Page 14 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

“Um. Okay.”

“Then we take all the small ones…” Eva swept an arm to encompass a couple of stuffed squirrels, a hare and some small game birds that were on table mounts rather than the walls. “And we put them on the mantle in a kind of winter scene. With that white fake snow cloth beneath them. And tiny bags filled with wrapped gifts. Like they’re traveling to a Christmas party.”

It sounded insane, but he wasn’t about to say that to her as she spun to face him, excitement lighting her face.

“Do you think we can find a tiny sleigh that’s to scale? And maybe little hats for them too?” she asked, eyes bright.

It might be the first time he hadn’t seen her frowning. Or looking generally displeased around him. It changed everything about her. Making her look… beautiful.

“Uh, we can try.” He was so thrown by her uncharacteristic enthusiasm he couldn’t say much else. But he did have a question. “What about the staircase?”

He hoped he wouldn’t be out looking for a life-sized sleigh to suspend from the ceiling or something else equally elaborate that she’d come up with.

“That will have greenery and white lights, just like the front door. With big bows. White ones. No, red. But black and white ornaments. Some striped, some checked and some polka dots. Maybe some red balls too. We’ll see.”

He tried to picture that and couldn’t. It certainly didn’t sound like Christmas. “And is that whimsical too?” he asked.

“Yes.” She let out a huff when he continued to frown. “Hang on.”

She whipped out her cell phone, typed a bit, then held it out toward him. “See? That’s the color scheme this fancy home decor company up by where I live in New York uses. Their stuff is really popular and crazy expensive. But we can recreate it.”

He did see. It was exactly as she described and it was… whimsical. “Okay.”

“So you agree?”

He nodded seeing no other choice. His home—his sanctuary—was about to be invaded by whimsy in the unlikely form of Eva Lucas and her harlequin-themed woodland Christmas creation.

Smiling at his answer, she clapped her hands together once. “Good.”

With one more glance around her, she gave an approving nod then focused on him.

“Now for the menu,” she began. “I have some ideas…”

Of course she did…

ChapterSeven

“So you’ll get the fresh green roping tomorrow?” Eva asked, ready to be done with this meeting. She’d gotten what she wanted. They were implementing her plan. She was happy with it. Time to go.

“I said I would. Although putting it up weeks before Christmas...” Linc shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s going to start dropping needles.”

“Just keep your heat low,” she said as she turned toward the front door. He dressed like a lumberjack. The Tennessee mountain man should be able to withstand a little chill.

Behind her, Linc let out a snort. “Easy for you to say. I have to live here. Meanwhile, it’s a hundred degrees in that apartment above Rosie’s where you live.”

She spun back. “How do you know what it’s like in my apartment?”

“Emmett used to live there.”

Her eyes narrowed. Just the mention of the snake’s name had the bile rising in her throat.

Linc cocked a brow. “Don’t look at me like that. None of us had any idea what he was doing to you. And I have just as much right to be mad at him as you do. He used my photo to catfish who knows how many women.”

“Six…as far as I can tell across those three websites.” She’d scoured the internet looking for more fake profiles. Image searches. IP addresses. She even searched unique phrases he’d used in his bios, looking for repeats and had come up empty.

He must have moved on to another scam because she did not fail when she set her mind to something. But she had failed to realize he had scammed her.

Just one more reason to not date.

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