The Kringle Girls - Collection (11 page)

Except Noelle. She’d been grounded, her popping
privileges rescinded for a whole month.

Probably should have gone skinny dipping alone.

So coaxing that biker into a little play time hadn’t
been the best idea she’d ever had. But still, it was the first time she’d let
loose in months – a few drinks and a little harmless petting. It wasn’t like
they’d even
had
sex. Noelle’s unique magical resistance to the cold made
the dip in the fountain a tipsy party for her, but had had a shrinking effect
on her biker’s sensitive bits. If they both hadn’t been giggling so hard when
they got caught, Noelle would have felt sorry for the poor guy, and for her own
neglected pussy.

Noelle hadn’t realized how isolated Kringle Ranch was
when Santa had offered her the job – miles from the nearest little town. She
had a couple of trusted family friends who came in to give her a hand, but it
was a solitary life. And now that Santa had squashed her popping ability, she
couldn’t even get out of town by the usual means. Despite her outrageous
reputation, it had actually been nearly a year since her last real date, and
she was less and less interested in the truckers, bikers, and the occasional drifter
who passed through the small northern community.

For the first time in her adult life, Noelle wanted
more.

She sighed. Right now she had bigger problems.

Like how the fuck I’m supposed to get to the North
Pole without magic.

Dinner on Christmas night was mandatory, and Noelle
was sure that no matter how irked Santa was with her, he would never leave her
high and dry to spend Christmas alone. She sat down in the homey kitchen to sip
a cup of cocoa and read a book in the late afternoon gloom, not surprised when
a magical breath of air swirled through the room, and with a POP! a cute little
elf appeared cross-legged on the kitchen counter.

“Hi, Glitzy. Come to spring me from Christmas jail?”

The blonde curls bounced disapprovingly.

“Miss Noelle has been
very
naughty. Santa is
grumpy, muttering all sorts of naughty words. Mrs. Claus has been spending
weeks trying to calm him down.”

The elf looked distressed, so Noelle handed her a bag
of mini-marshmallows. Everyone knew that the best way to calm a stressed out
elf was with sugar. Glitzy inhaled a few handfuls and visibly relaxed.

“Mrs. Claus says you must come to dinner.”

“Great, let’s go.” Noelle stood, but Glitzy was
shaking her head.

“You are still punished. Mrs. Claus says to take the
North Portal door, and don’t be late!”

“And how am I supposed to get up there?”

Glitzy held out a set of car keys.

“Mother of – Glitzy, that’s a sixteen-hour drive!”

“And there’s a storm coming!” The elf was surprisingly
chipper, and Noelle narrowed her eyes.

“Dad’s had weeks to get over being ticked at me, and
he’d never risk one of us missing Christmas dinner. Mom’s up to something.
Spill.”

But the elf nervously shook her bright curls.

“Mrs. Claus says the drive will be good for you. And
anyone you pick up along the way.”

With that telling remark, Glitzy popped out, taking
the bag of marshmallows with her.

Frowning, Noelle sipped her chocolate. The North
Portal was a doorway to North Pole village, used by human friends of the family
and visiting dignitaries. It was hard to find unless you already knew where it
was, but that’s not what had Noelle worried. Her mother had started complaining
that the patter of elf feet wasn’t doing it for her anymore – she wanted
grandchildren, and Noelle suspected that sweet Mrs. Claus was sneakier than the
world gave her credit for. The man her mother had picked out for her was
probably clean cut, unspontaneous, and
normal.

Noelle grinned. Just because she had no intention of
going along with her mother’s matchmaking plans didn’t mean that she couldn’t
have a little fun along the way.

KRINGLE RANCH WAS IMPRESSIVE. Sprawling fields lightly
dusted with snow, a large stable, and a two-hundred-year-old house in beautiful
condition. Will Finley felt an odd pang of longing as he tromped up the long
driveway – a man could spend a life here, find peace here. And peace was
something that Will desperately wanted. He had finally hit rock bottom about a
month ago, when the legal nonsense was finished and Vanessa had triumphantly
headed for the South Pacific with Gene Harrison, taking Will’s fortune, his
business, and his marriage with her.

