Chasing Christmas Read online

  While he’d spent all those months in the winter and spring away from Jessie, he’d posed for more ads than he ever hoped to again. In spite of how much he disliked posturing for the advertisements, the companies who’d asked him to endorse their products had paid incredibly well. His healthy bank account reflected his good fortune at landing the deals, thanks in a big part to Jessie.

  When shadows grew long and Granny decided it was time for bed, she sent Chase out to get the luggage and showed Jessie to the guest bedroom.

  “I used to have two rooms, but I decided to use one as my yoga room. I have a mat and everything in there. It’s just perfect. I hope you find this room to your liking,” Granny said as she flicked on a light and stood to the side so Jessie could step inside the colorful room.

  “It’s wonderful, Granny. Thank you for inviting us to stay with you.”

  Granny squeezed her arm and smiled. “I’m just glad my grandson agreed to come for a visit. He’s always so busy, I hardly get to see him anymore. Bucky was never one to let the grass grow under his feet.”

  Jessie tipped her head to the side and looked at the older woman. “Why do you call him Bucky?”

  Granny laughed and turned down the eggplant-colored comforter on the bed. “That boy always had a mind of his own, constantly bucking against the rules. His grandfather started calling him Bucky and it stuck.”

  Jessie grinned and helped Granny toss aside the assortment of throw pillows and turn down sheets that matched the comforter. The bedding was quite luxurious, but looked out of place in the room with sunflower yellow walls and hot pink curtains. Obviously, Merlene Jarrett liked a bright array of colors.

  “What stories are you telling, Granny?” Chase asked as he entered the room with their bags, setting them down on the floor by the closet.

  “Nothing that isn’t true, sweet pea.” Granny patted his cheek. “If you two need anything, holler, but do it loudly. Once I take out my hearing aids, a tank could drive through the house and I wouldn’t hear a thing.”

  “We’ll be fine, Granny. Good night.” Chase gave his grandmother a hug and kiss, then stood aside as Jessie hugged her.

  Granny patted Jessie’s cheek and smiled. “Sleep well, sweet girl.”

  With a wink at Chase, she disappeared down the hall to her bedroom.

  “I’ll let you get ready for bed while I make sure Granny locked the doors,” Chase said, backing out of the room. “No need to rush.”

  Jessie nodded and gathered her things, taking them into the bathroom next door to the bedroom. After changing into a pair of rose-printed pajamas, brushing out the hair she’d worn pinned up, and readying for bed, she returned to the bedroom to find Chase lounging on the bed in his pajama bottoms with a book in his hand. With his glasses on, Jessie found him almost irresistible. He set aside the book, removed his glasses, and stood. He grabbed his shaving kit and headed into the bathroom.

  Jessie turned off the overhead light and clicked on a bedside lamp, admiring a collection of framed photographs on the nightstand. Several were of Chase with a young girl Jessie was sure had to be Ashley. There were also several older photographs. One showed a soldier in a World War II uniform. She wondered if the man was Chase’s grandfather or great-grandfather.

  “Ready for sleep?” he asked as he came back in the room and shut the door. He walked around the king-sized bed and climbed in on the opposite side. In the three weeks they’d traveled together, they’d stayed in the same room multiple times. Usually, Chase managed to get a room with two queen beds, but a few times they’d had to share a king bed. Jessie dealt with her attraction to the virile, bare-chested man beside her by turning away from him and forcing herself to cling to the edge of the bed.

  “It was nice to meet your grandmother, Chase. She’s a real pistol.”

  He smiled. “She is at that. Thank you for being so good with her. Granny isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.”

  “Well, I think she’s great.” Jessie rolled onto her side and clicked off the lamp. “Night, Chase.”

  “Night, Jess. Sleep as long as you want in the morning. For once, we aren’t in a rush.”

  “That’s good,” she said on a soft whisper. Exhaustion weighed heavy on her eyes as she closed them and relaxed her tired limbs. Sleep had just settled over her when a jolt brought her awake. The mattress moved, lifting her head and feet almost a foot upward.

