True-Blue Cowboy Christmas (3 page)

Dad was right. They needed help.

Summer stalked back to the Shaw ranch. She was going to make sure that girl was safe. Mel and Caleb would have more info on the guy, probably. Hopefully. They'd be able to reassure her, or help the little girl, or do whatever needed to be done.

Because in her experience, little girls didn't attempt to run away from home unless their lives were isolated and unhappy. Her experience wasn't exactly normal, of course, but that didn't matter.

She couldn't push that little niggle of fear away. Not when she knew exactly what could happen.

She burst into the Shaw house to find Delia and Caleb in the mudroom, bundled up in boots and coats. Mel stood in the hall just outside, bouncing Lissa.

“There you are. We were about to send a search party. What's going on?” Mel demanded.

“I…” It hit her with a force she didn't expect. Three people were demanding to know where she'd been, not because they were angry or inconvenienced, but because they were worried about her. She wanted to hug them all tight, maybe cry a little, but the Shaws were not the demonstrative type. There were times when she was scared to let them know how much it meant—to belong, to feel loved.

She had to clear her throat to talk, and everyone exchanged glances. They were
Summer's being emotional agai
n
looks, but she didn't mind. It was nice that they had looks that meant something about her.

“I thought I saw someone down at the caravan, and when I got there, there was a little girl.”

“A little girl?” Caleb repeated. “How little?”

“Probably elementary-school age. I guess she was lost. Her father found her, but…”

“That was probably the Lane girl. The fence on the east side of your caravan is on the line between our ranch and the Lane property. She'd be about that age,” Mel offered.

“And you know them?”

“Well, sort of. I mean, when I was running Shaw, Thack and Merle and I would talk on occasion. Good ranchers.”

“But are they good
people
? Do you think that girl is safe?”

“Safe?” Mel exchanged a look with Caleb, but it was one of their unreadable sibling looks that didn't make Summer smile. That kind made her feel set apart, left out. She might be their sister, but she hadn't grown up with them. She was still an outsider.

“I've never had any reason to believe the Lanes are anything but good people.”

“It's just that he was angry with her. And…I don't know. I got a weird vibe.” She turned to her sister-in-law, because unfortunately she knew Delia was her best target on this.

“It's not really your business, Summer,” Mel said.

If someone had
made
it their business when she was a little girl, she wouldn't have been used like a prop, like a doll, having to fend off inappropriate advances for most of her childhood. Dodging the volatile whims of a woman Summer didn't understand to this day.

“Look, Summer, I know Thack Lane too. He isn't the type,” Delia offered, as an attempt to appease, Summer supposed.

“Because there's only one type?” It wasn't like her to lash out at Delia. Considering Delia would know all about what an actual abusive father looked like, Summer knew she shouldn't have. “I'm sorry. I just got a feeling and wanted to make sure I was overreacting.”

“I think you are,” Mel said firmly. “The Lanes have been through a lot. I know you mean well—of course you do. But if his daughter was lost, Thack was probably worried sick. Wandering off in these parts can have real consequences for kids.”

Mel seemed to hold her bundle a little tighter, and Summer blew out a breath. She should trust these people, people who actually knew the family.

“He glared at me like I'd been the one to let his child wander off his property.”

“I'll have a talk with him.”

Summer looked balefully at her brother. The note of protectiveness in his voice warmed her heart, but it wasn't what she wanted. “I don't need to be protected from the big, bad wolf. I just need to know that no one should be stepping in on the little girl's behalf.”

“I'd be very surprised, Summer.”

Which didn't tell her much of anything. That little girl had been alone on Summer's property, cold and
alone
. Scared…before her father had arrived.

But even if her siblings didn't see a problem, that didn't mean Summer shouldn't listen to her gut. She could make sure the little girl was okay on her own.

How, she had no idea, but she'd think on it until she thought of something.

