Dani plopped into Wade’s office chair and rubbed the back of her neck. They’d met with Wade earlier and made a plan that they were all happy with. The day had been hectic, but they’d all gotten their bearings and completed their assignments, and she reached for a pen to start a list for what they needed to do the following day.

“How are you holding up?” Bernie asked as she stood in the doorway, notepad in hand. “You’ve done a great job, and Wade would be proud.”

The leather chair creaked as Dani leaned back, resting her head on its high back. “Couldn’t have done it without you, Bernie. Team effort, and we’ve still got a week to go. Did any of those Santas pan out?”

“Yep, got it covered.”

Dani whistled under her breath. “Thank goodness. That would have been a disaster, and I don’t think it’s something I could have pulled off on my own. And I talked to Wade—he’s all set and had his first session with Maddie.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.” Bernie leaned against the door jamb. “We could have come up with something for Santa, but it all worked out. How’s Erica doing?”

Dani had barely given a second thought to her assistant. They’d only been working together for a few weeks, and Dani had been out and about so much that she hadn’t had a chance to get to know her well. What she did know was that she was very competent, got along well with everyone and took a huge load off her shoulders, so for now, that was enough.

“Great—I think. I should go check on her, actually. I think she got everything sorted with my stuff.”

“Oh, right. You’re moving back over to the main house—Kelsi’s room? That should be interesting.”

“Definitely,” Dani said as she stood and stretched.

“Who’s the guy?”

“The guy?”

Bernie laughed. “Yes, the guy that precipitated the move back into Kelsi’s pink room. I’m pretty positive you wouldn’t have done it unless you’d had no choice.”

“Ah. Yeah. Mom and Dad sent him with a big truck. They were trying to help. They even sent Fred to help. That kind of help, I don’t need.”

Bernie smiled and looked up at the mistletoe. “Yes, I see he was trying to help—trying to help himself, though, I think.”

Dani reached for her coat and glanced up at the mistletoe. “I did notice that this morning. I think he was hoping you’d get in while he was still standing under it.”

Bernie shook her head and tossed her pen on her desk. She turned toward Dani, her hands on her hips. “Seriously? That mistletoe isn’t for me. Everybody knows who it’s for.”

“What? Who?” Dani asked as she threw her coat over her arms and tucked her gloves in the pockets. She wouldn’t need them if she was staying in the main house now.

“Well, apparently everybody knows but you.” Bernie tugged her scarf around her neck. “He only has eyes for you, Dani.”

Dani stopped mid-step and turned around, her eyes wide as she looked from Bernie up to the mistletoe. “What? No way. Fred’s...well, Fred’s Fred. He—he’s never...”

“Just because he hasn’t doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to. You just don’t notice those things like a normal person.”

“No, you are completely off base with this one. Nobody thinks of me like that, especially Fred,” Dani said as she took one last look up at the mistletoe.

“Okay, whatever you say,” Bernie said as Dani said good night and they agreed to meet early the next morning to plan the day.

She frowned as she passed through the small section of offices and stopped as she saw a light on in her own office.

“Hey, Erica. How are you holding up?” she asked as she leaned against the doorway.

“Oh, hi. Great on the job front. All going well. I had to wrestle with Bob a little bit about the onions. He didn’t like the kind they sent. Wants shallots. I tried to tell him the red onions would do, but he wasn’t having it.”

Dani shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans, grateful that someone else had to deal with Bob’s onion mania today. She had bigger fish to fry.

“Better you than me,” she said as Erica pulled her blonde hair back into a tighter ponytail.

“I can handle Bob, no problem,” she said. “But I was just coming to look for you, actually. The switchboard passed a call through to me. Somebody was looking for you. I haven’t called him back to see what he needs, but was going to offer to help. Somebody named Travis Montgomery.”

She handed the pink message slip to Dani, whose heart thudded as she read the message. “Oh, my gosh. The cat!”

“Cat? What cat?”

“My cat,” she said as she shrugged on her coat and pulled on her gloves.

