Page 13 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

“Which is still on the family property.”

“Yes.” Was she calling him spoiled? Or stupid that he thought moving a quarter mile away mattered?

“And Ethan didn’t want to move in with you after Wyatt and Livvie got married?”

Linc raised a brow. “No, he didn’t.”

With the lack of privacy, he and Ethan would kill each other if they had to share this space for any length of time. With the size of the main house, Wyatt, Ethan and their dad were just fine living over there together with Darcy. Even with the addition of Olivia and a new baby coming.

There was plenty of space for Linc too in the house. A whole floor if he really wanted to stay living there. But after the military, he’d craved his own place. Somewhere to get away from the others where he could be completely alone. Find quiet when he needed quiet.

The cabin fit that bill perfectly. It was close enough that he could drop by the house as often as he liked. Or when he was too lazy to make coffee or food for himself.

But Eva didn’t seem to agree with his choice to reside here, alone, judging by her deep frown and how she continued to spin and gape as she turned in the center of the vaulted ceilinged great room.

He tried again to see the space through her eyes. Yeah, the ceilings were twenty feet high. But as he said, that meant the rooms upstairs were tiny, tucked beneath the eaves.

Yes, the local stone of the six-foot wide fireplace continued all the way up the wall, but that stone had been quarried right here on the property. It wasn’t like it was imported Italian marble. The same with the timbers that had been cut on Wilder land.

She let out a sigh and turned her attention back to him. “This is a lot of space to decorate. What do you usually do in here?”

“I don’tusuallydo anything here. This is the first year I’m here for Christmas. Last year I was in Korea and before that, I stayed in the main house when I was home for Christmas from base.”

“So they made up this Yule log event?” she asked, eyes narrowed.

“No. They used to do that here every year during Granddad’s day. It kind of fell by the wayside after Wyatt’s first wife…”

Eva lifted a brow. “Died. You can say the word.”

He tipped his head, used to not saying that word. Not at home in front of Wyatt or Darcy. Not around his war buddies either.

“Okay, so it’s a blank slate,” she said, not looking as worried about that concept as he was.

“I guess so,” he agreed, not sure exactly where to start. Maybe the fireplace, since the Yule log would go in there… “I figure we could—”

“We should focus on the fireplace,” Eva began, cutting him off before he got his own idea out, as if he hadn’t been talking. She spun around. “And the staircase. The lodge is too big to try to do a bunch of little things but if we do a few really big things it will have more of an impact.”

That had been what he was going to say. Focus on the fireplace. And the entryway, both outside and inside, which incorporated the staircase. But since he could tell she already thought it was all her idea, he wasn’t going to try to claim credit for it now.

“We need a theme,” she continued.

He didn’t think they needed a theme but if she did, fine.

“All right.” He thought for a moment. With all the stone and wood, nature would be a good theme.

He was about to say that when she blurted. “Whimsical.”

“Excuse me?” Of all the things that could have come out of Eva’s mouth, that was the last thing he’d expected. “Whimsical?”

“Yup.” She spun towards him looking actually excited. It was odd. It was disturbing. And it was something he’d never seen her be before.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Like Santa hats on all these dead things on your walls. And wreaths around the big ones’ necks.”

“You mean the taxidermy?” The collection of trophies dated back to the original John Wilder’s day when this was his hunting lodge. Bobcat. Coyote. Bear. Deer. Multiple generations’ worth of trophies peppered the walls.

“Yes, Richie Rich. Whatever you want to call them.”

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