  Groggy and confused, she began to panic as the bed continued to move. She reached over to Chase’s side to discover the mattress was flat. Her fingers found the edge of the fitted sheet covering her side of the bed. Unaware the guest bed had a split adjustable mattress when she climbed in, she was fully aware of the fact now.

  Struggling to think in her drowsy state, she felt around her, attempting to locate the remote. Suddenly, the bed returned to a flat position. Jessie’s head bounced on the pillow as the support beneath her rapidly shifted. Convinced she’d somehow rolled over on the control, she searched for it, but didn’t find anything beneath her.

  Releasing a long breath, she rolled onto her side, too weary to stay awake. She’d almost returned to sleep when the head and feet of the mattress lifted again, inching closer until she felt trapped in the middle.

  “Oh!” she said, annoyed and exasperated. Before she could feel around for the controls, the bed flattened again.

  Too drained to give it more thought, she tried for a third time to go to sleep. With a deep breath, she forced herself to relax, but the mattress again shifted. She reached down along the side of the bed. Elated to find the remote, she began pushing buttons.

  Finally, the mattress returned to a flat position. She kept the remote in her hand and the moment she felt her feet begin to rise she pushed every button her fingers could find in the dark.

  “Ugh!” Chase grunted when his mattress folded so high his knees were perilously close to touching his nose.

  “What’s going on?” Jessie asked in a testy whisper.

  “The control on this stupid bed doesn’t work right. I keep pushing the button but nothing happens. When I stopped pushing the controls, it decided to turn me into a pretzel.”

  Worn-out beyond the ability to think straight, Jessie giggled and pushed one of the buttons on the control in her hand.

  “Hey, knock that off,” he warned as his mattress threatened to squeeze him.

  More giggles spilled out of her.

  “I’m bailing before this thing kills me,” Chase said, trying to scoot out of the bed with his feet in the air and drawing ever closer to his head. Scooting on his backside, he took one scoot too close to the edge of the bed and fell out.

  A thump followed by dark mutters made her bury her face in the pillow to cover her laughter. Chase bumped into the dresser and almost knocked a lamp to the floor before he managed to turn it on.

  “That’s enough out of you,” he chastised as light illuminated the room. The grin on his face softened his stern tone. The two mattresses, both at odd angles, looked like a deformed wave. “Granny has had this thing since the first one rolled onto the showroom floor. Ashley and I used to think it was great fun to play with it, but it’s a little different when you’re actually trying to sleep on the darn thing.”

  “Agreed.” Jessie pushed her remote again and the mattress on Chase’s side slowly returned to a level position.

  “So you were trying to bring about my demise. Is that it?” Chase pushed the remote on his side until Jessie was no longer squished. He then switched the remotes so they were on the appropriate sides.

  “Do you suppose your grandmother did that on purpose or accident?” Jessie asked as she raised her head and set the remote on the nightstand.

  “With Granny, most likely on purpose.” Chase waved a hand toward the door. “In fact, she’s probably in her room cackling to herself right now, wondering which one of us would figure this out first.”

  “If you’d just left things alone, we both could be asleep by now,” Jessie said, rolling onto her sid
e.

  “Let sleeping dogs lie, huh?” Chase said. He climbed back in bed and adjusted the head and feet on his mattress with a slight incline before flicking off the light.

  “I’ll choose to ignore the fact you just called me a dog and blame it on duress and weariness. Good night.” Jessie closed her eyes and went to sleep with a smile on her face.

  The next morning, Chase awoke early and rolled onto his back. He opened his eyes and recognized the sunflower-yellow walls. Silently turning onto his side, he watched Jessie sleep, admiring the sweep of dark eyelashes resting on her smooth cheeks and the slight smile on her soft lips. He wondered what thoughts flew through her dreams, giving her such a serene, happy appearance.

  He reached out and brushed a long strand of hair away from her face, letting the silky strands slide through his fingers.

  Before he succumbed to the desires he found harder and harder to control, he slid out of bed and dressed in a pair of shorts and T-shirt, then laced up a pair of running shoes.

