Page 5 of Must Love Mistletoe

Her beautiful, biddable baby boy had been replaced by a stringy, brown-eyed kid with worry lines creasing his forehead and a smile that rarely surfaced. She could see his respect for her dimming beneath the weight of living on a ranch that was slowly falling apart.

Beth made it through the crunch of fresh snow in the hospital car park, groaning at the thought of having to fill up on the way home at the more expensive fuel station on the other side of town—the one she didn’t already have an overdue account with. She couldn’t cope with yet another run-in with old man Thompson who rightly wanted to know when she was going to pay him.

Soon.

Soon as she’d sold some more cows.

It was a testament to the weight of her problems that she didn’t see the man leaning against her truck until he straightened and stepped directly into her path.

Mason Casey. Eldest of the five Casey brothers and altogether too full of himself for everyday consumption. Beth didn’t have a lot of time for him, truth be told, but she could be neighborly when pressed and he was doubtless waiting around for a reason.

“Hey, Mason, what’s up? I know that fence needs work, and I’m going to get to it, I promise. I’ll see to it as soon as I get home.”

“It’s not the fence.” He jammed his hands in his coat pockets and looked uncommonly awkward as he met her gaze. “Your phone must be on do not disturb or something, so Cal asked if I could come and fetch you. Give you some news in person. He didn’t want to leave Sam.”

“Sam?” Why was Cal with Sam? “Sam’s at school. Rebecca put him on the bus this morning.”

“No, he and Cal headed up the pass after some heifers, instead.”

Her heifers, obviously. Casey heifers wouldn’t dream of breaking free of the Casey ranch in search of food. Theyhadfood.

Beth scowled. “Right. You can be sure I’ll have words with Sam about missing school and pulling Cal away from his work. ItoldRebecca to put Sam on the bus before she left.” This wasn’t her first rodeo when it came to Sam missing school.

“That’s not why I’m here.” Mason didn’t seem to want to meet her gaze, and she got it, truly.

She looked a fright. Stringy, honey-blonde hair, lifeless from being tucked beneath a surgical cap for hours. Eyes bruised with fatigue. Makeup nonexistent. A scowl from ear to ear because she couldn’t control her kid.

“Look, I get what you’re not saying. I’ll fix the fences. I’ll make different morning arrangements for Sam whenever I pull a night shift. I’ll do better.”

Mason raised his hand to scritch the back of his neck. “How about you jump in the passenger side of your truck and I’ll bring you up to date while I drive you out there.”

This was getting stranger by the minute. “Out where?” A new thought occurred to her; one she should have thought of earlier. Are they hurt?”

“Sam’s fine.”

“IsCalhurt?” Cal was her favorite Casey by far.

Always had been, always would be—even if she took great measures to keep him at arm’s length. Fact was, she kept her distancebecausehe was such a good man. A better man than Red hadeverbeen.

Avoiding Cal had become a necessity.

“They’re both fine. But there’s a bit of a gathering up at Hooper’s Pass and you need to be there.”

“A gathering of what? Snowclouds?” Why would a bunch of people get together up at Hooper’s on a day like today?

Mason scowled.

Guess he didn’t appreciate her sarcasm, but she was fast running out of patience. “It’s been a long shift. I’ve just spent tenhours on my feet in surgery and you’re talking in riddles. I’m too tired for riddles.”

“Look…”

Looking. Probably the handsomest man she’d ever seen outside of La La Land. Irritating jerk. Couldn’t hold a candle to the sheer visual impact of his bigger brother.

“I don’t know how to break this…”

“I’m a bad neighbor and you want me to sell. I get it. You’ll get first refusal, I promise.”

“Beth, they found a body while they were looking for the cows. The way Cal tells it, the body must’ve been snugged into a fork in a tree and wrapped up in canvas. How it even got there is a mystery, but the tree came down recently, and, well. That’s what I came to tell you.”

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