The Cowboy's Christmas Surprise Read online

  “Well, whatever his reason, I think he’s going to be up all night counting the saloon’s take from tonight,” Holly predicted.

  They could hear the noise coming from the saloon even inside the cab of the truck. She estimated that it would be close to deafening once they were inside the small, rectangular building that was both the place of business for the three Murphy brothers and their home since they lived right above the saloon. “Maybe we should have brought earplugs,” she all but shouted to Ray.

  She saw him grinning at her. It was the kind of grin that acknowledged he was aware she’d said something to him, but hadn’t a clue what that something had been.

  It didn’t matter to her if Ray had heard her or not; the important thing was being this close to him. She hadn’t seen him for the past couple of days and had assumed that work on the ranch was keeping him busy.

  Either that, or a new love interest had come into his life. That happened with a fair amount of regularity—like clockwork.

  Holly shut down the idea as soon as it occurred to her, preferring not to think about it.

  But since Ray hadn’t mentioned anyone’s name on the way over here—and he would have had there been someone new—she just assumed that tonight he’d be back on the prowl again. One of his brothers—Mike—had made the observation that Ray changed girlfriends the way other men changed undershirts while working out in the hot sun.

  What that meant to her was that Ray wasn’t getting serious about any of the women he went out with—which was just the way she liked it.

  Someday, Holly firmly hoped, Ray Rodriguez would come to his senses and realize that what he had been looking for all this time had been standing right there in front of him all along. The fact that he’d said more than once that he wasn’t looking for that special someone didn’t carry any weight with her. It was a rare man who admitted that he wanted a wife in his life, that he wanted something other than to be a carefree, love-’em-and-leave-’em man that all the available women in the area—and some who weren’t so available—flocked to.

  Just before he opened the front door to Murphy’s, Ray bent close to her ear and promised, “Don’t worry. I won’t leave you until we find Laurie.”

  The moment he said that, Holly fervently hoped that Laurie and her friends had gotten stuck in some parallel universe and had, for all intents and purposes, disappeared off the face of the earth for the duration of the evening.

  Her wish to that end intensified when, to her surprise, Ray took her hand. “So we don’t get separated,” he explained.

  The explanation came with an accompanying puff of warm breath—his—that instantly seemed to sink right into the sensitive skin along her neck and cheek.

  For a split second, Holly thought her heart was going to burst through her chest, it was hammering that hard. But she managed to take in, hold and then release two long, even breaths, which in turn steadied her pulse—or got it as steady as was humanly possible, given the circumstances.

  She took another long breath before saying, “I’m not worried.”

  He turned to look at her over his shoulder, guessing she’d said something but the din from the saloon had completely swallowed it up.

  “What?” he asked, his voice just a decibel below shouting.

  This time, it was her turn to lean forward and bring her lips to his ear. “I said, I’m not worried,” she repeated.

  Something tightened in his gut as he felt her breath along his ear. It sent a reflexive shiver through a large part of him, which surprised him. Feeling slightly unsettled, his eyes met hers.

  And held.

  For just an isolated fragment of time, Ray felt something happening, although what that something was, he wasn’t sure. He just knew it was something. Something unusual.

  Something different.

  The next moment it was gone.

  Whether he’d shaken it off or it had just been absorbed by the noise and the atmosphere, he didn’t know. All he knew was that it was gone. And he was relieved.

  And maybe just a little saddened, as well.

  Turning from her, feeling just the slightest bit unsteady on his feet—as if he’d just gotten up from his sickbed to come here—Ray carefully scanned the crowd directly in front of him.

  The band, he could see, was just setting up. Which meant that he and Holly weren’t late.

  Instead of dwelling on the odd sensation in the pit of his stomach, he focused on being able to hear Liam’s best efforts and on finding Holly’s friends. He knew he wouldn’t feel right about just leaving her alone here. It would be a little like abandoning a newborn on the steps of a church in the middle of the night. There was no telling if she’d be all right or not until her friends found her.

  He couldn’t very well take Holly with him, though. She was his best friend, but it somehow just didn’t seem right to have her standing within earshot as he made his play for whatever female caught his fancy tonight. He could talk to Holly about it later—sans some of the more private details—but he didn’t feel right having her actually witnessing him in action.

  Not that he could really explain why; it just didn’t feel right to him.

  “Hey, there she is!” he cried out to Holly, spotting Laurie.

  Since he was facing away from her, none of his words found her.

  “What?” Holly raised her voice so that he could hear her, although their previous mode of exchange—through close proximity and long, warm glances, had clearly won her favor.

  Turning to face her so that she could see his lips when he spoke, Ray repeated, “I found Laurie and the others.”

  “Great,” Holly said, pasting a grateful smile she didn’t feel on her lips as she said it.

  All good things had to come to an end, she thought. She’s always known that, she’d just been hoping that in this case, the end would take a little longer getting there. But then, she reminded herself, she hadn’t been planning on coming out in the first place, so that any time she spent with Ray was actually a bonus.

