Holiday in a Stetson: The Sheriff Who Found Christmas / A Rancho Diablo Christmas

“Is that it, sir?” Ellie was asking. “I mean Uncle Garrett,” she quickly corrected. “Is it that house up there?”

The house she indicated was his, located at the top of a winding road. Darkness had fallen, but instead of being dark as well, the house was mysteriously lit up.

He didn’t remember leaving the light on when he’d left. He’d set out early in the morning two days ago. Some people, if they knew they’d be coming back home late in the evening, would leave on one or two lights to help them see when they unlocked the front door. But he didn’t need that kind of help. He was perfectly capable of finding the lock in the dark.

Garrett was positive he hadn’t deliberately left on a light.

Moreover, if he had done so it would have been just that. One light, not every light in the house.

What the hell was going on? he wondered. Neither burglars nor squatters announced their presence by setting a house ablaze with lights.

Had some kind of weird electrical malfunction happened while he was away?

Pulling into the driveway, Garrett turned the engine off and, after a beat, got out and stared at his house—specifically, at the banner stretched out between two of the windows in front. The bright pink banner proclaimed Welcome Home, Ellie! in giant black letters.

He heard what sounded like a scurrying noise behind him. Garrett turned around just in time to be on the receiving end of a flying hug. Ellie was throwing her little arms around his waist, stretching them as far as she could and hugging him for all she was worth.

“Thank you, Uncle Garrett,” the little girl cried happily.

Looking down into the small face, he saw Ellie smile for the first time.

“Nothing to thank me for,” he mumbled as he awkwardly patted her back.

Really nothing, he thought, since he hadn’t done this. He was about to tell her that when he heard the front door opening. He looked up, to find his suspicions confirmed.

Lani came out to greet them, an amazingly wide smile on her lips. Because it was cold, she’d thrown her jacket on over her shoulders, but hadn’t bothered slipping her arms into the sleeves.

“Hi, Sheriff,” she called out as she hurried toward them. Not waiting for him to respond, she turned her attention to the person who was, at the moment, her main concern. The sheriff’s niece.

To equalize their heights, Lani dropped down on one knee. “And this little beauty must be Ellie. Hi, I’m your uncle’s deputy. But you can call me Lani,” she told her. Rather than shake the small hand that was being offered, she drew the child to her for a quick, heartfelt hug.

“Are you hungry?” Lani asked her. “I’ve got a nice warm beef stew waiting for you in the kitchen. C’mon,” she urged, with the ease of a seasoned resident rather than someone who had just in the last few hours learned her way around the old house. “I’ll take you inside.”

Ellie hesitated, looking over her shoulder. “My suitcase …” she began, referring to the only thing she had brought with her when she and her mother had begun the fateful journey to Booth.

“Your uncle can bring it,” Lani assured her with a dismissive smile, then looked in Garrett’s direction. “Can’t you, Sheriff?”

He didn’t take well to being ordered around, but it was, after all, just one small suitcase for one small girl. He’d let it ride this time, he thought. “Sure.”

Garrett turned on his worn boot heel and went to fetch his niece’s small, battered suitcase.

When he walked into the house with it moments later, he moved quickly, with the intent of cornering the woman. He had some questions for this burglar with a badge. “How did you get in?” he asked as soon as he caught up to Lani.

The look she gave him was laced with amusement. As annoying as he found her attitude, he also found it oddly sexy. “I picked up a few skills in my last job,” she told him. “And I’ve always been rather handy with a nail file.”

“Like for breaking and entering?” he asked sarcastically.

“Like for being able to gain access to a residence if the key was missing.” That was the way she preferred to phrase it.

And, taking Ellie’s small hand in hers, she led the girl into the kitchen, where the warm, welcoming aroma of beef stew greeted them.

Garrett felt his own stomach rumbling in response, but made no comment about being hungry. Chisholm had completely taken over, he realized. He had to call her on that before she really got carried away. The woman was invading his space, damn it.

But hunger got in the way of his indignance. For the time being, he chose to put the issue on hold.

“You make that?” he asked, nodding at the stew.

“I’d like to take credit,” she admitted amiably, “but my dad’s the cook in our family. Although I can do a fairly good job in a pinch. He sent this over because he knew you’d be hungry after your long trip,” she told Ellie, then looked up at Garrett. “You, too, Sheriff,” she added. “C’mon,” she said to the girl, “I’ll show you where you can wash up. Later, when you’re finished, I’ll show you your new room.”

“Her room?” Garrett repeated, confused. What room? He didn’t have an extra room. Was she putting the girl into his bedroom? He supposed he could live with that, he thought, turning the matter over in his head. But that was his decision to make, not hers.

Lani looked at him over her shoulder. “Yes, I thought you could put her up in your den until you get the time to make it over into a second bedroom. By the way, in case you need help, I’m also very handy with tools.”

“Of course you are,” he murmured under his breath. She seemed to be a jack of all trades—or whatever the female equivalent was called.

Lani looked at the little girl, still holding on to her hand. “You’ll like it once it’s all fixed up. Right now, it has the smell of old leather about it. But the sofa’s really comfortable,” she declared, as if she had firsthand knowledge of that.

“I don’t mind the smell of old leather,” Ellie told her solemnly.

Lani nodded. “Knew you were a trooper the second I saw you.” As the little girl smiled up at her, she continued, “I made the sofa up with sheets and a blanket, just like a real bed.”

For the moment, Garrett could only listen and stare, too shell-shocked to form a coherent question and shoot it out at her. But he now knew how the Romans had felt when the Barbarians appeared at the city gates—just before they ransacked them.

Chapter Five

“I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but would you mind staying a little longer?” Garrett asked later that evening, after they had eaten what had turned out to be an incredible meal.

Despite that, despite the almost mellow feeling a full stomach generated, it felt to him as if he had to drag every word out of his mouth. He hated asking for a favor, especially from someone he normally considered to be his personal cross to bear.

Ever since the town council had decided to hire the former San Diego homicide detective and make her his deputy, he’d felt put upon and crowded by her cheerfulness, by what seemed to him to be her overly eager approach to work. Hell, he’d felt put upon and crowded by her very presence.

But what he now faced was a different set of circumstances, and although Chisholm had, without his permission, invaded his home, shattering his very last bastion of privacy, he had to admit that the blonde steamroller ran interference between him and his niece rather effortlessly and exceedingly well. It was apparent that the little girl was completely taken with her, and right now, he could really use his deputy and her effervescence.

Lani gazed at him for a long moment, an enigmatic smile on her lips. Then, rather than answer Garrett’s request, she walked over to the window and looked out at the very inky terrain that lay beyond the front yard of the house.

Now what? he wondered. Subconsciously, he braced himself. “What are you looking for out there?” he asked guardedly.

Lani continued gazing through the window. As far as he could tell, there wasn’t anything out there to see.

“Just waiting to see what direction the Four Horsemen are coming from,” she told him.

Why was it that this woman never made any sense when she talked? Was it so much to ask for—that she make sense? At least part of the time?

“Four horsemen?” he asked impatiently, when she didn’t elaborate.

Lani turned away from the window. “Of the Apocalypse,” she clarified. “I figure if you’re actually asking me to hang around your house—and you—after hours, the end of the world must be coming.”

He supposed he had reached that point. And he wasn’t exactly happy about it. Granted, she was very attractive—for a pain in the butt—but her pushy personality completely blotted out any sort of physical reaction a normal man might have to her.