All I Want for Christmas Is You (29 page)

* * *

Stoney shook out the pain in his throbbing thumb for the second time in the last fifteen minutes. Damn that hammer. Damn the fence. Damn Melanie Summers for showing up here, flashing easy money around as if he was some mongrel sniffing for tidbits.

He tossed the hammer to the ground and inspected the raw skin on his thumb. No doubt the nail would be black and purple by nightfall. Serves him right for thinking about Melanie sitting with his mom, no doubt telling her things a mother wants to hear. He had a hard enough time trying to convince his folks his decision to go back to rodeo was good for the ranch. He didn’t need the likes of some city princess to do in all his hard work.

He heard the familiar sound of his father’s wheelchair rolling over gravel and swung around to greet him.

“Almost done?” the elder Buxton asked.

“Done breaking my hand, if that’s what you mean.” He shook out the lingering throb in his thumb. “I still have the section of fence in the far side where the herd broke through yesterday. There’s nothing but that old broken tree limb propped up, keeping most of the cattle inside the property line. After I’m through, I’ll take a ride out to see if I can round up the strays.”

He finally stole a quick glance at his father, who was just sitting in his chair, nodding his head. No outward emotion registered on his father’s face, but Stoney knew it was there, buried somewhere, eating at him.

Before the accident, it would have been the two of them riding out together. But since a falling beam that struck him during the barn fire left him without the use of his legs, Wally Buxton was limited to what he could do at the ranch from the confines of his motorized wheelchair. Knowing his father’s spirit would be broken if he couldn’t do anything but watch from the porch as he worked the ranch, Stoney had constructed as many wheelchair friendly devices to allow his father to work his ranch. Given his father’s determination and stubbornness--something both father and son shared--he’d made the best of it without much of a fuss. Still, there were times when his injuries were all too apparent and confining.

“I’m assuming the lady has some business with you,” Wally said, eyeing Stoney with amusement. “You know her from the circuit?”

“Does she look like the kind that hangs at a cowboy bar?”

“No, but I can’t figure how you’d meet up with a girl like her otherwise.”

He tossed his father a wry grin. “Thanks a lot, Pop.”

“She’s got some accent. Sounds like she’s from the East.”

“I didn’t ask.”

“But you’re wondering. I can tell. You’ve got Buxton blood running too strong through your veins not to notice a pretty thing like her.”

“And Mom’s no doubt pouring tea and planning my wedding, right?”

Wally laughed hard. “When was the last time you brought a woman out to the ranch for your momma to meet?”

“Never. And I’d like to keep it that way.” Stoney couldn’t help but laugh himself. The kind of woman he’d met during his time with the rodeo weren’t fit for meeting mother.

Buckle bunnies. That’s what some of the other cowboys called them. It was almost his due as a bull rider to have the prettiest offerings, and he’d taken what was offered when the time seemed right. No promises. No talks of commitment. It was the way it was.

It was the way he liked it.

Stoney watched as Wally stared out at the horizon for a moment, looking at the line of fence that bordered the property. This was the ranch he’d grown up on and his father before him. It was small in comparison to some of the other ranches in the area, but it earned them a good living, and it made them happy. Working together, they’d worked on expanding the ranch before the barn fire changed everything. But all those dreams died when the barn went up in flames.

“You going to tell me what her business is here?” Wally finally asked. “Or is she some well-kept secret?”

Stoney began hammering away at the barbed wire against the stake. “She wants a trail guide through the Wind River Mountains. I told her to go to the reservation.”

There was a silence made unbearable by the sun beating down on him, showing no mercy. And Stoney knew what his father was wondering. How on earth had she landed here?

Stoney answered his unspoken question, finding it hard to look his father in the eye. “Gerald Hammond sent her.”

There was another strained silence. Wally cleared his throat. “That was kind of him to be thinking of us.”

“I guess.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I don’t have time for this. I’ve got too much work and with Mitch gone and...” Stoney blew out a frustrated breath and hammered with more force than necessary.

“Hammond must have thought it would be worth your while if he went out of his way to send the girl here.”

Stoney stilled. He knew exactly what was on his father’s mind. Medical bills left in the wake of Wally’s injuries threatened to take hold. Although the money Melanie was offering to pay for his services would go a long way toward bailing out the ranch, it still wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. He’d weighed all their options, run the numbers backwards and forwards until his head hurt, and none of it looked good. Going back to rodeo seemed liked the answer to his prayers. A step in the right direction anyway.

The cowboy’s Christmas is what they called it on the rodeo circuit. The biggest rodeos and the best purses were up for grabs for the best of the best during the month of July. Stoney would be up against the best bull riders the circuit had ever seen. Up until a year ago, he’d been considered one of the best. He was banking on that still being true.

“This last year was worse than we’ve seen in a long time for the ranch. Taxes are higher. Medical bills are out of control. We’re running out of choices, son,” Wally said, still looking out at nothing in the horizon.

Stoney felt his chest tighten. This ranch had Buxton blood and sweat all over it. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if they lost is all. “I know, Pop. That’s why I’m going back to rodeo. I made some good money before, and it’s helped the ranch. There’s no reason-”

“You know how your momma feels about you riding rodeo again. One cripple on this ranch is enough.”

