Cowboy Boots for Christmas (23 page)

Callie’s heart threw in an extra beat when Finn dropped a kiss on her cheek and crawled in behind her. One arm went under her, one around her, and his face was buried in her hair. It was absolutely amazing that they could be wound up in a cocoon with five other people in the house and yet feel so very alone in her bedroom.

“Being in your arms feels so good,” she said.

“Yes, it does,” he agreed.

His hands traveled down her arms in a lazy fashion, taking his time until she shivered and flipped over to face him, body pressed against his, hearts thumping so loud that she was amazed the kids didn’t come running to see what the noise was all about.

“I like the way our bodies fit together,” he murmured.

She wanted to touch him, to feel that he was ready, and then she wanted to make wild love, not the kind where he built her into a frenzy then backed off with sweet little kisses to let the flames cool to embers. She wanted the fire and the heat all at once.

Carefully unzipping his jeans and slipping her hand inside, she let out a gasp. Nothing between naked flesh and his zipper pushed her desire to have him even higher. She sat up, unzipped his jeans, and tugged them all the way off. Then he pulled her shirt up over her head. Everything was going so fast, it was a blur. Then he slowed down, taking his time to unfasten her skirt, to pull it all the way off, and then gently lay it over the rocking chair.

“My God, Finn, I’m aching for you,” she said.

His eyes were shut when he kissed her. His hands went under her bottom for leverage, and she grabbed the rungs of the headboard with both hands. His lips came down on hers with so much passion that it almost brought tears to her eyes.

She kept up with the rhythm, and her body responded even though her mind and soul nagged at her in worry. Something was out of sync between them.

“Callie,” he said hoarsely.

“Oh. My. God,” she whimpered and hung on to him, hoping she was wrong and when she opened her eyes, everything would be perfect again.

***

Finn rolled to one side, keeping her tightly in his arms and close to his side, so she wouldn’t look at him with those big aqua eyes. He’d thought he’d gotten over his commitment issues, but there they were in living color, upsetting his world again, and she’d seen it. Even the wild, passionate sex hadn’t completely erased it.

Why did doubts about Callie leaving him flash through his mind when he crawled between the sheets with her?

“It was fear of me being like her, of leaving you, wasn’t it?” Callie propped up on an elbow. “Open your eyes, Finn O’Donnell.”

If he did, she would know, and he’d fallen in love with Callie. He didn’t want to hurt her, but she deserved so much more than a hard heart that could still conjure up doubts right in the middle of sex.

“I said to open your eyes,” she demanded.

That was his Callie. The one who’d been his partner. Bossy as hell and twice as sassy. He opened his eyes.

“Now look at me. Look right into my eyes and don’t blink. What do you see?”

“I see Callie.”

“What do you feel?” She pressed tighter against him.

“I feel your naked body against mine,” he said.

“What do you smell?”

He smiled. “How graphic do you want me to get?”

“Tell me.”

“I smell your perfume, coconut in your hair, and the musk that is your scent and no one else’s after we make love,” he said.

“That’s because I’m right here. Lala did you wrong, but that is all in the past. Shut the door on it. Slam the damn door on it. I’m not going anywhere. If you can help me to get over my commitment fears, then I’ll help you with yours. They’re going to pop up for both of us. There’s nothing we can do about it but fight the hell out of it when it happens. It will happen less and less, trust me. I love you and that’s the way it is. Now you can blink.”

“I love you, Callie Brewster,” he said softly.

“Remember something important. We were friends and partners a long time before we were lovers, so we know and understand each other. Now kiss me again.” She pointed to a sprig of mistletoe that she’d hung on the bedpost right above her head.

He drew her down for a kiss, and all doubts faded. There was only Callie, his old spotter, his best friend, his new lover.

“Please tell me those sirens I hear are in my head and not really getting closer and closer.” Her voice was muffled against his chest.

“I believe they’re real.”

“Shit! I may buy two Stinger missiles and blow both those feuding families out into the Red River for messin’ up my afternoon.” She threw back the covers and grabbed the pair of jeans hanging on the back of a rocking chair. “I knew they were up to something this morning in church. The air was almost crackling with tension.”

Finn shot out of bed. “I felt it, too. Wonder which one set fire to the other one’s barn?”

“You’re kiddin’. Would they take it that far?”

“I just hope Honey Brennan isn’t so mad at you for the soap in her eyes that she set fire to our barn.”

“The puppies,” Callie said as she hurriedly jerked on socks and rubber boots.

