Mistletoe Cowboy (21 page)

“I talked to her during the party and she and Hilda were on the phone with each other most of the night. I don't think she missed much.” Lawton chuckled.

“Well, we'll be leaving now. See you tomorrow at church,” Sage said.

“And afterwards you will be here to help us eat up some of these leftovers, right?” April asked.

“Wouldn't miss it,” Sage said.

“And you?” Lawton asked Creed.

“Wouldn't turn down another bite of those buffalo wings for anything. I'd walk through the blizzard to get at those things.”

“My kind of cowboy,” Lawton said.

Creed's pickup was barely warmed up by the time they reached the end of the lane on the Canyon Rose. He'd put the console up so that there was a wide bench seat and Sage had moved right up next to him.

“I feel like a teenager,” she said.

“You don't look like one. Who was that last fellow you danced with?”

“Joe Rendetta. He's the vet from Claude. We see a lot of him.”

“He married?”

“Was but now he's divorced. He and Lawton went to school together.”

“Does anyone get married and stay married in the canyon?”

“Grand did.”

“In this generation?” he asked.

“Lots of young women are workin' on that,” she said. “You see anything you were interested in?”

“Yes, I did,” he said.

Sage's breath caught in her chest. “Did someone introduce you to her or did you dance with her?”

“Both.”

Sage hadn't wanted to share Creed, and riding home in the dark with nothing but snow still on the ground and cold wind blowing, she understood why. If he was suddenly thrown into a room full of petite, charming women eager to do whatever the hell he wanted in the bedroom, she'd soon be like yesterday's newspaper. Tossed in the pile at the end of the sofa to take to the burning barrel.

“And who is she?” she asked, but she didn't want to hear the name.

“You,” he said softly.

He parked the truck in front of the house and opened the door before she could answer. He hurried around the truck, opened her door, and slipped an arm under her bottom and one around her shoulders, just like in the visions he'd had that evening. Through the pounding in her ears and the beating of both their hearts, she could hear the soft crunch of the top layer of snow as his boots crunched their way toward the house.

And for the first time in her life, she forgot all about her size.

She leaned away from him enough to open both the glass storm door and the real door and he carried her over the threshold but he didn't put her down. His lips found hers and the kiss spoke volumes. It said that all the cute little women at the party hadn't appealed to him. That she was the one he wanted to be with; she was the one he had danced with; and she was the one he carried into the house. She put both arms around his neck and her feet hit the ground just enough to give her momentum to take a gentle leap and wrap her legs around his waist.

He cupped his hands under her bottom and the tight-fitting dress hiked right up as if it had a mind of its own. He took a step forward and set her on the credenza. The zipper of her dress came down and warm air flowed against her cool skin. How had he gotten her coat off? She'd had it on and now it was gone.

Her hands went to his chest to find that his coat was gone too. The man sure didn't need lessons in how to undress a woman without her even knowing it. She unbuttoned his shirt and slowly ran her fingers across his tense abs and up across his chest. Lord, he felt good. Tight and ready and good and from the hardness pressing against her stomach, something was happening below the belt buckle.

He peeled the dress down from the top without stopping the hard, demanding, and hot kisses. Next the bra came off and then he skimmed the bikinis from her hips slicker than skimming cream from the top of milk.

She moaned when he pulled her forward until her hips were at the edge of the credenza. When she opened her eyes, he was as naked as she was and his eyes had that soft, dreamy look in them, made even sexier with nothing but the light flickering from the fireplace.

“I want you,” she gasped.

“Bedroom?”

“No, right now,” she whispered hoarsely.

The washstand was exactly the right height for him to take her right where they were. Hard flesh joined hot flesh and her fingernails dug into his back. The last thing she thought before she gave up thinking about anything but satisfying the ache inside her was that she was damn glad she hadn't put the ceramic nativity scene on the credenza yet. If she had there would be shepherds and wise men smashed all over the floor and Creed might cut his feet.

The thrusts started out slow but they got faster with each kiss and groan. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She just wanted release and when it came, he said her name in a ragged, hoarse breath. He backed up and she scooted forward, wrapped her legs tightly around him, and he carried her to the bedroom.

