Holiday in a Stetson: The Sheriff Who Found ChristmasA Rancho Diablo Christmas Read online

  “Well, when you butter me up like that, how can I say no?” Her dad transferred a portion of the stew into a tureen, then placed that in the center of the table. “Do I get to know who this someone is, or is it a secret?”

  “No, no secret,” she told him, sitting down. She spooned out a helping of stew for herself. “It’s for Tanner and his niece, when he gets back with her.”

  Taking the ladle from her, Gunny followed suit, doling out a larger portion for himself. He’d built up an appetite cooking. He wasn’t one of those people who constantly sampled as they went. He claimed it ruined the appetite, not to mention that it produced fat cooks.

  “Oh?”

  “No, not ‘oh,’” she retorted, picking up on her dad’s inflection. “The sheriff’s going to have his niece with him, and something tells me he’s going to really need help dealing with this. I’ve got a feeling that he has no idea how to act around a little girl, and doesn’t know the first thing about what they need.”

  Gunny’s expression gave no indication what he was thinking. “So you’re going to feed him and volunteer to teach him how to be a substitute dad.”

  She looked at her father pointedly. “Someone once told me that if I see someone who needs a hand, I should stop and give him one.”

  “Wise person, that someone,” he commented, pausing to wipe the corner of his mouth.

  Lani laughed. “Yes, I always thought so. Wise and incredibly modest.” She got up to get herself a can of soda from the refrigerator.

  Her father nodded. “Good combination. Hey, while you’re over there, why don’t you get your old dad a beer?”

  Lani looked back at him, fisting her hand on her hip. Her eyebrows drew together in a pseudo scowl, emulating what she’d seen on the sheriff’s face. “What did I say about that?”

  “Sorry. While you’re over there, why don’t you get your young dad a beer?”

  “Much better. One beer coming up.” She pulled open the refrigerator door, thinking again just how very lucky she was.

  Chapter Four

  She looked just like Ellen.

  Garrett felt his gut twist painfully each time he looked at the little girl.

  He had placed his niece in the seat directly behind his own, since he felt that was the safest one in his vehicle. Glancing once more in the rearview mirror to make sure she was still all right, he was struck again by just how much Ellie resembled his sister at that age. It was almost as if one of Ellen’s childhood photographs had come to life.

  But whether or not Ellie looked like her mom didn’t negate how awkward he felt around the child. And it still didn’t change the fact that he had absolutely no idea how to talk to a little girl. He barely had any conversations with adults, certainly not lengthy ones. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d talked to a child.

  No matter how he approached it, it would have been an impossible situation at its best. And this was definitely not at its best.

  Ellen’s daughter had been silent for the entire trip so far. It was almost as if she was afraid of something. Was that normal? He had no idea. Maybe he should have taken Chisholm with him. If nothing else, she would have filled the air with chatter, made his sister’s little girl feel more comfortable.

  “You all right back there?” he finally forced himself to ask, looking at Ellie in the mirror.

  Small brown eyes darted to meet his. “Yes, sir.”

  Echoes of his past came barreling at Garrett out of the shadows. His stepfather had demanded that each sentence spoken to him contain the word sir as a sign of respect. Hearing his niece address him that way brought back bad memories.

  “I told you you don’t have to call me sir,” he reminded her sternly.

  “No, sir—I mean…” Ellie’s voice trailed off. Taking a deep breath, she nervously tried again. “What…what do you want me to… What do I call you, s—?”

  Garrett heard the slight hissing sound that gave her away; Ellie was about to address him as “sir” again. He had no doubts that she’d had that drummed into her head by her father, just as his stepfather had tried to drum it into his—often physically. Garrett had met Ellen’s husband only once, while his sister was going out with him. Even then, the marine had struck him as a carbon copy of his stepfather, from his military bearing to his stark haircut, right down to the way Duffy ordered Ellen around.