It had been a
shitty
year. After three years of
trying to make things work, Will had finally realized that growing old with
Vanessa wasn’t going to happen. He knew that some of it had been his fault – he
worked too much, getting the construction business off the ground, he was too
demanding in bed and in life, and he lacked the persona of refinement and class
that Gene donned so effortlessly. But he had been so enamored of the delicate
little brunette, who seemed to
need
him despite all their differences.
So he’d tried to change. Again and again, for three long years.

And then the shit hit the fan.

Will remembered the day with perfect clarity – Vanessa
wearing the lingerie he’d bought her for their anniversary, on their bed in the
condo she’d meticulously decorated with his money, letting his enthusiastic
business partner fuck her. It was a minor consolation that she didn’t seem any
more thrilled with his efforts than she ever had with Will’s. Vanessa knew how
to fake it, but it had taken Will a while to realize that his petite wife just
wasn’t interested in sex as anything other than a tool to get what she wanted.
And what she wanted was the veneer Gene could provide. And Will’s construction
company. Eleven months of lawyers, manipulation, and a whirlwind of accusations
later, Will found himself out on the street, his business and his ex-wife
firmly in Gene’s grimy little hands.

He’d fought hard, but now it was just a relief to let
it all go, and what he wanted was mountains, clear, cold air, and some job
where he could turn off his brain, get his hands dirty, and not think about the
holiday, women, or his completely fucked-up life.

“Son of a fucking – shit!”

The voice was feminine, lovely as a bell on the wind,
and pissed. Curious, Will rounded the last fence and saw what had to be the
crappiest hunk of junk in the state. A charitable person might call it a truck,
but it looked to be held together with chewing gum and safety pins. A female
form was bent under the raised hood, and all Will could see was a pair of
mile-long legs encased in denim, and the curves of an ass that would have had
him drooling if he were looking.

You’re not looking
, he reminded himself, but
swallowed hard anyway. No more women. Not for a while. Maybe never. The last
thing he wanted was another female sinking her claws into him, using him and
discarding him when she had gotten what she wanted. He was through.

Will cleared his throat.

“Hello?”

A clatter of tools, a muttered curse, and the woman
popped out from under the hood to regard him with bright blue eyes fringed by
insanely long, dark lashes.

Freckles,
was Will’s second thought, struck by
the cute sprinkle of dots on an even cuter nose, and the cascade of flame red
hair that swirled around her with a life of its own. His first thought had been
tits,
because the woman was
stacked
, voluptuous and stunning,
with an hourglass shape that a lingerie model would envy. But Will wasn’t
thinking about women anymore, so he focused on the freckles and tried to ignore
the hard twitch of his cock as it took instant notice of all those curves.

“This is private property, mister,” said the vision,
wiping greasy hands on an old rag.

“I’m looking for Noelle Kringle? About the job?”

“What job?” Her incredible eyes narrowed suspiciously,
and Will unfolded the letter he’d received from Mrs. Kringle, explaining that
her daughter Noelle would be grateful for an extra set of hands around the
ranch, and urging him to join her there as soon as possible. The notice had
been stapled to a telephone pole at a bus station. Tired of drifting from place
to place, Will had started looking for somewhere to settle down and start over,
and spotted the strange job notice, printed on glittery green paper. He could
have sworn it hadn’t been there when he’d passed the same spot not fifteen
minutes before on his way to get a cup of coffee. He’d written in, and was
surprised to hear back almost immediately. Though the postmark was smudged, he
could have sworn it read, “North Pole.”

Noelle snatched the letter and scanned it quickly, her
frown as dark as the gathering clouds overhead – they were in for one hell of a
storm. Maybe he shouldn’t have shown up on Christmas Eve. This beauty probably
had a boyfriend or a husband waiting for her.

“Look, if there’s some mistake…”

Tight-lipped, she folded the letter and handed it back
to him.

“No mistake. It’s my parents’ ranch. They can hire
anyone they want to.” Turning back to the truck, she made a few quick
adjustments and slammed the hood. “But I’m afraid you’re out of luck for a
couple of weeks. Everyone’s up at the Main House for Christmas. The ranch won’t
be working again until after New Year’s.”

