Trusting the rancher wit.., p.1
Trusting the Rancher with Christmas, page 1
She scrambled out of her car and walked toward the cowboy. “What are you doing?”
The cowboy nudged his hat up his forehead and regarded her. His half grin etched a dimple into his cheek. “I’m working.”
“Why are the cows crossing the road now?” Paige cringed. But she wasn’t making a bad joke. She was serious.
“Simple. More pastures to graze over there.”
Paige set her hands on her hips and eyed the long line of cows waiting to cross. “Will this take long?”
“Well, that depends on your definition of long.” The cowboy settled into his saddle as if he was settling into a long, lazy morning of his own.
“There’s more than one definition?” And of course, more than one dimple. His full grin revealed the pair and fully captured Paige’s attention. But she was in Texas to figure out how to get her job and life back in Chicago. She wasn’t there to get distracted by handsome cowboys and their horses, no matter how beautiful and well-mannered they might be.
Dear Reader,
We have a long list of Christmas traditions in our family, ones passed down through the generations, ones borrowed from friends and even those I wasn’t aware were traditions. Until one of my daughters informed me that yes, Mom, we have to make gingerbread houses that eventually fall over, or we have to get toothbrushes and loofahs in our Christmas stockings. It’s a tradition. Simple or grand, there’s something about traditions that keeps us connected.
This holiday season, thanks to a Christmas-first list, Evan Bishop and Paige Palmer discover that blending new and old holiday traditions allows them to honor the past and create new memories. Now if the cattle rancher and the veterinarian can open their hearts to more than the joy of the season, they just might learn that love truly can heal. It’s Christmas in Three Springs, Texas, where the holiday decorations are plentiful, the December social calendar is full and family is always celebrated. Welcome back.
Grab your family, celebrate a new tradition (or more) and enjoy making those memories together—the ones that will be shared for years to come. Wishing you and your family all the best for the holiday season.
I love to connect with readers. Check out my website to learn more about my upcoming books, sign up for email book announcements or chat with me on Facebook (carilynnwebb) or Twitter @carilynnwebb.
Happy reading!
Cari Lynn Webb
CariLynnWebb.com
Trusting the Rancher with Christmas
Cari Lynn Webb
Cari Lynn Webb lives in South Carolina with her husband, daughters and assorted four-legged family members. She’s been blessed to see the power of true love in her grandparents’ seventy-year marriage and her parents’ marriage of over fifty years. She knows love isn’t always sweet and perfect—it can be challenging, complicated and risky. But she believes happily-ever-afters are worth fighting for. She loves to connect with readers.
Books by Cari Lynn Webb
Harlequin Heartwarming
Three Springs, Texas
The Texas SEAL’s Surprise
City by the Bay Stories
The Charm Offensive
The Doctor’s Recovery
Ava’s Prize
Single Dad to the Rescue
In Love by Christmas
Her Surprise Engagement
Three Makes a Family
Return of the Blackwell Brothers
The Rancher’s Rescue
The Blackwell Sisters
Montana Wedding
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
To Rebecca—everyone should be blessed to have a friend like you. And every conversation should always start with the words based on a true story...
Special thanks to my writing gang for sharing their energy pennies, advice and continuous encouragement. Shout-out to the swim team carpool crew: Amelia, Hannah and Macybelle—travel swim meets and deadlines do mix, but let’s not do that again. And to my family—I love you more than I can say. Your support means everything to me.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM A TEXAN’S CHRISTMAS BABY BY LINDA WARREN
CHAPTER ONE
PAIGE PALMER JERKED her rental car to a stop on the Texas interstate and cut the engine. Her stomach grumbled. She’d skipped breakfast. The line in the Dallas airport coffee kiosk had been too long that morning and she hadn’t wanted to miss her connecting flight. As it was, Paige was supposed to have arrived in Three Springs yesterday. But bad weather in Chicago, then mechanical plane trouble in Dallas had delayed her overnight.
Now she faced another delay. And it wasn’t airport related.
She scrambled out of her car and strode toward a cowboy seated on a stunning white horse with brown spots in the middle of the road. The cowboy, his beautiful horse and his herd of massive brown cows crossing the interstate were in her way. Literally. They blocked traffic in both directions.
Traffic was a stretch. Paige’s rental car was the only vehicle visible for miles on either side of the road.
Her stomach rumbled again. A hunger headache pulsed behind her temples. Careful to approach in the horse’s line of sight, Paige paused within easy conversation distance. No shouting required. “What are you doing?”
The cowboy nudged his hat up his forehead and regarded her. His half grin etched a dimple into his cheek. “I’m working.”
Paige worked on reining in her frustration. Hunger was never her best look. She wanted to get to her cousin’s house. She wanted to eat fried eggs, slather two thick slices of toast in butter and pretend she was in town for a two-week vacation with her family, not a forced administrative leave from her veterinarian job.
