A Thunder Canyon Christmas Read online

  “Don’t you think Clay will figure out something’s hinky when this engagement of ours never materializes?”

  “Who knows?” Matt shrugged. “By then, he’ll hopefully have found some other poor woman to cling to.”

  She was quiet for a moment as they walked out of the lodge and into the December night, starry and cold and lit by little twinkling gold lights adorning the lodge.

  “What about Elise Clifton?” she asked as they waited for the valet to bring his pickup. “What if she hears rumors we’re engaged?”

  “There’s nothing going on between Elise and me,” he said, even though the words weren’t precisely true. What would it matter if she did find out? She probably wouldn’t care, even if it were true. Elise was a friend—that was all.

  Yet he was suddenly shocked to find himself wanting much more.

  Chapter Six

  “You need to march straight home and climb back to bed, missy. I’m not going to listen to any more arguments.”

  Elise stared down at Haley. Her best friend, who was currently huddled at her desk at ROOTS with a blanket over her shoulders, a nearly empty box of tissues at her elbow and complete misery on her features.

  “I can’t be sick another minute. I have way too much to do!” Haley wailed, then gave a wretched-sounding cough. “The Christmas party is only four days away and I still have to finish the decorations and make sure the caterers are ready and organize the swag bags from all the donations we’ve received.”

  “And if you don’t get some rest and take care of yourself, you’re going to be in a hospital bed while the rest of us throw a party. Go home, Hale.”

  “I can’t just dump it all on you.”

  “I don’t mind. Knowing you, I imagine your notes are extensive enough that I can figure out everything.”

  “It still doesn’t seem right.”

  Elise wasn’t always the most firm person on the planet, but she wasn’t going to budge about this. “Go home,” she repeated. “If not for your own sake, think about all these kids you love so much. What if you pass on all your pesky little germs and make them sick for the holidays?”

  Haley opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again and slumped a little further down in her chair. “You’re right. Darn it, you’re right.”

  “Of course I am. Come on, I’ll help you to your car.”

  Haley sighed heavily as if the very idea of moving just then was far beyond her capabilities. She lifted her hands to the arms of her desk chair but before she could rise, the door to ROOTS opened with a blast of cold air.

  For a moment, Elise felt her heartbeat skitter at the tall, muscled figure who walked through, then she shook herself. Not Matt. Despite the fact that he shared the same brown hair and eyes and those sturdy, cry-on-me shoulders, this was Marlon, Matt’s twin brother. She could tell in an instant, though she wasn’t exactly certain how she knew.

  He stood inside the renovated storefront that now housed Haley’s volunteer organization aimed at helping Thunder Canyon’s troubled youth. Marlon looked between the two of them. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m trying to convince your stubborn girlfriend that she needs to be home in bed.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Funny, that’s exactly what I told her when she managed to crawl out this morning.”

  “It’s just a cold,” Haley insisted, though her brown eyes were bloodshot, her nose red, her skin pale. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Sure you will.” Elise said briskly. “You’ll be good as new in a day or two. In the meantime, I can handle things here. I don’t want you to worry for a single moment. I think I can manage to answer phones and make some Christmas decorations without ROOTS falling completely apart.”

  “It’s such a lousy time to be sick. I have so much to do.”

  Elise shared a sympathetic look with Marlon and was struck again by the similarities yet differences between him and Matt.

  “Nothing that’s so important it’s worth jeopardizing your health to accomplish,” Marlon said sternly. “Come on, I’ll drop you back at home and tuck you in with a cup of tea and a good book.”

  Was she a terrible person that she actually envied her friend? Oh, not for the lousy cold. She would happily leave that to Haley since Elise hated being sick worse than just about anything. But Marlon’s tender concern for the woman he loved touched a chord somewhere deep inside, left her with a nameless ache in her chest.

  Though she dated here and there, she had avoided any serious entanglements the last few years after a nasty experience with her ex-boyfriend. As she watched Haley and Marlon together, Elise had to wonder if she’d been wrong. A broken heart—or more accurately, probably, bruised ego—from one cheating louse didn’t mean she had to give up all hope of finding what Haley and Marlon shared.

  “Go home and go back to bed,” Elise said again. “When you wake up later today, you can email me your to-do list. Meantime, I can start with the Christmas decorations for the party.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. Go home. If you don’t go on your own, I have a feeling Marlon over there will toss you over his shoulder and haul you out of here.”

  “Really?” Haley shifted her gaze to the man. For the first time since Elise had walked into ROOTS a half hour ago, she saw a tiny smile on her friend’s face.

  Marlon grinned. “In a heartbeat, sweetheart. Want to try me? Come on, let’s get you home.”

  Though Haley still looked far from convinced, Elise and Marlon finally managed to usher her out the door and into Marlon’s vehicle.

  After they left, Elise turned around to survey this place her friend loved so much. The place wasn’t fancy but Haley had managed to turn it into a comfortable hangout for troubled local teens. The wall facing the street was covered in a mural that Haley painted—kids with books, computers, sports images. A couch covered with a slipcover took up one wall and in a corner was a TV with video games.

