A Thunder Canyon Christmas (5 page)

Elise remembered that searing kiss and her intense reaction to it. She could feel a blasted blush creep up her cheeks and had to hope Grant didn't notice.

“Glad I could be there. We left her car at The Hitching Post. Need me to shuttle it home for you?”

“No. I can have somebody from the resort drive it out here later this morning.”

Elise felt supremely stupid and about ten years old again. She was grateful when Matt said goodbye quickly and left, saying he needed to get to the McFarlane job site early that morning.

After the door closed behind him, she was faced with her headache and Grant, who watched her with a concerned frown.

“I don't get it. After Haley pulled out of your plans, why didn't you just come home and have dinner with us?” he asked. “Erin was sorry she missed you.”

She didn't want to sound whiny or self-pitying, especially not when Grant and Helen were so happy about finding Erin. “I was already at The Hitching Post and you all weren't expecting me home so I just decided to stay and enjoy the band. In retrospect, maybe not the smartest decision I ever made, but it worked out okay in the end.”

“You were lucky,” Grant growled.

She sighed. “I know.”

“I don't even want to think about what might have
happened to you if Cates hadn't been there,” Grant growled.

“If Cates hadn't been where?”

Her mother walked into the kitchen wearing her favorite green bathrobe and Elise mentally groaned. So much for her furtive hope that she might sneak away from Grant's lecture and climb back to bed to nurse her blasted headache before her mother came downstairs. She was in for it now.

“Elise had a little run-in with a drunk cowboy last night down at The Hitching Post. Matt Cates came to her rescue. That's why she's just rolling in at 6:00 a.m.”

“What a nice boy. Those Cates brothers are always so thoughtful.” Helen smiled. “They must take after their father. He's always been the nicest man.”

Her mother tended only to see the good in people. Either that or she hadn't paid any attention to the Cates twins' antics over the years. Matt and his brother had been wild hell-raisers until recently.

They hadn't completely worked all the wildness out of their systems. She remembered the fierce way Matt had taken on Jake Halloran to protect her and then the stormy, wondrous heat of his kiss.

“Tell me again how you ended up spending the night at Cates's place instead of coming back here after you left The Hitching Post?” Grant asked pointedly, which she found the height of hypocrisy coming from a man who'd enjoyed a healthy reputation as a ladies' man before his surprise marriage to Stephanie three years earlier.

To her surprise and relief, her mother stepped. “I
think that's really Elise's business, don't you?” Helen said with a reassuring pat to Grant's arm.

“I fell asleep on his couch. Relax, Grant. You can put your mind at ease. Matt was a perfect gentleman,” she answered. Mostly.

“I would think a perfect gentleman would have made sure you spent the night safe and sound in your own bed.”

“I'm here now. Look, don't blame Matt for any of this.” Her head hurt and she was embarrassed and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep the rest of the morning away but she had to set the record straight first.

“It's all completely my fault. The truth is, I'm embarrassed to admit I wasn't paying attention to my drink quota and I had a little too much on an empty stomach. You know I don't have much tolerance for alcohol.”

Last night had truly been full of anomalies and she would be wise to remember that. She rarely drank more than a glass of wine with dinner and the kisses she'd shared with Matt had been a fluke, something that wouldn't happen again.

“Where does the drunk cowboy come in?” her mother asked.

Elise sighed. Maybe they ought to go wake up Steph so she didn't have to go through the story again. “I struck up a conversation at the bar with a Lazy D ranch hand. He mistook our conversation for more of a flirtation than I intended and he…didn't take my attempt at brushing him off with very good grace. He tried to…to kiss me and didn't seem to believe my no really meant no.”

“You could have been in serious trouble.”

“I know. Believe me, I know.” She shivered, remembering again that moment of fear when she had felt overpowered and helpless. “But Matt saw I was having trouble and he stepped in before anything could happen. The two of them got into it a little bit, mostly shoving, pushing, that sort of thing. When it was over, Matt took me back to his place so I could help him clean up and to grab a bite to eat. I'm afraid we both fell asleep. And here we are.”

She was leaving out a few details, like how she had cried all over him and then kissed him until she couldn't think straight.

Some things were no one else's business but hers and Matt's.

“I guess I owe the man for looking out for you,” Grant said.

“You don't owe him anything. I do.”

