The Texan's Christmas (2 page)

“No. I…uh…I’d like to talk.” Damn! He sounded like he was sixteen asking her for a date. But he’d never been this nervous. Talking to women came naturally to him. Why wasn’t it easy to talk to Lucky?

“Talk,” she replied, keeping the temperature subzero.

He stood and motioned toward a table. “In private.”

He thought she was going to refuse, but she walked around the bar and sat down on a faded chair. He joined her. The air-conditioning was cool but he could feel the heat building between them. And it wasn’t a good heat.

Removing his hat, he placed it on the table and looked into her cold, cold eyes. “You look great.”

Lucky clasped her hands in her lap. What was she supposed to say to that?
You lying cheating bastard
came to mind. But she wouldn’t sink to his level.

“I’m thirty-eight years old and I left looking good behind in my twenties.”

“Come on, Lucky, you’re still a knockout.”

So are you.

This was where his deep sexy voice and sincere brown eyes always broke any resolve about not letting
Kid get to her. He had a way of making a woman feel special, as if she was beautiful and the only woman in the world for him. As a teenager she had fallen for his smooth-talking lies. As a mature woman she could hardly believe she’d been so naive—so naive that she’d actually believed a popular boy like Kid loved the barkeeper’s daughter.

Due to her father’s occupation the kids in school tended to look down on her. But Kid took her to school parties and dances and the shy girl finally fit in for the first time in her life.

Because Kid Hardin loved her.

Briefly.

Why couldn’t he have loved her the way she’d loved him?

From the rumor mill in High Cotton she’d heard that many women had filled her shoes since. That hurt.

“What do you want, Kid?”

His warm glance slid over her face, and she felt a weakening deep in her stomach. The years had been kind to him. His hair was dark with just a hint of gray, and his chiseled features, strong chin, devil-may-care attitude and twinkle in his eyes could melt the coldest heart. The five o’clock shadow added to his sex appeal.

Don’t let him get to you.

“Why did you cut your hair?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your hair.” He waved a hand toward her. “It used to be long and gorgeous.”

She looked him straight in the eye. “I’m not eighteen anymore.”

“Ah, Lucky, I think we’ll always be eighteen.” That
you’re special
gaze in his eyes did a number on her senses. She felt like that young girl who believed in fairy-tale endings—who believed in Kid. The thought stiffened her backbone.

“I’m not going down memory lane with you.”

As if she hadn’t spoken, he said, “What are you doing running your dad’s beer joint? What happened to your plans of being a nurse?”

What happened?

Her stomach clenched tight. The day Kid had left for Texas Tech played vividly in her mind as if it were yesterday. It was mid-August and hot, much the same as today. Kid had driven to her house in his new red Chevy pickup that Dane Belle had bought him. After his parents’ deaths, the Hardin boys lived on the High Five ranch, owned by Dane, with their aunt and uncle. Dane became the father figure they’d lost. All the boys loved and respected him.

That day they’d leaned against his truck saying goodbye.

“I wish your dad had sprung for you going to nursing school in Lubbock, and then we could have been together.”

“It’s too far away and I’m all he’s got.” She stroked his chest. “I wish Dane hadn’t insisted you go to Tech.”

“It’s where Cadde is and Dane feels we need to stay close as brothers.”

“But I’m going to miss you.”

“I’ll call and write,” Kid said, running his fingers through her long hair.

She pressed into him, not knowing how she was going to exist without Kid. He kissed her long and deep.

“When are you leaving for Austin?” he asked against her lips.

“In about two weeks.”

He tucked her hair behind her ears, his eyes dark and serious. “You’re not going to forget me, are you?”

“I’ll never forget you,” she whispered.

“I love you, Lucky.” His voice cracked when he said her name. “I will always love you.”

“There’ll never be anyone else for me.”

“I’ll call as soon as I get there,” he promised.

They’d held on to each other for a long time and then Kid had driven away. She’d waved until she couldn’t see him anymore. Every day she’d waited for that call. At the end of two weeks she finally had to admit to herself that he wasn’t ever going to call or come back for her.

She’d left for Austin with a broken heart.

Kid Hardin was a liar and a cheat.

Why was she even talking to him?

“Lucky?”

She quickly got her emotions under control. “What do you want, Kid?”

“My brothers and I are in the oil business.”

“I’m aware of that. I don’t live under a rock. Cadde and Chance have moved back home and I see their wives all the time.”

“You know Shay and Jessie?”

“Yes.” Why did he seem so shocked? She supposed he thought the barkeeper’s daughter wasn’t good enough to socialize with the Hardins. She immediately pushed all that resentment away. “Darcy’s the only kid I know who would come into a bar to sell Girl Scout Cookies.”

“Shay let her do that?”

