Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy Read online

  She flushed. “Oh, I didn’t mean—”

  “He doesn’t mind if I help out neighbors,” he interrupted. “He’s a kind man. So is his wife.”

  “You said she wrote for Warriors and Warlocks,” she added, glancing at Teddie amusedly. “Teddie loves it. I have to keep her locked in her room when it’s on, though. It’s very grown-up.”

  He was grinning from ear to ear. “It is. If you saw the boss’s wife, you wouldn’t believe she was somebody so famous.”

  “I still can’t believe we have somebody that famous here in Benton.” She laughed.

  “Yeah. Gave us all a start when we found out. Cassie Reed, now Cassie Denton, was working as a waitress in town. Her dad, Lanier Roger Reed, was working at the farm equipment place. None of us knew they were running from a big scandal in New York. Her father was falsely accused of ”—he stopped and glanced at Teddie—“a grown-up thing. Anyway, the woman who accused him is now occupying a comfortable cell in state prison. J.L. married the writer and she came back out here to live. Her dad produces a hit show about a musical group from the seventies.”

  “Oh, my goodness, those are about the only two shows I watch on TV.” Katy laughed. “What a coincidence!”

  “She’s a good writer. And she’s a sweet person, too. She’s very pregnant, so we all sort of watch out for her. It’s their first child. Due pretty soon, too. J.L. says the baby’s going to be a Christmas present.”

  “Is it a boy or a girl?”

  “Bound to be.”

  She glared at him.

  He grinned. “They don’t know. They wanted it to be a surprise. So all the shower gifts they got were yellow.”

  “I didn’t want to know, either,” Katy said, smiling at Teddie. “But my husband did. So they told him and he didn’t tell me.”

  “A man who could keep a secret. That’s rare.”

  “He was a rare man,” she said quietly. The loss was still fresh enough that she had to fight tears. “Okay, about the porch, I’ll need to get lumber. Can you tell me what to get and where to get it?”

  “I’ll come back Saturday morning and do some measuring,” he said.

  “Thanks.”

  “And we could teach young Annie Oakley here how to saddle a horse,” he teased, smiling at Teddie.

  “That would be great!” Teddie enthused.

  “So I’ll see you both then.”

  “Thanks. I’d like to pay you, for fixing the fence. . . .” She stopped at the look on his face. She flushed. “Well, I’m not exactly a charity case and you work for J.L. Denton for wages, right?”

  He pursed his lips and stared at her with twinkling eyes. “Sort of.”

  “Sort of?” she asked.

  He smiled. “I work for him except in the summer. I go away to work for other people.” He didn’t elaborate. “I make a good bit then.”

  “Oh.”

  “So I can do a favor for a new friend”—he smiled at Teddie—“and her mom without having to worry about getting paid for it. Okay?”

  She smiled. “Okay. Thanks, Parker.”

  “No sweat.” He mounted the horse, turned it gently, and rode away, as much a part of the animal as its tail, using just his legs and the light bridle to control it.

  “That’s such a beautiful horse,” Teddie said with a sigh as she watched the man ride away.

  “It is. Wings suits her for a name,” Katy agreed. She gave her daughter an irritated look. “But just for the record, if you ever do anything like that again . . .”

  “I won’t,” Teddie promised. She grinned irrepressibly. “But I got us a new friend who knows all about horses,” she added. “Right?”

  It was impossible for her to stay mad at her daughter. “Right. Anyway, let me go and try to get the vet again. Your new friend Parker was right. The horse needs a lot of work done on him before you can ride him.”

  “It will cost money,” Teddie said. “I’m really sorry. . . .”

  “A vet bill won’t break the bank,” her mother said gently. “We have the money that comes from the service, after Dad . . . well, anyway, we have that and we have my salary. We’ll get by.”

  “It will be nice to have him healed,” Teddie said. “I didn’t realize he’d need so many things done. I’m really sorry.”

  “He’s a beautiful animal and he’s been badly treated,” came the curt reply. “I really hope his owner goes to jail. Nobody should treat a horse like that!”

