Secret-Santa Cowboy: The Buckskin Brotherhood Read online

  Secret-Santa Cowboy

  The Buckskin Brotherhood

  Vicki Lewis Thompson

  SECRET-SANTA COWBOY

  Copyright © 2020 by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  ISBN: 978-1-946759-94-8

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Ocean Dance Press, PO Box 69901, Oro Valley AZ 85737

  Cover art by Lee Hyat Designs

  Visit the author’s website: VickiLewisThompson.com

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  But Wait, There’s More!

  Also by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Closing at 8 PM for Private Event. The sign hung next to the Choosy Moose entrance. Leo Marston stomped the snow off his boots and breathed in the scent of pine from the wreath on the heavy wooden door.

  As Mannheim Steamroller’s Deck the Halls filtered out to the sidewalk, he glanced at the cowboy standing beside him, his collar turned up against a cold wind. “I look forward to this night all year. You’ll love it, Garrett.”

  “I surely hope so, since nobody’s seen fit to tell me what I’m in for.”

  “Trust me, this is a good surprise.” Garrett had hired on at the Buckskin Ranch in April and was still learning the Brotherhood traditions. Leo had the honor of introducing him to this one.

  “Whatcha waiting for, Leo?” Jake called out.

  He looked over his shoulder at the five guys standing behind them. “Just building the suspense for our first-timer, bro.”

  “I don’t know about Garrett, but I’m on pins and needles. Oh, wait. That’s frostbite.”

  “Okay, okay.” Reaching for the brass handle, Leo opened the door with a flourish, waved Garrett inside and stepped in after him.

  Garrett stopped dead in his tracks. “Holy moly! Where did all this come from?”

  “The good people of Apple Grove.” Gratitude warmed Leo’s chest as he surveyed the bounty. Stepping away from the entry, he made room for the others. “We have our work cut out for us, guys.”

  “Whoa.” Matt thumbed back his hat. “Looks like twice as much as last year.”

  The white-haired owner of the Choosy Moose, Ben Malone, leaned against the bar. “Folks have been generous.”

  “They sure have.” The sight got to him every time, but tonight’s display triggered more throat-clearing than usual. Every table in the place was stacked high with shiny new toys—dolls, trucks, games, trains, stuffed animals, footballs, basketballs, action figures, paints, crayons and blocks. “I hope you picked up extra paper and tape.”

  “I did. It’s on the bandstand.”

  Garrett’s eyes widened. “We’re wrapping all these?”

  “Yessir.” Ben straightened and hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. “The townspeople bring in the toys. I donate the hard cider, wrapping supplies and a late-night supper. You boys contribute the labor. Operation Santa is in its tenth year.”

  “I was here for the first one.” Leo shoved his gloves in his coat pocket. “Gets bigger each time, but this…it’s way more.”

  “So many toys.” Garrett looked dazed. “I’ve never seen…”

  Leo grinned. Garrett’s reaction tickled him. “I can’t wait to get started. I’ll take your coat and put it on the bar. We generally wear our hats.”

  “Why?”

  “You’ll see.” He laid both coats in a pile with the others.

  “Don’t forget to lube up, boys.” Ben grabbed a couple of plastic bottles with pump nozzles that had been sitting on the bar. He tossed one toward Leo and the other at CJ.

  Leo filled his palm with lotion before passing the bottle to Garrett. “Thanks for remembering, Ben. Whoever found that tip online—”

  “That would be me.” Jake took the bottle from CJ, squirted out a liberal amount and gave the bottle to Rafe. “Always looking out for you guys.”

  Garrett sniffed the nozzle and handed the bottle to Matt. “I’ll pass.”

  Matt handed it back. “Better take some, buddy.”

  “Why? It smells flowery. I don’t want to—”

  “Paper cuts. The lotion protects your hands.”

  Garrett snorted. “Paper cuts? I’m not worried about—”

  “You will be if you don’t put this on, big guy.” CJ worked the lotion into his hands. “Before Jake found this hack, I’d have bloody guitar strings for at least a week afterward.”

  Garrett shrugged and took the bottle from Matt. “Then I guess I’ll smell like a rose garden.”

  “They had the unscented kind,” Ben said. “But this was cheaper and contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t subtract from your manliness. In fact, Henri likes the smell when I put it on my hands. Or on—”

  “Hold up, there, Ben.” Jake gave him a warning glance. “I’m cool with you dating our boss lady, but I don’t want details.”

  “I put lotion on my face, son. I’m not about to tell you what else I do with it.”

  “Good. Let’s change the subject. I saw a video online with a new technique for wrapping odd-shaped objects. I’ll be happy to share.”

  “About time.” Leo crossed to a table and picked up a football. “My wrapped balls still look like a five-year-old did it.” He sent the football spiraling toward Nick.

