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Cade nodded. “I think it’ll do. If you two put the ladders away I’ll start saddling the horses. I’m betting you’re both out of practice.”
“I can saddle a horse just fine,” Jake said. “How about you, O’Roarke?”
“Never lost my touch. But if Gallagher wants to show off his horse whisperer technique, that’s fine with me. Saves me the effort.”
“Then I’ll get started on that.” Cade adjusted the fit of his Stetson and headed down to the barn, his boots crunching through the snow.
Finn collapsed one of the extension ladders with a loud clang before turning to Jake. “You know why he’s putting so much emphasis on the decorations this year, right?”
“Haven’t a clue other than he wants Lexi to think he’s a holiday illumination genius.”
“It’s more than that. Christmas would be the perfect time for Lexi to propose and the more magical the setting, at least in Cade’s mind, the more likely she’ll pop the question.”
“I see. Makes some kind of crazy sense.” Jake was well aware of the interesting dynamic between those two. Cade had asked Lexi to marry him a year and a half ago and she’d gently turned him down. So Cade had put her in charge of proposing. “I hope she does it.” He collapsed the other ladder and picked it up. “I’ve never seen a guy so eager to get married.”
“I don’t know about that. I’m pretty damned excited about marrying Chelsea. Can’t wait for April.” He picked up his ladder and they both started toward the barn.
“You don’t mind the monkey suit and all the fuss?”
“Not really. Chelsea’s family is pretty casual, so it won’t be stuffy and formal.” He looked over at Jake. “Any chance you can come?”
“You know I’d love to. I have to figure out the finances and then see if I can wrangle time off.”
“I understand. I don’t expect a lot of the guys will make it up to Seattle, but I’m hoping some do.”
“At least now I’ve met Chelsea. She’s terrific.”
Finn laughed. “You don’t have to tell me. Like I said, can’t wait for April.”
Jake pondered his two brothers and their anticipated marriages as he and Finn put away the ladders and helped Cade finish saddling up the horses. Both guys clearly wanted that kind of permanence. Jake had no such long-range plans.
He was eager for some private time with Amethyst, but he wasn’t thinking beyond that. She was perfect for this stage of his life. Before their hot night in Jackson Hole, he’d dated a few women who had been nice but needy.
His job asked a lot of him. He loved the sense of accomplishment it gave him, but he didn’t want to be emotionally responsible for someone on top of the demands at work. With Amethyst he didn’t have to worry about that. She was focused on her career and didn’t need anyone to take care of her.
That included her approach to sex. She asked for what she wanted more frankly than anyone he’d been with. He loved that about her. This sleigh deal might or might not work out, but tonight after the festivities, he’d—
“Hey, Fireman Jake, you gonna get on that horse or not?”
Cade’s voice cut into his libido-driven thoughts. Damn. Caught daydreaming about Amethyst for the second time in two days. He glanced up at Cade, who was mounted on Hematite, the black horse he’d trailered to the ranch summer before last. Finn was already up on Isabeau, Rosie’s mare.
Jake, however, stood beside Navarre, Herb’s gelding, while staring into space like an idiot. “Yep. Sorry. Just thinking about something.” He swung into the saddle.
“More likely someone.” Cade chuckled as he led the way to the Forest Service road. From there they’d cut across snow-covered open range to the Emerson place. “From what I remember about Amethyst Ferguson, I don’t blame you. I wasn’t at the high school Christmas concert where she sang ‘Santa Baby’ but I heard about it.”
Finn laughed. “Didn’t we all. Were you there, Jake?”
“I was.” The road was deserted so they were able to ride three abreast with Cade in the middle. It felt great to be back on a horse again, especially with two of his brothers along. “We’d stopped dating two weeks before that concert. Bad decision on my part.”
“You broke it off?” Cade glanced at him in disbelief. “I gave you credit for more brains than that.”
“Nope. I was young and stupid. I thought she’d looked at another guy in a provocative way. She denied it, but I had that idea stuck in my head and refused to let the whole thing slide. The truth is, she was too hot for me back then.”
“But not now, apparently,” Finn said.
“No.” Jake smiled. “Not now.”
Once they hit open country, they picked up the pace a little, but not much since obstacles could be hidden under the snow and the air was still pretty damned cold. Jake wouldn’t want to race through this landscape and create a wind chill effect, but a trot was invigorating. He’d picked up a second job at a stable in Jackson Hole because they were willing to work around his shifts, but he wasn’t there to ride. Mostly he mucked out stalls and groomed the horses.
As they approached the Emerson ranch, he could see the sleigh sitting out in front of the barn. From here it didn’t look too bad. The red paint job had faded and the runners were dull and rusted in spots, but the sleigh might be salvageable.