  “That’s true,” Teddie agreed.

  “Come on inside. It’s very cool out here.”

  * * *

  The vet came out and looked at the poor horse, treated his cuts, recommended a farrier for the hooves, and gave Bartholomew an antibiotic injection. He promised to come back the following week and check on him, just to make sure he was healing.

  “Going to be a scandal, when that man comes to trial,” the vet, Henry Carr, told Katy. “In all my years as a vet, never saw a horse in such shape. He had two others, but the county animal control people took those away from him. Well, those horses, and about twenty dogs he had in cages for breeding purposes. They took those, too.”

  “Why isn’t he in jail?” she asked angrily.

  “Because his people are rich and they protect him,” he said flatly, and with some anger. “If I get called to testify, they’re going to get an earful from me!”

  “Good for you,” she said.

  “You need to get the farrier out here before those hooves get any worse,” he said.

  “I’ll call him today.”

  He smiled. “I’m glad you and Teddie decided to come and live here. Benton’s a nice place to raise a child. I raised three, with my late wife. I miss her every day.”

  Katy took a breath. “I miss my husband. He was a good man.”

  “Life goes on,” he said. “It has to. Have a good day.”

  “You, too. And thanks for coming out.”

  “No problem.”

  She watched him drive off and called the farrier. He agreed to come right out and check the poor horse’s hooves after Katy had described the state they were in.

  He cleaned them and replaced the shoes with new nails. “Hell of a condition for a horse to get in,” he said.

  “Yes, it is. They’re prosecuting the former owner.”

  “I know him. Bad man. Really bad. I hope they’ll get farther than they did with the last case they tried against him.”

  “Me, too.” She watched him put in the last nail. “Do you know a man named Parker who works for J.L. Denton?”

  “Parker.” He rolled his eyes. “He’s fine as long as he’s not within earshot,” he added on a chuckle. “J.L. has to keep women away from him.”

  “Why?” she asked, with some shock.

  “His mouth,” he replied. “Nobody cusses like Parker.”

  “But he caught Bartholomew–that’s the name of the horse you’re working on–and promised to help my daughter learn how to take care of him.”

  “Nobody knows more about horses than Parker,” he agreed. “He likes kids. But he’s hell on women. Tried to date a couple of local girls and when they got a whiff of his language, they ran for the hills.”

  “But he never used a bad word,” Katy continued, trying to explain.

  The farrier looked at her with total shock. “We talking about the same Parker? Big guy, long black hair, breaks horses for Denton?”

  “Well, yes.”

  He caught his breath. “That’s one for the books, then.”

  Teddie laughed softly. “Well, apparently my daughter has a good effect on him.”

  “I would say so.” He finished his work, accepted a check for it, and said his good-byes after giving Katy instructions about keeping the horse in the stable for a few days until the worst of the damage healed. She didn’t mention that the vet had told her the same thing.

  “How is he?” Teddie asked when her mother came into the house.

  “He’ll be fine,” she assured the girl. �
�He just needs to rest for a few days while he’s healing. By Saturday,” she added with a smile, “he should be ready for Horses 101.”

  Teddie laughed. “That’s a good one, Mom. Horses 101.”

  “Well, let’s get supper going. Then we need an early night. School tomorrow, for both of us.”

  “I know. It’s not so bad here, I guess. I made a friend yesterday: Edie. She loves horses, too. She’s got a palomino.”

  “I’m glad. You’re like me, sweetheart. You don’t warm up to people easily. Your father was the very opposite,” she added with a wistful smile. “He never met a stranger.”

  “I miss Daddy.”

  She looked at her daughter with sad eyes. “I miss him, too. It takes time, to get over a loss like that. But we’ll make it.”

  “Sure we will.” She looked up at her mother hopefully. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” Katy said, but she turned away quickly. “Now, let’s get something to eat. Do you have homework?”

