Christmas On The Range: Winter Roses
Ivy had just returned in the little used VW she’d bought and learned to drive two years earlier from Marcella’s boutique, where she’d been dressed and her long blond hair had been put up in a curly coiffure. She had on just enough makeup to make her look sensational. She was shocked at the results. She’d never really tried to look good. Her mirror told her that she did.
Hayes gave her a long, appreciative stare. “You look lovely,” he said quietly. He produced a plastic container with a cymbidium orchid inside. He offered it with a little shrug. “She said that women wear them on their wrists these days.”
“Yes,” she said, “so they don’t get crushed when we dance. You didn’t have to do this, Hayes,” she said, taking the orchid out of the box. “But thank you. It’s just beautiful.”
“I thought you might like it. Ready to go?”
She nodded, pulling the door closed behind her. She had a small evening bag that Marcella had loaned her to go with the dress. She really did feel like Cinderella.
* * *
The community center was full to the brim with local citizens supporting the animal shelter. Two of the veterinarians who volunteered at the animal clinic were there with their spouses, and most of the leading lights of Jacobsville turned up as well. Justin and Shelby Ballenger came with their three sons. The eldest was working at the feedlot with Justin during the summer and working on his graduate degree in animal husbandry the rest of the year. The other two boys were still in high school, but ready to graduate. The three of them looked like their father, although the youngest had Shelby’s blue-gray eyes. The Tremayne brothers and the Hart boys came with their wives. Micah Steele and his Callie came, and so did the Doctors Coltrain, Lou and her husband “Copper.” J. D. Langley and Fay, and Matt Caldwell and his wife Leslie, and Cash Grier with his Tippy were also milling around in the crowd. Ivy spotted Judd Dunn and his wife, Christabel, in a corner, looking as much in love as when they’d first married.
“Amazing, isn’t it, that the hall could hold all these people?” Hayes remarked as he led Ivy up the steps into the huge log structure.
“It really is. I’ll bet they’ll be able to add a whole new kennel with what they make tonight.”
He smiled down at her. “I wouldn’t doubt it.”
They bumped into another couple, one of whom was Willie Carr, who owned the bakery. Then she remembered Rachel’s odd message that she was supposed to give him.
“Willie, Rachel asked me to tell you something,” she said, frowning as she struggled to remember exactly what it was.
Willie, tall and dark, looked uncomfortable. He laughed. “Now why would Rachel be sending me messages?” he asked, glancing at his wife. “I’m not cheating on you, baby, honest!”
“Oh, no, it wasn’t that sort of message,” Ivy said quickly. “It was something about a shipment of flour you were expecting that didn’t arrive.”
Willie cleared his throat. “I don’t know anything about any shipment of flour that would go to New York City, Ivy,” he assured her. “Rachel must have been talking about somebody else.”
“Yes, I guess she must have. Sorry,” she said with a sheepish smile. “She’s incoherent most of the time lately.”
“I’d say she is, if she’s sending me messages about flour!” Willie agreed. He nodded at her and then at Hayes, and drew his wife back out onto the dance floor.
Hayes caught her hand and pulled her aside. “What shipment of flour was Rachel talking about?” he asked suddenly, and he wasn’t smiling.
“I really don’t know. She just said to tell Willie one was missing. She doesn’t even eat sweets...”
“How long ago did she tell you to give Willie that message?” he persisted.
“About two days ago,” she said. She frowned. “Why?”
Hayes took her by the hand and drew her along the dance floor to where Cash Grier was standing at the punch bowl with his gorgeous redheaded wife, Tippy.
“How’s it going?” Cash greeted them, shaking hands with Hayes.
Hayes stepped closer. “Rachel sent Willie over there—” he jerked his head toward Willie, who was oblivious to the attention he was getting “—a message.”
Cash was all business at once. “What message?”
Hayes prompted Ivy to repeat it.
“Code?” Cash asked Hayes.
The other man nodded. “It was two days ago that Ivy got the message.”
Cash’s dark eyes twinkled. “What a coincidence.”
“Yes.”
“Which proves that connection we were discussing earlier.” He turned to Ivy. “If your sister sends any more messages to Willie, or anyone else, by you, tell Hayes, would you?”
She was all at sea. “Rachel’s mixed up in something, isn’t she?”
“Not necessarily,” Hayes said at once. “But she knows someone who is, we think. Don’t advertise this, either.”
