Her Christmas Cowboy (4 page)

*****

Trey couldn’t remember when he’d last felt
this good. He banged around his kitchen pulling ham and cornbread
from the oven warmer and tossing salad while Daisy set the dining
table and poured wine. Their cozy domestic scene relaxed him and
felt absolutely
right
. He sensed Daisy
would grow to love the land here as much as he did, given the
chance. He couldn’t imagine any other woman living in the house
he’d built.

He hummed a Christmas tune while he sliced
the ham, set enough on a platter for two, and put leftovers in the
fridge. When he was done, he carried the meal to the table and
helped Daisy into her seat. He could almost hear his mother whisper
praises about remembering to be a gentleman.

After he and Daisy lifted their glasses in a
toast, he chased his dear mother from his thoughts, since his
intentions after supper had nothing whatsoever to do with being a
gentleman. He resisted diving into his food like a starving coyote
and paced himself while they made idle chatter. He buttered
cornbread, chewed salad, and added healthy doses of mustard to his
ham. But the longer their dinner continued, the less Daisy ate,
until she put her fork down altogether.

“Don’t you like your meal?” He immediately
regretted asking such a dense question. Daisy had been more and
more taciturn during the afternoon than he’d ever known her to be.
Something was wrong. She’d said earlier she had something on her
mind. Maybe now was the time to tell him what that was. “Or is it
something else?”

Daisy returned a strained smile. “Everything
you’ve done has been incredible. Including the meal.” She looked
right and then left as if the words needed to continue floated in
her periphery. “It’s just…there’s an opportunity…in Pennsylvania. I
have to decide by the New Year.”

The hair on the back of Trey’s neck prickled
and cold fear shot down his back. His appetite vanished, and so he
stuffed his napkin under his plate. Daisy was breaking up with him.
On Christmas Eve. His best Christmas ever had just become his
worst.

He barely heard the rest of what she had to
say, though he retained eye contact. Words like “return” and “home”
and “patrol duty” painted a clear enough picture for him to get the
gist. Daisy had found an opportunity to go back to the place she
was born and was considering her options. Guess he hadn’t been
enough of a draw to keep the woman he loved happy.

Incredulity washed over him. What about the
nights they’d lain on a blanket on the lawn and counted the stars
while they shared details of their lives? Or made love in the
meadow on the far side of the ranch? Or rode over fields on
horseback or drove to the beach on the Gulf? And what about her
duty to the mounted patrol? Didn’t she believe they valued her
there? Had she even given the job, or Houston, or him a fair
chance?

Of course, he didn’t say any of those things.
If Daisy hadn’t fallen for him or embraced her life here, he
couldn’t force her.

When the ringing in his ears faded and his
heart stopped pounding, Trey finally spoke. “Why would you want to
go back there? Have you forgotten how the department treated you?
How the media turned on you and the community turned its back,
though none of what happened was your fault? You didn’t shoot your
partner, the criminal did!” He thought she’d gotten over the worst
of the trauma. He thought his broken back and her broken spirit had
mostly healed. He thought they’d done that together.

Daisy stared at him across the table, and the
determination he saw on her face almost did him in. He was sure
then she’d made up her mind to go.

“I’d be working in a separate community,
close enough to my original home and the friends who stuck by me to
belong, but far enough away from my old department to give me room
to breathe. It would be my chance for a do-over. Didn’t you ever
want that for yourself? If you could relive the six seconds before
the bull broke your back, wouldn’t you take it? Maybe if I cross
paths with my old coworkers, they’ll see me differently now that
time has passed.”

Trey wanted to shout, “What about us?” He
wanted to sweep his arm across the table and knock every dish,
glass, and piece of cutlery to the floor. He wanted to kick the
plates out of his way until they smashed to splinters and then toss
the dining table too.

He didn’t do any of those things. He was a
man, not a menace. But Trey couldn’t keep the depth of his hurt and
rage and disappointment to himself. He banged his fist on the table
and shouted. “Dammit, Daisy!”

