A Maverick under the Mistletoe

“You think she was talking about Clayton?”

“I know she was. Of course, she didn’t mention the fact that Clay didn’t even know Delia was pregnant until she showed up on his doorstep with the baby—or the fact that Delia turned around and hightailed it out of town only a few days later.”

“Leaving your brother with the son he never knew he had—which, to me, proves that he does understand family values. He stepped right up to be a daddy to Bennett and never tried to pawn him off on anybody else.”

He smiled, just a little. “I wish you’d been at the store with me.”

But of course they both knew that such an occurrence would have generated gossip of a different kind.

“Anyway, you shouldn’t worry about Ginny—everyone knows she’s just an old busybody.”

“Unfortunately, she isn’t the only one who’s been talking. Even the minister in church the other day was talking about wedding vows and that ‘till death do us part’ needs to mean till death and not until one of the spouses decides he or she has had enough.”

“Pastor Alderson has never made any secret of the fact that he’s opposed to divorce.”

“And Dallas is divorced—but he only took the step to end his marriage after his wife walked out on him and the kids.”

“I think most people around here know that the divorce was instigated by Laurel’s abandonment.”

“Do they?” he challenged. “Or do they see it as proof that the Traubs don’t reflect the traditional family values that are a cornerstone of Rust Creek Falls?”

“Collin has to pick his battles,” Paige said reasonably. “He can’t expect to win every argument on every issue, so he should focus on what he’s doing and not worry about rumors.”

“That’s what we’ve been trying to do,” Sutter admitted. “The purpose of his national online initiative to help rebuild Rust Creek Falls was designed to give people a reason to look past the devastation and focus on the positive.”

“‘A vote for Collin Traub is a vote for success and prosperity for the future of Rust Creek Falls,’” she quoted.

He grinned. “You’ve been reading our press.”

“I’ve been reading everything in the press,” she clarified. “I like to make an informed decision.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, stunned by the abrupt change of topic. “How is that any of your business?”

“Maybe it’s not,” he admitted. “But I heard that you’ve been keeping company with a foreman at the lumber mill, and I want to know if it’s true.”

“It’s true.” She started walking again. “I’ve been dating Alex Monroe for a few months now.”

“Is it serious?”

“Again—none of your business,” she said, because she wasn’t going to admit to Sutter that her relationship with the other man wasn’t anywhere close to being serious.

Alex was a great guy. He was attractive and well mannered and she enjoyed spending time with him. Unfortunately there was no real spark or sizzle between them, nothing to make her think that their relationship would ever progress to the next level.

Her sisters, Lani and Lindsay, claimed that Paige wouldn’t ever be able to have a serious relationship with Alex—or any other man—so long as she was still carrying a torch for Sutter. She, of course, denied that was true, because she’d given up hope that Sutter would come back to her a long time ago.

But standing beside him now, she was suddenly overwhelmed by the memories of what they’d once shared, and she realized that maybe she had been comparing other men to “the one who got away.” But she didn’t think that was so unusual. After all, Sutter had been her first love and her first lover, and she couldn’t imagine any subsequent relationship having that same depth and intensity.

And she wasn’t going to waste even another minute of her time worrying about it tonight. She started walking again, and he fell into step beside her.

A few minutes later, she paused outside a two-story saltbox-style house with steel-blue clapboard siding and wide white trim around the front door and windows.

“This is mine,” she said, and felt a familiar thrill when she spoke those words. Two years earlier, when she’d put in her offer for the house, she’d been excited—and then absolutely terrified when it was accepted. Gradually the terror had subsided, beaten back by endless weeks and months of intense manual labor to scrub and shine and prep and paint until she felt as if it was well and truly her own.

He gave the house a quick once-over. “Nice,” he said approvingly.

She didn’t want or need his approval, but she found herself smiling anyway. Because it was nice. More important, it was hers.

“Are you going to invite me in for coffee?” he asked.

“No.”

