Yuletide Cowboy (5 page)

Chance really admired Brady for what he was doing. If there was ever a born leader Brady was it. Not only was he a big man physically but he was a man of big integrity, too. He deserved an honest, open answer. Chance leaned closer so their conversation couldn't be over heard. “Look, Brady, I've got to sort out some personal issues right now before I could stand up there in front of the church. My heart has to be clear and since Randy died—”

“That's the bull rider that got killed a few weeks ago?”

“Yeah, that's him. I'd been witnessing to him for some time. He'd gotten mixed up in some bad stuff but all I needed was a little more time. I know he'd have accepted the Lord…with just a little more time. I don't know why God didn't allow that.”

Brady hung his head then, met his gaze with regret in his eyes. “I guess preachers are human too, aren't you? We can look at a preacher and expect you never to have a crisis or any anger…but it happens.”

Anger. It was true he was angry. And he was in a crisis of faith. Brady had him pegged. But then, he was a sheriff with skill in reading situations. “Yeah, it happens. I'm sorry. I'd like to help out, but even though I'm out of sorts right now I still have confidence that God's going to send the right man to Mule Hollow.”

Brady nodded. “You're right. I'll just keep plugging away best I can. I'll also pray He'll help sort out things for you.” He started to sit up straight and let Chance get back to his table but halted halfway and leaned back toward him, speaking quietly again for only Chance's ears. “Lynn over there is a great gal. She's sorting through her own issues at her own pace. Dottie and I are praying God sends the right man into her life when the time is right. She deserves it.”

Chance wasn't sure if he was getting a warning but he nodded. “She seems like a good person.”

“She is. All these women are, in the shelter. They've had it rough but they're fighters. Lynn's their advocate in many ways, pushing them to heal and move forward with their lives, but…” He paused as steaks were brought
to his table. “I'm talking too much. It's time to eat, then I have an auction to get underway. You think about what I said. If you need to talk, come by my office.”

“I'll do that.” Chance glanced up and saw Lynn making her way toward him. She took the empty seat at Brady's table directly across from him, and as she sat down she caught Chance watching her. Again. She gave him a tentative smile, then began talking to a pretty blonde whose gaze was riveted on one of the cowboys—a nervous fella who was barely getting his job done for looking back at her.

“Who is that lady sitting beside Lynn?” he asked Wyatt.

“That's Stacy. She and Emmett are planning on getting married—
if
she ever decides on who is going to per form the ceremony. And if you haven't figured out who Emmett is, he's the cowboy who keeps bumping in to tables because he can't function without looking at Stacy.”

It was pretty obvious who Emmett was. The red-faced cowboy was going to dump a steak on somebody if he didn't watch out where he was going. Chance remembered Lynn asking if he performed weddings. “So, if they're getting married why is he one of the waiters? Didn't you say the waiters were the ones getting auctioned?”

“They needed more men and since he's a nice guy who is grateful the shelter brought Stacy into his life, he offered to fill in.”

“I see,” he said, but really he didn't. He sliced a piece of his steak. It was tender and, like all the steaks at a shin dig like this, cooked medium to save on confusion
and time. He watched the cowboys pass out the last plates, flirting with the ladies as they served. “From the looks of things the shelter might make a pretty penny.” His gaze slid toward Lynn. She was watching him, though she looked away quickly and concentrated on her own meal the moment their eyes met.

“Hey, cousin, we want to auction you off.” Cole cocked a brow.

“That's the plan,” Wyatt agreed, and the rest of the table nodded enthusiastically.

“Oh, no, you don't.” Chance got all hot under the collar looking at them—his ears were hot, he was so tense.

“I told y'all not to go gettin' any ideas,” he warned, glancing across at Lynn and seeing a pink stain on her cheeks. Though she wasn't looking at him, he got the feeling she'd heard everything.

Wyatt shot him one of his piercing looks and Chance could see the wheels in his lawyer's head chugging away. This wasn't good. When Wyatt got an idea about something there wasn't much to stop him. Even so, Chance tried. “Wyatt, don't even think about it.” Could they not see that she didn't want any of this?

“I was just thinking about those little boys this morning wanting you to help them with their tree house. It would be nice to help them out.”

