Page 69 of Christmas with the Cowboy
She’d gotten all the answers she was going to get. She knew he was planning something, and that he needed a portion of the Keller Ranch to achieve it. And he had no intention of being swayed.
When had he ever allowed himself to be swayed? The closest she could think of was when she’d talked him into agreeing to the minor in history, which wasn’t a concession on his part. It was a freaking minor. He’d been humoring her as he manipulated her into following his footsteps, certain that once she was part of the family business, she’d thank him for his supreme foresight. For knowing her better than she knew herself. Yet, there was always that familial tug. The need to be a daughter.
She wasn’t feeling it now, any more than he was feeling the need to act like a father. He was Carter Hunt, business magnate.
“Enjoy your holiday trip, Dad.” She turned to leave.
“It’ll upset Dawn if you leave early.”
She stopped at the door and glanced back. “Then prepare to console her.”
Less than a minute later, she’d gathered her dress and shoes from the guest bedroom where she’d planned to change, shoved them into the bag and headed out of the house through the front door. She’d let her dad handle the explanation to Dawn. This was her last attempt to forge a daughterly bond. They would be neighbors.
She started her car with a jerky motion, then managed to resist the urge to punch the accelerator. This was about more than her dad trying to screw over the Kellers. It was the attitude. The lack of empathy.
The lack of fatherly anything.
By the time she’d reached the end of the road leading to the lodge, having passed at least ten cars heading for the party, she’d achieved a measure of calm. She would head home, have a quiet evening with Bruno. Tamp her hurt deep inside and pretend it wasn’t there.
Her go-to tactic. It had worked fine for the past decade or so, and there was no reason it wouldn’t continue to.
When she pulled into her driveway, her headlights swept over an unfamiliar shape, and it took her a second to realize that it was the stock trailer that Daniel Keller had hauled Lex’s mare in. At least there was one positive to this nerve-rattling late afternoon.
Bruno let out a roar from inside the house as she shut off the headlights and started for the corral, the dim light that shone from the back porch guiding her. There were two haybales near the rails, and one had been opened and half of it was gone, but surprisingly, there was no mare eating the hay strewn on the other side of the fence.
Figuring that the horse was shy, Trenna started talking in a low voice, telling her there was nothing to worry about. She just wanted to have a look.
But something was off. The corral read empty. There were dark corners where the mare could be standing, but there was also the stillness of abandonment. Trenna headed back to the house where she fended off Bruno while getting her flashlight. A few seconds later, she swept the light over the corral, her heart sinking as she realized her worst fear.
It was empty, and the back gate, a wire contraption that had seen better days, was lying flat on the ground.
Lex’s Christmas present was somewhere on the mountain.
*
“Hey, Dad, withthe delay of the flight, I don’t think they’re going to get back until after midnight.” Lex looked up from her phone where she’d been monitoring her uncle Spence’s flight as she spoke. Of course no delays had shown on the airline app until after Daniel and Audrey had set out to pick up their middle son, who’d flown rather than driven due to his truck being totaled on the jobsite earlier that week. “Can Grandpa drive that late?” she added with a frown.
Reed did not point out that Daniel was in his fifties—hardly decrepit. At fourteen, Lex had no concept of middle age versus old age versus really old age. Thirty was old to her.
“I’m pretty sure that Spence can drive if Grandpa can’t.”
“Good.” She pushed herself out of the chair where she’d been lounging. “I’m going to talk to Lissa.”
“See you in an hour. Or two,” he added as she headed down the hall to the privacy of her bedroom. She waved a dismissive hand and Reed smiled.
Candice had called right after dinner, giving a quick, positive update on Gregg’s first treatment before she and Lex launched into girl talk, something Reed sensed they both needed.
Being separated from her daughter was probably almost as hard on Candice as the uncertainty of Gregg’s future, but she hadn’t given a sign of it during the long conversation with Lex, which Reed listened to in little snatches as he’d cleared up after dinner. Lex had begun the conversation in her bulletproof teen persona, but by the end they were both giggling.
Reed had just settled in the vacated recliner, thinking that he needed to invest in another, when his phone rang. He expected his mom with an update on the flight, but Trenna’s name shown on the screen.
Trenna, who was at some fancy party at her dad’s place.
“Trenna?”
“I lost the horse. It’s gone.” A note of suppressed panic strangled her voice.
“Lex’s…” He glanced down the hall, then got to his feet and headed into the kitchen.
