Her Christmas Cowboy (The Wyoming Cowboy #5) - Jessica Clare Page 0,34

resist his curiosity. He opened one of the cases . . . and saw a bracelet. There was a necklace in another, and a pin of some kind in another. All of them looked glittery and very expensive.

What the hell? No wonder she didn’t like his coffeepot. How could he compete with gold? He’d sent her fucking boots like an idiot. A coffeepot. Should he have been sending her jewelry all this time?

Caleb clearly had to step up his game. He needed to talk to Jack.

* * *

* * *

Love notes,” Jack declared with a firm nod. “Girls love that sort of thing.”

“Love notes?” Caleb echoed, just a hint disgusted. “Are you serious? When I gave her a coffee maker?”

Jack just nodded and leaned in, his arms crossed as he sat at the table with his brother. “I’m telling you. Women love a romantic note. You need to up the ante. This guy’s sending her jewelry. Unless you wanna clean out your savings account, you gotta go super-romantic. Big gestures. Love notes.” Jack pushed a pen and a piece of paper toward Caleb. “Now, start writing.”

Love notes.

Big gestures.

That part did ring true. He remembered that when he’d first seen Amy, Hank had been asking her for advice about how to woo her friend Becca. Amy had suggested a big gesture of some kind, something to let her know she was appreciated.

Hell . . . Jack was probably right. Making a noise of protest in his throat, Caleb pushed aside his cup of coffee and took the pen. “I can’t even talk right in her presence and I’m supposed to somehow come up with a love note?”

“Not just one,” Jack said, grinning ear to ear. He was clearly eating this shit up. “I think you need to send her a bunch of them.”

“Exactly how many?”

Jack shrugged. “A big gesture would be to send her one an hour every hour while she’s at work.”

“What, and I just show up and deliver them by hand? You know that won’t work. I can barely speak around her. She’ll think I’m an idiot.” Caleb stared down at the paper in front of him as if it was offensive. “What if she wants me to read it aloud?”

Jack considered this, scratching his chin. After a moment, he snapped his fingers. “You send flowers. One rose with each love note, every hour.”

Flowers? Caleb scowled. “I’m pretty sure she’s flowered out at this point.”

“Women are never flowered out,” Jack said confidently. “And she’ll love the notes. Who’s the expert here, you or me?”

“Expert on what?” Hank’s voice boomed into the Swinging C kitchen a moment before the door slammed shut behind him.

Caleb just put his hand on his forehead, fighting back a groan. Great. The last thing he needed was his older brother showing up to offer advice and make fun of him. Like this wasn’t hard enough as it was.

“The expert on romance,” Jack said with a grin and gestured at Caleb. “The teacher’s playing hard to get.”

“I can’t compete with jewelry,” Caleb muttered.

“You can . . . It just usually involves more jewelry.” Hank flipped a chair around and straddled it, sitting with his brothers. “Someone’s giving her jewelry?”

“Her other secret admirer,” Caleb admitted, and then gave his brother a curious look. “What are you doing here this late at night? Becca okay?” Now that Hank had married, he and his daughter lived with Becca in town, and Hank was normally gone from the ranch after dark to spend the rest of the day with his family. Uncle Ennis went to bed early, so it was just Jack and Caleb . . . or so Caleb had hoped.

Hank just grunted, shrugging his shoulders. “Libby’s been checking all the closets constantly to see where ‘Santa’ is hiding her presents, so I hid them up here in my old room. I came by tonight to wrap ’em, but I see we have other entertainment planned.” He nudged Caleb.

Caleb just scowled.

“I thought you were there all week helping her out,” Hank said. “Isn’t that why Jack and I have been covering your chores all the damn time? So you could romance her?”

“Ain’t working,” Jack declared. “He’s still tongue-tied around her.”

“Have you tried getting drunk?” Hank asked.

Caleb glared at his older brother. “I’m not getting drunk just to be around her.”

“Turns out our girl has another admirer,” Jack went on, ignoring the look Caleb shot him. “She’s been getting roses and jewelry all week while our boy gave her a