Chance saw Lynn stiffen and her sharp gaze met his briefly before she looked away—no doubt about whether or not she'd heard that. “She didn't want my help,” he said, his voice low to keep it from carrying. “She made that clear.” He looked at Wyatt with real warning in his eyes. It was then that he noticed how quiet the table had grown, and his attention was drawn around to the
bright, well-intentioned eyes of his family. Not one of them was paying his warning any attention.

His gaze slid back to Lynn. Randy hadn't wanted his help either, and Chance had failed him because he hadn't pursued helping him anyway. But this wasn't the same.

Not the same at all.

“W
ho'll give me one-fifty for Emmett? He's a hard worker,
and…
” Brady paused to grin at the roomful of people before zeroing in on Stacy, who blushed profusely when all eyes turned to her. “From what I hear he's a good cook, too. A bit on the shy side so you might have a hard time getting any talk out of him.” A round of laughter erupted from across the room. Red-faced, Emmett stood beside Brady. When a lively round of bidding instantly ensued he looked even more embarrassed. Lynn's heart went out to the lanky, quiet cowboy. The poor guy was not the most handsome cowboy in the room—some might even say he was homely because he was so thin and red-faced. But within his skinny chest there was a loyal heart of gold. A humble man of honor, he'd given his heart to only one lucky woman in the room. He'd fallen in love with Stacy the day she stepped off the van that had brought Lynn and the others to No Place Like Home. God truly had worked in mysterious ways to get them here, and she was forever grateful.

Stacy had been through so much, having grown up with an abusive father, then continuing the cycle by
marrying an abusive man. The shelter had saved her and when they'd moved to Mule Hollow, Emmett had patiently, sweetly been there for her over the last two years as she healed emotionally. Both he and Stacy were quiet, and it had taken a year to get them to actually talk more than a few sentences to each other. It had been a touching thing to watch. Lynn knew she'd been a part of helping Stacy let go of some of the pain from her past and reach out for the bright future she could have with Emmett. Knowing this gave Lynn great satisfaction.

When the bidding finally eased up after going another hundred dollars higher, Emmett shifted and looked pained. The bidding had slowed now but he seemed ready to bolt. He'd known when he entered the auction that Stacy wouldn't have a lot of money to bid on him and he'd thought that was okay because he didn't figure there would be much bidding going on for him anyway. Still, he'd confided that he was worried about the situation. He hadn't counted on Norma Sue and Esther Mae jumping in to take care of him. They were intent on out bidding each other, but more focused on outbidding a young blonde who had apparently decided Emmett was the man to spend her money on.

As soon as Brady asked for more bids, Norma Sue shoved her hand in the air and glared at Esther Mae. “You might as well back off. Both of you.”

Brady chuckled, acknowledged her bid and asked for more. “Who'll make it one-sixty?”

The young woman shot a perturbed look toward her competitors and then waved a bid.

Poor Emmett turned slightly green.

Stacy had shredded her paper napkin and was now
starting on Lynn's. “Why is she trying to get Emmett?” she whispered in alarm.

Lynn patted her arm. “It's all for a good cause. I wish you could bid but it'll be okay. Emmett only has eyes for you.”

The younger woman was obviously looking for a date and knew a good thing when she saw it. The way she kept bidding, Lynn thought maybe she wasn't going to quit until she won him.

“Who'll give me one-seventy?”

“I will!” Esther Mae exclaimed, shaking her red head enthusiastically.

Emmett looked relieved.

The determined young woman was not happy and the minute Sheriff Brady rattled off the next amount she jumped to her feet. “I bid
two hundred!
”

“What?” Stacy gasped and ripped Lynn's napkin in half.

Chance and his family had been cheerfully rooting for the bidding, along with all the other people in the room. Lynn had been distracted by Chance and was finding it hard not to stare—the man had green eyes as vivid as cool creek water. She'd caught him watching her several times and each time butterflies had filled her chest. She found her gaze drawn back to him now, just as Brady called, “Two-twenty?” Chance tugged his ear!

She sat up straighter. Was that a bid? Had it not been for the fact that sharp-eyed Brady acknowledged it as such she might not have caught it. But he confirmed her suspicion by instantly accepting it and moving on to the next bid.