Ivy shook her head. “I’m no gossip.” She grimaced. “Rachel’s getting mixed up with some rich man, and she’s trying to get away from her boyfriend, who deals drugs. The rich man is married. I’m afraid it’s all going to end badly.”
“People who get involved with drugs usually do end badly,” Hayes said somberly.
“Yes, they do,” Ivy had to agree. She smiled at Tippy, who was wearing a green and white dress made of silk and chiffon. “You look lovely.”
“Thanks,” Tippy replied, smiling. “So do you, Ivy. Marcella made my dress, you know. She made yours, too, didn’t she?”
Ivy nodded, grinning. “She’s amazing.”
“I think so, too,” Tippy agreed. “I’ve sent photos of her work to some friends of mine in New York. Don’t tell her. It’s a surprise.”
“If anything comes of it, she’ll be so thrilled. That was sweet of you.”
Tippy waved away the compliment. “She’s so talented, she deserves a break.”
“Well, I came here to dance,” Hayes informed them, taking Ivy’s hand.
Cash pursed his lips. “Really?”
“I know I’m not in your league, Grier,” Hayes said dourly, “but I can do the Macarena, if we can get somebody to play it.”
“You can?” Cash chuckled. “By a strange coincidence, so can I. And I taught her.” He indicated Tippy.
“In that case,” Hayes replied, grinning, “may the best sheriff win.”
And he went off to talk to the bandleader.
The band stopped suddenly, talked among the members and they all started grinning when Hayes came back to wrap his arm around Ivy.
“One, two, three, four,” the bandleader counted off, and the band broke into the Macarena.
Ivy knew the steps, having watched a number of important people dance it on television some years before. She wasn’t the only one who remembered. The dance floor filled up with laughing people.
Hayes performed the quick hand motions with expertise, laughing as hard as Ivy was. They got through the second chorus and Ivy almost collapsed into Hayes’s strong arms, resting her cheek against his chest.
“I’m out of shape!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “I need to get out more!”
“Just what I was thinking,” he replied, smiling down at her.
Ivy happened to glance toward the doorway at that moment. Her gaze met a pair of pale blue eyes that were glittering like a diamondback rattlesnake coiling. Ivy’s heart ran away as Stuart York gave her a look that could have fried bread.
5
Ivy had never seen that particular expression in Stuart’s pale eyes, and she was amazed that he seemed so furious. Beside him, Merrie was also watching her with Hayes, and even though she smiled, she seemed a little shocked.
The two Yorks moved through the crowd, pausing now and again to exchange greetings as they came to stand beside Ivy and Hayes, who had broken apart by then. Ivy stared helplessly at Stuart. It had been a long time since she’d seen him. She knew that he’d been avoiding her ever since the unexpected and explosive interlude that last night she’d spent at Merrie’s house, over two years ago.
If she was self-conscious, he wasn’t. His pale eyes were narrow, glittering, dangerous as they met hers.
“I thought you didn’t dance, Hayes,” Merrie said. She was smiling, but she seemed ill at ease.
“I don’t, as a rule,” he agreed, smiling back. “But I can manage it once in a while.”
“We’re all here to support the local animal shelter,” Ivy told Merrie. “From the looks of this crowd, they’re going to end up with plenty of donations.”
“I send them a check every year,” Stuart said curtly.
“Did you two come together?” Hayes asked curiously.
“We were both at a loose end tonight,” Merrie replied. “I got someone to cover for me at the hospital. I really came because I knew Ivy would be here. I haven’t seen her in so long!”
Ivy was bemused. She wondered why Merrie seemed so unlike herself.
“I never believed you’d make a nurse,” Hayes told Merrie with a grin. “I still remember you fainting when we had to sew up a wound on that old horse you used to trot around on.”
“I wish I could forget.” Merrie groaned. “It wouldn’t have been so bad, except for where I landed.”
“It was the only fresh manure on the place,” Stuart inserted with a chuckle. “I swear she took three baths that day before she got rid of the smell.”
The band started up again, this time playing a dreamy slow tune. Hayes looked down at Merrie. “Want to dance?”
She hesitated.
“Go on,” Ivy coaxed, smiling.
Merrie relaxed a little and let Hayes take her hand. He led her onto the dance floor and into a lazy box step. Was it Ivy’s imagination, or did Merrie look as if she’d landed in paradise, wrapped up in Hayes Carson’s strong arms?
“Do you dance, Mr. York?” Tippy asked.
He shook his head, sliding his big hands into his pockets. “Afraid not.”
She smiled. “Neither do I. At least, not very well. I’m learning, though.”