“Well, you're home now and that's the important thing.” Helen pulled her into a hug and Elise held on, closing her eyes and inhaling the clean, wholesome scent of lilacs and Tide detergent that clung to her mother.

Tears stung her eyes and not just from the headache pulsing through her veins. This was the scent of her childhood, when she had felt warm and safe and beloved.

Before she knew anything about wicked people who could kill men because of greed, or innocent hospital mistakes that would come back years later to destroy everything she thought she knew.

“I wish you had stayed,” Helen said. “We had a
perfectly lovely evening with Erin. Corey Traub came with her. They make such a wonderful couple.”

Elise forced a smile and eased away from her mother. “They seem great together.”

“She was sorry to miss you, too. I think she's looking forward to having a sister after growing up only with brothers.”

But they weren't sisters. They weren't related at all except for the weird, sadistic twist of fate that had brought them all together.

Elise decided she must be a terrible person. Erin obviously wanted to be friends and Elise couldn't seem to put any effort forward in that direction.

She should have stayed home and tried last night, she thought again. A few hours of being polite seemed a small enough price compared to her humiliation at causing a scene at The Hitching Post and, worse, spilling her angst all over Matt Cates and then sharing a kiss with him.

Her mind replayed those stunning moments at his house—his mouth warm and sexy against hers, the strength of his arms around her, the safety and security she felt near him. The man could definitely kiss. She'd always suspected it and now she knew without a doubt all the whisperings she'd heard around town were based on fact.

For a few moments there, she hadn't been able to think about anything but his touch. Not hospital mistakes or drunk cowboys or even her own name—Elise Clifton or Elise Castro or whoever the heck she was this week.

“N
ice bit of color you've got there, son. Thought I taught you how to duck a little better than that.”

Matt made at face at his father, who leaned on the doorjamb of the bedroom at the McFarlane Lodge where they were putting up the last bit of finish trim around the windows and doors.

A guy got in one lousy fight and the whole town wanted to talk about it. He supposed it didn't help when he sported the worst shiner he'd had since he was fourteen, when he and Marlon had gotten a little too physical over a cute cheerleader from Bozeman.

He'd never realized he had a long and painful history of fighting over women.

“Heard you got into it with a drunk cowboy over a girl down at The Hitching Post,” piped in Bud Larsen,
one of their workers, as he carried in another load of trim from the truck.

Matt used the fine-planed black walnut he was measuring as an excuse to avoid the gaze of either Bud or his father.

“Something like that,” he answered evasively.

“Was Christine involved?” Frank asked.

He supposed he couldn't blame his father for jumping to that conclusion. His parents thought he and Christine Mayhew were serious since they had been “dating” steadily for the last few months.

“She wasn't even there, Dad. She had a baby shower last night so I went to hang out with some of the guys.”

Frank set the level on the trim to double and triple check, as he always did. “She know you got into a fight over another girl?”

His parents liked Christine. Now that both of his older brothers were married and Marlon was engaged to Haley Anderson, Matt often found himself the object of much teasing and speculation from his family about when he planned to take his turn on that particular merry-go-round.

He had tried to be evasive to his family about his and Christine's relationship but it was becoming more difficult without blatant prevarication, something he tried not to do to his parents very often since they always seemed to catch him at it anyway.

“I don't know if Christine has heard or not. I haven't had a chance to talk to her, but you know how the grapevine works around here.”

“Women like to hear those sorts of things straight from the horse, if you get me,” Bud offered with a wink.

“I'll keep that in mind,” Matt said. He decided he didn't need to mention that he wasn't about to take relationship advice from a man who had been married four times, two of them to sisters.

“Anyway, it was just a misunderstanding.”

“So if the girl you tussled over down at the bar wasn't Christine, who the heck was it?” Frank asked.

For some reason, Matt found himself strangely reluctant to tell his father the truth. He knew this was just what Elise had feared, that she would find herself the subject of gossip and speculation.

But he also knew that look in his father's eyes. Frank wouldn't stop until he'd extracted every ounce of available information out of Matt. Sometimes he wondered if his father had undergone interrogation training somewhere in his distant past or if he was just particularly gifted at squeezing information out of his reticent sons.

He should probably just blurt it out, rather than hem and haw and obfuscate, when Frank would just find out sooner or later.

He sighed. “Grant Clifton's sister.”

“Elise?” His father registered a moment of surprise then he shook his head. “That poor little thing. She's had a rough time of it this last month, hasn't she?”

