Holiday in a Stetson: The Sheriff Who Found Christmas\A Rancho Diablo Christmas (7 page)

“Come here for a minute,” Garrett called to Lani as she reentered his living room later that evening.

She had just put a very exhausted but extremely contented Ellie to bed. The little girl had confided to her, just before her eyes shut for the final time tonight, “I like it here, Aunt Lani. It’s really nice.”

Lani couldn’t help but take that as a compliment to her efforts. After all, she’d been the one to get the ball rolling, to get the stoic Garrett Tanner to open up a little.

And now, she thought, it was time to give credit where credit was due. The last thing she wanted was for the man to revert back to his previous stoic behavior for lack of positive reinforcement.

“You made your niece very happy today with that angel,” she told him, taking the seat next to Garrett on the sofa and making herself comfortable. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt his arm steal about her shoulders. She’d been thinking all day about being this close to him, ever since their lips had accidentally brushed together this morning.

Garrett shrugged. Dealing with compliments was
not something he was familiar with nor comfortable about.

“Little enough I could do,” he said dismissively. “Seeing as how, like you said, this was her first Christmas without her mother. By the way,” he continued, suddenly switching subjects, “you didn’t open your present.”

Lani frowned. There hadn’t been anything under the tree for her, not that she’d expected there to be. What was he talking about? “I didn’t see anything. What present?”

“This one,” Garrett replied. The next moment, he produced a medium-size box wrapped in silver paper, and held it out to her.

Not knowing what to think, and afraid to allow her imagination to take flight, Lani took the gift from him. As she did, she felt as well as heard something inside the box slide from one side to the other.

“What is it?” she asked him, half-amused, half-nervous, though she wouldn’t have been able to explain why.

“Opening it might give you a clue,” Garrett suggested drily.

She’d assumed he wouldn’t give her anything. He didn’t seem the type who believed in exchanging gifts or going through the trouble of actually shopping for presents. She was still stunned, and very happy, that he had carved that angel for Ellie. But she was his niece, and Lani was just his deputy. His “annoying” deputy, as he had told her more than once in the last seven months.

Maybe this meant that she was something more,
she thought, a little thrill zipping through her even though she was cautioning herself not to get carried away or expect too much.

Holding her breath, she began to remove the wrapping paper.

“You planning on saving that paper to use again?” he asked.

She could take a hint. He was telling her she was taking too much time. Picking up her pace, Lani tore off the rest of the paper.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him nodding in approval.

And then, for the second time that day, Lani’s jaw dropped.

Inside the box was another box. A small velvet one. The velvet looked to be worn in places, as if it had been around for a very long time.

It was the kind of box people put rings in.

But that wasn’t possible. Garrett wouldn’t be giving her a ring.

Right?

Not knowing what to think, she slowly opened the box, her heart drumming madly. It
was
a ring. An engagement ring with one small, twinkling diamond in the middle. Lani couldn’t tear her eyes away from it.

“It was my mother’s,” Garrett was telling her. “From my father. My real father.”

She found she had to concentrate to keep her hands from shaking. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“If I have to explain that,” he told her wryly, “then
you’re not nearly as bright a woman as I thought you were.”

Stunned into silence, Lani raised her eyes to his. She had no idea what to say. Everything inside her felt scrambled, and at the same time thrilled to death.

She wasn’t saying anything, Garrett thought. Was that a bad sign? Maybe she didn’t understand what he was saying to her with this ring.

Though fancy speeches were definitely not his thing, he tried to put it into words as best he could, fervently hoping he wouldn’t make a mess of it.

“You’ve turned my life upside down in a way I never thought it could be disrupted. And God help me—” the corners of his mouth curved “—I kind of like it this way. On top of that, you’re good for Ellie. If we get married, Ellie will have a real family again. Besides, she already calls you Aunt Lani, so this won’t be that much of a stretch for her.”

Lani blinked, trying to assimilate what was happening here. “So you’re asking me to marry you for Ellie’s sake?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“And that’s it?” she prodded. “Nothing else?”

