The Rancher's Christmas Princess (17 page)

And that just made her feel more lost and alone and
hopeless.

She considered getting up and calling home. Talking to Rhia
might help.

But then again, no matter what she did now, it was going to be
a hellish week. No need to drag her sister down into her misery with her.

Maybe a little hot milk would help soothe her, help her get a
little sleep. She was pushing back the covers and lowering her feet to the rug
when she heard the explosion outside—a horrible, screeching sound, followed by a
crash and an ear-flaying crunching of metal.

A second later, it all happened again.

A horn started honking. And kept honking. One long, continuous
wail of sound.

She let out a small cry of alarm and ran to the window. It took
her startled brain several seconds to register what she saw.

In the light of the half moon, she saw that a red pickup had
crashed into the big pine tree in the center of the yard. And then a black
pickup had crashed into the red one. One headlight on each vehicle remained on,
beaming bright streams of light into the frozen Montana night.

That horn kept honking.

As she whirled from the window to grab her robe, she saw the
lights go on at Silas’s house and the ranch hands’ cabin—and heard Ben start
crying. Swiftly, she pulled on her robe and put on her slippers.

Preston emerged from his room as she came out of hers. Even
with the horn blaring and Ben yowling, they both stopped stock-still for a
moment and stared at each other. The constant aching in her heart turned to
agony.

Then Preston finished zipping up his jeans. “You get Ben? I’ll
go down.”

“Yes, all right.” She shook herself and turned for Ben’s
room.

Ben was inconsolable, standing in his crib, screaming for
Anne.

Belle rushed to him and scooped him up. “Oh, Ben. It’s all
right. You’re safe, my darling. Safe...”

He pushed at her and told her no and called out “Mama!” over
and over.

She carried him to the rocker and sat down and rocked him until
he stopped pushing her away and grabbed her close instead, until he stopped
crying for Anne and sobbed her name. “Belle, Belle...”

“Yes, oh yes. That was so scary. I was scared, too. But you are
safe and I have got you and everything is going to be all right....”

“Belle.” He gave a soggy little sniff and nuzzled her neck.
“Belle...”

Charlotte appeared in the open doorway to the upstairs hall,
those big eyes wider than ever.

Belle stroked Ben’s soft hair and cradled him close to her
heart. “What happened?”

“Preston’s old girlfriend had a fight with her husband.”

“Lucy and Monty, you mean?”

Charlotte nodded. “She took off in her truck and he took off
after her. Somehow, she ended up here. She crashed into the pine tree out in
front. And
he
crashed into her.”

“Insane.”

“My thought exactly.”

“Were they drinking?”

“Surprisingly, no. Just young and wildly in love and very, very
stupid.”

“Are they...all right?”

“She has a broken nose, I think. It appears that he’s broken
his leg and dislocated a shoulder.”

“Oh, dear God...”

“We’ve called an ambulance. But I think you should come down
and have a look at them. Here. I’ll take Ben....”

Belle rose and handed him over. At first, he held on, his
little arms tight around her neck. She feared he would make a fuss. But then he
sighed, “Shar-Shar,” and went to her willingly.

Belle went downstairs. They had brought the young couple inside
to the family room. Monty lay on the sofa. Lucy, holding a bloody rag to her
nose, knelt beside him. Silas, Preston, Marcus and the two hands stood well
back. All of them looked as though they would prefer to be anywhere but
there.

Lucy was crying. “Oh, Monty. I love you. You know that I
do.”

Monty moaned. “Say it again.”

“I love you. I do. I love you so much. But you’re always so
busy, you never have time for me.”

“I love you, too. You gotta know that. And it’s for us, Luce.
I’m working for us, for our future, for you and for me and for the kids we’re
gonna have someday.... And why did you have to come
here?
” He sent a baleful glance in Preston’s general direction.
“Come lookin’ for
him?
”

“Oh, don’t you see?” Lucy took the rag away from her nose long
enough to swipe at her eyes. “It’s the only way I can get your attention, to try
and make you jealous just a little....” She touched his shoulder.

He groaned in pain.

“Oh!” she cried. “Oh, my honey bear, I’m so sorry. Does it hurt
so very much?”

“Say it again,” he muttered low and with real passion.

“Honey bear, you’re my honey bear. My own, sweet, handsome
honey bear...”

Silas made a groaning sound. It had nothing to do with physical
pain. When Belle glanced at him, he started making frantic gestures that she
should step in and do a little nursing—and shut those two up while she was at
it.

Belle cleared her throat. “Excuse me, I’m a nurse. I understand
an ambulance has been called. But if you don’t mind, I would like to have a
quick look at both of you, just to be certain there’s nothing that requires
immediate attention.”