Chapter Five

Dammit, Daisy?
Was that all
Trey had to say?

The stony set of his face and the anger in
his eyes spoke volumes compared to his words. She’d never seen that
expression on him before, and realized, too late, that she’d hurt
him. But weren’t they just talking? She hadn’t said she was
taking
the job in Pennsylvania, just that
she was considering the opportunity. The option weighed heavy on
her mind and it was only right she share those thoughts. Isn’t that
what couples did?

Were they a couple? Maybe that question was
the crux of the matter. She wasn’t sure if her relationship with
Trey was a passing affair or something more. He hadn’t mentioned
the word
love
and she hadn’t wanted to
spoil the relationship by bringing it up if his feelings weren’t
mutual. She’d been content to enjoy the pleasure of his company,
the passion of their nights, and encourage him on his road back to
health while she healed too.

But, was a heated affair enough to keep her
in Houston? She had to admit, the answer was no. Her future was at
stake and she couldn’t afford to make another error in judgment. A
woman had to take care of herself, be self-supporting, and make her
own way. Her permanent residence, the community she served, and the
man she would love for the rest of her life were decisions she
couldn’t get wrong.

Maybe her expression gave her thoughts away,
because Trey stood from the table, came around to her side, and
lifted her to her feet. He wrapped her in his arms and gazed
straight into her eyes.

“Don’t go.”

The strength of his embrace and the intensity
of his voice left no doubt to his meaning.

The time had come for her to go all-in. “You
could come with me.”

He smirked, and she could tell he held back a
derisive laugh. “I just healed from a fractured spine. Got my job
back on the ranch. Finished building my house. My life is here.
It’s always been here. I was hoping you’d see that and want to
stay.”

Of course she knew. She was the one who had
drifted. Was still drifting. She’d run away when life got ugly
instead of waiting things out and working it through. Trey was as
solid as the foundation under their feet.

He pulled her against his chest and covered
her mouth with a kiss that would have sent her reeling without
support. The press of his lips and taste of wine on his tongue
chased away her momentary doubts. Could she really leave this man?
The one she never would have met if her previous life hadn’t
crashed and burned?

He eased back and met her eyes. “Can’t you
see I finished this house for you?” He pressed another kiss to her
lips. “I love you. I’ve loved you for so long.”

Daisy touched his cheek and ran a thumb over
his jaw. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

His hands slid down her back, over her hips,
and up again to capture her waist. “I wanted to. I’ve been waiting
for the right time. I had nothing to offer you until I knew for
sure my body would heal. A broken cowboy earning piddling wages as
a riding instructor would hardly have been enough for you in the
long run. You’re a cop. A wage earner. Someone fearless and strong.
A weak man wouldn’t hold you. I had to know I was fit to stay in
your life.”

She hated it when she wanted to cry. Tears
were for children. She forced back the urge but let out a sigh.
“Not so fearless. Not so strong. I ran all the way to Texas like a
coward.”

Trey closed his eyes for a second and
tightened his mouth. When he opened them again, he said, “You’re so
hard on yourself. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known. It’s
okay to hurt. It’s normal to feel pain. But instead of quitting law
enforcement, you found another job. A harder one at that, in a
strange city. And let’s not forget the support you’ve given your
sister in her time of mourning. And the understanding you gave me
when I worried that my life as a man was over…. Maybe you ran from
Pennsylvania, but I feel like you saved us here. Hard times brought
us together. ”

Daisy swallowed. Trey always knew the right
thing to say, though he didn’t speak often. Why hadn’t she accepted
that he loved her? He’d shown his love in a thousand ways, but
she’d been so numbed by her own pain she’d refused to see. “You
love me?”

His expression softened. “Of course I
do.”

“A woman likes to hear these things.”

He kissed her brow. “I should have said it
sooner.”

She laid her head against his chest and
listened to the sound of his heart beating. The warmth of his chest
and the solid feel of his body made her wonder how she could
possibly leave him. No man had ever made her feel so loved—with or
without saying the words.

