Author: Josh Lanyon
Date: 2000-01-01 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: M M Romance; Romance; Contemporary; Christmas; Holiday; Westerns; Novella; Short Stories; Fiction; Lgbt
Description: Part of Men Under the Mistletoe Anthology from Carina Press; but also available separately. (26,000 words) Growing up in rural Texas, Mitchell Evans' ambition to be a dancer made him a target. Though he found success in New York City, Mitch is at a crossroads, and heads home for the first time in twelve years to figure things out. When what appears to be a reindeer jumps out in front of his car, he drives off the road and into the path of the one man he hoped to avoid. The last person Texas Ranger Web Eisley expects to see four days before Christmas is his first love. He hasn't seen Mitch sinc
Publisher: Carina Press
Rights: Copyright © 2011 by Josh Lanyon

Lone Star

By Josh Lanyon

Growing up in rural Texas, Mitchell Evans’s ambition to be a dancer made him a target. Though he found success in New York City, Mitch is at a crossroads, and heads home for the first time in twelve years to figure things out. When what appears to be a reindeer jumps out in front of his car, he drives off the road and into the path of the one man he hoped to avoid.

The last person Texas Ranger Web Eisley expects to see four days before Christmas is his first love. He hasn’t seen Mitch since they quarreled over coming out to their friends and family years ago. Though he’s not in the closet now, Web has worked hard for the respect of his fellow officers, but he still regrets the loss of Mitch in his life. And his bed.

The attraction between them is as strong as ever, and it doesn’t take long for the men to pick up where they left off. But is love enough to keep Mitch in town in the New Year?

26,000 words

Dear Reader,

In December 2010 we published our first set of three holiday collections. I hoped at the time it would become a Carina Press tradition, and I’m pleased that we were able to do this again in 2011.

I invited four authors who have built strong careers in the male/male niche to work with me to create this year’s holiday collection of male/male novellas. Josh Lanyon, K.A. Mitchell, Ava March and Harper Fox each brought their own unique voice and flair for storytelling to the Men Under the Mistletoe collection to create something truly magical.

As I read Winter Knights by Harper Fox, Lone Star by Josh Lanyon, My True Love Gave to Me by Ava March and The Christmas Proposition by K.A. Mitchell, I found myself falling in love with the strong men in these stories, just as they fell in love with each other. These novellas combine the perfect blend of hot chemistry and raw emotion to transport any reader to that lovely place of good book glow!

I’m incredibly pleased to make these stories available to you both individually, and as a collection, and I hope you fall in love with them just as I did!

We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to generalinquiries@carinapress.com. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.

Happy reading!

~Angela James

Executive Editor, Carina Press
www.carinapress.com
www.twitter.com/carinapress
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Dedication

To all my readers. Happy holidays!

Contents

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

About the Author

Chapter One

A lone star blazed in the midnight blue sky.

It looked like the Christmas star, which was appropriate seeing that it was four days till the holiday, but with Mitch’s luck it was more likely a crashing jet plane headed straight for him.

Incoming.

Yeah, that would be about right. On the bright side, it would spare him driving any more miles down this long, dull stretch of memory lane. Texas looked only minimally better at night than it did in the day. Nothing but rugged, ragged landscape. Igneous hills of limestone and red rock as far as the eye could see—which wasn’t far, given the darkness beyond the sweep of the rental car headlights.

Mitch rubbed his bleary eyes. This was more driving than he’d done in years. He didn’t even own a car anymore. New York had decent public transportation, and when Mitch wasn’t working he was—well, he was always working, so problem solved.

Prickly pear, yucca, and juniper bushes cast tortured shadows across the faded ribbon of highway. A mighty lonesome stretch of country, as they’d say out here. Cemeteries were more plentiful than towns. He wasn’t entirely alone, though. Outside of Fredericksburg a pair of headlights had fallen in behind him and they continued to meander lazily along a few miles back. Some cowboy moseying on home, though not in any hurry to get there.

That made two of them.

It had been six months since Mitch had got the word his old man had keeled over, and he’d have happily waited another six months—or six years—before dealing with what his father’s lawyer euphemistically called “the estate.” But after the blowup with Innis, Mitch had desperately needed time and space. And one thing Texas had in plenty was space.

Speaking of space, the star twinkling and beaming up ahead could have fallen right out of the state flag. It was the biggest star in a night field of stars. A beacon burning in the night. Mitch blinked tiredly at it. He hadn’t slept on the plane, hadn’t slept in nearly forty-eight hours. Not since he’d walked into his dressing room to catch Innis with his pants down. Not a euphemism, unfortunately. Innis’s excuse— Up ahead Mitch caught movement in the middle of the road. Headlights picked out the gleam of eyes. A deer. A very large deer with a huge rack of antlers. An eighteen point—no, not a deer. Mitch’s eyes widened. A caribou. In Texas?

What the hell?

A caribou…in Texas…wearing a red leather harness with bells?

A reindeer?

He was asleep. He had fallen asleep driving.

Mitch wrenched the wheel. The tires skidded off the road onto the rocky shoulder. He tried to correct but oversteered. Instinctively, he slammed on the brakes, the car spun out. It did a wild fouetté across the highway, tipped over the side and rolled once. The air bag exploded from the dashboard. The car landed upside down in the sand and gravel beneath the embankment.

Dust and powder from the air bag filled the interior. The engine died as the car rocked finally to a stop. The passenger door had flown open. Mitch could smell oil and antifreeze and cornstarch and singed juniper. The air bag hissed as it deflated. Or maybe that was the radiator leaking. Or the sound of four tires simultaneously going flat.

“What was that?” He wiped the air bag talc residue from his face. His eyes and skin stung.

It had happened so fast. So fast there hadn’t even been time to be afraid. And at the same time it had seemed to occur in slow motion. Like watching a film or seeing it happen to someone else. Really weird. Maybe that out-of-body sensation was shock.

In movies, of course, flipped cars promptly burst into flames. That didn’t seem to be happening here, which was good news. He took quick stock.

Neck and shoulders felt wrenched. No surprise. The web of seat belts was cutting into his chest and hips. Other than that, he seemed to be unhurt. Shaken, bruised, but nothing serious. He could safely move without risking further injury, and probably the sooner, the better.

Reaching around, Mitch fumbled with the clip and unlatched his seat belt. He wriggled free of the shoulder strap, landing awkwardly on the ceiling interior. He crawled under the gear box and beneath the passenger side, scrambling out the door.

The dry, cold desert air was a jolt. Mitch drew in a deep lungful and it tasted as sweet, as fresh as his first ever breath. He was alive. Maybe his luck wasn’t as bad as he’d been thinking.

Climbing to his feet, he stumbled up the embankment to the highway. He was relieved to see the vehicle that had been tagging along behind him for the last thirty miles pulling to the shoulder, tires crunching gravel. Mitch waited in the glare of the headlights.

The door of the large white SUV swung open, and Mitch glimpsed official insignia. Public Works? Parks and Wildlife? Highway Patrol?

But no, the man coming toward him wore a cowboy hat and a leather coat with a sheepskin collar. The headlights illumined his tall, rangy silhouette; it was too dark to see his features. He moved well, though. He moved like a cowboy—a real cowboy, not the movie kind—a long, easy stride with the little swing to it.

“Howdy, friend.” The cowboy had a deep, unhurried voice shaded by that familiar homegrown accent. “You need an ambulance?”

“I’m okay. I think my car’s a goner, though. Did you see what happened?” Mitch hugged his arms to try and stop his shaking. The temperature couldn’t be much above the low thirties, and his jacket was somewhere in the wreck below.

“I saw you swerve and then lose control.” The cowboy was already sidestepping down the embankment to get to the crashed sports car. “Was there anyone else in the vehicle with you, sir?”

Not Water and Power, by the look of it. But not regular police. Even in Texas the regular police didn’t swagger around in jeans and boots and cowboy hats. Mitch might have forgotten one or two things about the Lone Star State, but not that much. Unless he was very much mistaken, it looked like he’d snagged the attention of a real life Texas Ranger.

“No. No one. I’m by myself.”

The cowboy wasn’t taking his word for it. He reached the flipped car and knelt, checking the interior. He rose and went around to the other side. Mitch lost sight of him for a moment or two. When the cowboy returned to view, he had the rental car keys.

He scaled the ascent in a couple of long strides and returned to his own vehicle. The dome light flashed on and Mitch could see him speaking over the radio. He hugged himself tighter, waiting. He should have known what a mistake this trip would be.

When the cowboy had finished his report, he ducked out of the cab and started back toward Mitch. “You have your license with you, sir?”

“Yes.” Mitch added—because he felt he had to say something and the cowboy didn’t seem to be the chatty type—“Did you see the deer?”

“The deer? Is that the story? You were avoidin’ a deer?”

The story? Mitch glanced at the empty road. “That’s what happened. I saw the deer and swerved. I… It must be someone’s pet. It was a wearing a—a—”

“A what?”

Mitch wasn’t quite sure how to answer that. He hedged, “A collar, I think.”

“A collar?” the cowboy repeated politely as he reached Mitch. Mitch was six feet, tall for the average dancer, but the cowboy was taller by a few inches. It had been a very long time since Mitch had needed to look up at someone to speak to them.

“Er, yeah.” He wished he could read the other man’s face.

“You thought you saw a deer in a collar? What kind of collar would that be, sir? A rhinestone collar? A fur collar?”

Great. Maybe you couldn’t always find a cop when you needed one, but there was never a shortage of assholes. “There’s a deer farm around here, right? There used to be. It could have escaped from there. It was wearing one of those—”

“Collars.”

“No. Actually, it was a harness. For pulling a…” Self-preservation kicked in. “Something.”

“A somethin’?” Mitch could see the gleam of the cowboy’s eyes. He had a suspicion he was going to be providing belly laughs around the old bunkhouse that night. The cowboy’s tone was still perfectly polite. “I see. Did y’all maybe have a drink or two this evenin’, sir?”

“Of course not. I don’t drink.” Although maybe he’d make an exception tonight.

“Uh-huh. You were takin’ this stretch of highway at a mighty fast clip.”

“I…I guess so. I was in a hurry to get where I was going.”

“And whereabouts is that, sir?”

“The old Evans place off Highway 16.”

In the silence that followed his words, Mitch could hear the ever-present wind whispering over the sand like some ghostly oracle. The cowboy went so still he seemed to stop breathing.

“Mitch?” he said at last in a flat voice. “Mitch Evans?”

Mitch stared back into that faceless shadow.

It couldn’t be.

It was.

The muscles in his neck and shoulders locked so tight he wasn’t sure he could move his mouth, let alone his head. Any time he had envisioned this encounter, it hadn’t gone like this. As a matter of fact, it had gone with him managing to avoid the encounter.

How had he failed to instantly recognize—? But in twelve years a boy’s voice deepened considerably and a boy’s light frame filled out and even the way he held himself changed. Mitch found his own voice. “That’s right. Web Eisley, is it?”

“I’m flattered you recollect.” Web didn’t sound flattered. Mitch couldn’t blame him for that. The last words they’d spoken to each other had not been kind ones. But that was twelve years ago and grown men didn’t hold grudges. Or if they did, they tried not to show it.

“I remember.” His voice sounded as toneless as Web’s. He made an effort to sound more personable, seeing that he was standing at the scene of an accident with a Texas Ranger whom he’d once called a “fucking gutless coward.” Among other things. “Well. It’s been awhile.”

“That’s true enough,” Web said.

For the life of him, Mitch couldn’t think of anything to say. He wasn’t exactly a smooth talker at the best of times, and to meet like this, after all these years, left him floundering.

When the silence stretched beyond a natural breaking point, Web spoke again in that plain, unmoved way. “I guess this’ll be a surprise for most folks around here. We pretty much gave you up for a lost cause when you didn’t show for your daddy’s funeral.”

Despite the cold night air, Mitch’s face burned. There were any number of reasonable and even true things he could have said to explain his absence. He was startled to hear his own fierce voice. “I don’t give a fuck what anyone around here thinks of me.”

A pause followed his words before Web said, “I’d say we all got that message, loud and clear. So I guess you’re just passin’ through?”

“That’s right. I’m planning to talk to my father’s lawyer and put the ranch up for sale.”

“Well, I guess you won’t have too much trouble sellin’ it. Sixty acres of land is still a nice parcel even if the buildings are startin’ to show the wear and tear of six months of neglect.”

Yes. It went without saying that people in Llano would not think highly of him for letting that ranch sit there and rot. It went without saying, but people would be saying plenty. That was what folks in Llano did.

“They can raze the place to the ground. I don’t care. I just want to unload it.” Once again Mitch was startled—not by his hostility but his lack of restraint in venting it. He’d thought he was past all this. Maybe the accident had shaken him more than he realized.

Maybe he’d been knocked out and was dreaming. It was all beginning to feel as surreal as a production of Michael Smuin’s Christmas Ballet. Any second the hula girls and dancing Christmas trees would show up.

Web must have formed a similar thought. He said, “A tow truck’ll be here directly. You sure you don’t need medical attention? You must have been tossed around pretty good when that car went over the side.”

Mitch shook his head. Then he glanced down at the rental car lying like a toy upside down in the sand and rocks and cactus, and a funny light-headed feeling swept over him. It was little short of a miracle that he was standing there unharmed. A Christmas miracle. A four-days-to-Christmas miracle.

“I’m okay.”

Web’s voice was unexpectedly harsh. “You were damn lucky. I don’t see many people walk away from that kind of accident.”

“I guess not.” Mitch studied Web’s moonlit outline. “I guess you’re some kind of a cop now?”

“Texas Ranger.”

Mitch said without warmth, “That’s what you always wanted. Congratulations.”

“Yeah, well, you’re lucky it was me following you. Anybody else would have figured you’d had a snort or two before you got behind the wheel, what with the speed you were going and that business about the deer wearin’ a collar. But since you didn’t drink back when you were trainin’ to be a big, famous ballet dancer, I guess I might could believe you when you say you don’t drink now that you are a big, famous ballet dancer.”

“Or you might could breathalyze me. I don’t much care.”

There was another of those conversation hitches, then… “You’re about as cantankerous as your old man was,” Web observed. “I just said I believed you.”

“Good. I’m telling the truth. I saw a deer. Or I thought I saw a deer.” The deer seemed more and more unlikely despite the fact that this was the deer hunting capital of Texas. Mitch was forced to admit, “Maybe I was falling asleep, but I sure as hell didn’t have a drink before I got behind the wheel.”

His honesty must have caught Web offsides. “It’s not technically against the law, but I don’t recommend you share that.”

They both turned at the rumble of an engine. A tow truck with a long flatbed was trundling down the empty highway from the direction of Llano.

The truck pulled up along the side of the road, and Web went to talk to the driver while Mitch watched. The driver climbed down from the cab. Another man hopped from the passenger side. The two of them went with Web to check out the wreckage.

