A Cowboy For Christmas (A Copper Mountain Christmas) by Katherine Garbera Read Free Book Online Page B

Annie said as she walked up to him. She wore a knitted hat on her head and an old shearling jacket over skintight jeans and those same cowboy boots she’d had on the other day. Her makeup was flawless and he couldn’t help noticing that she truly was a beautiful woman.
    Her English Bulldog looked funny with his tongue hanging out and his little legs moving quickly to keep up with her. As soon as Annie stopped, the dog plopped down on the ground. The poor little thing looked as if the walk from the parking area to the tree area, a mere three hundred feet, had worn him out.
    They ’d been friends since they first met back in elementary school, so he always just thought of her as Annie. But sometimes – like right now – he was surprised to remember that she was beautiful , especially when she was smiling. He thought that Montana was working its magic on her and hoped that he had a little to do with it.
    “ It keeps me busy,” he said, bending down to pet her dog. “You never did tell me why you call him Rumple.”
    “ It’s short for Rumpelstiltskin.”
    “ Truly? The old guy who spun gold?” Carson asked looking up at her.
    She nibbled on her lower lip, a habit of hers that was slowly driving him out of his mind.
    “Yes. I got him as a gift from Davis right when he started making an insane amount of money.”
    “ Well at least he gave you something,” Carson said. “How did the meeting with Marilyn go?”
    “ It went okay. She was mad and I didn’t blame her for that. We’re going to meet next week for the Christmas Stroll,” she said.
    “ Come for dinner tonight and tell me all about it,” he offered.
    She hesitated for a moment and tipped her head to the side, studying him with those searching gray eyes. “I… okay. What time?”
    “ Six, we eat early. Evan has a strict seven-thirty bedtime.”
    “ Where is he?” she asked.
    “ Helping pass out candy canes with my brother Lane. Now that you’ve talked to Marilyn, what can I help you with?”
    “ A tree,” she said. “I was going through my dad’s bills and found that he had a potted tree.”
    “ He did. I guess it’s yours now. I’ve been keeping it up every year. Do you want to see it?”
    “ I’d love to,” she said. “And then I need to arrange for it to be delivered to my house. How much is that?”
    “ Nothing. It’s included in your yearly tree bill, which you have paid up for the next five years,” Carson said.
    “ I do like to pay ahead if I can,” she said, which is why she’d been able to move back to Marietta. The house was paid off, with the utilities covered for a year. She wondered if she’d had a premonition not to trust that Davis, that the prosperity wouldn’t last.
    “ Good plan. Pop raised us like that as well. He saw too many friends lose everything when they didn’t. I’ll let the guys know I’m taking you to your tree.”
    He found Duke, his ranch foreman, and told him he ’d be in the back of the tree lot. They had loud speakers booming out the soundtrack from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
    When he walked back over to Annie he found Evan standing there telling her some story. He stopped in his tracks as Annie bent down so she was on eye level with his son, leaning in and listening intently. His heart clenched and he saw another way that she’d changed. It wasn’t that she’d been uncaring when she’d lived in Marietta... it was just that she’d always been thinking about herself. He was starting to see signs that she had changed.
    “ He’s a silly dog who just eats ice cubes and drools all day,” she said to Evan.
    “ Puddles is silly too. Daddy made me leave him in the house since there would be too many people here today and he might get scared or run off,” Evan said to Annie.
    “ There are a lot of people. It’s just Rumple and me and I needed some company today.”
    “ Why’d you need company?” Evan asked.
    “ Promise not to tell?” she asked.
    “ I promise,” Evan said looking