Page 1 of Deck the Halls with Cowboys
Prologue
The Christmas Spirit
Hallow Ranch, nestled in a valley just outside of Hayden, Colorado. Home to the Langston Brothers, their rowdy ranch hands, and a spirit that watches over them. After nearly a decade of pain, the owner of the ranch, Denver Langston, has finally found peace, his happy ending.
However, during a certain time of year, that peace is routinely interrupted, replaced by a vile feeling in his gut: hatred.
Denver Langston hated Christmas. Ever since the tragic loss of his mother, he hadn’t felt the Christmas spirit return to him. For the last few years, Denver had been putting on a brave face, pretending to like the holiday season for the sake of his son, Caleb. Now, he was tired of the show and wanted a quiet Christmas with his wife and children.
Valerie, his enchantress, had other plans. For the first time since she came to Hallow Ranch, everyone would be present for the holidays, and she wanted to make the most of it. Since Diana and Mags’sengagement, she’d been planning, and nothing was going to get in her way of having aperfectHallow Ranch Christmas.
Surprisingly, Denver’s younger brother, Mason, who’d taken the brunt of their father’s wrath, adored the holiday season. Every year, even when he was away from Hallow Ranch, he would welcome the warmth it provided him. He’d even gone as far as decorating his friend Eddie’s house for Christmas one year because Mason, at the time, had no home to return to. That all changed the year he’d saved Harmony. She had become his home and had eventually convinced him to return to Hallow Ranch, a place where they could both be at peace. Together.
Harmony was now known as the resident chef of the ranch, her culinary skills almost impressive as her songwriting. Everyone in the bunkhouse adored her meals…but no one knew that she had stolen some recipes from the old cowboy’s trunk two springs ago. She’d told her sister-in-law that she happened to come across them in passing. This had been determined as a lie. Harmony, a beautiful siren and true to the siren’s nature, was also a thief. And yet? She still managed to keep her place on the Nice List, and the recipe theft wasn’t the only secret she’d been hiding.
Beau Marks, one of Hallow Ranch’s veteran ranch hands, didn’t mind the holidays. His father, Jigs, always did his best to bring about some form of holiday cheer in the bunkhouse, even during the ranch’s darkest of times. Beau was just happy to have Abbie back in his life and intended on making this holiday the most memorable.
After moving back to Hallow Ranch, Abbie worked remotely for the Denver Tribune, hunting down and writing thrilling news stories for the state. For months, she’d been avoiding the paint studio Beau had set up for her, unsure of how to pick up the brush again as she and Beau healed from the years of pain lingering between them.
Mags, a cowboy whose pain seeped into the very soil of the ranch the second his boots touched the ground, didn’t dislike or like the holidays, because he had no memories of them as a child. Still, he hated the fact that Denver made himcome up to the main house for a drink every Christmas Eve. This was the time of year when he liked to be alone, but now, he wanted to be alone with his fiancée.
Diana, newly engaged and three months pregnant, was beyond ready to celebrate her first holiday season with Mags. After a decade of longing, they were finally together, and she was ready to start new traditions with him. So, of course, she jumped at the chance to help Valerie plan Christmas dinner. However, her biggest mistake of the week, as it turned out, was assigning Mason to cook the ham.
All the cowboys had their happy endings—aside from the twins, Lawson and Lance. According to Harmony, she overheard them making a pact of celibacy around Halloween. She didn’t think they would last long. Those brothers were wilder than her husband and brother-in-law. The rest of the girls had a bet going on how long those cowboys would last. Valerie thought a month, Diana a week, and Abbie said six months for Lance and two for Lawson.
Everything was going to be perfect.
It had to be.
It was the first Hallow Ranch Christmas with a full house.
It was the perfect time to honor old traditions, establish new ones, and celebrate how far they had come as a giant, blended, messed-up, morally gray family.
Then again, none of them accounted for the blizzard that would delay Santa’s arrival. And little did they know that nothing about this festive night would be silent…
Chapter One
Denver
I hated Christmas. This was no secret.
And yet, here I was, listening to my beautiful wife mumble something underneath her breath about Diana bringing in more decorations this afternoon before Mason arrived.
I’d been leaning against the closet doorframe for the last ten minutes, watching her get ready for the day.
It was five in the morning. It was also Christmas Eve.
There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground and a fuck ton of work to be done. My wife had no business being up this early. Her floral shop was closed for the next week and half due to this dreadful holiday. This was technically her vacation. So why in fresh fuckin’ hell was she up before the dawn and getting ready, quietly going over her to-do list to herself as she shimmied her jeans up over her plump ass?
“Enchantress,” I called out, my voice low. Our children were still sleeping across the hall. Caleb and NJ were used to my early morning movements, but not Val’s. Caleb, now a teenager, could sleep through a category five tornado, but my little girl was a light sleeper. More so if she heard her momma.
Valerie was on the other side of the bed, next to the window, as she whirled to face me. Her dark waves were wild and frizzy as they moved with her, falling over her shoulders. Her forest green eyes were wide with shock as she brought her hand up. “Jesus, Den, I thought you’d already gone downstairs,” she breathed, chest heaving now.
My eyes scanned over her skin, her breasts nestled in her cream-colored bra, her stomach even softer now from her pregnancy with NJ, and her curvy legs covered in my favorite shade of denim. In her free hand, she had a hunter green cashmere sweater clutched between her fingers.
“Is there a reason you’re up with me when it’s your vacation?”
She blinked. “Den, I’m up with you a lot in the mornings.”
