Page 41 of The Lie That Stole Christmas

Ashley’s face softened, her lips curving upward.“Really?”

“She’s pushing fifteen now, but you’d never know it watching her move.”

“She has to be one of the oldest in the stable now.”

“She is.”He nodded.“Clint retired her from pulling last year, but she acts like she’s five whenever the snow starts falling.Gets all worked up and starts stomping around the paddock until Clint lets her out to run around in it.”

Ashley laughed.“That sounds like Mabel.”

“She’s had a few foals too.Two of them ended up in the show circuit.”Pride threaded into his voice without meaning to.But just like everything else at Winterridge, he had a hand in helping.“One took first at the county draft showcase three years ago.”Bill and the staff popped a bottle of champagne that evening to celebrate.

“Did Clint cry?”

“Oh, buckets.”

Her smile widened, and his gut tightened painfully at the sight.God, he missed her.Missed this.Nights when the entire house was asleep, but they had each other.

“She used to let me braid ribbons into her mane before the Christmas parade.”Her eyes drifted away, her smile drooping into tender sadness.“Grandma Lily used to pretend not to be horrified at how many I used.”

“You always did use too many.”

Her eyes met his.“You never stopped me.”

That’s because he would let her do whatever the hell she wanted.Heck, he’d probably let her braid ribbons in his hair if it were long enough.

“It made you happy,” he said.

Red blossomed on her cheeks, spreading upward.“It did.”She brought a strawberry to her mouth, her lips closing over the berry in a way that shouldn’t have been erotic, but his mind was long since in the gutter.He swallowed, knowing those lips were capable of bringing him to his knees.

“I’m surprised Grandpa kept the horses.They were Grandma Lily’s thing.”

“I think it was his way of holding onto a piece of her.Especially after he lost the whole family, too.”

Ashley looked down at the strawberry in her hand, turning it slowly between her fingers.“I’ve been thinking a lot about what Uncle Rick said.He wasn’t wrong.”

“No,” Carter said.“He was not.”Carter stole a strawberry from the bowl and took a bite.“I’d argue that his timing sucked.”

Ashley snorted.“You think?Grandma Lily was lying in the coffin, and he stood right beside it berating every one of us.I honestly expected her to sit up and smack him.”

“Your aunt Marilyn had that covered.”

“The slap heard round Winterridge,” Ashley said.“I’d never been so shocked in my life, and I grew up in this house with this family.”

“That’s because Lily had a way of not letting things go too far.Without her…”

“We all went too far.”

Silence spread between them before Carter cleared his throat.

“You should talk to him.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“You can because you have the same spirit as your grandmother.You believe in second chances, even if you’re too stubborn to admit it at first.He fucked up.No one is saying he didn’t.Especially him.But should that one moment when he was at his most vulnerable be the thing that defines his entire legacy?”

“My number one task since everyone arrived is to keep you here.You’ve always been his favorite.”

“Really?”she exclaimed, bringing another strawberry to her lips.“Feels more like you’ve been trying to send me packing.”