“She has.”

“If some no-account cowboy was messing with her, you did the right thing, son. She all right?”

He thought of her sobbing out her confusion and pain in his arms and then the stunning, unforgettable kiss that never should have happened. “I think so.”

“She's tough, our little Elise.”

“Not so little anymore, Dad. We're the same age.”

His father again looked surprised. “I guess you are at that. I always forget you went to school with her. Well, I'm glad you were there to watch out for her. Christine will probably understand.”

“If she don't and throws you out on your butt, you mind if I have a go?” Bud asked eagerly. “That is one fine-looking woman.”

The man was twenty years older than Christine. Hell, he had kids who were older than she was. Matt was trying to come up with a diplomatic response but his father didn't bother.

“Shut up, Bud, and get back to work now before I throw
you
out on your butt,” Frank growled.

Bud grumbled but headed back out for another load.

When the other man left, Frank turned to him, his brown eyes uncharacteristically serious. “As much as I hate to say it, I think Bud's probably right about this, anyway. You might want to get out in front of the story. Call Christine and explain your side of the story before she hears a rumor and gets the wrong idea. Be careful there, son. She's a nice girl. You don't want to hurt her.”

An image of Elise in his arms flashed through his mind again, a picture he hadn't been able to shake all morning. He didn't worry about hurting Christine. They
were only friends. Elise was an entirely different story. “Yeah. I know.”

His phone rang just a few moments after his father left to direct the other workers, leaving Matt alone with the work and his thoughts.

Matt pulled it from the holder on his belt and glanced at the caller ID.

“Hey, Christine,” he said. “I was just talking about you.”

“You're a busy guy, Matt. Rumor has it you pulled the white-knight act last night at The Hitching Post.”

How the heck did rumors manage to fly so fast and furiously in a small town? “A guy might think nothing exciting ever happens in Thunder Canyon,” he complained. “Doesn't anybody in town have something more interesting to talk about?”

She gave that rich, husky laugh he had always enjoyed. “I guess tongues all over town are going to wag when one of the supposedly reformed hell-raising Cates boys comes out of retirement.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

She laughed again. “That's why I'm calling, actually. I'm just wondering if you want to cancel our plans for tonight.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I just figured, now that you've apparently taken on the cause of some other damsel in distress, you might be too busy.”

Elise might have returned his kiss the night before with a sweet passion, but for all he knew, that might have
only been the margaritas talking. “I'm never too busy for you, Chris. As far as I'm concerned, we're still on.”

“And the bar fight I'm hearing about? From what I understand, you whomped on a Lazy D cowboy.”

“All a misunderstanding,” he repeated what he'd told his father.

“And the girl?”

“Elise is just an old friend,” he lied. “I'm definitely looking forward to dinner.”

“So am I. I owe you. Taking you to The Gallatin Room is the least I can do to repay you for helping me out these last few months.”

“How many times will I have to remind you I was happy to be able to help, before you start to believe me?”

“A few more, maybe.”

He smiled. “It's been fun, Christine. And I think your devious plot worked. You haven't been bothered by Clay for a while, have you?”

“Not much. The stray email here and there and message on voice mail but I can always delete those.”

“So does seven tomorrow still work?” he asked.

“Perfectly. Try not to get into any more barfights between now and then. I might have a tough time explaining why my supposed boyfriend is ripping it up down at The Hitching Post over another woman.”

“Maybe because you won't give it up,” he teased.

She laughed hard. “Ewww. Don't even go there, Matt. Don't get me wrong, you're gorgeous and all, but it's like kissing a brother.”

He couldn't fault her for that since he'd had a very similar reaction.

“Sorry, I've got to run,” she said a few moments later. “This place is crazy with Christmas shoppers today. I'll see you tonight, okay?”

After he hung up, he paused for a moment, gazing out the window at the spectacular view of the mountains from the McFarlane Lodge. Some part of him really wished he could stir up something more than friendship with Christine. She was perfect for him in many ways. Fun and exuberant and undeniably beautiful.

A few months ago, he never would have believed it, but he was beginning to feel ready to start thinking about the next phase of his life. Maybe it was Marlon's relationship with Haley that had set him on the road, but his life had begun to seem empty.

He loved the job. He loved the challenge of rehabbing houses on the side. He enjoyed hanging with the guys and going fly-fishing and watching basketball games. But something had been missing for a while.

