Christmastime Cowboy

“He cheated on her,” Sabrina said simply. “Ten years of marriage, and he had an affair. I’m not happy with my brother, Liam. Not at all. Lindy is like a sister to me, not just in law. Just because she and Damien got divorced doesn’t mean my connection with her is gone.”

“Hey, I’m all for a little revenge and retribution.”

Sabrina’s expression turned to stone. She was thinking about them again, and he knew it. He hardly thought it was fair for her to compare what he had done with what her brother had done to his wife. Because Liam had never cheated. Mostly because he had never made any promises.

“Go ahead,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“What?” she asked, blinking rapidly.

“Go ahead and yell at me. You want to. You’re mad at me. I get it. So we can keep on tiptoeing around it, or you could just go ahead and shout at me. Here and now. The room is empty, and I bet it has great acoustics.”

Sabrina’s eye twitched. She looked...well, she looked completely torn. And a little bit shocked. Both like she really wanted to take him up on his offer, and like she was wishing there was some furniture she could scurry underneath.

“Okay. How about I go first?” If there was one thing he didn’t mind, it was facing something head-on. “I saw you naked, I turned you down and you’re still mad.”

“I... That is not... You make it sound like...”

He shrugged. “I’m going to go ahead and make it easy for you. I’ve seen a lot of women naked. Before you, after you. I’m not picturing you naked when I look at you now.” That was a lie. But he didn’t really mind lying either. “So whatever you imagine is happening on my end, it’s not.”

“You’re an asshole,” she said.

She turned away from him and began to pace the perimeter of the room, paying closer than necessary attention to things like crown molding.

“That’s it?”

“I’m going to do exactly what we came here to do. Which is evaluate whether or not the building is suitable for our purposes. I wouldn’t say that it’s perfect,” she said, giving him a hard glare. “But I suppose it will work.”

“You’re ready to do this, then?”

“I still think that Lindy should drive down and have a look before we confirm, but I can’t imagine finding a better place.” She seemed almost downtrodden about that. Probably because this had been his idea.

Actually, she was capitulating much more easily than he had imagined, and it occurred to him that it was probably because she just wanted to get this project moving so that she could put any interaction with him behind her.

“What’s your timeline?”

She looked slightly sheepish. “Lindy wants it open before Christmas. She wants us up and running to take advantage of the festivities that are going to be happening around town. The sooner the better.”

That would mean long, intense days in Sabrina’s company. Whether she wanted that or not.

“We can do it,” he said. “But you are very busy, so I hear. So, you need to clear your schedule a bit so you can actually devote your time to serving my needs.”

The look she gave him was so dry it could’ve sapped all the moisture out of the heavy coastal air. “Poorly phrased. But then, I have a feeling you did it on purpose.”

“And you’re still not willing to clear the air between us.”

“There’s no air to clear. I don’t feel comfortable around you, Liam, and I would think it was fairly understandable why. You humiliated me. You were cruel to me. At the very least, you should have treated me like a friend. Because even if I did have the wrong idea about what was happening between us, we were friends. I...I told you about my relationship with my father and you still... I trusted you.”

Those simple words cut through every ounce of bullshit in him. He couldn’t give her a hard time, not after that.

“We were friends,” she reiterated. “I had a hard time connecting with people because of my family’s position in the community, and you knew that. I got close to you, closer than I was to anyone. And I made a fool of myself in front of you and then you disappeared.”

And when she found out exactly why, she wouldn’t be any happier with him than she was now. So, he wasn’t going to say a damned thing.

“I did,” he said. “Because that’s what I do. At least, that’s what I did. But I’ve spent the past few years figuring out how to finish what I start. And I’ve done a good job with it. I’m still terrible with people, to be clear. The emotional part. But I know what I’m doing in business. And I’m going to make this successful. I promise you that.”

“Are you going to apologize to me?”

In that moment, she looked like the Sabrina he had once known. Young, vulnerable and far too innocent for the likes of him. Like someone who actually believed that he was going to apologize. He almost felt bad.

Almost.

