Mistletoe Cowboy (24 page)

She dropped his hand and plopped down on the floor beside Noel.

Creed loved Sage.

He had admitted it to himself.

Rings were stuffed down into his luggage, which was in the truck.

He had told her.

Now she wanted to play with three bluetick hounds?

He chuckled and sat down beside her. “Look, Elvis can see now.”

“Just like us,” Creed said.

Her eyebrows knit together. “What does that mean?”

“I love you, Sage.”

“Oh, I get it.” She leaned forward to collect the kiss coming her way. “Symbolic, ain't it? They open their eyes on the day their house is finished and the day that we finally open ours.”

Creed wanted to rush out to the truck and bring in the velvet box. He wanted to propose to her right there in the middle of the living room floor with wiggling puppies around them and the lights of the Christmas tree sparkling behind them.

But he couldn't.

Not until the ranch was paid for and his property. He didn't want her to ever think for one single minute that he'd used her precious love that way.

“So are you ready to put these critters outside? It'll only take ten minutes to put the electrical cord through a hole into the house.”

She laid Elvis back down beside his mother and took his hand. “That can wait. I want you to take me to bed, Creed.”

She reached out a hand and he helped her to her feet. She led the way to the bedroom and shut the door behind them.

***

Sage unbuttoned his shirt and slid it from his shoulders. She wasn't in a hurry. They had all day to put the icing on their declarations of love. And she didn't care if the
M
-word wasn't mentioned for several months. She already knew how she would answer when it did come into play.

His hands trembled as he pulled her sweatshirt up over her head, taking the nightshirt with it. She rolled up on her toes so that their eyes were level and sunk into the depths of his soul.

“Merry Christmas to me,” she singsonged.

“Ditto,” he rasped.

She unfastened his belt buckle and zipper and slipped her hand inside. He groaned. “I don't want foreplay. I want to feel you, Creed. Make love to me.”

She stepped back and shimmied out of the rest of her clothing and left them lying on the floor. She was already under the covers when he joined her, his lips and body joining hers right along with their hearts and souls.

“I'm so ready and you feel so good,” she said.

“So do you, darlin'. Have I told you in the past two minutes that I'm hopelessly in love with you?”

“Don't ever leave me, Creed. Promise that you won't ever leave me.”

“Wild horses couldn't drag me away from you.”

With that promise he was inside her and the rocking motion of beautiful lovemaking began.

“I love you,” she said, and the words came straight from her heart.

Sage set a poinsettia on her grandfather's grave.

“Merry Christmas, Grandpa. Grand is selling the ranch. I'm okay with it now but it took a while for me to come around. She won't be able to stay away very long because this is where your spirit is. I couldn't ever stay away from Creed so I know she'll be back often to visit. She'll be here in a few days and I'm sure she'll be around to tell you all her news.”

She went back to the tractor where Creed waited and picked up the next two pots of bright red flowers.

“You okay?” Creed asked.

“Yes, I really am,” she said.

She set one plant in front of her father's grave and one in front of her mother's.

“Merry Christmas, Momma and Daddy. Every Christmas I wished I had a momma and daddy like all the other kids. I never told you that, did I? I'm sorry. I should have told you that even though I can barely remember either of you that I did miss you in my life. Grand has been a wonderful parent, but there was a hole in my life and in my heart. Momma, you'll be glad to know that Creed took care of that, and Daddy, don't worry, he's a good man. He'd have to be. Grand picked him out special for me.”

“Thank you,” Creed whispered as he slipped his arms around her from behind and drew her back to his chest.

The sweet strains of “Silent Night” on the tractor radio drifted across the cemetery and filled the canyon.

“Sleep in heavenly peace,” Sage said the words. “Fitting, ain't it?”

“Yes, ma'am, it surely is.”

The sun setting over the west bank of the canyon cast the last glorious golden rays of the day down upon the three graves. A day had ended but the ones ahead held the promise of something beautiful and real.

***

Creed had expected tears but Sage had handled things better than the first time they'd visited the cemetery. Whatever she said before he joined her had brought peace into her heart and it showed in her face.

She hummed along with the Christmas carols playing from the country station on the radio and kept time by tapping her foot. He still couldn't believe that she loved him, a plain old cowboy. And she had said it first. To Creed, that meant the whole world. It wasn't just an answer back to what he had said but it was going out on a limb and saying the words with no idea of how he would respond.

“Chores done… check. Flowers out… check,” he said.

“Supper to be cooked… no check. Making love before supper… definitely,” she teased.

“Which one first? Kitchen or bedroom?”

“Kitchen,” she answered without hesitation.

He cocked his head to one side.

“Has to be that way even if it's one of my gourmet bologna sandwiches. Once we hit the bedroom, we won't be finished until morning.”