Then she was on the bed, in his arms, the covers pulled up over them, with that gorgeous thing called afterglow settling around them.

She giggled as she snuggled up next to him, sharing a pillow.

“Please don't tell me you thought that was funny,” he gasped.

“No, it was wonderful… absolutely fantastic. I've never flown so high, Creed, or felt so safe afterwards. It was the place where I took flight from. I'll have to polish the top of that credenza until it shines before next week and put the nativity on it or Grand will want to know why.”

He chuckled. “You don't think your Grand and grandpa ever used it for that reason?”

“Yuk! Erase that picture from my mind.”

“You are so right. I'd rather have a picture of you wrapped around me in every sense of the word. You are a beautiful, sexy woman, Sage. You were the most gorgeous woman at the party tonight.”

The smile that covered her face was nothing compared to the feeling in her heart. “Thank you, Creed.”

“Good night, darlin'.”

“Good night, Creed.”

When Sage said they were having services in a chapel, Creed pictured a small building that would seat about thirty people. But the white clapboard building in front of him was bigger than the church he'd attended his whole life in Ringgold. It had a small front porch held up by two square porch posts, a steeple on the top, and windows down both sides, not totally unlike the one in north central Texas. But there was a lot more distance from front to back than the one he was used to.

“Chapel?” he asked Sage when he parked the truck.

“That's what it's been called for years. Story has it the first Pierce who settled on the land built it because it was too far to go into town on Sunday. Each generation has maintained the building. It's probably petrified wood under those layers of white paint. Grand says she remembers when the last stained glass window was replaced, so it must have been quite the thing in the beginning.”

She opened the door and made a face. “Should have worn my boots.”

“Wait right there. I'll carry you inside. You'll get your feet wet in those shoes and catch pneumonia. Your grandmother will tack my hide to the smokehouse door if you get sick.”

He shoved his jeans down into the tops of his boots and circled around the truck to her side. She swung the door open and he slid a hand under her knees and the other one around her midsection. “You can shut the door, please, ma'am.”

She slammed it shut. “I can't believe you are doing this.”

“Just don't want your Grand to skin me alive,” he said.

But Creed's intentions were far from honorable. If he carried her inside the church right there at five minutes before services began, then the other cowboys would for sure see that she wasn't available anymore. And he fully well intended to share his hymn book with her too. In his part of the world, that meant that there had been an agreement of sorts met. He hoped the cowboys in the canyon played by the same rules.

The door was open a crack when they reached the porch so he stuck a toe in it and kicked. It swung to the inside and she wiggled as if she wanted him to put her down but he ignored it.

“If you'll shut that please, darlin',” he whispered.

Inside the quiet confines of the packed church the whisper carried right down the center aisle to the preacher who was just taking his place behind the podium. Lawton turned around from the front pew and grinned. April followed her father's gaze and winked. Hilda gave them a mean look.

“Put me down,” Sage whispered so low that only Creed could hear it.

He marched down the entire length of the aisle and sat her down beside Hilda. Then he took his place right beside her, untucked his jeans from his boots, and laced his fingers in hers.

The preacher looked down at them, a question in his eyes.

“Excuse us, sir. She didn't wear her boots and there's too much snow still on the ground for her to plow through in those shoes,” Creed said.

***

Every woman in the church sighed.

“Well, that was very gallant. We wouldn't want her feet to get wet or for her to be sick.” He smiled and said, “As you are all aware, we usually have this ceremony at the first of the month to get the congregation ready for the true reason for the season. But evidently God had other plans because we got snowed in pretty tight. So today we will celebrate all that is Christmas and begin with congregational singing. Inside the program, you will find the Christmas carols we will be singing this afternoon. We'll start with ‘Silent Night.'”

Creed had a lovely deep voice that resounded off the walls. When they got to the part about all is calm and all is bright, she stopped singing. It was true that everything was bright and pretty that time of year. It was Christmas, the season of love and happiness, of giving and sharing. But what scared her was the calm in her heart since the night before.