“I’m not going to apologize,” he said. “Because leaving you like that was probably one of the nicest things I’ve ever done. Because if I hadn’t left you then, I would have left you after. And I stand by what I said.”

Her cheeks turned scarlet, rage glittering in her blue eyes. “Right. Well, it’s emblazoned in my memory. So, there’s no reason to revisit it.”

“What exactly are you mad about? That I didn’t have sex with you? Or that I left?”

She sputtered. “That you... That you left. That you left and you didn’t say anything to me. I cared about you.”

“And you’re still mad at me.”

“Not every day of my life. But having you come back to town has been awkward.”

“Well, I never imagined I would end up back here either. But here I am.”

“Because of the ranch?”

“Yes and no. I never intended to come back. Not even with part ownership of the ranch on the table. I had a big job. I liked what I was doing. Until one day I realized that I actually didn’t.”

“Is that what happened with us? You were my friend until one day you realized you weren’t?”

“I was twenty years old, and I was an asshole. That’s about it.”

She looked...deflated by that.

“Was, as in past tense? As in you aren’t one now?”

He could tell she really didn’t want to let go of her anger. “I still am. But I would probably call before leaving town now.” That was a lie. He absolutely would not. And particularly not under those circumstances.

She looked begrudgingly amused. “Well, as long as we both know the score. Which is the real difference between now and thirteen years ago.”

“Which is exactly why I’m not the villain that you seem to think I am,” he said. “Because you didn’t know the score, Sabrina, and I didn’t take advantage of that.”

“Fine. Let’s let it go then, okay? I’m Sabrina Leighton, I work for Grassroots Winery. It has recently changed hands and is under new ownership, and I am helping the new owner realize her vision.”

“Liam Donnelly,” he said, sticking out his hand. She shook it reluctantly, those delicate fingers curling around his, and it shocked him how visceral the response was to that contact with her. “I’ve been living in cities for the past thirteen years. Chicago, mostly New York. I had what was arguably an early midlife crisis and decided to take my inheritance and live in a small town. But, apparently, I can’t just get used to ranching work, so I decided to take on this venture. Something to keep me busy. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” He released his hold on her. “Or so I hear.”

She didn’t say anything, but he noticed that when she lowered her hand back to her side she brushed her fingers against her pencil skirt, as if she was trying to wipe the impression of his touch off her. “That’s very interesting. And it seems like we should be able to work well together.”

He looked around the space. “I think we should. So, leaning toward this place?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “I’ll see if Lindy can come down and have a look. Can I hang on to the keys? So that I can open it up when she has time?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Gage gave them to me.”

“Come on. Do you honestly think he’ll care?”

He smiled and then held the keys out. “No.”

She took them, quickly, being careful not to make any contact with him this time. “I’ll let you know what she says. I’m guessing she’ll be on board. And once she is we can start making plans. We’re going to need shelving and...”

“Seating. Refrigeration. Yeah, I have a fair idea. How elaborate is the menu going to be?”

“For now? Nibbles only.”

“Nibbles?”

She raised a brow. “Yes. Nibbles.”

“Okay. I suggest we maybe don’t call them that on the menu.”

“We call them that at the winery.”

“What’s wrong with appetizers?”

“Look, Donnelly, you can name your cheese whatever you want to name your cheese. But this is primarily a Grassroots venture. We are going to own most of it. Controlling share and stuff. So, I get to call them nibbles.”

“If you want to die on the hill of nibbles, be my guest.”

“I do, thank you. Surrounded by nice cheese platters.”

“Now, where cheese platters are concerned, I think we are on the same page.”

“Have you ever done this before? I mean, restaurants. Or, things like this.”

“No. Not specifically. But hotels, and there were restaurants in the hotel. So while I didn’t oversee food service specifically, I’ve definitely seen what works and what doesn’t. Though I’m sure that what works in Manhattan won’t necessarily be the gauge for what works in Copper Ridge. And there, you get to be the expert.”

“Because I’m so exceedingly local?”

“Yes.”

“Why does that not feel like a compliment?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Sounds like your baggage to me.”

