Chapter Three

Beth jerked out of Tyler’s arms and stumbled in her haste to get out of the embrace. What am I doing?

Trying to force clear thoughts from the fog of desire, she darted a glance first at Tyler and then to Cole. His gaze was hurt and filled with disappointment. He didn’t say anything, simply dropped her purse on the small table and walked back out the door.

She raced after him, not bothering to look back at Tyler.

“Cole! Wait, Cole!” She skidded on the porch in her heels as she ran from the door to the top of the front steps.

Cole stopped halfway down and turned to look up. He slammed his hands in his pockets and glared. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“It was just a mistletoe kiss. It meant nothing.” Even as she said the words, she knew they weren’t true.

Cole’s brown eyes flared and the red in his face deepened. “Who are you trying to kid?” He walked back up the steps. “Me...or you?”

Guilt settled in the pit of her stomach. He was right. The minute Tyler kissed her, she’d been lost.

Cole’s eyes flared with hurt and anger, and she didn’t know what to say. They’d had such a nice dinner, such a nice evening, and now it was ending like this. She held his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

Cole let his breath out on a long sigh and it fogged the air between them. He tucked his finger under her chin and lifted her face, his eyes tender and understanding. “You don’t owe me any apologies. But you’ve come so far. I’d hate to see him hurt you again. You went through hell and—”

“It’s not your business, Pritchard.”

Behind her, Tyler’s voice was edged with anger. The screen door banged against the house.

Beth turned. What the hell is he doing? Anger rose and she opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Cole gently set her aside. He walked past her towards Tyler on the porch. Fear trickled up her spine as the two angry men faced off.

Cord and Teddy stepped onto the porch but didn’t say a word.

“She’s not some toy you can pick up and play with whenever you feel like it,” Cole spat out.

The two men were almost nose to nose and reminded her of two dogs fighting over a bone. It infuriated her that she was the bone.

She turned to Tyler. “Get out of here. This has nothing to do with you. Go back in the house.”

He lifted his chin and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Beth swallowed hard, recognizing his attempt to keep his temper in check. She shoved at his shoulder pushing him towards the door. “Go away, Ty.”

Instead, he stepped closer to Cole. “Go in the house, Beth,” Tyler commanded without looking at her.

“Oh no. You are going in the house because this has absolutely nothing to do with you!” She stepped in between the two men and shoved Tyler hard in the chest.

He frowned, but stepped back one pace, all the while glaring at Cole over her head. She planted both hands on his rock hard chest and shoved until he took another step back.

Cole flung his arms in the air and shook his head. He glared at Tyler. “You know what you’re problem is? You don’t want her, but you don’t want anyone else to have her either. You left. That was your decision.”

Cole pointed his finger at the other man and Beth cringed as Tyler strained against her hands. His muscles bunched under her palm and she shoved once more against him to keep him from lunging forward. “Please stop,” she begged.

For a few seconds he continued to glare at Cole, before he met her gaze. His eyes softened, then, miraculously, he turned around and walked into the house.

Beth took a deep breath and didn’t bother to turn around when she heard Cole walk back down the porch steps. Teddy walked past her and called his friend’s name.

Cord stepped over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “I was actually going to let Cole take a round out of him; he deserves nothing less.”

Beth put her hands to her face and blinked back the tears. “I can’t wait for him to leave again.”

He patted her shoulder and walked away. Beth yanked open the front door and headed for the front stairs. Tyler walked out of the family room with his hat in his hand just as her foot landed on the first step.

“Beth?”

She went up another stair, ignoring her name on his lips again, and tried hard to forget all the feelings the kiss from a few minutes ago had stirred inside her.

“We need to talk.”

“No, we really don’t.” She went up another step.

“Why aren’t you living in the house?”

Anger flared to life as hot as her lust for him. Spinning around, she almost lost her balance in the long skirt and heels. “Why the hell would I live there?” she spat. Warmth flooded her face and she wanted nothing more than to hurt him the way he’d hurt her. Only problem was, there was no way to do that.

