“I wonder what would happen to your permits if people knew you’d lost one of your reindeer!”
His eyes widened slightly and his jaw flexed.
She couldn’t believe she’d thrown that at him. What happened to the woman who sat on the third pew and called outAmen!at the end of every sermon? Forest brought out all sorts of feelings, lots and lots of feelings, and she had a hard time being levelheaded.
Not to mention he was being stubborn.
“You’re in no position to issue threats.” He lifted his braced arm as evidence of her misdeeds.
“Are you going to have a single mother hauled off for defending her property? Because I could have you taken in for breaking and entering.”
“To getmyreindeer,” he fired back at her.
“Like that’s an excuse.”
He threw up his hand. “You can’t keep her.”
Mitzi folded her arms. “Watch me.”
He glared and then spun on a heel and took off for the barn. His retreat was so fast and so unexpected that she had to mentally tell her feet to follow him. When she finally got the message from her brain all the way down to her toes, he was already halfway there and she had to run to catch up.
Forest made it inside first. “Snowflake!”
Mitzi skidded in and stopped, breathing hard enough that her breath floated around her. Snowflake and Billy had set up a checkerboard on top of a barrel. They turned to watch the two of them storm into the barn.
“Stop,” she said.
“It’s time to go.” Forest pointed at the ground.
Billy threw his hands over his mouth.
“What are you going to do, ride her from Idaho to North Dakota?”
“Don’t tempt me.” Forest moved forward two steps. “I mean it, Snowflake. Christmas is in three weeks. We have work to do.”
Snowflake looked at him with longing.
For a moment, Mitzi thought she was hungry for the promise of Christmas—whatever that meant to a reindeer. Then the animal stood up, pranced around the barrel, and plopped her chin on Billy’s shoulder. She was defying orders. Mitzi could have kissed her.
Forest rolled his eyes. “It’s great that you have a friend,” Forest conceded. “We can come back and visit—after Christmas.”
Snowflake lifted her tail and twitched her ears. She raised up to her full height and trotted into the stall.
Billy’s grin was so big he could catch snowballs with it. “She doesn’t want to go with you.”
“Snowflake?” Forest asked.
Mitzi folded her arms. “Looks like she wants to stay.”
He gave her a no-duh look that made her want to throw a snowball at his face. “She’s not the one in charge here.” He strode forward, his long legs chewing up the distance in a matter of seconds. Snagging the lead rope off the peg, he approached Snowflake. “Listen, there are Christmasthingsto consider here.”
Snowflake put her nose down, chastened. For a moment, Mitzi thought she would change her mind, but when Forest moved forward with the lead rope, she snapped out of it and backed up. Shaking her head from side to side, she used her antlers to keep Forest from getting too close.
After three tries and a near miss to his broken arm, he growled in frustration. “You’re going on the Naughty List.”
Snowflake recoiled in horror. Her legs trembled and she stumbled to the side as if he’d struck her.
“What did you do?” Mitzi surged forward.