  Haley loved it here and was passionate about helping her teens. Elise knew Haley came up with the idea after her own brother Austin ran into trouble and was helped through it by some local ranching folk. Haley had more than paid it forward by providing a foundation for kids who might be feeling similarly rootless.

  Elise envied Haley her dedication and determination. She wasn’t sure she had ever cared as passionately for anything.

  Oh, she had worked hard to earn her bachelor’s degree in business and had enjoyed her job managing a bookstore in Billings. She wanted to think she had been good at her job—good enough that her district manager had assured her he would only accept a temporary leave of absence rather than a full-on resignation when she made the decision to come to Thunder Canyon for the holidays after Erin’s stunning revelation.

  While she had enjoyed the challenges of running a small bookstore, she couldn’t say she really missed it. What she had missed was the chance to do something constructive. The last two weeks, she had tried to stay busy by helping out at the ranch but Stephanie had everything running so smoothly there, Elise had mostly been in the way.

  She actually relished the chance to help Haley out at ROOTS for a few days, if only to provide a distraction from everything that had happened in the last month.

  If the work also helped divert her mind from Marlon’s gorgeous twin brother, she considered that a definite bonus.

  Several hours later, Elsie was questioning her sanity. Her fingers had a dozen pinpricks from stringing popcorn and cranberries for the tree garlands, her neck had cramped about an hour ago and her eyes were blurry and achy from concentrating.

  Added to that, all afternoon, ROOTS had been a madhouse with people coming in and out to make deliveries of donations for the party and the phone had been ringing off the hook with people asking questions she couldn’t answer.

  Since the high school let out, a couple dozen teens had descended to do homework or play video games or just to hang out.

  Now, near 6:00 p.m., they had all dispersed, lea
ving her alone again to finish up the Christmas decorations.

  Night came early at this latitude as Montana was headed for the shortest day of the year in a week, and outside the Christmas lights up and down the streets of Old Town Thunder Canyon had slowly flickered on.

  There. One more cranberry and she was calling this one good. She tied the knot on the string then carried the garland to the back room to go with the rest of the decorations, twisting her neck from side to side as she walked, to stretch her achy muscles. She laid it carefully across the folding table she had unearthed from a corner and had set up to hold the decorations. She flipped off the light to return to the front when she suddenly heard the jingling bells on the door.

  So much for locking up. Who would be coming this late? Probably somebody with another donation. The generosity of the townspeople had been a definite eye-opener.

  Elise gave a weary sigh and headed out to greet the newcomer.

  As soon as she spied the tall, dark-haired man near the door, her heart gave a ridiculous little leap and this time she didn’t even wonder for an instant which Cates brother it was.

  “Matt. Hi!”

  He entered the room with that long-legged, loose-hipped walk of his and her stomach sizzled.

  Surprise and something else—something that left her hot and edgy—flashed in his eyes. “Oh! You’re not Haley.”

  “No. She’s a few inches taller and her hair is brown and quite a bit longer. And you’re not Marlon.”

  He sent her a sidelong look and she saw the teasing sparkle in his eyes. The Cates boys had been notorious in school for playing tricks on people, pretending to be each other at the most inconvenient moments.

  “You sure about that?” he asked.

  She stacked stray papers on Haley’s desk so her workspace would be neat in the morning. “Completely. Marlon’s the good-looking one.”

  Surprise flickered in those brown eyes again and then he laughed. “Wow. A little harsh, don’t you think?”

  All the stresses of the day seemed to shimmer away like silvery tinsel on the wind. How did he have that effect on her? she wondered. She had no idea—but she was very much afraid she might become addicted to it.

  “You know I’m joking. You’re identical twins, both of you too gorgeous for your own good.”

  As soon as the words were out, she couldn’t believe she had actually spoken them aloud. She wasn’t exactly the flirty, lighthearted type. Actually, she had always been a little on the shy side when it came to men, especially big, sexy men like Matt Cates.

  He didn’t seem to find her remark out of character but it did seem to make him uncomfortable. He rolled his eyes and she thought she detected a slight hint of color on his features. Really? Could he honestly not be aware of his effect on the opposite sex? He had been breaking girls’ hearts since grade school.

  “Seriously, how can you tell?” he asked her with a quizzical look. “Sometimes our own parents aren’t sure.”

  “Besides the black eye, you mean? I’m not quite sure. I just know.” She studied him, trying to figure out the signs she took for granted. “Your chins are shaped a little differently, I guess. Your hair’s just a little more streaky than his. Oh, and your lashes are just a bit longer.”

  He still looked baffled and Elise could feel herself blush. How could she tell him she had spent a long time staring at him when he wasn’t paying her any attention, from the time she was old enough to even notice him?

  “However you do it, it’s amazing. Not many people can tell us apart.” He looked around. “So is Haley here?”

  “No. Your brother—”

  “You mean the good-looking one?” he interrupted.

  She smiled. “Right. Marlon took her home earlier. She’s got a bad cold and is feeling lousy. She tried to tough it out here at ROOTS for a while but seemed to be getting worse, not better. I offered to step in to help her with the Christmas party Friday so she could recover and keep her bad juju to herself.”

