Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy Read online

  “Him.” Parker made a face. “Sleazy so-and-so. He’s ambitious. Bart’s former owner is rich and he has friends.”

  “I have a few of my own. I called Beck and Thomas in L.A. They’re flying out here Monday. If the child’s mother will give custody of Bart to you, I’ll handle the rest.”

  “That’s the thing,” Parker said quietly. “She was all hugged up with the lawyer when I went over there earlier. Teddie begged her not to let the man take the horse. The lawyer said the former owner would drop the whole thing if they’d have the horse put down instead.”

  “What did Mrs. Blake say to that?”

  “She told Teddie that it might be the best solution.”

  “Damn!”

  “I said that and a few other things. Right now, I’m pretty sure I’d like to go home to Montana and live on the rez and be a real Indian.”

  “Baloney. You’d die of boredom in a week.”

  Parker laughed, but it had a hollow sound. “I could always move to D.C. and work for that letter agency.”

  “You’d die of stress in a week.” J.L. chuckled. “Stay here and break horses. It’s what you were born to do.”

  Parker sighed. “I guess it might . . . what the hell is that?”

  They got up from the table and went out on the front porch.

  “I don’t believe it,” Parker said heavily.

  It was a little girl with a flashlight, leading a horse. It was Teddie, crying and muttering to herself.

  “Oh, honey,” Parker said, feeling her misery.

  She handed the reins to J.L. and ran into Parker’s arms. He lifted her and hugged her, rocking her.

  “She’s going to have him put down, I just know it. I can’t let her kill Bart,” Teddie wailed.

  Over her head, Parker’s tormented eyes met J.L.’s.

  “Nobody’s putting the horse down,” J.L. said firmly. He pulled his cell phone out of its holder and started making calls.

  * * *

  A horse trailer arrived, along with a redheaded woman in a luxury car, about the same time Katy Blake came driving up in front of Parker’s house.

  She started toward Teddie, but Teddie, standing next to Parker, turned away.

  J.L. Denton glared at Katy. “Nobody’s putting this horse down,” he said shortly. “I’m taking him home with me. Burt Dealy can get himself a damned good lawyer, because I’m going to put him behind bars and let him rot there if he doesn’t! As for that child”—he pointed at Teddie—“if you were my wife, I’d divorce you for the misery you’ve caused her tonight!”

  “Now, J.L., that’s not helping,” the redheaded woman said gently. She smiled at Teddie and went to Katy. “I’m Cassie Denton, J.L.’s wife,” she said in her soft voice. “Apparently, there’s a little trouble here.”

  Katy choked back tears. “I’ve been behind it all, I’m afraid,” she managed.

  Cassie pulled the other woman into her arms and rocked her while she cried. Katy was stiff and unyielding, and Cassie let her go almost at once. “There, there,” she said gently. “We all have hard times. We usually live through them.”

  Katy moved away, dashing tears from her eyes. “Thanks,” she said huskily. She turned toward Teddie. “Sweetheart . . .”

  “I’m not going home with you,” Teddie said miserably. “You can marry that awful man and have kids that you love.”

  Katy’s face contorted.

  “I want to stay with Parker,” Teddie muttered. “He cares about me and Bart.”

  Parker smiled at her. “That’s sweet, and I appreciate it. But it’s not practical. Brave girls don’t run away from trouble, you know. Your mother loves you.”

  “Sure she does. That’s why she wants to kill my horse. Or, worse, let that horrible man take him back and beat him to death,” Teddie said angrily.

  Katy wrapped her arms around herself. She felt thoroughly miserable and ashamed. J.L. Denton was absolutely glaring at her.

  “I won’t let him take the horse,” she said after a minute.

  “Who’ll stop him? That fancy lawyer?” Teddie asked.

  “Not likely,” Parker said flatly.

  “Burt Dealy buys people,” J.L. said icily. “He’s bought off public off icials for years. This isn’t the first time he’s been brought up on charges. He always walks. Apparently he thinks he can buy your lawyer friend off, too.” He smiled coldly. “He won’t buy me off. I’ll have him drawn and quartered first. My attorneys are coming out here from L.A. on Monday. They’ll handle the case. All you have to do, if you think you can manage it, is give me legal custody of Bart. I’ll do the rest.”