  Keeping in top physical condition was vital to his success. He worked out every chance he got, but with his schedule what he did and where was as varied as the places he traveled.

  This morning, he’d take advantage of the opportunity to go for a run on the beach. Granny only lived half a mile from a nice beach and it had been too long since he’d greeted the sun on the sand.

  After tucking his cell phone in his pocket, he scribbled a quick note on a pad by Granny’s phone in the kitchen and left the paper on the counter then jogged out the door.

  An hour later, he returned to the house to find Granny in the backyard, sipping coffee and talking to her birds.

  “Hi, Granny!” Chase said, bending down to kiss her cheek before taking a seat across from her.

  “Did you enjoy your run, Bucky?”

  He nodded, mopping sweat off his face with the hem of his shirt. “I did, Granny. It’s been a while since I’ve run on the beach. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it.”

  “You always did like the water,” she said, tossing him an indulgent smile before throwing out a handful of breadcrumbs.

  “Is Jessie up?” he asked as he tugged off his shirt and wiped it over his face.

  “I heard the shower running just before I came out here.” Granny gave him a long look then turned back to her birds. “You can join her if you like.”

  Chase felt heat sear up his neck and burn his ears. “Granny! I swear…”

  She laughed and slapped his leg. “I hope you don’t. It’s a terrible habit, honey. One you should think about giving up now that you’re a respectable married man.”

  He rolled his eyes and rose to his feet. “You are a pill, Merlene Jarrett!”

  “And don’t you forget it!”

  Her laughter followed him into the kitchen and down the hall. The bathroom was empty, so he stepped inside, ready to wash away the sweat from his run. The heaviness in the air suggested Jessie had just taken a hot shower. Thoughts of his wife standing beneath a spray of water caused his blood to surge through his veins. Then the heat morphed to ice as he turned around and discovered the white bath mat in front of the shower covered in blood. Bright red splotches were everywhere. There was even a set of bloody footprints in the middle of the mat.

  Had Jessie sliced open her foot or leg? Was she hemorrhaging? About to bleed to death?

  Frantic, he tore open the bathroom door and shoved open the bedroom door with such force it banged against the inside wall. Jessie squeaked in surprise as she spun around to look at him. She stood in front of her suitcase in a set of lacy pink undergarments that set his temperature spiraling upward at such a rapid rate it made him lightheaded.

  Before she could protest, he picked her up and gently laid her on the bed, searching her feet and legs for a gaping, open wound.

  “What happened? Where are you hurt?” he asked, running his hands over her exposed skin. He was ready to take her to the nearest hospital if he didn’t first succumb to the need to explore every inch of her delectable softness. Jessie was even more beautiful than he’d frequently imagined, with long legs and ripe curves.

  She squirmed and pushed against him, trying to sit up. “What are you doing?” she asked, finally rolling away from him and coming to her feet. She grasped the edge of the comforter and pulled it in front of her.

  Chase stood and attempted to take it away from her. “All the blood in the bathroom… did you cut yourself? Do you need stitches?”

  “Blood in the bathroom? What are you talking about?” she asked, clutching the comforter to her chest and doing her best to wrap it around her body.

  “Just look,” he said. In spite of the comforter trailing behind her, he took her arm in his hand and guided her into the bathroom. Drops of red slowly faded from the bath mat.

  “Oh, that.” Jessie waved her hand at it and returned to the bedroom.

  “That? I walked in to find bloody footprints and gory splashes. It looked like the makings of a crime scene.” Chase ran a hand through his hair in frustration as he moved behind her. He settled his hands on her bare shoulders. “Are you or are you not hurt?”

  “Not.” Jessie pulled away from him and managed to tug a dress over her head while still hiding behind the comforter. She settled the dress around her then tossed the comforter on the bed. “Your grandmother has quite a sense of humor. It’s one of those bath mats that looks like it’s bloody when it gets wet. I freaked out for a minute until I realized what it was. I think they call it a psycho bath mat.”

