The Cowboy Who Saved Christmas - Jodi Thomas Page 0,44

followed Ben into a library. And we closed the door to the outside world.

Once again, it was just us, the way we knew how to be, but—nothing about this situation felt like us. Above my head, hanging from a hook on the nearest bookshelf, hung a branch of fresh mistletoe. It was the third one I’d seen since I walked through the front doors of Mr. Mason’s home. Someone here was a romantic.

“What’s going on, Ben?” I asked, echoing my father’s question. “This is a bit much to steal a kiss, don’t you think? What on earth are you doing here?”

Ben glanced fleetingly above our heads, and then closed his eyes, his hands warm on my upper arms. I felt goose bumps travel from the back of my neck down to the soles of my feet. Something big was happening. Something—possibly not good.

“I love you, Josie Bancroft,” he said. “I swear on my life, I will love you until the day I die.”

That was ominous. And the way he held me now, the way he looked at me—those goose bumps intensified.

“I love you, too, Ben,” I said, winking at him. “I love you more.” My hands rested on his suit coat, bringing down my gaze to the fine leather I was touching. Nothing like the work clothes he wore every day. But then, I didn’t normally don fancy dresses either, so . . . But maybe it was about my birthday? It felt so off-balance. “Why are you here? How—”

His lips were on mine, stopping my words. Soft. Bold. Incredibly needy, as his hands moved to hold my face as he kissed me as though he were memorizing the feel and taste of me.

This wasn’t about a birthday surprise. Or Christmas anything. Something was wrong. Or big. Or both.

I pulled back and looked into his eyes, narrowing mine.

“Tell me,” I said. “Whatever it is. Tell me, right now.”

Ben took in a long breath and released it slowly, while never breaking my gaze. My last thought as he opened his mouth to speak, was that nothing would ever be the same again.

“Travis Mason is my uncle,” he said.

Blinking, I pulled back an inch.

“What?”

“His brother, Lawrence, is my father,” he said. “and the long and the short of it is that I came here to work and—”

“Wait,” I said, pushing back against the leather suit that suddenly felt foreign under my touch. “You told me—how did you end up at our—”

“The theft at the Lucky B,” he said. “The food. The supplies.”

“That’s you?” I cried, pushing harder against his hold.

“No!” he said, shutting his eyes briefly. “Damn it, this isn’t going right,” he muttered. “Please just listen.”

My mind was going in every direction but in listening mode, but I tilted my head to let him continue.

“I was new in town, so they—”

“They, who?”

He sighed, frustration working on his patience. “My uncle. Your father. They sent me to your ranch to see if I could learn anything. Keep my eyes and ears open.”

I felt my jaw drop.

“You are at the Lucky B to spy on us?”

“Not you,” he said. “The other hands. They think it’s someone working there.”

“You lied to me,” I breathed.

Ben—or whoever he was—stared at me.

“I just told you, my uncle and—”

“I don’t care what you did for them,” I said, the burn building behind my eyes. “I care that you didn’t tell me.”

“It was a secret,” he said. “Strictly forbidden.”

“So was I, but you broke that rule with no problem,” I said. “You could have confided in me.”

“Josie.”

“We talk about everything,” I said, tears spilling over my lashes that I angrily swiped away. “Everything. Our pasts, our dreams. I gave you—” I sucked in a breath as a heat wave washed over me. “I gave you all that I have. All of me.”

“And I love you for that,” he said, crossing the space I’d put between us. “I wanted to tell you so many times, but I’m telling you now, love—”

“Only because you’re caught,” I said, backing toward the door as realization dawned. “That’s why you didn’t want me here. It wasn’t about other men’s attention on me. It was about my seeing you here.”

“No,” he said. His eyes said otherwise.

How could I have been so stupid?

“I trusted you,” I said, my breath hitching.

“Josie, please,” he said, his jaw tight. “It wasn’t like that.”

“No? How was it?”

“It was doing a job and ending up falling in love with the boss’s daughter,” he said roughly, blowing out a breath. “Yes, I