“Is it always so cold here in the winter?”
Stone turned and nodded. Her eyes reflected her
worries. “I’m sorry,
Winter
. For once, I wanted to be
selfish and have what I wanted for a change. I didn’t mean to hurt you or
Rachael.”
Waiting for a reply, his whole body tensed. She turned
away from him and gravitated toward the fire. Snoopy whined and rubbed against
Winter’s
leg.
Finally, she whirled to face him. “Yes, you’re being
selfish but you’ve been selfish in the past. This isn’t my first go round with
you, and to my shame, I didn’t learn my lesson the first time. I’ll live and
I’ll be just fine, but that little girl upstairs is my main concern. How could
you give her the idea that I was to be her new mother? Why would you do such a
thing?”
Worried, he crossed the room and took her hands,
wanting to explain but she pulled her hands away.
“If you expect me to be thankful for giving me a roof
over my head, you can forget it.” Winter began to pace. “I have no choice, for
now. I don’t want you to touch me. I also noticed that you don’t have someone
to take care of Rachael all day. What do you do with her?”
“I had a housekeeper. She left after she got
pregnant.”
She gasped, and Stone could tell by the anger on her
face that she assumed he got the girl pregnant. “I didn’t do it. She got
married and left.”
“How long ago?”
“It wasn’t long ago.”
Putting her hands on her hips, she stared at him.
“When?”
“Okay, it was right before the cruise, but that isn’t
why I wanted you here.”
“Tell you what, since I highly doubt that anyone will
be traveling in the next few weeks, I’ll look after Rachael and do whatever
needs to be done around here to earn my pay. Before you start running victory
laps just remember that I’m on to you and
your
no
good, lying ways!”
A kick to his gut would have felt better. “I’m sorry.”
“Just show me my room. I’m feeling awfully tired.”
His heart ached. Winter looked weary and upset and it
was his doing. When it came to his personal life, he was hopeless. “It’s this
way.”
“Stone?”
“What?”
“Where is Clare? Why would Rachael need a new mother
if she already has one?”
Stone opened the door to the guest room. He made sure
that it had been cleaned and ready. It was a bit flowery for him, but he knew
that
Winter
loved flowers. He stepped aside, allowing
Winter
to enter first, then he followed being careful not to
touch her.
“Clare left shortly after Rachael’s birth. I haven’t
seen her and we communicate through our lawyers. She gets a huge check from me
every month and that seems to keep her away.”
“Does she realize how much she’s missing? Rachael is a
lovely girl.”
“Rachael is better off here with me. She knows she’s
loved and Clare isn’t the motherly type. She’s too selfish.”
Nodding, she gave him a slight smile “I need to lay
down for a bit.”
“Okay,
Winter
. I’m glad you’re here.” He gave her a long,
penetrating stare and closed the door behind him.
Chapter Six
The wind blew hard, howling incessantly against the
windows. Winter added wood to the fire but it wasn’t the fire that caused the
ice shard in her heart to start melting. At first light, she woke, fixed
breakfast, and made the fire. Never did she expect to see Stone standing so
close to her with his shirt unbuttoned looking so delicious. She’d seen him in
his bathing suit on the cruise, but somehow it wasn’t the same.
The sculpted muscles in his chest made her throb and
his rock hard abs had her thinking of how delightful, sinfully
delightful,
it would be to run her hands over him.
“Are you all right? You look a little flushed.” Stone
gave her a knowing smile.
Her face flamed. She’d forgotten how cocky Stone could
be. “I don’t know what you’re referring to.” She headed back to the stove,
Snoopy at her heels.
Little footsteps came running down the stairs. Rachael
ran right by her father and launched herself at
Winter
,
who bent down and wrapped her arms around the beautiful child. Looking at
Stone, she could see that he wasn’t happy to have been bypassed. Winter sported
a shit-
eatin
’ grin but she couldn’t help it. He
deserved it.
“Morning, Rachael.” Stone walked toward them.
“Hi, Daddy.”
Rachael’s smile was one of complete happiness. “Guess what?”
“What?”
“Winter is still here. I know what that means!”
Winter knew by Rachael’s delight what she thought was
going on and instantly she glared at Stone. This was his fault. Unfortunately,
she didn’t have the heart to correct Rachael. It was something Stone would have
to do and he could deal with the fall out of his conniving ways.
“Mommy, I mean, Winter, can we make a snowman later?”
Rachael’s big, gray eyes pleaded with her.
“Well let’s eat!” Stone lifted Rachael and put her in
a chair.
Before he could pull his own chair out,
Winter
blocked him. “I don’t think you’re hungry.”