  Nick caught it one-handed and threw it to Jake. “Balls are tough to wrap.”

  Jake laughed and tossed the ball to Matt. “I could say something.”

  “Don’t,” Matt said. “Let’s keep it clean a little longer. We have a newbie.” He let go with a rainbow pass to Rafe, who’d wandered over to the bandstand to inspect the rolls of Christmas wrap.

  “I’m for that.” Rafe caught it effortlessly before firing it toward CJ, who completed the round by tossing it to Garrett.

  “Are we graded on our wrapping job?” Garrett spun the ball in his hands. “Because I can’t wrap worth a damn. I require about fifty feet of tape for each package.”

  “We’re persnickety at the beginning,” Jake said, “but after a few rounds of cider, we loosen up.”

  Ben rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you do.” He looked over at Garrett. “Last year they decided to wrap Merlin.” He gestured to the life-sized plush moose head mounted over the bar. “It didn’t go well.”

  “It would have been easier if we could have taken him down,” Rafe said. “It’s tough to wrap something when you’re standing on the bar.”

  “Merlin stays put.” Ben swept a glance aro
und the room. “And he does not get wrapped.”

  Rafe nodded. “Understood. Can we stick bows on him, though?”

  “If you must.”

  “We must,” Rafe said. “Garrett, since you ended up with the football, you get to choose a toy category.”

  Garrett glanced around the room. “Board games.”

  Matt groaned. “I knew it. Easiest—”

  “Action figures!” CJ and Nick called out together, followed quickly by Jake shouting blocks at the same time Rafe did.

  The haggling over categories continued as two tables were cleared and pushed together to create a workspace. Ben served everybody hard cider dressed in knit holiday bottle huggers to control bottle sweat.

  Leo went behind the bar and turned up the music. When he’d signed on at the Buckskin he’d told anybody who’d listen that he’d lost the Christmas spirit. Operation Santa had given it back to him.

  * * *

  Two hours later, Merlin was covered with stick-on bows and every cowboy had at least one bow on his hat. The tables were bare and brightly wrapped packages filled the entire bandstand. Each bore a coded tag with a child’s first and last name.

  Rafe manned a broom, sweeping up the last bits of wrapping paper and any hopelessly crushed bows. The rich aroma of barbequed pork drifted from the kitchen where Jake and Ben were making hot sandwiches and country fries.

  Leo added his last package to the pile and returned to his chair. “We did it.”

  “Yeah, we did.” Nick pulled his bottle hugger off his empty one, went behind the bar and tugged it on a fresh brew. He glanced up at the moose head. “Merlin looks good, but I still think Ben should have let us wrap his antlers. We were responsible this time. We put down rags before we stood on the bar.”

  “Maybe next year.” Matt sipped his coffee. He and Leo were the designated drivers, so they’d switched from cider to coffee midway through.

  “Wrapping makes you hungry.” Garrett had stuck a bow to the front of his shirt in addition to the one on his hat. He didn’t tend to get toasted at Brotherhood events, but he sounded like he had a buzz going tonight. “I never knew that.”

  “Food’s up!” Jake called from the kitchen. “Come dish yourselves.”

  Leo followed Garrett in. “Have fun?”

  “Big fun.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Overdid the cider, though. Glad you’re driving back.”

  “Happy to. It’s your first toy-wrapping. I wanted you to relax and get into it.”

  “I surely did. It’s great to know those kids will have something to open on Christmas morning. Wish I could see their faces.”

  “You will. We get pictures.”

  “We do?”

  “The parents always send them to Ben, who forwards them to Ed. She makes a quick video with a Christmas music soundtrack and emails the link to Henri. We usually watch that before Christmas dinner.”

  “Very cool.”

  Garrett didn’t know the half of it. Leo had spent ten memorable Christmas seasons at the Buckskin.

  The ranch was closed to guests for two weeks, giving Henri and the staff much-needed down time. Except for caring for the horses, which Leo enjoyed, the Brotherhood had no official duties. The holiday had gone from his least favorite to his most cherished one of all.

  After loading their plates with barbeque sandwiches and chunky country fries, the men grabbed their spot around the former wrapping station and tucked into the dinner. Conversation halted for a while.

  Garrett was the first one finished with his meal. He tucked his napkin under his plate and leaned back in his chair. “How do you distribute the toys?”

  “That’s Ben’s job,” Matt said. “He puts on the Santa suit tomorrow night, hops in his red truck and delivers a sack to each family.” He glanced around the table. “We still have to put the toys in the sacks, by the way.”

  “It won’t take long,” Ben said. “Now that we’ve coded the tags, it’s easy.”

  Garrett looked confused. “But tomorrow is only the twenty-first. Why not Christmas Eve?”