* * *

“I'm not going to put fliers up, for Christ's sake,” Thack said to his father while cleaning up Midnight after a full day of ranch maintenance. Kate was making a snowman just outside the barn in the fading twilight, and Thack looked at her so often that it was taking twice as long as usual to get the horse bedded for the evening.

“How else are you going to find someone?”

“I'll ask her teacher when I drop her off at school Monday. Maybe she'll know someone trustworthy. Or I'll ask Garrett.” Surely between a police officer and a school employee who had to have background checks, he could find
someone
he could trust his daughter with. His girl, the seven-year-old who was his entire life, whom he'd promised to protect from everything.

Sure, there was someone out there he could trust.
And Midnight could grow wings and fly.

“I called up Cal.”

“Cal Shaw?” Dad had been good friends with Cal Shaw years ago, but ever since Cal's paralysis and both men losing their wives to different things—cancer, divorce—Cal had been something of a hermit.

“I was asking about that daughter of his. The mystery one. He said she's a nice girl. Does a bit of housekeeping for him and Caleb, though not as much now that Caleb's gotten married.”

“This better not be going where I think it's going.”

“I know it's a bit silly, but Kate wants the fairy queen, so why not—”

“No.”

“Yes! The fairy queen. Da-a-addy.”

Somehow Kate was in between them in a flash, jumping up and down and clapping her gloved hands together. “Please, Daddy. Please, please, please—”

“You don't even know her.” He raised his gaze to his father. “And as much as I always liked Cal, I'm not sure I trust his judgment these days. Not with Caleb running things.”

“Married now.”

“To as big of a screwup as he was.”

“Well, we ain't asking those two. We'd be asking the younger one.”

“On Cal's word? We don't know anything about her—where she came from, why she's a mystery, where the hell she's been.”

“Cal said his wife was pregnant when she left for California. So, that's where she's been.”

“And that's that?”

“I'm not saying that's that. I'm saying it's what your little girl wants. You might as well look into it.”

“Did you talk to Mel?”

“She wasn't there. Living over at the old Paulle place with that hockey-player husband of hers. They have a baby and—”

“Yes, I know.” Thack didn't understand his dad's love of knowing what was going on with everyone in Blue Valley. Didn't they have enough on their own plate without knowing everyone else's business?

“Daddy. She's in the book! It's like a sign. Like…like…Mary Poppins or something. I dreamed her, and she appeared.”

“That isn't it at all, honey.”

“Oh, let the girl have her daydreams.”

Thack pressed his lips together so he wouldn't respond. He didn't like arguing with Dad in front of Kate, especially since it always made him look like the bad guy. He loved his daughter's imagination, but he didn't think he needed to encourage her real-life application of it.

“I'm going to talk to a few people and see if they know of anyone. We have to find someone we can
all
trust, and someone who's…going to be a good role model.” Thack rolled his eyes at himself because Kate certainly did not care about having a good role model.

But
he
cared. He wanted someone who was going to take the job, and Kate, and his wishes seriously. Someone who wasn't going to leave if they got a better job or decided to move. Kate needed a solid core. She'd lost enough without ever really knowing it.

Life might have a way of taking people from him, from her, but that didn't mean he had to willingly expose Kate to more hurt.

“Son.”

Thack hated when Dad used that soft, concerned tone of voice on him. The sympathetic one. Because for all Dad's faults, he'd always been here, trying to make the best out of being one parent, the only parent.

Thack had been a teenager when his mother died, but he knew it wouldn't matter if Kate were older. He'd still worry, and he still wouldn't measure up.

“It's not going to be perfect.”

“It'll be as close as I can get,” Thack returned, finishing up with Midnight. “Ready for dinner, Katie Pie?”

“I was reading this book where they had dessert first, and—”

“No.”

Although his seven-year-old argued with him the whole walk back to the house, her red-mittened hand tucked in his, and even with the weight of the world on his shoulders, Thack could only be damn grateful for moments that seemed just about right.