His brows lifted. “Just no? You’re not even going to make up some kind of lame excuse as to why you can’t invite me in?”

“I don’t need to make up an excuse,” she told him. “The fact is, tomorrow is a school day and I have lesson plans to review.”

The smile that flashed across his face actually made her knees weak.

“For a minute it was almost like we were back in high school,” he said.

She’d thought the same thing as soon as the words were out of her mouth. There had been a lot of times when Sutter had tried to convince her to stay out with him instead of going home to finish her homework or study for an upcoming test. And a lot of times when she’d let herself be convinced. And when he’d finally walked her home, they’d still been reluctant to part, so they’d stood in the shadows of the back porch of her parents’ house and kissed good-night. He’d spent a lot of time kissing her good-night.

Obviously he was remembering the same thing, because he took a step closer and said, “Are you going to let me kiss you good-night?”

“No.” Though she knew she should hold her ground, she took an instinctive step back.

Sutter smiled knowingly. “Are you busy Thursday night?”

This second abrupt change in topic made her almost as wary as his previous request. “Why?”

“It’s election night,” he reminded her. “And the candidates and their supporters will be gathered at town hall for the results. Since you’ve declared your support for Collin, I thought you might want to be there.”

She did believe Collin was the best candidate and he was definitely going to get her vote, but hanging out with his family and friends at town hall meant being around Sutter, and she wasn’t sure if that was something she could handle.

“I’ll think about it,” she finally agreed, because once he’d made the offer, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to not think about it. But she also knew that there was no way she could go.

The only hope she had of protecting her heart was to stay as far away from Sutter Traub as possible.

* * *

Since it wasn’t an outright refusal, Sutter decided not to press Paige for a firm commitment. He simply waited until she’d unlocked her door, then he wished her a good night and headed back to town hall. He hadn’t realized how far they’d walked until he had to make the trek back again without the pleasure of her company.

He’d enjoyed walking and talking with her like they’d done so many times before. But that was the past. He retraced his steps as he’d lived the past five years of his life—without her. And he tried not to think about everything they’d once meant to one another, and everything they’d lost.

Paige Dalton had been his soul mate and best friend. His heart had belonged to her, wholly and completely. She was the one woman he’d imagined spending the rest of his life with. He’d even proposed marriage before he’d left town, but she’d turned him down and turned her back on him, and he’d gone to Washington alone.

The transition from Rust Creek Falls to Seattle hadn’t been an easy one, and for the first several months Sutter had doubted it would be a successful one. He’d tried working at various office jobs in the city, but he never found one that seemed to fit. Or maybe he was just too restless to sit behind a desk all day. It was only when he heard about a job opening for a horse trainer at a local stable that things began to turn around for him.

He’d always been good with animals and he’d quickly established a reputation for himself with the local horse set. After a couple of years working for someone else, he had both the money and the confidence he needed to venture out on his own.

Three years earlier, he’d opened Traub Stables, and he was gratified by its success. He was also pleased that his business had created a second market for CT Saddles—Collin’s custom-made saddles and leather-goods business. That was all Sutter wanted—all he needed. Or so he’d believed until he’d come back to Rust Creek Falls again.

When he’d left town five years earlier, he’d vowed that he would never return. Of course, he’d been younger and more impulsive then, and the simple fact that his family was in Rust Creek Falls guaranteed that he wouldn’t be able to stay away forever. Despite the harsh words that had been thrown around in the Traub household, he could never really turn his back on his family—even if he felt they’d turned their backs on him first.

So when he’d heard the news about the flood, he had to come home to make sure everything was okay at the ranch. Of course, it had taken him some time to get everything in order with his business so that he could feel comfortable leaving for a couple of weeks. And even then, his apprehension had increased with every mile that drew him closer to the Triple T. There was still tension in his family—most notably between Sutter and Forrest—and it had occurred to him that he might not be welcome. Especially if his war-hero brother had also decided to return.

