Rancher's Christmas Storm--A Western snowbound romance Read online

  “Fine. The pregnancy.”

  “I still don’t understand how you could be so stupid. You’re not a kid.”

  “Honey, I pray that you always keep your head when it comes to situations of physical desire.”

  “I would never get that stupid over a man.”

  She’d said that with total and certain confidence and something had broken inside him. Shattered. She was a woman.

  And he wondered what sort of man could make her that stupid.

  His immediate, gut response had been...

  Him.

  He’d wanted to run out of there like his pants were on fire and his ass was catching. Instead he’d stayed—like it was nothing—and tamped it all down to a manageable burn.

  It was what he’d been doing ever since.

  “Afternoon.”

  She lifted her head slowly, then turned to look at him, her expression cool. “Jericho.”

  “Did you practice that face in the mirror?”

  “What face?” she said, the coolness evaporating immediately, her eyebrows locking together.

  “There you go. Now you look like you. I’m going to need you to oversee things while I’m gone over Christmas.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me.”

  She blinked wide, whiskey eyes. “Do you think that you’re my... Do you think you’re my boss, Jericho?”

  “Honey,” he said, realizing that he was tempting fate. And her temper. “I own the winery now. You do work for me.” He was the one that would be signing the checks once that first pay cycle ended. So maybe she hadn’t realized it. But it was true.

  “I...I quit,” she said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I quit. I’m leaving, actually. I’m leaving.”

  “You’re leaving?”

  “Jericho, do you always just repeat what women say? Because if so, I find it hard to believe that you have such good luck with them.”

  “Women don’t gravitate to me for my conversational skills,” he said.

  A streak of color flooded her cheeks. And he would be a fool to read anything into that.

  “I don’t really care why women seek out your...company. I’m not seeking your company out. I’m leaving. I got a job.”

  “You...” He realized he was about to say you got a job. “Where?”

  “Up near Portland.”

  “What are you going to do? Work at one of those assy coffee shops that only serves drinks in one size? And sells more macho than coffee?”

  “It’s not in the city. It’s a ranch on the outskirts. An equine facility. I got a job there as a trainer.”

  “Sight unseen?”

  “Yes.”

  “What the hell is this place called?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Does your father know?”

  “My father is too busy with... Well, he seems to have taken to my brothers marrying into the Maxfield family with a lot of enthusiasm.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He knew what it was supposed to mean. Cash Cooper had carried on a youthful affair with Lucinda Maxfield years ago. Time and misunderstandings had separated them. But since her marriage to James had fallen apart, and Cash’s wife had passed, he suspected the two of them had rekindled things.

  And it seemed Honey suspected it too.

  “Apparently the Maxfield women are universally irresistible to the men in my family.” She shook her head. “But I don’t want to spend my Christmas at Maxfield Vineyards. I don’t want to be part of their fancy ass...whatever. I don’t want you to own Cowboy Wines. I want everything to go back to the way it was. But it isn’t going to. Which means I’m going to take myself off. I got a place. And I really like... I really like Donovan.”

  “Who’s Donovan?” he asked, eyes narrowing. Jackson and Creed weren’t currently in residence, which meant that it was up to him to make sure she wasn’t doing anything dumbass.

  Honey was open; she was honest to a near fault. If the thought was in her head, it was out of her mouth just as quick.

  The fact that she’d been keeping secrets set off big loud alarm bells.

  “He owns the equine facility that I’m going to,” she said, sniffing loudly. “And I’ve been talking with him on an app.”

  His stomach went tight. “Explain.”

  “Well, if you must know, I met him on a dating app.”

  “You met a guy that you’re going to go work for on a dating app?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is an HR violation waiting to happen.”

  “I think he might be HR.”

  “All the more reason for you to turn tail and run. This doesn’t sound like a safe situation at all.”

  “I’m not a child, Jericho. And anyway, I’m going up there with the express intention of violating HR mandates.”

  “Hell no.” Anger burned in his gut. Honey might not be for him. He knew she wasn’t. But even so, he was not going to let Honey Cooper run off up north to shack up with some guy who owned an equine facility—that was the most pretentious little bullshit he’d ever heard—and...start sleeping with him immediately. The very idea made him see red.

  “No,” he said. “You are not doing that. You are staying here.”

  “It may shock you to learn, Jericho, that you don’t get to control my life. You don’t get to tell me what to do. You don’t even get the tiniest say in what I do with my time. Because it isn’t your business.”

  “You are my business, Honey Cooper, whether you like it or not.”

  She rounded on him, her expression a fury. “You’re not my brother, asshole. You’re not my boss, and it isn’t your decision. I’m leaving. I’m leaving tomorrow. I’ve got everything packed up.”

  “That’s a problem, because I’m also leaving tomorrow.”

  “Sounds like a you problem.”

  “Honey...”

  “No,” she said. “I’m out. I should’ve been the first in line to buy the winery. My father never consulted me. You never considered it. You never considered my feelings at all. Acting concerned for me now, when you bought out my family’s winery without thinking that I might want to...”