Tyler’s expression was unreadable. “I built it so you could stay right there with your clinic and have everything in one place.”

“No, you threw me away. Frankly, there isn’t anything I want that reminds me of you. You walked away as if I meant nothing to you, as if the years we’d spent together were nothing.”

He ran a hand around the back of his neck and looked away.

“Don’t worry, Tyler, you did us both a favor when you left. You forced me to grow up and realize that what we shared was nothing more than kid stuff, the kind that can never last through the ups and downs of marriage. For that, people need to be mature. Neither of us fit that bill at the time. Fortunately, I know the difference between lust and love now.”

“With Cole?”

She nodded. “Yes, and fortunately your little scene tonight won’t be enough to run him off. Cole knew having you come home was going to be a challenge.” She swallowed hard and stared him in the eye. “Frankly, I’m glad you came home. I was able to lay the ghosts to rest and now know I’ve moved on.”

“Maybe you should test that theory.”

She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

He climbed the stairs in two long strides, reached a hand out and stroked her cheek. She yanked away from his touch.

“That kiss sure didn’t feel like any ghosts were laid to rest.” His eyes smiled with mischief. “Maybe we should try it once more, just to be sure.”

Before she could blink, he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her up against him. In heels, she was off balance on the step and grabbed his upper arm to keep from falling backward. His muscles contracted under her hand and, in a flash, all the memories of being held in his strong arms came pouring back. Involuntarily, she tipped her head up.

“No, thank you.” Her tongue wet her suddenly dry lips as he ignored her and lowered his head.

“Are you afraid of what you’ll find out?”

“I’m not afraid of you, Ty. Nothing you do now will ever compare to how much you hurt me that morning I found out you were gone.”

He froze. “I would do anything to change that.” He searched her face. “I was hurt too. You don’t know how hard that was for me.”

She blinked her eyes and glared. “Hard for you?” She snorted in disbelief and tried to pull away. “Whatever. I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t want to talk to you. I just want you to leave me alone until you go back to Abilene or wherever the road takes you these days.” Beth jerked once more, slipped from his hands and started back up the stairs.

“I’m not going back, Beth. I’m home to stay.”

She whirled, her jaw dropped open. “What? Why? You couldn’t wait to get the hell out of here and now, what? You’ve had your adventure all by yourself and you’re back? Did you expect that I’d just say welcome home, cowboy, and open my arms?”

“I don’t expect that at all.”

“Good. Don’t. Because we’ll have snow on Christmas morning before that ever happens.” She ran up the stairs before the tears fell.

Tyler shoved his hat on his head and walked out the front door, not sure if he needed to crawl into a bottle of whiskey for the night or his bed.

“Leave her alone, Tyler,” Teddy warned the minute he walked through the front door. This brother was usually the most easygoing of all the family, and Tyler was shocked at the rage in his eyes.

“I got it.” Tyler headed towards the porch stairs.

“What happened to you? You weren’t raised to treat women like that.”

Tyler spun around, his eyes wide. “Me? Of all people, you’re lecturing me on how to treat women.”

Teddy faced him from across the hall. “Yeah, I am. Who knows better how to leave a woman, but leave them in one piece, maybe even a little happier for the experience? You don’t just walk away.”

“What’s your longest relationship been? Two days, a week maybe, tops. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Teddy glared. “Sure, I’ve had a lot of women and most couldn’t hold a candle to Beth. But I still treated them right. I never left without saying goodbye and I never left her wondering if I was coming back or not.” His brother pushed a finger into his chest. “You’re an ass and I’m telling you to stay away from her.”

Tyler pushed the finger away and raised one eyebrow. “You’re awfully worked up over this. Maybe you’re thinking you’d like Beth for yourself. Is that it?”

“You little son of a …”

“That’s enough!” Cord came through the front door.

Tyler held his brother’s glare.

