Cowboy Who Came For Christmas (Harlequin Romance) (26 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

S
OPHIA
GOT
OUT
of the car and glanced around.

She was home and it was the night before Christmas Eve.

Bettye and Karen both gave her reassuring smiles.

“C’mon, now,” Bettye said, her eyes bright. “Let’s get you inside out of this wind.”

Karen held Sophia’s elbow, making her feel like an invalid. “I can walk on my own, you know.”

“We want to pamper you,” Karen said. “We’ll get you nice and tucked in and then you can rest all you want.”

“I don’t want to rest,” Sophia said on a petulant breath. She wanted to walk and to laugh and to cry and to whine.

Adan had gone home to his family.

Without even telling her goodbye.

And these two dear friends who’d spent time with her and brought her home in time for Christmas weren’t telling her anything. All she’d heard was that he had to get home.

Not a word about telling her goodbye or if he’d ever come back. Not a word about all the questions she still had about Joe Pritchard and everything that had happened in her life because of one misguided youthful decision to marry a cruel, nasty man.

She needed some answers and she intended to get them.

But when Bettye opened the door to Sophia’s cabin and stood back to let her inside, Sophia was immediately greeted with cheers and laughter and a large sign that said, “Welcome Home, Sophia.”

And waiting there beside her tiny Christmas tree stood Texas Ranger Adan Harrison. With a smile on his face.

* * *

“I
THOUGHT
YOU
’
D
be long gone by now,” she said a few minutes later when the others had given them some space.

They stood by the fireplace while Bettye passed out food to the others. Bettye and Jacob played host along with Karen and David. But she didn’t see Maggie. She surely must be at the hospital with Arnie.

Adan leaned close and whispered into her ear, “I couldn’t leave just yet. I had to make sure you got home safe.”

Giving him a look that had to show her confusion, Sophia said, “Well, I’m here and I’m safe. You’re relieved of your duties, Ranger-Man.”

“Seeing you is not a duty, but a pleasure,” he retorted.

Sophia had to be brave, probably even braver than she’d had to be out on that mountain with a killer. “Seriously, you don’t have to stay.”

Adan touched a finger to her bangs. “Seriously, are you trying to get rid of me?”

“You need to be with your little girl.”

“And I will be,” he said, his expression changing from joyful to concerned. “Do you want me gone so fast?”

She shook her head. “What I want, as someone once said to me, is the truth.”

“Oh.” Understanding washed through his gold-hued eyes. “Come with me and I’ll tell you everything.”

An hour later, Sophia could only shake her head and wonder. Cuddled with Adan underneath a heavy quilt, she sat on a bench on the back porch.

And while she felt warm and safe in his arms, a chill went over Sophia. “So...all this time, I was so careful not to spend that drug money, but Maggie and Arnie didn’t have any such qualms.”

“Apparently not,” Adan said, his chin resting against the top of her head. “The so-cute couple wasn’t so cute, and they weren’t so honest, either. They put on a good show the day they helped stall me down by the stream because they really
were
trying to stall me. They’d been busy hiding the money before Jacob got there, in the spot where they fell in love.”

“So romantic,” Sophia said, her mind still reeling with this twist out of left field. “No wonder they never hung around with the rest of us too much.”

Having heard that Maggie and Arnie might face charges or at the least probation time for spending stolen money, she wondered about her own future.

“So what will happen to Melissa and Sean...and me?”

He kissed her temple, which gave her hope. At least he hadn’t cuffed her when she’d entered the front door.

“Community service for Melissa, and once we’ve cleared the way with the proper authorities, hopefully Bettye will become her legal guardian and she can live here. They’re already talking about enrolling her in the high school down in town.”

“That would be so wonderful for Bettye. She deserves a second chance and so does Melissa.”

“And that leaves you,” he said on a smile.

“Do I deserve a second chance, too?”

“I think so,” he said. “You didn’t spend the money because you didn’t even know it was there at first. Your only crime is that you didn’t report it when you discovered it.”

“And I stole that car,” she reminded him.

“It ain’t much of a car.” Adan didn’t seem worried. “But you’re willing to testify to most of Pritchard’s crimes and that will go a long way with the DA back in Texas.”