The next morning, Summer woke to the strangest sound. Her caravan door bumped with a series of little thumps, barely audible over the furiously tinkling wind chimes. Summer sat up on her mattress and drew the curtain away from her window to find the world mostly dark.

There was a glow on the horizon toward the Shaw ranch, but the sky was covered in thick clouds that made the light faint at best. She scrubbed a hand over her face, trying to wake herself fully.

The odd thumping persisted. Maybe a board or some part of the roof was loose outside. With all the wind and the threatening winter storms, it would make sense.

Summer ignored the odd sense of foreboding that rippled from that sound. She rolled out of bed and pulled on her winter yoga clothes, layer after layer, to ward off the subzero temperatures. Come rain or shine, snow or blizzard gale, she took her fifteen minutes to reflect on where she had been and where she was now in order to wake up enough to engage with the day.

This time to herself was why she didn't live at the big house, even though she'd been invited. For the first time in her life, she had privacy and solace. Sure, it was a little lonely, but sometimes being with the Shaws was lonely too.

She loved them, she did. But even after over a year, they treated her like a bit of a museum artifact. Sometimes they seemed reluctant to touch her or to fold her into things too easily. Maybe they were afraid of being reminded of the ways their lives had diverged or that Summer was hiding something about their mother.

Mel and Caleb were two of the strongest people she'd ever met. And that wasn't even counting all they'd done to keep the ranch afloat on their own after their father's accident. Information about their mother had been too much to put on their shoulders after Cal's paralysis and withdrawal from the world.

Summer blew out a breath, got the wood-burning stove going for her morning tea, and then grabbed the detachable stairs she had to put on the ground to step down from the caravan.

But when she unlatched and opened her door, she gasped. The odd thumping sound hadn't been from any storm.

It was the little girl, dressed in red, clutching a book under her arm.

“Hi,” she offered above the whirling wind.

“Hi.” Summer had to swallow so her heart would stop pounding in her throat. “Are you lost again?”

The girl shook her head. “No. I wanted to show you something.”

“Does your father know you're here?”

The girl smiled, a guilty smile that showed off a dimple and way too much charm for anyone's good. “Here. Look at page twenty-eight.” She thrust the book at Summer, completely ignoring the question.

Summer had to fight back a return smile. Little Kate was adorable. Formidable, really, and Summer was almost jealous. She couldn't resist stepping down the stairs and opening the book to page twenty-eight. It was a well-loved book about a fairy kingdom, illustrated in a whimsical, almost old-fashioned way.

On the designated page was a painting of a fairy queen with Summer's hair and eye colors, standing next to her palace. Summer smiled. She didn't look exactly like the fairy queen, but based on the conversation yesterday, she knew where the girl was going.

“Sadly, I don't have wings.”

“But wouldn't it be amazing if you did? I used to wish for wings every night.”

It made Summer a little sad that Kate had already outgrown wishing for something. Even if the girl had new, just as fantastical wishes, she'd already given up on one. “It would be. I think I'd fly to the top of that mountain and watch the sun rise above the clouds.”

The girl's face split into a grin so sweet and beautiful that it seemed to light the air around them. “And you could turn the snowcaps into gold and make glitter come out of the sky instead of snow.” Round blue eyes met hers. “Don't you think that'd be pretty? Gold glitter snow. And then there'd be gold-capped mountains instead. Right? Wouldn't that be magic?”

Magic. Oh, it was hard to resist anyone who believed in magic and gold-capped mountains.

“Thank you for showing me.” Summer held the book back to the girl. “That seems like a really important book. We should probably get you home before it snows. Do you know the way back to your house?”

“Yup.”

Even so, Summer wouldn't feel right letting the little girl go on her way alone. “All right, sweetheart. I'm going to walk with you, but first I need you to promise me that…everything is okay there. Because if it's not, I will help. I promise.”

Kate cocked her head. “So, if I said it's not okay…”

Summer's heart beat hard in her chest, and she knelt until she was eye level with Kate. Carefully, gently, she touched the girl's shoulder. “I'd help you get away. I
promise
.”