They were back in a couple of minutes carrying Mitch’s suitcase. They rejoined him on the blacktop highway. The tow truck driver was about Mitch’s age, but Mitch didn’t recognize him. Then again, he hadn’t recognized Web Eisley and he’d have bet money that was impossible.

“I sure hope you opted for the rental insurance,” the driver informed Mitch. He was panting from the short climb.

“Is it totaled?”

“Let me put it this way, she ain’t goin’ nowhere on her own. But we’ll tow her into town and take a look. Give us a call tomorrow and we’ll let you know the damage.”

Mitch nodded. “Thanks.”

“I’ll give you a ride out to the ranch.” That was Web.

The last thing Mitch wanted was the opportunity for another private chat with Web, but he could hardly decline on the grounds of being chickenshit. Besides, what was he supposed to do? Call a cab? There was no good reason not to take Web up on his offer. Mitch was past the initial shock of running into him again, right? He’d known all along coming back here meant confronting a few old ghosts. So here was the Ghost of Christmas Past offering him a ride. Big deal.

“I appreciate it. Thanks.”

He followed Web to the SUV. Web unlocked the passenger door, waiting till Mitch climbed inside. He slammed the door shut and walked around to the driver’s side. By then Mitch was starting to feel the aches and pains of getting thrown across the highway in a tin can. That was actually a relief because it gave him something to think about other than the fact that he was sitting about a foot away from Web Eisley.

The scent of sheepskin and leather and a faintly herbal aftershave filled the vehicle. It was annoying to be so aware of Web. Thankfully, Web paid him no mind, picking up the radio speaking to the dispatcher on the other end. When he was done, he clicked off, hung up the handset and started the SUV’s engine.

For all Mitch had been thinking he didn’t want to talk to Web, the silence got to him. He couldn’t seem to get past the strangeness of Web within arm’s reach after all this time.

“Are you still on duty?”

Web shook his head. Then, perhaps thinking Mitch might miss the gesture in the dark, he said, “No.”

Just being a good citizen, it seemed. Mitch searched for something else to say, the normal things people said in this kind of situation. Not that this was a normal kind of situation. “How long have you been with the Rangers?”

“Just over a year.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

“You always said you’d make it before you turned thirty-five.”

“Is that so?” Web’s reply was automatic. The kind of tone people used when they had their minds on more important matters.

The final look in Mitch’s side mirror showed the tow truck being angled across the highway, backing to the side of the road. “How are your folks?”

“Fine. Gettin’ older, I guess.”

Well, yeah. Wasn’t everyone? Mitch didn’t say it. If Web didn’t feel like talking, the instinct was probably a good one. It wasn’t like there was a lot left to say between them. It had all been said twelve years ago. And then some.

Hard gusts of wind pushed against the SUV as it sped along the bleak stretch of unlit highway; the occasional crackle of the radio filled the silence.

It wasn’t more than ten minutes to the ranch. Mitch said nothing else and neither did Web until they reached the turnoff. Then Web parked so that Mitch could get out and open the wood gates.

Mitch got back in the SUV. As Web let the vehicle roll forward, an enormous tumbleweed rolled across the dirt road and vanished into the wind-scoured dark beyond the headlights.

Web drawled, “Welcome home, Mitchell Evans.”

Chapter Two

The house hadn’t changed much.

Mitch’s footsteps sounded too loud as he walked slowly through the dusty rooms that still smelled of pipe tobacco and, more vaguely, horse liniment. But then it had never been a noisy place. Sometimes he and his old man had gone days without exchanging more than a word or two.

The steamer trunk, draped with a red and black Indian blanket, still sat in the front hall. In the dining room was the heavy old furniture that had once belonged to Mitch’s great-grandmother, including the squat china cabinet full of fragile teacups and saucers that hadn’t been touched in all the years Mitch had lived in that house.

In his father’s room the photograph of Mitch’s mother still perched on the bedside table next to the smaller framed photo of his parents’ wedding. Mitch stared at the neatly made bed with the handmade patchwork quilt. It looked so ordinary it was unsettling. He half expected Dane Evans to walk in and ask him what the hell he was doing in there. Maybe that was why funerals were a good idea.

The floorboard squeaked behind him. “I don’t know what I was expecting…” Mitch glanced at Web and his voice died away. It had been easier when Web was just a tall, shadowy figure.

He had been a handsome boy, and he was a handsome man, but he’d developed something more over the years. Presence. He filled the doorway of the bedroom and drove out the ghosts merely by standing there. Nearly.

Mitch shivered.

“I’ve got a fire started in the front room.”

“Thanks,” Mitch said, and meant it. He’d been paying to keep the electricity and gas on since his father’s death—mostly because he couldn’t come to a decision about what to do about the old place—but you’d never know it from the graveyard chill in these rooms.

Web nodded acknowledgment. He’d filled out—his shoulders and arms were bigger—but he was still very lean. He had taken his hat off when they’d entered the house, and his hair, still the color of sun-bleached gold, was starting to spring back. His eyes were bluer than Mitch remembered. Blue as the Bonnie Blue Flag, Web’s great-grandmother used to say. Now there was a character. She claimed to have been a spy for the Confederacy. Maybe it was true.

Funny to be thinking of her now. Or maybe not. This was exactly what Mitch had dreaded. The resurrection of all these dead and buried memories.

Web said, “You didn’t think to bring any grub?”

“What?”

“Food.”

“No. I’ll pick up what I need in town tomorrow.” Mitch wasn’t hungry. He hadn’t been hungry since he’d walked in on Innis and whatever-her-name-had-been. That memory alone was enough to start a lava flow through his digestive tract.

Web gave another nod, turning from the doorway. Mitch followed him to the front room where flames were crackling cheerfully in the big stone fireplace.

They had exchanged all of ten sentences since Mitch had unlocked the front door. Mitch had called the car rental agency and explained about the accident. Then he’d made a brief tour of the house and Web had left him to it. Mitch wasn’t sure if that was a relief or not. Web provided a useful distraction even when he wasn’t saying anything. No surprise there. Although Web had always been the talker, the funny one. He always had some yarn or some crazy observation to get Mitch laughing. There hadn’t been a lot of laughs in Mitch’s life, which was probably why he remembered that.

You’re rilin’ me, boy. That had been one of Web’s stock phrases. Mitch’s mouth quirked, remembering.

“Something funny?” Web asked, jerking Mitch back to the present.

“Just remembering.” Web was waiting for Mitch to finish his thought, but he shook his head. “Are you still living at the ranch?”

“Uh-huh.” His blue gaze rested on Mitch’s face, and he seemed to relent. “Everybody’s in good health. Older and wiser. I guess you don’t want to hear it, but we were all real sorry about your daddy.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Mitch winced inwardly at the thought of his outburst on the road. An old-fashioned hissy fit, that was what his old man would have called it—and he wouldn’t have been much wrong. Mitch had been more shaken than he’d realized at the time because that wasn’t like him. In fact, he’d developed a reputation in the theater for being unshakeable. Not that everyone viewed the fact that he reserved his emotion for his dancing as a strength. Innis certainly didn’t see it that way.

“He’d be glad to know you’re here now.”

“Sure. He’d be over the moon, I bet.” Mitch gave a short, bitter laugh, but apparently Web was serious.

“He used to talk about you.”

“You know what, Web? I don’t want to talk about him.” And particularly not with Web, but Mitch didn’t add that.

“Suit yourself.” Web’s face and voice gave nothing away. Maybe he was offended by Mitch’s frankness, maybe not. “Aunt Mamie’s been comin’ over a couple of times a month to make sure things don’t get too out of hand.”

“That was nice of her.” That explained why the layer of dust was still see-through and why the mice hadn’t taken up croquet in the front parlor.

“You’re family.” Web delivered it casually, with a shrug.

Mitch didn’t know what to say to that. He’d written all these people off twelve years ago. Well, not Aunt Mamie. That would be like trying to write off the periodic table of elements, but he hadn’t expected to see her again. He hadn’t expected to see any of them again. He still wasn’t sure what had prompted him to head for Llano after he’d found his lover in flagrante delicto. Possibly because this was the one place in the world where no one was laughing behind his back?

Correction. They were probably still laughing behind his back, but at least it wasn’t because he was so staggeringly oblivious to the fact that his partner had been screwing around on him with everything that moved for a year or so.

The air in the room seemed to change pressure. There was a peculiar high-pitched whine in his ears. Mitch felt behind him and sat on the low credenza, dimly aware that he was pushing aside the lariat lying there, knocking over a couple of his father’s old rodeo trophies. Reaction was setting in. It felt like he hadn’t stopped running since he’d walked into that dressing room. Everything was hitting at once: the disappointment of not getting the role of the Swan in the spring production of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Innis’s betrayal, the realization that he, Mitch, had been a laughingstock for months. And then finally the physical aftereffects of having been in a car accident an hour earlier—only to be rescued by Web Eisley himself. And the funniest part about that was nearly dying didn’t seem as traumatic as running into Web when he wasn’t prepared for it.

“Drink this.”

Mitch looked up out of his miserable preoccupation to find Web holding out a glass with about a thimbleful of amber liquid.

He shook his head. “I don’t drink.”

“I remember. You’re not going to get smashed on less than two fingers of Bushmills.”

“It’s not about getting smashed. It’s about…” Suddenly he couldn’t remember what it was about. Web was looking at him like Mitch was an idiot. Mitch took the glass, ignoring the brush of their fingers and tossed back the whiskey.

It burned down his throat and shot up into his sinuses. When he stopped coughing he heard Web saying, “What the hell was that, John Wayne? Even Texans are allowed to take a sip, you know.”

“I know all about Texans.”

The whiskey had a surprising and almost instantaneous effect. It started in Mitch’s toes and tingled up through his nerves and muscles till it prickled his scalp. He felt calmer, warmer and more alert.

“Better?” Web asked as though he knew exactly how Mitch was feeling.

“Thanks.”

Web nodded.

Once again there was nothing to say. Nothing safe to say, anyway. Sad to think that here was once the person who had mattered more than anyone in the world to Mitch.

He pushed away from the credenza. “It’s been a long day and a longer night. You don’t mind if I throw you out now, do you?”

“I don’t mind.” Web reached into his blazer, pulled out a wallet and removed a business card. “Give me a call if you need anythin’.”

Mitch took the card reluctantly. “Thanks. I’m not going to be here long.”

“No? But you’re stayin’ for the holiday?”

“No.” That was a lie and they both knew it.

Web gave a brief, crooked grin. “Uh-huh. Well, if you change your mind, I know some folks who’d be mighty happy to see you again, Mitch.”

“Thanks.” Mitch walked him to the front door.

“Sleep tight,” Web said, walking out onto the porch.

“Night.”

Web turned back. “Just out of curiosity, what was it you thought you saw on the road tonight? A deer wearin’ a…what?”

Mitch was too tired to prevaricate. “I thought I saw a reindeer.” He gently swung the door closed on Web’s startled expression.

He woke to the sound of bells. Christmas bells.

Mitch opened his eyes and blinked at the low ceiling and blackened beams.

No. Not Christmas bells. The doorbell. He groaned, swore—swore more loudly when he realized how painfully stiff he was—and threw the bunched blankets aside, pulling on his jeans as he staggered down the hall to the front door.

He fumbled the lock open and gaped at the vision of Mamie Eisley standing on his front porch holding an enormous picnic basket.

“Mitchell Evans, you young polecat! What’s the meanin’ of sneakin’ home without sayin’ a word to anybody?”

Mitch opened his mouth, but Mamie turned away, hollering, “Here he is, Web! He’s fine. Mostly.”

Web appeared around the side of the house and took the steps in that long stride of his. “Where the hell were you?”

“Sleeping. Where the hell were you?” It came out muffled because by then Mamie had shoved the picnic basket to Mitch and thrown her skinny arms around him. Mitch hugged her back instinctively—and then harder when he felt the fragility of her bones and smelt the familiar scent of honeysuckle and soap.

“Welcome home, honey,” Mamie whispered and there was an unexpected sting in Mitch’s eyes.

“Crawling in through your bathroom window,” Web answered Mitch’s previous comment. “I thought maybe you hit your head harder than you thought last night.”

“I didn’t hit my head last night.”

Mamie and Web exchanged disbelieving looks. Mitch put a cautious hand to his forehead and winced. “Did I?”

“Honey, you look like somebody throwed you in a blender and turned it on high. Why didn’t you tell anyone you was comin’ home?”

“I didn’t know myself.” Mitch turned and went back inside to have a look at the damage. Mamie and Web followed, Mamie still scolding him for not letting anyone know he was planning a visit.

“It was last minute.” Mitch paused at the mirror in the hall and peered at himself. His hair was chestnut-colored and currently styled in what Mamie would probably describe as a rat’s nest. His wide, tilted eyes were green and made an interesting contrast to the bruise darkening the left side of his face. His beard was coming along although the assorted nicks and cuts he’d picked up during the accident made it look like he’d had second thoughts about that.

“I don’t remember getting hit in the face. I guess I caught some of the air bag when it deployed.”

“I guess you did.” Mamie shivered. “Web told me the whole sorry story.”

“I bet.”

Web said grimly, “You’re lucky not to be crippled or dead.”

Mitch couldn’t help an instinctive shudder at the word crippled. “So you said last night.”

“Well, you’re home now and you’re safe and sound.” Mamie stroked Mitch’s arm as though he were a nervous horse than needed gentling. He smiled at her. He had always liked Mamie. Maybe even loved her. He didn’t have anyone like Mamie in his family. Hell, he didn’t have any family except his old man and now he didn’t have his old man.

That was the good news.

Except, strangely, today it didn’t feel like good news.

His stomach suddenly growled, far too loudly to be overlooked. Web and Mamie laughed, and after a moment so did Mitch.

“I’ve got the remedy for that, don’t you fret.” Mamie led the way to the kitchen. Mitch followed, uncomfortably aware of Web treading practically on his heels. The back of his neck prickled in atavistic response.

Mamie went straight to the long, wooden table where Mitch had eaten meals separated by eight feet of polished maple wood from his father. She opened the picnic basket and began to unload its contents while Mitch looked on helplessly. A small, old-fashioned milk bottle came out followed by several plastic food containers.

“What is all that?” The warm fragrance wafting from the basket made his stomach do a petit saut.

Mamie began to peel the lids back. “Fresh strawberries, blueberry pecan muffins… Web said you hadn’t had time to pick up any grub. I told him that was a sorry kind of homecoming, and I put together this little ol’ breakfast basket and made him drive me straight over here.”

“That was…neighborly of you, but you really didn’t have to.” Mitch watched Mamie lift out a white plate covered with wax paper. His taste buds were salivating. He hadn’t had food like this in years.