  Garrett’s dad had ordered his wife and kids around the exact same way. Except that Garrett hadn’t stood for it. When he was still small, the man had tried to beat him into submission. But the day finally arrived when Garrett was taller than his tormentor. After that last go-round, when they’d come to blows that didn’t automatically result in a victory for the dominating marine, he’d finally left home. Garrett had taken off in the middle of the night, knowing that the next confrontation would result in one of their deaths.

  “Call me by my name,” he told the wide-eyed little girl now. “My name is Garrett.”

  “I know,” she told him solemnly. “Mama used to talk about you.”

  He shouldn’t have let all those years go by, Garrett thought now, his conscience pricking him sharply. He should have tried to get in touch with Ellen, to let her know that she had a way out if she wanted one. That she was more than welcome to come stay at the house with him.

  Too late now.

  Ellie had lapsed into silence again. “What did your mother say?” he asked her.

  “That you were a nice man,” she answered, as if she was reciting something she had memorized, and practiced saying over and over again. “And that you used to look out for her when she was little like me.”

  Another wave of memories came rushing back to him, playing across his mind. At the same time, emotions began to tug at him—emotions he wanted no part of. He didn’t know how to react to them or to the little girl sitting behind him.

  But he had to say something, so he fell back on basic facts. You couldn’t go wrong with facts, right? “We’ll be home soon,” he told her.

  But even saying that felt awkward on his tongue. By home he meant his home, his private domain. His sanctuary. Sharing his office with a talkative deputy was bad enough. Now he was being forced to share his home with a stranger, as well. She was his flesh and blood, true, but she was still a stranger. Forty-eight hours ago he hadn’t even known she existed. There seemed to be no place left for him to retreat to, no space, however small, to call his own.

  But what choice did he have? In either case? He was stuck with Chisholm, unless she suddenly decided to quit. And as for Ellie, well, not even that would work. The little girl had nowhere to go, nowhere to turn. She was his responsibility for the next twelve years.

  Garrett began to experience a dull ache in his head.

  “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 Welco
me 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.

  “Probably,” he agreed. “So, will you stay a little longer?” he pressed, then felt it only fitting to explain why he was asking something so out of character for him. “Ellie seems to like having you around.”

  There was more to it than that and they both knew it. “And you like having me here to deal with her, instead of you having to do so.”

  Garrett looked at Lani darkly. He didn’t want her in his head. He had a hard enough time with her in h
is office and in his house.

  “I didn’t say that,” he told her.

  “You didn’t have to, Garrett,” she answered with that wide, annoying grin that irritated him to the nth degree. And then she partially redeemed herself by saying, “Yes, I’ll stay. For Ellie’s sake.”

  Well, it sure as hell wasn’t for his sake. He’d been doing just fine without any company whatsoever, much less the company of a woman who never stopped talking. She probably talked in her sleep.

  “That’s all I’m asking,” he retorted.

  It didn’t escape him, even though he made no mention of it, that she had just called him by his first name rather than by his title.

  He supposed that was because they were no longer in the office, but it still felt far too personal. However, mentioning it to her might seem as if he was nitpicking. Moreover, if he said something about it, she might leave, and though he really wasn’t thrilled about the fact, he did need her to stay. He wasn’t any good at dealing with someone who was a few years away from reaching puberty.

  So he resigned himself to putting up with the lack of barriers around him—for now.

  To be honest—and to give the devil her due—he had to marvel at how easily his deputy got along with the solemn little girl. He had the feeling that his niece seemed relieved to have a woman around to talk to. Though she was absolutely nothing like Ellen, Chisholm probably reminded Ellie of her mother, at least to some degree.

  His conscience clear, Garrett eased out of the room and left the two females to whatever it was that they were doing together.

  A few hours later, after an exhausted Ellie had fallen asleep, he told Chisholm she was free to go home. She left shortly thereafter.

  It took him a while to empty his mind of all deputy-related thoughts, so that he could finally drop off to sleep.