Page 22 of Christmas at the Ranch
“When I was eight, I attended my first sleepover birthday party,” he began. “I wasn’t really friends with the kid but he invited the whole class. It was the typical kids’ party where everyone eats too much sugar and starts throwing Nerf darts at each other insteadof the dartboard.” He grinned. “I was fine when we took out our sleeping bags, but in the middle of the night I couldn’t sleep. The boy’s mother noticed I was upset and asked if I wanted to call my mother. I said I didn’t have a mother, she left when I was four. She looked at me and said I had nothing to be afraid of. I’d already survived the worst thing that could happen to a kid and I was perfectly fine.”
Samantha was quiet. When Samantha was a little girl, her mother always picked her up from birthday parties. Often her mother would stay and chat with the other mothers.
“I’m sorry,” she said finally.
“Most people are afraid to try to write a book. They think they’re not good enough or their work will be criticized. You’ve written more than one book.” He picked up his mug and his wrist brushed hers. “You don’t have anything else to be afraid of.”
Samantha and Drew finished their hot chocolates and walked into the square. It was late afternoon and the air was freezing. Skiers piled off the tram and there was the sound of ski boots crunching on hard snow.
“Tonight, after dinner, the ski patrol skis down the mountain carrying electric torches,” Drew said as they walked toward the waiting car. “There’s a parade and everyone sings Christmas carols around the Christmas tree. I was thinking of going. Would you like to join me?”
For a moment Samantha wondered if Drew was asking her out. Then she remembered he hadn’t told his father about Beatrix. He probably just didn’t want to be alone with Arthur.
She enjoyed Drew’s company and it sounded like fun. Growing up in New Jersey, she never missed the Christmas sing-along with her parents.
“Yes.” She nodded, tugging on her gloves. “I’d like that very much.”
Samantha shook the snow off her boots and entered the ranch’s living room. She was going to take a bath and then get dressed for Christmas dinner.
A beautiful blonde stood in front of the fireplace. Her hair was tied in the kind of ponytail that usually looked silly on most grown women, but on her was sophisticated. She wore a ski parka and après-ski boots that Samantha had seen in a magazine spread of European ski resorts: white moon boots that came up to her knees with faux-diamond buckles.
Samantha sighed, her self-confidence slipping. She had met women like that at industry events. She was probably some supermodel launching a series of beauty books. Over cocktails, she’d confide in Samantha that her book was going to be featured onGood Morning America.
Samantha’s nose was red from the cold, and she hadn’t brushed her hair since she took off the snowmobile helmet. She’d slip upstairs and meet her later when she was properly dressed.
“Samantha.” Arthur appeared from the hallway. He wore a turtleneck and slacks and carried two cocktail glasses. “I’d like you to meet someone.”
He handed a glass to the woman and turned to Samantha.
“This is Beatrix, Drew’s fiancée,” he introduced them. “Beatrix, this is Samantha Morgan, one of our star authors.”
Beatrix looked at Samantha. Her smile was as dazzling as the large diamond on her left hand.
“I was just telling Arthur how thrilled I am to be here. I skiedin Jackson Hole years ago, everyone knows it has some of the best powder in America. And Arthur is so clever with the mix of people he invites to his house parties,” Beatrix said brightly. There was something false in her voice, like when Samantha gave Siri a different accent.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Samantha held out her hand.
“I just love writers, they’re so interesting,” Beatrix gushed. Beatrix’s handshake was firm. “We have the whole week together. I’m sure we’ll get to know each other.”
Chapter Six
Samantha stepped out of the bath and wrapped herself in a towel. She often wished she had a bathtub in her apartment, it was the best place to think up plot ideas.
Sitting in the bath with the sun setting over the Teton Valley, a new idea came to her. Sloane Parker is between assignments and staying at a ski resort in Davos, Switzerland. She’s relaxing in a hot tub at her chalet when she’s approached by a striking redhead with wraparound sunglasses that hide her eyes. The redhead is wearing a white ski suit with a jeweled hood and holding the sweetest little Pomeranian dog.
The redhead introduces herself as Colette and says she found the dog shivering at the bottom of the ski lift. No one claimed it and she couldn’t let it freeze to death. She’s late for a photo shoot and they can’t start without her.
Sloane offers to care for the dog and they go into Sloane’s suite. Sloane enters the bathroom to get a towel, and when she comes out Colette is gone. Then she discovers that the red phone hidden under her pillow is also missing.
The woman isn’t really a high-fashion model, and she isn’t a redhead. The hair is a wig so that Sloane won’t recognize her old nemesis, the impossibly beautiful blond agent Clarissa Cooper. Only Clarissa knows that Sloane can’t resist stray dogs, and only Clarissa knows that British Intelligence makes all agents keep a secret cell phone underneath their pillows.
Sloane can’t let Clarissa get away. She alerts the airport and train station. Then she arranges for the ski patrol to close the autobahn leading out of Davos. When she finally finds Clarissa hiding under a fur coat in the back of a Mercedes, she confiscates her passport and has her arrested for stealing property of the British government.
Samantha replaced the towel with a robe and sat at the dressing table. She didn’t know why Beatrix had rubbed her the wrong way. They met so briefly and Beatrix was perfectly friendly.
Perhaps it was because Drew told Samantha about her ultimatum. Drew was a nice guy; she didn’t want him to get hurt.
Samantha had the unsettling feeling that it was more than that. It had been so much fun snowmobiling with Drew this afternoon, and then drinking hot chocolates at the General Store. He had asked her to watch the Christmas parade after dinner.