Stone studied her
face,
she
knew it was painted with anger. He nodded slowly, grabbed his jacket, gloves,
and Stetson, and then walked out the door. Snoopy barked and ran out with him.
Stunned by the way she talked to
Stone,
she clamped her hand over her mouth. He brought out the worst in her.
“Daddy’s always hungry,” Rachael fretted.
“I gave him something to chew on, don’t you worry.
After breakfast you can help me clean the kitchen and then I will help you
build a snowman.”
Rachael quickly dove into the pancakes in front of
her.
Sitting down,
Winter
started
to eat. Damn her conscience. Now she felt bad about making Stone go without
breakfast. He was a tricky one, melting her heart one minute, and making her
mad the next. Rachael was the one she was most concerned about. Things were
going to get worse before they got better, she just knew it.
What exactly did Stone want from her? Clare had left
years ago and it wasn’t until he needed a housekeeper that he searched her out.
He could have called or come to town, instead, he lied his way onto her cruise
and tried to pick up where they left off before he dumped her. Talk about
having a lot of nerve. He might have had a chance if he’d been straight with
her but now she just felt stupid and used.
Beauty was something she didn’t possess and her body
was far from sexy. The more she thought about it the more it hurt. Good, old,
reliable
Winter
always stepping up to the plate. She
wished she were pretty, sexy and, carefree, impulsive even. Now this beautiful
child expected a mother. Oh he deserved to be tortured and the thought of
slowly torturing Stone had her smiling.
Once outside, the fire of his stare unnerved her and
made her so hot. Why wouldn’t he just go back into the barn, and leave her
alone? If weakening her resolve with his sexy stare was his plan, then he was
winning.
Rachael jumped up and down next to her, admiring their
snowman. Winter had to admit that she was proud of her first snowman. He had a
carrot for a nose and a bright green scarf wrapped around his neck. Winter
lifted Rachael up so she could put an old, red, knit hat on the snowman.
“I think we did a great job!” Winter hugged her.
Rachael hugged her back quickly, and then started to
skip around the snowman singing
Frosty
the Snowman.
Her heart grew lighter, happier, until she felt his
stare again. Turning, she stared back, but her stare wasn’t filled with hunger,
it was filled with hostility, at least she hoped it was. Rachael screamed and
Winter
looked away from Stone. Snoopy had the carrot in his
mouth, running in circles and Rachael was trying to catch him.
A red truck slowly drove up the drive and Rachael
instantly forgot about the carrot, grew excited, and started clapping. Even
Snoopy came bounding over to greet the visitor.
A handsome, dark haired cowboy got out of the truck,
and immediately knelt down to catch a running Rachael. He picked the little
girl up, twirled her around, and kissed her cheek. Snoopy plowed right into him
and
Winter
expected them to topple over, but the
cowboy stood strong. “How is my Ray
Ray
?”
“I have a new mommy!” Rachael insisted on being put
down and grabbed the man’s hand, dragging him toward the snowman.
“This is Caleb,
my
bestest
friend,” Rachael said with pride.
“I’m
Winter
.
Nice to meet you.”
His quizzical gaze made her blush. “No, I
only work here.”
“Great to meet you!
Maybe we could go out two-stepping sometime.”
He looked younger than her, but his smile was the
cutest—all boyish and full of life. His dark hair fell down the front of his
forehead and his dark eyes were rimmed in amber.
“Hey, Caleb.”
Stone came out and shook Caleb’s hand. “What’s this about you trying to steal
my girl?”
They greeted each other, but
Winter
saw the unspoken communication between them. Stone told him to back off, and
Caleb agreed. Did they think she was blind and didn’t see the looks exchanged?
Stone edged next to her and snaked his arm around her waist. “The
O’Malleys
are
our closest neighbors.
He and his brother Colt own the ranch to the west. They rescue horses along
with a few other ranchers like Jonas Barnes and Holden O’Leary. Holden is a
vet.”
“Oh, wow, such a worthy cause. Did you say older
brother?”
“Yep, Colt is a bit older than me.”
“Is he single?”
Caleb looked at Stone, his lips twitching. “Yes,
ma’am, he is.”
“Nice to know.”
Winter stepped away from Stone. “Well I need to warm up. It was nice to meet
you, Caleb. You tell your brother to come around and meet me.
Rachael, ready to go in?”
“Nope,
gonna
stay with
Caleb.”
“It’s all right, ma’am, Ray
Ray
is one of the reasons I stopped by. I wanted to see my best girl.”
Winter walked to the house with a big grin on her face
and as soon as she was safely inside, she began to laugh. So Stone was jealous,
good to know. She thought about his possessiveness, and stopped laughing.
