A Cowboy's Christmas Promise (13 page)

“We could pretend we were drunk. Things got out of hand, yadda yadda.” Her hands flailed gently, and he wasn't sure whether he should be amused or genuinely frustrated.

“I'm not drunk.”

“I'm not either. That's why I said
pretend.
It could work.”

“Really.”

“It's just an idea. Or we could just pretend it never happened.”

“
Really.
”

“Stop saying
really.
I'm trying to get us out of a bad situation.”

He took another step back, trying not to smile. She was completely adorable in her flushed, discombobulated state, and he had done this. He'd broken through a set of armor that he'd be willing to bet was steel-plated. Maybe titanium.

But it was time to tread carefully, nevertheless. His own emotions were on overload, but nothing had felt so right in a long time.

He took a breath. “What if I don't think it
is
a bad situation?”

“Oh, it is. It most definitely is. You do
not
want to go here with me.”

He chuckled at her dramatic distress. Then he stepped closer, then closer still. She didn't back up. He saw her breath catch and watched the color rise in her cheeks as he tipped her chin up with one hand and ran the other along her cheek and into her hair.

“You know, Scampini, you talk a good game, but I think I
do
want to go here with you.”

“I'm pretty sure that pot's already clean.” Jess grimaced as Hayley plopped a shiny pan back into the dishwater after breakfast in the main lodge Monday morning.

She stared at the pot. Had she already washed it? She couldn't remember.

“I, um, saw a spot. Did you get the table wiped down?”

“You did it three times already. I think it's as clean as it's going to get.”

“I did not.” Hayley tipped her head. “Did I?”

Jess nodded carefully. “Yes, and you just put the Cheerios in the refrigerator and the milk in the cereal cupboard.”

“Did not.” She opened the cupboard. “Omigod, I totally did.”

“What's wrong, Hayley?”

“Nothing. Nothing's wrong. It's Monday morning, we had a lovely wedding this weekend, the sun is shining, no one's been eaten by a bear, and the honeymooners are off to paradise.” She dumped the newly shinier pan onto the drainboard for Jess to dry it. “It's all good.”

“Mm-hm.” Jess strolled across the room to put the pan away. “Is there anything left on Kyla's list, or have you already done it all?”

“I just did a few things.” Hayley shrugged, not wanting to admit she'd been up since four o'clock this morning, when she'd finally given up on sleeping. No one had to know she'd taken the opportunity to use a boatload of nervous energy to wipe down all of the outdoor furniture and sweep the porches before she'd saddled up her favorite Whisper Creek horse for an early morning ride—in the opposite direction she and Daniel had walked two nights ago.

Jess put a gentle arm out to stop Hayley as she headed to scrub down the island. “You already washed the island. Twice.”

“I did?”

“Hayley. Sit down.”

Hayley felt her shoulders drop. “You sound like me when you talk like that.”

“Good. Now sit.” Jess pointed at a chair, pouring a cup of tea and setting it in front of Hayley. “I'd give you coffee, but I think you've got enough running through your veins already this morning.”

“Thank you.” Hayley took a grateful sip, but her feet were tapping on the floor, counteracting the calmness she was trying to project. “I'm just trying to make sure we get everything done so Kyla doesn't have to worry about things.”

Jess raised her eyebrows. “I'm pretty sure that whatever Kyla's doing right now, it has nothing to do with worrying about us.”

“True. I don't want Ma to worry, then.”

“Hayls.” Jess pulled out a chair and sat across from Hayley at the tiny breakfast-nook table. “I've never seen you like this. Was the kissing that good? Or that bad?”

Hayley felt a flush creep up her neck and onto her cheeks. “I never even said we
did
kiss.”

“Honey, when you two walked back into the tent, even the minister was onto you.”

“Stop it.”

“It's true. But then Daniel left, and you squirreled yourself away in the cabin, and then you took off on Twinkle for most of yesterday, so it's all very mysterious.” Jess suddenly put down her teacup. “Did you two do more than kiss?”

Hayley put her fingertips to her eyebrows, trying to rub away the headache that had chased her since yesterday morning. “I never should have danced with him.”

“Oh, no. You did do—more.”

“No! We didn't!”

“You looked gorgeous dancing together! And you seemed to be having fun. Weren't you?”

“Yes. We were. Two singles at a wedding, determined to keep each other from getting entangled with anyone else.”

Jess laughed softly. “That sounds very logical, in its own very strange way.”