His thoughts filled with Elise again—the softness of her mouth, the startling hunger racing through him, that incredible wash of tenderness as he held her while she slept.

He had a fierce desire to see where things might take them but it was tempered by the awareness that this was abysmal timing for her. She was dealing with a lot right now, stresses he couldn't begin to imagine. Maybe what she needed most from him was a little patience, something that had never been one of his strengths.

He sighed. He wasn't going to get this project finished
in time for Connor McFarlane's grand lodge opening if he didn't focus.

He had to stop thinking about Elise. A pleasant evening with Christine would be the perfect diversion.

He hoped.

 

“We'll have your table ready in just a moment, Mr. Clifton.”

“No problem, Sara. We don't mind waiting.”

Elise felt a pang of sympathy for the hostess at The Gallatin Room at the Thunder Canyon Resort, who looked on the verge of a full-fledged panic attack that her boss and his family had to wait even thirty seconds.

Grant had been running the ski resort—now a four-season destination—for several years. He seemed to be highly respected by his employees, with perhaps a healthy amount of fear added to the mix.

She had a hard time reconciling his professional persona with her teasing, sometimes annoying older brother.

After her disaster of an outing the night before at The Hitching Post and the gossip she knew likely had galloped through town, her first instinct was to stay at the ranch where she was safe, to avoid showing her face around town. But her usually sweet mother could be stubborn about certain things.

“We've hardly had a moment with Grant and Stephanie since…well, since everything happened with Erin and since you and I came back to Thunder Canyon,” Helen had said that afternoon. “With Grant's busy
schedule from now until New Year's, who knows when we'll have time for a family dinner again.”

Elise hadn't known how to wiggle out of it. As the hostess finally led them through the always-crowded restaurant toward the best table overlooking the snow-covered mountains, she wished she'd tried a little harder.

Many of the guests were tourists in town for holiday skiing but she recognized several locals, who all seemed to follow the Cliftons' progress through the restaurant with avid, hungry gazes.

“I hate this,” she muttered under her breath.

She really hadn't meant to say the words aloud but she must have. Stephanie, Grant's wife, tucked her arm through Elise's. “Hate what, honey?”

“Everybody's staring and whispering at us,” she finally said. “I feel like some kind of circus freak.”

Stephanie's blue eyes warmed with compassion and she smiled, squeezing Elise's arm. “And here I thought they were staring at me, in all my voluptuous glory.”

Elise had to laugh. Steph was seven months pregnant, due in February, but carried the baby well on her slim, athletic frame.

“You're right.” Elise smiled back, grateful at Steph for yanking her out of her pity party. “What else would they be looking at but how utterly, gorgeously pregnant you are? How narcissistic of me to automatically assume I'm always the center of attention.”

“Wait until you're either a bride or pregnant for that,” Steph said.

By then they had reached their table and Grant pulled
out the chairs for all three of the women. “Aren't I the luckiest guy here, to have the three most beautiful women in town at my table?”

“Suck-up,” Elise muttered, earning a grin from her older brother. She couldn't resist returning his smile. Elise reached for her water glass when the hostess filled it, then nearly dumped the whole thing over when she spotted the couple sitting only three tables away from them.

Matt Cates seemed to be enjoying a very cozy dinner for two with a slender, lovely brunette. The woman was laughing at something he said and leaning into him, her body language clearly telegraphing an easy, comfortable familiarity. While they spoke, the woman kept one hand on his arm as if she didn't want to let him go—the same arm that the night before had pulled Elise to him and held her close while she slept.

She told herself to look away. His choice in dinner companions was absolutely none of her business, and she would do well to remember that. She was not about to spend the evening gawking at him.

She had just started to heed her own advice and shift her attention back to her family when he suddenly happened to look straight at her. Rats. Caught. Just like in junior high when she used to moon over him in Mrs. McLarty's algebra class.

Something flashed in his eyes as he smiled at her. She jerked her gaze away, fumbling with her flatware and knocking her salad fork into her lap.

“Everything okay?” Stephanie asked in an undertone.

“Sure. Fine. Just great. Why wouldn't it be?”

She let out a breath. Naturally, she had a clear view of the two of them from her vantage point. If she didn't suspect it would spark a host of questions she wasn't in the mood to answer, Elise would have asked her mother to switch places so she didn't have to sit and watch him. Instead, she would just have to force herself not to stare.