Both Forrest and Clayton were living in Thunder Canyon these days with their new wives and, in Clayton’s case, children. But Sutter was certain they would also be drawn back to Rust Creek Falls, eager to do anything they could to help out not just the Traub family but the larger community.

Another reason that Sutter had questioned his impulse to return was the possibility that he might run into Paige Dalton. A possibility that had turned into a certainty when he found out that Collin was marrying Willa Christensen—a friend and colleague of Paige’s.

Of his five brothers, Collin was the only one who got Sutter and who hadn’t judged him for his less-than-enthusiastic support of Forrest’s decision to return to Iraq. So when Collin had asked Sutter to be his best man, he hadn’t even considered refusing. He hadn’t found out until later that Paige would be Willa’s maid of honor.

The wedding had been simple but beautiful. And Sutter and Paige had both focused on their respective duties and pretended to be oblivious to one another. At least, Sutter was pretending. And he’d tried to focus on his duties, but Paige had always been a distraction.

She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever known. Now that girl was a woman and even more of a distraction. Willa had been a gorgeous bride, and Sutter had been thrilled to see his brother so obviously in love and more contented than he’d ever been, but it was the bride’s maid of honor who had caught—and held—Sutter’s attention.

Her long dark hair had been fashioned into some kind of loose knot on top of her head, but a few strands had escaped to frame her delicate heart-shaped face. Her dark eyes had been enhanced with makeup, her sharp cheekbones highlighted and her sweetly curved lips had been painted a glossy pink color.

Her dress was a long, strapless column of pale lilac silk that hugged her curves. She’d been more skinny than thin as a girl, but there was no doubt she was a woman now. A woman with silky-smooth skin and beautiful shoulders that had seemed rather chilly whenever she’d turned them in his direction.

Unfortunately, her obvious disinterest had done nothing to cool the blood running through his veins. But he’d managed to get through the wedding without giving in to the desire to touch her, and he’d breathed a sigh of relief when the event was over.

He’d done a pretty good job of avoiding Paige in the months that had passed since then—until tonight, when his need just to see her and talk to her had overridden his common sense and sent him chasing after her.

When he’d offered to manage Collin’s campaign, he’d claimed it was simply because he believed that his brother truly was the best person for the job—especially considering that the only other candidate was Nathan Crawford. He hadn’t been willing to admit, even to himself, that Paige Dalton had been a factor in his decision to stay in Rust Creek Falls a little longer. Maybe he’d been an idiot where she was concerned, but he wasn’t a masochist. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

But now, three months later, he was still in Rust Creek Falls and still hoping to catch a glimpse of her around every corner. And that, he knew, was a definite sign that it was long past time to go back to Seattle.

He’d been making occasional trips back and forth, not so much to keep an eye on his business, because he trusted his stable manager absolutely, but to ensure that he was able to give the personal touch to his major clients. But he’d never stayed in Seattle more than a few days before he’d found a reason to return to Rust Creek Falls again. He decided now that he needed to get back to his real life before he let himself start believing that he could ever come home to stay. Because the more time he spent here, the more he remembered how it had felt to be part of the close-knit community, and the more he craved that sense of belonging again.

The town had come together and had made impressive headway with respect to the repairs that were needed. It never ceased to amaze him how people managed to overcome their differences and work together in times of crisis. In fact, Collin and Nate had worked side by side on the Recovery Committee with Sheriff Gage Christensen—Willa’s brother—and Thelma McGee.

Sutter had pitched in wherever help was needed and, as a result, had occasionally crossed paths with Paige. Each time he saw her, he was reminded of what they’d once had—and what he’d lost. And almost every night since his return, he dreamed of her when he went to sleep.

That was just one more reason that he was looking forward to going back to Seattle—so he could sleep through the night without dreams of a sexy, dark-eyed brunette disturbing his slumber. Not that the distance had helped him forget about Paige completely, but it had forced him to accept that she’d chosen a life without him. And he knew the best thing for him now was to get back to that life without her. Except that he’d made his brother a promise, and that meant that Sutter was going to be in Rust Creek Falls until the last ballot was counted.