He glanced at Cade. “What’s that luggage rack thing hanging off the back?”
“I guess that’s where you put your picnic basket. If you’re going for a sleigh ride you might take along hot cocoa, some cookies, maybe.”
“I would do that,” Finn said. “Sounds cozy.”
Jake didn’t think the rack looked sturdy enough to hold anything. “So what do you think of the sleigh itself?”
“A new coat of paint and some rust remover and it’ll be a beauty,” Cade said.
“I wouldn’t know,” Finn said. “Sleighs are not my area of expertise.”
“Not mine, either,” Cade said, “but—”
“Hold it.” Jake brought Navarre to a halt. “I thought you knew something about sleighs.”
Cade shrugged. “What’s to know? It’s a wagon on skis.”
“Yeah, well, that would be the critical difference, wouldn’t it? What if those runners are all messed up? What if they somehow malfunction and throw Amethyst into a ditch where she breaks something important like her neck?”
“Settle down, Fireman Jake. I would hope you’re not planning to charge down the Forest Service road like you’re running the Iditarod.”
“Well, no, but—”
“Then we don’t have a problem. All you need is a sleigh that will take you at a sedate pace from the ranch to the Forest Service road and from there to a little side lane where you can drink hot cocoa and make out. Am I right?”
Jake sighed. “Yeah.”
“Then no worries. That fifty-buck sleigh will fulfill that mission. Let’s find Emerson and close the deal.”
Twenty minutes later Jake sat on the hard bench seat with the reins in his hands and Navarre hitched to the sleigh. He suspected there was no upholstery because the mice had actually made a nest in it and Emerson had ripped it out before they arrived. The red paint on the seat hadn’t faded at all.
The rest was more pink than red. The sleigh looked a lot shabbier up close and he heartily wished he’d suggested a different entertainment to Amethyst, but it was too late, now. Cade had paid the rancher fifty dollars and the sleigh now belonged to Thunder Mountain.
Cade lifted his hand like the leader of a wagon train. “Move ’em out!”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” But Jake slapped the reins against Navarre’s rump and the sleigh went forward, creaking in protest. “Hey, wagon master, this thing is wobbling.”
“Of course it’s wobbling.” Cade seemed unconcerned. “It hasn’t had an outing in ten years.”
“Ten?” Jake bid goodbye to his fantasy of a romantic sleigh ride. “I didn’t hear that part.”
“I pinned him down before I gave him the money and he admitted it hadn’t been used in ten years, maybe twelve. Actually, I’m guessing it’s more like twenty.”
The sleigh shuddered as Jake drove it away from the barn. “Why didn’t you cancel the sale?”
“Because I really want a sleigh and this one has good bones.”
Finn snorted at that. “You know zip about sleighs and you’re able to tell this one has good bones?”
“I predict it has broken bones,” Jake said. “We’ll be lucky to get it back to the ranch in one piece. We might have to leave it by the side of the road like the pioneers had to dump their pianos.”
“We can’t do that,” Finn said. “Littering is against the law in Wyoming. Which means we’d have to figure out how to haul the carcass back to the ranch so we could use it for firewood.”
Cade shook his head. “Boys, boys, boys. Where’s your faith in the goodness of the universe? Once we get this sleigh back to Thunder Mountain, and we will, then all it needs is a little TLC and it’ll shine like a new penny.”
“Or disintegrate like an old newspaper,” Jake said. “We’re going over this thing with a fine-tooth comb before I put Amethyst in it. It either passes muster or...” He couldn’t come up with an alternative.
“Or the toboggan?” Finn asked.
“No, not that.” Jake balked at the idea of leading Amethyst down to the barn where she’d find Navarre hitched to a toboggan. “It was one thing when we were kids goofing around but I’d feel dumb using it now.”
“See, the sleigh has to work,” Cade said. “It’ll provide a romantic touch for you and then later on for me and Lexi. This baby could be the final touch, the gesture that puts Lexi over the top.”
Jake exchanged a glance with Finn. No doubt they were both thinking the same thing—Lexi needed to put this poor cowboy out of his misery. But Jake could see Lexi’s side. Six years ago Cade had left town, apparently spooked by Lexi’s urge to get married. When he’d finally showed up ready to tie the knot, Lexi had become her own woman and wasn’t so sure she wanted that arrangement anymore.
Jake didn’t understand why Cade couldn’t simply enjoy the loving relationship and good sex without insisting on a document legalizing the whole thing. But Cade and Finn were both turning thirty next year, so maybe their itch to get hitched made sense. At twenty-seven, Jake hadn’t felt it.
Once they were off the ranch property and moving over uneven hillocks of snow, the sleigh rattled and creaked so much that the guys gave up on conversation. They’d made it nearly halfway back when the runners hit something under the snow and the sleigh lurched to one side. It righted itself, but one of the rattles was now a lot worse.
