Clandestine Christmas. Elle James
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frowned. “Don’t seem right. You’re a guest.”
Frances chuckled. “Let the two young folks take care of the animals. Can’t you see? They’d like some time alone.”
The older man’s eyes widened and he harrumphed. “Well, then, I guess I could have that extra piece of toast.” He reached for the stack of bread in the middle of the table. “I feel like I’m playing hooky from school,” he said, shaking his head.
“You do more than your share around here,” Chase assured him. “It won’t hurt for you to take your time eating breakfast.” He grabbed a heavy jacket hanging from a hook near the back door and handed it to Kate. “Frances, do you mind if Kate wears your jacket until I can get her one she can work in?”
“I have my own coat,” Kate protested. “It will only take me a minute to get it.”
“No, honey,” Frances interjected. “Wear mine and save yours. No use getting it all dirty. And wear my mud boots. It gets pretty sloppy around the barn when it snows.”
“Thank you.” Kate pulled on the boots Frances indicated and shrugged into the jacket Chase held out to her. He handed her a knit cap and a scarf, pulled on his own coat, and they left through a mudroom off the kitchen.
Clouds choked the sky, hovering low enough to smother the mountains from view and it smelled like snow. The first snows had already melted and Christmas was just around the corner. Ski resorts were hurting—the owners, ski instructors and lodge workers all prayed for snow. Chase liked it when fresh snow covered the ground and made everything look clean and new.
The only time he didn’t like snow was when they still had cattle scattered in the upper pastures. Fortunately, they had herded them to the lower pastures before the first snows fell. Even the few stragglers had found their way down the mountainside in time.
Chase was thankful his animals were all accounted for. With the attack on Sadie last night, he had other concerns more pressing.
Once outside, Kate pulled the collar up on her jacket and adjusted her scarf around her neck.
“It’s a little colder in the high country than in Texas,” Chase noted.
She nodded, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “Why did you feel it necessary for me to do this job undercover? Especially around your employees?”
Chase expected the question and answered with, “I love Frances and William, but I don’t want to burden them with secrets I don’t want the rest of the town to know.”
“And why do we need to keep it from the rest of the town that I’m here to protect you, Sadie and Jake? For that matter, who am I protecting? If it’s Sadie, I should be at the hospital.”
“They have a security staff at the hospital. I’m certain no one will be able to get to her in the ICU.” Chase reached for the handle on the barn door and opened it, holding it for Kate to enter.
She paused on the threshold, face-to-face with Chase. “People have ways around loose security.”
Chase’s heart thumped hard against his chest at her nearness and he struggled for a moment to focus on her words. “We don’t know if last night’s incident was related to Sadie’s suspicions. Once we’ve taken care of the animals, we’ll go into town and check on Sadie. It should be visiting hours by then.”
Kate entered the barn and glanced around the dark interior. “Did Sadie say who she thought might be following her or why?”
“No. But she did tell me that she was afraid someone was watching her.” Flipping the light switch next to the door, Chase followed Kate inside and grabbed a bucket hanging on the wall. “I moved Sadie and Jake here when their house burned to the ground in Leadville. She and Jake didn’t have anywhere else to go.” He handed the bucket to Kate and pointed to a bin against the wall. “Half a bucket per stall.”
Kate nodded, her brows drawing together as she bent to fill the bucket with grain. “Her house burned. You said the fire department ruled it arson?” She crossed to the first stall and opened it to a sorrel mare. The animal whinnied, tossed her head and stamped her hooves, as Kate dumped the feed into the horse’s trough.
Kate reached up and stroked the horse’s neck, neither affected by the size and strength of the animal, nor the attitude the mare gave her.
Chase grinned. “Penance isn’t usually so easy to get along with.”
Her brow rising, Kate glanced back at the horse. “That’s the best you could do for a name for this poor creature?” She ran her hand along the mare’s neck and across her back as the animal munched on her feed. “No wonder she’s full of spit and vinegar.”
“She’s always been a bit high-strung. But she has a comfortable gait and she’s good at herding and cutting.”
Kate studied the horse. “Her confirmation is good and she seems sturdy enough for a work animal on hilly and rocky terrain.”
“I’m glad you like her. She’s yours to ride while you’re here.”
Her hand stilled on the mare’s neck. “Thanks, but I doubt I’ll be here long enough to take advantage of the offer.”
“I told you, I need you here. I want you to stay until well after Christmas, if Hank can spare you that long.”
Kate returned to the feed bin and scooped another bucketful of sweet feed, her gaze on the task. “Even if we resolve the issues sooner?”
“Yes. At this point, the less upheaval in Jake and Sadie’s lives, the better.”
“So what was the cause of Sadie’s fire?”
“Her house burned because of a gas leak. Fortunately, Sadie and Jake weren’t inside the house when it happened because they were late getting home. Had they been on time, they would have been caught in the middle of a terrible explosion.”
“Where is Jake’s mother?”
“Died in a car wreck six months ago.”
“Any connection to last night’s attack?”
“Not that I could tell.” Chase led a horse out of the second stall and tied it to the opposite wall. He reached for a pitchfork and entered the vacated stall. “You were behind the car that hit us last night. What did you see?” He scooped soiled hay from the floor of the stall and deposited it into a wheelbarrow.
“I would have gotten a license plate number if I’d known the vehicle was going to plow into the two of you.” Kate straightened from the feed bin, the full bucket dangling from her hand. “It happened so fast. One minute I was headed to the saloon to get a room for the night, the next, the SUV whipped out in front of me and then went all kamikaze. I thought the driver would swerve away from you at the last minute—instead he turned toward you as if aiming to hit you.”
Chase stabbed the pitchfork into the ground, his body aching with the residual effects of the hit. “Was the driver aiming for me or for Sadie?”
Kate shrugged. “I would think whoever was hurt the most was the target, if the driver was in fact sober.”
Chase returned to cleaning the stall and Kate went about distributing feed to the rest of the horses in their individual stalls.
“I’d like for you to go to the hospital with me today to check on Sadie.”
“Should someone keep an eye on things around here?” Kate asked.
“I’ll have William and Frances keep a close eye on the boy. I want you to go with me. Two heads are better than one and I might make a trip into Denver after the hospital.”
“Why Denver?”
Before he could answer, the dog let out a string of deep-throated woofs alerting Chase to the arrival of visitors to the ranch.
Chase leaned