He should have known this wasn’t going to be easy. Nothing involving Lani ever seemed to be. “Well, yeah, of course there’s something else. But I thought that went without saying.”

“No,” she declared. “I think it needs saying.” If he didn’t say it now, he never would, she suspected, and she really,
really
wanted to hear it. “Yup.” She nodded. “It definitely needs saying.”

Garrett found his mouth had suddenly gone dry.
This was definitely not going to be a cinch, but he had to do it, had to get past it. He owed Lani this much. And so much more.

Besides, he’d come this far. He couldn’t lose her now.

“I want you to marry me because…”

His voice had trailed off. Lani looked at him, willing the rest of the words out of his mouth. “Because?” she coaxed.

His answer came out in a rush, sounding like one long word. “Because I need you and I love you. Satisfied?”

“I will be,” she allowed, “if you say it again…without shouting.”

Lowering his voice several octaves, and pulling her onto his lap, he said with feeling, “I love you. I should probably have my head examined, but I love you.”

She framed his face with her hands, feeling her heart swell. “Could use work, but better,” she assured him. “And we’ll get around to examining your head later. For the record, I love you, too. And I
know
I should have my head examined.” Her eyes were laughing at him. “Maybe we can get a family rate.”

“Maybe,” he agreed.

This was right, he thought. So right. His life, after all these years, was finally falling into place. And all it had taken was a smart-mouthed homicide detective from San Diego to do it.

“So,” he said, “are you going to kiss me, or talk?”

“You’re giving me a choice?” she asked, grinning widely.

“On second thought, no, I’m not. Because from the
first moment I laid eyes on you, you didn’t give
me
a choice.”

And as he said it, he knew it was true. Moreover, he was glad she hadn’t.

“Yes, I did,” she protested.

He wasn’t about to get sidetracked into an argument. Not when he had something far more enjoyable to do. Like kissing her.

Which he did.

And sealed his fate for the rest of his life. Just the way he wanted to.

Tina Leonard

Dear Reader,

I enjoy writing Christmas stories—one of my favorite kinds!—and the chance to introduce an extra “hunk” to the mix of Callahan Cowboys bachelors at Rancho Diablo was a treat for me. Johnny Donovan follows his sister, Aberdeen, to New Mexico to be near her and her new family, and finds himself in danger of being tamed by the irrepressible Jess St. John. Johnny already knows that family can be messy, in the best of ways, but now he’s about to learn that having a lot of family around is even better than he could have imagined.

I hope you enjoy Johnny and Jess’s story in the Callahan Cowboys series! The holiday season is rich with meaning and tradition, and it’s my fondest wish that this book will add to your own enjoyment of this magical season.

All my best,

Tina Leonard

Many thanks to Kathleen Scheibling for believing in the Callahan Cowboys series from the start.
I have certainly enjoyed the past five years under your guidance. Also, there are so many people at Harlequin who make my books ready for publication, most of whom I will never have the chance to thank in person, and they have my heartfelt gratitude.
Also many thanks to my children and my husband, who are enthusiastic and supportive, and most of all, much appreciation to the generous readers who are the reason for my success.

Johnny Donovan lay on the cold hard ground of Rancho Diablo, manfully trying not to groan with pain as he listened to six Callahan brothers hooting and guffawing at his plight.
This
was why he’d closed his bar in Wyoming and come to the ranch after his sister Aberdeen married Creed Callahan? The camaraderie might kill him, he decided. He let the friendly laughter wash over him, and as Rafe tugged him to his feet, Johnny told himself that getting six new brothers was the deal of a lifetime.

“You’ll have to climb back on your horse if you want to earn your spurs,” Sam said.

Learning to ride more than marginally was a good goal if he wanted to get around by anything more than the golf cart at Rancho Diablo. Determined, Johnny pulled himself into Bleu’s saddle. Dirt was suddenly kicked up nearby, and a petite redhead riding a huge, spotted gray horse confidently circled around him.

