Cowboy Who Came For Christmas. Lenora Worth

that threat had been neutralized. She thought. She hoped. She prayed.

      She shook her head and gave Bettye what she hoped was a calm glance. “He says he’s a Texas Ranger, and he is wearing a badge.”

      Bettye squinted, her chin dipping as she pushed her hat back. “Is his badge over his heart?”

      Sophia glanced down at the unconscious man. His heavy jacket lay open to expose his plaid flannel shirt. The round badge with the star-shaped Texas Department of Public Safety emblem winked at the growing dusk. And scared her into backing up a few steps.

      She nodded to Bettye. “Yes. Is that a good thing?”

      Bettye stomped one of her booted feet. “Dang, I done hit a Texas Ranger over the head. And he’s a mighty pretty thang, at that. I guess I’ll be hauled off to jail.” She shook her head and held down the frying pan she’d used to hit him, her attitude resigned and nonchalant. “You don’t ever mess with a Texas Ranger.”

      She said that with a little too much assurance. Sophia had learned to never ask any of her neighbors about their past and in return, she didn’t have to tell anyone much about hers. It was an unwritten rule of this isolated mountain of misfits and outcasts to keep things to themselves and to protect each other. They’d helped her when she’d first arrived. Helped her and welcomed her, no questions asked.

      “What should we do?” Sophia asked, glancing around.

      If the Ranger was telling the truth, then she had to be on watch. She should have asked him the name of the man he’d come looking for before she’d let Bettye knock him out.

       But it can’t be him. He’s...he can’t hurt me again, ever.

      “Let’s drag him inside your cabin,” Bettye suggested in a meek voice. She sounded as if they’d just discovered a kitten.

      “Why?” Sophia didn’t like that idea. She’d stared into this man’s golden-colored eyes and...well...there was something about him. Something that made her think of a big tiger about to pounce, and that could be even more dangerous than running from your crazy ex-husband.

      “We gotta hide him until he wakes up,” Bettye said. “We need to convince him that we meant him no harm. After all, we’re two innocent, helpless women living in a wild and wondrous world.”

      Sophia would have laughed if the situation hadn’t been so serious. But with a shotgun and a frying pan, they didn’t look all that innocent or helpless. “I tried to shoot him and you knocked him out. How do we explain that?”

      Bettye stared down at him, then kicked one of his snow-encrusted boots with her foot. “I got a plan. Let’s get him inside where it’s warm and I’ll explain.”

      * * *

      ADAN HEARD A band beating a marching tune somewhere close to his ear. Over and over the thump, thump struck at his consciousness until he could feel the hit of a big bass drum inside his brain. He really wanted it to stop. Now.

      He woke up with a killer headache and two women staring down at him. One of them was old and scrawny and full of what looked like a daring glare.

      The other one was young and pretty and full of what looked like apprehension.

      And then he remembered.

      He tried to speak and realized his mouth had been taped shut. He tried to sit up and realized his hands were tied with rope to the old iron bedposts just above a sagging mattress.

      Had he been dropped into a century gone by? That movie The Beguiled with Clint Eastwood came to mind. That thought did not bode well for Adan. He’d left Austin in a hurry to get this man and get home to his five-year-old daughter by Christmas Eve. Adan didn’t intend to break the promise he’d made to Gaylen.

      The women kept staring at him, their hands held down in a prim manner that belied the assault they’d landed on him. Okay, so this was a first. Tricked and hog-tied and now at the mercy of two obviously determined women.

      This was why he didn’t go on blind dates.

      Adan closed his eyes and willed the pounding pain and this bad dream to go away. Neither did. So he opened his eyes again and grunted. Crescent Mountain had not been kind to him.

      He’d left Austin during a massive winter storm that covered the whole state of Texas, and now he’d managed to get stuck on this mountain in the middle of a brutal chill. The icy roads and a raging snowstorm full of daring, crazy drivers had stalled him for hours. He’d slipped and slid his pickup right through that and taken way more time than he’d planned, but he’d at least found the last road up the mountain before nightfall.

      Only to take a mean slide toward the left and into a towering rock face that dented and banged his truck, and then he got stuck in a snowdrift. So he’d walked uphill the rest of the way and spotted a cabin that appeared to be empty. He’d come up here to see if he could get help or at least get in out of the cold until he could continue to look for the fugitive he’d been tracking. Maybe he should have asked a few more questions in the process.

      Now he’d been attacked and accosted by two fierce women.

      It was about time for him to retire.

      He tried to speak. Tried to sit up. Gave up and grunted again, his gaze passing between the two crazy women before he pinned his eyes on the young, pretty one.

      * * *

      SOPHIA WATCHED HIM, her heart doing that warning clang as her pulsed picked up tempo. “I’m gonna take off the tape,” she said. “But first, we need you to understand something.” She got closer. “You have to remain quiet and calm. Nod if you can do that.”

      He nodded, glared, struggled with his ties.

      Bettye grinned, the shotgun in her capable hands.

      “We didn’t mean to hurt you,” Sophia said, hoping he’d believe her. “We live close by and we watch out for each other. We have a few other neighbors but we’re not used to strangers showing up. Usually we just get long-lost relatives or a few lost tourists, but not during the worst winter storm of the season. Do you understand?”

      “You shook us up,” Bettye said, bobbing her head. “She was over visiting me and saw you snooping around her cabin.”

      He grunted and gave Sophia a stare down.

      Ignoring those tiger eyes, she continued. “Good. So if I take off the tape and untie your hands, you aren’t going to haul us in or report us for assault with a deadly weapon or an attempt to shoot an officer of the law, are you?”

      Bettye patted the shotgun, still grinning.

      He grunted and shook his head, his golden-green eyes sending a different message from the docile grunt. He was probably bluffing, but she couldn’t keep the man tied up inside her cabin. Her very small cabin.

      Sophia looked at Bettye. Bettye nodded and leaned over the man. “Just for good measure, I’ll shoot you if you try anything.”

      “Do you understand that?” Sophia asked, hoping they had properly handled this situation. “We need you to understand we’re just trying to protect ourselves.”

      She didn’t intend to let Bettye shoot the Ranger, but she wanted him to know this was serious. “Okay?”

      He nodded, tugged at his restraints.

      Sophia placed one hand on his face and felt the brittle caress of his five-o’clock shadow. Her fingertips tingled with an awareness that skidded right up her arm. In an attempt to ignore the unusual, long-dormant feeling, she smiled and gave him a reassuring glance. “This might hurt a bit.”

      Then she pulled the duct tape off his mouth.

      * * *

      ADAN GRITTED HIS teeth but to save face, he refused to scream. As soon as the tape was off, he let out a string of colorful words.

      “No