Someday Soon (5 page)

Cain removed his coat and hung it in the closet before helping her out of hers.

“If you take care of the luggage, I’ll see what I can do about rustling us up some dinner.” Eager to explore his beautiful house, she didn’t wait for his response.

While Cain carried their suitcases up the stairs, Linette wandered into the kitchen. She stood, awestruck, just inside the door. This wasn’t an ordinary kitchen, but a chef’s dream. Sparkling copper kettles hung from above a large gourmet island. The appliances looked new, and a quick investigation revealed a walk-in cooler and a six-burner gas stove.

It didn’t take Linette long to realize nothing was required of her. Dinner was already prepared and waiting for their arrival. Apparently Patty Stamp had seen to that along with everything else.

Cain soon joined her. “Dinner’s ready,” she announced.

“That was quick,” he teased.

They ate at the dining room table, which was set with pink linen napkins and a centerpiece made of freshly clipped holly and cinnamon candles. Neither felt obligated to carry the conversation. Linette suspected it was because they didn’t feel the necessity to fill the silence with idle chatter. Perhaps, like her, Cain didn’t know what to say.

Cain helped her with the dishes, and afterward they drank coffee in front of the fireplace in matching wing-back leather chairs. As he sipped from the ceramic mug,
Cain read over some business papers John Stamp had left for him to review.

The fire mesmerized Linette; the flames licked noisily at the logs, and every now and again they’d spit and sizzle as if undergoing some great debate.

Intermittently her gaze drifted to Cain, and she thought about what her parents had said, the warnings they’d issued when they’d learned she was spending the holiday with a man she barely knew. Yet she felt none of their concern.

Cain must have felt her scrutiny because he raised his eyes to her. His gaze softened as it met hers. His look was gentle, almost loving. Neither spoke. For her part, Linette wasn’t sure she could. All she knew was there was no place else she would rather be than right here with Cain McClellan sitting at her side.

“I’m not being good company, am I?”

“On the contrary,” she hurried to say. “I’m perfectly content.”

Her in-laws hadn’t known what to say when she’d announced she wouldn’t be joining them for Christmas after all. Linette knew she’d stunned them by telling them she was traveling with Cain to Montana. Michael’s mother had swiftly phoned Linette’s, and within fifteen minutes Linette had received a call from her concerned parents. Once she’d explained how she’d met Cain and what she intended to do over Christmas, her mother had been left speechless. Unfortunately Betty Lawson’s silence hadn’t lasted long, and Linette had been forced to listen to a tense lecture about the wisdom of her actions.

Apparently both Michael’s parents and her own felt
she was making a foolish mistake. She couldn’t trust her own judgment, they feared. She wasn’t herself. Grief had clouded her thinking.

Perhaps they were right.

Linette had certainly never done anything like this before, but then she’d never met a man like Cain McClellan.

She yawned and decided to rest her eyes a moment. She must have been more tired than she realized and drifted off to sleep, because the next thing she knew Cain was whispering close to her ear. Her eyes fluttered open, and she found him standing next to her chair.

“I’m sorry to wake you, but you’ll be far more comfortable upstairs.”

She smiled sleepily and yawned. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I’ll go up with you,” he said, offering her his hand. He guided her up the stairs and escorted her to the bedroom he’d had readied for her arrival. He pointed out his own room, which was at the far end of the hallway. Linette didn’t know whether to be relieved or disheartened that his bedroom was so far removed from her own.

“Can I get you anything?” he asked, poised in her doorway.

“No, I’m fine.”

He nodded, and it seemed to her that he wanted to say something more. The look in his eyes intensified, and he hesitated before adding, “Good night, then.”

“I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Speaking of the morning,” he said, leaping on the excuse to linger.

“Yes?”

“I thought we’d cut down a Christmas tree and decorate it.”

Linette’s heart gladdened at the prospect. “That sounds like fun.”

The strong sexual attraction between them spit and sizzled much like the logs had earlier. Nor could Linette deny what was happening to her body. A tingling awareness spread through her, leaving in its wake a desire she’d shared only with one other man.