“Texas quiche,” Mamie informed him proudly. “Made with green chilies and Tabasco sauce.”

Mitch glanced at Web, who was silently watching the proceedings. “Texas quiche? Isn’t that an oxymoron?

“Aunt Mamie has been taking cooking classes. We’ve been her guinea pigs. Now it’s your turn.”

“Mitch, you get a plate and silverware out.”

“I’m not eating all this by myself.” But he obeyed, going to the cupboard and lifting out a short stack of dishes.

Aunt Mamie sucked in a sharp breath. “Why, Mitch, honey. Y’all are more hurt than you know. Just look at your poor feet!” Aghast, Aunt Mamie stared down at Mitch’s bare feet. “You need to see a doctor pronto.”

Mitch looked down at his feet and started to laugh. Bunions and corns were the least of it. His feet were beyond ugly with purple bruises and thick, hardened skin over the joints, and black, cracked nails. In fact, all things considered, his feet were looking better than usual. He’d danced with ulcers between his toes, sprains and even broken toes.

“This isn’t from the accident. This is how my feet always look.”

Mamie looked even more horrified. She turned to Web as though expecting him to come up with a solution. Web grimaced. He was staring at Mitch’s feet too.

Mitch set the stack of dishes on the table. “All professional ballet dancers have feet like this. It’s normal,” he reassured Mamie.

Or tried to reassure her. Mamie wasn’t buying it for a moment. “Why, that’s plum terrible. Y’all look so elegant and graceful and that’s what’s going on all the time?”

Mitch shrugged. “That’s just the life of a dancer. Anyway, it looks worse than it feels.” That wasn’t quite true. There had been times when he’d been sure getting stabbed with a hot poker would have hurt less than dancing on bleeding feet. But it was most definitely the life of a dancer. He glanced at Web.

Meeting his gaze, Web shook his head. He could have meant anything from you’re a nutcase to you’re one tough hombre. Mitch took it to mean you’re a nutcase. Web hadn’t exactly embraced Mitch’s ambition to be a dancer when they were boys, and it was unlikely someone who chose to become a Texas Ranger would see a man who spent his days in leotards working over a barre as a regular guy.

But there was no mockery in Web’s gaze. He was staring back at Mitch with every appearance of seriousness, and damn. Web Eisley was one good-looking cowboy.

More so because, unless he’d changed a lot, he never gave a thought to his looks. He was fit from living an active life, but his idea of grooming was still probably a comb and toothpaste. Not that there was anything wrong with that—in fact, it was kind of refreshing. The men Mitch knew made their living from their physical prowess, and it was only natural that they were obsessed with their bodies and looks. He was the same. He was his own commodity, and he had to take care of himself.

Mitch said lightly, “I still scream like a girl when I see spiders.”

Web laughed. Mitch felt that old flare of satisfaction. He’d always liked being able to make Web laugh.

The memory brought him back to earth. What was he doing? Sure, Web was an attractive guy. So what? If he was a cop he was undoubtedly still in the closet. And if he wasn’t in the closet, he was in a relationship. And either way, Mitch was in a relationship. Or, more exactly, recovering from a relationship, which was pretty much the same thing.

More to the point, they lived in two completely different worlds. Worlds separated by about eighteen hundred miles.

Mitch pulled out a chair at the table. “You may as well sit too, because no way am I trying to eat all this on my own.”

Mamie looked at Web, who shrugged. Mitch deduced that Web had warned her they weren’t to overstay their welcome. But Mitch’s antisocial tendencies didn’t include Mamie. Or at least they didn’t now that he was confronted by the reality of her.

Mamie sat down across from Mitch and reached for his plate. After a second, Web sat down too.

Mamie handed Mitch’s piled plate back to him. “You need to get some meat on those bones.”

He opened his mouth—he was all muscle and strong enough to lift a grown woman over his head—but he let it go.

“No need to stand on ceremony. You just tuck right in.” Mamie carved a wedge of quiche and piled it onto Web’s plate.

Web muttered thanks.

Plates filled, coffee from the thermos poured, they concentrated on their food. Or at least, Web and Mitch concentrated on their food. Mamie chattered on about people she seemed to believe Mitch knew, filling in what probably would have been a mostly unbroken and largely uncomfortable silence.

“Do you still drink chocolate milk like it was going out of style?” Web asked during one of Mamie’s rare pauses.

“Yeah.” Funny that Web remembered that. “And pickle juice right out of the jar when I have leg cramps.”

Mamie exclaimed, “Pickle juice!”

“It works.” Mitch smiled. In some ways it was kind of nice to be with people who’d known him forever. People removed from his professional life. The dance world was so ferociously competitive he would never admit in public to having the occasional hangnail, let alone muscle cramp.

“We saw a picture of you in People magazine.” Aunt Mamie turned to Web. “What show was it from, Web?”

“I don’t remember,” Web said through a mouthful of blueberry pecan muffin.

Mitch tried to picture Web thumbing through People magazine. Maybe while he was on a stakeout? Yeah, right.

“I don’t remember either, but it sure was…dramatic. Your hair was all wild and you had jeweled eye makeup on.” She added primly, “And not a lot of clothes.”

“Oh. People. That was Puck in A Midsummer’s Night Dream.”

“I guess that might have been it.” She looked to Web, who shrugged.

Yeah, well, Mitch had got a lot of acclaim for his Puck—had even been accused of stealing the show—but he’d looked like a crack whore after a rough night in the woods. No wonder Aunt Mamie was mildly shocked.

He said vaguely, “We have to wear a lot of makeup on stage.”

Mamie brightened. “I suppose that’s true.” She was off and running again.

Mitch listened with one ear. Most of his attention remained on Web, who was devoting himself to cleaning his plate like he was afraid he wouldn’t get dessert if every crumb didn’t disappear.

That hypersensitivity to everything Web was doing—or not doing—was aggravating. Surely Mitch should have outgrown that by now? If twelve years wasn’t the cure, what was?

He became aware that Mamie had paused. He glanced up guiltily.

She said briskly, “Now I don’t want to hear any hemming or hawing. You just say thank you, ma’am like the polite boy you always were.”

Had he always been a polite boy? Mitch suspected most people would have said he was a sullen, withdrawn boy. But he’d had his polite moments. He was having one now. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“He didn’t hear a word you said,” Web told Mamie.

She shook her head. “Mitchell Evans. You’re coming to dinner tonight.”

Oh. God. “No. I can’t. I mean, it’s not that I wouldn’t like to, but I’ve got things I need to get done.”

She was looking at him with frank disbelief.

“It’s nice of you to ask. It’s just that…with so much to do and me only staying a couple of days. But I’d like to. Maybe another time—” He was making the mistake of overexplaining, but he couldn’t seem to shut up.

“Maybe Mitch has plans.” Web cut right through the hemming and hawing.

“What plans?” Aunt Mamie demanded.

Mitch said. “Well, I’m only here for a day or two and I—”

“You still have to have supper.”

“Sure, but I can just fix something quick and keep sorting through all this junk.”

“Now that’s just plain foolishness,” Aunt Mamie pronounced. “You come to supper tonight, and I’ll bake my world-famous pecan pie.”

Mitch’s mouth started watering right on cue. That was the problem with eating carbs. The more you ate them, the more you wanted to eat them.

He looked automatically to Web—like everybody looked to Web.

“You gotta know you ain’t goin’ to win this battle,” Web told him. “I’d save your strength for wranglin’ with your insurance company.”

Mitch grimaced, but Web was right. It was obvious he couldn’t refuse this invitation without hurting Mamie’s feelings and somehow, despite his reputation for being a stone-cold bastard, he just couldn’t do that.

He said as meekly as though he was still a shy and backward country boy, “Thank you, ma’am.”

Mamie nodded as though the outcome had never been in doubt. Maybe it hadn’t.

For a time there was only the sound of forks scraping on plate. The food was very good, as food made with fats and salt always was. Mitch hadn’t realized how hungry he was.

“I got to get goin’,” Web finally announced, pushing back his chair. “Those outlaws don’t catch themselves. You want a ride into town, Mitch?”

No, he surely didn’t. But what else was he going to do? Anyway, Mamie was an effective buffer. “Thanks. If you could drop me off at the car rental place that would be great.”

“I told Mary Ann Royce to pick me up here.” Mamie was at the sink, squirting dish-washing soap into running water. “She’s going to drive me over to Kingsland for the Genealogical Society meeting, so if you don’t mind I’ll just wait here for her.”

So much for his buffer. Mitch studied her ramrod-straight back, looked automatically to Web, whose expression was just a little too grave to be real. Okay. So Mitch was making a fool out of himself. No news there.

“Well, if it’s no trouble.”

“No trouble,” Web replied.

“Okay. Fine. I mean, thanks.”

“Perfect!” Aunt Mamie gave the soap bottle a final squeeze. The bubbly raspberry it made seemed to Mitch to pretty much sum up the situation.

Chapter Three

“It was nice seeing Mamie again.” Mitch broke the silence of the last few miles as they entered Llano’s city limits.

Web assented.

That was the extent of their conversation since leaving the ranch.

Mitch tried to think of something neutral to talk about. The silences were starting to get to him. Not because he minded silence. In fact, one of the best things about being with Web was that they had never had to talk to understand each other. But that was back then. The silences between them now were not easy. In fact, they seemed to brim over with things unspoken.

In the old days Web had been the one to broach the difficult subjects.

Mitch gave up the whole idea of polite chitchat and gazed out at the shop windows decorated for Christmas. Green wire garland shaped like stars and bells stretched across the streets. All the time he’d been growing up, he’d had been focused on getting out, but in the years since he’d been touring with the American Ballet Theater, Mitch had discovered that small towns had their charms too. Llano was small—its population just over 3,500—and surprisingly pretty. Founded in 1855, conscious effort had gone into preserving the past, and a number of buildings from the 1800s had been restored or were in the process of being restored. It had a rustic, western charm, and there were still plenty of art galleries, wineries, antique shops, and gift boutiques for the tourists. Not quite like he remembered it. Not at all, in fact. Was that because Llano had changed so much or because his memories had not been accurate?

“City Yoga?” he commented as they drove past a renovated building.

“Yep. How ’bout that?” Web’s eyes were on the road. “Next thing you know we’ll have noodle shops and a Pottery Barn.”

Mitch snorted. “You’re going to turn into one of those old farts sitting in front of the general store and talking about the Civil War—or their high school football days—if you don’t watch it, Eisley.”

Web’s mouth twisted into something more grimace than grin. “You could be right at that.” His gaze slanted toward Mitch. “I guess there’s nothin’ wrong with noodle shops.”

Mitch’s mouth tugged into an answering smile. “Is the Dance Box still open?” he asked of the studio where he had trained as a kid.

“No. Miss Nesou passed away last year. The building’s for sale now.”

That was a shock. “She couldn’t have been that old.”

“Sixty something.”

Mitch was silent, absorbing it. He’d always meant to thank her, to let her know those extra private lessons had not gone in vain. Miss Nesou, with her passion for vegetarian cooking and writing postcards and cake doughnuts with black coffee. She’d driven a 1963 Cadillac Coupe Deville and had a pet lop-eared rabbit. The coolest person the teenaged Mitch had ever known.

Now an adult, he recognized she’d been a lot cooler than he’d ever realized.

How weird was it that he was getting all worked up over Miss Nesou and he’d never shed a tear over his own father’s passing? He said over the unexpected tightness in his throat, “She’d been a soloist with the New York City Ballet. What do you think she was doing in a town like this?”

“I guess she liked it here.” There was an edge to Web’s voice. Maybe he remembered some of those old arguments too.

“I wish she’d known…”

Web looked away from the road again. “Known what?”

“What she did for me. That I…made it.” All the way to principal dancer with the ABT. At one time that goal had been as far away as the stars. The only person other than himself who had believed it possible—or desirable—was Miss Nesou.

Web was disbelieving. “You think she didn’t know?”

“Did she?”

“Everybody in this damned town knows.” Web added grimly, “Everybody who gives a shit about that kind of thing.”

Which Web clearly did not and never had. Their bond had not been built on a mutual love of the arts. More like being the only two gay kids in all of Llano County. Or so they’d believed at the time.

They passed a brick store with a huge plastic Santa and flying reindeer suspended over the rooftop. Mitch remembered his crazy vision of the night before. Maybe he had been falling asleep. But man, it had seemed real for those few seconds.

“Do they still do the lighted Christmas parade?”

Web said, “Uh-huh. First week of December. Right now they’re doin’ the Starry, Starry Nights on the river. They’ve got a fifty-five-foot Christmas tree in the park this year and a thirty-foot snowman.”

“That’s nice.” Mitch stared out the window as the shop windows painted with Christmas trees and bells and stars flashed by in the bright winter sunlight. Did Web remember that final Christmas Eve when they had walked through the lighted Christmas Park with its thousands of twinkling lights and animated displays of cute animals in toukes? Did he remember the ugly argument that had followed? Did Web remember that it had been Christmas Eve twelve years ago that Mitch had lit out for parts unknown and never looked back?

“I guess it’s a change from New York City.” Web’s voice broke into Mitch’s bleak thoughts.

“Yeah. Although in a way New York is just a bunch of little villages all crammed into one big village.”

Mitch thought of his apartment and was suddenly intensely homesick. He didn’t belong here anymore. He never had.

“Do you like being a Texas Ranger?” he asked, talking himself away from the loneliness.

“Yep. I sure do.” Web smiled. Well, that had been his dream as long as dancing had been Mitch’s.

“Are you—” Mitch stopped. It wasn’t his business for one thing.

“Am I?”

“Out?”

The easy good humor faded from Web’s face. “I’m as out as I need to be. But I don’t guess I fit your criteria for bein’ out.”

Just like that, the old resentment and hostility was back. “How do you know what my criterion is? You don’t know anything about me.”

“I don’t think you’ve changed that much.”

What the hell did that mean? “I doubt if you’ve changed that much either.”

“Folks don’t tend to,” Web agreed maddeningly.

Mitch simmered over that for a time. “I just wondered if being gay made your job harder. That’s all.”

“It doesn’t make it any easier, but then again I don’t sashay around in tights and eye makeup.” Web pulled neatly up in front of the rental car office.

“Whatever,” Mitch muttered, unsnapping his seat belt.

Web sounded brisk. “What are you gettin’ riled up about now, Mitch?”

“Gee, I don’t know, Davy Crockett.” Mitch opened the car door. “Thanks for the ride.”

The hand that landed on his shoulder startled him. Even more startling was the way that casual touch shot down through every nerve in his body and centered in his groin.

“That wasn’t aimed at you.”

“Yeah, right.”

Web drew a breath. He said in painstaking tones, “I said that about tights and eye makeup because of what Mamie was talkin’ about at breakfast.”

“I know why you said it.”