“Beth’s as close to a kid sister as we have, and I ought to pound the living stuffing out of you for what you did to her,” Teddy continued.

Tyler was tired of everyone rubbing his nose in his mistake. He knew what he did was wrong and if he could change it, he would. Two years ago, he was a different man than he was today. He had Chase Boyd and his crew to thank for that—not his brothers.

Still, this was his family and he needed to make his peace with them—angry or not, wasn’t that part of the reason he came home?

“I would never have left if I didn’t do it that way. I couldn’t handle a big emotional scene. It was the only way to do it at the time.” He held up a hand to ward off Teddy’s angry expression. “I’m not saying it was right.”

“Yeah, well, instead of ripping into Cole, you should be on your knees thanking him for saving her life,” Cord suggested.

“Cole was right,” Teddy added. “You are like a kid who doesn’t want anyone else playing with his toys.”

“How was I supposed to know that’s what was going to happen,” Tyler said in his own defense. “Do you honestly think I’d have left if I thought that was going to happen?”

But if he hadn’t have left, he’d be standing here today still wondering what it would be like to be out on his own. He’d wanted—no, needed—to know if he could make it on his own name and not as part of a package deal called The Double B. And not just for him.

Teddy studied him with steely eyes. “A man faces his problems head on. If you didn’t love her and didn’t want to marry her, then you should have told her face to face. “

Tyler let his breath out. Why couldn’t anyone understand? “I couldn’t face her. I knew if I saw her, I’d never leave.”

Cord shook his head in obvious disgust. “Then that should’ve told you something. But it’s too late now. She’s moved on, Ty. Cole’s a good man. Stay away from her while you’re home.”

His brother’s unspoken words hung in the air between them—Cord had given his blessing to their neighbor. Teddy crossed his arms over his chest and nodded in full agreement.

Tyler walked away. What else could he say? His own brothers thought he was wrong to come home. He’d been so full of hope driving back to the ranch last week. He’d even convinced himself that if he tried hard enough he could win Beth back.

Entering the Weston house, he headed to his bedroom, closed the door, and stripped off his shirt. In the bathroom, he ran the shower and stepped under the spray.

Maybe he was wrong to come back. At least on the Circle S he was respected, and no one questioned him. At home, everyone thought he was an idiot and told him what to do again.

Frustrated, he dried off and had just climbed into bed when his cell phone chimed with a text message. He picked it up off the nightstand.

Charli Boyd, Chase’s gorgeous redheaded daughter. She’d always been a friend of the family, but in the last eighteen months they’d become the best of friends. He pushed the button and read the brief message.

How is it going? Any progress?

He tapped out a reply. Beth hates my guts and my brothers are ready to kill me for hurting her. She’s dating our neighbor and her idiot business partner is living in the house I built for her. Other than that, just wonderful.

A few seconds later, her reply came through. Your brothers will come around. With Beth, you need to be on your knees buddy, serious groveling suggested. Stay strong! Call me if you need me. TTYL.

Tyler tossed the cell back on the side table, punched his pillow and flipped to his side. He knew right now that if he got on his knees in front of Beth, she’d plant one of her boots right in the middle of his face.

He closed his eyes and envisioned the Beth of his youth, waist length, white-blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She’d been a little dynamo and he’d worshipped the ground she walked on. If Beth said jump he asked ‘How high’? That girl could twist him around her little finger and leave him wanting more.

He’d had to leave the way he did or he never would have. What no one understood was that if he’d faced her, told her he wanted to hit the road, she’d have said, “Let’s go,” and he’d have been powerless to stop her. She would have gone wherever he wanted to go and put her dreams on hold because she wanted to be with him.

When Doc handed her the veterinarian practice, he saw how much it had meant to her. It wasn’t fair for him to ruin her dream because he wanted something else. He’d had to make a choice, stay here and worry that he was going to wake up at 40 and always wonder ‘what if,’ or leave her to her new dream to pursue his lifelong ones.

