Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(20)

“And you? How bad was your heart broken?”

“At the time, I was more angry than hurt. Especially about my job. We’d been fighting so much that divorce had crossed my mind several times.”

“Y’all still up?” Katy asked as she topped the staircase and headed to her room.

“Just going to bed now. Good night, Miz Katy,” Jud said.

“’Nite, Mama.” Fiona took a couple of long strides and gave her mother a hug.

She’d started back across the hall when Jud put a finger over his lips and pointed. Sure enough, there was the squeak of the refrigerator door as it opened and then the definite sound of the light switch. After that they heard Dora June asking Truman if he’d eaten half the chocolate cake and him fussing about not having a single bite.

“Sleepy?” he whispered.

She shook her head.

“It isn’t even ten o’clock yet. Let’s take this conversation into my room. I promise to leave my bad boy ways out here and you can have the rocking chair,” he said.

She followed him into his room and noticed he hadn’t been lying about neatness. Everything in the room was in place. Not even a magazine thrown on the dresser or a pair of boots kicked off beside the bed.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor, hands folded in her lap. He took the rocking chair and nonchalantly propped his bare feet up on the footboard of the bed. Her imagination jumped the tracks and went completely wild. What would it be like to have those feet tangled up with hers in this very bed? Would they be cold in the night or would his whole body be as hot as it looked in those Dallas Cowboy pajama pants and that navy blue thermal knit shirt?

“My sister, Josie, and I argue about everything, but I miss talking to her since I came here,” he said.

“I thought you’d been living out in the panhandle and working for an oil company. Did you major in geology in college?” Fiona pulled her feet up on the bed, glad that she was wearing socks. There was something personal and even sexy about bare feet.

“Josie and I both did. Geology with a business agriculture minor for both of us. The oil company gave us a trailer to live in as part of our benefit package. She’s still got a couple of months left on her contract and then she’ll decide whether she wants to sign on for another year or not.”

Fiona propped two pillows behind her and got comfortable. “I’ve missed adult conversation, too. Talking to my sisters on the phone was nice, but it’s better to see who you are visiting with.”

Especially when he was a damn fine-looking cowboy.

“So tell me more about Fiona the businesswoman,” Jud said.

“She was a hardworking woman who went in early, stayed late, and got the job done. She had a few promotions and raises and then it all went in the crapper and she found out how the other half lives.”

“Starbucks?” He laced his hands behind his head and leaned back in the overstuffed rocker and recliner combination. “Would you please toss me one of those throws on the end of the bed?”

She picked it up and threw it over the footboard as he pulled the lever on the side of the chair. Suddenly his feet disappeared. He covered them with the burgundy throw and looked at her from a reclining position.

“Not Starbucks. Just a little coffee shop that went belly-up when Starbucks put in a shop at the end of our block,” she answered, disappointed that he was covered completely.

“I worked flipping burgers one summer at a Sonic,” he said. “And one summer in college, I spent the whole three months doing gigs as a rodeo clown. Josie wants to invest in rodeo stock—bulls mostly. She would like to ride but she’s about as coordinated as a hippo on ice skates.”

“She sounds like she could be my friend,” Fiona said.

“Probably. You are both strong-willed, determined, and outspoken,” he chuckled.

They talked until midnight when Fiona made a joke about turning into a pumpkin and stood up, stretching from one side to the other with her hands over her head.

“And now it’s time for Cinderella to rush away across the hall in her golden coach, right?”

She giggled. “This Cinderella doesn’t even have a rusty old pickup anymore.”

He popped the recliner down and walked her to the door. “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

“Ahhh,” she sighed theatrically. “My Prince Charming will race to my rescue in a big black club-cab truck.”

“You bet your sweet little Southern ass he will.” Jud tipped up her chin with his fist. “He will even let you ride in the front seat.”

She fought the desire to roll up on her toes for a good night kiss. “Thank you for that and for the conversation.”

He kissed her on the forehead. His soft lips right above her eyes at that time of night when everything was so intimate anyway was almost more than her nerves could stand.

She had to get out of his room or else drag him back to the bed, tear that shirt up over that muscled abdomen, and slip her hand beneath the elastic band of those Dallas Cowboy pajama pants.

With that vision in her head, she backed out of his room and hurried to her own bedroom. She threw herself on the bed and stared at the dark ceiling. It was going to be a long, long winter.





Chapter Seven



Fiona awoke to the aroma of bacon and coffee blended with something sweet reaching her nose as she threw the covers back. Noises across the hall told her that her mother and Jud were getting around, too, so that meant Dora June was serious about taking over the kitchen. The sun wouldn’t be peeking over the horizon for another hour, but things had always started early in Dry Creek. The store was open by seven so the old guys could come for their morning coffee and discussion of politics.