Confound that man he had her turning and twisting in the wind.
It was cold out there and coffee was what she needed
to warm herself. Caleb certainly was a nice guy. As she refilled her mug, the
door opened, and when she didn’t hear little footsteps, she didn’t bother to
turn around. Stone might want to talk, but she wasn’t ready.
“Howdy, ma’am.”
Not recognizing the deep voice, she stiffened before
turning around. “Excuse me?”
“I startled you didn’t I? I’m sorry. Crabby and I, we
umm, we usually grab coffee throughout the day. It’s no problem if you don’t
want us in here. I didn’t think to ask Stone and…”
His weight shifted from one foot to the other and he
turned redder with each word. A nice looking cowboy, with sandy colored hair in
need of a trim and gorgeous, light blue eye outlined with a darker blue. Talk
about a hunky cowboy, this one appeared to be all muscle.
“It’s fine, really.” Setting her cup down, she approached
the man and extended her hand. “I’m
Winter
and of
course you can help yourself to coffee. I don’t want to upset any routines
y’all might have.”
Something fluttered inside her when he smiled. His
smile was a bit crooked but it added to his movie star good looks.
“It’s a pleasure, ma’am. I’m Henry
Stobbins
and I appreciate you letting me and Crabby access to the coffee. We had a
coffee maker in the tack room in the barn but a neighbor had his barn burn down
because of a coffee maker and now the boss wants us to come in here.”
“It’s on the counter, help
yourself
.
I’ll try to make sure there’s coffee made at all times.”
“So you and Stone are getting hitched soon?” Henry
asked as he poured himself some coffee.
“Did Stone tell you that?”
He smiled again. “No it was my little friend, Rachael.
We all take turns watching her now and then. Well, I won’t take up your time,
ma’am.”
“We are most certainly not getting married and its
Winter
, call me Winter.”
Taking his cup with him, he walked to the door then
turned.
“Probably wishful
thinkin
’
on Ray’s part.
Can’t say that I blame her.
It’s
a pretty name,
Winter
. It was nice to meet you.” He
shot her another dreamy smile before he left.
Wow
the
total package. Good looking, polite and he likes Rachael. There had to be a
flaw. He was taller than Stone, with wider shoulders. Those were pluses, not
flaws. He probably talked to fence posts or something. She bet that was it all
brawn and beauty but no brains.
* * * *
Most days Stone didn’t know what to expect. One moment
Winter
stared at him with longing and immeasurable
promises. Then she’d give him the look of the devil for something he supposedly
did. Contrary, that was the word for her. Roping her was constantly on his
mind, but his confidence of it ever happening began to waiver.
At least Rachael was happy. She followed
Winter
around everywhere and Winter treated her with love
and patience. For that he had a reason to be grateful.
Riding his horse toward the barn, anticipation filled
him. He would see
Winter
soon. He wondered what type
of greeting he would get today. Some days it was all he could do to keep from
laughing. She’d always been quiet in the past, but now she didn’t hold back a
thing.
He urged his horse on. She’d fall for him.
What’s not to like?
His smile vanished
when the house came into sight with Caleb’s truck parked right next to it. Damn
whippersnapper. Who did Caleb think he was, coming around while he was out?
Jumping off his buckskin, Spirit, he handed the reins
to his old-time hand, Crabby. “Thanks. How long has that young buck been here?”
Stone nodded toward the house.
Crabby scratched at his gray overgrown beard. “Make
that two. Both Caleb and Colt are here. ‘Bout an hour I’m
thinkin
’.”
Stone nodded to him.
“You
gonna
run them off? I
don’t want to miss it if you do.”
“No, I’ll probably politely let them know that
Winter
is my woman.”
Stone started toward the house but he could hear
Crabby mumbling something about, “she
don’t
know
that.”
Crabby had a point, waiting her out hadn’t worked.
Maybe if he laid claim to her. Rachael already had her softened up and the
holidays were happy times. Stone smiled, feeling confident that
Winter
would be his by nightfall.
He wasn’t quite ready for the little scene he walked
into. The Christmas tree was up, and decorated. Christmas music blared out of
the stereo and
Winter
danced in Colt’s arms while
Caleb twirled Rachael around. Longing and jealousy filled him. The fire in the
fireplace, the music, the smell of pine and gingerbread, the laughter, it
should have been his and only his.
They didn’t seem to take notice of him. They switched
partners, laughing the whole time. It hurt that both his girls were so happy
without him. He took off his coat and hat.
The
First Noel
started to play, and Stone walked right over to Caleb and cut
in.