Linette realized that Cain was a full partner in these feelings, but like her, he was bewildered and unsure.

“Good night,” she said with a sigh.

He swallowed tightly, nodded, and turned away.

Cain wandered back down the stairs. Settling back onto the chair he’d recently vacated, he rubbed a hand down his face.

Linette deserved more than he could offer. Already she’d made it clear that she wouldn’t be satisfied with the bare bones details of his life. She wanted to know it all.

He couldn’t tell her about Deliverance Company.

It was necessary to shield her from the reality of who and what he was. Not knowing would protect her from the worry. Protect her from the harshness of what he did for a living.

After watching Michael die, Linette was a woman who cherished life, and he was a man who often foolishly risked his own. He could think of no way to explain what he did. There wasn’t a chance in hell of making her understand, so he hadn’t tried. And wouldn’t, because every moment with her was too painfully precious to destroy.

The snow fell relentlessly through the night. Cain woke to look out at a thick blanket of the powdery substance. He was in the kitchen drinking his first cup of coffee when Linette joined him the following morning.

She was dressed in jeans and a thick cable-knit sweater. He’d never known a woman could look this naturally beautiful without makeup. Afraid she’d notice how he couldn’t keep his eyes off her, he poured her a cup of coffee. She smiled her appreciation when he handed it to her.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked, hoping she had. For his own part, he’d tossed and turned most of the night, tormented by the knowledge that she was only four doors away.

“Like a log.”

“Good.” Toast popped up from the toaster, and he reached for it, then buttered the twin slices. “John will be by first thing this morning to go over some business matters with me.”

“I’d like to meet Patty,” she said.

“From what John said, she’s just as anxious to meet you.”

No sooner had he spoken than there was a polite knock against the back door. John let himself inside, followed by his wife of ten years. Cain watched as Patty’s curious gaze moved past him to dwell on Linette. He might have been wrong, but it seemed Patty took one look at Linette and her eyes gleamed with approval.

Cain introduced the couple, and Linette shook hands with them both.

“Did you get a chance to read over those papers?” John asked. He was tall and rangy and wore his cowboy
hat low on his head. Patty was short and slightly stocky, with shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes. The two expertly managed his spread. When Cain had first purchased the place, he’d urged the Stamps to move into the main house. They’d declined, choosing instead to live in the smaller house reserved for the foreman. Cain maintained a small herd, but John had been urging him to build it up, claiming beef prices were better than they had been in a number of years. Cain was taking the advice under consideration.

As he became involved in a lengthy conversation with John, he noted Linette and Patty talking as if they were longtime friends. Every now and again he caught a word or two of their conversation. From what he gathered, Linette was asking Patty about Christmas dinner. Apparently she planned on cooking it herself.

Hard as he tried, Cain couldn’t keep his eyes away from Linette. Soon John, who was eager to prove his point, realized it was useless.

“This is the first time you’ve ever brought a woman to visit,” he commented dryly. “Are you and Linette serious?”

Startled, Cain snapped his attention away from his guest. “No,” he said abruptly, perhaps too abruptly, because the women stopped talking and looked at him expectantly.

“We’re going out to cut down a Christmas tree this morning,” Cain said, breaking the strained silence.

“Then we won’t hold you up. Come on, John,” Patty urged. “These people have more important things to do than talk about purchasing a few more head of cattle.”

Cain walked the couple to the door and thanked Patty
for having thoughtfully seen to their dinner the night before. He casually mentioned how good the roast had tasted.

“Linette already thanked me,” she said, blushing with pleasure at his compliment. “I shouldn’t have traipsed down here first thing this morning,” Patty went on to say apologetically, “but I couldn’t help being curious about your lady friend.” Her gaze narrowed as she studied him. “She’s a good woman, Cain. I hope you’re considering settling down. It’s time for you to start thinking about a family.” With that she turned and walked away.

It was time all right. Time to have his head examined, Cain decided. That he was foolish enough to live out a schoolboy’s dream was one matter, but having his foreman’s wife advise him to marry and start a family was enough to turn his blood cold.

