He felt the same way.

On top of that, he was about to lose Ally, too! Talk about yuletide misery. She apparently felt it, too, for she pivoted, saw his eyes gleaming with moisture, and promptly lost it.


THERE WERE TIMES, Ally knew, when a person needed to be held. And right now she needed not just to be held, but for Hank to hold her. And he knew it, too. She thrust herself into his arms. He caught her to him and buried his face in her hair, offering low, consoling words and the sweetest solace she had ever felt. Then the tears came, in an outpouring of grief she could not seem to stop.

Ally cried because they’d lost the dogs they both loved so much. She cried because she had kept her job, and that meant she had to leave. She cried because she wasn’t quite sure where she stood with Hank. And most of all, she cried because for the first time in her life she felt like she just might belong somewhere, with someone. And she wasn’t sure that was going to last, either. All she knew for sure was that she was drenching his shirt, and that he made her feel so safe and cared for. And that he probably thought she was an utter fool, for reacting so emotionally around him…again.

Sniffing, Ally forced herself to pull herself together and draw back. She dabbed at her eyes. “They’re going to be fine,” Hank told Ally firmly as they walked back into the ranch house together.

“Of course they are,” Ally agreed.

Hank laced a protective arm about her waist. “Duchess wasn’t our dog to begin with.”

Ally shrugged out of her jacket. “We knew that from the outset.”

Hank went to tend the fire in the grate. “Looking out the window that way was just Duchess’s way of saying goodbye to us.”

Ally battled a new flood of tears.

Hank paused, abruptly looking as utterly bereft as Ally was feeling. Ally drew a bolstering breath, aware her hands were shaking. She wrung them together. “I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do in a situation like this.”

Hank replaced the screen on the fireplace. “I know what we do in the military when we lose a comrade-and in this case,” the corner of his lips crooked ruefully “-we just lost ‘twelve’ of ’em. We raise a glass in our lost friends’ honor.” He rubbed his chin with the flat of his hand. “The only problem is I think I drank the last beer several days ago, and since it’s only eight in the morning, I doubt any of the bars in town are going to be open. Although I guess we could hit the grocery store…”

Ally didn’t even want to think what the talk would be if she and Hank showed up together, looking for even “medicinal alcohol” at that time of morning.

And while she was soon leaving, to go back to her job in Houston, Hank would have to stay and face-not just the gossip-but the million and one questions from his parents.

“I think I might know where there’s a bottle.” She dragged a chair over to the cabinets and stepped from that onto the countertop. Sidling carefully, she opened the very uppermost storage cabinet, above the sink. Inside, wedged in the very back, was the bottle-just where her mother had put it, the day the gift from a grateful client had arrived.

Ally removed it and blew off the thin layer of dust. “Voila! Peppermint Schnapps!”

Hank wrinkled his nose.

Happy to have something that would ease the sorrow in her aching heart, if only temporarily, Ally waved off his disdain. “Buck up, cowboy! Beggars can’t be choosers.”

She turned to hand off the bottle and found Hank’s hands anchored securely around her waist. He lifted her down, as easily as if she weighed a feather. “You’re right,” he acknowledged, looking like a marine, ready for action. “In this case, a drink’s a drink.”

Her heart racing, for a completely different reason this time, Ally handed the pint to Hank. He ripped off the seal, took off the cap. Sniffed. His expression perplexed, he offered the bottle to her. “Is it supposed to smell like this?”

Ally dutifully inhaled the mixture of peppermint-scented vodka. “I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve never had it.”

He grinned. “Me, either.”

It didn’t matter how tough life was, Ally noted. Being near Hank always made her feel better. “Well, let’s give it a try.” She got down two water glasses, the nearness of him and the intimacy of the moment filling her senses. “You want it over ice or straight up?”

His eyes darkened seductively. “Straight up, probably while holding my nose.”

Ally wrinkled her nose at his joke glad for the distraction of their ‘toast’. She poured an inch in each glass.

Hank lifted a brow. “That’s a little stiff.”

Moving closer, Ally breathed in the masculine fragrance of his skin and hair. “I can handle it.”

He met her gaze and their fingers brushed as he accepted his drink.

He lifted his glass, his deep blue eyes glittering with ardor. “To Duchess and Gracie and the rest of the cute little darlin’s. May they have all the happiness they brought us.”

“Amen to that.” Ally touched her glass to his and took a hefty drink. The liqueur burned on its way down. She coughed a bit while Hank grinned, then poured another inch for both of them. They lifted their glasses again. “And to Mesquite Ridge,” Ally toasted softly, wanting this said. “I’m glad I came back, after all.”


TWO HOURS, A GOOD PORTION of the pint-and a plate of Christmas cookies later-Hank and Ally were lounging side by side on the living room sofa. They’d pulled off their boots and had their feet propped up on the coffee table. Hank had put a CD of Christmas music on, turned the lights on the tree and built a fire in the grate.

The whole scene was like something out of a holiday movie. Ally felt her heart swelling with joy.

As she tilted her head slightly to the left, to look around, the top of her cheek brushed the hardness of Hank’s shoulder. She reveled in the contentment. She still missed the dogs-and knew he did, too-but it still felt so right, being with him this way.

Like they could handle any challenge that came their way, as long as they stuck together…

“I know I didn’t make that many changes, but the ranch house seems so different now,” she murmured.

Hank nodded and shifted position slightly, so the natural thing for Ally to do was let her head rest on his broad shoulder. “It’s much nicer.”