Esther Mae, Norma Sue and the determined blonde looked around to see who else had bid, but Chance gave no indication that it was him. If anyone else saw his inconspicuous bid they didn't give him away either.

He was good. As the next few minutes passed in heavy war Lynn was fascinated by him. When the bid hit two and fifty the blonde finally huffed and gave up. Norma Sue and Esther Mae searched the room to see who was bidding against them.

“Who is it?” Stacy whispered for the fourth time.

Brady was having a great time with the secret and Lynn couldn't help being happy about it, too. “It'll be okay,” she assured Stacy.

Norma Sue's gaze landed on Chance as he nodded his head. Brady, a good auctioneer, had been careful not to make direct eye contact with Chance since he'd picked up that it was an anonymous bid. Norma Sue hiked a brow then grinned, crossed her arms and settled back in her seat without giving a bid. Not so quick to catch it, Esther Mae started to open her mouth but Norma Sue elbowed her, gave a hard shake of her head then whispered something to her.

“Oh! Ohh.” Exclaimed the excitable redhead and with a chuckle she settled down, her mouth zipped up tighter than a vacuum seal.

“Going once, twice…”

Chance scratched his chin and Lynn saw his finger subtly pointing in Stacy's direction.

“Sold to anonymous third party and gifted to Stacy.”

“What?” Stacy gasped the same moment that Emmett did.

The room ignited in a roar of good cheer.

“You won him, Stacy!” Lynn exclaimed, hugging her friend as Sheriff Brady's gavel slammed down on the podium.

“But I didn't bid.”

“That's okay, someone did it for you as a donation. Now you can fix Emmett a good meal and he can help you with decorating the shelter. It's perfect.”

That was the end of the auction and Lynn was relieved. She'd been tense as the cowboys were auctioned off. She'd heard what Chance's cousins had been saying and she was afraid one of them would do something crazy. But they had behaved.

“Well, that concludes our bachelor auction and we've raised a good amount of donations for the shelter tonight. Thank you all and I hope you ladies make these cowboys work hard for their suppers. As an added tag to the evening, earlier in the day we had a donation made to No Place Like Home by Wyatt, Seth and Cole Turner on behalf of their cousin. You all know Chance.”

There was chair scraping as everyone shifted to stare at Chance. Lynn's stomach went south with an uneasy feeling. Chance sat up straight in his chair. As if reading her mind, his gaze shot to her then straight to Wyatt and the rest of his family. They were all grinning at him.

Lynn's cheeks began to burn even before anything else was said….

Sheriff Brady kept on talking. “The donation stipulation is a bonus for the evening. It seems that Chance has agreed to be auctioned off to Lynn Perry and her boys for an entire day of work at their new home. Let's give him a hand and everyone else who participated in the evening.”

Lynn was floored. “I don't need help,” she said, looking at Chance and the table of people responsible for this. Chance had a resigned expression that embarrassed her even more. It was obvious that he'd not volunteered to help her and her boys. And if the man didn't want to help she certainly didn't want his help. She hadn't asked for any, that was certain. If there was one thing she hated it was feeling needy. Oh, she had been there—very much in need—but she didn't like it. And right now she was in a position where she was helping herself, standing on her own two feet. That was a feeling she
liked.

She did not need Chance Turner's help, nor that of his wealthy cousins!

It was one thing to help Stacy but this…
This is for the good of the shelter,
said a little voice in the back of her head.

She ignored it and marched straight over to the group. “Thank you for the thought. But I don't need the help.” She tried to keep her rising irritation out of her voice. “I hope you'll give the donation to the shelter anyway.”

Wyatt gave her a crooked grin, one that all the Turner men had in varying degrees. “Lynn, he's just coming out to hang some lights.”

A heavy tug of embarrassment hit her. “I know that. It's just that I don't need any help.” Her gaze slid to Chance, who still didn't look any happier about the situation.

Amanda looked worriedly at her. “We just thought with this being the Christmas season and you and the boys being in your own place that some help would be nice.”

“And we wanted to make sure Chance didn't get
bored or become a hermit out there at the stagecoach house,” Cole drawled. “If not for yourself, think of our poor cousin.”