  “I didn’t realize Cash didn’t consult you.” He felt slightly guilty about saying that, because Jackson had basically told him that Honey wouldn’t be happy about the decision. And he’d chosen to ignore that. He’d chosen to go ahead with it, because it was what he wanted. There wasn’t a whole lot in this world that he could claim as a legacy. His mother was dead; his father had never wanted much of anything to do with him—so he’d thought. Cowboy Wines was the closest thing he had to a family anything. The Coopers were the closest thing he had to a family.

  Which meant that getting a piece of it had mattered to him. And when Cash had wanted out...

  He never mentioned the possibility of selling it to Honey. It wasn’t like he had taken it out from under her deliberately. And she hadn’t said anything, not a damn thing, in the time since.

  But Honey’s happiness meant something to him. The Coopers meant something to him. Which was why, no matter how nice Honey’s ass looked in a pair of jeans, he’d never do anything about it. There were plenty of women out there. More than willing to warm his bed for a few hours. He wasn’t going to mess with his friends’ sister. He also wasn’t going to let her go off half-cocked to warm some other dude’s bed just because she was mad.

  Not that he didn’t figure she’d be warming beds, or that she hadn’t. It was just that this was a bad idea. Clearly, up front from the start. And there was no point doing something that was so clearly this dumbass right from step one.

  “It doesn’t matter whether you knew or not. You should talk to me. You all should talk to me.”

  “The thing is, I wanted
it.” He figured honesty was the best policy here. “Whatever was going to get it. Whether you’re happy about it or not.”

  “Well, I’m not happy. But it doesn’t matter, because I won’t be around to be unhappy anymore. Fuck you.”

  She turned around and stalked out of the room, and he resisted the urge to go after her. Honey and her tantrums weren’t his problem. He had bigger issues. Like making sure everything was covered before he went up to deal with the Daltons. Of course, if he called Creed and Jackson about it, he would blow Honey’s operation. Which was probably for the best.

  He took his phone out of his pocket and dialed Jackson. “Hey. I’m going to need your help with the winery for the next week.”

  “All right.”

  “I’m going to meet my family.”

  “Your family?”

  “Yeah. My father. Hank Dalton.”

  “Well, hell.”

  “Don’t say it like that. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “It is a big deal,” Jackson insisted. “He finally acknowledged your existence?”

  He didn’t particularly want to talk about this. But it was reality right now, so he supposed there was no avoiding it. “He didn’t know about my existence. Apparently.”

  “Hell.”

  “I don’t see it as that big of a deal. So I don’t see why you should.”

  “Because it’s a big fucking deal.”

  “Only if you think I’m going to make a big, happy family out of it. I’m going up for some big Christmas thing. That’s it.”

  “Well, I don’t mind helping out.” And he thought about selling Honey out just then. But he didn’t.

  “Thanks.”

  He might pay for that later. But he would deal with her. No point sending Jackson off after her.

  She was already angry enough. He wouldn’t make it worse. And hell, she would see reason. He couldn’t actually imagine Honey taking off and moving up north. She wouldn’t do it.

  No. She would come to her senses and see reason.

  She had to. He didn’t want to think too deep about the alternative.

  Two

  Honey flung a suitcase into the bed of her truck and slapped her hands together. She had every box in her bedroom all packed up. And she was ready to go. She had left a note for her dad.

  The boxes would be picked up by a moving company—she was really enjoying the fact that she’d gotten a bit of money from the sale of the winery—and driven up separately.

  She would be taking her truck and an overnight bag. Traveling light. And she was ready. Especially after that discussion with Jericho yesterday. Which couldn’t even be called a discussion. He was such a high-handed dick. And she was over it. Honestly, completely and utterly over men acting like they thought they knew what was best for her life. If it was only acting like they knew what was best for my life, it wouldn’t be that bad. But they actually made decisions that impacted her life and didn’t seem to get it when it infuriated her. More than infuriated. She was so... She was just so hurt by the whole thing with the vineyard.

  She didn’t know that she would ever really get over it.

  Getting ready to leave this place now... She wished that it felt more triumphant. Instead, it felt sad. This place housed the few memories that she had of her mother. And so many happy ones with her father and her brothers. And yes, even Jericho.

  They were a close family, and they always had been. But this move by her dad had driven such a wedge between them.

  A wedge she hadn’t told anyone about. But she didn’t know how. Didn’t know how to do it without flying off the handle, and after a decade of keeping it all to herself, the idea of letting it all out terrified her.

  And her brothers had gone off and got married... It was just that everything was different. She didn’t think it could ever go back to the way it was. No, she knew it couldn’t. So she might as well start over. She might as well.

  She put her hands on her hips and looked back at the room that was neatly stacked with boxes and then looked at her truck. There was no point delaying it now. She was on her way.

  She walked around to the other side of her truck and started when she saw Jericho standing back next to a tree, his arms crossed over his broad chest.