Relaxing all the more, she cuddled against him and admitted, “It makes me want to keep going. You know, redo the kitchen-at least the countertops, floor, and appliances-and bring in some better furniture, like the kind I have in Houston.”

“So it’ll feel even more like home to you,” Hank guessed, regarding her in a reverent, possessive manner.

Ally studied his expression-aware she hadn’t dared share the solution forming in her mind with anyone just yet. “You know, don’t you?”

Blue eyes crinkling, he looked over at her as if he wanted nothing more than to make love to her, as thoroughly and ardently as he had the evening before. He took her hand in his and kissed the inside of her wrist. “Know what?”

Ally tingled with a longing for him that went soul deep. She savored the warm seduction of his touch. “That I’m having second thoughts about selling the house,” she explained.

His expression sobered.

She pushed on. “Not the ranch land-that still has to go. But I’m beginning to think I might want to keep the house and the barn and ten acres or so around them. Just sell the other three thousand nine hundred and ninety acres.”

The joy she had expected to see on his ruggedly handsome face did not materialize.

Hank took a moment to absorb what she’d revealed, then replied in a low, implacable tone, “Corporate Farms is going to want the whole thing.”

Determined to do the right thing, for everyone involved, Ally retorted, “Corporate Farms is going to want a lot of things they aren’t going to get.”

Hank went very still. “You’ve decided not to sell to them?”

Ally’s stomach fluttered with a thousand butterflies. “I’m not doing anything until I see what all my options are.” And that included whatever it was Hank-and/or possibly Lulu Sanderson-were getting ready to propose to her.

Hank nodded with a mixture of approval and relief. “The important thing is, you don’t have to rush to make a decision now.”

“That’s true.” Ally traced the knee of her jeans. “Now that I know I still have my job, I do have some time.” And the opportunity to develop the plan of her own, that had been brewing ever since Marcy Lyons had set her straight on the financial inadvisability of a traditional sale by broker…

“And we do need to sit down together and have a serious talk about it,” Hank stipulated, smiling broadly, as if he had a secret. “Say, tomorrow at noon?”

Ally wanted to do that, too. She only hoped that he would be as open to a nontraditional arrangement as she was, at this point. Because she knew now, more than ever, that he was the one who should run cattle on Mesquite Ridge. A twinge of uncertainty tightened her middle. Would the ranch finally help change her luck-and bring her happiness at long last?

She searched Hank’s expressive blue eyes. “You’re okay with the two of us having a business meeting on Christmas Eve?” If anything could tempt fate…

He captured her hands with his. “When it’s this important to both of our futures, absolutely.”

His words hinted at a permanence Ally found very exciting.

“But right now,” Hank continued tenderly, using the leverage of his grip to bring her even closer, “I have something even more important to ask.” He shifted her onto his lap. “I know you’re due at work on the 26…and I respect that. But I’m hoping you’ll stay and spend Christmas with me.”

For the first time in her life, Ally found herself looking forward to celebrating the holiday, with nary a bah humbug in sight. “I’d love to.” She smiled and reached for the buttons on his shirt. “In the meantime, though, we have much more important things to do…”

Hank groaned in pleasure as she undid them, revealing his powerful chest and spectacular abs. While her hands explored the chiseled contours and warm satiny skin, he bent his head, and slowly kissed her neck. “Looks like the celebrating is starting early…”

And celebrate they did, with tender kisses and hot caresses. And a roll in the sheets that was completely devoid of words-and utterly glorious.

Ally had never realized lovemaking could be so incredibly fulfilling. Never knew touch alone could communicate so much! Or guessed that anyone could make her feel so warm and safe, and so wanted and revered. Was it any wonder she was driven to take their pleasure to a new plateau, and make love over and over again?

Before long she was giving herself over completely, tempting him to do the same. Until at last she knew what made their connection so special. It wasn’t just that she had finally given her whole heart and soul to Hank. It was that he made her feel he had fallen impossibly, irrevocably in love with her, too.

Chapter Fifteen

Ally awakened slowly. Late afternoon sunshine poured across the rumpled covers of the bed. She could hear the shower running across the hall. Knowing she had never been so thoroughly loved, she stretched languidly. Then burrowed even deeper in the sheets, the crisp percale shifting smoothly across her bare skin.

A minute later, the water shut off and the shower curtain was swept back.

Ally opened her eyes and propped her head on her upraised hand. Smiling, she watched Hank saunter into the room.

Towel knotted low on his waist, he padded barefoot to the bed. As he sank down by her side, his towel-clad hip nestled warmly against her thigh. “How’s your head?” he asked, running a hand down her arm.

Beginning to regret the morning lazing around, imbibing peppermint schnapps, but not what happened afterward, Ally groaned. “Throbbing. Yours?”

Hank grinned. “Better since I took some aspirin.”

He lifted a staying hand, then went back to the bathroom. He returned, bottle of aspirin and water glass in hand. “This will help.”

Ally took two pills before lying back among the pillows, as eager to make love again as she had been the first time. She waggled her eyebrows at him. “So would not getting up at all.”

Briefly, Hank looked tempted. Very tempted. “We’ll have to work on that part later.” He bent and kissed the curve of her shoulder. “We’ve got an open house to go to tonight.” He straightened while she was still tingling. “Remember?”

At his parents’ ranch.

His eyes spoke volumes as they locked on hers. “I really want you to be part of my family’s annual Christmas gathering.”

Two weeks ago, Ally would have been totally intimidated by the notion of going to Greta and Shane McCabe’s open house. Now she was looking forward to it. Hoping that someday she would be part of the loving clan…and not just an invited guest. The telling expression on Hank’s face indicated he felt that way, too.