  “I thought about doing that. But lots of folks attend Christmas Eve services, including families where I’d be making deliveries. Half the fun is letting the kids see Santa. I picked the twenty-first because it’s Yule, the winter solstice.”

  “Don’t they wonder why Santa’s a few days ahead of schedule?”

  “I tell them the special kids receive their gifts on Yule. It’s nice, in a way, because many of them worry they won’t get anything come the twenty-fifth. This way they know they’ll have something to open on the big day.”

  “Do they wait for it?”

  “Sure do, because Santa tells them that’s how it’s done.”

  Garrett smiled. “Nice. Big job, though.”

  “I always take a helper. They wear an elf suit. Used to be my wife Suzanne until she passed, but after that I started choosing someone who was new in town.” Ben glanced at Garrett. “But before you ask, it’s not you. Maybe next year, if you’re up to wearing an elf costume.”

  “If I can rub rose-scented lotion on my hands, guess I could wear an elf costume.”

  “Is it Henri?” Rafe pushed aside his empty plate. “Some of us thought you might ask her to go, since—”

  “We talked about it, but she likes the current tradition. It’s a great way for a new person to find out what Apple Grove is all about.”

  Rafe nodded. “Kate loved doing it her first year in town.”

  “I’ll bet Isabel would have, too,” CJ said, “but I can see why you wouldn’t ask a woman who could go into labor at any minute.”

  Ben laughed. “Yep. A little too Biblical for me.”

  “So who is it?” By process of elimination, Leo had a pretty good idea.

  “I decided to go with someone who’s been here a few months longer than Garrett—Fiona Hildebrand.”

  Yep. “She’ll love it.” His quick response was a defense against the stab of regret every time Fiona was mentioned. He was happy for her, though. She’d have a ball.

  But his rapid-fire comment had drawn attention and his brothers were sneaking glances his way. Ben likely wasn’t aware that Fiona was a sore point with him.

  At the bachelor auction in August, she’d outbid everyone to win the dinner date he’d offered. Then she’d barely talked to him all evening. Confused, he’d asked her out again and she’d put him on hold. Permanently, it seemed.

  He didn’t get it. And he still had no answers even though she was one of Eva Kilpatrick’s best friends and Nick was now living with Eva. Nick had to know more than he was telling.

  Jake, always good about diffusing awkward situations, brought up the weather forecast for the following night. Snow was predicted. Because that was often the case, the reusable toy bags were weatherproof.

  When the meal was over, the guys bagged the toys and the party broke up. CJ, Rafe and Jake climbed into Matt’s truck. Leo took Garrett and Nick. Nick sat in the back seat because he’d be dropped off first at Eva’s house a few blocks away.

  Leo glanced over his shoulder as he pulled away from the Moose. “Look, bro, I have to believe Eva knows why Fiona won’t date me. Which means logically that you know, too. I’d consider it a kindness if you’d level with me.”

  Nick sighed. “Even if it’s something you can’t fix?”

  “Yes, damn it!” He met Nick’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “I just need to know.”

  “You’re too handsome.”

  “What the hell?”

  “It sounds ridiculous, especially to those of us who know you, but Fiona’s kind of a geeky girl and…”

  “I like that about her! She started talking about Pluto and why it should be labeled a planet. Then she abruptly ended the discussion.”

  “She figured you wouldn’t want to talk about Pluto.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you don’t look like a geek.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake.”

  “Hey, you ask
ed and I’m only reporting what I’ve heard from Eva. Bidding on you was a big step out of Fiona’s comfort zone. She was so dazzled by your star power that she couldn’t relax.”

  “She didn’t seem that tense when I drove her home the night of the auction.”

  “I asked Eva about that. Fiona was tired after a long day and she’d had two or three glasses of champagne at Ed’s party. That mellowed her out. Since your date was Sunday night, she had all day to obsess. And she was afraid to order alcohol for fear she’d make a fool of herself.”

  “I wondered why she passed on having a drink since she’d seemed to enjoy the champagne.”

  “Face it, bro. That mug of yours is as perfect as any of those guys making millions in blockbuster movies. She can’t handle it.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Which is why I haven’t brought it up. It’s not like you can do anything about how you look.”

  “Except wear a bag over your head.” Garrett laughed. “Wait, that wouldn’t work. She’d recognize your manly body. You’d have to wear something to disguise all of you.”

  The solution hit him fully formed, ready to be deployed. “Like a Santa suit?”

  Chapter Two

  “You won’t be Santa this year?” Fiona didn’t care for this shift in plans, but she couldn’t back out at the last minute. The toy delivery was due to start in two hours. At least Ben had come over to her shop to give her the news in person. “What about the kids you visited last year? Won’t they notice it’s not the same Santa?”

  “I doubt it. Clark’s about my size, and he has a deep voice. He’s a pretty good mimic so he can probably sound exactly like me if he puts his mind to it.”