“And you’re willing to put in a good word for me?”

“Yes, and why can’t you believe that?”

She wanted to believe, but she was so afraid she’d wake up again and this part would go away. “I’m trying to believe,” she said, her hand touching his face. “But Adan, we have so much to work through. You wanted honesty and I didn’t give it to you.”

“And you wanted to trust me and I didn’t convince you to do that.”

“So how do we make this work?”

“Let’s start with this,” he said. Then he kissed her and held her close. “I know we have a lot to work through, but now we can take our time and get it right.”

“I’d like that.”

“Good,” he said. Then he lifted her up and kissed her again. “Now, I do have to go. I’m gonna drive all night to get home...but I will be back.”

“When?”

He grinned down at her. “Maybe next week?”

“Next week?”

“Is that too soon?”

“Not soon enough,” she said, deciding she’d worry about all the variables later. As he liked to say.

“And I might bring someone with me, if it’s okay with you?”

She drew back. “The sheriff?”

“No, someone much sweeter than him.” He turned serious. “I’m thinking Gaylen might enjoy seeing a mountain or two.”

Sophia gasped. “You want to bring your daughter here?”

He nodded. “My two best girls together. Just to test the waters.”

“What if she doesn’t like me?”

“How can she not like you?”

He had more confidence than Sophia felt, but she kissed him anyway. “What will your parents say?”

“Hallelujah?” he said on a laugh. “They want me to be happy again and in spite of you tying me to the bedposts, and all the other stuff that happened over the last week, you do make me happy.”

Sophia wanted to cry with joy. “You make me happy, too.” But she still had one question. “What about the logistics? You live in Austin and I live here.”

“Who says we can’t have both?” he asked. “A home in Austin, where I can watch you like a hawk, and a vacation home right here, where I can still watch you like a hawk.”

“Because you don’t trust me?”

“No, because I don’t want to let you out of my sight.”

Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a colorful bundle. “Merry Christmas, Sophia.”

It was a new scarf, knitted with several breathtaking colors. “It reminded me of you,” he said.

He kissed her one more time and then he left for home.

One week later

S
OPHIA
HEARD
A
truck coming up the mountain road.

It was bitterly cold and the weather people were predicting snow again. Didn’t look as though anyone would be leaving this mountain over New Year’s Eve or Day.

Or coming here to get stuck, either.

So she steeled herself against disappointment and hurried to the window to see.

Then her heart stopped.

Adan had kept his promise. He was back on the mountain.

“I told you so,” Bettye said behind her. “Now I’m gonna get gone before y’all have your big reunion.”

“We’re just going to see how it goes,” Sophia retorted.

“It’s gonna go fine, trust me. Remember, Melissa and I can babysit if you two need some alone time.” Bettye kissed her and hurried out the back door.

While a tall shadow stood at the front door.

Sophia opened it and saw Adan standing there with a bouquet of colorful flowers, and her heart did a dance of pure bliss. But when she looked down and saw the adorable little golden-haired girl who stood with him, she knew her second chance had finally come.

“She has your eyes,” she said to Adan. Then she bent down and said, “Hi. You must be Gaylen.”

Gaylen giggled and smiled. “Uh-huh. Are you Soapy?”

Sophia laughed and nodded. “I am. I am Soapy.”

Then she stood and smiled at Adan. “Welcome back, Ranger-Man.”

He grinned and ushered his daughter into the cabin.

Then he kicked the door shut and pulled Sophia into his arms. “Happy New Year.”

“It will be,” she said, “now that you’re here.”

When they heard Gaylen’s exclamation, they both looked down. But the little girl wasn’t looking at them. She was twirling around the cabin. “I wuv this place,” she announced, clapping her hands together in glee. “Is this your playhouse, Soapy?”

Adan winked at Sophia. “Told you so. We both love this place.” Then he whispered in Sophia’s ear. “And... I love you, too.”

Sophia was so glad to hear that. “Good. I love you, Adan. And this time I won’t have to tie you to the bedposts to keep you here.”