Callie reached the kitchen first. Verdie was on the phone and the kids waited at the table for her to return to the board game they’d set up.

“It’s a fire at the Brennans’ place,” she said.

Before Callie could answer, the doorbell rang.

“Get that door while I finish talking to Gladys.”

Expecting to see Honey or Betsy, or maybe both, ready to crucify her for arson, she was shocked speechless to see the sheriff on the porch.

Orville held a big flat box with a dozen doughnuts in it. There was a fleck of chocolate and a red sprinkle in the corner of his mouth. “Afternoon. Thought I’d stop by and say hello on the way to the fire. They won’t need me for a few minutes.”

“Doughnuts! Doughnuts! Joe wants a doughnut,” Joe yelled from his perch.

“Come inside out of the cold. What’s going on? We heard the sirens,” Callie said.

He handed off the doughnuts to her, and she took them to the kitchen with Orville right behind her.

“Doughnuts!” Martin squealed.

“Only one each and, yes, Joe can have a few bites but not a whole one. It would make him sick. Olivia, you can pour up milk to go with them,” Verdie yelled from the utility room.

“It’s the feud, I’m sure. One of the Gallaghers set fire to a big round bale of hay. There was about sixty bales lined up at the edge of a fence, and it’s burned through at least ten of them by now. Throws a lot of smoke, but it’s not a barn or a house. Trouble was when the Brennans went to put it out, every damn…oops, pardon my language, kids…danged one of their truck tires were flatter than pancakes. Not slashed or cut, just all the air let out of them,” Orville said.

“Wow!” Adam said. “How many trucks was there?”

“A bunch,” Orville said.

“Afternoon, Sheriff,” Finn said. “Reckon they need help over there?”

“Naw, they can put out that fire, but I was hopin’ maybe you or Miz Verdie would ride along with me to kinda help me buffer,” he said. “You want to go, too, Callie?”

“Let me get my coat,” Verdie said. “Finn, you’d best come along with us.”

“I’ll stay here with the kids,” Callie said. She’d had her fill of the feud, and she didn’t want to encourage Orville one bit.

***

The roads were slick and Orville didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get to the site of the burning hay, so what should have taken five minutes took fifteen.

“Is he afraid to drive on ice and snow?” Finn griped.

“He’s got his reasons. Stunt like this means the Brennans will load their guns. Last time they did that, Orville got shot. Nowadays when a call comes from Burnt Boot, he goes by the doughnut shop, eats a couple, and gee-haws with the ladies who run it before he drives out here. And he always takes his time,” Verdie explained.

The bales were smoldering and the firemen were putting the last of their equipment away when Orville drove over a cattle guard and onto River Bend Ranch. He parked beside the fire truck and was instantly surrounded by Brennans.

Most of them, women included, had pistols or rifles in their hands. A sawed-off shotgun was tucked up under Honey’s arm, and Kinsey had a Glock strapped to her leg. Verdie hopped out of the truck and pushed her way into the middle of the crowd. Finn approached with caution.

Questions were flying like ducks going south for the winter. Poor old Orville kept one hand on his pistol, still in the holster with the safety on, and the other held up trying to fend off angry comments.

“Now, y’all just wait a minute. You don’t know the Gallaghers did this. Did you see them? Do you have evidence that they’re behind it?”

“We’re in the middle of a damned feud. Who else would do something like this?” Honey yelled, and then she spotted Finn. “Unless it was that hired hand over on Salt Draw. She’s had it in for me ever since she got here. Maybe we’re blaming the wrong party.”

“Honey, you’d best watch who you are accusing,” Verdie said loudly. “Callie Brewster has been in my presence all day. There’s no way she set that fire or let the air out of a bunch of tires.”

Finn bit back a smile. As hot as things had gotten in the bedroom that afternoon, maybe a spark bounced out the window, down the road, and jumped onto the hay. The tires, now, that had to be Gallaghers for sure.

“Callie doesn’t go behind people’s backs to speak her mind. She’s up front and honest,” Orville said.

“So what are you going to do about it?” Quaid asked.

“You bring me solid evidence, and I’ll lock someone up. Your suspicions won’t carry weight in court,” Orville told them.

The feud had gone beyond the women fighting in the bathroom and at the dealership. Now it was getting down to business. Finn was determined to stay out of it as much as he could, but he’d keep a close watch on his property. Thank God the kids were enrolled in public school and wouldn’t get caught in the middle of it.

“I’d advise the bunch of you to bury this thing once and for all,” Verdie said. “It’s gone on long enough. Most of you weren’t even born when it started.”