“It was working just fine for the dancing part. And the walking part. But just a piece of advice. Never let a man walk you to a riverside gazebo all lit up with white lights if you don't want your head to go spinning in crazy directions.”

“Uh-oh.”

Hayley sighed, remembering how he'd cradled her jaw like she was made of the finest porcelain, how he'd murmured words in her ear that had turned her knees to hot wax, how he'd run his fingers through her hair and held her so close she could swear their heartbeats matched.

“Was it—awful?”

“No. It definitely wasn't awful.”

“So what, then, had you up spraying down lawn furniture at four o'clock this morning?”

Hayley tapped her fingers on the table and blew out a frustrated breath. “The fact that it wasn't awful.”

“Ahh.” Jess nodded slowly. “So now you're freaking out because Hayley ‘date-'em-and-dump-'em' Scampini does
not
fall for men who could possibly rock her world for more than a six-to-twelve-week period.”

“Thirteen.”

“Pardon me.”

Hayley sighed. “What have I done?”

“Well,” Jess laughed, “I think you've behaved like a completely normal woman faced with a hot, funny, smart guy who gets you.”

“Somehow that is not comforting.”

Jess raised her eyebrows. “So how did you leave things?”

“I told him it was a mistake. He deserved to know that. I'm not a good bet.”

Jess put a gentle hand on Hayley's. “Just because you never
have
fallen in love doesn't mean you never
could.
”

“That's what scares me.”

“So you're going to give up a whole week of being with him, just so you don't risk getting in any deeper?”

“Deeper is bad.” Hayley shook her head. “Shallow was way bad enough.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He's got
kids,
Jess.”

“—who are adorable.”

“Completely, but I don't know how to play that game. He is most definitely a package deal.”

Jess tipped her head and raised her eyebrows. “Wrapped up in a pretty nice package, though.”

“Seriously. Plus, there's the small matter of two thousand miles between us.”

“People do long-distance relationships all the time.”

“I don't.”

“You don't do
any-
distance relationships. At least not yet.”

“Because that works for me. Always has.”

Jess nodded slowly, swirling her tea. “Do you remember when we were here last year and it was so obvious to the two of us that Kyla and Decker were just mean to be, even though they'd pretty much just met?”

“This is not that.”

She leaned forward. “This is
completely
that. You can't plan this stuff, Hayley. Just because it's not convenient and not expected and not necessarily even wanted, here it is. This amazing, gorgeous man has been practically dropped in your lap, and he's just as attracted to you as you are to him. There is no way you're going to be able to ignore that, as hard as you try.”

“I'm not ignoring it. I'm just trying to be logical about it.”

“Love isn't logical, Hayls.”

“This isn't love!”

Jess tapped the table as she got up. “Well, as I see it, you've got two options. One is to stop over-analyzing everything and just see what happens. Life has a way of working itself out.”

“I'll go with Plan B. I'm not big on giving up that much control.”

“All right, then Plan B is to run around the ranch playing Cinderella for the rest of the week, ignoring a perfectly wonderful Prince Charming who waits only five miles away—and then spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been.”

She tipped her head. “Your decision.”

“We're close.” Mack McDougall shook his head Wednesday morning as he led Daniel into his stable, where a mare had started laboring overnight. “Poor momma. Hate these breech births.”

McDougall raised appaloosas on a couple hundred acres bordering Whisper Creek's southern edge, and Daniel had been out to check on the horse numerous times already this week.

“Let me take a look. Hey there, Stardust.” Daniel opened the stall door and found the horse pacing in circles, snorting and shaking her head. He talked to her in a low voice, steadying her as he took a look, his jaw tight.
Not good.

“We in trouble?”

“I think we might be.” Daniel came out of the stall, shaking his head as he tried to figure out how to handle the situation. Now would be a really good time to have that partner he'd been trying to hire. “You sure you can't delay that hearing this morning?”

MacDougall nodded. “Already did that three times. Judge said if we didn't show this morning, he was throwing out the case.”

“Damn.”

“I can't lose that land, Danny. I gotta be there this morning. You sure you got no one else you can call?”

“You know I'm the only one for two hundred miles.”

“Still no luck getting a partner in?”

“No.” Then the obvious thought hit him. “Unless—”

“Unless what?”

Daniel doubted Hayley had ever had to help a mare in labor, but he could coach her through it, right? If the two of them worked together, they could do this. Despite whatever had happened between them, and its aftermath, he knew she'd help. Even though it would mean having to be close to him again, he just knew she'd come.