  Ray took her hand again and forged a path through the milling bodies of people she knew either by sight or by name. But she really wasn’t focused on them—or on Laurie, either. Right now, all that mattered was that Ray was holding her hand.

  And then he wasn’t.

  He’d dropped it, and the next moment she realized why. Laurie, Cyndy and Reta were right in front of her.

  “Okay,” Ray was saying to her, “Have a good time. That’s an order, hear?”

  She nodded her head. “I hear,” she replied with another fake smile.

  The next second, he was plowing his way through the crowd.

  And then he was gone.

  “Can’t believe you actually made it,” Laurie was saying enthusiastically, hooking her arm through Holly’s. “We’ve got a table right over there.” She pointed toward something in the distance, although she could have been pointing to a kangaroo for all the difference it made to Holly. “You can leave your coat and purse there,” Laurie coaxed, drawing her to the table. “So that you can mingle better when the time comes.”

  She had no intension of mingling, better or otherwise, but to say so at this early stage was just looking for an argument. So instead, she made her way over to the table Laurie had indicated.

  Once she reached the table, Holly shrugged off her coat and left it on the back of a chair. Her small purse she took with her. Who knew when she might need what was inside the small purse?

  Turning to face Laurie, she saw a look of absolute wonder and appreciation in the other woman’s soft brown eyes.

  “Wow, no wonder you didn’t want me to lend you one of my dresses.” Her smile broadened. “You’ve been holding out on me, Holly.”

  Holly had no idea what the other woman was talking about. “Holding out?”

/>   Laurie nodded, indicating the dress she had on. “I wouldn’t have thought you owned something that special looking. You really do look sensational,” she told Holly with the enthusiasm of a true friend. There wasn’t so much as a note of jealousy in her voice. “You’re definitely not going to have any trouble attracting attention from the testosterone set.”

  Red flags instantly went up all over the place in Holly’s head. This was not going to be the uncomplicated evening that she’d hoped it would be.

  “I don’t want to attract any attention,” Holly insisted, all but shouting the words into Laurie’s ear. “I just came out tonight to hear the music.”

  And because you were going to nag me until I said yes, she added silently.

  “That’s not all you came for. Not in that dress,” Laurie told her knowingly, saying the words directly into her ear so as to be heard.

  There was no warm shiver going through her system the way there had been when Ray had talked to her. Instead, she could feel her stomach twisting for another reason.

  She definitely shouldn’t have given in and come here tonight. She was just leaving herself open to problems, problems she had neither the time nor the patience for.

  The good part was over, Holly thought with a sinking feeling.

  Chapter Five

  “Look.” Holly measured out her words slowly, trying to sound as calm as she could while having to practically shout at Laurie in order to be heard, even at this close proximity, “I don’t want to be set up or pushed into anyone’s arms. All I wanted when I said yes to you about going out was just a simple girls’ night out, nothing else.”

  Struggling to hang on to her patience—and her bravado—Holly looked at the other waitress to see if she was getting through to her—or if Laurie had even actually heard her.

  Laurie had obviously heard because she shouted back with a delighted smile, “We don’t always get what we want, Holly.”

  I already knew that, Holly thought as she attempted not to let her thoughts show on her face even as she zeroed in on Ray. From what she could see, since he was halfway across the crowded floor, Ray looked as if he was talking up Emma Cross. Apparently, if that expression on Emma’s face was any indication, he didn’t have to do that much talking, either.

  A sinking sensation was taking hold of her stomach again. This time it was more personal. She’d seen Ray in action before, when they were in high school together, but it had been a while since she’d been a witness to the moves he could put on a girl when he was drawn to her.

  Jealousy began to nibble away at the sedate exterior she was trying to project.

  It hurt to watch, so she looked away.

  She realized that Laurie was trying to ask her a question. Holly focused on her friend’s mouth and finally heard what she was asking.

  “What’s your pleasure?” Laurie asked.

  To go home, Holly thought but out loud she said, “Something simple. Vodka and orange juice, heavy on the orange juice.”

  “Naturally.” The smile on Laurie’s lips looked almost too accommodating.

  Holly had a feeling that if the drink she’d just requested was going to be heavy on anything, it would be the vodka. Which was the last thing she needed at a time like this. Inebriated people did stupid things, and she prided herself on being in control. She intended for that to remain the case.

  “Tell you what,” Holly said, rising from the table, “I’ll get my own drink. Be right back,” she promised just before she started to make her way up to the bar.

  She could feel the music throbbing in her chest, and the ever-increasing din of voices was already beginning to give her a headache. This was not promising, she thought darkly as she squeezed into the miniscule space that was available at the bar.

  “What’ll you have, beautiful?” Brett asked her.

  The eldest Murphy brother seemed to materialize out of thin air. She could have sworn that he’d been on the far end of the bar as she’d begun her pilgrimage to the counter.

  Beautiful, huh? The saloon owner obviously didn’t recognize her, she decided. “Brett, it’s me. Holly Johnson.”

