Her Mistletoe Cowboy

If he didn’t feel that there was a lot riding on this, he would have been amused at the dogged way she kept trying to unearth something less than flattering about the way the ranch was run. But there was a lot riding on this, so he wanted her to get it right.

“It’s not like that,” he told her, then offered a speculation as he continued, “I suppose that there are more boys who get in trouble than girls—”

“Or maybe the girls just don’t get caught.”

“Maybe,” Garrett allowed. “It might also be that it’s easier working with boys if they’re not distracted,” he pointed out, “and girls can be a really huge distraction to guys.”

The way he said it, looking deep into her eyes, suddenly had her pulse racing.

I bet you’re really something else when you get going, aren’t you, Garrett White Eagle? she thought, doing her best to get her breathing back under control. For a second it had felt as if the very air had just backed up in her lungs and then stayed there.

“Is that what you think?” Kim asked him when she finally found her tongue. “That girls are a huge distraction?”

“I don’t ‘think,’” Garrett retorted, then added, “I know.”

His face, when he leaned over her like that, was just inches away from hers and for one moment, she thought he was going to follow through on what she was certain was on his mind. He was going to kiss her and she had to admit that she didn’t exactly find the prospect off-putting.

But the next moment, the whimsical smile was back on his lips again as he straightened up, putting distance between their faces—and her sanity returned. Getting physically involved with the subject of her article—or at least one of the subjects—was definitely a bad idea.

Even though he was awfully appealing.

“Why don’t I introduce you to my brother?” he was suggesting as her mind did cartwheels off in the corner somewhere.

When he looked at her like that, she found that she actually had to summon up saliva in order to say anything in response—the inside of her mouth had gone that dry.

“Why don’t you?” she agreed, doing her best not to croak out the words.

C’mon, Kim, get a grip, she told herself sternly, doing her best to focus on what had brought her here in the first place—she was doing a story that would allow her to pay her rent. Getting distracted was no way to become a celebrated writer—or even build a reputation that would amount to a hill of beans.

All she was trying to do now was keep the wolf from the door.

It occurred to her, as the thought flashed through her mind, that she had something in common with Jackson White Eagle after all.

At that point, they had reached the corral and she was acutely aware that everyone—with the exception of the tall, dark-haired cowboy in the center, the man she took to be Garrett’s older brother—had stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her.

While she was accustomed to covert attention—even liked it—blatant attention was something new, especially when it came from those who couldn’t vote yet.

“Why are they all staring?” she asked Garrett in what she hoped was a really low whisper.

Garrett grinned as he spared her a longer-than-necessary look. “Off hand, I could think of several reasons, none of which I can share with you without risking getting slapped.”

She laughed shortly and shook her head. “Is that your idea of a compliment?”

“No,” he replied with a deliberately innocent expression, “that’s my idea of the truth.”

She took a quick inventory of the teens in the corral. While most looked respectfully polite, none of them looked as if they were even remotely naive or backward. Just what kind of bill of goods was Garrett trying to sell her?

“You’re telling me that these boys aren’t used to women?” It wasn’t so much a question as an accusation.

“No, but with the possible exception of my sister-in-law, I’d say that they’re definitely not used to women who look like you.”

“Eurasian?” she guessed. Kim was well aware that in a backwoodsy place like this, she didn’t exactly blend in with the local population for obvious reasons.

“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of the word gorgeous,” he told her.

This one was a smooth operator who used his charm to get by, Kim thought. “Emphasis on the word line.”

“Well, if we’re going to be emphasizing words, in this case I’d zero in on the word truth,” he told her with the same casual air he might have employed rattling off all the merits of his favorite beer.

Casual, but at the same time, loaded. The man was single-handedly raising the immediate temperature around her. He was definitely smooth. As smooth as any so-called stud she might have encountered in one of the upscale watering holes or restaurants in San Francisco.

“What are you doing in a place like this?” she asked him honestly. He was the type she would have figured would be chomping at the bit to get out of town and the first one to take off the moment his high school diploma hit his hand.

“Helping my brother,” Garrett answered without a moment’s hesitation. His eyes met hers and she could feel her stomach tighten just a sliver. “I thought you already knew that.”

“I was filled in,” Kim acknowledged. “But there’s a difference between being told something and understanding why.”

“Nothing to understand,” Garrett assured her as Jackson, finally finished with instructing one of his “hands,” as he referred to the teens, approached them. “This ranch saved my brother’s life and when he wanted to return the favor, or rather, pass it on, he asked me to help him. There was no way I would have ever turned my back on that.”

“So you’re the loyal type.” In her family, it was competition rather than loyalty that ruled. At least, between her sisters—and possibly her parents, as well. She was the one on the outside, the one who merited their pity and just maybe her sisters’ smug superiority.

“Something like that,” Garrett allowed.

The next moment, he took the opportunity to table this uncomfortable discussion and did the honors of introducing his brother to the woman he had convinced Jackson should come here.

As he handled the introductions, Garrett mentally crossed his fingers and prayed he wasn’t going to regret this.

And that Jackson wouldn’t wind up holding it against him.

“Jackson,” he smiled broadly at his older brother, “this is Kimberly Lee. She’s the writer that Western Times Magazine sent to write about our work here at the Healing Ranch.”

Jackson, Kim immediately noted, was as tall and as handsome as his younger brother. His face was a little leaner and his cheekbones were a bit more prominent, but their hair was equally sleek and black and their eyes were both a surprising, intense, remarkable shade of blue.

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