Jess St. John. Of course the tiny, athletic, cool Jess would witness him flat on his back. When she stopped her prancing horse in front of him, Johnny thought he’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life—
the woman, not the horse, although he realized the animal was exceptional, as well.

“Hi,” she said to Johnny. “I’ve been hired to give you riding lessons.”

He hesitated, his gaze sliding over his new brothers-in-law’s faces. They grinned, and even before Jonas Callahan said, “Merry Christmas, dude,” Johnny realized the brothers were having another laugh at his expense. He knew very little about horses, and riding wasn’t his forte, true, but surely he didn’t need lessons, and especially not from Jess. She’d never given him the time of day, remaining crisp and aloof whenever he’d run in to her. Professional, even.

Not interested, he’d always thought.

But he couldn’t be rude to his hosts, even if they were playing one of their infamous gags on him. So he grinned, devil-may-care style.

“This is strictly business, Wyoming,” she said, to more accompanying snickers from their audience. “The Callahans hired me to do a job, so don’t take it personally.”

“And be careful with your heart,” Sam said. “We’ve all tried to be more than friendly with Jess, but she loves only Raj. Her horse.”

“That’s just fine,” Johnny said. “Let’s see what you can teach me.”

“We’ll take it nice and slow, nothing a beginner wouldn’t be able to handle.”

“Thanks,” he told Jess, and to his in-laws he shot a look that said,
Thanks a
helluva
lot.

Jonas, Rafe, Creed, Pete, Judah and Sam responded with grins.

“Jess is the best instructor around. You’ll be riding rodeo before you know it,” Rafe told him, and Johnny made himself a solemn vow to make those words true as he followed behind his petite instructor and her huge spotted horse.

J
ESS WAS PRETTY CERTAIN
the “riding lesson” with the dark-haired, bedroom-eyed hunk from Wyoming was one of the setups for which Fiona Callahan, aunt to the six Callahan ruffians, was famous. If there was anything Fiona loved to do, it was matchmake. And this situation was just all too pat. Suddenly a handsome stranger appears from out of town, and she gets a call to teach him to ride. He wasn’t falling off his horse at the moment, and as far as she was concerned, if Mr. Donovan could stay in his seat for a hundred yards, then he really didn’t need her.

She had no patience for matchmaking. It had been tried on her by everyone in town. The dear towns-people of Diablo were convinced that happiness at twenty-seven meant being a bride, and if a woman should crest thirty and still be unwed, well, something was wrong. And whatever it was that might be wrong would be whispered about for the rest of her life, in the most well-meaning way. It would be decided that there was “something unfortunate” about her, which was code for she doesn’t like men, doesn’t know how to catch one, or can’t cook, all of which were guaranteed to leave a female ringless for all eternity, as any good matchmaker knew. There were few defects a woman couldn’t overcome with cosmetics, a smile and sure sexual wiles, but in the go-get-him world of
the Books’n’Bingo Society that ruled Diablo, those defects were egregious.

Jess didn’t cook. Or knit, or make curtains, or do anything else a clever wife could. She’d been known to kill plants that were meant to be hardy, like cacti. She was all thumbs with anything but horses, and frankly, that was the way she liked her life.

She sighed as she watched the good-looking man galumphing studiously toward her on Bleu. She was shocked that Pete Callahan would lend out his prize horse, especially to a beginner, but he’d probably done it to paint this man in the most flattering light possible. It wasn’t just women who had defects. The younger, more independent generation of females—of which she counted herself a member—knew that some men were genuinely flawed. And no amount of casting Mr. Wyoming in better light could gloss over these flaws. Johnny was too good-looking to have been left on the market past the age of thirty, which it was clear he was, judging by the crinkles around his eyes. Although he did have a great body, she noticed, as he went tumbling off his horse when he tried to
whoa
Bleu to a stop at her side. She watched Johnny hit the ground, and realized there was so much man that his center of gravity shifted quickly, even on a well-trained horse. He picked himself up and got back on the patient steed.

“I bet men fall at your feet all the time,” Johnny said.

He was probably
full
of corny one-liners.