“That won’t happen any time soon,” Honey said. “Since the sheriff is in the Gallaghers’ pocket and won’t do anything about it, we’ll take care of it ourselves.”

“I’m not in anybody’s pocket.” Orville blushed.

“I heard Ilene Gallagher was chasin’ after you,” Kinsey said.

“I’m warnin’ the bunch of you. If y’all start something that winds up with someone hurt or killed or severe property damage that can come back on you, I’ll haul your asses to jail.” Orville headed for his car with Verdie and Finn behind him.

“Dammit!” he fumed. “Where’d they get that shit about Ilene Gallagher?”

“She’s liked you since high school, Orville. On that part, there is evidence.” Verdie laughed.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” He chuckled as he crawled into his car and slowly turned around.

The atmosphere in Burnt Boot was tense, as if everyone was sitting on a keg of gunpowder with a stick of dynamite duct-taped to the side of it. The Brennans would retaliate, and the longer they waited, the worse it could be.

But the feud was the last thing on Finn’s mind that night as he tucked Callie’s arm into his and escorted her through the doors of the Gallagher ranch mansion. “Have I told you that you are stunning in that green dress? I like it even better than the one you wore last week.”

To call it a ranch house would be like calling a palace a cabin. It was built like an old plantation house with lights shining out from three floors. The entryway led to a ballroom with crystal chandeliers throwing enough light to illuminate half of Texas. Tables were covered in what must be the Gallagher plaid, a rich woven pink and green with green napkins and gorgeous pink poinsettias in the middle of each table.

A lady in black slacks, a white shirt, and a cummerbund of the Gallagher plaid took Callie’s wrap.

“Well, has the cat got your tongue?” Finn held her hand as they made their way into what could only be described as a ballroom.

“No, but all this has,” she answered.

“And to think, this, instead of Salt Draw, could be yours.” He chuckled.

“I’d live every day in fear I’d do something wrong.”

Tyrell was the first Gallagher to greet them, shaking hands with Finn and then bowing low to kiss Callie’s fingertips. “You wore our shade of green tonight. The Gallagher family suffered a severe loss when you stopped at Salt Draw instead of crossing the road to Wild Horse. Someone as lovely as you would wear our plaid so well.”

“Thank you for that compliment, but I was actually trying to match the green of the O’Donnell and the Brewster plaids when I bought this dress. They are bold and very similar.” She smiled.

“Ah, Finn, you’ve got yourself a spitfire Irish lass, I see.” Tanner laughed.

“She can hold her own,” Finn said.

Betsy swept across the floor in a lovely green velvet dress that hugged her curves like a glove. The glow of the chandeliers, the dress, and pure mischief put a sparkle in her dark green eyes. Her red hair was swept up in a nest of curls behind a diamond tiara.

“Hello, Finn. Save me a dance.” She ignored Callie and smiled at him before she moved on to the next guests.

Gladys touched Finn on the shoulder, and he whipped around. “Open bar here at this party. I’ll take Callie to get a drink, and you can talk to the menfolk.” She tucked Callie’s arm into hers and led her through the maze of people to the bar.

***

“You need to meet Naomi Gallagher, Callie. She’s the grand matron of the ranch, and she runs Wild Horse with an iron hand. Nothing gets past her,” Gladys said.

“Not even the feud stuff?”

“Not one thing. She probably instigates ninety percent of it. She married into the family more than fifty years ago. She dated a Brennan first back in the day, and they had a big fight. She went for a Gallagher next and, believe me, she’s made the Brennans pay and pay and pay. She might look like a prissy little old lady with dyed red hair, but believe me, there’s horns under that ratted hair,” Gladys whispered.

A bar stool served as Naomi’s throne. Her cowboy boots with lots of flashy rhinestones didn’t reach the first rungs. The brilliant diamonds on several of her fingers sparkled even brighter than the enormous crystal chandelier hanging from the vaulted ceiling. Even though she was a small woman, her dark green eyes left no doubt that she was the boss and everyone in the room would do well to respect that.

Her Southern voice was soft but demanded attention. “You’ll be Callie Brewster from Salt Draw. I’ve heard about you. I’m Naomi Gallagher. I understand Verdie has come back home to roost. I’m glad. She should have never left, but life takes us on some strange trips. What are you ladies drinking tonight?”

“I’m pleased to meet you, Miz Naomi,” Callie said.

“A Guinness and a shot of Jameson,” Gladys told the bartender.

Callie nodded.