  His black hat was pulled low over his face, his dark eyes glittering. “And where exactly do you think you’re going?”

  “Lake Oswego,” she said.

  “Oh please,” he said. “You’re going to last about five minutes there. You’re going to die of hipster.”

  “I don’t think Lake Oswego is renowned for its hipsterdom.”

  He arched a dark brow and it made her stomach feel funny. “You’re really leaving?”

  She frowned deeply. “My shit is packed. What do you think?”

  “Stay,” he said, the word low and rumbling, and it tugged at her and she hated it. She had to get away from here. From him. She’d wanted a whole bunch of things for years. To be an equal to her brothers, to work this winery as they’d done and be able to have a piece of it someday. For Jericho to look at her with heat in his eyes. She wasn’t going to be able to find new patterns if she didn’t change things. Everything. “Don’t be rash about it.”

  She really wanted to punch him for that. He had no idea. This wasn’t rash. It was the culmination of so much stuff. Of realizing that she was going to be treading water in Gold Valley for the rest of her life.

  She had no career here. Not like she’d believed.

  Her crush—toxic attraction sprinkled with a dash of irritation... Whatever you wanted to call it, it was on him.

  “I’m going to go.”

  “Look. I asked your brother to come here and handle things while I was away, and I did not blow your cover. So now I want you to be reasonable.”

  “Reasonable meaning do exactly what you want me to do?”

  He lifted a brow, which she had privately deemed his most arrogant eyebrow some years ago. “Hell yeah.”

  She huffed. “Jericho, I don’t owe you the reality that you want. You sure as hell didn’t care about what I wanted when you bought the winery.”

  “It wasn’t that I didn’t care.”

  “It was. You didn’t talk to me about it. Nothing. My entire world felt like it had been pulled out from under my feet.”

  “How is it different? You didn’t own the place when your dad ran it. Why is it so different working for me?”

  “Because I...” It hurt, this admission. But she was going to have to practice it because she was going to have to tell her dad eventually. Tell him without dissolving. She might as well practice on Jericho. “Because I expected someday that maybe my father would leave this to me. To us. I don’t have any problem with you having a piece of it. You’ve been part of us from... For a long time. But me being cut out of it...that’s what I can’t understand.”

  “You got some money.”

  “I did. But it’s not the same as getting this land. I can go earn money anywhere. Which is what I’m going to do.”

  “And you’re going to sleep with this guy?”

  That spiked a wave of fury in her blood. He had her vineyard. He had her desire. He didn’t deserve to be spared her honesty. “Yep. Lots of times.”

  “Honey...”

  Her eyes collided with his, and there was something about the look on his face that made a reckless heat careen through her blood. Because while she was talking about sleeping with Donovan, she couldn’t actively picture it. Yes, she’d seen photographs of him, but they couldn’t compare to Jericho standing in front of her in the angry, hard, hot flesh.

  His mouth firmed into a grim line.

  “What?”

  “It’s a bad idea,” he said, his voice hard.

  “So what?” she asked. “Has every one of your ideas been good?”

>   He cleared his throat. “Well, no.”

  “Why do I have to make good decisions all the time? I want to make a bad decision. I want to try something. I don’t think it’s up to you to decide whether or not I get to do something crazy. So, I’m off.”

  “Dammit, Honey.”

  “Damn you, Jericho.” She walked past him, and then he grabbed her by the arm, whirling her to face him. She felt like all the breath had been sucked out of her body as she stared into his thunderous face.

  She took stock of him. Of his beautiful features. His dark brown eyes and skin, the black stubble that covered his square jaw. And she felt like he was taking up all the space. In addition to having taken this winery from her, he had stolen her ability to breathe. Her ability to think. And right now it just enraged her.

  “Let go of me.”

  She wouldn’t allow him to steal this from her too. He had been her most secret, most shameful fantasy for far too long, and she was on her way to make something new, to get something new. She was going to have what she wanted. And she did want Donovan. Or at least, she really wanted to want Donovan. And that was going to have to be enough, because she couldn’t have Jericho.

  Ever.

  He was now the emblem of everything ruinous.

  And she had called her brothers out for being dumbasses more than once, too many times to ever let herself be a dumbass over a man.

  You don’t think that you’re being dumb about Donovan?

  No. She wasn’t. Because the simple truth was... He was handsome, and maybe having a fling with him would be fun. But it wouldn’t devastate her. There was no way that it could. Because the ranch wasn’t the family winery.

  And he wasn’t a man that was so close to her brothers he was practically family.

  And he didn’t... He didn’t make her itch under her skin.

  He didn’t get to places that she couldn’t reach.

  So there was no risk involved. Jericho represented too much risk. Every risk. Every risk she couldn’t take.

  So yes, she could run away to Lake Oswego. She could hook up with a guy who may or may not be permanent. But she could never... She could never.

  She jerked away from him and climbed up into the cab of her truck, defiant. Then she slammed the heavy door and unrolled her window. “I’m leaving.”