What a wonderful evening. Hayley had loved it all—the traditions, the teasing, the room filled with laughter. And singing. Bryce and Nicole had brought their guitars and had played any Christmas carol thrown at them.

Badger, Ryker and Cody put on a brief juggling demonstration. They were way better at it than Hayley had expected. April told her Ryker was a genius at hand-eye coordination, but she admitted Badger might be his equal. Cody was the team’s weak link, but he didn’t seem to care. He was endearingly good natured about it.

The magic of Christmas was alive and well at Wild Creek Ranch. She didn’t want to leave, but she didn’t share a room down the hall with Badger. The birch Yule log in the fireplace had been reduced to hot coals by the time she got to her feet and announced she should go home.

That prompted a touching flurry of hugs and suggestions that she should consider moving to Eagles Nest.

“Montana has all sorts of elder care programs,” Zane said. “We could put you to work, no problem.”

“You could be a roving consultant,” April said. “Ryker could fly you all over the state, right, cowboy?”

Badger looked at her. “You call him Cowboy, too? I thought it was only me and the guys in our squadron.”

April smiled at him. “I’ve called him that forever, but it’s not like his handle or anything. Out here, if you happen to be dealing with a guy who can ride and rope, you might call him cowboy for the heck of it. I think you gave Ryker an actual name, with a capital C.”

“Yes, ma’am. He was the only one who got that label. Just like I was the only one who was called Badger.”

“And who gave you that name?”

Hayley was glad April had asked the question. She’d wanted to, but their relationship was so new that she’d hesitated.

“My first year in the service there was a guy in my squadron who liked matchin’ people with their…I forget what he called it.”

“Spirit animals?”

“That’s it. He decided that a badger worked for me because I walk my own path at my own pace. That’s the general idea, anyway.”

April smiled. “That’s awesome. Do you?”

Badger gazed at her. “Mostly.”

“Good.” April gave him a hug. “I’m glad to have finally met you, Badger. And for the record, I admire you for keeping Ryker’s secrets. I didn’t expect you to crack.”

“I wasn’t bein’ noble, ma’am. As you observed, he threatened to kill me.”

“You and I both know he’d rather cut out his heart than hurt you.”

Ryker wrapped an arm around her waist. “Gee, thanks. You just ruined my last chance to intimidate this joker. From now on, he’ll ride roughshod over me.”

She laughed. “Like anyone could ride roughshod over you.”

“Except you.” He drew her against his side.

“That’s the truth. She’s got your number, Cowboy.” Badger captured Hayley’s hand in his. “Now if y’all will excuse me, I’ll walk this lady to her car.” He helped her on with her coat.

As they went out the front door, people called out Merry Christmas and call me. She’d given her phone number to most of the women. She’d be in Eagles Nest through New Year’s, so coffee dates were a definite possibility.

“They like you,” Badger said as they walked across the porch and down the steps, his arm draped across her shoulder.

“I like them.”

“It seemed like you made a connection with everyone, especially the women.”

“I did. But I need to be realistic. You’re Ryker’s pal from the military. If I dump you after the vacation, I doubt they’ll want to have anything to do with me.”

“Then don’t dump me.”

Her breathing picked up speed. She stopped walking and turned, dislodging his arm. Her breath made little puffs of fog in the still air, broadcasting her agitation. “But…but I thought we’d agreed to—”

“Easy, darlin’. Don’t panic.” He smiled down at her. “We’ll still break up.”

“Oh.” She swallowed. “You had me worried for a minute.”

“Didn’t mean to scare you. I’m not deviatin’ from the plan. Just refinin’ it. We’ll break up, but it doesn’t have to be acrimonious.”

His pre-law education was showing. But she wasn’t supposed to know about that. “You’re right. We’ve set it up that we haven’t spent a lot of time together. It would be logical that we’d find some issue we hadn’t anticipated.”

“Why does it have to be an issue? Why can’t we just go our separate ways?”

“Because we’ve sold this as a love match. Everybody thinks we’re crazy about each other, so we need to butt heads over something.”

He nudged back his hat. “I’m a pretty easy goin’ guy. Not the buttin’ heads type. Can’t we just tell everybody it didn’t work out?”

“You can get away with that sometimes, but your nearest and dearest will think you’re hiding your pain.”

“Ryker won’t.”