Back then, he’d been so convinced that was the only way he’d ever be happy, and that she would be happy. He thought he would’ve gone crazy stuck here on the ranch, working under his brothers and never being his own man.

Yes, he’d been a coward. He should’ve told her what he was going to do, what was bothering him. But she would have wanted to come with him, and how could he have let her sacrifice all she’d worked towards for an unknown road?

Ty gave up on sleep. He swung his legs off the side of the bed and flipped on the lamp on his nightstand. His room was the same as the day he left. The junk on his dresser in the same place it was the afternoon he left. The only thing missing was the note to his brothers and the one to Beth. What had she thought when she read it?

He dropped his head into his hands. The note had been another cowardly act to add to his list. Instead of leaving her completely, he invited her to join him at the end of summer in Abilene. Boyd had already asked him to help out with fall round-up and Tyler had agreed. His rationale had been that after she’d been home awhile and settled into her practice, if it hadn’t worked out, hadn’t been what she really wanted, she could still come with him.

She hadn’t.

That whole month had been agony, wondering if she was coming. Charli had offered to call Beth, talk to her, but Tyler refused and made her swear she wouldn’t interfere. Then the car accident happened and he’d been hospitalized with internal injuries at the holidays. He hadn’t want Beth or his family to know. That wasn’t the way he wanted a family reunion: full of pity, worry and even more hovering. Charli, bless her, had been true to her word—no one knew anything about why he hadn’t come home for Christmas last year.

While he was working for Chase Boyd, he found what he had always wanted. He was his own boss and had a crew of his own working for him. He’d done it all in the past year and was pretty damn proud of his accomplishments. But something was missing, something he’d finally come to realize he’d left behind.

Tyler padded across his room. He could hear his brother in the room next door. Down the hall another door opened and closed. It must have been weird here last year with him gone and Buck moved out.

On his dresser, a picture of Beth smiled out at him. He picked it up and studied her beautiful face. He snapped that picture, out in the yard by the pool. She was eighteen and had just graduated from high school and her blue eyes sparkled with young love and laughter.

It couldn’t be all gone. Yes, he screwed up and hurt her horribly, but something inside told him there was something still there. He loved her as much now as ever and he refused to believe she was as over him as everyone wanted him to believe. Charli’s words rang through his head. “With Beth, you need to be on your knees buddy...”

Then that’s exactly what he planned to do.

****

Beth opened the door to the clinic. She loved this time of day, when everything was quiet and she had her first cup of coffee with her patients. Jet had gone home the day after he arrived, but a new horse now paced restlessly in the corral.

The Pinto had a mask over his eyes that allowed him to see, but didn’t allow any dirt or insects to torture his infected eyes. She’d been treating him for that as well as some other odd symptoms at his owner’s ranch and finally decided to bring him here yesterday so she could watch him more closely and not have to keep driving out there. He wasn’t a friendly horse, shying away from her touch even now.

She pushed the button and opened up the large wall that led to the outside. The horse didn’t budge. “Come on Tex, it’s okay,” she coaxed from the doorway.

The horse moved further back into the arena. This was another problem she was dealing with—the horse seemed afraid of its own shadow. He hated being around other animals and had to be forced to go outside. Getting him here had been a struggle and a half. As much as she dreaded it, she might have to break down and ask Tyler’s opinion. He’d always had a rare gift of being able to deal with even the most obstinate of horses; “horse whisperer” was what folks called him since they were kids.

Thinking of Tyler and remembering his comment last night about moving home made her heart race. What the hell was he talking about? That was the first she’d heard of him coming back to stay. Did everyone else know? Were they again trying to protect her? She knew she’d been a mess when he left, but that was almost two years ago; she was a different person now. Tyler Weston was not her concern anymore.

Yep, you keep telling yourself that.

Back in the clinic, she poured a cup of coffee while the kittens tumbled around her feet on the floor. She smiled at their antics and headed to her computer.

“Beth?” Her sister Susan’s voice came from the front reception area.