Web’s blue gaze held Mitch’s. “I’ve never known a touchier bastard than you. You’re worse-tempered than a stripper in a cactus patch. What I’m tryin’ to say is, it’s okay for your job. It wouldn’t be okay for mine.”

“Maybe that’s part of what you’re saying, but I don’t think that’s all of it. It doesn’t matter because I stopped caring what you think a long time ago.”

“Then I guess I won’t waste any more breath apologizin’.”

“Fine by me.”

“Okay. Glad we got that settled. See you tonight?” Web’s blue eyes smiled teasingly into Mitch’s, and to Mitch’s exasperation, his bad temper faded beneath that double dose of deliberate charm.

Well, that was how it had always been between them. Mitch, moody and oversensitive, taking offense at some dumb thing, and Web, easygoing and low-key, joking him right out of it.

Until the last time.

There hadn’t been anything funny that night.

He nodded and jumped lightly to the blacktop parking lot.

“Tell Gidget I said hello,” Web said.

Mitch nodded and slammed the SUV door. Web raised his hand in farewell and Mitch automatically returned the gesture, watching as Web reversed the SUV and drove away.

Christmas music was playing inside the car rental office. Barbara Mandrell’s Christmas at Our House. Mitch’s mother had owned that record and Mitch had played it every Christmas growing up. It gave him a jolt of nostalgia to hear the starting notes of “It Must Have Been the Mistletoe” as the door buzzer announced his arrival.

A young woman with soft brown eyes and brown hair in a dancer’s topknot stood behind the counter. Her eyes widened at the sight of Mitch.

“Why, Mitch Evans! Is that really you?” Before he had time to confirm or deny, she was out from behind the counter and hugging him. “It is you. I heard you were back. It’s me. Gidget!”

“Wow. You look great, Gidget.” She did, although it was startling how little she’d changed. Still the tiny dancer. He’d have known her anywhere, despite the intervening twelve years. Together they’d been Miss Nesou’s most promising students, her “dream team.” Partnered in all the studio exhibitions and shows, it was inevitable that they’d get to know each other pretty well. Not totally well, though. Nobody but Web had completely known Mitch back then. In fact, in those days Gidget had had a crush on Mitch, which he’d taken pains not to encourage. He was happy to see she wore a wedding ring on her finger now, happy she’d found someone to love and appreciate her.

“Are you still dancing?” The inevitable question.

She shook her head regretfully. “No. You know how it is. Real life comes along.” She laughed. “Or I guess you don’t. You really did it! Miss Nesou was so proud of you. Mitchell Evans, principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater. She had framed pictures of you posted all over the studio from when you were a boy to when you danced Puck that first time as a soloist.”

“I was sorry to hear—I didn’t know.”

“It was fast,” Gidget said by way of comfort. “One day she was here and then the next she was gone. I guess that’s the way she’d have wanted it.”

“I guess so.”

“We were all real sorry to hear about your daddy. I guess we thought you’d be back for the funeral.”

“I couldn’t get away. We were on tour and scheduling is tight.”

“Oh sure. We all know you’re a big star now.”

She wasn’t being sarcastic. She meant it.

“It’s not like that,” Mitch found himself explaining. “The competition is fierce. You can’t ever let your guard down. There’s always someone younger, faster, stronger, newer coming up behind you.”

“But they’re not you.”

“No.” He didn’t know how to answer that. “They could be better than me. They could be the next Baryshnikov.”

Gidget wrinkled her nose, laughing at him. “Mitch, you talk so la dee dah now. What happened?”

“I do not!” For an instant he was sixteen again and bickering with her over the fact she always leaned forward on her shoulder lifts. But it was true that he’d consciously worked to eradicate the twang from his vowels, to erase any hint of his Texan heritage. Cowboys and ballet just didn’t fit in most people’s minds.

“Not when you get angry, anyway.” She was teasing him now, and he remembered that about her too.

He shook his head. “So how’ve you been?” It had been so long since he’d made conversation with someone who wasn’t in the dance world that he had to stop and think about the things that were a priority for the rest of the world. “You’re married? You have kids?”

She looked slightly put out. “Didn’t that low-down sidewinder Web Eisley tell you?”

“Tell me what?” For one alarmed moment Mitch thought she was going to tell him something like she was married to Web. “I married Erik Engstrom. Web’s partner.”

“Web’s…partner?”

“In the Rangers.” She smiled. “I guess you don’t remember Erik. He was a few years ahead of us in school.”

Mitch relaxed. “I remember. He used to play football, right?”

“Right.”

“Congratulations, Mrs. Engstrom.”

She smiled, a little smug, a lot contented. “Hey, if you’re stayin’ for the holidays we have a Christmas Eve party every year. Erik makes his world-famous tamales and I make my world-famous margaritas and we get Santa Claus to come out to the house and hand out presents to the kiddies. I guess it’s not the kind of thing you’re used to now, but it’s a lot of fun.”

The idea that Mitch had turned into some kind of sophisticate with champagne tastes was almost comical. He said apologetically, “Thanks. I’m not sure I’m staying.”

He was touched that she’d asked, but wild horses wouldn’t drag him to something like that. He hated parties. He always had. Not only was he lousy at small talk, he didn’t drink and he couldn’t dance. Not the kind of dancing they did at the parties he’d been to in high school.

“If you change your mind, Web will give you the details.”

“Web?” Mitch repeated warily.

“Sure, Web.” She was smiling at him. “Your best friend.” She punched him lightly on his shoulder.

What did that mean? Mitch wasn’t sure if she was making fun of his former relationship with Web or if she was serious. He couldn’t imagine Web out, let alone discussing his relationships with anyone.

But if Web was out, presumably people knew he had some kind of personal life.

Come to think of it, for all Mitch knew Web could be in a committed relationship. The idea didn’t fill him with any pleasure.

It was a relief when they finally got the rental paperwork complete and he was able to drive away with admonishments not to be a stranger ringing in his ears.

Leaving the car rental place, Mitch headed for the market. Maybe liking to grocery shop wasn’t stereotypical masculine behavior, but Mitch found it relaxing. Besides, excellent nutrition was one of the major components of a successful dancing career, so grocery shopping was part of his job description. Of course he would not be staying long enough to eat most of this stuff, but he had a very high metabolism and was always hungry. He didn’t have hobbies like ordinary people, so having a choice of lots of good things to eat was one of his main pleasures in life.

Food and sex. But he really didn’t want to think about sex right now.

Naturally, having decided he wasn’t going to think about sex, he couldn’t get it out of his mind as he scanned labels and studied produce like it was auditioning for a part in his kitchen. It wasn’t sex with Innis he was thinking about either, even though it was their public breakup that had sent him fleeing across the country.

Mitch brooded over it as he chose brown rice, lentils, a loaf of coarse dark bread and yellow and leafy green vegetables. From the minute he’d recognized Web, something had changed inside him. All those safely submerged memories were bubbling up to the surface and Mitch now had to negotiate his way through the icebergs of his feelings.

He shook his head at himself. Focus. Protein was a must so he picked up eggs, chocolate milk, fresh salmon and a whole chicken. Generally he tried to avoid red meat, but this was Texas and he was sort of on vacation. Well, not vacation exactly but what the hell. He picked up a couple of steaks. One would have been plenty, of course, but…

I’m as out as I need to be. I don’t guess I fit your criteria for bein’ out.

So did that mean Web was out or not?

If Web was out, he had to be with someone. There was no way he wouldn’t be snapped up. He was handsome, healthy, gainfully employed in a job a lot of guys would find glamorous, and he had Aunt Mamie and her pecan pies. Of course he’d be snapped up.

Either way, Mitch would have his answer that evening, so he might as well stop speculating.

He resisted the temptation of ice cream despite the fact that he dearly loved ice cream, especially the stuff with chunks of chocolate and nuts. But all that sugar and fat was a waste of calories. Plus he’d missed dance class yesterday and would probably not have time for a real workout today. The rule was miss class for one day, you notice; miss class for two days, your peers notice; miss class for three days, your audience notices.

As an afterthought he picked up a bottle of champagne. He didn’t know anything about champagne so he just selected the most expensive bottle on the shelf and hoped for the best.

“Aren’t you Mitch Evans?” asked the woman who rang up his basketful of groceries. She was about sixty with false eyelashes and teased black hair. He wondered if she’d settled on that look forty years ago and simply never changed.

Mitch nodded curtly, braced for…he wasn’t sure what.

“I knew your daddy. He used to buy his groceries here. Every Sunday mornin’ on his way back from church. Regular as clockwork.”

“It was the same when I was growing up.”

“He was a tough old nut, but people around here thought a lot of your daddy.”

Was there implied criticism of himself? Mitch wasn’t sure. He settled for a nod and paying the total the cash register spat out. It was strange to find himself known only for being Mitch Evans, the prodigal son of Dane Evans, rather than Mitchell Evans, the ABT’s best-known male principal.

He asked for extra cardboard boxes and carried the boxes and his groceries out to his rental car, stowed them in the trunk and checked his cell phone. No messages. Was he expecting Innis to call?

Did he want Innis to call?

Mitch checked the time. Not quite eleven. It felt later in the day, but he’d got a virtuously early start to his day. He started the engine and headed back to the ranch, but on impulse on his way out of town decided to drive past where the Dance Box had been located. He found the avenue without trouble, trolling slowly down the street until he spotted the building.

He parked and got out. The building was small and square, painted white with crisp black and pink trim. The overhead sign read Dance Box in black script, and there was a small drawing of pink ballet slippers. The windows were dark. A For Sale sign taped in the center window featured a realtor’s radioactive-white smile.

The shop on the left was also for sale. On the right, a pet store had replaced the old Laundromat. Its windows were painted with a variety of animals in Santa hats or peeking out of stockings. Mitch returned his gaze to the studio’s unlit windows feeling—and what else had he expected?—melancholy.

And really, that was pretty much the perfect state of mind to tackle the afternoon’s job. He got back in the rental car and returned to the ranch, where he found that Mamie had not only washed the breakfast dishes, she’d tidied up the kitchen as well as making up the bed in his bedroom.

In New York it would have felt intrusive—Mitch wasn’t sure it didn’t feel intrusive in Llano—but at the same time he was touched by the intended kindness. Last night Web had tossed out that offhanded, “You’re family.” When it came to Mamie, Mitch felt like it might be true.

Since Mamie had robbed him of any more excuses, he headed down the hall to his father’s bedroom and began the laborious task of sorting through his belongings.

Laborious was probably the wrong word because Dane Evans had been neat and frugal. He didn’t have a lot of possessions and those that he did have were in good shape and in their proper place. It was simple to transfer clothes from the dresser drawers to the cardboard boxes Mitch had picked up at the market.

Come to think of it, this was a hell of lousy way to spend the holidays. What had he been thinking? The mild case of melancholy had downgraded to something more like depression, but was he mostly depressed because he and his father had nothing in common? Even Mitch wasn’t exactly sure.

He moved on to the closet with its sparse contents. This turned out to be a little more complicated than anticipated because of the large, square old-fashioned garment bags that turned out to contain dresses once belonging to his mother. But in the end, the result was the same. He carried the garment bags out to the front room along with the boxes filled with his father’s belongings.

The top shelf of the closet contained odds and ends. A pistol wrapped neatly in oilcloth and stowed in a hatbox, another hatbox containing a new Stetson. In the very back, so far back he nearly missed it, he found a neatly rolled leather belt.

For a time Mitch sat on the edge of the bed, absently running the long, slightly cracked leather through his hands. A good, stout leather belt. He could still feel the stinging weight of it on his backside.

The truth was, his father had been from a different generation. Maybe not in years but in mind-set. Corporal punishment wasn’t viewed as anything but normal discipline. Spare the rod and spoil the child. And the whippings had been coolly measured out so as to make sure Mitch remembered his lesson but received no lasting damage.

Only one time had his father forgotten himself, actually lost his temper and struck Mitch with the buckle side of the belt. That had been when Mitch had enrolled in ballet class after being expressly told there was no money for such foolishness.

That had been one of the common refrains of his childhood. No money for foolishness. Foolishness had encompassed everything from a pair of Doc Marten boots to concert tickets for NSYNC. When the request for ballet lessons had been turned down flat, Mitch had gotten a job at the feed store and paid his own tuition. He’d tried to hide the fact that he was taking lessons, but hadn’t managed it for long, and when his father had discovered the truth, out had come that fucking belt. It was the only time Mitch had tried to run from a beating; his father’s face had frightened him. The buckle had caught him on his tailbone and he’d gone down on his knees in more pain than he had believed possible. At least at that point in his life.

It must have scared his old man too, because he had picked Mitch up, checked him over carefully and apologized for striking him in anger. He had put the belt away and had never referred to ballet or Miss Nesou again, although he was surely aware that Mitch had continued to take lessons.

So Mitch had inadvertently won that battle. Afterward he had gone to Web. It was the only time he’d told Web about a whipping. He hadn’t cried—he never cried—but Web had held him anyway. Held him for a long, long time, and he’d sworn that if Mitch’s dad ever struck him again, Web would kill him.

Jesus, they had been young. Mitch smiled wryly, remembering. Web had been seventeen and Mitch had been thirteen. And the fact was, no beating Dane Evans delivered had hurt half as much as the first time Mitch had to dance on cracked calluses.

He sat there for a moment, trying to imagine what it had been like for his father, trying to see it from his standpoint. Trying to understand. And he did, a little.

Dane Evans had been the father of the Ugly Duckling. He’d wanted a strong, sensible son to grow up and take over the family ranch, and what he got was a highly strung boy who dreamed of being a ballet dancer. Of course he’d been disappointed. Of course he’d been frustrated—even before he’d learned that his son, his only child, was queer.

That had been the breaking point. The night Mitch told his father he was gay. The night all that frustration had boiled up into anger and disgust and come bubbling out.

Fresh from the bitter argument with Web, Mitch had confronted his father and broken the news he was gay. His father’s face had turned gray. He’d knocked Mitch to the floor with a single punch. And while Mitch was lying there, his head ringing, the room spinning, his father had told him to leave his house and never come back.

And that was exactly what Mitch had done. He’d taken the money he’d been saving for his college tuition and he’d bought a bus ticket and headed for New York. He’d never seen or spoken to his father again.

Nor had he felt any regret until this very moment. He still wasn’t sure what he felt was an emotion as coherent as regret. Or what it was he regretted. That they had not been different people? If he was going to start wishing for that, he might as well wish it for himself and Web too.

Chapter Four

The beard had to go. It was scraggly and slow-growing and didn’t really conceal Mitch’s distinctive, rather exotic bone structure. Anyway, it wasn’t like he was such a media star he had to worry about reporters tracking him down. It was unlikely his absence had even been noticed yet. And when it was, it wouldn’t exactly make the evening news. After a shower and due consideration, Mitch shaved it off. He felt instantly better. More like himself.