She snorted. “All right. I’ll get in touch with you once Lindy gives her opinion.”

She moved past him, and he caught the scent of her. Vanilla. Just like always. And suddenly, he was thrown back to a different time, to warmer days...

He shook his head, ignoring the tightening in his gut.

“Do that.”

The sooner she did that, the sooner they could get started. And the sooner they got started, the sooner they could be done.

CHAPTER FOUR

MUCH TO SABRINA’S CHAGRIN, Lindy was ecstatic when they arrived at the shop later that afternoon. It was perfect as far as she was concerned, everything about it. She had absolutely no qualms and was ready to get the ball rolling immediately.

It was funny, because Lindy seemed to be fueled by her enthusiasm to make the winery a complete and total success and throw in Damien’s face the fact that she didn’t need him at all, and that in fact, she could do more without him around.

Sabrina, on the other hand, was fueled by something altogether different and that was her desire to work with Liam and emerge unscathed. She felt like she was continually reevaluating that situation. At first, she had wanted to avoid him, but if avoidance was the primary goal then it was difficult to make the case that she was all right. Difficult to make the case that she had moved on in any regard.

Not that she had ever pretended she had. Not to herself. And to other people? She just didn’t talk about it.

Maybe moved on was the wrong phrase. It was just... She didn’t trust herself. Her father had always told her to be cautious. To lead with her head, and not with her heart.

Back when he’d talked to her.

He had said that passion was faulty, and feelings were lies. And she had worked so hard to comply with that. To be quiet so that she could spend time with her dad, since he couldn’t handle endless chattering. To be the one who took after him. Not like Damien, who was always volatile like their mother.

She had rebelled once.

The first time she’d set eyes on Liam Donnelly—when he’d come to work at the winery—she’d been sure her chest would crack open and her heart would spill right out in front of him. Like every feeling, every need, every desire she’d shoved down all of her life had risen up to the surface and begged for release.

And then he’d looked at her. She had been certain, utterly certain, that he was the first person to truly see her.

She had known it was wrong. But he made her feel right, and after so many years of feeling like an alien in her own body, vying for her father’s attention the only way she knew how, it was magical to her.

Until the end. The end when everything had fallen apart, and then she’d set about to make everything around her as wrecked as she’d felt inside.

But it was over. She wasn’t that girl anymore. She really never had been. She’d had a moment of insanity, and that was done and never happening again.

Sabrina was going to handle being around him now. She was not going to give her sister-in-law any extra grief. Lindy had had enough. She didn’t need to deal with Sabrina’s baggage on top of everything else. Especially since Sabrina’s baggage was...well, stupid in a lot of ways, she supposed. Nothing was worse than having Liam confront her with what had happened between them. With him making her voice everything.

Because it made what had happened between them feel small. And in her mind it was so large. But she was reluctant to admit that he had a point. It wasn’t like the situation would have been any better if he had slept with her and then disappeared.

But that was the worst part, actually. It was the part that was so hard to explain to people, including him. Maybe especially him, because if she did it would make her sound even more like she was a pet-boiling whack job.

The lingering tenderness made sense to her though. And it hurt all the way down. She had trusted him with all of herself, and more than that, she had trusted in her own feelings for him. They had been wrong.

And that was the bitterest pill to swallow.

That the one time she’d decided to believe in herself, to trust her gut, her gut had been nothing more than a fluttery case of hormonal butterflies.

“This is amazing,” Lindy said, walking slowly across the wooded floor, her high heels clicking on the surface.

Sabrina pressed her fingertips against the door, right where Liam had put his hand earlier. She pulled it back.

“It is,” she said, stepping inside after her sister-in-law.

They had brought along the other tasting room employee, Olivia Logan, who was a funny little woman even though Sabrina quite liked her. She was a prim creature, with a lot of very lofty ideas about right and wrong, and sometimes got a little too judgmental for her own good, but she’d become a good friend to Sabrina over the years.

“This will be too far for me to drive every day,” Olivia commented, sniffing.