  “She won’t do it,” Teddie said, glaring at her mother. “Her friend won’t like it.”

  “Teddie, I’m sorry,” Katy said miserably. “I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have listened to him. It was wrong.”

  Teddie wasn’t budging.

  “Why don’t you come home with us for tonight?” Cassie suggested gently to the child. “Then we’ll take you back home in the morning.”

  Teddie looked up at Parker.

  “Go,” he said quietly. “J.L. has a nice big stable, much nicer than mine. You can settle Bart for the night. If your mother approves,” he added. The look he gave Katy made her feel two inches tall.

  “Yes, that would . . . that would be all right,” Katy stammered. “If you’re willing to fight for Bart, I’ll thank you. I’m not really sure that Ron would fight for him, or even try to.” She lowered her eyes.

  “Everybody makes mistakes,” Cassie said softly.

  Teddie hugged Parker and walked away with Cassie. She didn’t look back.

  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” J.L. told Parker. “Thanks for the coffee.”

  “No problem. Good night, Teddie.”

  “Good night, Parker,” she called back.

  They loaded Bart into the horse trailer and within five minutes, the yard was deserted except for Parker and Katy.

  She was still standing in the cold in a thin sweater, her arms wrapped around herself. She looked miserable.

  “Go home,” he said shortly, and turned back toward the house.

  “He was kissing me,” she said. “I was too shocked to fight at first, and then you and Teddie came in and I was ashamed.”

  He stopped at the steps and looked back at her. “You called that yellow polecat and asked him to come out here. I figured you wanted what happened. Especially after you broke Teddie’s heart with that comment about taking the easiest course and letting them put Bart down. That was cowardly.”

  She flushed. She drew in a breath. “Yes,” she said after a minute.

  “He doesn’t like Teddie.”

  “I know.”

  “Maybe you’d fit in better with Washington society after all,” he told her. “You’d probably be better off than living out here with barbarians. Good night, Mrs. Blake.”

  He went into the house and slammed the door.

  * * *

  Katy drove home. Her daughter hated her. Parker didn’t want anything more to do with her. J.L. Denton thought she was despicable. And she’d deserved every single miserable thing that had happened to her tonight.

  She could hardly believe that she’d agreed with Ron about having the horse put down, even knowing how much Teddie loved him. Teddie had loved her father, too. They’d been close in a way that Katy and Teddie had never been close. Her daughter had never warmed to her. Perhaps it was because Katy didn’t know how to let people in close. She’d loved her husband in her way, but she was always alone, apart, even from her own family. Her parents had hardly ever touched. They got along, said they loved each other, but they fought a lot. They’d married to combine two huge ranch properties. They’d cared for Katy, but they didn’t know how to show it. In turn, Katy had never been able to show that love she had for her daughter.

  It occurred to her only then that Bartholomew had been the catalyst to bring Teddie and Katy closer together. The child had grown more optimistic, more o
utgoing, since she’d had responsibility for the abused horse. Parker had helped there, too. The two of them had made Katy look at the world in a different way. She and Teddie had been growing closer, more every day.

  Until she called Ron to help save the horse and he’d defected to the enemy. Worse, he’d almost convinced Katy that his course of action was the right one, despite Teddie’s outraged and hurt feelings. She was losing her daughter’s love and trust, and for what? For a society lawyer who didn’t really care about Katy as a person, only as an asset to his legal career, because she’d become a good hostess and organizer among military wives, many of whom were big in social circles. And because she had those stocks that her husband had invested in, stocks that might make her very wealthy. He’d convinced her, with logic, that terminating the troublesome horse was the quickest way out of her legal dilemma.

  Quickest, yes. And an excellent venue for destroying her relationship with her only child. She saw Teddie’s tearful, shocked face every time she closed her eyes. Teddie hadn’t expected her mother to sell her out to a stranger who didn’t even like her. Parker would never have done that. Katy was sure of it. Now the Dentons had involved themselves, and J.L. was going after the horse abuser with a firm of high-powered attorneys who made Ron look like a law student.