He needed a haircut too, but that would have to wait till he got back to New York.

He hadn’t planned on making social calls, and the extent of his dress wardrobe was a clean pair of jeans and a cashmere sweater. He couldn’t help knowing that he was going to look what the Eisleys would call “fruity” sitting in their living room in his white cashmere sweater and Doc Martens. He could always take his earring out. What bothered him was that the thought even crossed his mind.

He removed the champagne out of the fridge, double-checked he had his wallet and keys. His cell phone rang.

He checked the display screen. With the timing that made him such an excellent soloist, Innis’s photo flashed up.

It was not the greatest photo in the world. Innis liked it because it made him look handsome, but in Mitch’s opinion it also made him look a little sly. Or maybe hindsight really was twenty-twenty.

He let the phone ring. He had no idea what to say to Innis. He wasn’t even sure what he was feeling now that he was past the initial shock of betrayal. He’d been thinking his heart was broken, but having been reminded of what it felt like to really have your heart broken he was starting to wonder if it wasn’t more his pride and ego that had taken the worst hit. Oh, he’d cared for Innis. No question. He’d felt more for Innis than anyone since Web. In fact, for the first few years after breaking it off with Web, Mitch had wondered if he’d lost the ability to feel at all. But then Innis had come along and they’d had so much in common and the sex had been great and Mitch had realized how much he missed having someone to share both the good times and the bad times with.

And before long he and Innis were living together and a committed couple. At least that was how Mitch had seen it. Innis had clearly seen it differently. Maybe something more like roommates with benefits? Hard to say because Mitch hadn’t waited to hear Innis’s side of things—not once Innis had admitted to sleeping around with half the corps de ballet.

So that was that. Whatever he’d felt for Innis, he couldn’t see any way back from this.

All the same he felt guilty setting out for the Eisleys’ ranch. He felt nervous too, and that really was ridiculous. What exactly did he imagine was going to happen this evening? He wished he knew who all had been invited. He would be finding out one way or the other whether Web was in a relationship—and the fact that he even wondered about such a thing aggravated him.

It was little more than a ten-minute drive. In the old days Web and Mitch had ridden across the open prairie and cut the time down to five. Mitch hadn’t been on a horse since leaving home.

He parked in the tree-ringed front yard of the Eisleys’ nineteenth-century ranch house. Lights shone welcomingly from the downstairs windows. A white-muzzled piebald border collie that could have been the offspring of the Eisleys’ long-dead Betsy came to greet him, barking, tail wagging with nervous energy.

The door opened and Web stepped out on the porch. He whistled to the dog and came down the stairs to meet Mitch.

Web looked strikingly handsome in jeans and a black western vague–styled shirt. His fair hair was neatly slicked back as though he’d just stepped out of the shower and he was freshly shaved.

“Down, Belle,” he told the dog. And then to Mitch, “You made it.”

“Yeah.” Mitch handed over the bottle of champagne. His hands were damp, whether from nerves or the condensation on the bottle he wasn’t sure.

“No need to sound so giddy about it.”

Mitch gave a reluctant laugh and then froze when Web wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving him a quick, casual hug.

If Web noticed, he didn’t give any sign. His arm tightened briefly and he let Mitch go. “Come on in and say hi to the folks. They don’t bite.”

Mitch followed Web inside and the minute he stepped through the doorway he was hit by memories. Memories and the friendly mob that was the Eisleys. The next few minutes were a blur of hugs and hellos.

“Mitch Evans, you young rascal!” Mrs. Eisley wrapped him in warm, slender arms. Her face changed. “My goodness, your poor eye!”

Mitch put up a self-conscious hand to his still swollen eye. “I don’t even notice it.” That was the truth. Compared to some of the injuries Mitch had danced through, a black eye didn’t even rate.

Mamie, a dab of flour on her nose, hugged him next. She was actually Great-Aunt Mamie, and had lived with the Eisleys as long as Mitch had known them—which was all his life.

“What’s the other fella look like?” Mr. Eisley gave Mitch’s shoulder a little squeeze, reminding Mitch of Web’s own casually warm manner. “Welcome home, son.”

“You haven’t changed a bit,” Allie, Web’s kid sister, told him. “I think you had a black eye the last time I saw you.” Allie was pretty and kind and funny and there had been a time in Mitch’s life when he had wondered why he couldn’t just fall in love with her and live happily ever after as a real part of the Eisley family.

They were a good-looking bunch. In fact, they could have modeled for a Levi’s commercial or Eagle Jeans. Mrs. Eisley was tall and blonde. Mr. Eisley was tall and blond. The Eisley kids were tall and blond. Even Aunt Mamie had once been tall and blonde. It kept things nice and simple.

Mitch was swept along on the golden tide of Eisleys to the big front room with its roughly hewn stone fireplace and comfortable furniture upholstered in leather and Indian blanket patterns. It looked a lot like it had twelve years ago although the current generation of furnishings looked newer.

Fresh pine garland wrapped around the open beams and staircase and filled the room with its spicy scent. A large pine tree filled one corner of the room just as it had every year when Mitch was a boy. He even recognized a lot of the handmade decorations. A landslide of gaily wrapped parcels covered the floor around the tree. Mitch had always envied that wealth of red and green and gold presents. Not because of the presents themselves—most of them were small tokens, things like jam or cookies or candles—but because of the friendships and relationships each small gift represented.

The Evans family didn’t exchange little tokens of friendship and liking with everyone from the mailman to the neighbors. There had been presents on Christmas morning, but they were always things that were needed for school or work. Now an adult, Mitch understood how little money there had been for extras, but as a kid it had been disappointing. He’d envied Web his family making such a big production out of the holidays. All the holidays, come to think of it.

“We were all so sorry about your daddy.” Mrs. Eisley pressed Mitch into a low, comfortable chair by the fireplace. “Folks around here had a lot of respect for him.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” The ma’am slipped out automatically. Mitch falling into old habits all too easily.

“What’ll you have to drink, Mitch?” Web asked.

“Anything diet.”

“How are things at the ranch, son?” Mr. Eisley inquired.

“Fine. Good,” Mitch answered, guiltily aware he hadn’t checked anything out on the ranch. The barn could be falling down for all he knew or the well pump could have exploded. There was no livestock now, so it wasn’t like feeding the chickens or watering the horses was an issue, but still.

Web appeared with a glass of diet soda at the same moment Allie pushed a glass of champagne into Mitch’s hand. Mitch tried to hand it back, but Allie resisted and he had to sip from the glass to keep from spilling.

“There! See,” Allie said triumphantly. “It’s a party. You can’t drink diet soda.”

“Maybe Mitch likes diet soda,” Web told her.

“Of course he doesn’t like it. No one likes it.” Allie turned that blue gaze so similar to her brother’s Mitch’s way. “You’re not an alcoholic or anything, are you?”

Mitch shook his head.

“No, he’s a control freak. So let him have some control,” Web returned.

Mitch glared at him.

“I’m on your side.” Web was smiling at him, teasing. It aggravated Mitch but at the same time it diffused some of his ire. He wasn’t used to being kidded anymore. There wasn’t a lot of fooling around in professional dance.

Well, not that kind of fooling around.

“Sure you are,” he muttered.

“Sure I am,” Web said softly. Mitch looked up and Mitch’s gaze held his for just a fraction too long.

“Dinner’s gettin’ ice cold!” Mrs. Eisley poked her head into the living room to warn them as she did every meal—though in all the years he’d known her, Mitch had never seen her serve a meal that wasn’t piping hot and perfectly prepared.

They trooped into the dining room and Mitch found himself sitting next to Allie and across from Web. To his right was Allie’s fiancé, Gordon Ramon.

There didn’t seem to be any sign of a man in Web’s life. Mitch refused to examine the relief he felt at that.

“I guess you had a mighty close call last night,” Gordon said to Mitch. “That accident out on Highway 16 was you, right?”

Mitch nodded.

Gordon began to ask him about the accident, but Web interrupted. “You askin’ after his health or hopin’ for an exclusive, Gordie?” He was smiling, but he was also giving Gordon a particularly direct look. “Gordie’s the editor of the Llano County News,” he informed Mitch.

The contents of Mitch’s stomach seemed to curdle.

“Gordie, Mitch is family,” Allie warned him. “Don’t you go writin’ anything bad about him.”

“I was just bein’ polite!” Gordie’s olive face was all innocence.

Mr. Eisley passed Mitch the platter of jalapeño-and-beer brined pork chops while from the other side Mrs. Eisley delivered a glop of three-bean salad with dill dressing onto his empty plate. “Are you ready for Christmas?” she asked in the same tone she’d used when he was ten.

“I don’t really…” He looked at their expectant faces and didn’t complete the thought. It was probably sacrilege in this house to admit he usually didn’t even have the day off.

“Now you take another chop, Mitchell,” Aunt Mamie ordered. “There’s enough here to feed the Mexican Army. I’ve seen brandin’ irons fatter than you.”

“You do look a mite tuckered out, honey,” Mrs. Eisley observed. “I bet those theater people run you kids ragged. You have some of these nice scalloped potatoes.”

Mitch nearly had a foodgasm as he caught a whiff of bacon, blue cheese and chipotle as the large earthenware bowl was delivered into his keeping. He’d forgotten people ate like this. Lived like this.

“Is there any more champagne?” Allie inquired.

Web rose, returned with the champagne bottle and topped off Mitch’s glass before refilling his sister’s. He winked as he retook his seat across from Mitch.

Oh well. What the hell. Mitch took another sip. The bubbles tickled his nose and sparkled on his tongue. It wasn’t too bad.

“What’s it like living in New York?” Allie asked.

That was an easy enough question. Mitch was dreading when someone, probably Aunt Mamie, questioned him about whether he was married or whether there was a special girl in his life. Instead he talked about the spring tulips and daffodils in Central Park and the Frick museum and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at night for pizza at Grimaldi’s and listening to jazz at Terra Blues in Greenwich.

Allie sighed longingly and Gordon scowled.

“I’d like to visit Grant’s Tomb,” Mr. Eisley put in. “You ever been there, son?”

“No, sir.”

Allie burst out laughing. “Daddy’s a closeted Yankee!”

Closeted. Mitch felt his smile fading. He redirected his attention to his meal. The food was worthy of his full attention, and the conversation flowed around Mitch without him paying it more than the necessary minimum attention—meaning he mostly listened when Web’s deep voice spoke.

After a time, though, he couldn’t help but get the gist. “Is that true?” he asked Web. “Are the drug cartels fixin’ to target Texas Rangers?”

“They’ve made some threats.” Web made a face. “Those boys are all hat and no cattle.”

Mitch’s appetite vanished in a single gulp.

“Bring it on, amigos,” Mr. Eisley said. “That’s what I say.”

“There’s been enough said already,” Mrs. Eisley said severely.

“Yes, ma’am,” her husband replied. He winked at Mitch.

Mitch tried to respond normally, but the idea of Web targeted by drug dealers made him feel sick. Of course Texas Rangers didn’t spend their days handing out traffic tickets and helping old ladies across the sidewalk, but the idea that Web might die violently in the course of his duties was horrifying.

Web, watching Mitch, said, “There’s a lot more chance of me kickin’ off in a car crash than gettin’ bushwhacked by the Mexican mob. Or eatin’ this heart attack in a bowl of Mama’s. Same for all of us. Take you last night. It’s a damn—” his gaze slid to his mother, “—danged miracle you’re sittin’ at this table right now.”

Somehow it didn’t make Mitch feel any better.

The conversation moved into less controversial channels. The champagne bottle disappeared to be replaced by a bottle of Texas white. Mitch made halfhearted objections to having his glass refilled, but the champagne had unbent him considerably. He felt relaxed and mellow and a little sentimental. Plus it turned out he liked plain wine a lot more than champagne. Not that he was going to make a habit of this, but it was kind of a special occasion, wasn’t it?

“Gordon’s teachin’ us all about wine. He’s some kind of wine connoisseur,” Aunt Mamie said, and Mitch couldn’t tell from her tone whether that was a compliment to Gordon or not. And neither, he suspected, could Gordon.

He raised his gaze from his glass to find Web staring at him. Mitch felt his face warm at the directness of that look. What was going on in Web’s mind? Because in any other part of the country that look meant…

Mitch reached for his glass and took a long swallow.

That was the problem with this kind of thing. It was too easy to fall into old patterns. The evening should have felt like any dinner with old friends you no longer had much in common with. Not a homecoming. But the Eisleys were so warm and welcoming and Web was so much the old Web, and before long Mitch was going to start wondering whether he could be happy back in Llano.

“I guess you’ve been all over the world?” Allie asked enviously, interrupting his reflections.

“A few places.”

“Like where?”

“London, Tokyo, Leningrad, Paris.” Mitch shrugged. “It’s work, though. It’s not like going on a vacation. We rehearse seven hours a day and then we perform at night. I’ve been to a lot of places, but I haven’t seen a lot of the places I’ve been to.” He wasn’t that crazy about traveling, to be honest. It had been exciting at first, but it got tiring living out of a suitcase, always being on the move.

“I sure would like to see you dance,” Mrs. Eisley said. “Are you coming to Texas anytime again soon?”

“Not that I know of.” He was apologetic. Mrs. Eisley was so nice he hated to disappoint her in any way.

“Web’s seen you dance,” Allie put in.

Mitch nearly choked on his drink. A quick look at Web showed him preoccupied with chasing down every bean in his tree bean salad. His face was red. Or maybe that was the lighting.

“That’s right.” Aunt Mamie helped herself to more potatoes. “We couldn’t go. It was the Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball, but Web went. You were performin’ in Austin as I recall.”

“The Dream.” Mitch was fascinated by Web’s expression. Web was looking everywhere but at him.

“We’ve got two choices for dessert.” Mrs. Eisley interrupted his thoughts. “Aunt Mamie baked her world-famous pecan pie but Web remembered that you always liked ice cream best. So we’ve got strawberry ice cream with guajillo chile and lime.”

Dessert was served but Mitch had no idea if he ate pecan pie or homemade ice cream or one of the china plates. The conversation continued and more wine was drunk, but all he could think about was the fact that Web had come to Austin to see him dance—and he’d never known a thing about it.

Why?

Why had Web done that? And why hadn’t Web let Mitch know? It didn’t make any sense. Or was that the wine befuddling his thoughts? No, there wasn’t enough wine in the world to explain—or not explain—

Well, okay. Maybe he had had a little too much to drink.

Which didn’t change the fact that Web had come to see him in Austin.

And that meant something. It had to mean something. But what?

At last the evening was over and it was time for goodbyes, which was all Mitch had been thinking about for the last hour. That Web would walk him out to his car and Mitch could finally ask him why he had come to Austin.

