callie says it’s all right, I’d like to go to the house and get out of these wet clothes,” he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t make fun of me.”

The puppies ignored the food and water and set up a whimper.

“Thank God you didn’t demand that we take them in the house. They would have wakened everyone and kept us all up until morning.” He sat down on one of the hay bales, jerked off his boots, and removed his socks.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He rolled the socks into a ball and threw them in the pen. Both puppies sniffed them and then curled up in a ball with their noses close to the socks.

“Works every time.” He put his boots back on. “Let’s go get some sleep. Morning will come fast.”

And Finn meant sleep.

***

Callie undressed, took her hair down, put on a nightshirt and a pair of underpants, and dived beneath the covers. She was absolutely chilled to the bone marrow. The velvet jacket and dress were not meant to provide warmth in an icy-cold barn, but she would have stood in front of a firing squad before she would have admitted she was cold. He was cold, wet, and mad at the whole world. Add that to a healthy dose of jealousy because she’d flirted with other cowboys, and it made for a miserable, lonely night.

She waited for the closet door to open. Hell, she’d even made sure her shoes were tucked under the rocker so he wouldn’t trip over them on his way to her bed. She wanted to cuddle up beside him, to feel his hard, firm body next to hers, to draw warmth from him.

Fifteen minutes passed.

The door didn’t open.

She was still shivering. Only now it wasn’t related to weather but to anger.

She threw the covers off and stormed across the floor, slung open the closet door, pushed her clothing to one side and then his, and opened the door on the other side. Invited or uninvited, she wasn’t through fighting, and if she couldn’t sleep, neither was Finn.

Shotgun growled when the door opened, but when he realized who it was, he flopped his big yellow head back down on the rug and shut his eyes. She crawled right up in the middle of the bed, crossed her legs and her arms, and said, “What is your problem anyway, cowboy?”

He rolled over with his back to her. “I’m tired, Callie. Go back to your own bed and get some sleep. It’s after one o’clock.”

She stood up in the bed and threw off her nightshirt and then her bikini underwear. “The hell I will. I can’t sleep, and we are going to settle this.”

“There is nothing to settle. It’s been a long night.”

She crawled under the covers and hugged up to his back.

“I told you to sleep in your own bed,” he growled.

“How long have you known me, Finn?”

“Long enough to know you never listen.”

“I turned down a dozen dates tonight. One even said right out loud that his ranch was bigger than yours, and I don’t think he was really talking about land and cattle. Another one said when I got ready to get out of a mud puddle and swim in an ocean to give him a call. But none of them turned me on just by touching my fingertips or by a glance across the room. I’ve been in love with you since before I even knew I was in love with you. I’ve said my piece. You can lie there and pout if you want to, but I’m not going anywhere. Since you’re too stubborn to come to my room, I’ll sleep right here where I can feel your skin against mine,” she said.

“Damn it all to hell!” He flipped over and brought her to his chest in a fierce hug. “I love you, too, Callie.”

“Good. Now can we go to sleep? We have to get up in less than five hours, and I’m cranky when I don’t get my sleep.”

He chuckled, and all was right with her world.

Then he kissed her on the forehead and said, “Good night, darlin’.”

And the clouds came close to parting.

***

“You kids put on them new rubber boots and bundle up real good. It’s still spittin’ snow out there, and I don’t want a bunch of sick kids this close to Christmas. You bring the eggs in and then you can build a snowman. My rules say that you can stay out as long as you want. However, when you come inside, you are in for the rest of the day except for evening chores. There’ll be no running in and out. Cold and then hot and then back again is what makes kids get sick,” Verdie said.

As they hurried out into the backyard, the old work truck pulled up and Callie and Finn got out. Finn yelled at the kids that before they started a snowman, they might want to go out to the barn and have a look at what was there.

Like all kids, Martin and the O’Malley children weren’t about to walk when they could run like the wind through half a foot of fresh snow.

He slipped his arm around Callie’s waist. “No matter how much they beg, they cannot bring those things in the house.”

“You are preaching to the choir.”

“Just bein’ sure that we’re on the same page. Have you told Verdie yet?”

“Thought you might want to do that.” She stomped through the snow, picking her feet up high to keep from throwing snow inside her new rubber boots.

“Tell me what?” Verdie opened the door for them.

“This woman was an old bear last night,” Finn said.

“He was the one who acted like a rabid coyote with a sore tooth,” Callie tattled.

“Did you make up before you went to sleep?” Verdie asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.

“Here they come.” Callie pointed.

“Looks to me like you brought home two polar bears from the party last night.” Verdie laughed.

“Someone threw them out on the road right in front of us. Finn got his suit all wet rescuing the second one.” Callie kicked off her boots, set them on the rug beside the door, and headed straight for the coffeepot.

“Bastards! It ought to be legal to shoot people who take puppies and kittens to the country and dump them out,” Verdie huffed. “Look at those kids. Now if that ain’t just what this old ranch needs. Kids and pups. You ain’t plannin’ on bringing them in the house, are you? You do know they’ll be as big as a small calf when they’re grown.”

“I’m sure the kids will want to bring them inside, but we’re going to stand our ground. Two dogs, a cat, and that talkin’ parrot are enough for the house,” Finn said.

“Well, I’m not staying in the house when there’s snow on the ground and new puppies. I’m going to put my boots and coat on, and I’m going out to play with the kids,” Verdie said. “Y’all going with me?”

Callie wrapped her arms around her waist and shook her head. “No, thank you. I’ve just spent the past two hours out in the snow. I’ve had enough of it today.”

“I’m in the same boat with Callie. I’m tired of being outside,” Finn said.

“Okay, but I’m not missin’ a minute with the kids. And when we get too cold to stay out there anymore, we’re making snow ice cream.” Verdie’s last words faded out on the way to her bedroom.

Finn poured a cup of coffee and carried it to the living room where he sunk down in the sofa and propped his cold feet on the coffee table. From the kitchen window, Callie could see the kids bounding through the snow with two furry bundles bouncing around like windup toys all around them. Their giggles, especially Martin’s, was music to her ears. She couldn’t remember a time that he’d been so open, carefree, and so much like a kid his age.

The sound of Verdie’s boots on the floor passed behind her, leaving the faint smell of her perfume in the kitchen. The minute Verdie was off the back porch, she picked up a handful of snow and patted it into a ball, heaved it toward the kids, and hit Ricky on the shoulder. He squealed, and the fight was on.

Dogs running between the kids.

Verdie hiding behind a tree with Olivia joining her team, making it the girls against the boys.

“Hey, this fire is waiting on you,” Finn called.

She found Shotgun curled up on Finn’s left with Pistol right beside him and Angel lying across his shoulders like a blond fur collar. “Looks like they’ve only left me one option.”

“The rocking chair or the rug?”

She straddled his lap and laid her head on his chest. “No, this one.”

He put his feet on the floor, his hands on her butt, and pulled her close enough that neither light nor air could come between them. “I like this option.” He buried his face in her hair.

“I smell snow and coconut. It’s a hot combination,” he whispered.