“I don’t know. Might be fun.” He laughed out loud and then he ran to show his little girl around their new playhouse.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from WINTER’S KISS by Beth Andrews.

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Winter's Kiss

by Beth Andrews

PROLOGUE

I
F
SOMETHING
SEEMS
too good to be true, Daphne Lynch’s mother had always told her, then it probably is. Especially if that something is a man.

Hard-earned wisdom from a woman who’d been burned not once, but twice by men who’d swept her off her feet only to stand by and watch as she landed flat on her ass.

Daphne knew her mother had reasons—valid ones—to feel the way she did. To want to protect herself from being let down again. From being hurt. But Daphne didn’t want to live life that way. Afraid to trust. Afraid to love.

Life was about taking chances. Seeing the good that was out there and, most importantly, believing in that good.

So when she’d received an email from her father over a year ago—the first time she’d heard from Michael Lynch in six years—she’d been cautious. She may be only seventeen but she wasn’t stupid. Far from it. And she hadn’t forgotten what he’d done to her and her mother. What he’d done to Zach. She couldn’t. Just as she wouldn’t forget what type of man he’d been.

But she’d also been curious. Optimistic. Willing to give him a second chance. So she’d begun a correspondence with him over the last year. Hopeful, and eager even, to believe him when he’d said he’d changed.

Guess she wasn’t all that smart after all.

Because it was now pretty clear that while Michael Lynch had changed physically over the last seven years—his face was puffier and more heavily lined, his once trim frame carried thirty extra pounds, his black hair was threaded with gray—the transformation was only superficial. The man approaching her was older and harder-looking, but he hadn’t changed. Not really.

Not where it counted.

She glanced up and down the long, exterior walkway that circled George Grant High School’s second-floor science wing and overlooked a pristine, tranquil courtyard. No one else was around. Exactly how she’d wanted it. She’d arrived at school early, checked in with the headmaster and asked for permission to slip outside for some privacy to go over her speech. Bad idea. She should have stayed in the cafeteria, where her classmates were assembling.

Sitting in a patch of warm sunlight on one of the wooden benches that lined the school’s wall, she watched her father walk toward her, his gait unsteady enough to have him reaching for the railing of the banister every few steps, his face unshaven. Her fingers curled around her note cards, bending the edges. She prayed like mad she was wrong. That he was walking that way because he’d hurt his leg. That he sported a gray, bristly beard and disheveled hair and clothes because he’d been sick and unable to properly take care of himself.

“There she is,” Michael said. “Class valedictorian!”

His slurred words bounced off the side of the building and floated over the green grass and immaculate flower beds below, scaring two robins into flight. He stopped in front of her, his eyes rimmed red, the stench of alcohol emanating off of him.

Crap. She glanced at the heavens. Thanks for nothing.

Guess she wasn’t getting any help from God. Not with this. Her father was here, right in front of her, big as life and completely wasted.

Daphne swallowed and slowly got to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

He grinned and she had a glimpse of what he must have looked like before she was born, before the drink and drugs and his pack-a-day habit had taken its toll. A glimpse that told her, exactly, why her mother had fallen for him in the first place. It seemed not even moms were immune to a pretty face.

Her mom had been more susceptible than most.

“You didn’t think I’d miss my baby girl’s graduation, did you?” he asked.

“You’ve missed every other major event or milestone in my life,” she pointed out. Including the ones during the time when they actually lived in the same house. Birthdays, dance recitals and softball games to name a few. Times when she’d actually wanted him there. Until she’d realized she was better off without him. “So, yeah. I thought you’d miss this one. Especially as you weren’t invited.”

This was all her fault. She never should have told him about being named valedictorian. Shouldn’t have mentioned the date of her graduation. And since she was on a roll, she may as well add “being secret email pen pals for the past fourteen months” and “believing he was sober” to her list of mistakes.

Stupid list. It just grew and grew and grew.

“Now is that any way to talk to your father?” His tone remained friendly, if a bit quieter, but his eyes narrowed, warning her to be careful. Reminding her exactly what he was capable of.

She took a step toward the door leading to the cafeteria. Her one saving grace was that if she screamed, someone would hear. Would come to see what was happening.

Well, probably. If she yelled really, really loud.