“Are you walking me out?” he asked Web as Web held his jacket for him. They were standing in the hall, Mitch having said his goodbyes to everyone in the front room. Christmas carols were playing, the music camouflaging their conversation.

“I’m drivin’ you home.” Web watched Mitch try a couple of times to zip his jacket.

That meant something right there, didn’t it? Men did not casually help other men into their jackets in the regular world.

Mitch raised his face to Web. “You are?”

“I sure am.” Web was smiling, but he was serious.

Mitch’s initial pleasure faded. “I’m not drunk.”

“I don’t think you’re drunk, but you’re over the legal limit.”

“Three glasses of wine. I drank less than anyone tonight. Except maybe your mama. I sure as hell drank less than you.”

“True. But you’re not used to drinkin’, and you’ve already used up your allotment of Christmas miracles.”

Mitch made a sound of disgust, temporarily forgetting that he’d wanted a chance to be alone with Web anyway. Web opened the door and Mitch followed him out into the cold, moon-silvered night. Their breath frosted in the wood smoke–scented air, their boots crunched on the dry, frozen ground.

They climbed inside the white pickup truck parked behind the house, and Web turned on the heater.

“I’m glad you came to dinner.”

Mitch, fumbling with the seat belt, looked at him, but it was too dark to make out his expression by the light of the dashboard.

“Me too.”

That was all either of them said until they were on their way. Mitch watched the house growing smaller and smaller behind them until it vanished in the red dust of the taillights.

“I used to pray my daddy would go on a long trip and your family would adopt me.” He was ashamed of the words once they left his mouth.

Web changed gears. “I know.”

Sure he knew. He’d known Mitch too well not to know Mitch envied him a little. Well, okay, a lot. Mitch had longed for a family that seemed as warm and accepting as the Eisleys. Mrs. Eisley was as pretty and nurturing as the mom in a 1950s family drama, and Mr. Eisley was both easygoing and steady as a rock. He’d been a great one for laying his big paw on your shoulder and dispensing fatherly wisdom.

But it was still not the kind of thing you could—should—ever admit. “I know he—my father—did the best he could do.”

Web said nothing.

The tires ate up the road. In a matter of minutes Web would be dropping Mitch off and driving away. If he didn’t say something now, he might never get the chance again.

“Did you really come and see me dance in Austin?”

Web expelled a long breath as though he’d been holding it, waiting for the question. “Yep.”

“Why didn’t you…”

“Why didn’t I what?” Web’s voice was even. “Go backstage and say hello? I meant to. I went all the way to Austin with that very purpose in mind, but when I saw you on that stage somethin’ changed. I saw that you were right where you needed to be.”

The instinctive protest that surged through Mitch startled him. It was nearly a physical reaction. Like his body responding to a severe food allergy, rejecting the very idea. “You should have found me, you should have said hello. Something.”

His voice was too raw. Mitch reddened, glad for the darkness that concealed so much.

“I figured if you’d wanted to hear anythin’ I had to say you wouldn’t have left the way you did.” That wasn’t fair. Mitch started to protest, but Web added, “You were…beautiful. Like somethin’ magical. From a fairy tale. Or another world.”

“You should have come back and said hello. Said something.”

“Maybe,” Web conceded at last.

Not much of a concession. Mitch was remembering how he’d danced all those performances wondering if there was anyone from home in the audience, wondering—hoping—that someone might be waiting outside the stage doors. By then he wasn’t even hoping that someone would be Web. He was just longing for any little sign that he was missed, that someone cared he was gone. Had even noticed he was gone. But of course no one had been waiting.

He had grown up a lot on that tour.

The fact that Web had actually been there, but not let him know, almost hurt worse.

Everything might have been different…

And now?

And now they were back at the ranch, just as Mitch had feared, and there was still so much to say and no time to say it. Maybe no point in saying it.

Web swung the steering wheel in a neat half circle, parking right in front of the house. The porch light burned cheerfully but there was no welcome there. It was just a light fixture on a wooden structure.

The truck’s engine continued to rumble, the exhaust floating red in the glare of the taillights. Mitch couldn’t think of what to say. He knew he should get out now. Thank Web for the lift and get out. Neither moved or spoke.

At last, to his relief Web turned the engine off. They sat in silence gazing out the windshield at the stars across the night sky. Mitch racked his brains. There was probably something really obvious he should tell Web.

“Are you seeing anyone?”

Web said immediately, uncompromisingly, “I wouldn’t be here if I was.”

Mitch thought that over. “But there must have been men you got close to over the years?”

“Sure. Nobody I wanted to take home to meet my mama.”

Mitch thought that over. He wished he could read Web’s face in the darkness. “It’s true? Your family knows about you?”

Web’s head moved in assent.

“How did that go?”

“It wasn’t any big drama. After you lit out, I said, ‘Daddy, girls are all right but I don’t guess I’m ever going to get married.’ He said, ‘Son, that’s kinda the way your mama and I figured it. The way we see it, your little sister is goin’ to get married and divorced enough for both of you.’”

“The hell he did.” Mitch started to laugh. Web so perfectly captured the slow, exaggerated style of speech his father used when he was spinning one of his stories.

“Hand to the Bible.”

Mitch shook his head, still laughing. He gazed out at the dark shapes of the windmill and barn and smokehouse.

“I was seeing someone in New York.”

“I figured.”

“A couple of days ago I walked into my dressing room and he was…”

“What?”

Mitch could feel Web staring at him though it was unlikely Web could read his expression in the darkness any easier than he could read Web’s.

“He was with someone else.”

“The hell.”

“He was standing there, leaning against my dressing table getting a blow job from Na—with a guest artist.” For a moment Mitch could see it all again: Innis’s face contorted with bliss—and then alarm—his own mirrored, stricken expression, and Natalie Dies’s wide-eyed reflection, her pretty pink mouth still wrapped around Innis’s cock.

Web said after a pause, “If he was in your dressing room he must have wanted you to see it.”

“No.” Mitch shook his head. “Maybe. Soloists don’t have their own dressing room. I was supposed to be in rehearsal for the next six hours.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. Well, I’m probably not the easiest guy to live with.”

“Probably not.”

Mitch spluttered, “Thanks!”

Web said, “You were always higher strung than a phone pole in the Himalayas, Mitch. That’s the truth. I don’t guess you’ve got a lot mellower although it looks like you got everything you wanted.”

Mitch tried to read the black silhouette of Web’s profile. “What is it you think I wanted?”

“You wanted to be a famous ballet dancer and you wanted to get the hell out of Llano. And you wanted them both as fast as you could get them.”

Mitch looked away out the window at the moonlight buildings. The tightness in his throat made it hard to get the words out. “Those weren’t the only things I wanted.”

“I guess they were what you wanted most.”

Mitch shook his head, but Web either didn’t see him or didn’t believe him.

Web said finally, “So what is this about? Gettin’ even? Levelin’ the playin’ field?”

Mitch could have played dumb. So what is what about? That would have been the safe thing to do. The sane thing. He reached for Web’s hand, found it in the darkness. Web’s fingers laced through his as though they’d been holding hands all their lives. Maybe they had. They had been friends a lot longer than anything else.

“I don’t know what this is about,” Mitch admitted. “Except that I want to be with you tonight.”

He could feel Web thinking it over. “Okay,” Web said, and they both laughed.

They were still laughing as they reached for each other.

Chapter Five

The first kiss was tentative. The second kiss not so much.

They had kissed as boys, but back then the simple pleasure of mouths pressed together and shared breath had been fraught with their own insecurities about who and what they were. Kissing had somehow seemed more gay than the other things they did, and neither of them had been totally comfortable with it.

So it was a surprise to realize how familiar the taste of Web’s mouth was. Twelve years ought to make a difference, seeing that it was unlikely Web still lived on chili dogs, Dr Pepper and Goodart’s Peanut Patties. But Web still tasted sweet as Mitch parted his lips with a gentle tongue. He closed his eyes, savoring Web’s instant, generous response. Yes, they’d both learned a few things over the years. Web’s tongue touched his own. It really didn’t get a lot more personal than tongues twining in the dark, moist heat of two men’s mouths.

Mitch broke the kiss with reluctance and one final, teasing lick. The hardness under his caressing hand began to throb more urgently, and he was conscious only of wanting to make this good for Web. The best ever. Maybe he had been a moody, difficult kid, but he had loved Web with all his heart, and if he hadn’t taken the time to show it then…

He opened his eyes and froze. Past Web’s head he could see something big and dark looming outside the glass of the window on the driver’s side. He had a hurried glimpse of huge gleaming eyes, giant smoking nostrils, shining horns—

“Jeee-zus!” He fell back against his door.

Web turned to face the threat, throwing a protective arm across Mitch, blocking him from the danger—whatever danger it was. “What? What is it?”

“That thing…”

“What thing?” Web threw hasty looks back at Mitch, while still scanning the night for the impending attack.

“That…thing…” Mitch peered over Web’s shoulder. There was nothing filling the driver’s side window, nothing standing next to the car. Nothing in the yard besides their own truck. “Where did it go?”

“Where did what go?” Now Web’s full attention was on Mitch.

Mitch opened the truck door and slid out, evading Web’s restraining hand. Web jumped out after him as Mitch took a quick, disbelieving turn around the yard. He crossed to the truck and knelt to examine the ground outside the driver’s door.

No hoof prints. Not that he could see.

“I could have sworn—”

“What is it you think you saw?”

“I thought…I was sure…it doesn’t matter.” He looked up. “You won’t believe me.”

“Why won’t I believe you?” Web’s face was illuminated by the moonlight. His brows were drawn together in a frown. Meeting Mitch’s gaze, realization slowly dawned. His mouth quivered. “No. Don’t tell me.”

“It was just the shadows,” Mitch said shortly, rising. “Just the way the shadows fall from the porch.”

Web nodded gravely. “Sure.”

“I didn’t say it,” Mitch warned him. “So you better not say it.”

“I won’t say it,” Web assured him. “But maybe I better check with the nearest farm and make sure no one’s missin’ a reindeer.”

He was still laughing as he followed Mitch inside the house. Mitch ignored him, turning on the lamps. He gave Web a couple of menacing looks but that just started Web laughing again. Mitch shook his head. He’d be laughing too if their positions were reversed, and it was nice to have company even if Web was starting to push his luck. Mitch wasn’t that drunk, no matter what Web thought. Of course, he’d rather be drunk than having a mental breakdown, but he was pretty sure he was as sane as ever. Which might not be a big endorsement. No, his reindeer sighting had to be the result of the play of shadows in the moonlight.

Whatever it was, it was over and done and he would just as soon forget about it. Mitch leaned against the wood-paneled wall, studying Web.

Web leaned against the sofa back, studying Mitch right back. He was smiling but there was no meanness in the smile. He looked like he thought Mitch seeing reindeers was sort of endearing.

Mitch relaxed a little. “Did you want another drink?”

That, surprisingly, sobered Web. He shook his head.

“Good. I was thinking of poisoning it.” Mitch crossed the distance between them. It took a fair bit of determination—it had been easier in the dark—but Web opened his arms, and suddenly everything was right again.

“Same ol’ sweet-tempered sidewinder.” Web smiled as he angled his face for Mitch’s kiss.

Yes, everything was right again.

He took his time savoring the taste and scent and feel of Web’s mouth moving on his. It seemed to melt his heart right in his chest, melt it all away and send the bittersweet distillation flowing through his veins in emotional adrenaline. To be with Web again. Even if just for this one night. How many times had he dreamed of it? Dreamed of it and been angry and impatient with himself for such weakness.

He caught Web’s hand and drew him down the hallway to his bedroom. There was only a single bed in there but no way would he ever be able to sleep in his father’s bed.

They stripped in the darkness with only the light from the hall to guide their movements, then lay down on the flannel sheets, holding each other not quite tentatively, but gently.

“I don’t have anything with me.” Mitch was thinking aloud. “I wasn’t planning on anything like this.”

“I’ve got it taken care of.”

Mitch raised his head. “You do?”

He felt rather than saw Web nod.

“You thought this was going to happen?”

“I didn’t know,” Web replied. “I sure wasn’t goin’ to take a chance on not being prepared if it did.”

Mitch squinted into the darkness, trying to see the small bottle Web held. “What the hell’s that? Hoppes Number Nine?”

Web chuckled. There was a whisper of plastic breath and the shine of liquid on his fingers.

“You always carry that?”

“Nuh-uh. No, sir. I picked up this here bottle in your honor.”

“I don’t know if my honor is—” Mitch caught his breath as Web leaned back so he could use the light from the hall to see what he was doing. His fingers slipped into the delicate crevice between Mitch’s flesh. His fingers worked, smoothing the silky liquid into the tensed muscles. He took his time.

“How’s that? That still your sweet spot?”

Mitch tried to swallow the revealing sounds threatening to spill out.

“Warmer?” Web teased with voice and hands.

Mitch nodded.

“Hmm?”

Mitch panted, “Y’all are gettin’ boiling hot. Hotter.”

“Y’all are too.” Web nuzzled him. “You’re starting to sound like a regular Texan again. Did you hear what you said at supper?”

“When?” What were they talking about? Why were they talking?

Web mimicked softly, “Are the drug cartels fixin’ to target Texas Rangers?”

Now there was a way to kill the mood. “Don’t talk about that.”

Web responded to the sharpness in his tone. “Sorry. Shhh. I’m just foolin’ with you.” He went back to stroking Mitch with oiled and expert fingers, petting and pampering until Mitch was writhing in the bedclothes, desperate for it.

He gasped, “Not that I want this to stop—ever—but I’m not exactly a virgin, you know.”

“I know.” And Web did, of course. He’d been the one who’d been there and done that.

“Let’s try this…” Mitch shifted onto his right hip, no easy move given their cramped quarters, and Web wriggled around—it was hard to tell given Mitch’s own position. The bedsprings squeaked noisily. Web’s warm hands closed on Mitch’s hips, guiding him back and up a little, and then Mitch felt the pressure against his entrance. He bit his lip. Web was a sight bigger than Innis.

But Web took his time, brushing the head of his cock back and forth against Mitch’s entrance. The friction, the tease of pressure, felt very good, and Mitch’s sphincter muscle began a funny fluttering in time to his pounding heart.

He was half resting in Web’s lap and the softness of hair and warmth of skin was a pleasing contrast to the hard muscle probing him, seeking access. Just for an instant he rested his head against Web’s shoulder. Sometimes that was the thing he most wanted, just to be held in strong, kind arms. Web kissed his temple, continuing that slight rocking movement. His big hand rested on Mitch’s groin and he fondled him, cradling the fragile sack of his balls.

Mitch moaned, arching pleasurably. Web kissed his shoulders, blew gently at the curls on Mitch’s nape and nuzzled the thin skin behind Mitch’s ear.