  “It’s not the only thing around here that’s psycho,” he growled, then took a change of clothes in his hand and returned to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him for good measure.

  When he entered the kitchen twenty minutes later, Jessie wore an apron over her dress. She and Granny laughed as Jessie told the other woman about the look on Chase’s face as he plowed into their room, intent on taking her to the hospital.

  “That mat has been the best thing I’ve ever purchased. I get the biggest kick out of sending people into a panic when they step on it.”

  “You’ll give someone a stroke some day.” Chase shook a finger at his grandmother as he stepped into the room. “I lost at least ten years off my life, thinking Jessie was bleeding to death.”

  “That’s just because you love her, sweet boy.” Granny patted his cheek then went back to scrambling eggs.

  Jessie shook her head and Chase feigned ignorance as he poured a glass of juice. The last thing he needed was for his wife to know how desperately he wanted her, how deeply he loved her, how completely he needed her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jessie glanced at her watch again, wishing for the hundredth time that day she hadn’t planned a surprise birthday party for Chase. His birthday fell on the last day of the Pendleton Round-Up. Since many of his friends were in town to compete in the rodeo, she thought it would be fun to invite them to the ranch to celebrate Chase’s birthday.

  Ashley was the one who suggested making it a surprise when Jessie had run the idea past her shortly after she and Chase returned from California.

  Chase spent less than twenty-four hours at the ranch after visiting his grandmother before he took off again. Unexpectedly, he arrived one Tuesday evening in early August and said he’d be home until after the Pendleton Round-Up.

  They’d done their best to stay out of each other’s way. Chase had insisted she continue using his office while he spent every moment outside on his ranch when he wasn’t competing at a rodeo.

  Jessie had fun accompanying him to the local county fair and rodeo in Hermiston. She’d also gone with him to the Horse Heaven Round-Up Rodeo in Kennewick, and the rodeo in Walla Walla during the fair. She’d stayed home when Chase traveled north to Lewiston to hit the rodeo there. When he returned the next day with a no-score, he made her promise to go with him to Pendleton, convinced he needed his good luck charm to win.

  By then, she’d already planned the party. Lucas and Cooper helped invite
everyone Chase would want in attendance. She’d asked them all to come Sunday afternoon and promised to feed them a barbecue dinner.

  Mid-afternoon, she begged Chase to run into town to pick up a watermelon to go with dinner. He knew she’d invited Lucas and Lori to join them, but had no idea about the rest of the guests. The time it would take him to drive into town, purchase the melon, and drive back gave the guests almost an hour to arrive undetected.

  However, two hours had come and gone, and Chase had not yet returned. Lucas texted Chase to see what he was doing. Evidently he’d run into someone he knew and stopped to visit for a while. Unwilling to give away the secret of the party, Lucas couldn’t say anything to encourage him to hurry home.

  The house full of people waiting for the guest of honor to arrive set Jessie’s nerves on edge.

  As she walked through the house, making sure everyone had cold drinks and refreshing the trays of snacks she’d set out, she hoped no one looked beyond her calm façade and realized she was a frazzled mess. A few of Chase’s buddies had brought dates along with them, women who made her uncomfortable.

  Clueless as to what she’d done to offend or annoy them, she wished, again, that Chase would hurry up and return home. Then the attention would be off her and she could blend into the background.

  Perhaps she should have purchased Chase an expensive gift and left it at that. Instead, she thought he’d enjoy a party with his friends. Uncle Jack and Aunt Amy had flown up and so had Ashley.

  Of course, the reporter and photographer from Rodeo At Home had been present the past several days, following Chase and Jessie around at what they deemed his hometown rodeo. They’d decided to stay for the party before flying home the following day.

  Thank goodness, there had been enough activities in Pendleton that week they didn’t spend much time at the ranch. The house had been full of company as it was.

  Chase offered a place to stay to several of his close friends in the business, which meant she’d been stuck in his room with him the last few nights. Chase tried to sleep on the floor, but she argued he needed rest to be able to compete, and she’d sleep on the floor.