“You ready to go find a tree?” he asked gruffly after the couple had left.

“Any time,” she assured him.

By the time Cain located a hand saw and found a sled and rope, the sky had turned an angry shade of gray. “It looks like it’s going to start snowing again,” he said, wondering at the wisdom of their gallivanting through the woods.

He did this sort of thing routinely, but he didn’t know how well Linette would hold up to the physical demands of hiking in the snow. He was about to suggest that perhaps this wasn’t such a great idea after all when he saw the disappointment flicker in her eyes.

“It’ll be fine,” she insisted. “We’ll cut down a tree and be back before you know it.”

“All right,” Cain relented, mainly because he didn’t
have the heart to disappoint her. Whatever common sense he possessed had taken a flying leap toward insanity the minute he’d met this woman. Why stop now?

Fortunately a copse of trees grew close by. Any one of those would serve nicely. They could walk there and back without much difficulty, he decided.

“This one will do,” he said, coming upon the first tree the appropriate size. He reached for the hand saw when Linette stopped him.

“It’s too short,” she insisted. “And one side isn’t as full as it should be.”

“Too short? Not full enough?”

“Yes! Besides that, you’ll be able to see that you cut down a tree from the house. It’ll spoil your view.”

It would be a cold day in hell before one blasted fir tree would ruin his view. He wasn’t likely to notice the loss of a single six-footer when he owned a forest full.

“All right,” he said with limitless patience, “you choose.”

Apparently this was what she’d been waiting for him to suggest, because she dragged him halfway up a mountain and down another before she discovered the ideal Christmas tree. Frankly, Cain didn’t know there could be so much wrong with so many trees. He would have been perfectly happy with any one of a thousand she’d singularly dismissed for one ridiculous flaw or another.

To think he’d been worried about her physical endurance. By the time she’d made her choice, he was both hungry and tired.

“You’re sure about this one?” he asked. One thing was clear. If he ever spent another Christmas with Linette Collins, he was buying a tree in town. And he was purchasing it without taking her with him.

“Positive,” she said, and her cheeks glowed pink and healthy.

He hunkered down and sawed away at the trunk, grumbling under his breath. This was his reward. All his life he’d dreamed about cutting down his own Christmas tree. He’d never realized it would be this damned difficult.

He stood when he’d finished and discovered Linette had vanished. “Linette,” he called, his heart pounding hard and fast. It would be just like the damn fool woman to wander off and get lost.

“Linette,” he called a second time. Concerned, he scanned the area as the sense of dread filled him. He left the fallen tree and glanced toward the sky, sure they were about to encounter a blizzard.

When he didn’t get an answer, he shouted louder, this time cupping his mouth in order for his voice to carry farther.

“Cain.”

Relieved, he whirled around. The snowball’s impact caught him square in the chest. For one moment he stood frozen in surprise. It didn’t take him long to recover. Before another second had passed, he’d scooped a ball of his own.

“That wasn’t wise,” he said. She didn’t appear to believe him because he was bombarded with three other snowballs in quick succession. He was amazed by the accuracy of her throws.

“Anyone who stands around and waits to be hit deserves what they get,” she called out. “Some soldier you turned out to be.”

Cain was quick enough to duck behind a tree this time. The snowball slammed against the bark, spraying
his face with snow. Cain laughed outright. This was what he got for trusting that little she-devil.

It didn’t take him more than a few minutes to work his way through the woods and sneak up behind her. He watched her for several moments, peeking out from the tree, attempting to locate him. It never occurred to her that he could be less than ten feet behind her.

“Linette.” He spoke her name softly and let the breeze carry it as though it had been whispered by the angels themselves.

Linette stiffened, her attention keen.

He said her name a second time.

She swung around and blinked incredibly large eyes at him. “Cain? How’d you get there?” She made it sound as if they’d somehow become separated during a Sunday school picnic.

He bounced a snowball from one gloved hand to the other. “You certainly had me fooled,” he said, smiling gleefully. “And all along I thought you a sweet and gentle soul.”