Page 11 of Christmas Secrets

Three days later, Dalwas trying to figure something out. He was leaning against the back door of the barn and watching the lone snowmobile making rounds behind the barn and the house and back again.

Delilah and Cory had returned from their stay at a cousin’s house while Lucerne was in the hospital birthing baby Darro over the weekend. He knew the kids were out of school now and Ainsley had them out on Darro’s big Artic Cat. He wanted to go talk to her, but the few times he’d tried to approach her so far had been met with a disdainful look from her icy blue eyes. Eyes just like her brothers, except Darro’s eyes were boss intimidating. Ainsley’s were beautiful.

He sighed and scratched his nose with a gloved finger. Girls didn’t normally treat him this way. The gift he’d bought, knowing she’d be home for Christmas, wasn’t going to be given to her if he couldn’t even have a decent conversation with the lass. How would he explain it?

“What are ye lookin’ at, lad?” growled a voice from behind him. “Ye know it’s Tuesday, right? Time to be working, not gawpin’ at the boss’s baby sister.”

Dal turned to see Angus staring at him in amusement. “Just keeping an eye on the kids,” he responded warily.

Angus lifted the cup of coffee he’d brought from the barn office in his hand and took a sip from the steaming brew. “Is that yer assignment today? Cause the last I heard, ye were supposed to be checkin’ the sheep in the north pasture and givin’ jabs. Ben replaced the ones he borrowed for the herd at Thistlewind, so there’s no excuse fer puttin’ it off.”

Dal shot him an irritated glare. “I know that. It just seemed to me that Ainsley was taking the kids around a little fast, that’s all. I wanted to make sure they didn’t get thrown off.” He pulled his cap down around his ears and headed for the snowmobile barn. It would be the best way to get up to the north pasture. He picked up the medical bag holding everything he needed and went back through the barn to the paths already cleared in the snow to get to the smaller barn.

As he walked, he could hear the growl of the Artic Cat making its way back around again but he didn’t look. If she was going to ignore him, then he could do the same. It passed along behind the snowmobile barn and headed around the house again, the kids’ childish whoops of laughter ringing in his ears. Dal really liked kids. He would have loved to be out there with them, or even take them somewhere else, but he hadn’t been invited. Besides, he was working and Darro expected a fair day’s work for a fair wage, as he put it.

Once inside the small barn, he grabbed a blue Yamaha on a small wheeled trailer, pulled it to the back door, and opened it from the inside. There he was able to get the snowmobile off the trailer and directly into the several inches of snow that covered the grounds outside. Once he was clear of the doors, he closed them behind him.

He secured his bag on the back of the snowmobile and then swung his leg over the seat and turned the rumbling engine on to warm up. It was cold out today. Hopefully, the jabs wouldn’t take too long and he could get back to the barn and check on the inside stock, then have the afternoon off. With Christmas only ten days away, the crews were on half shifts unless there was a snowstorm or something that required them to take extra care with the stock.

His ears in tune with the rumbling of the Artic Cat, he cocked his head to listen. He didn’t want to pull out in front of Ainsley and he knew she was about to fly around the corner. When she did come around, she was hugging the wall far too close and he instantly realized they were going to collide. Her eyes opened in a wide panicked look and the kids screamed.

Chapter 4

“Cripes almighty,” Dalswore softly, his reflexes forcing him to turn to the left and gun his ride to avoid a T-bone situation. As it was, they missed each other by mere inches as he went left and Ainsley jerked hard to the right with the Artic Cat spraying snow and ice all over him. Once they were both stopped, anger bubbled to the surface as reaction set in.

Dal jumped off the snowmobile, shook the debris off his clothes, and wiped his face enough to see her and the kids still on the Artic Cat with Ainsley bent over the handlebars breathing hard. He could hear footsteps pounding through the barn and then the back doors were flung open, but he paid whoever it was no attention. He slammed through the snow to Ainsley and grabbed her by the arm, jerking her around to face him.

“Have ye lost yer mind?” he yelled, his breath coming out in puffs in the frigid air. “Ye or the kids could have been seriously hurt. What were ye thinking?”

Ainsley stared at him, the fear in her eyes fading and anger replacing it. “Let go of me, ye have no right to talk to me like that.” She tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp.

“Someone ought to turn ye over a knee,” Dal ground out between gritted teeth. “Driving that fast around a blind corner is just sheer stupidity. Ye were raised here, ye should know better.” He reached over and lifted Corey and Delilah off the back of the snowmobile.

Corey’s big eyes were laced with tears. “Ye’ll be all right, laddie,” he comforted him softly while Delilah hid her face in his shoulder. “Ye didn’t get thrown off, ye are all right now, both of ye.”

“What’s going on here? We heard the kids screaming.” Darro thundered the question at Dal. Even Angus was glowering at him.

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