Santa In Montana (Calder Saga 11)

Laredo shrugged and smiled. “The old days. Before you.” His gaze was warm, almost adoring.

She had the impression that he was studying her carefully. As if he was memorizing every feature of her face. But she couldn’t detect anthing that suggested Laredo was troubled by the meeting. Maybe he had been simply recalling his past life. Did he miss it? Or someone. Sitting side by side when he was a million miles away was frustating.

“To the Boar’s Nest? Takes a while to heat up that old line shack, but there is plenty of firewood.”

“The ranch, then. We don’t have to go in to the main house. I just want to be somewhere alone with you. We don’t have to talk either.”

“I like the way you think.” He retrieved an ancient hand-tooled leather wallet from his jeans pocket and took out several tens, sliding them under the condiments holder where the waitress could see them.

“Thanks for dinner.” She smiled at him.

“Any time.”

Eventually, they pulled over on one of the ranch’s back roads and just held each other for a long time, doing more kissing than talking. There was a sweet intensity to his strong and slow lovemaking that Jessy had been missing lately. At the same time his gentle caresses made her crave more from him, but they could only go so far in the cab of a pickup on a winter night.

Laredo lifted his head and glanced out and around, as if he was checking their surroundings. The immense landscape stretched empty to the black edge of the horizon.

“Look at that,” Laredo said.

Jessy moved out of his embracing arms and saw the crescent moon above them in the clear night sky, shining from within a vast, delicate circle of ice high in the atmosphere.

“It’s beautiful,” Jessy murmured in wonder. “Something you don’t see very often.”

“Maybe it’s a sign.”

She turned to look at his shadowed face. He wasn’t smiling. “Of what?”

He gave a short, low laugh. “If you asked Chase, he’d say it meant bad weather was on the way.”

“Probably.” Jessy smiled in agreement. “What does it mean to you?”

He didn’t reply right away. “Can’t exactly say what it means,” he said after a while. “Maybe that we ought to stop what we’re doing and look up more. And give thanks for what we have as long as we have it.”

“What are you getting at?” The tinge of melancholy in his comment confused her.

“I can’t explain it, Jessy. Not now.” He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her with a sudden, fierce hunger that left her wonderfully breathless.

Chapter 8

Sloan came down the oak stairs, balancing an armload of wrapped gifts. As she rounded the newel post at the last step, she inadvertently bumped against it. One package teetered. She did a little juggling act and managed to keep it from falling. There was no one around to hear her sigh of relief. She’d wanted to get the gifts wrapped and under the tree before a certain curious kid knew what his mother was up to.

Not that the presents were all for Jake. But he was apt to think so. She didn’t want any of them rattled or poked or subjected to a small boy’s mental X-rays.

Hoping he wasn’t hanging out with his great-grandfather in the den, Sloan made a detour to the room’s open door, catching a glimpse of Chase at his desk, absorbed in paperwork.

So far, so good. As quietly as she could, she retreated to the living room where the tree was. Carefully, she set the presents down beside it, then took a minute to arrange them around the skirted base.

Finished, Sloan stepped back to admire the ever-growing pile. Recalling how many already had Jake’s name on their tag, she reminded herself to have a notepad and pencil nearby for a thank-you list. If nothing else, Jake was going to sign his name to the card to acknowledge each and every one of his gifts.

As she started back to the stairs, she heard Chase talking. It took a second for her to realize he was on the phone with someone. Drawn by the intensity in his deep voice, Sloan paused to listen.

“Sounds like you’re making progress,” Chase said to whoever was on the other end of the line. “Can’t come quick enough. Time’s getting short.”

There was a long pause while he listened. Sloan stayed where she was, feeling a twinge of guilt that she was eavesdropping on a private conversation.

“As soon as you give me the word, I’ll have it ready,” Chase went on. “Yes. It’s already arranged.”

She hesitated as Chase wrapped up the call.