  Teddie was resigned to never getting a hug from her remaining parent. She and her dad had been close. He hugged her all the time when he was home. But her mother almost never touched her. It was the only thing that made living with her hard. Teddie couldn’t change it, so she just accepted it. “Yes. Math.” She groaned. “And history.”

  “I used to love history.”

  “I would, if we didn’t have to memorize so many dates. I mean, what does it matter if we don’t know the difference?”

  “It would if you ever started writing books and you had George Washington helping the men fight in Vietnam,” Katy replied, tongue-in-cheek.

  Teddie glowered at her and went to wash up for supper.

  * * *

  Saturday morning, Parker was at the door just after breakfast, while Katy was mending a tear in Teddie’s jeans.

  She went to the door and laughed. “You’re early. I’m sorry, I meant to . . . Teddie’s watching cartoons. Should I get her?”

  “Not yet. I just need to do some measuring,” he added with a smile. “For the steps.”

  “Oh, yes. Of course.”

  She went out onto the porch with him while he marked wood with a pencil and wrote figures on a piece of paper. He handed it to her. “That’s what I’ll need, to do the repairs.”

  It wasn’t even a lot of money, she thought with some relief. The vet and the farrier had made inroads into her budget. “I’ll phone the hardware store and tell them to let you get what you need. Are you going right now?”

  “I am,” he said. “Shouldn’t take too long. Then I can show Teddie how to saddle Bartholomew.”

  “The vet said he should be all right to let out by today,” she began.

  “And you’re worried,” he guessed. He smiled. “Don’t be. We’ll keep him in the stall or the corral while we work with him. What did the vet say?”

  “Not a lot. He gave him an antibiotic injection and stitched up his cuts. He gave me the name of a farrier, too, and I had him come out and clean Bart’s hooves and replace his horseshoes.”

  “You’re having to go to a lot of expense,” he said.

  “It’s not so much,” she replied. “And it’s nice to see Teddie interested in something besides TV. She’s been sad for so long. She and her dad were really close. It was hard for her, just having him in the service overseas. And after what happened . . . well, she wasn’t looking forward to moving here. She’s been very depressed.”

  “Not surprising,” he said. “I still miss my mother, and she’s been gone for years. I lost her when I was twelve. Another family on the rez took me in and adopted me. We have good people there.”

  She cocked her head and looked at him. “Which one of your parents was white?”

  “My father.” He closed up. “I’ll run to the hardware and pick this stuff up, then I’ll come back and fix the steps. Don’t bother Teddie right now,” he added, and forced a smile. “Won’t be long.”

  He went to the truck and drove away, leaving Katy guilt-ridden. His father must have been bad to him, she decided, because that look on his face had been disturbing. She was sorry she’d brought up something that had hurt him. It had been a casual remark, the sort you’d make to just an acquaintance. But it had really dug into Parker. Considering how little emotion escaped that face, it was telling that he reacted so quickly to the remark. She’d have to be careful not to bring up the past.

  She recalled what the farrier had said about his language and she just shook her head. He hadn’t said a single bad word around her or Teddie. Maybe he only cursed around people he didn’t like. He was very good-looking, and very athletic. She smiled to herself. It was much too early to be thinking about men in her life. She’d tried to explain that to the attorney back home, but he hadn’t listened. He’d invited himself out to see them next month, but he was in for a surprise if he thought he was staying in the house with Katy and her daughter. She didn’t know him well enough, or like him well enough, for that sort of familiarity.

  It was disturbing to think of herself with another man right now. Maybe, in time . . . but it still wouldn’t be that smarmy lawyer, no matter how desperate she got. And that was a fact.

  * * *

  Parker was back in an hour with a load of lumber. He lifted it out of the truck with incredible ease. Katy marveled at how strong he was. Involuntarily, she mentioned it.

  He chuckled. “I live at the gym when I’m not working. Muscles turn to pure flab if you don’t keep up the exercise. I got used to it in the military and never really lost the habit. I have to keep in shape to do the work I do.”

  “You have an amazing way with horses,” she commented.

