As far as Curt Baker was concerned, Beck McKinley was all three wise men rolled into one. They were not only copresidents of the local cattle growers association this year, but her father also idolized the man. She wasn’t completely surprised to find her father was part of the group around Beck. She sucked in a steadying breath and made her way toward the group, trying to figure out a polite way to tell him his sons were causing trouble again. He towered about four inches taller than the crowd of ranchers he stood among. She was a grown-up and could handle talking to anyone, even big, tough, stern-faced ranchers who made her feel like she didn’t belong in Pine Gulch. Time to just suck it up and take care of business. Sexy or not, Beck had to corral his sons before they ruined the entire evening.
#WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS SIDENOTES PROFESSIONAL#
She was a twenty-seven-year-old professional in charge of generating funds for a cause she cared about.
He made her feel like she was an awkward teenager back in private school in Boston, holding up the wall at her first coed dance. She didn’t want to be so drawn to him, especially when he hadn’t once shown a glimmer of interest in return. What woman wouldn’t be? Big, tough, gorgeous, with a slow smile that could charm even the most hardened heart. She was attracted to him, and had been since she moved back to Pine Gulch. Every time she spoke with him-which was more often than she liked, considering his ranch was next door to her father’s-she always felt like she came out of the encounter sounding like a babbling fool. He always treated her with careful politeness, but she could never read the expression on his features. The man made her so ridiculously nervous. She did not enjoy talking to Beck McKinley and avoided it as much as possible.
That left only one person who might have any chance of corralling these two little dynamos.Įlla’s stomach quivered. As she had suspected, neither their uncle nor their great uncle was in sight. She gave a last-ditch, desperate look around. In order to tame these particular wild beasts, she was going to have to talk to someone in authority.
As usual, the twins had offered her their angelic, gap-toothed smiles and had promised to behave, then moments later she saw them converge with four other boys to start playing this impromptu game of tag on the stage. A gang of half-pint miscreants had the potential to ruin the evening for everyone. People’s wallets tended to open a little wider when they were happy, comfortable and well fed. As organizer and general show-runner of this fund-raising event for the school’s underfinanced music program, it was her responsibility to make sure everyone had a good time. Now they were racing around on the stage where tonight’s featured act was set to perform within the next half hour. In the half hour since they arrived at the community center with their father, they had spilled a water pitcher, knocked down a life-size cardboard Santa and broken three ornaments on the big Christmas tree in the corner. Ella Baker watched two seven-year-old tornadoes, otherwise known as Trevor and Colter McKinley, chase each other behind the stage curtains at the Pine Gulch Community Center.
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