  “Oh, right. I forgot about the party.”

  She pointed to the boxes of donations. “If you’d like, I’ve got about a hundred gift bags to fill that might jog your memory.”

  “Tonight?”

  He sounded as if he was completely willing to sit right down and start throwing bags together, which she found rather wonderful.

  “No. I’ll probably work on them a little later in the week once all the donations come in. But thanks for the offer. Haley might take you up on it if she comes back in time to crack the whip over all the volunteers.” She paused. “Sorry, you must have had a reason for coming in to see Haley. Is there something I can help you with?”

  He didn’t say anything for several beats, only looked at her with that glittery look in his eyes again, until her skin felt achy and tight.

  After a moment, he cleared his throat. “Actually, I had a good excuse to come visit Haley but that’s all it was. An excuse. In reality, I was trying to be sneaky.”

  “You? Sneaky? Imagine that!”

  He ignored her dry tone. “You know, finding you here instead of Haley works out even better for me. You’re the perfect person to help me out.”

  “Am I?”

  He sat on the edge of the desk and she tried not to feel overwhelmed by all that rugged strength so close to her. “You’ve been friends with Haley for a long time, right? So you know her pretty well.”

  “She and Steph have been my closest friends forever.”

  “Great!” He grinned and she had to remind herself to breathe. “This is perfect. You can come to Bozeman with me tonight.”

  She blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m trying to find a Christmas present for her. Not just any Christmas present, the perfect Christmas present. She’s the only one left on my list.”

  That he had a list in the first place struck her as odd. That he was enlisting her help to cross Haley’s name off that list was even more surreal. “She’s really the only one whose present you haven’t bought yet? You still have another week and a half before Christmas. I thought most guys tended to wait until the last minute.”

  He manufactured an affronted look. “That is a blatant stereotype, Ms. Clifton, and I am personally offended by it.”

  She couldn’t help herself—she smiled. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this, well, happy. “Oh, sorry to be a reverse chauvinist. But every man I know waits until the last minute. Grant and my cousin Bo are the worst.”

  He shrugged. “I happen to love Christmas and the whole giving-presents thing. I’ve had almost everything done and even wrapped for a while now, except for Haley’s gift. She’s still fairly new to our family circle and since this is her first Christmas with us, I wanted to find something special. I’m heading into Bozeman right now before all the stores close and dropped by ROOTS hoping I could finesse a few hints out of her about what she would like before I leave.”

  “I’m sorry she’s not here.”

  “Not at all. Now you can come with me, which is even better. I’ll even spring for dinner. What time are you closing up shop here?”

  “I was just about to. But I can’t just…”

  “Sure you can,” he said over her objections. “Come on, it will be fun.”

  She could think of a dozen reasons why she shouldn’t go with him. She was tired. She had a headache. She wasn’t thrilled about her silly, futile crush on him and had been warning herself since Saturday morning when he dropped her off back at Clifton’s Pride that she needed to keep her distance so she didn’t make an even bigger fool of herself over him.

  But her words to Grant that morning after he drove away still echoed in her mind. She owed him for coming to her rescue the other night at The Hitching Post—and he still had the vividly colored eye to show for it.

  Without him, she might have found herself in serious trouble with Jake Halloran. He had stepped in to rescue her from a jam at considerable risk to himself. All he wanted now was the simple favor of helpi
ng him select a gift. If she went with him to Bozeman, perhaps she wouldn’t feel quite so indebted to him.

  The trick would be making it through the evening alone with him without completely humiliating herself while the memory of that stunning kiss simmered under her skin.

  “Fine.” She spoke quickly before she could change her mind. “But since you apparently love Christmas so much, I’m still going to expect you to help me fill those gift bags.”

  “It’s a deal.” He grinned and helped her find her coat.

  “Are you sure about this?”

  Two hours later, they stood inside an art gallery just before closing time looking at an elaborate—and elaborately priced—needlework sampler that depicted an old, gnarled oak tree. In the thin, topmost branches perched a stately, magnificent eagle with its wings outstretched, gleaming gold as if reflecting sunlight.

  “Positive. Oh, Matt. It’s perfect. Haley will love it.”

  He studied the piece. It was lovely, in an artsy sort of way. He could see where Haley would probably enjoy it. Elise seemed convinced, anyway. The moment they had walked into the gallery after searching fruitlessly through three or four other crowded stores, she saw it hanging on the wall and gasped with delight.

  “You’re the expert, I guess,” he said now.

  “Trust me, she’s going to love it. It’s perfect,” she said again. “So perfect it might have been custom made for her. You know that’s the reason she named her teen organization ROOTS, right? Because of a sampler her mother had hanging on the wall. It said something about how there are but two lasting bequests we can give children—roots and wings. This covers both of those things. I mean it. With this present you’re going to win the best future brother-in-law race, hands down.”

  “Well that’s something, at least,” he said dryly. “I wouldn’t want her favoring Marshall or Mitch over me.”

  “Haley’s going to love it,” she assured him. “In fact, she just might wonder if she’s marrying the wrong twin.”