“Looks like you’ve been raised right.” Naomi laughed. “I’m sorry to leave good Irish company, but I have to go mingle. Tell Verdie I missed her tonight and I envy her getting to stay home to play with the grandchildren.”

Gladys propped a hip on a bar stool and drank deeply of the dark beer. “Let’s take a case of this and run away to the barn with a couple of scorchin’ hot cowboys for an orgy.”

Callie had just tipped up the shot glass and had to swallow quickly to keep from spewing it all over the bar, the bartender, and Gladys. “Gladys!”

“I’m old, darlin’, but I’m not dead, and I still remember how to do it.” She laughed.

“Changing the subject on that note.” Callie blushed. “Is there a Brennan queen?”

“Oh, hell yeah. Didn’t you meet her? Mavis married the very Brennan who Naomi lost. About those cowboys?”

“Please tell me you were teasing.” Callie smiled.

“Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t imagine you’d be willing to share a single inch of Finn with anyone, since you’ve already put Betsy and Honey in their places over him.”

A short brunette, wearing a crimson red satin dress that flowed from the waist down in a sweeping antebellum-type skirt, pulled out a bar stool. “Mind if I join you ladies? Lovely dress, Gladys.”

“Why, thank you, Ilene. You look like you belong in
Gone
with
the
Wind
.”

“Thank you. I wanted that look. White wine, please,” she told the bartender. “And there he is. I’d hoped he would be here tonight. Give me white zinfandel, please. That’s the only kind he drinks.”

She picked up the two glasses of wine and carried them across the floor.

“Well, hot damn!” Gladys said.

“What?”

“Look.” She nodded.

Callie hadn’t recognized Orville out of uniform. He wore a black Western-cut suit, boots, and a big silver belt buckle. When Ilene handed him the glass of wine, he smiled and said something that lit up her face brighter than the enormous Christmas tree in the corner.

“I didn’t recognize him without a box of doughnuts,” Callie whispered.

Gladys cackled and motioned for the bartender to bring her another shot. “Guess he just needed a wake-up call. Lord, the Brennans are going to shit little green apples. If the Gallaghers have the sheriff in their pocket, there’s no tellin’ what Naomi will try.”

Tyrell claimed the bar stool next to her and said, “I heard you and Finn were together in the army.”

“I was his spotter.”

Tyrell pointed toward a longneck bottle of beer and the bartender set it in front of him. “I didn’t know they let girls do that job.”

“They can do it if they outdo the smart little boys,” she said.

“Guess nobody much tangles with you, do they?”

“Not too many times,” Callie said.

The dinner bell rang.

“There’s my cue. Time to go. Nice visitin’ with you, Callie,” he said.

“That means we go rescue Finn from that group of men and find our seats. I already switched place cards. I’m sitting with y’all. If the Brennans decide to retaliate tonight, and I’m not sayin’ they are, then I want to be by the exit out of this place,” Gladys said.

“And they’ve put me and Finn out on the edge by the door?” Callie asked.

“Exactly,” Gladys answered.

“Why?”

“You haven’t been accepted. You are here because of Verdie. There’s an order to the seating. The head table where Naomi will reign like a queen is all the way to the back of the room beside that enormous wall of glass lookin’ out over River Bend. Importance starts there and ends up at the back table where we are sitting.”

Callie smiled. “Strangely enough, I like that idea.”

“Far away from Betsy as possible, right?” Gladys said. “She’ll be up there at the head table.”

“Where were you supposed to sit?” Callie asked.

“About middle of the room with Polly, but I’ve got a feelin’ she’s been spyin’ for the Gallaghers. She’s my friend and my sister-in-law, so I’d never ask, but still, they know things from the Brennan camp too quick sometimes,” Gladys said. “I just switched places with a hired hand. He’ll go home happy thinkin’ he’s the ranch glory child because he got to sit closer to the head table than the foreman.”

When they were seated, Tyrell gave the welcoming speech and the waiters started moving through the crowd with carts. Warming dishes held steaks, baked potatoes, fried sweet potatoes, and green beans. Salads were already on the table along with fancy crystal plates filled with stuffed olives, mushrooms, celery sticks, and radishes.

Callie heard the noise above the buzz of conversation, but surely to goodness there wasn’t a helicopter right above the ranch. Why would there be? Finn had his head cocked to one side, which meant he’d heard it, too.

“Is that what I think it is?” She squeezed Finn’s thigh under the table, more in fear than in flirtation.

“Sounds like it. Maybe it’s a medical chopper headed to Dallas, but it’s definitely a helicopter,” he said.