Wouldn't she?

Before he could talk himself out of it, he said, “Actually, I might have somebody who can help. She's a vet staying over at Whisper Creek this week.”

“Call her.”

Daniel stared at the horse for a long minute, willing the foal to execute an impossible turn so he didn't have to call Hayley. But it wasn't going to happen, and it wouldn't be responsible of him to attempt this birth alone, not if he had another option. He couldn't risk the lives of these horses.

Twenty minutes later, he heard tires on gravel and looked over the stall door to see Decker's truck pull up to the barn with Hayley at the wheel. She jumped out, clad in jeans, a ratty old sweatshirt, and barn boots, her hair tied in some sort of knot at the base of her neck.

“Try not to be overcome with lust at today's attire,” she quipped as she jogged into the stable. “It's all I could borrow on short notice.”

He could see the tension in her tight smile, but if she was determined to play it light, he could match her tone.

“It's not quite as hot as your bridesmaid dress, but it'll do.”

“So how's she doing?”

“Okay so far. No pushing yet, but it's going to get interesting soon.”

“Have you ever delivered a breech foal before?”

“Not one this big out of a momma this small. If it goes south, I feel better having extra hands.”

“Okay. Makes sense. You, um, you know
I've
never delivered a breech foal, right? Or any other kind?”

“Expertise is optional at this point.”

“You just need my freakishly strong arms?”

He laughed. “Something like that.”

“She really is small. Is this her first foal?”

“Yeah. And if she has any choice in the matter, it'll probably be her last.”

“She healthy otherwise?”

“As a horse.” He winked as she groaned.

“So…what do we do?”

“Well, right now, we wait.”

“Wait.”

He nodded. “Yup. It's pretty much between her and nature right now.” He pointed toward the window side of the stall. “I brought in a couple of hay bales for us to sit on if you'd be more comfortable over there.”

Hayley walked across the stall and took a seat under the open window, patting the bale. “You do have the finest office furniture I've ever seen.”

“Doesn't quite meet your posh city standards?”

“Are you kidding? If I could work a few hay bales into the Kit-n-Kapoodle décor, I'd be in heaven.” She pointed to Stardust. “So how long does this usually take when they're breech?”

“Hard to say.”

“Okay.” She watched the mare pace three more circles, and Daniel noticed she was scraping at the pink polish on her nails.
Was she nervous about sitting here with him?
“So—is there any paperwork that needs doing or anything? Stalls to muck? Cows to milk?”

He chuckled. Yep, she was uncomfortable, all right. “Worried about your idle hands?”

“Something like that.” She stood up and looked out the window, then sighed in what sounded like pleasure. “Is
every
view in Montana this amazing?”

He looked over her shoulder and saw the mountains rising in the distance, framed by a mirage of greens, blues, and purples. Funny how a lot of people thought the Rockies stopped in Colorado, but there they were, on full display.

“Kind of, yeah.”

“How did you ever leave? If I'd grown up here, I don't think I'd have ever been able to go anywhere else.”

“Well, Colorado's beautiful, too.”

She turned around to face him. “Isn't Denver really big-city-ish?”

He nodded. “We actually lived between Denver and Boulder. Beauty without the gridlock.”

“Nice.” Hayley sat down slowly, thoughtful. “What was Katie like?”

“You really want to know?”

“I think I do.” She let out a half-laugh. “Admittedly I'm not one hundred percent on that, but I can't help but be curious.”

“I'm not sure I'd know where to start.”

“Start easy. What did she look like?”

Daniel closed his eyes for a moment, picturing Katie. “She had blond hair and blue eyes, like the girls. Sort of a quiet smile. She always thought she was too short and too curvy, but I never thought so. She—she was smart, funny, loyal, sweet. She taught kindergarten and loved it. Umm, she loved hiking and reading romance novels; hated fish and green vegetables. Loved every sport she could figure out how to do. Hated that she couldn't figure out a way to feed all of the needy kids in her school.”

His voice trailed off as he pictured her packing backpacks full of food on Friday afternoons in her classroom so she could send them home with kids who might not eat again until Monday morning otherwise.

“Did she like animals?”

He nodded. “Loved 'em. All kinds. Maybe that came partly from being a teacher, but there wasn't a bug or spider or worm that creeped her out. Kids would bring stuff in all the time, and she had terrarium thingies all over her classroom.” He smiled. “And of course she loved the big animals, too.”

“Did she used to come out with you? Assist in stuff like this?”