The deep chuckle turned into laughter. “Honey, I'm not nearly that good.”

She ran a hand up his thigh. “Darlin', together we really are that good.”

He pulled the tractor through the double doors of the barn and started to turn the engine off but the DJ was talking about tomorrow's weather so he waited.

“And tomorrow the weatherman says we can look for more of the same. Low temperatures. Sunshine. Some icicles. Not much in the way of melting the snow. It's looking more and more like we'll have a white Christmas in the panhandle of Texas, folks.”

“Well, that's a big surprise,” Sage said. “Hey, I'll wait for you beside the doors and race you to the house. Loser has to cook supper in the nude.”

Creed turned the key and everything went silent except for the mooing of the cows out back. He'd turned the milk cow out with the herd that morning so the whole barn was empty.

Sage swiped a kiss across his cheek. “I can already see you without a stitch of clothes on because I'm going to win this race.”

“I can't even keep my boots on?” he asked.

“Not even your socks.”

“Just remember that when I win. The floor is cold without socks. Want to revise the rules?” he asked.

“Nope, nude as the day you were born,” she answered.

“Okay, let's shut the doors then and get to it. I'm lookin' forward to supper now. Have you ever had a cowboy make love to you on the kitchen table?” he asked.

She slid off the seat and shivered. “No, I have not.”

“How about the credenza right inside the door?”

“One time. Man that was some hot sex.”

“Could be again if you'd move that nativity scene you put up there the next day,” he said.

She giggled and helped slide the doors shut.

Creed stretched one long leg out and said, “One for the money. Two for the show. Three to get ready, and four to…”

She leaped and he reached out and grabbed her by the seat of her coveralls. “I didn't say go.”

“You don't play fair.” She moved away from him at least four feet. “I'm calling it. Three to get ready and four to go!”

Dusk settled on a blur of mustard-colored coveralls and long legs making a dash for the house. She was keeping up with him, step for step. Then he sidestepped twice and tackled her, but instead of bringing her down in the snow, he threw her over his shoulder like a bag of chicken feed and kept running toward the house.

***

The sizzle of chicken frying filled the whole kitchen.

Essie cut out biscuits and put them into a big round cast iron skillet. Ada slid them into the oven and checked the potatoes. They would be ready to mash at the same time the biscuits finished cooking. Green beans with bacon simmered on the back of the stove and a loaf of freshly baked pumpkin bread cooled on the cabinet.

“I'll set the table while you fix up a fruit salad,” Essie said.

Ada nodded.

The day before, she had made up her mind. She was giving Creed back his escrow money and backing out of the deal. She'd hire him to stay on at the ranch and even clean out the bunkhouse for him, but she couldn't leave the canyon. Now she wasn't so sure that was the right decision.

She looked at the Christmas tree and then at Essie. Surely to God, something would give her a sign. Anything to point her in the right direction. She liked living in Pennsylvania and she would love it when summer came and it wasn't hot as hell. She loved bantering with Essie and remembering the old times. But she missed Sage.

“Can't have your cake and eat it too,” Essie said.

“You talkin' to me?”

“I am. I know it's been botherin' you these past few days and I kept my mouth shut. I don't want you to ever regret leaving, Ada. You know where I stand, but time is getting pretty damn short. You've got to make up your mind and not look back.”

Ada swallowed twice, but the lump in her throat refused to budge.

I've relied on my Indian sense all these years. Don't fail me now. Give me a sign. All I want is one little sign to show me how to make this decision. A star floating over the fried chicken with a long banner trailing behind it would be nice. Or writing on the wall. I don't even care if it's in orange Crayola.

The back door flew open with such force that Essie grabbed her heart.

Sage's butt popped up in the air above Creed's shoulder. Her words came out one at a time between giggles and gasps. “You cheated. Now I don't get to see you make supper in the…”

He quickly swung her around and her face popped up. She gulped twice and said, “In the kitchen.”

Ada Presley had her sign.

***

“Grand, you are early! And you talked Aunt Essie into coming with you!” Sage hurried across the room and grabbed them both in a three-way hug.

“Surprise,” Essie said. “But I don't know who got the real surprise. Girl, y'all about scared the bejesus right out of me. You're supposed to come in gentle-like, not like a tornado blowin' the door down.”

“When did you get here? Or better yet, how did you get here?” Sage asked.

“We flew into Amarillo and got a taxi to bring us home,” Ada said.

“We would have come and got you, Miz Ada,” Creed said.

“Hello, Creed, I'm Essie, Ada's sister. She's told me all about you. We didn't mean to be rude and not include you in this homecoming surprise.”

Creed stuck out his hand, but Essie bypassed it and hugged him.

“Aunt Essie, you said y'all instead of you'ens.” Sage laughed.