“My mom and dad will, though, and Kendra might. When a couple’s madly in love, it doesn’t end with a handshake. There’s anguish and misery.”

“Then I guess I’ve never been madly in love.”

“You’ve never suffered when you split with someone?”

He shrugged. “No, ma’am. Just figured it wasn’t meant to be and moved on. Have you suffered?”

“Only one time to the point of long crying jags, and that was when I was in college. I was madly in love and so was he, with me and three other women. He said he needed all of us for different reasons.”

“Bastard.” He touched her cheek. “I’m sorry. Wish I could break his nose for you.”

She laughed. “No worries. I broke it.”

“Whoa! Well done, you. Did you punch him?”

“Nope. Whacked him in the face with my sociology textbook. Good thing some classes still used actual books then. I wouldn’t have risked my laptop. Anyway, no one wondered why we called it quits.”

“I get that. Listen, are you cold? Because I’m—”

“I’m freezing.”

“Then how about continuin’ this conversation in your car? And turnin’ on the heater?”

“That’s brilliant.” She fished out her keys and started for the rental sedan. “So what else could we disagree on? Religion?”

“I believe in live and let live.”

“Politics?”

“People split up over that?”

“Sometimes.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“You sure are easy to get along with, Badger.” She clicked open the locks.

He beat her to the door handle and opened it for her. “I’m just a good ol’ Southern boy. Nothin’ special.”

“Now there’s something we could argue about.” She slid behind the wheel.

“I would purely enjoy listenin’ to you argue the case for me bein’ exceptional. We could do that all day.” He closed her door and walked around the back of the car.

Oh, yeah. His pricy education was sticking out all over him. She started the car and turned on the heater.

When Badger climbed in the back seat instead of the front, she turned. “What the…” But his grin said it all. “I assume you want to do more than talk.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He unbuttoned his coat and reached over the console to lay his hat brim-side up on the passenger seat.

“What if someone comes along?”

“They’ll see a car with the motor running and the windows steamed up.”

“How do you know? You’ve never made out in cold country.”

“But I saw Titanic. There’s that scene where the couple goes into a car being transported and—”

“We’re not doing that.”

“No, we’re not.” He shrugged out of his coat. “I’m just plannin’ on kissin’ you. But I can’t accomplish that unless you come on back here.”

“We haven’t finished our discussion.”

“We’ll multi-task.”

“Okay.” She set the emergency brake and opened the door. “What about kids?” Once outside, she quickly took off her parka and tossed it on the seat.

“I promise we won’t be makin’ any of those tonight.”

“I meant what about kids as a subject we can’t agree on? Do you want any?” She closed the driver’s door as he leaned across and opened the back one.

“I haven’t given it much thought.”

She climbed in and closed it behind her. “Perfect. I do want at least one and maybe two.”

“Sounds nice.” He pulled her close.

“You can be the one who doesn’t want—”

“Hold that thought. I have some kissin’ to do.” His mouth found hers. Heavenly days, did he know how to do this.

He teased, he sipped and then he took command. He had the most seductive tongue of any man she’d ever kissed. When he finally drew back, her panties were damp and her hands were inside his shirt. She must have unfastened the snaps.

Oh, and climbed over to his side of the car, too. She was straddling him, sitting on his muscled thighs while she clutched his shoulders for support. If she scooted forward, she’d do him serious injury.

But she wasn’t going anywhere. His grip on her ass was so tight she wouldn’t be surprised if the denim began fraying.

“Oh, darlin’” He gulped for air. “You’re torturin’ this poor boy.”

“And myself.” Her heart beat so fast she was dizzy. “But I can’t help it.” Then she was kissing him again, because she couldn’t be this close and not feel those supple lips against hers. She wanted more from him, so much more…

He groaned and cradled her face in both hands before leaning back, putting a sliver of space between them. “We have to…have to… stop.” His harsh breathing matched her own.

“I know!” She sounded like a crazy person. “What are we going to do?”

He took a long shaky breath and swallowed. “I have a plan.” He sucked in more air. “Can I take you to breakfast?”

“Now?”

“In the mornin’. Can you do that?”

“Breakfast.” It seemed so far away. She cleared her throat. “I guess. Then what?”

“Tell you in the mornin’.” His chest heaved and he opened the door. “I need a short walk before I can say a proper goodbye.”

“To where?”

“Nearest snowbank. Gonna roll in it.”