Except, once they came, she’d have to explain why Michael was here. Who he was.

Her classmates and teachers would all get a firsthand look at who she’d come from. Her mother, currently sitting out in the blazing Texas sun, waiting for the graduation ceremony to begin, would know that Daphne had been emailing Michael for months. She’d be disappointed. Angry. But that wouldn’t compare to how upset Zach would be once he found out.

And her older brother would find out. No doubt about that. Her mother never could keep a secret. Zach would know how stupid Daphne had been. How she’d betrayed him.

She couldn’t let that happen.

So no screaming or asking for help. She got herself into this mess. She’d get herself out.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she told her father as she took another step away from him.

“I’m not here to cause any trouble. I just wanted to see you. It’s a proud day for a father when his only daughter graduates at the top of her class.”

The worst part? She almost believed him. Wanted to trust he told the truth. How pitiful was that? Maybe her mother had it right. Being cynical really was the way to go. Zach had certainly embraced that concept.

“I don’t want you here,” Daphne told him slowly. Concisely. She lifted her chin. “I mean it. Leave. Or else I’ll tell security to escort you off the premises.”

Because when you went to one of Houston’s snootiest private schools, you could make demands like that. Even if you were there thanks to a scholarship and the generosity of a family that wasn’t your own.

Michael held up his hands as if to show he was harmless, but she remembered the damage those hands could do. The sharp crack of his open palm across her mother’s face. The sickening thump of his fists pummeling Zach.

The memories, combined with the smell of Michael’s body odor and the stale cigarette smoke clinging to him, made her stomach turn. She breathed shallowly through her mouth until the nausea passed. Zach. He’d been her confidant and best friend her entire life. Her protector. He’d kept her safe, was a solid, strong presence, there to lean on when things got tough, lending a shoulder when the only solution was a cry-fest. Whenever she made a mistake—and sometimes it seemed as if she did nothing but—he stepped in, took over and fixed it.

He fixed her. Always.

Thank God he wasn’t here to see this screwup.

Because today’s mistake came in the form of six feet of what she knew could quickly turn into a mean, belligerent drunk. A ghost from their past she was sure Zach only wanted to forget.

And she’d practically invited Michael back into their lives again. Into her life. As if she’d forgotten how he’d hurt Zach. How Michael had taken his anger and bitterness out on him. How Michael had hated her brother for the simple reason that Zach was another man’s son.

Tears stung Daphne’s eyes. Sweat formed between her breasts. Oh, God, what had she done?

“I don’t mean any harm,” Michael said. “If you want to me go, I will. I just... I wanted to see you. Tell you how proud I am. I mean...look at you.” He gestured to her black cap and gown. “You’re all grown up. Graduating today and starting college in the fall. You’re doing real well for yourself.”

She raised her eyebrows. She was seventeen. If by “well for herself” he meant the minimum wage she earned at the fast-food restaurant where she worked, then yeah, she was kicking butt and taking names. Unsure what to say, she fell back on the manners her mother and Zach had instilled in her. “Thank you.”

But instead of getting him to move on his way, her words seemed to please him. He stepped closer and she shifted farther away, realizing too late he’d maneuvered her back against the wall, blocking her escape. “See, the thing is, I’ve hit a...rough patch...and could use your help.”

“My help?”

He nodded. “Five grand should cover it.”

Her eyes widened. “You want me to give you five thousand dollars?”

“Seems the least you can do, seeing as how I supported you all those years.”

Her jaw dropped. He hadn’t been a part of her life since she was ten. Even before her mother kicked him out, he’d spent his wages on booze and drugs. Not on his family. “I don’t have five thousand dollars,” she told him.

“You can get it easy enough.”

“Uh...no. I can’t.” Her
duh
may have been silent but even a drunk like him could hear it being implied.

“But we both know you can.” He edged closer and she shrank back, hating her cowardice. Her weakness. “Come on now. You’re a smart girl. Figure it out.”

And she knew what he was saying. “You think Zach is going to give me five thousand dollars?”

“If you ask him he will. He’ll do anything for his baby sister.”

She shook her head, the corner of her mortarboard scratching the wall. “No. Not this.”