“I always did like the way you move.” Web fingered the fold of skin where it joined Mitch’s body, massaging the sensitive area behind the sack, circling upward to his anus and back down to the testicles. “You like that?”

“Ask a damn fool question,” Mitch gasped. “Don’t stop. Please, God, don’t stop.”

“I ain’t gonna stop.” Web teased up to the ring of muscle and down again. “You like this too?”

Mitch moaned again, lifting his left leg to give Web better access. The world had narrowed down to this, the sensation of touch, of Web’s hands on his body.

Innis usually talked dirty at this point, and sometimes Mitch had to struggle not to laugh. Ooh, baby, what you do when you stick it into meeee. Mitch had found it embarrassing at first, though he’d grown used to it. But Web just talked to him in that quiet, gentle way, told Mitch how beautiful he was, how good it felt to hold him and touch him, and he promised Mitch he could let go and fly and Web would catch him, would always catch him.

The same things Web had always said—and about as meaningful—but they still worked their magic as they’d always done. Probably because Mitch wanted to believe they were true. Even if just for these five seconds.

Web scooted down the bed, resting his head on Mitch’s right thigh. He nudged Mitch’s legs more widely apart and substituted his tongue for his fingers. Mitch cried out at the sensation of hot wet muscle licking from balls to ass. “Web.”

He felt as though he were shattering inside, as though everything tight and resistant was cracking into miraculous patterns like frost etched across a window, all the ice falling away.

Web probed the area, sucked at the join of sack and body and bit softly into the taut rise of buttock.

Mitch whimpered. “What are you doing to me?”

“Nothin’ yet. You just hold on.”

Mitch shuddered wildly. “Hurry. Don’t make me wait.” He’d been waiting too long as it was. Years, if he was honest.

But Web wouldn’t be rushed. He continued his leisurely, delightful torment while Mitch panted and pleaded for more.

“Sometimes the journey’s half the fun,” he whispered, finding Mitch’s mouth again.

“I’m earning frequent flyer miles here…”

Web’s laugh was husky. His cock pushed against Mitch’s hole, pushed hard and then shoved in.

Every muscle in Mitch’s body contracted. Web was whispering in his ear, stroking him, reassuring him. He didn’t need the reassurance really, it was just the surprise of it, his body relearning to accommodate Web, who felt so strange and so familiar at the same time. Web stayed still, giving him time.

“You’re gorgeous, you know that?” Web’s breath was warm against Mitch’s ear. “Special. Like nobody else.”

Mitch shoved back. “Go on then.” They began to move in their own pas de deux, accompanied by the rustle of sheets, the pound of the headboard, the ping of the bedsprings.

Sometimes, with Innis at least, it could turn competitive. Who got to be on top, who could thrust harder, go longer…sometimes it didn’t feel as much like making love as winning at sports. It had never been like that with Web, and it wasn’t like that now. Web was generous. Generous on a grand scale, generous like Texas was big. With every stroke, long or short, he aimed to please—and his aim was true.

It felt so good…was that just superior technique or something more? The wonderful sensations peaked, and oh, the power and the glory of it…he was coming at last, every bone, muscle, nerve—every cell in his body—reborn in the blessing of beautiful release. Mitch cried out, smothering the sound against his forearm.

Web held him tighter still, cradling him close, his own breathing fast and shallow. Mitch reached up awkwardly, trying for a kiss, and managing an awkward graze of mouths. He ground his hips and Web stiffened and began to come.

Mitch smiled faintly at the uninhibited shout Web gave, arms and thighs locked around him as his seed spurted out hot and sticky.

All the nights he had gone to sleep in this cold house in this hard bed, comforting himself by imagining Web was with him. He’d never have realized under what circumstances the dream would finally come true.

“Okay?” Web’s voice was gruff as they continued to hold each other, their bodies echoing the tiny shivers and gasps.

Mitch nodded.

“You want me to go?” Web asked a while later.

Mitch turned his head on the pillow. “No.”

After a time, he knew that Web slept. Mitch closed his eyes.

Mitch gasped and sat up.

First light picked out his suitcase, the faded squares where the posters of Baryshnikov had hung before his father ripped them down, the framed portrait of his mother on the dresser. The rest of the room was shrouded in soft gloom.

“Whoa. Easy. Easy.” Web stroked his arm, gently tugging Mitch back under the blankets. “Did y’all forget where you were?”

Mitch threw him a quick look. Web sounded wide awake. He looked wide awake. He reached a friendly arm around Mitch’s shoulders, pulling him to the pillow of his broad shoulder.

Mitch shook his head, closing his eyes. He’d been sleeping so well up to that point. Maybe he could lower himself into that slipstream once more…

The hammering of his heart slowed to its natural efficient rhythm. He could feel it pounding in counterbeat to the calm thump of Web’s as he settled his head on Web’s chest. Web’s golden chest hair tickled his nose, and he itched his face against Mitch.

“What did you dream?” Web dropped a casual kiss on Mitch’s hair.

Mitch thought back and started to laugh.

“What?” Web asked, smiling.

“I dreamed a reindeer was standing on my feet.” In fact, he could still feel the weight of it on his legs, but he now knew that heft was the heavy old quilt across the foot of the bed.

Web’s chest jumped as he as he started to laugh. “What the hell is it with you and reindeer?”

“I don’t know.” Mitch was still chuckling, keeping his eyes closed, still hoping he could fall asleep because he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this warm and relaxed. For the first time in years, he really did feel like he was home.

Web continued to stroke him in that lazy, soothing way. How long had he been awake? A while, for sure.

“You sleep okay?” Mitch mumbled.

“I slept great.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Mitch drowsed awhile, but he began to wonder how long before Web had to leave, and once the idea came to him, sleep fled.

Web said softly, almost inaudibly, “If you want I’ll take you out to see your daddy’s grave.”

Mitch opened his eyes, but he didn’t see the old, worn wooden furniture of the bedroom.

“No?”

“I don’t know.”

Web smoothed the hair back from his forehead. It felt good to be touched like that, petted. To be appreciated with nothing asked in return. Nothing he wouldn’t be willing to give in a heartbeat if it was asked.

Getting someone to ask. That was the hard part.

“Mitch?”

“Hm?”

“What happened that night?”

Unexpectedly, the old hurt and bitterness came flooding back. Mitch closed his eyes. “You were there. I wanted to come out. I wanted everybody to know we were together. I wanted us to start planning a life together.” He expelled a long breath. “You said no.”

Silence.

Web’s voice was very low. “What happened when you got home that night?”

Mitch closed his eyes again. “I told my father I was gay. He…told me to get out. I did. Turned out you were right all along.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?”

Why didn’t you come to me in Austin? “I guess you don’t remember the things you said.”

“I remember. I never said I didn’t love you. I never said I didn’t want us to be together. How could you just leave like that? Without a word?”

Mitch sat up, pulling away from Web. He impatiently combed the tangle of hair out of his eyes. “You said it would be a mistake. You said it would ruin everything. That we’d destroy both our futures. You said people would hate us. That we’d be lucky if we didn’t get run out of town.”

“I was afraid,” Web admitted. “But I—”

“And it turned out you had good reason to be. You were right, Web. For you. It worked out okay in the end. You got everything you wanted. I got everything I wanted.”

“Did you?”

“Sure. Of course.” Mitch sprang off the mattress and headed for the bathroom and the shower. “I smell like a horse. Are you stayin’ for breakfast?”

The mattress squeaked loudly. Web got to the doorway first, blocking it. His hands closed on Mitch’s shoulders. “You always were too goddamned hotheaded for your own good, Mitch. You were wrong to run away all those years ago. I was comin’ around to your view of things. You didn’t give me a chance to tell you.”

Mitch stared up into Web’s face. Twelve years was a long time. A lot of things had changed. Twelve years ago Web couldn’t have belonged to the Texas Rangers and been out in any way, shape or form. Web had forgotten how adamant he’d been that they keep their secret, but the fact that he sincerely believed he’d have stood by Mitch did, in a funny way, go a ways toward healing that old hurt.

After all, Web had only been twenty-two. Not so very old, though he had seemed the epitome of confident, tough maturity to eighteen-year-old Mitch.

So Mitch smiled. “I guess we’re both older and wiser now.” He raised his face for Web’s kiss.

After Mitch’s shower he wandered into the kitchen to find Web had made breakfast. Arroz con leche. Sweetened condensed milk, rice, and raisins. It was usually served for dessert, but Mitch had always loved it for breakfast and it touched him that Web remembered.

But then, why not? Mitch remembered what Web used to like for breakfast. Ham steak and fried eggs and buttermilk biscuits with gravy, though hopefully he wasn’t clogging his adult arteries up with that on a regular basis.

“I’ll be lucky if I can walk, let alone perform a grand jete by the time I go back to New York.” Mitch spooned in a mouthful and closed his eyes at the sweet mix of cinnamon and sugar.

Web spoke over his coffee cup. “You probably don’t weigh one-seventy soppin’ wet.”

“I weigh a lot more than you think. And I’m very strong.” You had to be very strong to leap nearly six feet off the ground or rehearse for six or seven hours a day.

“When are you flying back?” Web’s smile was crooked. “For real?”

“I haven’t bought my return ticket yet,” he admitted.

“No?” The instant pleasure on Web’s face was almost painful to see.

Mitch didn’t want to think about that, but it was hard to think of anything else. Through the window overlooking the back garden he watched tumbleweeds rolling past the water trough. The landscape looked as dry and barren as the moon. And just about that different from New York City.

“It…wasn’t just the thing with Innis,” he tried to explain.

Web kept that steady, blue gaze fastened on his face. “No?”

“I was up for a role—the kind of role that can make your career, can change your life. But I didn’t get it. I was…pretty disappointed. The thing happened with Innis the same afternoon, and I guess it was too much. I couldn’t figure out what to do. This was still hanging over me.” Mitch risked a look at Web. Unshaved, sleep-ruffled, Web still looked unfairly handsome on the other side of the breakfast table.

Web said, “You weren’t plannin’ on movin’ back to Texas. I know that.”

“I wasn’t planning anything. I just needed something to take my mind off everything else, and I sure as hell didn’t want to stay in town for the holidays. So I grabbed the first flight out.”

It probably sounded neurotic to someone as practical and well-grounded as Web, but to Mitch it had seemed like the right time for a complete break from everything and everyone he knew. It had been a risk taking flight like that, though. The ballet world was small and people would talk.

“So when are you headin’ back?”

“I have to be back for rehearsal January second.” Mitch said slowly, “I guess I could fly back New Year’s Day.”

Web smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah,” Web said softly.

Given the happy little spring his heart gave, it was probably a mistake to pursue this. Those eighteen hundred miles weren’t getting any shorter, but Mitch pushed the thought aside.

He kept it bundled safely in the wings while Web took his turn showering and dressing. After he washed the breakfast dishes, he sat at the table drinking the rest of his coffee and watching the clouds rolling across the blue sky until he heard Web’s boots moving down the hall.

“You got plans tonight?” Web asked. His damp hair gleamed pale gold against the brown of his skin.

Mitch rose. “It’s Christmas Eve. Do I?”

“I’ve got Erik’s get-together this afternoon. You’re welcome to come to that, by the way.”

Mitch shook his head. “I don’t think I’m feeling that sociable.”

“Then come by the folks’ tonight and we’ll make our plans from there.”

“What’d you have in mind?”

“I guess we’ll figure somethin’ out.” Web kissed him. It was probably meant to be a brief kiss, but they sort of got lost in it. Finally Web pulled away and looked at the clock over the fridge. “Holy hell, I’m late.”

Mitch followed him out to the front porch.

Web said suddenly, “Do you ever think about movin’ back here?”

“Here?”

“I guess not.” Web’s smile was twisted.

Mitch tried for lightness. “It’d be one hell of a commute.”

“There are ballet companies in Texas, right?”

“Sure. They’re not the ABT.”

“No. I guess not. But you can’t dance forever. It’s like playin’ professional football or tennis or any other sport.”

Mitch said irritably, “Ballet isn’t a sport. And I’ve still got a good twelve to fifteen years left, thanks.” In fact, he was in excellent shape, having managed so far to avoid any serious injuries or illnesses that had felled a number of his contemporaries.

Web gave him an unreadable look. “I guess what I’m sayin’ is, you ever think about the future?”

“You mean have I saved my pennies for a rainy day? Sure. What would I spend them on? I work all the time.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Web said. “I mean, have you thought about what you want to do with the rest of your life?”

“Do I have to decide before we can have dinner together?”

He really didn’t want to have this conversation. Not when so many things in his life were up in the air. He didn’t want to say the wrong thing to Web and kill this delicate new connection, but he didn’t want to plant false expectations either.

Assuming Web wasn’t just making idle conversation.

Web said, “You were askin’ what made someone like Miss Nesou stay in a little town like Llano. I can’t answer that, but what do you think it meant to her findin’ someone like you? To help someone like you?”

Mitch rubbed his forehead. “Web, I’ve thought about teaching and I’ve thought about opening my own studio and I’ve even thought about running my own dance company or opening a theater. But that’s all somewhere down the line. I’m at the peak of my dancing career. I love dancing.”

“Couldn’t you do both?”

“No. How could I?”

Web was silent. He stared out at the prairie. “It was just a thought.”

Mitch said cautiously, uncertainly, “Are you asking me to stay?”

Web turned to him. “Well? What if I was?”

“Are you?” Out of the corner of his eye Mitch noticed a cloud of white dust drifting over the brush. A car was coming down the road.

Seeing his expression, Web turned. They silently watched a silver rental car pull into the empty yard and park before the hitching post.

“Were you expectin’ company?” Web asked.

“No.” Mitch’s lips felt stiff. He had already recognized the blond hair and sharp features of Innis.

Innis got out of the car and waved his hand in greeting.

The first thing that struck Mitch was how much, from a distance, Innis looked like Web. He was several inches shorter, of course, and stockier—though in fairness it was all muscle. He wasn’t as handsome as Web, but there was something familiar in the shape of his face, and he had that same white-gold hair and those midnight-blue eyes.

“Mitchell, baby!”

“Baby,” drawled Web softly.

Mitch ignored him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Behold I bring you tidings of great news.”

“Ever hear of the phone?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing since you seem to have stopped answering yours.”

“I guess I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

He really did not want to have this conversation in front of Web. Though Web hadn’t said anything else after that single derisive comment, his disapproval was loud and clear. The funny thing was, Mitch had never liked being called “baby,” but Web’s derision put his back up. He shot Web a narrow-eyed look that Web met without any particular emotion.

“Don’t shoot the messenger till you hear what he has to say.” Innis reached the bottom of the stairs. He threw one quick, assessing look at Web and dismissed him as a human stage prop. “That’s quite a shiner,” he told Mitch. “Did you walk into a door?”

Mitch said wearily, “Why are you here, Innis?”

