“Oh, I see. Since I’m bargaining with the devil, I guess you want my soul.”
“No, but you’re close.”
Her breath hitched. “You’re right. I can’t afford it.” As they drew closer to the barn, she surveyed the area in front of it. “Where do you want me to park this rig?”
“Anywhere. We’ll haul it back to the tractor barn after we take care of Thor. You can stop here, if you want.”
“Okay, then. Whoa, Thor! Whoa, boy!”
When the sleigh came to a halt, Rance leaped down. He started to help Lani but paused to glance up at her. Buck was on his way over. “Want to climb down by yourself?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I’ll get the box.”
“Hey, guys,” Buck called out. “I see you’re back in one piece. Hang on, Lani, I’ll help you down.”
“Thanks.”
Rance ducked his head to hide a smile. Buck would chastise him later for his lapse in cowboy manners. Retrieving the box, he turned and waited while Buck played the gentleman.
Then he handed Lani the box. “I know it wasn’t exactly what you expected, but?—”
“It’s great.” She kept her expression neutral. “Thank you for thinking of me. And for the sleigh ride. I’ll just stick this in the truck so I can help with Thor.”
“Speaking of the truck, you probably need to take it back in case your folks want to go somewhere.”
“Oh. I suppose?—”
“Don’t worry about Thor,” Buck said. “Rance and I can handle this. We don’t want to strand Harry and Vanessa.”
“No, we don’t. I wish now I’d rented a car, but they insisted I didn’t need to.”
Buck nodded. “They wanted to save you money. By all means, go.”
“I’ll see you two later, then. Thanks again for the sleigh ride. It was fun.” She hurried away.
“She hated your gift, didn’t she?”
Rance turned to Buck, who for years had been the only father figure in his life. He couldn’t tell Buck the surface details, but he could give him the truth underneath those facts. “She actually really liked it.”
“You’re kidding yourself, son. She said it was great, but she didn’t mean it. Anyone could tell that. Oh, and her sayingthank you for thinking of me? That’s what everyone says when your gift bombs.”
“Take my word for it, the gift didn’t bomb.”
“Then why did she react that way?”
“Because she’s afraid to like anything connected to me. Deep down, she believes I have the power to ruin her life.”
“Do you?”
“Maybe.” That worried him more than he cared to admit.
CHAPTER SIX
Lani arrived at her parents’ cabin as they were fixing an early lunch prior to heading into town. After some last-minute Christmas shopping they’d have dinner at the Buffalo.
When they invited her to go along, she told them the truth. She had to finish reading a manuscript by tomorrow.