“In here,” she yelled back from her small office. Susan was back from her trip to New York. Beth was glad to have her home now until after New Year’s. It was way too quiet in the main house with everyone gone. Their oldest sister, Diane, had moved to Paris the year before to take a job as an interior designer. She wouldn’t be home for Christmas this year.

Susan waved a bag in her hand. “I bought Kolaches on my way through Houston.”

“You’re my favorite sister.” Beth leapt from her desk chair and followed her back to the small kitchenette.

Beth picked out two of the specialty treats from the white bag and set them on a plate. A few quick seconds in the microwave and they were piping hot. She set one in front of Susan with a cup of coffee and joined her at the small table.

Susan stared at her, causing Beth to pause in mid-bite. “What’s wrong?”

“I heard about last night.”

She snorted and sank her teeth into the sausage and cheese delight. “Not surprised.”

Her sister pulled her breakfast apart and took the meat and cheese filling out before nibbling at the pastry. “I thought maybe you’d want to talk about it.”

“Nope.” Beth wiped her mouth with a napkin and sipped her coffee.

“You know, sometimes you’re so much like Sara it’s scary.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She stood up and reached for the little packet of hot sauce and sprinkled some inside the bakery treat.

“Meaning that you close up and don’t talk to anyone. Just like when Tyler left.”

Beth’s heart constricted the way it always did when she remembered those first few days. “I’m over Tyler. What he does or doesn’t do means nothing to me.” She took a bite of the breakfast treat. “Did you know he was planning on moving back here permanently?” she ventured.

Susan’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding? Why?”

Well, at least one of the family wasn’t hiding anything from her. She shrugged. “Beats me. I don’t care anyway.”

“You think you’re really over him?” Her sister looked skeptical.

Beth set her breakfast on the plate and wiped her mouth. “Yep. I am completely indifferent to him and…” The memory of his kiss last night jutted into her mind. Her face flushed and she couldn’t look Susan in the eye. “Wh-what we had was kid’s stuff, just like Dad sometimes said.”

Susan picked at the food on her plate. “Don’t get mad at me, but...do you ever think maybe it was for the best?”

Beth furrowed her brow. “For the best? What do you mean?”

“You two were so close for so long. You had the same dreams for so long and then, well, somewhere along the way your dream wasn’t his anymore.”

Beth couldn’t believe her sister thought Ty was right to leave. “We were teenagers when Ty and I used to talk about hitting the road. It was like saying we were going to run away and join the circus. I don’t know if I didn’t believe we’d ever do it or what. I just knew I wanted to do whatever he wanted to do. I also didn’t know Doc was going to retire and hand me the entire practice. I worked under him all my life; I couldn’t let him down.”

“Don’t you think Tyler knew that? Maybe he was trying to make the decision easier on you?”

Beth’s mouth dropped open. “Easier on me? By tearing me apart?”

“I’m not saying he was right the way he did it,” Susan added quickly, putting her hand over Beth’s. “But maybe he knew, in your heart, you didn’t want to go with him.”

“Everyone dreams about getting away from their hometown when they’re kids. It was just time to grow up. Tyler was still a kid wanting to go play explorer or something. I think he thought he was going to find some new untamed wilderness somewhere.” She shook her head remembering all the talks they’d had; his crazy, wild ideas for living off the land somewhere and making their way across the country working here or there. “Our fathers built this ranch. It’s in our blood. I love being here, working in the same town I grew up in.”

“I know; you’re just like Sara.” She squeezed Beth’s hand. “You are both content to stay here until you die. But we’re not all like that. I’m not, Diane isn’t...and maybe Tyler wasn’t. Does that make us wrong because we don’t feel the same need to be on this piece of dirt every day of our lives?”

Beth pulled her hand away and crossed her arms over her chest. “I never said it was for everyone. Besides, this has nothing to do with Tyler leaving, but how he left. I thought you knew all this?”