“Not really,” Jess said. “Let’s see what we can do about keeping you in the saddle, Wyoming.”

W
HEN
J
OHNNY LOPED
painfully to the dinner table that evening, he gamely held in every wince and grimace. The idea that he could learn to ride a horse competently was simply that, a dewy dream for a foolish dreamer.

“Heard you’re just about ready to compete at Nationals, big brother,” Aberdeen said, sliding in next to him at the table. His tiny niece, Joy Patrice, reached out for him, and Johnny grinned. There was nothing better than being an uncle. His other sister, Diane, was visiting for the Christmas holidays with her rodeo physician husband, Sidney Tunstall, and had her three daughters with her, which was a bonus. Johnny adored his nieces, Ashley, Suzanne and Lincoln Rose. All four of his nieces were fireballs of activity, keeping Uncle Johnny busy, and they were the real reason he’d sold his bar and moved to hotter-than-heck New Mexico.

Family was paramount, and he’d take it, even with all the ribbing from the Callahans. “I’m not ready to compete,” Johnny said, “but that horse is a champ.”

“That’s right,” Creed said, giving Aberdeen a kiss as he joined them at the table. “And a good horse can help you a lot, isn’t that right, Jess?”

Johnny was slightly embarrassed that the riding instructor had been invited to dinner. He needed time to regroup, figure out some strategy to get better at riding ASAP, if he was going to save himself in the pretty instructor’s eyes. She was all business, grimly so, and though he’d been a popular bar owner and talked to thousands of customers over the years, he couldn’t get her to crack a smile for him.

Jess looked at Johnny with something akin to pity mixed with distrust. “I’m not sure Bleu is the right horse for your friend, actually.”

Sam looked at her. “Did you have something in mind?”

Johnny didn’t move his fork to the steaming mashed potatoes and delicately sliced roast beef in front of him. His gaze was glued to Jess’s bow-shaped lips as she spoke. He’d had no idea she had such plump, sweet lips. Of course, he hadn’t been close enough to look at her mouth; he’d been too busy concentrating on “lead-right, lead-stay in the saddle, please” to notice. She had the mouth of a goddess, he decided, one that would fit just right locked to his.

“I think,” Jess said, “maybe we should start with something more tame. Not exactly a children’s pony, but a mount with a little less spirit. Bleu has a lot of game in him.”

Johnny ripped his gaze from Jess’s mouth. “Game?”

“Turkey juice,” Rafe said. “Piss and vinegar. Opinions. He’s only six years old, and he’s really only known Pete, so he’s used to him, is what Jess means.”

Johnny knew he was being soothed so his ego wouldn’t crater, but he allowed himself to accept the thin attempt to blame his problems on the horse. Even he knew that it wasn’t ever the horse’s fault if things weren’t going well; it was almost always inexperience on the rider’s part. “I’m good with that,” he said. “Whatever it takes.”

Jonas thumped him on the back. “That’s the spirit.”

Maybe he’d be able to ride before his nieces were taking trophies in pony shows.

“A
S
C
HRISTMAS SURPRISES
went,” Jonas told his brothers, “I’m pretty ashamed at the effort. Jess is no easy case, and if you’re trying to get her hooked up by Christmas Eve, which is tomorrow,” he said, consulting the date on his cell phone, “I’d say you’ve sabotaged your own game. Even if Aberdeen says her brother needs a date of some sort to keep him from feeling awkward at the party, you picked the wrong woman. It isn’t going to happen.” Jonas shook his head and went to get a cup of hot tea from the sideboard in the bunkhouse. “Jess has always been one of the boys.”

“Wrong horse, wrong woman,” Sam said. “We shouldn’t have let Rafe make so many decisions.”

“I think I saw a spark between them,” Rafe argued, and Creed snickered.

“More like a shock when the wrong wire is touched to an electrical circuit. Very unpleasant,” he said.

“Johnny’s on his way in,” Pete warned from his spot at the window.

Johnny walked inside the bunkhouse with Judah. “Did you know there’s some kind of storm they’re talking about in town? Something about a big-time white Christmas.”