Paige put her hands on her hips and eyed the long line of cows waiting to cross. “Will this take long?”
“Well, that depends on your definition of long.” The cowboy settled into his saddle as if he was settling into a lazy morning of his own.
“There’s more than one definition?” And of course, more than one dimple. His full grin revealed the pair and fully captured Paige’s attention. As if she’d never seen perfectly carved dimples on a man before. Now she knew exactly what devil-may-care—one of her grandmother’s favorite terms—looked like. Her grandma Opal would’ve warned her about him.
The warning wasn’t necessary. Paige was in Texas to figure out how to get her job and life back on track in Chicago. She wasn’t there to get distracted by handsome cowboys and their horses, no matter how beautiful and well-mannered.
“Sure. Long can be a lot of things.” The cowboy looked toward the sky, then returned his attention to Paige. His sunglasses covered his gaze, but not the appealing timbre in his voice. “If you mean long, like the many hours it takes to get a brisket smoked just right, then this won’t take that long. But if you keep your watch set to city time, then this might take a bit longer than your barista needs to make your fancy whipped-milk-and-vanilla-flavored extra tall coffee.”
She’d already been staring at the cowboy too long, wondering if his hair was darker than his deep-charcoal-colored hat. Wondering if his eyes were the color of a singing blue jay or a protective gray wolf. Perhaps she should heed her grandmother’s warning after all. “You know. In some places, they have bridges over highways and roads specifically designed for animal crossing and their safety.”
“This is Texas.” He leaned into his Southern drawl for his next words. “We use what we have. And here we have a perfectly good road.”
“This is an interstate.” And one meant for driving on. It wasn’t meant for cow crossings and cowboy meetups.
“No. The interstate is that way.” The cowboy pointed over the line of cows. “This is the bypass.”
Paige sighed. She wasn’t even on the right road. Her grandpa Harlan would’ve cautioned her that sometimes even the wrong road could turn out to be right in the end. But Paige had already taken several wrong turns in her life and had vowed not to lose her way ever again. “What exactly am I bypassing? More cattle crossings?”
“Can’t say exactly.” The cowboy shifted in the saddle. “If you ask me, it was the first name they came across that they hadn’t used yet.”
Bypass or interstate. This road took her to her cousin’s house. The one spot she really wanted to be. The cows, walking two by two, streamed across the pavement, spilling through the open pasture gate on the other side. The herd waiting to cross hardly seemed to be thinning. “Can you pause t
he cows and let me pass? It’s a compact car. I don’t need much room.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” He shook his head and his frown dropped into place. “Can’t risk spooking them and sending the herd running down the road instead.”
She considered the disagreeable cowboy. She was a veterinarian of small animals. Knew full well that the tiniest sudden movement could startle a timid cat or frighten a pet rabbit. She had no idea if cows spooked that easily. But she wasn’t going to test it. The cows’ well-being mattered. And right now, the entire herd was calm and orderly. “What am I supposed to do?”
He rubbed his chin again as if considering her options. “You could go back the way you came.”
She narrowed her gaze. He sounded as if he was suggesting she should go back to where she came from. Everything she’d read about Texas said that Texans embraced hospitality. This wasn’t the Texas welcome she’d expected from a cowboy who looked as much a part of the landscape as the tumbleweed and plains surrounding her. Paige pointed toward the cows and smiled. “But I really need to go that way.”
“Nothing to do then but wait.” He touched the brim of his hat. “Now I need to get back to work. It’s already been a long morning and not the good kind either.”
“What’s the good kind?” Paige smashed her lips together too late.
He stilled and his head tilted to the side. His smile started and stopped. Another surge of that devil-may-care.
Warning bells sounded. Paige’s heart raced. Never mind. Her voice never gained traction.
“I can think of a few things.” That tempting drawl returned.
The one that hinted of a different kind of long morning. One reserved for couples and the private moments only they shared. Paige blinked, certain her prescription sunglasses were fogging up from the heat radiating off her cheeks.
“Since the good kind of morning isn’t rushed,” he continued, more of his Texas roots coming out in his voice, “it always starts with your favorite thing and leaves a promise that the day will only get better from there. What’s your favorite thing?”
Not unexpected cattle crossings or attractive cowboys with all-too-appealing accents that made her want to linger. Paige blurted, “Breakfast.” And once she had breakfast, her day would certainly improve. Courting a cowboy wasn’t part of her two-week agenda. “What about you?”
He picked up the reins in one hand. “Has to be watching the sunrise with a large cup of regular coffee. No flavored sugars. No fancy creamers. And definitely no surprises.”
He disliked surprises? Well, she disliked delays in her schedule like the very one he was causing. “Maybe tomorrow’s sunrise will give you exactly what you want. Plain coffee and an ordinary, routine day.”
He chuckled and guided his spotted horse across the road. He glanced back at Paige and grinned. “Used to be the best breakfast in town was at Autumn’s Bed and Breakfast. But it closed several years back. Now you can find it at one of the local ranches, but it’s by invite only.”