“Maybe he left before you got home because he figured you’d never let him leave.” Beth opened her mouth to deny it, but Susan shook her head. “You loved him, and he loved you. Both of you couldn’t have what you wanted and have each other, too. Maybe he did what he thought right for both of you, the only thing he could think of at the time.”

Beth’s eyes narrowed. “Have you been talking to him?”

Susan pulled back. “I don’t need to. I understand all too well the urge inside to get the hell out of here.” She pushed back her stylish hair and looked somewhere past Beth’s shoulder. “When we were growing up, all Sara wanted to do was be a cowboy, she loved it so much. I tried to ride with her and Daddy, and I hated it. Not the horses or the land, but the smelly roundups, the work involved, the dirt.” She screwed up her nose and laughed, then looked Beth in the eye. “I knew that I wasn’t meant to live here. I think it was Mama’s background. Her being from New York, somehow it called to me. I knew I was going there the minute I was done with school.”

And she had. Susan left for New York City the summer after graduation, moving in with their older sister who’d already been there two years by then. Beth had never understood how the two of them could leave Texas, move to Manhattan and love it.

Having lost her appetite, Beth picked at the crust of her Kolache. She’d spent so much time the past two years hating Ty and what he did, that she never stopped to think maybe he had other motives than just running. When she was doing her residency work that last semester, she knew that they’d have to work some things out when she got home. But she always imagined they’d find a way. She always imagined they’d work it out, together. How could they work it out when he took off without talking to her? No, he should have come to her. If he’d told her what he was thinking, well, she didn’t know what they would have done, but together they could have made it work. Instead, he took matters into his own hands, left her out, left her.

Susan stood up and set her plate in the sink. “I’m sorry for making you talk about this, but, to be honest, I’m home for the holidays too, and I’d hate to see the two of you at each other’s throats the whole time. Whether what you had was teenager stuff or the real thing doesn’t matter anymore. What matters now is a way for you both to find civil ground for the rest of us. Cord’s about torn in half between worry about your health and his happiness that Tyler is home.”

Beth stayed in her chair. Susan's hands suddenly squeezed her shoulders, and she felt her sister kiss the top of her head. “Anyway, Flo sent me over here to tell you that the costumes are at the house. The kids will be here at three o’clock.”

Beth nodded her head. “I’ll be there in time to get dressed.”

After the outer door closed, Beth moved automatically to her office. But the paperwork failed to draw her attention as much as the conversation with Susan. She wandered back to the corral and leaned over the railing, watching her patient. Tex hadn’t moved much from the spot he was in this morning. He barely moved at all, simply stood in one place.

“What’s the matter, buddy?” she crooned, wondering again if his issues were psychological rather than physical. “I promise we’ll figure this out. I’m going to talk to a real expert on horses later today.”

She turned from the corral, her mind whirling with everything Susan had said. For the first time, part of her felt some sympathy for what Tyler had gone through. Had he done the only thing he could do? Was Susan right? Would she have let him leave if he had talked to her? No, truth be told, she would have done everything—cried, begged, fought tooth and nail to get him not to leave her back then. And Tyler would have stayed. Then what? He would have only grown to resent her and the chains she put on him.

Then again, she wondered if that outcome would have been better than where they were now.

****

“I can’t wear that.” Beth shook her head firmly as she faced her sisters later that afternoon.

Susan held the shimmering costume out to her. “You have to. You’re the only one it’ll fit.”

“I can’t believe this! Didn’t anyone check the costume order when they picked it up?” Beth held the skimpy suit against her. “This isn’t a kid’s version of the plump, lovable, Christmas cookie making old lady—it’s some man’s fantasy idea of Mrs. Claus.”

The scanty red suit had a very low, scooped, fur-lined neck, extremely short skirt, matching stockings...and red stilettos. Susan, who usually played Mrs. Claus to Cord’s Santa, couldn’t fit her full curves into it.

“Come on, Beth, the kids are too young to notice the difference. They’ll be more interested in what Santa has in his bag anyway,” Sara pleaded.