  First, she was going to have to sign over custody of Bart in a legal manner. She thought about how that would look to her daughter and Parker and the Dentons if she got Ron to help her. No. She’d have to go into Benton Monday and find an attorney who’d be willing to do the work for her. It would be an expense, but if it would help mend the breach between her and Teddie, it was worth any amount of money.

  Maybe she could win Teddie’s trust again. But Parker wanted nothing more to do with her, and he’d made it very clear tonight. Until then, she hadn’t realized how much a part of the family he’d become to her. It was painful to think she wouldn’t see him helping around the place, teaching Teddie horse care, explaining Crow legends. Talking about the cat in the box.

  She smiled sadly as she thought what a high intelligence he had, and he’d let Ron treat him like a vagrant. She couldn’t imagine why. Or maybe she could. He wasn’t even going to try to compete with the society attorney. He’d witnessed that impassioned kiss and he was probably convinced that Katy had chosen Ron over him. It wasn’t the truth. But what did it matter? They all hated her.

  Tomorrow was Sunday. She’d have to drive over to the Dentons to bring a furious Teddie home and discuss Bart’s future. Ron would certainly arrive after lunch, to complicate matters. She hadn’t felt such impotent sorrow since her husband’s death.

  She missed her late husband. She felt guilty that she’d started seeing Parker, because it was like betraying her husband’s memory. But it wasn’t at all. Teddie loved Parker. He was larger than life, a strong and capable man with a stunning intellect and a big heart. He never ran from a fight. Ron did. It was why he negotiated settlements out of court for most of his cases. He wasn’t a stand-up fighter and he didn’t like confrontation. Well, not unless he considered his adversary inferior to him. That was why he’d been so condescending with Parker. Pity, she thought, that Parker hadn’t aired his views on theoretical physics. But Parker wasn’t competing, because he didn’t think Katy was worth the competition. That thought was like a knife in her heart. She hadn’t realized how important Parker was to her until she’d alienated him. She’d alienated her daughter as well. Somehow, she was going to have to make amends, if she could.

  She went back to bed and turned off the light, but she knew she wasn’t going to sleep. Her life was in turmoil all over again because she’d gone nuts and invited Ron down to aid her in the struggle for possession of Bartholomew. He hadn’t aided her at all. He’d helped lose part of her family.

  So she closed her eyes on welling anger and considered her next course of action. Tomorrow, after she got her daughter back, she was going to have a long and very hot conversation with one eastern attorney.

  * * *

  The Dentons were already up when she pulled up at their front door, after calling and asking if it was all right to come fetch her daughter. She didn’t want to make J.L. any madder than he already was.

  Teddie was sitting at the breakfast table with Cassie and J.L. and the baby, in his high chair, when she walked in.

  “Good morning,” Katy said hesitantly.

  “Good morning,” Cassie greeted. “Won’t you have something to eat? Or at least coffee?”

  J.L. didn’t speak. He glared.

  Katy flushed. She took a deep breath and put her hands in her pockets. “I’m going into town tomorrow to see an attorney and have Bartholomew signed over to you, Mr. Denton. I’ll be very grateful, and so will Teddie, for any help you can give us. I don’t want him put down and I don’t want his former owner to get him.” She shifted her feet restlessly. “Ron is very logical. He helped me settle my husband’s affairs after he was killed overseas. He seemed like a capable, trustworthy man, but he’s not. He’s a snake. I just didn’t know it until yesterday, when he almost convinced me that I was being stupid and unrealistic.”

  Teddie was looking at her mother, not glaring. J.L.’s hard face softened just a little.

  “Anybody can be taken in by a fast-talking lawyer,” Cassie said. “My poor father was the victim of one, who helped his shady client ruin my father’s reputation so they could get his position for her. The uproar caused my mother to commit suicide.”

  “Oh, my goodness. I’m so sorry!” Katy exclaimed.

  “We were very close,” Cassie confided. “It took a long time to get over it. In fact, I haven’t yet.”