Jake figured it was the luggage rack. “Hey, Cade,” he called out. “Can you drop back and see if we’re about to lose a piece of this contraption?”
“Sure.” He pulled Hematite to a stop and waited while Jake passed him. Then he dropped in behind the sleigh. “Yeah, I see a few screws missing on the rack. Matter of fact, the whole thing could go, now that I look at the way it’s leaning. You’d better hold up so we can evaluate the situation.”
“But it’s got good bones, right, Gallagher?” Finn wheeled Isabeau around and rode to the back of the sleigh. “Crap, that doesn’t look good.”
Jake climbed down and trudged through the snow to where his brothers had dismounted to assess the damage. The metal rack dangled, held in place by a couple of screws. The rest were AWOL. “We need to take it off before it falls off.”
“With what?” Cade looked at him. “You packing a screwdriver?”
“No. Anybody got a penny? I don’t like carrying change so I don’t.”
“I’m the same about change in my pockets,” Finn said. “Bugs me.”
Cade shrugged. “I don’t have any, either. Maybe we should just keep going and let it fall. It’s not like we won’t hear it.”
“You don’t want to do that.” Finn pointed to a crack in the wood next to one of the screws. “There’s a lot of stress being put on the section where the remaining screws are. Once it goes, it could take a chunk of this back section with it. Then this thing will look like hell.”
“Then I have a suggestion.” Jake thought the sleigh already looked like hell but saying it wouldn’t change anything. “If one of you gets in the sleigh with me, you can lean over the back and hold on to it. The other one can lead the extra horse.”
“I’ll hold the rack,” Cade said. “But, Finn, you need to switch horses. Hematite isn’t fond of being behind another horse.”
“Then I’ll hold the rack and you lead Isabeau,” Finn said. “She’s a sweetheart who doesn’t mind being last.” He handed the mare’s reins to Cade.
“No, I’ll hold the rack while Finn drives,” Jake said. “If I hadn’t invited a woman for a sleigh ride before I had the damn sleigh, we wouldn’t be doing any of this.”
“But where’s the fun in that?” Cade grinned at him. “We’re making us some memories right here.”
“I guarantee I won’t be forgetting this anytime soon.” Jake climbed into the bench seat and leaned over to grasp the metal rack. “Better take it slow, O’Roarke. This isn’t a real stable position I have, here.”
Cade chuckled. “No, but it sure is a photo op. Wish I’d brought my phone so I could take a picture of you riding in that sleigh ass backward.”
“Thank God for small favors. Knowing you, you’d put it on the internet.”
“Yeah, I would.”
Jake listened to the sleigh rattle along. It wasn’t as noisy now because he was holding the rack and they were going slower. “Say, Cade, when are Damon and Phil due at the ranch?”
“They were hoping to hit town late this morning and stop by around lunchtime. They could be there now.”
“That would be great.”
“They’ll be tired,” Finn said. “And Phil’s less than a month away from her due date, which is why they drove to Florida. Just in case you were hoping they could do a quick fix.”
“I don’t expect that, but they could give me their opinion on whether this thing is roadworthy before Amethyst arrives. How are we doing on time?”
“I’d estimate it’s about one fifteen,” Cade said. “Give or take.”
“Yikes. I hope Amethyst’s not early.”
But of course she was. As Finn drove the sleigh into the open area in front of the barn, Amethyst climbed out of her yellow SUV. She took one look at Jake’s position in the sleigh and started laughing. Terrific. His rep was ruined. Might as well hitch up the toboggan.
4 (#ufcc001ab-7ea1-5b22-93af-8c71063a0220)
AMETHYST WOULD RECOGNIZE those buns anywhere. She’d admired them when Jake was seventeen and they’d become even more worthy of a good ogle since then. But the sleigh...oh, my God. She’d assumed when he’d invited her that Thunder Mountain Ranch had a sleigh, probably painted hunter green and brown, the colors of Thunder Mountain Academy.
Apparently, Jake had issued his invitation prematurely. His cheeks were tinged pink as he walked toward her and she doubted the cold was to blame. But, damn, he was gorgeous. Who cared what the sleigh looked like when she could feast her eyes on a muscled cowboy with soulful green eyes and a sculpted mouth that could kiss like nobody’s business?
“I have to apologize,” he said.
“No, you don’t. That entrance was worth the trip out here.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet. I’m surprised you didn’t whip out your phone.”
“Wish I had.” She wouldn’t have minded a permanent record of Jake’s sexy butt. But she’d been too mesmerized to think of it.
“Look, obviously we don’t have a working sleigh, so I’m afraid—”