There was that note of concern again. In that moment she knew what she’d probably known for the past twenty years. That Kid had used her like all the other boys in school had tried. But he’d done it with words of
I love you
and
forever
. And she’d fallen for his lies like a child tottering on a cliff.

“Don’t worry, Kid, Shay was waiting outside. Chance had said that Darcy had to sell the cookies herself and she was determined to sell the most in her troop.”

“Yeah. I bought two cases. I munched on those things for months.”

She took a long breath, not wanting to get into a family discussion. That was too easy, too familiar.

“I have to get back to work.”

“Wait.” He held up a hand. “I’d like to talk about oil leases.”

“What?” She eased back into her chair.

“Shilah Oil would like to lease your land for oil and gas.”

She wanted to laugh and without realizing it she did. She had something Kid wanted. This was going to be fun.

“No,” she replied without having to think about it.

“Come on, Lucky. This could be good for you.” He glanced around. “Maybe you could get out of this place.”

That did it.

“The land is not for lease.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not leasing to a Hardin.”

He drew back as if she’d hit him. “Come on, Lucky.”

Come on, Lucky.
That and his I-live-for-you smile were his trademarks.
Come on, Lucky.
He’d kiss her cheek.
Come on, Lucky.
He’d stroke her hair.
Come on, Lucky.
And she’d do anything he wanted.

But not anymore.

K
ID SANK INTO A COMFY CHAIR
in Cadde’s den, feeling out of breath and sucker punched by a blue-eyed, short-haired blonde.

The land is not for lease. To a Hardin.

After that, Lucky put the lid on anything else he had to say. It was the first time in his life that his smile, his words, had failed, but it wasn’t over. Lucky just thought it was.

His chest tightened and he focused on Jessie playing on the floor with Jacob. The moment the baby saw him he fell to all fours and crawled over, pulling up on Kid’s jeans.

“Hey, partner.” Kid lifted the nine-month-old baby onto his lap. Jacob bounced up and down, smiling, showing off his two lower teeth. Kid had always thought he didn’t want kids, but the moment Jacob was born something changed in him. Instead of going on a date, he’d play with Jacob. He didn’t understand that. Maybe it had something to do with his thirty-eight-plus years, which he’d been reminded of more than once today.

The whirl of a helicopter sounded above. Before Roscoe Murdock, Jessie’s father, had died, he’d purchased a top-of-the-line helicopter for Shilah Oil so
they could save time when traveling to oil wells. It was also an easy way for Cadde and Chance to go to work in Houston. Jacob’s eyes opened wide and his mouth formed an O. Quickly he scooted from Kid’s lap and crawled to his mother.

Jessie clapped her hands. “Daddy’s home.”

Excited, Jacob bounced up and down again on his butt. All he had on was a diaper and a T-shirt.

“What door does Daddy come in?” Jessie asked.

Jacob’s mouth formed another O. “Da, da, da, da,” Jacob babbled. Mirry, Jessie’s dog, barked and trotted to the back door. The baby zoomed after her.

“He’s understanding a lot,” Kid said.

“Yes, he does,” Jessie replied. “We read to him all the time and he loves animals.”

“Wonder where he gets that from?” Jessie had an affinity for animals. Besides Mirry, she had a one-eyed donkey, a ram with no horns, five abused horses that were now healthy and a fawn she’d raised from a bottle. She’d set the doe free, but she always came back for feed and pampering.

When he’d first met Jessie, she was standoffish, but a looker, like Bubba Joe had said, with dark tumbling hair and black eyes. Her father protected and sheltered her all her life. On his deathbed, the man had made a deal with Cadde—marry my daughter and keep her safe and I’ll give you my shares in Shilah Oil.

For ten years Cadde had worked his ass off for Roscoe. He’d earned everything he’d inherited, but Roscoe forgot to mention that Jessie received the larg
est part of Shilah. That set up the biggest test of wills Kid had ever seen. It had brought his strong brother to his knees and Jessie almost lost her sanity. But through it all they found the magic formula—love.

Love—what the hell was it?

“You look a little down,” Jessie remarked, picking up a toy.

Kid clasped his hands between his knees. “I just had to face my past and it was a little unsettling.”

“Cadde said you were trying to lease a piece of land from an old girlfriend.”

“Yeah. My high school sweetheart, Lucky Littlefield.”

“Oh.” Jessie paused in stacking Jacob’s toys on the coffee table. “I’ve met her.”

“That right?”

“Yes, at Walker’s General Store. I was browsing so long at the old neat stuff that Jacob grew fussy. He threw his stuffed dog out of the stroller. Lucky handed it back to him. Mirry didn’t bark or growl like she usually does if anyone gets near him. Mirry’s a very good judge of character. Lucky introduced herself and I liked her. She’s very pretty with a stylish haircut.”

“Yeah.”

“Why are you frowning?”

Was he?
He hadn’t realized that.