Lucy’s blond head whipped around. “Oh! You’re the princess,
right? How do you do, Your Royal Highness?”

“I am perfectly well, thank you. And please, call me Belle. Now
let’s have a look at your husband first, shall we?”

“Whatever you need to do, Your Majesty. Just ease his pain,
ease my honey bear’s terrible pain.”

“I’ll, er, do my best.” She sent a glance toward the huddle of
men. “Would one of you get some ice for Lucy’s nose, please?”

“You got it.” Silas headed for the kitchen.

Belle examined Monty. She had Preston help her immobilize his
injured leg. For the shoulder, she warned Monty to keep it still and hoped the
ambulance would be quick in coming. Dislocations were terribly painful, but he
really should have X-rays before anyone attempted to put the bone back into the
socket.

She was just turning to have a look at Lucy when they heard the
ambulance siren approaching.

A half hour later, Lucy and Monty were off to the hospital in
Missoula. Preston turned on the Christmas lights outside and Belle turned on the
ones inside. Charlotte came downstairs and reported that Ben had gone back to
sleep. They agreed it was a good sign that he’d recovered from the painful
incident so quickly. Charlotte went to the kitchen to make hot chocolate. The
men joined them at the kitchen table. They drank chocolate and ate big slices of
Doris’s cranberry-orange bread and waited for the tow trucks to arrive.

It was after three when the two wrecked vehicles were finally
towed from the yard. The ranch hands said goodnight and went back to the cabin.
In an hour or two, they would be up again, seeing to the horses and cattle and
the chickens in the run out back. So would Preston. Ranch work never ended.
Chores had to be done even on Christmas morning.

Marcus left them for his solitary room off the kitchen.

Charlotte and Silas said good-night. Their arms around each
other, they turned for the house across the yard. Belle smiled to see them go.
It was the first time Charlotte hadn’t come up with some excuse for why she was
going home with Preston’s father.

Charlotte needed no excuse. Not anymore. She had found her
love.

That left Preston and Belle standing alone on the shadowed
front porch of the main house. He opened the door for her. She went in and
turned off the inside Christmas lights and thought how she’d be turning them on
again in just a few more hours, how she only wished she would be turning those
lights on and off at Christmastime for the rest of her days.

But too often in life, a woman’s dearest wish is not destined
to come true.

She stood at the big window that looked out over the yard in
front and watched the outside Christmas lights go dark as Preston turned them
off. Her eyes adjusted quickly and she studied the old pine in the light of the
moon. The trunk was newly scarred from the impact of Lucy’s red pickup. But the
tree still stood tall. It would probably be standing there for years to
come.

“Belle.”

It was Preston’s voice from the doorway to the foyer behind
her. So deep and strong, but tender, too. The sound sent a warm shiver through
her. Hope rose anew.

He said, “Monty Polk is a stone idiot, but at least he’s got
the guts to tell his woman how he feels about her.”

She turned to him then. “Oh, Preston...”

And then he said, “Belle, I can’t take this anymore. I should
be a bigger man. I should let you go. But if you still...” His voice caught. Her
heart soared. “Anything, Belle,” he said at last in a rough rumble. “I’ll do
anything if you’ll only give me one more chance.”

Chapter Fourteen

I
nside, she was trembling.

But her outstretched hand was steady. “All you ever had to do
was be willing to give the two of us a chance.”

He came to her, his boots eating up the space between them in
three long strides. He took her hand. As his rough fingers closed around hers,
warmth suffused her. She knew the sweetest sensation. It was joy, pure and
simple. He said, “It’s all been so fast. In an instant. Do you realize it’s been
only three weeks since I walked into the Sweet Stop and found you sitting
there?”

She gazed up at him. She would never grow tired of looking at
him. Even in the dim light of the darkened room, his blue eyes were shining. “I
knew you were someone special, Preston. From that very first moment.”

“And I knew you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
And also a million miles above me.”

“No, that’s not so—except maybe in your mind. Since I met you,
I’ve only wanted to stand beside you. And the way I remember it, you did ask me
to dinner right then and there. Hardly the first move of a man who’s decided
he’s beneath me.”

He chuckled then, a somewhat baffled sound. “I don’t know what
got into me. I was thinking how I would never have a chance with you. And then,
a second later, I was asking you out.”

“And I was...in turmoil. I wanted to go out with you—for your
own sake. And that was completely inappropriate. I needed to be thinking about
how to tell you that Anne had died and left you a son.”

“Come here,” he commanded, rough and tender at once. “Come
close....”

“Oh, Preston.” She swayed against him, wrapped her arms around
his lean waist, tipped her face up to look at him. “I’ve been so angry at you.
It’s been horrible.”