He stroked the crown of her head and ran his
hand the length of her hair until it trailed down her back to the
curve of her bottom. She tipped her face to his to welcome a kiss
and he complied willingly, eagerly, taking her mouth with his until
their breathing turned fast and hot. Then he took her by the hand
and led her up the stairs to his bedroom.

Trey didn’t hurry but took his time
undressing her, letting each button on her blouse slide through his
fingers as he opened them one by one. His fingertips brushed the
swell of her breasts, touched a collarbone, grazed the base of her
throat until she shivered. The tips of her breasts tightened inside
the lace of her bra, and he leaned down to brush those too with the
barest kiss.

He slipped the shirt from her shoulders and
tossed it on a nearby chair. She stood before him in a wash of
moonlight while he drank in the sight of her. His mouth sought her
breasts and he unsnapped her jeans before pulling down the zipper.
His hand roamed her abdomen and reached to cup her sex. She sighed
at the contact, and he groaned with her heat.

They stripped then in a toss of boots, socks,
jeans, and all else that got in the way of skin. Daisy cried out at
the electrifying feel of his flesh against hers when he pulled her
close. Their mouths sought each other and their hands stroked and
touched with newfound tenderness.

Trey laid her on his bed and kissed her. “I
love you,” he whispered. He used his mouth, his tongue, and his
words to show her until she writhed on the mattress with bliss and
stretched with contentment. Just when she wondered if too much
pleasure was possible, he reached into his bedside drawer. Then he
entered her and loved her once, twice, and again.

*****

“You must be starved,” Trey said. “You barely
touched supper, and then…” He grinned, clearly pleased with their
lovemaking.

“And then…” She agreed. She stretched her
arms above her head and yawned from her spot on Trey’s couch, sated
and happy. She’d managed to dress again in everything except her
boots, which lay not far from the Christmas tree. They’d finished
decorating a few minutes ago and lights sparkled like colored
raindrops over the room. A fire burned in the fireplace and candles
glowed on tabletops.

Trey set a plate of fat ham sandwiches and
two bottles of cold beer on the coffee table. He joined her on the
sofa and they ate the simple meal with gusto, talking a little but
mostly savoring each other’s company. Their Christmas Eve together
had been the best of her life. She smiled at the irony. Hadn’t she
thought she needed Jack Frost to make Christmas perfect?

Trey wrapped an arm around her shoulders when
they finished eating and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Remember
when I said I had something to talk about too?”

Daisy had been so wrapped up in her own
thoughts she’d forgotten he had something on his mind. “Sorry, I
didn’t give you much of a chance.”

He hugged her shoulder. “I also said I was
waiting for the right time to talk about loving you.” Trey reached
into his jeans pocket and pulled out a small blue velvet box.

Daisy’s heart stopped. Her lungs seized and
her throat turned to dust. When her heart started beating again, an
adrenaline rush caused her hands to tremble. She hadn’t seen this
coming. She licked her mouth to rewet her lips, but waited for him
to continue speaking.

“I’ve known I wanted to marry you since your
first week of riding lessons. Nothing has changed that for me.” He
opened the box and held it out to her. The simple classic diamond
was tasteful and beautiful and shimmered in the candlelight. “While
you think about that opportunity in Pennsylvania, I want you to
also consider a future here. Weigh your options. I’m offering you a
solid home and all the love a man can give a woman. The job and all
that goes with it is something you’ll have to figure out for
yourself. But I want you to stay.”

She wanted to be impulsive and say yes to
marriage simply because her post-orgasmic brain and body had turned
to mush. And because Trey was the most wonderful man she’d ever
known and the ring he’d bought was stunning. And because it was
Christmas Eve and that would be the easy thing to do. But a serious
decision like marriage had to be considered with both her head and
her heart. Every facet of her future was at stake. Trey loved her,
but she also had her career to consider. Her path in law
enforcement was as important a choice as marriage.