“What about the animals?”

“Oh, they went, too.”

NOELLE HID A SMILE at the stranger’s confusion, and
gave him a once-over, not bothering to hide her growing admiration. If this was
the man her mother had picked out for her, there was no point in trying to hide
it. Subtlety wasn’t Noelle’s strong suit anyway.

The stranger was tightly-wound, that much was clear,
with lines of stress on his face, and a habit of tightly clenching and
unclenching his fingers. He wasn’t a pretty boy, but handsome in a rough way,
with stormy gray eyes and dark blond hair, and a nose that had probably been
broken at some point. Broad shoulders and a large, muscular frame completed the
picture. He didn’t have an ounce of charm, but sexuality just oozed off of him.

Or maybe that’s just me.
She’d been in sexual
withdrawal for so long that she’d almost forgotten what sex was like. Noelle
had planned to make good use of the ranch holiday closing to get reacquainted
with her vibrator, but now that fate and her mother had literally dropped this
man on her doorstep, she might as well use him to take the edge off before she
sent him on his way.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth,
she
reminded herself,
Or a gift cock.

The thought of his cock and her mouth made her
chuckle, but also sent a surprising lick of heat up her spine.

Apparently we’re interested,
noted her libido.

Noelle smiled, turning on the charm.

“Why don’t you throw your stuff in back and I’ll go
inside and grab the rest.”

“Are we going somewhere?”

“Well, my parents hired you, so you are now officially
part of the family, which means that Christmas dinner is mandatory.”

She thought he paled.

“Oh, no. Thanks, but that’s not necessary. I’m not
doing Christmas this year.”

“Man-da-to-ry. Christmas is kind of a big deal for
us.”

He hesitated.

“Do you want this job or not?”

After a tense moment, he nodded, and moved to heft his
duffel bag into the back of the pickup, pulling the tarp tightly over it.
Noelle disappeared inside for a few minutes and returned with a backpack and a
thermos, motioning him toward the passenger’s seat. Sliding into the driver’s
seat, she closed the door and noted all the delightful details of having him
this close – the spice of his cologne mixed with something all his own, and
just how
big
he seemed, filling the cab of the truck with his presence.

“We have to stop in town to fill up.”

“Just how far are we going?”

“It’s about a sixteen-hour drive.”

Will frowned.

“There’s a storm coming. I’m sure they’d understand if
you skipped it.”

“You haven’t met my family,” Noelle laughed, and
turned the key in the ignition. The truck shuddered, but started.

Will arched a skeptical brow, and Noelle patted the
dashboard.

“She’ll get us there. Don’t worry.”

She put the car in gear and headed down the driveway
to the main road. Her passenger was quiet, and that tension she’d sensed from
the moment they’d met seemed to cloak him in stress.

“So, you’re Will.”

“Yes. Will Finley.”

“Did you lose a bet or are you on the lam?”

“Sorry?”

“If you hadn’t noticed, this isn’t exactly a bustling
metropolis. You don’t end up here unless you grew up here, or you have some
serious shit you’re running away from.”

Will shifted uncomfortably.

“I just needed a change, that’s all. Besides, there’s
a nice little town here. Mountains. Clean air. Seems as good a place as any.”

Noelle snorted.

“Wait until you’ve been snowed in for two months with
only reindeer gossip for company.”

“What does that mean?” Will gave her an odd glance,
and she smiled.

“You didn’t ask about Kringle Ranch before you took
the job?”

“The letter said you were something like an endangered
reindeer preserve.”

“Something like that.”

He didn’t have a clue. Oh, this was going to be
fun.

Noelle wriggled in her seat and noted a reluctant flicker
of heat in his eyes before he quickly looked away. He was interested, but
trying like hell to hide it.

“You run the ranch by yourself?”

“Mostly,” Noelle shrugged, “The reindeer are pretty
good at letting me know what they need.”

Another odd glance, and then, “They said some pretty
strange things about you in town.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”