“Why not? We both know he has it. And more.”

Yes, her brother had money. Lots and lots of it thanks to being one of four sons of the superrich Clinton Bartasavich, Sr. But Zach refused to use the money in his trust fund on himself, preferring to make his own way in the world.

Letting his father know he wanted nothing from him.

“Even if I thought Zach might agree to this, I would never ask him to give me that much money,” Daphne said, though she knew without doubt that he would. If she told him she needed money, he’d gladly hand it over. Would take care of her, just like he always did. “I’m not some charity case going around with my hand out, letting other people take care of me.”

She worked for everything she’d accomplished—following the example Zach had set for her. It hadn’t been easy earning the spot of valedictorian, but she’d done it by studying twice as much, twice as hard as her peers. All while working double shifts to pay for trips to the mall and to keep gas in the ancient Subaru she’d bought after her sixteenth birthday.

She wasn’t like her father.

And her point couldn’t have been clearer if she’d jabbed her father in the heart with it.

Michael grabbed her arms above her elbows, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh. “You think you’re better than me?” he whispered harshly, his foul breath washing over her. He shook her. Hard. Rapped the back of her head against the wall with a sharp crack, dislodging her graduation cap. She grew dizzy, fear coating the back of her throat. He yanked her forward, lifted her onto her toes. “I’m your father. You owe me.” Another shake, this one snapping her teeth together. “You ungrateful little bitch. You’re nothing, you hear me? Noth—”

His words were cut off, his hands wrenched from her as a rocket slammed into him, pushing him into the wooden-slat banister across from her.

Gulping in air, Daphne took a shaky step away. She stared, wide-eyed and confused at her father, now bent backward over the railing, his face pale, his hands desperately clawing at the forearm currently lodged, quite solidly if she did say so herself, against his throat.

No, it hadn’t been a rocket that had saved her. But a man. A handsome, dark-haired, broad-shouldered man in a tailored, grey suit who’d come at Michael like some bastard-seeking missile sent by the wrath of God.

“Are you okay?” Oakes Bartasavich asked her over his shoulder, all calm and collected, as if slowly crushing another person’s windpipe was just one of those things he did every day.

Maybe she was concussed. Hallucinating. Or else she’d stepped into some alternate reality, where Zach’s older half brother, a mild-mannered bajillionaire law student who used his words instead of his fists, swooped in and saved the day.

“Daphne,” he said, his voice a bit sharper, his green eyes narrowed. “Are you hurt?”

“Yes.”

His expression darkened to something very scary and un-Oakes-like before he turned back to Michael. “You son of a bitch,” Oakes hissed, leveraging more of his weight against her father’s throat, practically bending him in half. Michael’s eyes bugged out and he made horrible, gagging, gasping sounds.

“No, wait.” Crap. She rushed over and touched Oakes’s upper arm, surprised by how solid his muscles were, how...bulky. She had no idea he was so built. She tugged on his sleeve until he looked at her. “I meant, yes, I’m okay. I’m not hurt.”

But he didn’t seem to be getting it, just stared at her, rage in his eyes, his mouth a grim line. Was he in shock? Or pushed over the edge? Either way, it was up to her to talk him down. She stepped closer, sort of...stroked his arm, trying to soothe him out of this temper. Trying to bring back the man she knew. “Oakes, I’m not hurt. Really. Please let him go. He’s not worth it.”

Not worth Oakes getting into trouble over, or worse, being arrested for assault or whatever people got arrested for when they attacked drunks on the grounds of a private high school.

Finally, thankfully, Oakes blinked. He stepped back and lowered his arm. Michael sagged against the banister.

“Call 911,” Oakes told Daphne.

“What? No.” She shook her head. “No, no, no.”

He speared her with a narrow, dark look. Who was this man? Oakes was usually all smiles and charm. In the four years she’d known him she’d never, not once, seen him get even remotely angry. He was always patient, laid-back and...well...even. No ups or downs for Oakes Bartasavich. He was like the calmest of lakes. Placid.

And now he looked as if he wanted to slam her father’s head against the concrete floor, oh...a dozen or so times.