“Yeah.” He put a finger under her chin, caressed her cheek. “I
knew you were. But I was stuck on the idea that I was doing the right thing,
that it could never work with us in the long run. That we were just...something
perfect and magical and not meant to last, something beautiful that happened one
holiday season. I had this idea that I should let you go now, for your sake,
because you could do a lot better....”

“That’s not so.”

He touched her lips with his thumb. “I don’t know. Maybe it
is.”

“It’s not.”

“Well, it seemed so to me. And I also, well, I wanted to get
losing you over with. I told myself that it would only be harder when you walked
away later.”

“Who said I would walk away later?”

“I just assumed. That you would grow tired of me, that you’d
get bored living here.”

“I thought we talked about that.”

“Yeah. Well. I guess I wasn’t listening.”

Remembering the pain of that night made an ache in the back of
her throat. “It hurt so much to think I had lost you already when I had only
just found you.”

He gathered her in, so he had both of those big arms around her
at last. He kissed her hair. “I’m here. I’m...stepping up.”

She sighed and leaned her head on his broad chest.
Home,
she thought.
Right here.
This is my home.
“This moment?” She made the two words a
question.

“Yeah?”

“This is the best Christmas present I’ve ever received.” Tears
welled then. He must have heard them in her voice because he tipped her chin up
again and bent close to kiss those tears away.

When he lifted his head, he whispered, “I’m ashamed to tell
you...”

She held his gaze. “Anything. Whatever’s bothering you,
whatever needs saying, you can say it to me. You
have
to say it to me. You have to give us a chance to work through
the things that are getting in our way.”

“I’m afraid, that’s all. I’m shaking in my boots. And a man
doesn’t like to admit he’s afraid.”

She searched his face. “But why?”

He sucked in a slow breath, as though drawing in courage right
along with the oxygen. “Maybe your folks won’t like me, won’t approve of your
hooking up with some small-town horse rancher.”

“Oh, Preston...”

“Don’t make light of that. Please.” The words seemed dredged up
from the deepest part of him. “It’s not a light thing. Not to me. That you might
turn to me one day and suddenly realize that I’m not smooth or sophisticated,
that I’m not from your world. That you’ll end up wondering what you ever saw in
me.”

She hastened to reassure him. “I wouldn’t. I’m not. And in all
the ways that matter, we
are
from the same world.
You are stalwart and true-hearted. You are strong and good and you only want to
do the right thing. You are all the things a man should be—all the things I’ve
ever dreamed of in a man.”

“You make me sound like some...shining ideal of manly
perfection.” There was humor in his eyes now.

And she was glad to see it. “That is exactly what you are—and
as far as your being worried my family won’t accept you, don’t be. Wait until
you meet them. They respect the things that really count in a person, things
like honesty and keeping your word and living up to your agreements. And they
want real happiness for their children. As long as I find the right man for me,
they will be happy for me.”

“Guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“Just wait. You’ll see.”

He caught her hand, brought it to his lips. “I know that it’s
only been three weeks since I first saw you, but I am certain of what’s in my
heart. These last few days of being apart from you, even though we’ve both been
right here in the same house...these last few days have made me see the truth.
It’s too late for me to walk away and not get hurt. I...” He hesitated, drew in
another slow breath. And then, at last, he said it. “I love you, Belle.”

Pure happiness filled her. “Oh, Preston. I love you, too.”

“I want us to be a family—you and me and Ben. And my dad and
Charlotte. All together. I think we could make a good life, you and me.”

“I do, too. Absolutely.”

“I’m willing to talk about moving to Montedoro. I guess a man
can raise horses there as well as here.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think that will be necessary. But
I will need to travel. I have my work.”

He didn’t even hesitate. “Of course. As long as you come home
to me.”

“Always. Oh, yes.”

“And sometimes, maybe, Ben and I could come along. I think it
would be good for him. And for me. To get out, see the world, to see firsthand
the work you do—and you don’t have to say yes yet. You can...take your time.
Think it over.”

“Preston.”

“What?”

“Are you listening?”

“You know that I am.”

“Then I have thought it over and the answer is yes.”

“Belle.” He whispered her name like a sacred prayer. “You’ve
been through a lot, losing Anne, coming all the way to Montana just to give up
the little boy you only wanted to keep.”

“Did you hear me, Preston? Yes.”

“I’m going to ask you again next month. And the month after
that. You need time. I’m not going to push you.”

“What part of yes is unclear to you, Preston?”

“No part of yes is unclear to me. Just...humor me, won’t
you?”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Yes. That is my answer. Now, next
month—and always.”

He kissed her. And then he said so tenderly, “Now,
that’s
the best Christmas present
I
ever had.”