His faith in his brother had not wavered once since Collin had announced his candidacy. If anything, the more he learned about his brother’s plans and ideas for the town, the more convinced he was that Collin was the right man to lead Rust Creek Falls through this crisis and toward a better, stronger future. Unfortunately, instead of promoting his own ideas, Nathan Crawford was more interested in slinging mud at the Traubs.

For some reason that Sutter couldn’t even pretend to understand, the Traubs and the Crawfords had been at odds for generations. According to the widely circulated rumors around town, the feud had originated with a business partnership gone wrong. Of course, that was only one version of the story and, depending on the telling, even it had several variations and discrepancies as to which party had done the wrong.

In any event, the animosity that existed between the families since before Sutter could remember had come to a head a few years earlier when Collin and Nate had gotten into a fight over accusations that Nate’s girlfriend was stepping out with his nemesis. Collin’s announcement that he would run against Nate in the election had further exacerbated the tensions.

“Where did you disappear to?” Collin demanded when Sutter finally got back to town hall.

The majority of the crowd had dispersed, leaving only a handful of people in the building: volunteers stacking up chairs and sweeping the floors, Willa in conversation with a young couple who were just as likely to be talking to her about their daughter who was in her kindergarten class as an issue regarding Collin’s campaign.

“I needed some air,” Sutter told his brother.

“You didn’t follow Paige?”

He scowled. “I’m not a stalker, but yes, I did talk to her. I wanted to thank her for the things she said.”

“Her words did interject rationale and reason into an uncomfortable situation—at least for the moment.”

“She promised that you have her vote,” Sutter told him.

“I’m grateful for that,” Collin said. “But I’m more concerned about you.”

“You’ve got my vote, too.”

His brother cuffed the side of Sutter’s head. “I meant that I’m concerned about you and Paige.”

“There is no me and Paige—there hasn’t been for a long time.” Of course, knowing that fact didn’t stop him from thinking about her—or wanting her. “Besides, she’s seeing Alex Monroe.”

“I know that she’s gone out with him a few times,” Collin admitted. “I don’t know that it’s exclusive, though.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sutter insisted. “My life is in Seattle now, and she made it clear a long time ago that she has no intention of ever leaving Rust Creek Falls.”

“Your business is in Seattle,” his brother agreed. “But your family is here.”

“Now you sound like Paige,” he grumbled.

“Really?” Collin seemed intrigued by the idea. “Well, where you choose to live is your decision. I just want to be sure that you’re not planning to go anywhere before the election.”

“I’m not, unless you want me to.”

“I don’t.”

“That whole scene tonight—it happened because of me.”

“It happened because Nate Crawford doesn’t know how to play by the rules.”

Sutter couldn’t deny that was true, but he still hated to think that his brother could lose the election because of him. Certainly the tide of popular opinion had turned against him in a heartbeat tonight, until Paige’s timely interjection.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Willa said, coming over to join in their conversation. “And I think Nate is feeling more than a little desperate.”

Collin slid his arm around her. “Why do you say that?”

“Because he knows he’s going to lose this election, and the defeat is going to be that much harder to take for a Crawford beaten by a Traub.”

“While I appreciate your confidence, you might want to hold off on the victory speech until the votes are actually counted,” Collin told her.

Secretly, Sutter couldn’t help but agree with his brother. As much as he appreciated Willa’s optimism about her new husband’s chances in the election, he didn’t share her faith. He truly believed Collin was the best candidate for the job, but Nate Crawford had run a clever campaign. Instead of focusing on his plans to return the town to its former glory—no doubt because he knew that Collin was leaps and bounds ahead of him in that regard—he’d chosen to focus on his family’s place in the town’s history, and on digging up dirt on his opponent.