Chance shot Cole a long-suffering look. It was easy to tell he was used to being teased by his cousins. “Yeah, think of me,” Chance said at last. “If you don't let them do this I'll never hear the end of it.”

Not because he wanted to. “I don't think so.” She refused to have a man working around her house who didn't want to be there. Especially when
she
didn't want him there in the first place. Despite her words everyone continued to watch her expectantly. Did they think this was all it took for her to be herded into their way of thinking? She had a mind of her own. “No thank you,” she added more firmly for clarification. She had a right to make her own decision without feeling guilty about it! Before she acted like a total jerk, she turned and headed out the door with her back straight. She knew they were all probably thinking she was being rude but she couldn't help that. She and her boys could put up their own lights. They could.

She was within a few steps of escape when she heard her name.

“Lynn, wait.” Norma Sue left Esther Mae talking to a relieved looking Emmett and a still baffled Stacy. “Did I hear you say you weren't going to accept Chance's help?”

People were milling around in groups and Lynn shuffled out of the way of a wave of folks talking excitedly among themselves. She glanced toward the door. “No, Norma Sue, I'm not.”

“But you have to, honey. They paid that money and
it isn't going to hurt anything. And you really deserve some help, what with all you have going on, working, taking care of those boys, and the upcoming children's pageant.”

The pageant wasn't going to be much trouble. The kids were practicing the songs on Sunday mornings and Adela and Esther Mae were doing the costumes, so all she had to do was oversee a dress rehearsal. No trouble at all. “Norma Sue, it's embarrassing,” she confided. Norma Sue, Esther Mae and Adela had been wonderful to volunteer at the shelter. They'd kept children when needed and offered moral support and shoulders to cry on. In doing so Lynn and all the other women at the shelter had come to love them like family. They also knew that Lynn had issues—issues she didn't like to dwell on. Or talk about. They knew this. So why were they pressuring her?

“Don't get any ideas about me and…
him.
Don't you dare do it. I told you the other day not to.” She whispered
him
long and hard, giving the notorious matchmaker a warning eye as uncomfortable thoughts of being alone with a man pressed in on her. She'd not let her thoughts dwell on old fears that hid deep inside her. She held her emotions in a tight coil.

This entire situation had matchmaking written all over it—just like she'd been afraid it would. Lynn hadn't realized until now that Wyatt Turner had hooked his brothers up with their wives before he himself fell in love and married Amanda. That being the case, it hit her instantly that he would want to see his cousin married off, too.

Surely not with me.

Surely yes, and she knew they were thinking it could work. Chance's stay in town would be his perfect opportunity. They had no idea how wrong they were. None…The room suddenly felt far too closed in… She swayed slightly and fought to stay calm as her past swept like a dark, clawing shadow choking her—like Drew had done so many times. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

Esther Mae was heading their way like an excited bumblebee in her yellow-and-black velour jogging suit, followed by Adela. They were so happy with their good intentions. So totally misguided. Lynn pressed a hand to her stomach and demanded her body and her emotions not betray her but it was a losing battle. Suddenly, the room seemed to implode about her.

Breathe.
Her pulse rate skyrocketed and her stomach plummeted. It was that weird, unkind feeling that had taken over in the midst of trying to escape the violence of her life. She'd thought that once she escaped her husband's fist she'd be okay. But that hadn't been the case. Her panic attacks had eased up over the last couple of years but this was a bad one.

She made it out the door in seconds, rushing off the plank sidewalk and around the side of the building, where she managed to fight off the need to throw up. Drew's twisted, violent face filled her mind's eye and she gagged. Her stomach rolled.

“Dear God, help me,”
she gasped, and stumbled to ward her car. She had to get home. No one could see her like this. No one.

Almost before the words were out of her mouth she felt some semblance of control returning. Not completely, but a portion.

She headed down the street and felt relief as she reached her car.

Christmas was coming. This was the time to be happy and to count her blessings. She inhaled the cold, fresh air and willed her pulse to slow. It didn't. The last thing she needed to do was let this pull her down further. She thought of the good in her life. She had a great life going for her now.

Some women needed and wanted men in their lives. The only two men she
wanted
or
needed
in her life were her twins. They were the loves of her life and she was satisfied with that.