She did not want Creed to leave. She damn sure didn't want her grandmother to move away permanently, but the Rockin' C was plenty big enough for all of them. Grand didn't have to move and Creed didn't have to go. Just admitting that had brought about the peace they sang about.

Hilda nudged her and grinned. Sage didn't know what was so delightful until she realized that she and Creed were sharing the program with the two congregational hymns printed inside. That might not mean jack shit in his part of the world, but in hers, if a woman brought a man to church and shared the hymn book, it meant something.

Sage shook her head at Hilda, but the older woman's smile didn't wane one single bit. And Sage would bet that as soon as she could find a quiet place, Hilda would call Ada and tell her all about it.

When the last piano notes of the carol ended, the preacher began the responsive reading that retold them the reason they were preparing the chapel for the birth of Christ. He read a line and then the congregation spoke their line in unison.

The preacher said that the branches of cedar and garlands of pine and fir represented never ending life because their branches were always green. The voices in the congregation joined together in the proper response. Then he said that the wreaths of holly and ivy told of the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord and Savior.

Sage read her lines but she thought about her passion for painting and how Creed understood it. He hadn't made one small overture toward changing her but encouraged her to do more and more. She thought about the death of the anger inside her and how she'd been so determined to see him leave. And the resurrection of a calm peace when she accepted the fact that she didn't want to face the days ahead without Creed in her life.

The preacher's wife sang “Mary Did You Know?” Cold chill bumps raced down Sage's backbone. She wondered if Creed's momma had known when she had him if one day he'd leave her and move away hundreds of miles to a big hole in the ground. If she realized the effect that he would have on one woman in that canyon.

Then the preacher sat down on the edge of the altar at the front of the church and motioned for the little children to join him. A couple of little girls sat on his knees and the others gathered around him in a circle. One thing the canyon did was produce kids and lots of them had skin the color of Creed's. That lightly toasted color that testified of Hispanic blood.

He told them that the legend of the poinsettia came from Mexico and went on to talk about a little girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo and how they looked forward to the Christmas festival.

She'd heard the story so often that she could read it back to the preacher without looking at the words, so her thoughts veered off in another direction. Her hand tucked into Creed's felt right and good, but how had it all happened?

Magic
, Grand's voice said in her ears.

The story ended and the preacher asked eight children to carry pots of poinsettias to various parts of the church. The other children raced back to their parents and the preacher took his place behind the podium to tell the story of the shepherds and the birth of Christ.

“And this morning the church gets dressed in its Christmas apparel. The Christmas tree has been brought to stand in our sanctuary. This day for the first time its lights will shine on us. While the children bring their ornaments to hang on the tree, we will sing ‘Away in a Manger.' Let your voices resound with the glory of the season.”

Sage and Creed held the program between them, their voices blending with the other members of the church at the back side of Lawton Pierce's property. When the song ended one little boy flipped a switch and the lights on the tree sparkled.

“Beautiful,” Creed whispered in Sage's ear.

The heat from his breath sent instant flutters all the way to her stomach. She nodded in agreement but her thoughts were not on the sparkling Christmas tree, but rather on the shiny surface of a freshly cleaned credenza in their house.

Their house!

Lord
Almighty, and I'm not swearing right here in the church house but asking, where did that come from?
She looked toward the ceiling.

The preacher talked about preparing the communion table. He removed the old cloth and replaced it with one with embroidered poinsettias on it that matched the curtain in the kitchen. Someone's grandmother from ages past had embroidered it for the season no doubt.

Then a teenage girl came forward. She wore a lovely crimson red velvet dress and cowboy boots. She took her place behind the podium and read about the lighting of the candles as three other girls her age lit candles in the windows and on the communion table. With each candle that was lit the congregation read the responsive reading from the program.

Sage was amazed at how well Creed fit right into the whole program. “Have you done this before?”

“Many times. I used to be the one who read that passage that she's reading right now,” he whispered.

“As we light these candles we symbolize God, Emmanuel, God with us. His peace and joy comes through the illumination of His message of love,” the young lady said and went back to her seat.

