A Cowboy For Christmas (A Copper Mountain Christmas) Read Online Free PDF Page A

holding a knit ski cap with some kind of cartoon character on it.
    “ Hello Carson—what are you doing here?’
    “ Same as you. Having some of Sage’s famous hot chocolate.”
    “ It’s our tadition ,” said the little boy with a slight lisp. “After we leave Nana’s house we come here.”
    She didn ’t have to be Nancy Drew to know that it was his son Evan. His eyes were surely his mother’s as Carson had said, but his face reminded her very much of Carson when he’d been younger. “That’s a great tradition.”
    “ It is,” Carson said.
    Paige and her kids got their drinks and then hesitated. There were no tables and her kids were obviously ready to walk back.
    “ I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Annie said to Paige.
    “ Take your time,” Paige said. “See you back at the diner.”
    Annie ordered her chocolate and handed over her precious dollars. She took her Styrofoam cup from Sage. Sage had been the year behind her in high school so they hadn’t really known each other. But Sage made friendly small talk about her engagement to Dawson O’Dell until Annie stepped aside.
    “ Wait up, Annie, and we’ll escort you back to the diner,” Carson said.
    She almost said yes but she realized that being here was making her want things she wasn ’t even sure she wanted. Did she just want them because everyone else had them? Or was it that she had no idea what she wanted anymore?
    She shook her head. She was feeling nostalgic because of the Christmas music and that feeling of not wanting to be alone. But that didn’t make it real. And it didn’t mean that she was any more suited for Marietta or Carson. “Not tonight, Carson.”
    “ Good night then.”
    “ Night,” Evan said.
    She waved goodbye to him and stepped outside the shop, tipping her head back as the snow fell on her face. She walked a few feet until she was in front of the dark windows of a closed shop and she stood there in the shadow holding onto the hot chocolate, wishing for a miracle. A real Christmas miracle. But she had an idea... you have to know what you want the miracle to be – before it can come true.
    And the only thing that entered her mind was Carson Scott.
     

 
     
    CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    Annie still couldn’t get used to the fact that the ranch was now her home. She had to drive past the Scott Ranch to get to hers and she stopped on the side of the road and looked at the cowhands coming over the ridge. It was lightly snowing and they were riding back toward the ranch house. One of the riders broke away from the pack and came toward her.
    She recognized Carson. She reached up to remove the knit cap she wore to cover her hair, but then regretted it as her ears stung with the cold and she realized her hair was probably flat. She started to put it back on but then decided she was being ridiculous.
    “ Hello, neighbor,” she said as he rode closer to her.
    “ Hello. What are you doing out here?”
    “ I live up the road, remember?”
    “ That doesn’t mean you had to stop here.”
    “ I was just enjoying the scenery,” she said.
    “ Want to go for a ride?” he asked.
    She ’d been back in town for almost a week and had seen him in the diner with his brothers, but otherwise she’d avoided him. It had seemed the wisest course of action since she’d been having hot, steamy, disturbing dreams about him and she was still no closer to having figured out who she was.
    “ I’d love to but I’m in the middle of a project… actually I might need a favor.”
    “ What kind of favor?”
    “ Do you have a long-handled paint roller?” she asked. They had one at the Mercantile but it had cost more than she wanted to spend.
    “ I might. What do you need it for?” he asked.
    She tipped her head to the side. “Painting my living room. What did you think I’d use it for?”
    “ Why are you fixing up your house?”
    “ It makes me happy,” she said.
    “ That’s a good thing,” he remarked. “I’ll look for the