  “Teddie and I haven’t really been close,” Katy said, not looking at the sad little girl at the table. “My fault. My parents married to combine two ranching properties. I think they wanted me, at first, but neither knew how to show affection. I was raised with almost no touching, no sharing, no affection.” She smiled. “It’s hard to show love when you haven’t been shown it.” She glanced at her daughter. “I’m in the learning stages about that.”

  Teddie flushed. She squirmed in her chair.

  “Coffee?” Cassie asked again.

  “Thanks, anyway. But we’d better go,” Katy said. Her face tautened. “I have a lawyer to parboil after lunch.”

  J.L. chuckled helplessly. Teddie’s face lightened.

  “He’ll be leaving very soon, I believe,” Katy added with a glance at Teddie. “And I’m not listening to anything else he says. I’ll have those papers for you tomorrow afternoon, Mr. Denton. I’ll see the lawyer first thing after I dismiss my class.”

  “Wait and let my attorneys draw up the papers,” J.L. replied. “They’ll be here by noon tomorrow. I’ll have Parker drop the papers off at your place when you get home.”

  She bit her lower lip. “Parker isn’t speaking to me at the moment.”

  J.L. cocked his head, his eyebrows arching in a question.

  “He’s mad at me about the horse. He thinks I sold out my daughter. It looks that way.” She searched Teddie’s eyes. “When I flub up, I do a super job of it, don’t I, baby?” she asked.

  Teddie got up from the table. “Me, too,” she confessed.

  “So we’ll go home and get our ducks in a row,” Katy continued. She grimaced. “But it might be kinder to ask somebody besides Parker to hand over the paperwork. Kinder to him, anyway.”

  He shrugged.

  “You’ll take good care of Bart, won’t you, Mr. Denton?” Teddie asked worriedly. “You won’t let that awful man come and take him?”

  J.L. smiled at the child. “He’d need a tank at the least to get through my security, and he’s much too lazy to learn to drive one.”

  Teddie laughed. “Okay. Thanks. And for letting me stay.”

  “You’re always welcome,” Cassie told the little girl, and hugged her.

  “Thanks, from both of us,” Katy said.

  Cassie hugged her, too. “Don’t take life so seriousl
y,” she said gently. “Things work out, if you just give them time.”

  “Good advice,” Katy said warmly. “We’ll take it. Ready to go, Teddie?”

  “I’m ready.”

  They said their good-byes, stopping at the stable so that Teddie could say good-bye to Bartholomew, who had a huge stall and plenty of food and fresh water.

  One of the cowboys grinned at them. “That your horse?” he asked Teddie. “He’s super nice.”

  Teddie beamed. “Thanks!”

  “I’ll look after him, no worries,” he assured her.

  “Okay.”

  “Thank you,” Katy added. She herded Teddie out of the stable and back to the SUV, putting her in before she got behind the wheel.

  “You meant it?” Teddie asked at once. “About that lawyer?”

  Katy nodded. “I meant it.” She drew in a breath. “I’m sorry. You were right. Daddy would have been ashamed of me.”

  “I’m sorry I said that,” Teddie told her. “I’m sorry about it all. It’s just, I love Bart and I thought you were going to let that man talk you into having him put down. I was scared.”

  “Nobody’s putting Bart down,” Katy said firmly as she started the car. “And Ron is going back home tomorrow, whether he wants to or not.”

  Teddie didn’t say anything as she put on her seat belt. But she smiled.

  Chapter Eight

  It was after lunch before Ron drove up to the front porch. Katy let him in, but not with any sort of welcome. He glanced beyond her at Teddie sitting on the sofa, glaring, and he made a face.

  “I thought you and I might go for a ride,” he said. “To talk about the horse.”

  “How much did Mr. Dealy offer you, Ron?” she asked abruptly.

  His lower jaw dropped. He stared at her while he searched for a reply that wouldn’t get him kicked out the front door. The man was extremely wealthy and he’d offered the lawyer a whopping fee if he could convince the woman to have the horse put down. If there was no evidence, he could get out of the abuse charge, just as he’d gotten out of similar charges in the past—with money.