Strangers When We Meet (18 page)

“Damned right, you could.”

“The thought’s crossed my mind more than once.”

“Mine, too.” Clint lunged for the phone. “I’m calling Scott
Hunter.”

Maureen reached out and stopped him from punching in the
highway patrol lieutenant’s number. “No. This is Scott and Laurel’s first
Thanksgiving together. There’s nothing he can do tonight, anyway.”

“First thing tomorrow morning, then. You think it could have
been Nevil who shot Blake Weston, don’t you?”

“Yes.” She couldn’t hide her fears from Clint. She didn’t want
to.

“Me, too. I’ve got a permanent crick in my neck from looking
over my shoulder all the time.”

“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t
following you,” she said as lightly as she could. She felt the corded muscles
in his arm relax slightly. She picked up his tie and slipped it around his neck,
knotting it the way she used to when he was a little boy getting ready for
Sunday school. “I’m a big girl, Clint. I was a cop. A good one. I can take care
of myself.”

“You don’t have eyes in the back of your head.”

“That’s what you’re here for, bro. To watch my back.”

“So what do we do next?” She took his jacket off the back of
the chair and held it so he could slip his arms into the sleeves.

“You’re going to pick up that incredibly delicious-looking
turkey and carry it into the dining room, and I’m going to put on my best
innkeeper’s smile and say to our guests, “‘Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is
served.’“

* * * * *

Welcome to Twin Oaks—the new B and B in Cooper’s Corner. Some come
for pleasure, others for passion—and one to set things straight...

COOPER’S CORNER,

a Harlequin continuity series,

continues with

MY CHRISTMAS COWBOY

by Kate Hoffmann

Bah humbug! That’s what single mom Grace Penrose felt about
Christmas this year. Grace was in charge of the annual Cooper’s Corner Christmas
Festival, and so far there was no snow, moths had eaten the pageant costumes and
the sleigh-ride horses had just been sold to Montana rancher Tucker McCabe.

Here’s a preview!

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CHAPTER ONE

T
UCK
CAREFULLY
FOLDED
the bill of sale and slipped it into the breast pocket of his canvas jacket. ‘‘I have to hit the road,’’ he muttered. ‘‘I’ve got to be in Pennsylvania by nightfall.”

All hope drained from her expression and she reluctantly nodded. ‘‘I—I suppose you have a wife waiting for you at home. Big plans for the holiday.”

“Nope,’’ he replied as he jogged down the steps and headed to the barn. ‘‘No wife. But I do have plans.’’ Plans to find himself a woman. But he couldn’t say that out loud.

“Why do you even want these horses? You haven’t even looked at them.”

“My friend at Tufts has, and he says they’re a good buy. And I’ve been looking for some harness-broke stock for a while.”

She was beside him in an instant, her fingers clutched around his arm. He stopped and only then realized the effect of such an innocent touch. God, he really did need a woman! ‘‘Let me make you another offer I don’t think you’ll be able to refuse,’’ she said.

He stared down at her. Tuck wasn’t sure what it was about Grace Penrose that he found so appealing, whether it was her guileless beauty or her unabashed pluck, but he suspected once she turned those huge doe eyes on any man, he’d have a hard time refusing. Hell, why not listen to her offer? He didn’t have any place to be. Pennsylvania could wait. And that warm, willing woman would be there when he needed her—hell, she might be here in... Massachusetts? ‘‘All right,’’ he muttered. ‘‘I guess my plans could wait. Let’s hear it.”

“I can offer you the picture-perfect New England holiday experience,’’ Grace said. ‘‘You’ll enjoy Christmas here, in Cooper’s Corner. I get you a room at our very popular bed-and-breakfast, the Twin Oaks Inn. It’s a lovely place. I’ll pay for the feed for your horses.”

“What about my kids?’’ he asked.

“Kids?”

“I have nine kids in the trailer. They have to be fed, too.”

Grace’s eyes went wide. ‘‘You—you let children ride in a smelly old horse trailer?”

The look of sheer horror on her face was enough to make the misunderstanding worthwhile. ‘‘Yeah, come on.’’ He took her hand and pulled her along after him. ‘‘I want to introduce you. After all, you’ll be spending a lot of time together in the next few weeks. And they do love to eat.”

She tagged along after him, and when they reached the trailer he unhitched the door and swung it open. Tuck hopped inside and held out his hand. Grace reluctantly took it, then followed him into the dark interior of the trailer. When they reached the front, Tuck leaned over a rope barrier. ‘‘These are my kids,’’ he said.

Grace pasted a smile on her face and stepped up beside him. Her smile faded. ‘‘These are goats,’’ she said.

“Kids. Young goats are called kids.”

“I—I thought— I mean, when you said ‘kids,’ I assumed you meant—”

“I know what you assumed,’’ he said. ‘‘No wife, no plans and no children, either.”

She studied the goats for a long moment. ‘‘All right, nine goats and four horses. Silas has already agreed that you can keep them in his barn until the festival is over. So that solves one problem. I think I can get Dave over at the feed store to donate food for the animals. Do we have a deal?”

“Not so fast,’’ Tuck said, enjoying the barter a little too much. ‘‘We’ve decided how to feed my animals. What about me?”

Grace blinked. ‘‘You?”

“Who’s going to feed me? If I’m correct, a bed-and-breakfast only provides breakfast. I’ll need lunch and dinner.”

“Well, I suppose I could give you a small stipend for your meals. There’s a nice little café in town where you could—”

“Naw. I’m not much for eating out. How are you in the kitchen?”

“What?”

“I’m pretty much a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy. Nothin’ too fancy. I like my lunch at noon and dinner at five. In between, I can fend for myself.”

Grace gasped. ‘‘You expect me to cook for you?”

Tuck watched the expression of horror return to her face. She was so easy to tease, and so pretty to look at. Grace Penrose probably appeared quite plain to the casual observer. But looks could be deceiving. A man had to look closer—to the perfect complexion and the wide, sensual mouth. To eyes that mirrored her every emotion and to a voice that could make a man go crazy with lust just listening to it. To a body not fashionably thin, but feminine, with curves in all the right places.

Not that he was looking, Tuck told himself. Grace was definitely not the kind of woman he usually associated with, the kind of woman who wore her desire on the outside. She wasn’t the kind of woman a guy just seduced, then dumped. Grace Penrose was the kind of woman that a guy—a nice guy—might marry.

Tuck swallowed hard. ‘‘And I expect some help caring for the horses and the goats. If my horses are going to appear in public, they’re going to have to look good. And that takes work. Hard work.”

She thought about the deal for a long moment, then nodded. ‘‘All right. It’s a deal.”

Tuck smiled. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad holiday season after all. It would be like a little vacation, a stay in a picturesque New England town with all his needs catered to by a pretty woman. He glanced down at the hand she offered, and he took her fingers in his, wondering at the warmth that seeped up his arm at her touch. ‘‘Deal,’’ he murmured. He let his grasp linger for a moment before he dropped her hand. ‘‘Now, why don’t you and I get my goats unloaded, then we’ll take my stuff over to this bed-and-breakfast place.”

Grace pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, then nodded, watching the goats warily. ‘‘Do goats bite?”

Tuck chuckled. She was quite a woman, this Grace Penrose. And he was looking forward to knowing her a little better.

* * * * *

ISBN: 9781460313008

Copyright © 2002 by Harlequin Books S.A.

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