“Don’t you like her hair?”

He shrugged. “It used to be long.”

“And you liked it that way?”

He looked into Jessie’s teasing eyes. “Could we change the subject?”

She picked up another toy as if he hadn’t spoken. “Cadde said she was the owner of The Beer Joint. When he said ‘beer joint,’ I had this vision of an older woman with yellowish bleached blond hair, tight-fitting clothes, a cigarette dangling from her lip and someone who had lived a rougher-than-rough lifestyle. Lucky wasn’t like that at all. It’s all about how we perceive people and most of the time it’s wrong.”

He stared down at his locked hands. “Kids in school looked down on her because her dad ran The Beer Joint.”

“Did you?”

“What?”

“Did you look down on Lucky because of her circumstances?”

Did he?

“No,” he answered his own question. “We were close since about the seventh grade. I didn’t care what her father did for a living.”

“That’s a long time to know someone.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his hands together. He remembered the first time she’d smiled at him and his heart had almost pounded out of his chest. He remembered the first time he’d kissed her. He remembered…

The back door opened and childish squeals of delight echoed from the hallway. Cadde walked in with Jacob in his arms, Mirry at his feet, barking, as if to alert everyone that Cadde was home.

Jessie placed her hand on the coffee table and tried to stand, but at seven months pregnant she was having difficulty.

Cadde kissed his son’s cheek. “Go play with Uncle Kid. Daddy has to help Mommy.”

Jacob shook his head vigorously and clung to Cadde. Reaching down, Cadde lifted Jessie with one arm while still holding Jacob. Nestling into his side, Jessie kissed him, her eyes sparkling.

“I think this baby is going to weigh ten pounds,” she said, rubbing her stomach. She stroked Jacob’s head. “You get a little territorial when Daddy comes home.”

Jacob made a whimpering sound and Jessie laughed. “I’m going to check on supper. Kid, you’re welcome to stay.”

“I didn’t know you cooked.”

Her eyes darkened and he knew that was the wrong thing to say. Trying to rectify the blunder he quickly added, “Thanks, Jessie, but I’m eating at Aunt Etta’s.”

“Rosa does not do all the cooking at our house,” she told him. Rosa and Felix Delgado had raised Jessie since she was seven. They now lived next door in a house that Cadde had built for them. They were Jessie’s protectors. Her family. When Roscoe’s niece had been kidnapped and murdered, he made sure that no one could get to his daughter. Roscoe was more than paranoid about her safety. But that was all behind them and he knew how important it was for Jessie to have a life. A family. He should have kept his mouth shut.

“I’m sorry, Jessie. I’ve had a rough day.”

She walked over and kissed his cheek. “You’re forgiven.”

After Jessie left, Cadde sat on the sofa with Jacob resting against him, his legs locked around Cadde’s waist.

“Stop aggravating my wife.”

“I seem to be pissing off everyone today—without even trying.”

Cadde rubbed his son’s back, kissing his fat cheek.

As Kid watched his brother with his son, he felt a blow to his chest. This was what he wanted; a child rushing to the door in excitement to greet him, a woman who had eyes only for him. He wanted his own family.

“From the look on your face I’d say that you managed to piss off Lucky.”

It took a moment for him to focus. He shifted in his chair. “She’d rather tar and feather me and then set fire to me before leasing to Shilah.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“No. I just need to regroup.”

He could feel Cadde’s eyes on him. “Maybe you need to start with an apology.”

“It’s been twenty years. What do I have to apologize for?” He stood in an angry movement. “We didn’t even know what love was.”

“Do you now?”

“Hell, no.”

“The Kid I know would have sweet-talked his way through this, but somehow Lucky is a stumbling block for you. Why?”

“I don’t know. All these memories seem to crowd in on me.”

“Guilt, maybe?”

Kid ignored that. “I just can’t figure out why she’s running her dad’s place.”

“Why does it matter?”

“I’m going down to Chance’s to talk to him.” He was going to kiss Jacob but saw he was asleep.

“Kid,” Cadde called as his brother walked away.

He glanced back.

“Let me or Chance handle this. We need the lease signed.”

“I said I’d do it and I will.”

In less than a minute Kid was in his truck and headed down the road to Chance’s. He had stayed in High Cotton longer than any of the brothers. He probably knew more about Lucky than anyone, and Kid planned to be prepared the next time he saw her. Today she’d knocked him for a loop. That wasn’t going to happen again.

Cadde had built a big two-story house to the right of their parents’ old house. To the left was Chance and Shay’s house, a sprawling one story with a barn and a corral. Because of Jessie’s animals Cadde also had a barn and pens. The Hardin boys had come home in a big way.