  He smiled. “I get that from my mother’s father. He could outrun any horse on the place, but even the wildest ones responded to him. He never used a whip or abused his horses in any way. But he could do anything with them.”

  “I think that must be a very special skill,” she remarked. “There’s this guy on YouTube who works with horses like you do. It’s a treat to watch him work an unbroken one.”

  “I know the one you mean. His father was vicious to him. He didn’t understand that some people have talents that aren’t mainstream.”

  “Like yours,” she said softly. “Did you take a lot of heat for it, at home?”

  He shook his head. “I was very small when my mother and I came back here to the rez.” He smiled. “My people don’t have the same attitude toward special abilities as some people off the rez do,” he added. “We think of the supernatural as, well, natural. We have people who can dowse for water, people who can talk out fire. We have people who know more about herbs than laboratories do. We’re a spiritual people in an age when it’s frowned upon to believe in a higher power.” He shook his head. “Nobody who’d been in combat would doubt there’s a higher power, by the way. No atheists in foxholes, and that’s a fact.”

  “You were in the army?” she asked.

  He nodded. “It was a bad time. I saw things I wish I could forget. My old sergeant works near here. He’s just taken in a three-legged wolf that was stalking calves over at the Denton place. Poor old creature was almost blind and couldn’t hunt. They gave him to Sarge. He’s a rehabilitator,” he explained. “Except that you can’t rehabilitate a half-blind, old, three-legged wolf. So the wolf lives with him now. Even watches TV, we hear,” he added with a chuckle.

  “My goodness! We had packs of wolves up in Montana who were predators. We lost cattle to them all the time.”

  He nodded. “It’s hard to co-exist with wild animals. But the earth belongs to everything, not just to humans. Starving creatures will eat whatever they can catch. That’s nature.”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Now, let’s get those steps fixed before one of you breaks a leg on them,” he said, and started ferrying lumber to the house.

  Teddie spotted him and came flying out the door. “Parker!” she exclaimed. “Are we doing Horses 101 today?”

  He chuc
kled. “Nice. Yes, we are. But first I have to fix your steps.”

  He put down the load of lumber and went back for another one. “Still got that fancy toolbox?” he added.

  “I’ll go get it,” Teddie volunteered.

  “Good girl,” he said.

  She brought the toolbox while Katy went in search of the coffee can where the nails were kept. Then Parker got to work with a skill saw and a pencil over one ear.

  * * *

  He was methodical, but quick. In less than an hour, he had the steps replaced.

  “We can’t stain them yet,” he said. “That’s treated lumber. It will last a long time, but you have to let it season before you can stain or paint it.”

  “That’s fine,” Katy said.

  A truck came down the road and pulled up beside Parker’s. A tall, well-built man in jeans and a denim jacket and a battered old hat came up to them.

  “This is Jerry Miller,” Katy said, smiling at the newcomer, who smiled back and offered a hand.

  “Hello, Parker,” he greeted.

  Parker shook hands with him and smiled, too. “Nice to see you. I’m doing a few repairs.”

  “Looks good. I’d have offered, but I can’t even measure, much less do woodwork,” the other man said ruefully. “All I’m good for is nursemaiding cattle.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short,” Katy instructed. “You made us a nice nest egg with that crop of yearlings you took to auction for us. Which pays your salary, by the way.” She laughed.

  He grinned, tipping his hat back over sandy hair. “And my wife’s hairdresser bills,” he added.

  “Your wife looks pretty all the time,” Katy said. “And she’s sweet, which is much more important than pretty.”

  “Yes, she does,” Jerry had to agree. Then he asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?” He chuckled. “Well, except for offering to cut wood, which I can’t do.”

  “Not a thing. All done,” Parker said. “But we have some leftover lumber. If you’ll help me get it in the shed, it may come in handy for another job later on.”

  “Good idea.”

  The men moved the lumber into the building. Katy and Teddie put up the toolbox and the nails.

  “So,” Parker told Teddie, “Horses 101. Let’s go.”