“It’s fine,” Lindy said. “Nobody will expect you to come down here. You’re welcome to continue working up at the winery. But, just in case, I did want you to come down and see it. Because I want everyone to feel like they have input.”

Lindy almost overinvolved the winery staff in her decision-making, in Sabrina’s opinion. Though she knew the whole “we are all in this together” thing was kind of part and parcel with her gaining control over the winery.

Damien had been much more about it being a Leighton family business. And only Leightons got a say in what happened. Her family was all about their standing in the community, all about their money.

Perhaps that was one reason she was sympathetic toward Olivia, even when she was a little bit difficult.

Olivia Logan was a member of the founding family of the county. The Logan family had been here since the 1800s, the first to settle both Gold Valley and Copper Ridge. They had come from Independence, Missouri on the Oregon Trail. And Olivia still carried their name.

Sabrina didn’t have a famous name, but she knew how family pride, a lot of interest and concern with family reputation and standing could shape you.

And what happened when you demolished said reputation.

Of course, Damien hadn’t exactly helped the reputation. But she’d always had the feeling their dad didn’t expect as much from Damien as he had from her once upon a time. As if he was given a pass because he was never supposed to do well. Sabrina knew her dad felt like the fact that Lindy had ended up with the winery was ample evidence that their son had made a mistake marrying outside of his class. That she had somehow taken advantage of him.

Sabrina just hadn’t been able to understand their take on it. Not in the least. Not when Damien was the one who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.

Knowing what she did about her parents’ marriage made it all the more confusing in some ways, though not in others. Because what her dad believed in above all else was doing the right thing to avoid making waves. And that was where Lindy had sinned.

She had made a tsunami when she’d discovered her husband’s affair. And after the ground had dried from the storm, she’d left it scorched in her wake. She hadn’t just gotten mad, she’d gotten it all.

That unchecked emotion was what Sabrina imagined really irked her dad.

Sabrina hadn’t been able to imagine a scenario where she cut off a relationship with Lindy to preserve the fractured one she had with her mom and dad. So the choice—and she’d had to make a choice—had been pretty clear. What had surprised her was that Bea had ultimately sided with Lindy. It was possible that Bea’s attachment to Dane had played a role in all of it, but she doubted that her parents paid close enough attention to understand that.

“That’s nice,” Olivia said. “I mean it. It’s nice to feel part of something.”

Sabrina often wondered if Olivia didn’t feel much a part of her life in Gold Valley. Even though she had a boyfriend that she loved, she always seemed somewhat lonely. Distant. She was a funny, repressed little bird.

“I think that we can make this something,” Lindy said, turning a circle in the large, vacant room and holding her hands out. “It’s like girl power.”

“No one has said girl power since 1996,” Sabrina said, but she couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m saying it,” Lindy said, slapping her hands down at her sides. “Because I feel it. Because I’m optimistic.”

It was nice to see Lindy smile like that. Nice to see her excited. Nice to not see her heartbroken by Sabrina’s douchebag brother.

“I’m glad,” Sabrina said.

“I notice you didn’t say you’re optimistic too,” Lindy said.

“It’s not my job to be optimistic, Lindy,” Sabrina said. “It’s my job to make it happen. You don’t want optimism from me anyway. You want realism. Active realism.”

“Okay, my little active realist.” Lindy reached out and patted her shoulder. “Can you get everything accomplished in time for us to take advantage of the holidays?”

“I think we can,” Sabrina responded. “I think we can and we will. Because I’m determined.”

And because it regrettably seemed like Liam Donnelly knew what he was doing. Though, Sabrina supposed that since she did have to have her wagon hitched to him, it was best that he be a competent wagon partner. Because if she had to work with him and he sucked, it would be untenable.

Realizing he had grown into an adult man who was responsible, smart and resourceful was goading in other ways.

She was going to focus on the business aspect though. And from a business standpoint, Liam was exactly who she should want to work with. And really, what better way to strike back at Liam? To show him how competent and amazing she was.

She had just thought earlier that she and Lindy had different goals. That Lindy wanted to do this to stick it to Damien, and that Sabrina just wanted it done to get away from Liam.