Kate frowned. “Oh, I don't want to get
away
.”

“Oh.” Summer couldn't figure this out. Kate really didn't seem scared or desperate to escape. But then why did she keep showing up?

“I just get bored. Grandpa can't play the games I want to play, and Daddy has to work, and I want to explore.” She flung her arms wide. “Like in all my books. I want to hike in the woods and build tents and catch fairies and…” She blew out a frustrated breath. “Daddy doesn't let me do
anything
.” She mumbled something after that, but Summer didn't catch it.

Summer got back to her feet. She really did need to get Kate home.

“Let me grab a wrap.” She reached inside the door and pulled out the first piece of fabric her hand landed on—a crocheted shawl she'd picked up at some thrift store along the way. It wouldn't do much to ward off the cold, but combined with what she was already wearing, it should do for what was hopefully a short walk there and back.

She locked the caravan door and studied the little girl looking up at the dark, swirling sky with a gap-toothed grin.

So no immediate danger, and the girl didn't want to escape, but that didn't mean everything was good. Especially if her father wasn't letting her do anything, and she was somehow sneaking out at the crack of dawn.

Something wasn't right. Summer couldn't get over that feeling, and she'd learned to trust her gut. It had gotten her this far in her new life, and she couldn't stop trusting it now.

“All right, lead the way.”

“You know, Daddy is going to get somebody to come watch me in the afternoons.” Kate slanted Summer a very adult look as they walked through the trees.

“What does your daddy do?” She helped Kate through the fence, then managed to get over it herself.

“Oh, Daddy is like a real-life cowboy. He doesn't like when I say that, though. He says, ‘Katherine, I am a rancher. There is a big difference between a cowboy and a rancher.'” She had adopted a low voice and a different posture, and Summer couldn't keep herself from smiling.

Summer wanted to ask about the girl's mother, but she held her tongue. She knew what it was like to be asked about a missing parent when you didn't know how to answer. The girl's mother didn't seem to be in the picture, one way or another. Maybe her father was trying his best, and he was simply overwhelmed. Although, honestly, wasn't it awfully irresponsible to allow the girl to keep escaping like she did?

A house came into view, and Summer's steps slowed. It was…amazing. A vision of what the Shaw ranch could have been if everything at Shaw hadn't been beaten down by age and bad luck. It was a little colorless, maybe, but the cabin was made of gleaming wood that was clearly taken care of year in and year out. There were two peaked windows on the second floor, a stone chimney, and a wraparound porch with a swing that looked like it might need a few repairs, but which somehow added homeyness to the picture.

With craggy mountains in the background, the house was absolutely beautiful, even in the murky dark of a stormy morning. Summer could just imagine it lit up for Christmas, colorful lights wreathed against the pristine snow…

“Daddy is doing chores in the stables. And Grandpa does his secret chores until—”

“Secret chores?” Summer followed Kate around the house toward a stable, also gleaming and sturdy and so different from what they had at Shaw that it was almost jarring. She'd never really considered that there would be parts of Blue Valley without that aura of years of struggle, of being beaten down and out.

No wonder Kate believed in magic. This place
looked
like magic.

“Grandpa has a hard time breathing sometimes, and Daddy said there's certain things he can't do. So Grandpa does his secret chores when Daddy's busy. I can't tell Daddy, but I think he knows.”

Summer blinked and tried to wrap her mind around all of that—what it might mean, and what it told her about this place. Kate only talked about two men. Dad and Grandpa. There seemed to be a lot of secrets between all three of them.

Kate stopped a few feet away from the stable and offered that charming smile up to Summer. “We don't
have
to tell Daddy I came to your fairy palace. We could just say…”

“I think it's really important we tell your dad the truth.” Summer paused, resisting the urge to touch the girl's arm again. She clutched the shawl closer to her chest instead. “Unless you're afraid.”

