Santa in a Stetson by Rebecca Winters

children?”
    â€œNo. I’m not married. What about you?”
    A shadow marred her expression. “I had three miscarriages before we came to work for Colton.”
    Kathryn felt her pain. “Now you have two remarkable children.”
    The shadow disappeared. “Yes.”
    â€œI fear there are times when she thinks she has a stubborn third one.” Her host’s deep voice prompted Kathryn to turn around.
    â€œYou mean four,” Noreen quipped. “You forgot Ed.”
    He smiled, then said, “I think we’ll plan to eat dinneraround six. That should give Allie time for a good nap.”
    Noreen nodded. “If you’re hungry now, Ms. McFarland, I’ll send Matt up with a tray for you.”
    â€œThank you, but I ate before we flew here. And please…call me Katy.”
    â€œI will,” she said before leaving the room.
    â€œWhile we’re on the subject of names, mine is Colt.”
    It suited him down to the last irreverent tendril curling against his neck.
    Kathryn had discovered that without the Stetson, he had a head of shocking black hair whose ends wanted to wave. The arrangement of hard-boned features made him a striking man. Brows of the same black shade framed his eyes. They were the color of spring grass and looked translucent in the fire’s glow.
    His eyes took swift inventory of her. She could hardly breathe.
    Without conscious thought her gaze drifted over the rest of him. He wore a long-sleeved, plaid flannel shirt in blues and greens. The hem was tucked into jeans that molded powerful thighs. His hard-muscled physique revealed a man who kept fit in the outdoors.
    There was an aura about him, a mental toughness and discipline she’d sensed beneath the male veneer. You didn’t trifle with a man like him.
    Allie knew it. She’d been raised by him.
    Kathryn no longer questioned why his daughter had been afraid to call him from the hospital. Yet her reason for disappointing him had to have been so compelling that she’d been willing to risk it.
    Though the subject hadn’t been brought up by the twins or their father, Kathryn suspected this situation had everything to do with their mother. No one had talked about her or mentioned her, but it was clear Colt Brenner’s woman—whether she’d been his wife or not, whether she was alive or not—was the elephant in the room.
    â€œI need to take Allie’s vitals. I’ll just get the things I need out of my suitcase.”
    â€œThe twins’ bedrooms are on the next floor,” Colt said. “The upstairs guest bedroom is between them. I’ll show you.”
    She followed him to the foyer and up the staircase to the next floor. He moved with natural male grace. Aware her thoughts were too concentrated on him, she looked around her. The interior was an amalgamation of refined rustic and contemporary design. “You’ve created the perfect mountain home.”
    â€œThank you. We used to live in the original house on the property. Now Noreen and Ed live there.”
    He opened the door to her room, which was decorated in earth tones with hardwood floors. She found her suitcase at the end of the queen-size bed covered with a patchwork quilt. After retrieving the bag inside it, she accompanied him to the bedroom on the left.
    Matt was spread across the end of Allie’s queen talking to his sister. It reminded her of the way Kathryn’s brothers sometimes did that with her.
    â€œHi!” they said in unison. Matt stood up.
    The sunny room with accents of blue and white delighted her. She moved to the side of the bed andsat down. “Shall we get this over with? Then you can rest.”
    Kathryn listened to her lungs with her stethoscope. They sounded clear. Her blood pressure was normal. Her pulse was a little fast; that didn’t surprise her. Allie had expended extra energy for the flight.
    She slipped the digital thermometer under her arm.