The Lawman's Christmas Proposal

“Then that’s where I’m headed.”

“I’ll go with you. Unless you need some help, Paz? And if you do, I volunteer Andi.” Jane laughed.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Paz said, attempting to sound stern. “Pete loves my spicy vegetable soup, and this is your chance to learn how to make it.”

At the look on her cousin’s face, Andi laughed.

Smiling, she left the two women and went down the hall leading from the kitchen to the hotel’s lobby. She could hear voices coming from the sitting room.

Her son gave a high-pitched screech of uncontained laughter. At the sound, tears welled in her eyes. Back home again after their last visit to Cowboy Creek, Trey had reverted to being quiet and withdrawn. The change in him had started not long after Grant’s death, and it broke her heart to think that maybe he, like Jane, had sensed changes in her she had hoped no one could see. She hadn’t been able to hide her stress, and all her worries kept her distracted. That had to stop, especially if it was already affecting her children.

Coming back to the ranch for the holidays and to oversee the wedding had been the right decision. Being with Tina’s son, Robbie, and Pete’s kids was good for Trey.

But being around Mitch wasn’t good for her.

Thank goodness he had turned down Jed’s invitation to join them for dinner. Before that, she had noticed how quickly he deflected the question about him staying. She was certain he knew as well as she did Grandpa had meant his visit to Cowboy Creek.

In any case, his answer might not have mattered. He had a long drive between his parents’ house in town and Garland Ranch. Judging by the trouble he’d had climbing into his truck, today’s trip to the hotel could very well be his last while he was here.

In the sitting room, she found Jed in his favorite chair, holding Missy on his lap. “You’ll be spoiling her, Grandpa,” she scolded gently.

“Then she’ll be spoiled,” he said with a grin. “I’m taking every chance I can get to hold her. She’s been away too long. You all have.”

As she took a seat on one of the chairs near them, she forced a smile. Jed hadn’t made any secret of the fact that he wanted her and the kids to move to the ranch permanently.

She wanted only to prove she could take care of her family on her own.

Trey crossed the room to them, thumping his chest with one hand. “Look, Mommy. Look what I got.”

Rachel, Pete’s five-year-old, followed in his footsteps. “It’s Robbie’s badge. Robbie let me play with it and I shared it with Trey.”

“That’s very nice of you, Rachel. And that’s a very nice badge, sweetheart.” She tapped the plastic star-shaped pin and touched her son’s cheek.

“I’m the chef.”

“You mean sheriff,” Rachel corrected. She turned to Andi. “He means sheriff. Grandpa Jed said Mitch has a badge, too. Didn’t you, Grandpa Jed?”

“I sure did.”

Yes, Mitch had a badge. And a gun and an injury and a dangerous job. Grant’s position had the potential for danger, too. They’d both known it. But Mitch’s could expose him to risk every day of his life.

“Mitch is going to show me his badge,” Rachel announced.

“Well,” Andi said, “I think he must have forgotten. He’s gone home already.”

“But he’s coming back tomorrow.”

She froze. The clock on the wall chimed, saving her from having to reply for a moment. When it stopped, she looked from Rachel to Jed. “Mitch is coming here tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Robbie put in. “Grandpa says so.”

Nodding, Jed patted the phone on the end table beside his chair. “Just spoke to Nancy, and she confirmed he’s got nothing on his schedule. I told her I want him to come by and talk with me for a bit. And I want to make sure he catches up with Pete.”

She fisted her hands in her lap. She didn’t want to see Mitch again.

Watching him in the dining room surrounded by her family had been bad enough. It allowed her too much time to resurrect the many sweet memories she had buried long ago.

But to her dismay, standing outside with him had been so much worse. Being with him had forced her to see what she didn’t want to admit.

Time and distance and even marriage to a man she loved with all her heart hadn’t destroyed her feelings for Mitch.

Chapter Three (#ulink_7e35beef-174b-5117-a849-1181ce4df72e)

“Did living in LA turn you off your mom’s good cooking?”

At his dad’s question, Mitch started. He looked up to find everyone at the table sitting with their eyes trained on him. The combined stares of his parents, two brothers and two sisters added up to way more attention than he needed.

“Are you kidding?” He forked up a chunk of onion, chewed and swallowed it. “I’m just trying to draw out the pleasure. You always did tell me I ate too fast.”

“You both do that,” Nancy said.

“Hazard of the profession,” his dad agreed.

Mitch nodded and tried to ignore the elephant in the room. Since he’d been home, he’d had plenty of hugs and kisses from the girls and lots of slaps on the back from the boys. He couldn’t deny his family’s happiness at having him here again. He just hated to see them all suffering on his behalf.

Everybody wanted to comfort him for his loss, he knew, but no one wanted to be the first to bring it up. His dad insisted on acting as though nothing much had happened. Even his mom hadn’t cornered him yet, as he’d expected.

And he didn’t want to think about recent events at all.

He glanced down at his plate. The roast Nancy had made for supper, always his favorite, tasted dry as dust. It wasn’t Mom’s good cooking that had him distracted, though. It was the vision of a slim woman with long blond hair and sad eyes.

“Your mom said you were out to Jed’s place this afternoon.” His dad passed him the meat platter. “How’s everything at Garland Ranch?”

“And how’s Daffodil?” his younger sister Laurie asked. Daffodil was an old mare living out her days at the ranch.

“I didn’t go near the corral,” he had to confess.

Like the typical teen she was, Laurie rolled her eyes. She loved anything that walked on four legs, but especially horses.

“You need to drop by the office,” his dad said, “and say hello to the boys.”

He nodded. He knew most of the men in Cowboy Creek’s sheriff’s department. Heck, he’d grown up with them. Considering what had happened, seeing them didn’t rank high on his list. Then again, stopping by the office gave him something to do.

It might help keep his mind off Andi and his decision not to visit the ranch again.

“Oh, Mitch,” Nancy said. “I forgot to tell you. You hadn’t made it home yet when Jed called. He wants you to go back out to the ranch tomorrow. He seems to have something important on his mind.”

Again, he had to appreciate the work that had trained him to keep his reactions hidden. He also suddenly found a lot more to like in his dad’s idea. “Thanks for passing the message along. I’ll probably be a while at the department tomorrow. But I’ll get out there again one of these days.” On another trip back home. When Andi wasn’t there.