Kate seemed to consider this, and Summer held her breath. It had nothing to do with her, but she just…she had to step in if the girl needed it. Maybe she'd found this place for a reason and—

“But if you tell, I lose TV privileges for a
week
.”

Summer blew out a breath. TV privileges. For heaven's sake. “Well.”

“And Grandpa's TV shows are stupid. So, so stupid. It's always people yelling. And then
he
yells at them. And I can't read when he's yelling ‘
You greedy bastards
.'”

Summer had to press her lips together not to laugh. The girl certainly had her impressions down. “No, that doesn't sound very fun. But, you can't keep coming over if you're not supposed to.”

Her whole face lit up. “But I can come over if I have permission?”

“Well, sure. I'm not always home, but I'd be happy to have some company.”

Kate clapped her hands together, then grabbed Summer's. “Come on. You just have to make Daddy say yes.”

“I don't know—” But Kate was pulling, and Summer couldn't bring herself not to follow. It sounded like the girl did need some fun time, if all she had were a working father and a yelling-at-the-TV grandfather. Summer had to wonder if Kate had friends at school, or if that was against the rules too. Would she have friends to trick-or-treat with or spend Christmas break making snowmen with?

Kate pulled Summer to the door of the stables and then inside. The ground was covered with hay, and there were rows of stalls. Where Shaw only had two horses, this place had at least eight, in a range of different colors. Their sleek heads stuck out over the gates of their stalls.

Kate's father stepped out of one stall, carrying a shovel full of horse poop. He had in earbuds, apparently listening to music as he worked.

The stable was warm, so Summer let the shawl fall to the crook of her elbows. She supposed she should be the one to say something first, but he disappeared into a corner.

Kate marched toward him undeterred, but Summer felt suddenly wary. When he came back into view, he was hefting a bag of feed from a back corner, a low humming sound coming from his mouth.

His back was three-quarters of the way toward them, broad and strong and…um. Wow. He was…
strong
.

The glow of overhead lights glinted against his dark hair and what looked to be a day or two of whisker growth.

Summer tried to swallow or look away or something, but her eyes were glued to the outline of his arm underneath the heavy fabric of his work shirt.

She didn't like this man, so there was certainly no way she could be attracted to him. Besides, he…he…

Muscles.

He happened to glance to the side, then swore, dropping the feed as he turned. He tugged the earbuds free. “You scared the…” He pressed his mouth into a firm line, arms crossed over his impressive chest as he glared daggers at her.

No, it was not an impressive chest. She'd met lots of cowboys—er—ranchers since she'd moved to Blue Valley, and a lot of them were in decent shape and…

Old.

And plenty were attractive and…

Old.

He
wasn't old. He wasn't family either. He was…hot.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, trying to draw in a cleansing breath. So what if he was hot? So what if his eyes were a kind of unearthly green? She shook her head. He was a jerk, and his poor little girl needed a friend. So she opened her eyes.

“What did you do, Kate?” he demanded of the girl standing next to her, her shoulders back, charming smile in place.

“Well, Daddy…um. I wanted to ask you if I could…” Kate tugged on Summer's shirt until Summer somehow, with way more effort than should be necessary, looked away from the imposing, angry,
hot
—no—

Kate motioned her close, and Summer bent down so her ear was close to Kate's mouth.

“What's your name?” she whispered.

“Oh, um.” Summer glanced at Kate's father, who looked like he was about to charge across the room, toss her over his shoulder, and…

Oh, wow, no. That was not a turn-on. It was menacing and scary. Or so she was going to tell herself.

“Summer. My name is Summer,” she replied, forgetting to whisper.

“Go inside, Katherine.”

“But, Daddy, Summer said I can go over to her house if I have permission. And I think it'd be really fun to—”

“Inside. Now.”

Kate turned and looked at Summer, rolling her eyes in a gesture so teen-like that Summer had to fight a smile. But then looking at Kate's furious father, the urge vanished completely as Kate trudged away.