Katherine Garbera - One Hot Christmas

“Sure.” Now that the unveiling was less than two hours away, Ben’s chest tightened with anxiety. Everyone had praised the saddle, but Sarah was the one who had to be pleased. He’d know the minute she saw it whether she was or not.

“I think you should text him again and make sure Sarah’s otherwise occupied,” Josie said. “After all this, we don’t want her to glance out the window and see you and Ben carrying something from the tractor barn. I don’t care if it is covered with a blanket. She’ll know what it is.”

“Yeah, I’d better do that.” Jack nudged back his hat and pulled out his cell phone. “Never would have believed I’d depend on this silly thing the way I do. I carry it everywhere now. Phone calls are bad enough, but texting is unmanly.”

Josie held out her hand. “Want me to text Pete and protect your manhood, cowboy?”

“No.” Jack scowled and moved his thumbs over the keyboard. “I’m just sayin’.”

“Personally, I love that you carry your phone everywhere.” Josie stuck her hands in her pockets. “Then you can’t perform your manly disappearing act when there’s an unpleasant chore to be done.”

“My point, exactly.” Jack glanced up from the phone. “Go ahead and cover the saddle, Ben. I’m sure we’ll be hauling it out of here in a couple of minutes.” His phone chimed and he read the text. “Yep. Mom’s taking a shower, so we’re good to go.”

Ben settled the blanket back over the saddle. The next time it was pulled off, he wouldn’t be the one doing it. Something he’d labored over every day for two months was about to leave his care. That always felt strange. He had a picture of it on his phone, but he might never touch it again. He always felt a little sad when he had to part with one of his creations, and he’d put more of himself into this one than any other.

Jack tucked his phone into his jacket pocket. “Ladies, if you’ll hold the doors for us, the manly men will carry this precious cargo out of here and over to the house.”

Ben got on the front and Jack took the back, which was the same way they’d carried the saddle and stand into the barn. So much had happened since then.

“I’ll back down the path,” Jack said. “I know it better than you do.”

“Okay.” Maneuvering carefully, he guided the saddle through the door and let Jack set the pace. Molly and Josie followed. Judging from the bits of conversation Ben caught, they were talking about Molly’s genealogy project.

“What’s between you and Molly?” Jack’s quiet question was abrupt, but not unexpected.

Ben met his gaze. “We like each other.”

“Thought so. And I just realized I know almost nothing about you.” Jack’s breath fogged the air between them. “Careless of me.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Are you unattached?”

“Yes.”

“Where’s your family?”

“Colorado.”

“Visit them much?”

“No.”

Jack frowned as if not happy with that answer. “Why not?”

“We...don’t see eye to eye.”

“Does Molly know about that?”

Ben hesitated. “I’ve mentioned it.”

“Did you give her the details?”

“No.”

“Then I suggest you do that.” Jack’s dark gaze hardened. “I suggest it very strongly. It’s important information for a woman like Molly.”

“You’re right.” Ben’s gut clenched. He’d told himself Molly was better off not knowing the gritty details of his past. But she was an open book, so the scales weren’t balanced when it came to their relationship. And they had one. He could no longer pretend otherwise. She might be coming back to Wyoming this summer. What then?

Yeah, it was time to give her the whole story. She deserved to know that she was dealing with a man terrified of losing his temper, afraid of who he’d become.

“And Ben?”

“Yeah?”

“If you don’t treat her like the extremely valuable person she is, you’ll answer to me. And it won’t be pretty.”

“Understood.”

“You’re one hell of a saddlemaker and I love what you’ve made for my mother, but hurt one of my own, and you’ll wish we’d never met.”

“I won’t hurt her. You have my word.”

Jack’s smile was colder than the breeze sweeping down from the snow-covered mountains. “Break your word, Radcliffe, and I’ll have your ass.”

12 Contents Cover Title Page A Last Chance Christmas Vicki Lewis Thompson Under the Mistletoe Katherine Garbera Ignited Kimberly Van Meter Where There’s Smoke Liz Talley www.millsandboon.co.uk A Last Chance Christmas Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Epilogue Under the Mistletoe About the Author Dedication 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Ignited About the Author 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Where There’s Smoke About the Author 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Endpage Copyright

MOLLY HEARD JACK and Ben talking about something, but they spoke in low tones, as if they didn’t want her or Josie to hear them. A couple of times Jack glanced in her direction. She couldn’t shake the feeling they were discussing her. If so, then Jack suspected something.

Josie might, too, but Molly hadn’t spent as much time with her as she had with Jack. Josie might not feel comfortable asking about Ben. Jack, on the other hand, allowed nothing to stand in the way of protecting those in his care. Sarah had told her that the other day, and now she’d seen it in action. When Jack had stepped into the tractor barn and spied her there with Ben, his whole manner had changed.

Sure, he continued to joke with his wife, but underneath that banter something in his tone made her think he was mentally arming himself to confront a potential threat. She appreciated the impulse, but she didn’t want Jack to protect her from Ben. He reminded her so much of her brothers, who’d been intimidating her boyfriends ever since she’d turned sixteen and had been allowed, with major restrictions, to date.

Extreme protectiveness, both from her brothers and her parents, had been one of her reasons for moving into town instead of continuing to live at the family ranch. She was the only girl, which meant she’d had to fight for her sexual freedom. If she hadn’t moved out, she’d probably still be a virgin.

No doubt her brothers would disapprove of her relationship with Ben, but they weren’t here. Unfortunately, Jack was filling their role to perfection. She’d have to politely ask him to butt out, but finding a private moment to do that might be tough.

Right after Jack and Ben hid the saddle under a large tarp at the far end of the house, Jack slung an arm around Josie’s shoulders. “Come on, babe. We need to shower and change for this shindig.” They both hurried back to Jack’s big red truck and drove away.

The wind had picked up, so Molly helped Ben tuck the canvas tarp more securely under the stand so it wouldn’t flap. Maybe she was being paranoid about Jack’s conversation with Ben. She should ask Ben about it before accusing Jack of meddling in her business.

Ben beat her to the punch. “Molly, we need to talk.” He straightened. “Maybe out here’s as good a place as any.”

“Was I just the topic of conversation between you and Jack?”

“Yes, and—”

“Is he trying to protect me from you?”

“In a way, but that’s not the point.”

“It is the point. I’ll speak with him. I’ll let him know that this was mostly my idea. I don’t want him to get the wrong impression of you. After all, you’re hoping to do more business with him. I don’t want to interfere in any way with that.”

“That’s fine, but I still—”

“Hey, are you Radcliffe?” A middle-aged ranch hand with a handlebar mustache walked toward them, his boots crunching through the snow drifts.