Darn Good Cowboy Christmas by Carolyn Brown Page A

Austin had roots. Liz had never had any at all, so chances of her falling for a deeply rooted rancher were slim and none.
    â€œHaskell never showed interest in the carnival?” Raylen asked.
    Liz smiled. “It was a sore spot between him and his sisters. One is my mother and the other is my aunt.”
    â€œWhy?” Raylen asked.
    â€œUncle Haskell wanted to settle down when he met Aunt Sara. He left the carnival and bought that piece of property, then worked for a company in Nocona until they could make the ranch pay its way. They wanted a house full of kids, but Aunt Sara couldn’t have any. I barely remember her. She died when I was about five, but she always came to the carnival in Bowie and brought me homemade cookies.”
    Raylen finished his dinner and sipped sweet tea. “I was eight when Miss Sara died. It was one of the first funerals I went to. I don’t remember seeing you there.”
    â€œAunt Tressa and Poppa came. Mother kept the carnival going.”
    â€œHow did you go to school?” he asked.
    â€œI didn’t. Aunt Tressa and Momma homeschooled me just like their momma did them. I got my associate’s degree in business online before my sixteenth birthday. Momma said I could stay off the carnival rounds a couple of years and get my bachelor’s degree, but I didn’t want to.”
    â€œSo you ran the business end of the carnival?”
    Liz shook her head. “I’m not strong enough to wrestle that from Aunt Tressa. She’s the financial head. I’m Madam Lizelle, The Great Drabami.”
    â€œThe great what?”
    â€œDrabami. It’s a gypsy word for fortune-teller. I tell fortunes, read your palm, lay out the cards, or look into the big crystal ball, and…” She took a deep breath. Might was well spit it all out and hold nothing back.
    â€œAnd what?” Raylen asked.
    â€œI belly dance,” she said.
    Raylen kept eating and didn’t answer.
    Liz wondered if he hadn’t heard her before he finally said something.
    â€œYou are waiting for me to bite. I’m not going to. You’re not going to catch me with that story.” He grinned.
    â€œIt’s the truth. Throw your palm out here.”
    Raylen wiped his hand on his jean leg and flipped it out on the table. She picked it up with her left hand and cradled it in her right. She’d held men’s hands in hers since she was sixteen when she did her first reading, but nothing prepared her for the sparks that danced around the café when she traced the curve of his lifeline from the middle of his wrist around his thumb.
    â€œYou will have a long and productive life, Raylen O’Donnell. You will have one successful marriage and fate will play a big part in your choice of a partner.” She almost stopped there because her mother had read her palm with the same words not a week before, but she gently traced another line and said, “You let your head rule and not your heart, but that will change. Don’t be afraid. It’s in your future and you will fear giving up control, but in the end you will see the wisdom in allowing love to come into your heart.”
    He pulled his hand back with a jerk. “That sounds like a bunch of hocus-pocus to me. So are you puttin’ in a fortune tellin’ shop in Ringgold?”
    â€œHell, no! I’m going to work for Jasmine starting tomorrow mornin’,” she said.
    He was careful to look at her full lips and not her black eyes. “I still think you are pulling my leg about that fortune tellin’ business, but I do believe you about going to work for Jasmine. I’m glad. She needs help and she’s my friend. You’ll like working with her. Well, I’ve got to get back to work. See you around.”
    â€œCome over sometime and I’ll get out the cards and do a real reading for you. I might even put on my costume and dance for you,” she said.
    â€œStill not