“You scared seventy years off of me and I reverted back to my Okie days,” she said. “Now go get washed up. Supper will be ready in ten minutes.”

“Grand, a taxi must've cost a fortune. Why on earth didn't you call us?” Sage asked.

“Wanted to surprise you, and besides, money ain't nothing but dirty paper with dead presidents on it. The look on your face when Creed hauled you in here like a sack of feed was worth every dime. Do I want to know why you got carried in that way?” Ada asked.

“We were racing. Loser had to cook supper,” Creed answered. “It looked like I was going to lose so I evened the odds. That is one long-legged granddaughter you got, Miz Ada.”

“From the smell of this kitchen, I'd say we both won, and neither of us has to cook,” Sage said.

“We been here an hour and thought we'd go on with the supper. Place looks nice all decorated up,” Ada said. “You didn't even forget the nativity on the credenza.”

Heat popped out on Sage's face and neck like a red-hot sunburn. “No, ma'am, I did not.”

“I like it better there than on the mantel. Creed, did she tell you the story of that credenza?” Ada asked and went on before he could answer. “It belonged to my mother's grandmother. Started out as one of those old washstands that folks put in their bedrooms. There was a bow on the back with a rod across the two ends to hang a towel on. And the washbowl and pitcher set on the top. The doors underneath opened up for a chamber pot.”

“Grand!”

“Well, they did. Momma said that when she inherited it she set it on the screened-in porch and opened the doors for a whole summer just to air it out. She gave it to me for a wedding present and it has set right there ever since Tom brought me down into this canyon. He laughed when he brought it in and said we was uptown now because we had a credenza.”

“Well, it's a nice piece of furniture. Good and sturdy,” Creed said.

Essie gave Sage a push toward the living room. “Stop talkin' about old furniture and go wash up. We can talk over supper.”

Creed held it in until they reached the bathroom and then he chuckled.

She unzipped her coveralls and let them fall down to her waist, pushed up the sleeves of her knit shirt, and turned on the water. “Lord, if you hadn't turned me around when you did I'd have embarrassed the tee-total hell out of us both.”

“Credenza?”

She looked in the mirror at his reflection and grinned. “I know. She's psychic, I swear she is. Why else would she bring up the credenza?”

“You going to tell her?” Creed asked.

Sage shivered. “Hell, no! Not even on her deathbed.”

Creed unzipped his coveralls and let them fall to his waist, pushed up his sleeves, and stuck his hands under the faucet with Sage's. Would there ever come a time when his touch, even with her grandmother so close by, didn't give her naughty thoughts?

She wrapped her soapy hands around his fingers and washed his hands for him. “Oh, I'd slippy and I'd slidey over Creed's little heinie. Oh, I wish I was a little bar of soap.”

“Shhh.” Creed caught her fingers. “You want to get me in trouble? And besides, that's not the way the song goes.”

“That's the way it went in my head right then. And besides, I don't get to see you cook supper in the nude,” she whispered.

He burst out laughing.

“It wasn't that funny,” she said.

“Not that. It just dawned on me. The credenza.”

She blushed. “What about it?”

He stopped laughing and kissed her on the cheek. “We had sex on top of the outhouse. Bet you never thought you'd say that, did you?”

Sage's eyes popped so wide open that they hurt. “We did, didn't we? Oh my God!”

They finished washing up and Creed stood to one side so Sage could go ahead of him. She made it to the middle of the living room floor when she stopped so suddenly that he plowed right into her back. She started to fall forward but he grabbed her from behind and held on until she got her balance.

“Where's Angel and Noel?” she whispered.

Ada poked her head across the bar and said, “They'll be outside in those fancy log cabins. I plugged in their lightbulbs and you should have seen those two animals. They carried on together in the snow like a couple of kids. You'd have never believed that they were supposed to hate each other.”

“Cats don't like me and I ain't none too fond of them either,” Essie yelled. “I'm mashing these potatoes and then we're eating.”

“It's okay,” Creed whispered. “They helped us out. Neither one of us could have carried the puppies or the kittens outside. We'll go check on them after supper.”

“That is one ugly dog,” Ada said. “I would have bought you something a little prettier than that. Them bluetick pups of hers is even better looking than she is.”

Sage patted Creed's hands, which were still firmly around her waist, and took a step forward. “She grows on you. In a week, you won't think she's ugly because she is so sweet.”

***

It wasn't that the sofa was uncomfortable. There had been times when Creed had slept on the hard ground with nothing but his saddle for a pillow.

It wasn't that he was hungry. After that supper, he probably didn't need to eat until Christmas dinner.

The tossing and turning was because he missed Sage. He missed the feel of her back pressed against his chest, his hand wrapped around her ribs, and her hair tickling his nose. He missed the sweet smell of soap on her skin and her cold toes warming against his feet.