She laughed. “You’d think so,” she agreed. “But even up in Wyoming we didn’t always get snow for Christmas.”
“I’ll bet Wyoming’s pretty,” JJ said. “Dad was offered a job up there year before last, but he said it was just too far to drive. He didn’t think his truck could make it there.” He hesitated. “Daddy Cole brought it over here and fixed it all up. He says when I start learning to drive, it can be mine.”
“Your dad would like that, I think,” Josie said softly.
He managed a smile. “Yeah.”
“And Christmas will be fun,” she added.
“Will you be here at Christmas?” he asked.
Her heart jumped. With any luck, she’d be through her undercover assignment and back at her office by then. But who knew? She thought about going back East and never seeing John again. It was disturbing. She thought about him far too much anyway.
“We’ll have to wait and see, I guess,” she replied with a smile.
JJ and John playedDestiny 2in the den on John’s Xbox while Cole and Heather sat together in the living room, drinking coffee and talking about ranch projects.
“I wanted to ask you,” Heather said, “if you were going to stay with us until Christmas. We have to fly to New York City to be with Odalie when she goes for her opera debut at the Met. We will have people here, of course, but JJ wouldfeel more comfortable if you were here, too, unless you have other plans.”
Josie was touched. It was nice to feel needed. Of course her boss needed her on the job. But this was different. It was nice to be needed on a personal level, especially by family like the Everetts, whom she admired so much. Well, except for John, who disliked her, and who made it obvious at every opportunity.
“I would very much like to stay,” Josie said, “if it wouldn’t be an imposition.”
“And what if it was?” came a sardonic question from the den doorway.
Josie turned her head. She flushed at the cold glare in John’s pale, silver eyes.
“John,” Heather said disapprovingly, “that’s not a nice way to treat a guest.”
John continued to glare at Josie. “She’s your guest, not mine, Mom,” he replied. “And let’s not forget that she’s still in trouble with the law.”
“That’s true,” Josie said proudly, “but I’m doing my best not to be a hindrance.”
“Just don’t walk off with the family silver,” John added with a cold smile. “And just what were you doing looking at a lot of purebred calves that we plan to auction soon at our private sale?”
Heather gave her son a withering look, which he ignored.
She had to come up with a reasonable idea that wouldn’t make him even more suspicious. All the while she felt miserable that she could not tell him the truth about who she really was. But that was impossible for the moment. Too many lives were at stake, including her own.
“Raines is coming to the private sale. He wants to bid on that lot of calves for his boss, who runs purebred Santa Gertrudis cattle. That’s in addition to the property that his boss is also interested in.” She’d overheard Raines talking aboutit. She hoped the throwaway remark would spare her John’s suspicion.
“Who is this mysterious person that he works for? Is it somebody local?”
“No, it’s not,” she said. “I think I mentioned that it’s a reclusive, very wealthy person from the northeast. Raines never told me exactly who it is, but he has deep pockets, and I have to make a living. Raines will pay me very well to do this sort of work for him.”
“And what type of work would that be, exactly?” John asked sardonically.
“John, you’re being very rude to our guest,” Heather said currently, glaring at her child.
“It must be the influence of his pet,” Josie mused, returning the glare with interest.
John didn’t like the way he felt when he looked at her. His stomach seemed to fall with every view. She wasn’t overly pretty. She had a very sharp tongue. And he couldn’t help but be suspicious of her, especially since she’d been arrested. John had been a straight arrow all his life, never in trouble with the law, never really putting a foot wrong. It made him very angry that this young woman, who seemed determined to end up in federal prison, affected him in a way that nobody had since his infatuation with Stasia.
Josie was having some issues of her own. John was very handsome, and he made her feel things she didn’t like... but so many lives depended on what she was doing. There was no way she could put her own feelings before her job.
“My pet has nothing to do with this,” John replied in a cool tone.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Josie replied with a grin, just to rattle him. “Don’t they say that people begin to look like their pets after a while?” she asked.