Beth glared. “I’ll look like Santa traded Mrs. Claus in for a younger model.” She eyed the red high heeled shoes that were tall enough to make her dizzy. “Has Cord seen this get up?”

“Yep, and he feels bad about it, but there’s no time to do anything else.” Sara folded her arms over her enormous belly. “You know I’d put it on if I could.”

Beth shot her a glare. “Sure you would.” She yanked her T-shirt up over her head. “This has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever had to do for this party, or for this family, for that matter.”

“Not even close. Remember the year you and Tyler dressed up like a giant snowman, and you had to ride around on his shoulders all day?” Susan laughed.

Beth couldn’t stop the smile that teased her lips. That had been a fun day. They’d never laughed so hard. He couldn’t see outside the costume and she had to direct his walking for hours. He kept sliding his hands up to her butt and teasing her while she tried to keep them upright.

Pushing those dangerous thoughts away, she dropped her jeans and she picked up the stockings. “Mrs. Claus wears garter belts?” Her sisters laughed and she smiled. “You know who’s going to have a field day with this? Teddy. He won’t be able to stop the comments and you know it.”

“I’ll take care of Teddy,” Susan said firmly.

Beth slipped into the bathroom and removed her bra. The costume came with a set of satin red panties that she supposed was due to the shortness of the skirt. It also came with a bright red thong. Beth set the thong aside and stepped into the costume.

“This is ridiculous,” she called out to her sisters when she had the entire thing on.

Opening the door, she watched Sara’s jaw drop open and Susan’s grin widen.

She picked up the jaunty hat and set it at a sideways angle over her short hair. “I look like I’m doing a Christmas centerfold for Playboy.”

Susan came up behind her and slipped a few pins in the hat to hold it to her hair. “You look fantastic. Too bad Cole isn’t able to make it today.”

“He’d have a damn heart attack,” Sara snorted.

Beth took a deep breath and adjusted the fur lined collar that dipped indecently low on her breasts. “There’s not this much cleavage in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.”

She shifted her breasts and tried desperately to make them look a bit less conspicuous.

“It’s the push up bra effect.” Susan finished adjusting the hat and stepped back. “Like a built in shelf to make them ‘pop.’”

“They’re popping already,” Beth murmured, glancing in the mirror. “I always thought I was the small one in the family.” She put her hands on her waist and twisted this way and that. The skirt just skimmed the top of her thighs and she grimaced. “Let’s get this over with.” She paused and stared at Susan in a gorgeous green dress with matching heels. “I thought you were wearing an elf costume.”

“The order wasn’t ready at the same time Ty picked up the costumes, and then Buck forgot to go back and pick them up.” She glanced at Sara.

Sara shrugged. “His mind isn’t on anything but this baby right now.” She patted her stomach and didn’t look in the least bit contrite.

Susan bent and plucked at the stockings on Beth’s legs, straightening them.

Beth glanced in the mirror again, wondering how on earth she was going to find the confidence to walk downstairs. “Where do I go?”

Susan stood up. “Cord’s waiting in the pantry. Sara will go first and make sure the coast is clear and get you hidden in there. Once the kids are here and settled in, we’ll come get you.”

Beth grabbed the oversize book she was supposed to read to the kids then slipped off the stilettos so she wouldn’t make any noise—or tumble—on the steps on her way down.

At the bottom of the staircase, she waited until Sara waved to her.

“No one’s here, come on.”

Beth crept the rest of the way down and tiptoed past Sara. At the door to the pantry, she paused long enough to slip her shoes back on and then opened the door and stepped inside. The interior was dark and she waited for her eyes to adjust. She closed the door with a click making sure it was secured.

“Holy Christmas!” a muffled voice whispered low from behind.

Beth whirled around to shush Cord, but the man in the traditional Santa suit was way too tall to be the oldest Weston.

One look up into those wide brown eyes and she knew exactly who was playing Santa this year.