Cash drew her to his side. “Yes, you are, baby,” he said affectionately. “Come on. We can always do with a little practice. See you both later,” he added.
Which left Ivy alone with Stuart for the first time in over two years. She was ill at ease and it showed.
He turned and looked down at her deliberately, his pale eyes narrow and searching. “I like the dress,” he said, his voice deep and slow.
“Thanks,” she said, a little self-conscious because of the way he was looking at her. “I keep books for a boutique owner. It’s a model she’s hoping to sell.”
“So what are you, walking advertising?” he asked.
She smiled. “I suppose so.”
He glanced at his sister dancing with Hayes. “She used to have a horrific crush on him,” he said out of the blue. “I was glad when she outgrew it. Hayes takes chances. He’s been in two serious gun battles since he became sheriff. He barely walked away from the last one. She’d never make a lawman’s wife.”
“She made a nurse,” she pointed out.
“Yes, well, patients go home when they’ve healed. But a lawman’s wife waits up all hours, hoping he’ll come home at all.” He looked down at her. “There’s a difference.”
She felt guilty when she remembered the way Merrie had looked when Hayes asked her to dance, as if she’d trespassed on someone else’s property. Considering Stuart’s attitude, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that Merrie might be hiding her interest in Hayes. Stuart liked him, but he’d always said that Hayes was too old for his sister, not to mention being in one of the more dangerous professions. Merrie idolized her brother. She wouldn’t deliberately cross him.
“Why are you here with Hayes?” he asked abruptly.
She blinked at the boldness of the question. She should have told him it was none of his business. But she couldn’t. He had that air of authority that had always opened doors for him.
“He didn’t want to come alone and neither did I,” she said.
“He’s well off, and he’s a bachelor,” he replied.
“Are you making a point?” she asked.
His eyes narrowed on her face. “You’ll be twenty-one soon.”
She was surprised that he kept up with her age. “Yes, I suppose so.”
He didn’t blink. “Merrie said you wanted to study opera.”
“Then she must have also said that I don’t want to leave Jacobsville,” she replied. “It would be a waste of time to train for a career I don’t want.”
“Do you want to keep books for other people for the rest of your life?”
“I like keeping books. You might remember that I also do the occasional article for the local cattlemen’s association.”
He didn’t reply to that. His eyes went back to his sister, moving lazily around the dance floor with Hayes. After a minute, his big hand reached down and caught Ivy’s. He tugged her gently onto the dance floor and slid his hand around her waist.
“You said you didn’t dance,” she murmured breathlessly.
He shrugged. “I lied.” He curled her into his body and moved gracefully to the music, coaxing her cheek onto his chest. His arm tightened around her, bringing her even closer.
She could barely breathe. The proximity was intoxicating. It brought back that one sweet interlude between them, so long ago. It was probably a dream and she’d wake up clutching a pillow in her own bed. So why not enjoy it, she thought? She closed her eyes, gave him her weight, and sighed. For an instant, she could almost have sworn that a shudder passed through his tall body.
She felt his lips against her forehead. It was the closest to heaven she’d ever come.
But all too soon it was over. The music ended and Stuart stepped away from her.
She felt cold and empty. She wrapped her arms around herself and forced a smile that she didn’t really feel.
Stuart was watching her intently. “That shade of green suits you,” he said quietly. “It matches your eyes.”
She didn’t know how to handle a compliment like that from him. She laughed nervously. “Does it?”
He smiled slowly. It wasn’t like any smile she’d ever had from him. It made his pale eyes glitter like sun-touched diamonds, made him look younger and less careworn. She smiled back.
Merrie joined them, an odd little smile touching her lips. “Having fun?” she asked Ivy.
“It’s a very nice dance,” Ivy replied, dragging her eyes away from Stuart.
“It is,” Merrie agreed.
Hayes had been stopped on the way off the dance floor by a somber Harley Fowler, who motioned Cash Grier to join them. Hayes made a face before he rejoined them, disappointment in his whole look.
“We’ve had word of a drug shipment coming through,” he said under his breath. “Harley was watching for it. He says they’ve got a semi full to the brim with cocaine. I have to go. We’ve been setting this sting up for months, and this is the first real break we’ve had.” He stared at Ivy. “I can get one of my deputies to swing by and take you home,” he began.
“She can ride with us,” Stuart said easily. “No problem.”
“Thanks,” Hayes said. He grinned at Ivy. “Our first date and I blew it. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
“I’m not upset, Hayes,” she replied. “You go do your job. There will be other dances.”
