A Cowboy Firefighter For Christmas (Smokin' Hot Cowboys 1) by Kim Redford

soaring from the portico up to the second story, and a multicolored pastel Victorian. All were beautiful. They also had Christmas decorations prominently displayed so people driving by could enjoy the designs from country-style painted wood to city-bright plastic and neon. She couldn’t help but think how much Aunt Cami would have enjoyed seeing these houses.
    “Twin Oaks is special,” Trey said. “Nobody much wanted to deal with those ten acres on the outskirts of town. Rocky ground with little natural beauty except for two ancient oak trees. The natural spring was there, but it had been boarded over and people had mostly forgotten about it.”
    “I liked the look of the hotel in town.”
    “You won’t be disappointed in Twin Oaks, not now.”
    “Why’s that?” Misty didn’t say it, but she couldn’t be disappointed at the moment. All she had to do was glance Trey’s way and see the twinkle in his eyes as he held back the details of what she was going to experience. She tried not to smile too much or he’d get the idea she was much more interested in him than she should be on such short acquaintance. Yet she wondered if she had already given herself away.
    “Jake Jobson is why. He moved here and married Gladys Sundown of a local clan. Jake had been a Seabee—U.S. Navy Construction Battalion—in the Pacific Theater in World War II. He was crazy about designing and building stuff. In the eighties and nineties, he spent his retirement years creating Twin Oaks for Gladys, the love of his life.”
    “Will I get to meet Jake and Gladys?”
    “It’s a shame, but no. They passed on a few years ago. I don’t know what they’d think about Ruby—that’s their daughter—turning the place into a B&B. They were private folks. But everybody is sure glad she did. It’s a great setting for weddings, reunions, getaways.”
    “Now I can’t wait to see it.”
    At every turn, Misty kept being surprised. She also felt a little embarrassed at her earlier attitude. She’d arrived without much expectation for the area and the people. She should’ve known better. Texas was big enough that there was a huge variety of terrain and residents. Cindi Lou was right. She needed to get out of the city more and start living life to its fullest. She glanced at Trey again. She bet he lived his life to the fullest every single day. Maybe she could learn from him.
    “We’re coming up on the property. Wait till you see what Jake did with all those pesky rocks.”
    She gasped in surprise. “That fence is a work of art.” She drove past an amazing rock fence scalloped from rock post to rock post with a rope of twinkling blue lights strung along the top.
    “Jake washed and sized every one of those rocks before he cemented them together.”
    “Beautiful. Did he plant all those trees, too?” Misty pointed at the neat, orderly rows of green pine trees on the property.
    “Sure did. He told me he liked the peace. He built a brick-and-wood bench beside the pond just so he could sit and listen to the wind whisper through the pines.”
    “He sounds like a romantic.”
    Trey chuckled. “Maybe he was. He was tough, but he had a soft side, too. He always called Twin Oaks his little love nest.”
    Misty laughed in delight. “What a great guy.”
    As she drove up to the B&B’s entrance, she saw an arched black metal sign overhead that read “Twin Oaks” entwined with the silhouettes of two oak trees. Another long rope of twinkling blue lights highlighted the sign. She turned in past twin rock buttresses that curved outward from the fence on either side of the entry and drove onto the estate.
    “Plenty to do here in season. Basketball. Tennis. Swimming. Golf.” Trey pointed ahead. “You can park by the white board fence that encloses the horse pasture behind that red barn.”
    She drove across dry grass, pulled up to the fence, and stopped her SUV. She sat still for a long moment as she listened to the wind whisper through the trees.