“I’m not here for all that.” Paige shrugged. “Besides, I know my way around a kitchen well enough to make my own breakfast.”
“I’m not surprised.” He pressed his hat lower on his head. “Hope you find what you came here for.”
She was there to visit her sister and cousin. And “cool off.” That was the exact term one of the senior partners had used yesterday morning at the emergency animal clinic where she worked. You’re going to cool off, Paige. We don’t want to see you in this building for two weeks. Then we’re going to come together and discuss this. Paige had agreed. Until her ex-boyfriend and current colleague had interfered again.
And she’d lost her cool. Again.
She’d then launched her ultimatum and walked out. Now she had two weeks to decide how to fight for a job she loved in the practice she’d helped build in the city she’d called home for more than a decade. And finally have the life she always wanted.
Another cowboy rode into the empty spot in the middle of the road and nodded at Paige.
She left the ranch hand to his work, returned to her car and texted her sister and cousin to tell them she was stuck in a cow jam. Then she searched her purse for a forgotten mint or stale piece of candy. Anything to distract herself from watching her cowboy’s every move in the pasture. As if she was fascinated by him. As if she suddenly welcomed unexpected surprises.
The only thing she was interested in was getting to her cousin’s house before nightfall, eating and getting a lot of sleep. Otherwise, how else was she going to come up with a decent strategy to convince the partners to make her one in the practice?
Still, she unwrapped a forgotten mint, stuck it in her mouth and scanned the pasture. She could count cows. Instead, she watched her cowboy and his horse. The pair moved as if they were one. Natural and smooth. The ideal team.
And one Paige could fully believe in. The cowboy’s horse was reliable and trustworthy and everything he would need in a good partner. Paige was her own personal team of one now. She’d been a solo team for the past year. She was determined not to change her dynamic. Her past relationship had been a doomed detour, but she’d found her way out and herself in the process.
The last pair of cows walked across the road. Paige waited for the ranch hand to close the empty pasture gate, then ride across to the other pasture and close that gate before joining the herd. Then she started her car, stepped on the gas pedal and headed down the bypass. Putting her cowboy in her rearview mirror.
Twenty minutes and two stale mints later, Paige parked in her cousin’s driveway and stared at the front yard. More specifically the explosion of Christmas that spread from the sidewalk to the front porch. Not even the mailbox had been spared. Thick green garland with sparkly ribbon, lights and pine cones had been draped over the mailbox. Snowflake lights lined the pathways from the driveway and sidewalk to the porch stairs. Giant gift boxes were stacked in the yard. Colored ornaments in all different shapes and sizes swung from every branch of every tree. More garland wrapped the porch and thick pillars. Large silver bells hung over the windows. Her cousin’s Christmas decor could inspire the North Pole itself.
Paige inhaled around the discomfort in her chest. She hadn’t participated in Christmas for years. Christmas hadn’t been her favorite time of year ever since she’d been a kid. When she was only seven, her father had died just days before Christmas and the joy had dwindled. Her older sister, Tess, had jumped into the holidays after they’d lost their dad. Paige had withdrawn.
She’d posed for the customary family photographs, hung ornaments on the tree and woken up early to open presents every Christmas morning. She’d smiled and laughed, but mostly she’d simply endured. Counting the days until the New Year began and she could pack away the lingering sadness. Her father had put the magic into the season and without him, she’d never seemed to find it again.
More recently, her ex had claimed commercialism for his dislike of Christmas celebrations and Paige had gone along. After all, she’d stopped looking for the joy—that magic spark—in the holiday years ago. She’d chosen work over festivities and skipped the expensive gifts to save money for their joint practice. The one her ex had vowed they’d open together. But that was merely one more broken promise.
Paige got out of the car, pulled her suitcase from the trunk, and gathered her secrets close. Now she had one more secret to keep from her family: Paige disliked Christmas.
She walked up the stairs to the front porch. Plump pillows on the porch swing pledged joy, love, and peace. Two thick red-and-black plaid blankets offered warmth. Red ornament balls and lights filled the hanging flower baskets. A vintage sled wrapped in more colored lights offered lightness and fun to the intimate space suited for a magazine spread on how to decorate for Christmas.
Twin wooden toy soldiers, their tall hats reaching Paige’s shoulder, stood guard at the triple-wreath-bedecked front door. Paige clutched her suitcase and rang the doorbell.
The front door swung open, and her cousin flung her arms wide in welcome. “Paige. You’re finally here.”
Abby James glowed from the spark in her gaze to the color in her cheeks to her brilliant smile. Even the threads in Abby’s silver, blue and white color-blocked long cardigan sparkled. And the smallest flicker of Christmas spirit shimmered inside Paige. But she wasn’t there to rekindle some misplaced holiday magic. This was about cooling off, resetting, and focusing on her career. “Abby. It’s good to be here.”