Erica stared at her, her eyes wide. “You have a cat? I never would have guessed.”

“Oh, come on. Yes, it’s a kitten I rescued, and I forgot all about it.

“That I could have guessed,” Erica said with a laugh as Dani spun on her heel and headed out the door.

She clapped her hands together to keep warm as she jogged to her cabin. Deena hadn’t mentioned anything about the cat, either. It must have been under that blanket at the end of the couch—its favorite place.

As she passed the Old West town, Christmas lights blazing, she felt a curious, unfamiliar tightness in her chest that somehow spurred her to jog a little faster toward her cabin.

She reached for the key as she approached and threw the door open as soon as she got there and stepped inside before she’d realized that somebody else was staying there. She stopped short as Travis stood from the couch, the cat in his arms, and an aroma of stew swirled around her.

“Oh, sorry,” she said as she shifted from one foot to the other. “I forgot you were here, I guess. I should have knocked.”

Travis smiled, and stroked the cat. Dani could hear her purring from the doorway—the traitor. Since she’d rescued the kitten, she’d never sat on Dani’s lap—even once.

Travis walked over to the kitchen counter. “I wasn’t sure if you left her for me to take care of, but I wanted to make sure I fed her the right things, if you did.”

“No, I—I honestly forgot.”

“You forgot your cat?” he asked, his eyes wide.

“Well, sort of. I mean, I haven’t had her that long. She was an abandoned kitten and I took her in and fed her milk. She kind of just lives here.”

“Oh,” he said as he lifted the kitten’s face to his and rubbed her cheek. “What’s her name?”

Oh, good grief. Not only had Dani forgotten the cat but now she had to admit that the cat didn’t even have a name. She hadn’t gotten around to that. She was so busy that it didn’t really seem to matter. When she fed her, she’d just said, “Here, kitty, kitty,” like they did on TV.

“Her name’s Kitty,” she said definitively.

“Kitty. That’s remarkably inventive,” Travis said and laughed, and Dani was grateful. His laugh seemed to make it a little better—or at least let her off the hook. Kelsi would have had a field day with her.

“Thank you. I tried,” she said, relieved that she’d dodged that bullet. He held the kitten out to her and she took it—took Kitty—who promptly jumped out of her arms and pranced back to her blanket.

“I guess she’s had enough cuddling for one night,” Travis said as he lifted the lid from the pot of stew. “Thanks for letting me have the cabin. I really hate having to put you out of your place,” he said as he gave the stew a stir. “I could have stayed wherever it is you ended up.”

Dani leaned forward and looked into the pot—the stew looked delicious. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and she’d need to hurry back to the restaurant to get dinner before it closed if she wanted to eat at all.

Dani laughed at the thought of Travis in Kelsi’s room. She wouldn’t wish that on anybody. “No problem,” she said. “You wouldn’t like it. And besides, I actually did realize that I had a cat somewhere along the line, and she couldn’t be in the Main House that close to the kitchen. It worked out fine.”

“If you say so,” he said as he set the lid back on the pot and reached up into the cupboard. He took out two bowls and turned to Dani. “Least I can do is feed you. The biscuits are just about done. You hungry?”

“No,” she said as her stomach betrayed her with a loud rumble. Her cheeks flushed, but she was grateful again for his laugh.

“Um, either you’re fibbing or your stomach is. I’m betting your stomach’s right. Please, just stay and eat.”

Dani frowned. Nobody ever called her on what she said or did—they wouldn’t dare. But this guy didn’t know that, didn’t know her, and she realized he was just trying to be nice. She glanced at Kitty purring on the sofa and inhaled deeply once again, her mouth watering. What could it hurt just to eat with this guy. He’d done them all such a favor, like Kelsi said, and it might be rude not to. And besides, she’d get a good meal out of it.

She looked up at him and smiled. Their eyes met and he smiled in return, and there was something about his eyes and made Dani’s shoulders relax, and her eyes soften. She’d had a long, hard day and as she listened to the cat purr and inhaled the delicious aroma of stew again, she reached for the bowl he held out to her.