“It’s hovering right outside the house,” Callie whispered and noticed two of the waiters quietly slip through the big double doors and run outside.

One second it was warm and everyone was bragging on steaks. The next, the big glass window was gone. It didn’t shatter to the inside or the out. Callie watched it rise up into the sky and fly off into the darkness. The room felt like the eye of a tornado and then the north wind shot through the open space, bringing cold, sleet, and snow with it.

“There’s going to be dead Brennans floating in the Red River come morning,” Naomi screamed above the din of people leaving food on the tables and trying to get out of the room.

Panic didn’t set in until the cattle arrived. An old bull led the stampede into the room, crushing the head table and knocking Ilene into Orville, both of them landing on the floor at the same time. Then he plowed his way into the room like he was hunting for a big green pasture right there in the middle of winter.

There were about twenty cows behind him, and the whole crowd started running when they jumped over the short wall that had held the glass window and plowed right into the ballroom. Callie figured the best she could do was get out of the way, especially when the old bull came at her with what looked like a medium rare steak hooked in his left horn. She backed up into a corner, and the bull ran past her. His eyes were wild as he threw back his head and bawled at the big crystal chandelier, pawed a couple of times, and charged the Christmas tree in the center of the room.

Trying to help the people would be like herding feral cats. Betsy, bless her heart, was doing her damnedest to get them all gathered up and out of the room right up until she slipped in a nice warm pile of bullshit right there on the carpet and fell backward. The table she hit on her way down dumped green beans and corn into her pretty red hair, and a heifer raised her tail high and pissed in her lap.

Callie couldn’t move from the corner. It all happened so fast and yet in slow motion at the same time. Betsy was screaming. Cows’ eyes were rolling in their heads like billiard balls on a pool table. Naomi’s cussing would have put blushes on sailors’ faces. Gladys finally grabbed Callie by the hand and pulled her out of the corner.

“Time to get out of here before things get really bad. Looks like the steaks on the hoof have ruined steaks on the fine china plates.” She slapped a cow on the flank to make room for them to escape through the doors.

“Where is Finn?” Callie yelled.

“I’m right here behind you, Callie. A cow got between us, but I was on the way to rescue you.” His big hand closed over hers.

“I should have strapped my gun to my leg under this dress. There would be a bunch of dead cattle if I’d had it with me,” she said.

“I knew I was right about not sitting up there at the front of the room,” Gladys yelled. “See y’all later.”

Polly passed Finn and Callie on the way to the pasture to get their truck. “Y’all might as well come on down to the bar. I reckon that’s where most folks will go now.”

“So?” Finn asked.

“I’ll be more comfortable there than here. Hell, they’ll probably blame us first because we’ve been in the military. I wonder how they did that,” Callie said.

Polly yelled over her shoulder. “Don’t know how, but it was slick. The Brennans had better watch their backs now. To leave Santa with shit on him is one thing, but Naomi will be out for blood now.”

“Want to stop by her bar for a couple of plain old Coors beers on the way home?” Finn asked Callie.

“Will you dance with just me? We won’t be at a to-do, so we don’t have to share each other. And please tell me we don’t have to go to these parties every year, Finn.”

“I hope to hell not,” he said.

“I’m going to make a deal with Verdie. We’ll take turns. She has to go every other year. She should have to get dressed up at least every two years,” Callie said.

He drove back to the main road and turned north. In a few minutes he nosed the truck into one of the few remaining parking places in front of an old weathered building that looked as if it had never seen a coat of paint. A hand-painted sign swinging from chains on the porch had once said Burnt Boot Bar, but the letters in the last word were faded.

“We had a hamburger here that one time, but I never noticed the sign. I thought this was Polly’s Place,” she said.

“That’s what everyone in town calls it. Her husband built it and ran it. She worked in Gainesville for the state department until he died, and then she retired and kept the bar. That’s what Verdie told me,” Finn said.

They’d just claimed two stools and ordered a couple of beers in Polly’s bar when Amanda, the caseworker for the kids, touched Callie on the shoulder. “We have a family who is willing to take all three of the O’Malley kids, but they won’t be able to take them until January tenth. This is a married couple over in Amarillo.”

Callie’s heart dropped to her knees. “Are they going to adopt the kids?”

“No, just foster them. If someone wanted to adopt them, then that would take precedence. Of course, it would have to be a couple. We seldom ever adopt kids out to single parents. And there’s no one willing to take on three kids their age. Just thought I’d give you the heads-up so you’d be aware of what’s going to happen.” Amanda turned and started back to the table where her friends waited.