But they were more similar than she had initially imagined.

Why not use this as an opportunity to show him that she was a kick-ass woman and not a girl he could just walk away from while she wept on the floor of the cabin he’d been staying in on the winery property.

“We can even get a Christmas tree. Christmas lights. It will be festive. The most festive grand opening Copper Ridge has ever seen!” Lindy said.

“Wait,” Olivia said, looking suddenly envious. “I kind of want to work here if there’s going to be a Christmas tree.”

“I’m sure we can schedule you for a shift. I bet Bennett won’t mind coming down to pick you up and see the new location.”

Olivia smiled. “You’re right about that. And I’m thinking he might even propose before Christmas. So that means he could do it here. It would be so picturesque. The photo you would, of course, take of the moment would be so perfect.”

Sabrina exchanged a glance with Lindy, and in that wordless exchange, Sabrina could tell that her sister-in-law thought much the same thing about Olivia’s boyfriend. That the proposal was likely not as forthcoming as the other woman hoped.

Still, neither of them said anything.

Lindy walked across the space, rubbing her hands together. “This is what I’ve always dreamed of doing. And Damien wouldn’t consider it. Not at all. He wouldn’t entertain any of my ideas.” She shot Sabrina a glance. “I’m sorry. I know he’s your brother.”

“Yeah, he’s my brother. But you know that I’m mad at him for what he did. You know that I don’t support him. I love him, I always will. But I can’t be comfortable around him and that woman. Whatever her name is.” Sabrina knew Brandy’s name. But she didn’t like to acknowledge it. Especially not in front of Lindy.

She could tell Lindy appreciated that. Even if she knew it was a put-on.

“Thank you. But you know it’s not like you have to choose between the two of us. I’m actually just happy that you still want to be in my life at all.”

“Family is about more than blood,” Sabrina said.

It was a difficult thing for families like hers, families like Olivia Logan’s, to acknowledge anything other than blood. But everything she’d been through in the last thirteen years had taught her that blood really wasn’t the be-all and end-all. It wasn’t even half of it.

“You know,” Olivia said, her expression turning mischievous—a side of her Sabrina thought she didn’t express enough. “Instead of putting up the first dollar we earn here at the tasting room, we could always put up a picture of your divorce papers. Since the loss of Damien is what made this possible in the end.”

Both Sabrina and Lindy let out a shocked laugh. “I suppose we could do that,” Lindy said. “Oh, your parents would have a fit.”

“Don’t worry.” Sabrina waved a hand. “You know that Jamison and Suzanne Leighton are never going to darken the door of this establishment. They have washed their hands of the winery and all it entails.”

“Unless they can get ownership back somehow. You know your parents’ lawyer called me again the other day. Asking if I was interested in selling.”

Sabrina’s mouth dropped open. “I’m completely shocked that my parents would broach the subject of buying something they believe is rightfully theirs.”

“They probably shouldn’t have given full ownership to Damien in the first place. And he shouldn’t have signed that prenup.” The corner of Lindy’s mouth lifted. “Not that I’m sorry about any of it. But why on earth he decided that in the event of infidelity the wronged party would get most of the assets is beyond me.”

“Well,” Sabrina said, lifting her shoulder. “You are the undesirable one. I mean, the one from the wrong side of the tracks. I’m sure that he assumed you would be the one to stray. Or that you wouldn’t be smart enough to know that he had.”

Lindy snorted. “Right. Of course. How could I forget that pedigreed Damien Leighton would never be so foolish as to get caught with his penis in the wrong honey jar.”

The color heightened in Olivia’s cheeks. “That’s descriptive.”

Lindy smiled. “I can be much more descriptive if the occasion calls for it. Believe me.”

“I trust you,” Olivia said, holding up a hand.

Then they all stood there for a moment, taking in their surroundings, and Sabrina suddenly felt wholly optimistic. Perhaps it was the vision of this place bedecked in Christmas decorations. Perhaps it was just being here with these women, determined to accomplish something. Whatever the reason, it didn’t feel as hard as it had earlier today. Right now, it felt possible. More than possible.