Not that there was much dirt to be found on Collin, which was surely why Nate had expanded his smear campaign to encompass the whole of the Traub family. And in doing so, he’d had more success.

Sutter could only hope that Nate’s efforts would be in vain.

Chapter Three

Sutter said goodbye to Collin and Willa and headed back to the Triple T. He bypassed the main house and went directly to Clayton’s residence on the property. Since Clay had moved to Thunder Canyon, his place had become a guest house for visitors, and although Sutter wasn’t technically a guest, he felt more comfortable there than in the main house.

Mostly he appreciated the privacy and the solitude, and he was grateful for both tonight. He didn’t feel like making idle conversation with anyone, especially not his well-meaning but undeniably interfering mother, and especially not if she’d somehow gotten wind of the fact that Paige had been present at the town hall debate.

Ellie had always liked Paige, and despite the breakup with Sutter she hadn’t yet given up hope that they might somehow find their way back to one another. So she made a point of keeping him apprised of what was going on in Paige’s life—including the fact that she was dating the mill foreman.

Sutter knew that the information hadn’t been intended to hurt him but to spur him into action, his mother expecting that he would charge into town and sweep Paige off her feet and into his arms again. Even if he’d thought such a grand gesture might be successful, Sutter knew that he had no right to interfere in her life now. Five years earlier, they’d made their own choices and gone their separate ways.

And now she was dating Alex Monroe.

That fact was more difficult to accept than he wanted to acknowledge. He didn’t know Alex well, but he knew who he was and he had nothing against the guy. He just didn’t like the idea of Paige with anyone else.

Which was admittedly hypocritical considering that he’d hardly lived like a monk in the five years since he’d left Rust Creek Falls. But the truth was, he hadn’t been with anyone since Paige who had made him forget about her.

He’d fallen in love with her when he was barely seventeen, and with the innocence and conviction of youth, he’d been absolutely certain that he would love her forever. They’d talked about their future together, when they would get married, where they would live, how many children they wanted. And he’d believed that she loved him, too—right up until the moment she’d told him she couldn’t marry him.

Even five years later, the memory of that impulsive and rejected proposal stung. Because even now he knew he wasn’t completely over his feelings for Paige, while she seemed to have moved on without so much as a backward glance in his direction.

The fact that she’d bought a house proved to him that she still wanted most of the same things they’d talked about. That she hadn’t let him get past the front door proved that he wasn’t a factor in any of her plans.

Which, of course, made him wonder if Alex Monroe was. Had she invited him in for coffee? Had he been given a tour of Paige’s house? Had he seen her bedroom? Spent the night in her bed?

Sutter scowled, acknowledging that those were questions he probably didn’t want to know the answers to—even the speculation was making him crazy.

He deliberately turned his thoughts to why she’d moved out of her parents’ house. Maybe she’d wanted to be closer to her job, although a couple of blocks hardly made a difference. In a town like Rust Creek Falls, commuting times were never a concern.

More likely she’d wanted her own space, more independence. Paige had always been close to her family, but she’d often chafed at their rules and restrictions. It was a common complaint of many teenagers, but she was a grown woman now, an incredibly beautiful woman living alone in a house that was probably just waiting for the children she’d always wanted.

He poured himself a glass of whiskey and swallowed it in a single gulp. The liquor burned a path down his throat and into his belly, but it didn’t touch the aching emptiness in his heart. So he poured himself a second drink and was considering a third when he realized what he was doing. He pushed the bottle aside and headed to bed.

It had been a lot of years since he’d drunk himself into a stupor over a woman, and even that hadn’t helped him forget either the pain or the loneliness. Of course, it had been Paige then, too, and he wasn’t going to go down that path again.

It was a decision he found himself questioning later. If he’d consumed enough alcohol to pass out drunk, maybe he wouldn’t have been able to dream. Because when he finally did fall asleep, his dreams were filled with images of Paige, past and present. Memories mingled with fantasy in an enticing montage that teased and tormented him through the night.