Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy - Diana Palmer Page 0,48
tree blinked in patterns and Teddie did most of the decorating, only letting Parker put the decorations and lights on the places she couldn’t reach.
The result was a nine-foot-tall wonder. They took photos of it to show the coming child, when he was old enough to understand the beautiful expression of the season.
Parker put an arm around both of his girls as they stared at the end result of Teddie’s and Katy’s labors.
“It’s the most beautiful tree we’ve ever had,” Katy said.
“Oh, yes,” Teddie agreed.
“We should bring Bartholomew in here and stand him up beside it. He could be a decoration,” Parker suggested dryly.
Bart had been returned by J.L. after Dealy was pursued, caught, arrested, and charged with animal cruelty. He faced years in prison for it. J.L.’s attorneys and their investigator had managed to dig up several prior charges that had been dismissed for lack of evidence. They found evidence to convict, so he was charged in more than ten cases. No local attorney would agree to try his case, so the judge appointed a counselor for him. The consensus of opinion was that Mr. Dealy would spend a long time contemplating his brutal acts.
Meanwhile, the Parkers sat around their beautiful tree and listened to Christmas carols and drank eggnog and ate fruitcake. Parker kissed Katy under the mistletoe and she called him her mistletoe cowboy. They even took a special horse treat out to the barn for Bart.
“This was nice of you, Dad,” Teddie remarked as they watched Bart nibble his treat.
Parker chuckled. “He had it coming. After all, he brought me a family of my very own,” he added softly, looking from a radiant Katy to a beaming Teddie. “And it is,” he added, “the nicest Christmas present I ever got!”
Blame It On the Mistletoe
MARINA ADAIR
Also by Marina Adair
Sweet Plains, Texas Series
TUCKER’S CROSSING
BLAME IT ON THE MISTLETOE
When in Rome Series
ROMeANTICALLY CHALLENGED
HOPELESS ROMeANTIC
Nashville Heights Series
PROMISE ME YOU
Sequoia Lake Series
IT STARTED WITH A KISS
EVERY LITTLE KISS
The Eastons
CHASING I DO
DRIVE ME MAD
Heroes of St. Helena Series
NEED YOU FOR KEEPS
NEED YOU FOR ALWAYS
NEED YOU FOR MINE
St. Helena Vineyard Series
KISSING UNDER THE MISTLETOE
SUMMER IN NAPA
AUTUMN IN THE VINEYARD
BE MINE FOREVER
FROM THE MOMENT WE MET
Sugar, Georgia Series
SUGAR’S TWICE AS SWEET
SUGAR ON TOP
A TASTE OF SUGAR
To my dear friend,
plot partner, and sister for life, Jill Shalvis.
Whiteout conditions, roasting RVs, or
the ER . . . there’s no one I’d rather
be stuck with.
Chapter One
Not much got past Noah Tucker. So he was a little embarrassed to admit that Christmas had completely snuck up on him. In fact, if a tinsel bomb hadn’t erupted overhead, causing him to reach for his off-duty weapon, Christmas would have gone completely unnoticed.
Because this year, Christmas was definitely female and sporting a pair of legs that—even though they were encased in green-and-white striped tights—made him wonder if holiday miracles really did exist.
Home for the holidays was something Noah and his brothers avoided at all costs, which was why he’d waited until the cold had finally scared everyone indoors before taking a stroll through his hometown. But Santa’s Helper—late twenties, five-three, whisky brown eyes, and long blond tinsel-tangled hair—didn’t scare all that easily.
Nope, she was perched on a ladder, with enough twinkle lights to decorate every house from Sweet Plains to the North Pole, trying to place a snow angel atop the tree on the sheriff’s station lawn. Her elf-inspired ensemble wasn’t doing her any favors. Neither was the fact that she was a petite thing trying to decorate a monster of a tree all by her lonesome.
She’d donned a short, green velvet getup with a matching pointy hat and shoes, all trimmed in fur. It was like sexy collided with Christmas, making her the sexiest Elf on the Shelf he’d ever encountered.
“Son of a sleigh bell,” she mumbled as another shower of tinsel drifted to the ground, causing momentary whiteout conditions.
Back in Austin, Noah would have simply checked to ensure she was okay, then gone about his own business. But he wasn’t in Austin. He was in Sweet Plains, Texas, and for the next three weeks his business involved returning to the family ranch, Tucker’s Crossing—a place he’d spent a lifetime trying to escape—to help his brother, Cody, sort through the mess their vengeful old man had left behind.
Imagining what was to come, Noah decided to take a few additional moments of silence for himself before entering the storm.
He looked up and shielded his eyes from falling pine needles. “You need some help, Elf on the Shelf?”