Pulling over to the side of the road, he gazed at the old home place for a moment. The decaying white frame house sat on Kid’s part of the land. Some day soon they’d have to do something about the house. For years they’d been putting it off. They might be grown
men but they were afraid to open the door and face the demons of their youth. Or maybe it was the memories they didn’t want to face. Memories that were perfect in their minds, but maybe in reality they weren’t.

Whatever it was, Kid decided he had enough demons to face. One in particular was Lucinda Littlefield.

Kid saw Chance and Darcy at the roping pen so he drove there. Darcy was throwing a rope at a dummy calf while Chance leaned on the fence watching her and giving instructions. Tiny, Darcy’s Chihuahua, sat at Chance’s feet.

“Twirl it,” Chance shouted to his daughter. “Use your wrist.”

Eleven-year-old Darcy flung the rope toward the dummy and it missed by an inch. “Shoot.” She stomped her foot.

“Try again,” Chance said.

Kid joined his younger brother at the pipe fence. “Are we having a rodeo or something?”

“Nah. Just showing Darcy a little extra attention. Everyone makes a fuss over the baby and I don’t want her to feel left out.”

Darcy was adopted, but no one would ever guess that by the way Chance doted on her.

“Hey, Uncle Kid.” Darcy waved. “Watch me.”

“Hey, hotshot.” He waved back. Hotshot was Chance’s nickname for her. Now everyone called her that. It fit. The girl was spunky and didn’t have a shy bone in her body.

She swung the rope and it landed in a perfect loop
over the dummy. “Daddy, Daddy, did you see?” Darcy jumped up and down.

“That’s my girl.”

Darcy ran and jumped on the fence. Chance lifted his daughter over the top.

“I’m good, huh, Daddy?” Darcy pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“You’re the best.” Chance hugged her and kissed the top of her head.

“Here comes Mommy.” Darcy drew away and dashed to meet Shay who was walking across the lawn, holding baby Cody. Wearing denim shorts and a tank top, Shay looked beautiful, as always.

“He was asleep earlier,” Shay said, handing the baby dressed in a blue outfit and cap to him. “Now he wants to see his uncle Kid.”

Kid stared down at the three-month-old baby. Cody moved his head around, his greenish-brown eyes wide-open as he flailed his hands and legs.

“I just nursed him and he wants more.”

Chance kissed his son’s forehead. “Enough, buddy.”

“Can I hold him, Mommy?” Darcy wanted to know.

“When we get back to the house.”

“Does anyone notice how much Cody looks like Jacob?” he asked, studying the chubby cheeks and cap of brown hair.

“Yeah,” Chance replied, “except Jacob has Jessie’s black eyes. Cody’s will probably be brown like mine.”

Kid cradled the baby in the crook of his arm and there it was again. That feeling. Suddenly he could put
a name to it. Loneliness. His brothers, his running partners, were married and settled with families. He was the odd one out—alone and unattached. Holding their children filled that loneliness inside him. But it wasn’t enough. The thought startled him.

“Shay.”

Shay’s cousin, Nettie, strolled toward them. The woman wore a long full skirt and a gypsy blouse with her long gray hair flowing down her back. A purple scarf was tied around her head. Beads of every color were around her neck and on her wrists. She professed to be a gypsy-witch and took some getting used to. But she and Kid were now friends.

From the start, Shay had wanted Nettie to move in with them because Nettie had raised her and Shay didn’t want her to be alone. Nettie, not wanting to horn in on newlyweds, refused. She liked her independence. When Shay became pregnant, Nettie changed her mind. She moved in about four months ago and took care of Cody while Shay taught school.

“It’s too hot out here for the baby,” Nettie said.

“The sun’s going down and it’s only for a few minutes,” Shay told her, glancing at her son. “He’s asleep so you can put him down. How’s that?”

“I know I’m a little overprotective.” Nettie’s beads jangled as she talked.

“A little?” Chance laughed.

Kid handed off the precious bundle to Nettie, who immediately pulled the cap over Cody’s forehead.

“Hey, Nettie, how about telling my future?” Nettie read palms and Kid thought he could use some help.

“It’s right in front of your face.”

“What? You haven’t even looked at my palm.”

“I don’t need to. Your life line is long and leads to home, but it will not be a pleasant journey.”

Kid frowned. “Are you yanking my chain?”

Nettie smiled and walked toward the house with Cody.

Darcy waved a hand in front of his face. “Can you see anything, Uncle Kid?”

“Don’t be a smart…”

Chance cleared his throat.

“…butt,” he finished.

Darcy giggled and darted after Nettie, Tiny trailing behind her. “I’m gonna help with Cody.”

Standing on tiptoes, Shay reached up and kissed Chance. “Supper’s in about thirty minutes. And we have ice cream.”

Chance smiled and kept smiling.

“Kid, you’re welcome to stay,” Shay said, looking at him.

“Thanks, but Aunt Etta’s waiting.” What was it with the cooking? The women he knew didn’t know how to use a stove.