Fire spit through Stoney. He straightened his spine and towered over his father in the wheelchair. Before the accident, they use to meet eye to eye. “You’re not a cripple, Pop,” Stoney said, softer than the fire in him would have allowed if he hadn’t taken control of it. Despite his obvious position over his father, Stoney felt like a little kid defending his hero. And his father had been--still was--his hero for all of his twenty-eight years. Being confined to a wheelchair had wounded his father’s heart, but not his spirit. Wally Buxton still had the power of an ox.

They stared at each other for a long while, not needing words to hear their thoughts. That’s the way it had been with them for as long as Stoney could remember. Wally was the one to break through the silence. “Come on. Your momma made some cherry pie and I’m sure Ms. Summers isn’t going to touch it, so we might as well have at it.”

He didn’t have time for another break today. He’d already wasted too much time warding off Melanie Summers and her wild ideas. His work load had doubled since Mitch Broader, their only ranch hand, left to take care of family business back east. With his father out of commission, that left the brunt of the ranch’s workload on Stoney’s shoulders.

He blew out a resigned breath, knowing it was important to his father. “Sure, Pop.”

He walked alongside the motorized wheelchair. He was getting accustomed to slowing his wide strides to keep in step with his father as the chair moved against the gravel. He stayed at his father’s side out of respect the man deserved. His father rolled into the house before him.

He found Melanie sitting at the dining room table, one long leg draped over the other, a smile that seemed curiously triumphant written on her face. His mother wore an uplifted expression he hadn’t seen in her for the better part of a year.

What the hell was going on?

Adele pushed the dining room chair aside so Wally could position his wheelchair at the head of the oak table. “Melanie and I were just having a lovely chat about her plans while she’s in Wyoming.”

Stoney eyed Melanie, a nagging suspicion floating up his spine. “Oh? And what would they be?”

Melanie averted her gaze for just a moment before lifting her soft brown eyes to him, shining a Cheshire cat grin, and giving fuel to that eerie feeling taking hold of his gut. One bat of her dark eyelashes and he knew he’d been had.

* * *

“Didn’t you hear a damn thing I told you by the corral?” Stoney said, storming out the door after Melanie. He’d held his anger in place long enough to make it out the screened door, slamming it in his wake. “You’ve got no business coming here, filling my family full of dreams that aren’t going to come true.”

Melanie spun on her boot heels, propped her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose, and looked at Stoney over the wire rim. “I have every intention of fulfilling my end of the bargain.”

“No one in their right mind would throw around that kind of money. My family has been through enough to-”

“Which is why I think this business arrangement will work out well for both of us.”

“Now how do you figure on that? Who’s gonna do all the work around here for the next month while I’m out there traipsing through the wilderness, keeping your pretty little hide alive. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re a little short of hand right now.”

“With the money I’m prepared to pay, you’ll be able to hire someone to take your place. As for keeping me alive, I don’t want any special treatment. I can hold my own.”

Stoney sputtered. “That one is still open for debate. Do you even know what it costs to hire a ranch hand to work sun up to sun down for a whole month?”

“Fifteen thousand dollars is not all that much for what I’m asking,” she said. It was much higher than she’d originally intended on paying, but a lot lower than she’d consider if Stoney could do for her what Gerald Hammond said he could.

Stoney’s face hardened. “Money like that may be nothing to you, but it keeps bread on the table for working folks.”

“I didn’t mean to imply-”

“I know what you meant to do. You think you can buy me like a piece of stock at a cattle auction. I’m not for sale. And I’d appreciate kindly if you’d leave my family out of whatever death wish you have.”

She stifled a retort about the death wish and kept to the pressing issue. I can’t do that. This is much too important to me.” He shook his head and stared at her like he was looking right through her.

She was struck by his strength once again as he fought to keep his control in check. The tight set of his jaw belied his control and she got the feeling he could lift her without any effort and toss her over the fence if she pushed him.

And she’d push him, all right. It meant that much to her to prove to her father and herself that she could last a whole month in the wilderness without the aid of medical intervention. Only then would her father agree to keep the funding for the Kenya project. But she knew her father. He was determined to keep her from going at all cost. And he had a lot more money than she could combat with which to do it.

“Adele told me about the hard times the ranch has had. This money could help you and your family. I’m glad to be able to do that for them. The only thing I ask is that no one knows we’ve gone.”

“What’s this all about? Why is this so important?”

“My reasons are my business.”

He crossed his muscled arms across the expanse of his chest and studied her for a moment. “You wanted for something?”

She giggled at the sidelong look of suspicion he gave her. Not only because of the absurdity of it, but because he just looked too damned cute. “You’ve got an imagination to go along with all that muscle. No, I’m not on the run for any crimes.” Only from my father and his control. But that was none of Stoney Buxton’s business, and she was determined to keep it quiet.

He eyed her, the tick in his jaw twitching, telling her he didn’t find any of this amusing.

She coughed out the rest of her laughter, knowing she wasn’t going to get very far irritating him. He was a business man. She knew how to handle business men, although most of them wore designer suits and smelled of expensive cologne, unlike the sweat and dirt she smelled on Stoney. Still, she turned on her best charm. “Look, I don’t know you.”