“Not really. I didn't do a lot of this 'til we came back up here. After.”

There was a long pause, and he worried that he'd said too much. Then Hayley shook her head slowly.

“I'm sorry, Daniel.”

“It's okay. I could have said I didn't want to talk about it.”

She shook her head. “That's not what I meant. I'm—” She fiddled with her nails again. “I'm just so damn sorry it happened.”

“Yeah. Me, too.” He looked into her eyes, which held his with a steady, honest gaze. “I think you would have really liked her, actually.”

“Except for the bug thing.”

He laughed, grateful for the tension-breaker. “Okay, except for the bug thing.”

Just then Stardust let out a huge snort and Daniel watched her carefully as she walked by him.

Oh, boy. Things were about to get serious.

He motioned to Hayley. “She's going down any second.”

Hayley jumped up. “So what's the plan?”

“We wait until she's down, and then see how she does with her pushing. I don't want to crowd her unless we need to.”

Then, without warning, Stardust went down—hard—and Hayley jumped.

“You weren't kidding. I thought she'd lie down nicely.”

“Some do. Some don't.” He moved one of the hay bales so he could sit near her tail and keep a close eye on the progress of the foal. “Okay, how about you go up by her head for now? Just talk to her. Remember, it's her first time. This is all new to her. Watch yourself.”

“Okay. Okay, okay, okay.” Hayley blew out a breath, looking back out over the stall door for a moment. “This is just like kittens. Ju-ust like kittens.”

“You okay?”

She turned back around. “Yup! Good! Ready!” She rolled up the sleeves of the sweatshirt and crouched beside Stardust's head. “Let's do this.”

Half an hour later, Hayley sat cross-legged in the hay beside Stardust's head, trying to soothe her as another contraction took hold. It felt like they'd been at this for hours, not thirty minutes. The poor horse was exhausted, and Hayley's back was screaming from sitting for this long, leaning over Stardust's head, but she'd be damned if she'd complain. Not when the poor horse probably felt like—well, Hayley wasn't sure
what
she felt like.

“Are we making any progress?” She looked toward Daniel, who had shed his sweatshirt and was working in a T-shirt and jeans that did nothing to hide his muscular physique. Hayley took a deep breath and tore her eyes away.

She'd made a pact with herself on the way over to McDougall's that she wouldn't even look at him, let alone think about how those pecs had felt under her hands. Wouldn't think about how she maybe could have spent the last three days with him instead of inventing enough dawn-to-dusk chores to keep her too busy to question her decision to back off.

But maybe she'd take just one more quick look.

“We need to get her back on her feet.” He looked at his watch. “We're getting too close to the thirty-minute mark for my comfort. I'm going to try one more time to see if I can manipulate the foal.”

Hayley stood up, pulling gently on Stardust's halter. “Come on, girl. Almost done. You're doing great. Come on, sweetheart. Up you go.”

With Daniel's help, the mare lumbered to a standing position, but obviously wasn't happy about it. “Okay, hold her tight. She isn't going to like this.”

“What are you going to do?”

“You do not want to know, but I'll explain it later.” He braced himself and reached somewhere Hayley didn't want to think about. Stardust tossed her head as Hayley struggled to hold her. “Okay, here comes another contraction. Talk her through it, nice and slow.”

One minute later, Daniel motioned with his chin for her to come to him. “Brute strength time.”

Hayley took Stardust's nose in her hands and looked in her eyes. “You can do this, baby. We're doing this.” Then she jumped over the hay bale and to Daniel. “Okay. Ready. What do I do?”

“See that?” He indicated a little hoof with his chin.

“Oh, God! Yes! How'd you—?” Hayley looked at him, smiling widely. He'd done it! “Never mind. I think I don't want to know. What do I do?”

“Grab it, and when I say the word, pull like you've never pulled before.” He put his free hand on Stardust's flank. “Okay, five-four-three
-two-one. Pull!”

Shoulder-to-sho
ulder with Daniel, Hayley took hold of the tiny hoof and pulled as if her own life depended on it, not just this foal's. Twenty seconds later, she and Daniel were both falling backward into the hay, a squirming foal in their arms.

Hayley looked down at the baby horse as she toweled off its head, and she was grinning so widely she thought her face might break. She'd just delivered her first foal! It was a beautiful brown baby with white socks and a white zigzag on her forehead.

She turned to Daniel, who was looking at her with the same warm expression she'd seen when she'd held his girls at the rehearsal dinner.