“You’re a good sport. Thanks. See you, Merrie,” he added with a wink, nodding to Stuart as he headed for the front door.
Merrie was biting her lower lip, her eyes on Hayes’s back as he left. Ivy noticed and didn’t say a word.
“How about some of this punch?” Ivy asked her best friend. “It looks very good.”
Merrie was diverted. “Yes. I’ll bet it tastes good, too. But I want a word with Shelby Ballenger before I indulge. I’ll be right back.” She went toward Shelby. Ivy filled two glass cups with punch and handed one to Stuart.
He made a face. “It’s tropical punch, isn’t it? I hate tropical punch.”
“They have coffee, too, if you’d rather,” Ivy told him, putting the punch down on the table.
He met her searching eyes. “I would. Cream. No sugar.”
She poured coffee into a cup, adding just a touch of cream. She handed it to him, but her hands shook. He had to put his around them, to steady them.
“It’s all right,” he said softly. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
She didn’t understand what was happening to her. The feel of his big, warm hands around hers made her heart race. The look in his pale eyes delighted, thrilled, terrified. She’d never had such a headlong physical reaction to any other man, and especially not since that incredible night when he’d held her and kissed her as if he couldn’t bear to let her go. It had haunted her dreams for more than two years, and ruined her for a relationship with any other man.
She let go of the cup with a nervous little laugh. “Is that enough cream?” she asked.
He nodded. He sipped it in silence while she sipped at her punch. The music was playing again, this time a slow, bluesy two-step.
Merrie came back to them, grinning. “I asked Shelby if she’d save me one of those border collies she and Justin are breeding. They’re great cattle dogs.”
Stuart scowled at her. “What the hell do you need with a cattle dog?”
“It’s not for me,” she replied. “There’s a sweet little girl on my ward who has to have a tumor removed from her brain. She’s scared to death. I asked her parents what might help her attitude, and they said she’d always wanted a border collie. It might be just what she needs to come through the surgery. You see,” she added sadly, “they don’t know if it’s malignant yet.”
“How old is she?” Ivy asked.
“Ten.”
Ivy winced. “What a terrible age to have something so deadly.”
“At least she’ll have something to look forward to,” Stuart added. “You really are a jewel, Merrie.”
She made an affectionate face at him. “So are you. Now let’s dance or eat or something so we don’t burst into tears and embarrass Ivy.”
He cocked an eyebrow and gave Ivy a mischievous look. “God forbid that we should embarrass her.” He put down his coffee cup. “Dancing seems more sensible.”
He took Ivy’s glass of punch and put it down, only to draw her back onto the dance floor.
* * *
It was the sweetest evening of Ivy’s life. She danced almost exclusively with Stuart, and he didn’t seem to mind that people were watching them with fond amusement. It was well-known that Stuart played the field, and that Ivy didn’t date anyone. The attention Stuart was showing her raised eyebrows.
Merrie didn’t lack for partners, either, but she seemed subdued since Hayes had left. Ivy wondered if there wasn’t something smoldering under Merrie’s passive expression that led back to that old crush she’d had on Hayes.
When it came time to leave, Merrie informed Stuart that she was going to ride home with one of the Bates twins, who passed right by their house. She didn’t give a reason, but Stuart didn’t ask for one, either. He linked his fingers into Ivy’s and drew her outside to his big, sleek Jaguar.
“I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a party more,” he remarked.
“It was fun,” she agreed, smiling. “I don’t get out much at night. Usually I’m trying to keep up with the accounts, including doing estimated taxes for all my clients four times a year. It keeps me close to home.”
“You and Merrie have lost touch since she went to work in San Antonio.”
“A little, maybe,” she replied. “But Merrie is still the best friend I have. That doesn’t go away, even when we don’t see each other for months at a time.”
He was quiet for a minute. “Have you heard from Rachel?” he asked.
She drew in a painful breath. “Yes. Last week.”
“How was she?”
She wondered why he was asking her questions about her sister, whom he hated. “Pretty much the same, I guess.” Except that she was steadily higher than a kite when she called Ivy, and she was running around with someone else’s rich husband, she added silently.
He shot a glance at her. “That isn’t what I hear.”
Her heart welled up in her throat. She’d forgotten that he moved in the same circles as other rich, successful men. Rachel’s garden slug of a boyfriend knew such people in New York. Stuart might even know Rachel’s latest lover. “What do you hear?” she asked.
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