“What were you doing in Diablo?” Jonas asked.

“Buying a pair of boots,” Johnny said, completely nonchalant. He wasn’t about to admit he’d also been buying some riding duds that were hopefully a little more attractive to the female eye.

“We better make sure the barn is secure and the horses are in. Remember what happened to Judah when the barn door lost a piece of wood in the last
storm.” Sam got up and turned the television to the Weather Channel.

“I saw the Diablos today,” Rafe said, and the brothers all stopped and looked at him.

Johnny hesitated, not certain what they were talking about, but sensing the sudden solemnity in the air. The brothers considered each other for a moment, then silently got up and went out the door. Johnny waited, until Rafe poked his head back inside.

“Come on, Johnny. You can ride with me. We can use the extra pair of hands.”

Johnny wasn’t certain about anything that required riding, but he sure as hell wasn’t complaining. If there was a storm on the way and the Callahans needed help, then he’d do his best to repay all their kindnesses with whatever he had to offer.

“W
HAT DO YOU THINK
about him?” Fiona Callahan, aunt to the Callahan clan, asked Jess.

Jess winced and went back to helping clear the table. “I suppose you mean Johnny.”

“I do,” Fiona said. “I’ve never met a man that big, that handsome or that crazy.”

Jess blinked. Fiona didn’t exactly sound as if she was singing Johnny’s praises. Surely if she was trying to push the two of them together, she would make him sound like a handsome prince in search of his princess.

“He seems nice enough,” Jess said carefully.

“It looks that way. Of course, one can never be too cautious.”

Jess put the last of the plates away. “Your nephews
wouldn’t bring someone to Rancho Diablo they didn’t trust, would they, Fiona? They ride everybody pretty hard, including themselves.”

Johnny struck her as a very decent person. The kind of guy a woman would jump at, if she was looking for a man. What was there not to fall for?

“Well, just keep an eye on him.” Fiona’s gaze was smoothly transparent. She was the town’s lovable busybody—and she was up to no good.

Jess determined not to keep any eyes at all on Mr. Wyoming.

Fiona put her dish towel away. “I have to run some soup up to Burke. He has a touch of a bug. I want him healthy for Christmas, so I’ve banished him. If you don’t mind making the coffee, the boys will be piling in here soon to get warmed up. It’s going to be a long night for them.” She called out the last as she went upstairs.

“Coffee,” Jess said. “I could go for coffee.” She felt she was overstaying her welcome, but Fiona had definitely sounded as if coffee for the cowboys was a necessity. Jess would make the coffee, then head out.

She made enough for each man to have two cups, and then four cups extra, in case Fiona or Burke wanted some. Concentrating on measuring the right amount of coffee, Jess jumped when the front door blew open and Johnny came inside.

“Bleu spooked,” he told her. “Creed’s trying to help get the other horses in. He wants you to go after Bleu.”

Jess hit the switch on the coffeepot and hurried after Johnny to the barn. He helped her saddle Raj,
and she swung up. “Grab a flashlight and a horse,” she told him. “Follow me just in case.”

“I’m on it,” he said, and she saw that he’d already saddled a medium bay for himself. “Go.”

She took off out of the barn, hearing Johnny’s horse behind her. The wind whipped fiercely, lifting Raj’s mane as he cantered across the yard.

“Which way?” she asked Johnny.

“That way. Last we saw Bleu, he was running after what Sam called Diablos.”

“The Diablos,” Jess breathed. She’d heard of them but never seen them. “Wild horses,” she told Johnny.

“Rafe called them spirits.”

She looked at the tall, dark-eyed man, wondering if he believed in such fairy tales. She certainly didn’t believe in spirit horses. “Let’s hurry before the storm hits,” she told him, and they rode away from the ranch.

T
HIRTY MINUTES LATER
, Johnny and Jess were drenched to the skin. It was as cold here as in Wyoming, or maybe it was the ferocity of the storm that was getting to them. Jess looked defeated. Her thin shoulders, hunched because of the plunging temperature, showed through her sopping shirt.