  “I know who you are,” he answered, a smile in his dark blue eyes as they met hers. “And you really do look beautiful,” he told her, glancing at her dress. A sexy smile curved the corners of his mouth as he gave her a small piece of advice. “You’ve got to learn how to relax and take a compliment once in a while, Holly. That’s the easy stuff. The hard stuff comes later,” he said with a wink. “Now, what’ll it be?”

  What hard stuff? she couldn’t help wondering. But out loud she answered his question. “Vodka and orange juice—heavy on the orange juice,” she added.

  If she’d been expecting an argument—or a joke—neither happened. Instead, Brett replied, “Coming right up,” seamlessly capturing two different bottles and preparing the drink that she’d ordered.

  Holly opened the small purse she’d brought with her—a purse that had practically no room for her wallet—when Brett placed the drink on the bar directly in front of her.

  “How much do I owe you?” Holly asked, taking several bills out.

  Brett shook his head. Picking up a dish towel, he wiped a spot up from the counter. “Beautiful women get the first drink of the evening on the house,” he answered with a wink.

  It’d been a while since she’d even had a drink. Holly had no idea how much she could safely imbibe, so she’d already made up her mind as to how much she was going to consume.

  “I’m only getting the one,” she told him.

  Brett’s smile never faded. “Then this won’t be an expensive evening for you,” he predicted.

  And with that, he went down the bar as someone held up a glass.

  Picking up the screwdriver Brett had made for her, Holly wove her way back to the table where she’d left her coat and Laurie.

  But when she got there, Laurie was nowhere in sight. However, there was no empty place to mark her absence, and the chair that she had left her coat on before going to fetch her drink had somebody else sitting in it.

  There were two guys she vaguely recognized sitting at the table, talking to Cyndy and Reta. Judging the expressions on the women’s faces, these were the guys they had been looking to get together with tonight.

  Laurie was probably with the guy she was interested in, as well. Dancing most likely. The crescendo of music was growing louder. Liam was obviously showing off his musical abilities.

  He wasn’t half bad, Holly decided. Since there was no place for her to sit, she inched her way closer to the band. Selecting a small corner of the dance floor, she claimed it, secure in the idea that she was out of the way and could enjoy listening to the band play for a little while.

  Without meaning to, as the music seemed to seep deeper and deeper into her, Holly began to sway rhythmically to the beat.

  “You know, it’s even better if you put down the drink you’re holding and move your feet,” said a deep male voice behind her.

  Surprised, Holly almost dropped the glass. Turning around, she found herself looking at a tall, good-looking male she judged to be somewhere in his late twenties. He had straight blond hair that he wore a little long. The cut succeeded in giving him a rugged, free-range look—and it didn’t take an Einstein to realize that he knew it.

  His eyes were skimming over her, and Holly felt instantly uncomfortable. “I’ll take your word for it,” she replied pleasantly and then deliberately turned away from him.

  The wrangler didn’t—or wouldn’t—take the hint and leave. Instead, he poured on a little more of what he had to have assumed was his charm.

  “I’ve always felt that finding things out for yourself is the best way to remember the lesson,” he told her. Taking the drink out of her hand, he put it down on the closest flat surface ne
ar them.

  He’d surprised her. Otherwise, she would have held on harder to her glass. “Maybe I’m not looking to learn any lessons,” she countered, reaching around him to pick up her drink.

  “Then how about just dancing?” her persistent admirer suggested, removing the drink from her hand for a second time.

  “I’m not looking to do that, either,” Holly told him firmly, her voice losing its polite edge.

  The wrangler moved the drink so that she would have been forced to move into him in order to reach for it again. He blocked her next move, taking a firm hold of her hand.

  “That’s what your lips say,” he told her. “But your hips seem to have other ideas. I’m throwing my vote in with your hips.”

  Her eyes were icy now, as was her tone. She absolutely hated the idea of causing a scene, but there was no way she was going to allow herself to be plucked up like a piece of candy from a tray, and she could see that this pushy cowboy had more than just dancing on his mind. “You can throw your vote into the Rio Grande, I really don’t care.”

  “C’mon, little lady,” he coaxed, grabbing her and pulling her toward him. “Just one dance. You didn’t get all dolled up like that just to do an imitation of a wallflower.”

  “Well, I sure didn’t do it to dance with you,” she retorted, determined to pull herself free.

  “Feisty. I like that,” the cowboy declared, laughing as his hold on her tightened, rendering her unable to get away.

  For the second time in the space of a few minutes, Holly heard a male voice speak up behind her. “The lady said she’s not interested in dancing with you. What part of no do you find confusing?”

  The way her heart just leaped, even with all the noise, she knew that had to be Ray. How did he get over here so fast? She’d just seen him trying to romance Emma. She sincerely doubted that Emma had said she wasn’t interested and had sent Ray away.

  “Move on, cowboy,” the grabby wrangler ordered between clenched teeth.