There were five more readers. Cedar branches and holly were placed on the communion table. Wreaths were hung in the windows and on the front of the pulpit. At the end of the last reading the children came forward and sang “Little Drummer Boy.” Then the whole congregation stood and read the ending prayer together.

“We dedicate our lives and all that we have to the work of life, of love, of peace. Receive our gifts and lead us in wisdom and courage. Amen.”

Sage felt naked when Creed dropped her hand to shake with the preacher. Half of her was suddenly gone and then his other arm was around her waist. In that moment she realized that Creed was a part of her and that he was never leaving.

“You are no stranger to the Hangin' of the Greens, are you?” The preacher pumped Creed's hand up and down. “I'm Willard Dumas. I preach up in a church in Claude on Sunday morning, but these folks needed someone to come down here, so we set up a Sunday afternoon service. Glad to see you in church with Sage. Give Ada our best when you talk to her.”

“I will surely do that. I'm Creed Riley, the new owner of Rockin' C next week when Miz Ada returns from her trip and we get the papers signed.”

The preacher leaned in. “Don't let your spirits rise too high, son. Ada's got a lot of memories invested on that ranch. I'm not sure she'll really sell out when she gets to thinking about it.”

Sage's heart twisted up into a pretzel. What was she going to do if Grand did change her mind and Creed left the canyon? Just when she'd found her soul mate, would he be jerked out of her life?

***

Creed stood to one side and let the ladies and Lawton go ahead of him into the ranch house. It still looked intimidating even in daylight, but not so much as it had the night before with all the lights glowing brightly.

What surprised him was the intimacy of the dining room setting as compared to the big ballroom party. When he first walked inside, he noticed that the double doors to the left of the staircase were closed. He followed Lawton and the ladies down a wide hall. One door led into the kitchen, but they bypassed it and went on to the next one, a formal dining room set up for five people at the end of a table that could easily seat a dozen.

The table had been set and the women went right on into the kitchen and started bringing out dishes. Creed was amazed when his stomach growled. It was already close to four o'clock and it would be chore time in less than an hour.

“We'll have a little something and then get on about the feeding,” Lawton said as if he could read his mind. “Ranchin' don't stop just because baby Jesus was born in a manger.”

“It was a nice service though,” Hilda said. “I couldn't believe that Amelia let her daughter wear boots with that beautiful dress.”

“It's the style, Hilda,” April said.

“And she didn't have a Creed Riley to carry her into church.” Sage smiled.

Lawton motioned for everyone to sit down, said a quick grace, and looked right at Creed. “If Ada decides not to sell, I've got a place for you right here on the Canyon Rose, Creed.”

Creed nodded. “Thank you, Lawton. But I've got my heart set on havin' my own place. I appreciate the offer, but if she backs out it wasn't meant for me to be in the canyon so I'll just go on my way and find where it is I'm meant to settle down.”

Besides, before I tell Sage exactly how I feel, I want to have something to offer her. She deserves more than a hired hand.

“Offer still stands if you change your mind,” Lawton said. “Now pass me those buffalo wings and help yourself first. Once April gets a hold of the bowl we won't get any.”

“You got that right. I was too busy to eat very much at the party. And believe me, I don't get this kind of food in Weatherford, Oklahoma!”

“That where you live?” Creed asked.

“That's where I go to college.”

Creed passed the bowl to Lawton. “And what are you going to be when you grow up?”

“A rancher. I'd like to be one right now but Daddy is on Momma's side and you can't fight City Hall.” She shot a look down the table at Lawton.

“You remember that. When you get your education you can learn ranchin'. There's plenty of time.”

Time
, Creed thought. Not everyone had plenty of time. He had one more week and then he'd either be out of time or he'd own a ranch. His whole future hinged on whether or not Ada Presley sold him the ranch.

***

Creed set the milk bucket under the cow and reached for his phone before he started his final chore of the evening. His brother, Ace, answered on the second ring.

“Hey, are y'all thawin' out? Our snowman looks like a snow blob now. There's nothing left on the ground and Jasmine wanted a white Christmas so bad.”

“Bring her out here. Roads are clear and the weatherman says we're having a white Christmas for sure. It'll take days and days to melt all this,” Creed said.