Innis was instantly serious. “Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal is performing Bourne’s Swan Lake this season. Frank Martineau was dancing the Swan but he’s sidelined with a torn hamstring and you’ve been invited to appear as a guest artist in the role.”

“Is that true?”

Innis nodded.

Web looked from Mitch to Innis. Mitch was conscious of the startling wish that Innis had driven into this yard four minutes later. Just four minutes and Mitch would have heard what Web had to say. And he would have answered. But now the moment was past because this was the role he had been waiting for, waiting years for. The role that could make him, establish him as a star once and for all. It had to be fate. He had just been discussing this with Web.

“Good news, I’m guessin’?” Web’s voice was dryer than the desert wind kicking up dust devils at the edge of the corral.

“The best,” Innis said cheerfully. “Right, Mitchell?”

“Good news,” agreed Mitch automatically.

Innis started in on the long drive and the terrible plane flight. “…and they call this a civilized country!”

Mitch turned to Web. “Web, about tonight—”

“Uh-huh.” Web was already walking away, going down the porch steps. He said without glancing back, “Give me a holler when you work out what it is you want, Mitch.”

Chapter Six

“Where’d you pick up Walker, Texas Ranger?” Innis remarked as the dust settled behind Web’s SUV. “The nearest cattle drive?”

“He’s an old friend.” Mitch was still struggling with anger and disbelief at Web for walking away when he had. Web had just taken it for granted that Mitch was canceling their evening. That Mitch was…what? Going back to Innis? Going back to New York? Making a beeline for Canada? He hadn’t given Mitch a chance to explain. He had barely let Mitch get a word out.

“He is at that. For a second I thought maybe he was your pa come back to life.” Innis, at twenty-nine, was age-obsessed. Well, they all were in Mitch’s world. And Innis was not the most tactful guy in the world.

“You’ll wish you looked as good as him when you hit thirty-four.”

“Meee-ow.” Innis kissed him. “Anyway, I didn’t just come to tell you about Les Grands Ballets. It’s Christmas. Of course I want to spend it with you.”

“You came a long way for nothing.” Mitch went into the house, letting the porch door swing back. Innis caught it, still cheerfully babbling all the while about what a great opportunity it was for Mitch as he followed him inside.

It was as though Innis had completely forgotten the circumstances that had sent Mitch flying across the country. Maybe he had. Maybe that’s how common his screwing around had been.

Mitch listened with half an ear. His mind was still on Web driving away. Had that been an ultimatum? Where the fuck did Web get off giving Mitch ultimatums? He was so riled with Web he was having trouble considering what this unexpected offer from Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal might mean. The most important offer of his life. Barring the one Web hadn’t bothered to make.

“This is cozy.” Innis trailed Mitch into the kitchen. He studied the dishes drying on the rack on the counter, the coffee still warming in the pot. “Cowboy slumber party, I take it?”

“Innis, I’m not in the mood for this.”

Innis was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry, baby. I guess I deserve whatever it is you’ve been up to.” He tried to wrap his arms around Mitch. “What have you been up to, by the way?”

Mitch shoved him back. “None of your business. Why are you here? It’s over. I told you it was over.”

“You can’t be serious.” Innis’s face was all wounded innocence. “We’re going to break up because I let one of the girls by the fountain give me a blow job?”

Where the hell did he start? Mitch spluttered, “First of all, she’s a guest performer, not someone from the back row of the corps de ballet. She’s Natalie Dies, for God’s sake.”

Innis’s gaze was curious. “Does that make a difference?”

“Not to me. It might to you. You can’t treat a performer like Natalie like she’s just another…another cog in the wheel.”

“Natalie and I are fine. You’re the one everyone is worried about. The rumor going around is you’ve had a breakdown.”

“I don’t care what the rumor is.” But a ripple of unease went through Mitch all the same.

“You better care. You know the theater.” Innis poured himself a cup of coffee. “Look, baby. I know you’re angry but it meant nothing. We’re together. The rest of it is just blowing off steam. Or, in the case of someone like Natalie, you could look at it as networking. Because that’s how I look at it.”

“Fucking as networking? That’s a new one for the business manuals.”

“Don’t think that’s not the way the world works.”

“Give it a rest, Innis. It wasn’t the first time. And it wouldn’t be the last time. We both know it.”

“Oh my God!” Innis snapped. “Don’t be so fucking puritanical. It’s sex. Pure and simple. It’s letting off a little steam. Call it R&R. Or have you suddenly forgotten how it works in our world?”

No. Mitch hadn’t forgotten that casual sex was pretty much the rule in their world. Friends with benefits described the majority of relationships for ambitious young professionals who put their dance careers above everything else, including their mental and physical health.

But that wasn’t how he had viewed his relationship with Innis. Although he felt foolish and unsophisticated admitting that now.

Innis said coaxingly, “If you’ve got a thing about it, I won’t do it anymore. Okay? Please? What we have together is too good to lose.”

Mitch continued to eye him bleakly. For years he’d taken it for granted that he loved Innis, yet within the space of a couple of days his old feelings for Web seemed to have reignited. Either he’d never stopped loving Web or he was as fickle as Innis. Either way, it didn’t change the fact that the offer from Les Grands Ballets was a game changer.

He felt another flare of anger at Web. Damn him for walking away like that. This wasn’t a decision Mitch could make on the spur of the moment. And if they were going to—well, that was the question, wasn’t it? Mitch had no idea what they were because Web had only hinted. He hadn’t come right out and said anything that would help Mitch make his decision now. He’d just thrown out that ultimatum and ridden off into the sunset. Sunrise. Whatever.

Turnabout is fair play. Was that it?

“I have to go get my car. Can you give me a lift?”

Innis blinked at the sudden change of topic. “Uh, sure. Where’s your car?”

“Just up the road. A couple of minutes away.”

“Okay. Let’s go get your car.”

Mitch fetched his keys, shrugged into his jacket and led the way outside.

Once in the rental car, he reserved his comments to giving Innis directions. Innis gave him occasional doubtful glances.

It wasn’t until they were pulling into the Eisley place that Innis ventured, “Okay, baby?”

Mitch nodded. “You can park right there next to my car.”

Innis parked. He turned to Mitch, who had one hand on the door handle. “I’m very sorry, Mitch. I apologize. I’ll never do it again. Are we okay now? Can we get back to business? Because we’ve got a lot of things to consider.”

Mitch, in the process of getting out of the car, paused. “Such as?”

Innis smiled. “I’ve got it on the best authority that if we go, there’s a guest artist role for me in one of the summer productions.”

“I see.” And he did. ABT was one of the hardest companies for male soloists to advance to principal dancers. The way things stood now, he’d have to wait for Mitch or someone else to retire or leave the company. Innis was talented and ambitious. Naturally he was going to look for other opportunities.

Innis was watching and reading him. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but if I get the role it’ll be on my own merits. This doesn’t have anything to do with your role as the Swan.”

“I know. You’re an excellent dancer. You deserve a break.” Mitch braced himself. He hated scenes and he especially dreaded the thought of a scene in the Eisleys’ front yard, but this needed to be faced. He still owed Innis honesty. “But whether I take the guest artist slot in Canada or not…it’s over.”

“Over?” Innis looked blank. “What’s over?”

“Us. We’re finished.”

“Finished.” Innis gave a disbelieving laugh. “That’s pretty dramatic. We can’t try and work through it?”

Mitch shook his head.

“But why?”

“Because…do you really have to ask?”

Innis’s sharp features twisted with scorn. “I get it. Why don’t you quit pretending that I broke your heart, Mitch? The only thing I hurt was your pride. Your pride and your ego. You don’t love me. You never loved me. You’re not capable of love. The only thing you care about, the only thing you’ve ever cared about, is dancing. Because that’s the only thing you can control, and you’re a total control freak.”

Mitch climbed the rest of the way out of the car, and leaned down. “You’re right. I’m a total control freak. But you’re wrong about dance being the only thing I can control. So turn this car around and start driving.”

Innis gaped at him. “Start driving? Where the hell do you think I’m going? It’s Christmas Eve!”

“I don’t care where you go. I guess maybe you’ll be spending the night in an airport lounge if you don’t want to spring for a hotel. It’s not my problem. I didn’t ask you to come here. I came here to get away from you.” Mitch slammed the door shut.

He walked across to his own car. Behind him, he could hear the angry rev of the rental car engine as Innis backed and then tore off down the dirt road toward the main highway.

The white truck Web had driven Mitch home in was parked beneath the trees, but the SUV with the Texas Ranger insignia was gone. If he’d subconsciously hoped for a chance to talk to Web, it was going to have to wait. In any case, Mitch wasn’t sure what he could say. The real issue between himself and Web was not Innis. It never had been.

Mitch got in his car and drove back to the ranch, the occasional jackrabbit fleeing from beneath his tires.

He spent the rest of the afternoon sorting through the paperwork in his father’s office. In the bottom drawer of the old-fashioned roll-up desk was a large yellow Whitman’s Sampler candy box that Mitch remembered from his childhood. As he recalled, it had contained a couple of photos of his mother and the newspaper clipping of her obituary.

He lifted the box out of the drawer. It was heavier than he remembered. He slipped the lid off and gazed down at his own face.

He was looking at a five-year-old New York Times review of his first performance as a principal dancer.

Mitchell Evans’s debut as Romeo on Saturday night at the Metropolitan Opera House opposite Christa Merill’s Juliet in Kenneth MacMillan’s choreography of Prokofiev’s most famous ballet score was carefully thought out and extremely well danced.

As a rising star of American Ballet Theater, Mr. Evans has recently and sensationally developed the bravura he already showed in his performances as a soloist. That he can modulate this power to suitable dramatic effect was obvious in his youthful Romeo. The no-man’s-land between passion and tenderness was delicately traversed in Mr. Evans’s intense and moving portrayal.

The box was stuffed with clippings. He sifted through them while his throat grew tighter and tighter. An earlier review read:

Soloist Evans is an astonishing virtuoso with the classical line and demeanor of the noble-prince type that ballet favors. Not emotionally communicative enough at this time to register as a partner, he seems isolated by his gifts. In performance he seems to be aloof, proud, courageous and poignant.

His hands were shaking when he slid the lid back on the box. What did it mean? Dane Evans had despised ballet. He had despised his son for wanting to dance. For years, Mitch had believed himself to be dead in his father’s eyes. Yet all the time…

When he had himself under control, he phoned the Eisley ranch and asked for Aunt Mamie.

“Now what’s all this hogwash Web’s givin’ us about you not bein’ sure you’re comin’ to Christmas dinner?” Mamie greeted him.

Mitch barely registered her words. “There’s a box of press clippings here. He never collected these himself.”

There was a little pause. “That’s right, honey.” Aunt Mamie sounded just like always, in fact, she sounded as though she’d been expecting his phone call. He didn’t even have to explain who “he” was. “Miss Nesou brought your daddy the first one. After that he asked me to keep an eye out for news stories about you.”

“Why?” His voice cracked on the protest.

“Why, I guess he wanted to know how you were gettin’ along.”

When he didn’t—couldn’t—continue, Aunt Mamie said, “Your daddy was a complicated man, honey, but he always loved you.”

Mitch pinched the bridge of his nose hard. “He had a funny way of showing it.”

“Maybe so. I guess he did the best he could. I guess we all do.”

“Why didn’t he ever—” Once again, Mitch had to stop.

Aunt Mamie said, “Words didn’t come any easier to him than they do to you, Mitch. You two were always alike in that way.”

Was that the truth? If so it was the only thing they’d had in common.

“It would have meant a lot to me to know.” He broke off. That was more than he was willing to admit to anyone, even Aunt Mamie, who apparently knew more of the story than Mitch himself.

“I know.” Aunt Mamie’s voice was warm and regretful. “It would have meant a lot to him too, but he never could find the words.”

Now the words would never be spoken on either side.

“Did he change his mind about my dancing?”

“No,” Aunt Mamie said gently. “He never was happy about that. He never did understand it or want that for you. But that didn’t change the fact that he loved you more than anything in this world. He hoped you’d see the light and come home one day, but mostly he just wanted to know you were well and happy. That’s why he kept those clippings.”

Mitch managed a gruff, “Thank you.”

“No thanks needed.” Aunt Mamie changed the subject briskly, “What’s all this about you not comin’ to Christmas dinner?”

Mitch said awkwardly, “I didn’t want to assume I was invited.”

“Since when do you need a formal invitation, Mitchell Evans?”

“I guess I wasn’t sure if everybody felt that way.” It was the closest he could get to bringing up the subject of Web.

“That’s plain silly. You’re family, honey. Of course you’re invited. We’ll see you tomorrow at three. And don’t you be late!”

When he’d said goodbye, Mitch walked outside for a breath of fresh air. The winter sunlight gilded the buildings and turned the rich golden-flax winter tones of buffalo grass white. A whit and black warbler swooped overhead and disappeared, twittering, beneath the eaves of the silvered barn.

Across the corrals he could see a deer grazing the stubby ground. Just an ordinary deer. He smiled faintly remembering the night before, but his smile faded at the memory of Web walking away that morning.

Mitch strode toward the tall, gray water tower. This time of year, the landscape was pretty barren, but in the spring and summer there would be an abundance of wildlife and flowers. Honeysuckle and purple salvia and cardinal flower would attract hummingbirds. Songbirds like the color-splashed painted buntings would arrive to feast on agarita, beautyberry or the black cherry trees that grew behind the house. It was pretty here in the spring. Hot as hell in the summer, but even then there was a raw, rugged beauty to the land.

Why had he hated it so much growing up?

Of course, he hadn’t always hated it. There was a time when he could have been happy here. If Web would have met him halfway.

It wasn’t all Web’s fault, though. If Mitch was honest, he hadn’t wanted halfway; he’d been insisting on everything, the whole enchilada. He’d been unhappy and desperate and he’d thrown out an ultimatum with his usual charm.

And Web had refused. Whatever he told himself now, Web had refused.

The older, wiser Mitch—the Mitch who had survived getting the shit knocked out of him by his father—recognized that Web had probably had a point or two.

Web’s refusal to give in to Mitch’s ultimatum had spurred Mitch into achieving his ambition of becoming a professional dancer—failure had no longer been an option.

And now?

Maybe Web wasn’t so far wrong. Mitch was about to be handed everything he’d worked and trained and sacrificed for. This was no time for second-guessing the decisions he’d made and it was sure as hell no time to trade off a bird in the hand for two in the Texas Hill Country bush.

If Web had asked him to stay…

But Web hadn’t. He’d just walked away and that had been that. Once again it was all on Mitch to take it or leave it.

And once again Mitch was going to leave it.

Decision made. That was a huge relief.

Or it would be a huge relief when that weird ache beneath his heart went away.

Chapter Seven

The Engstroms lived in a modern Spanish-style home surrounded by palm and citrus trees. The palm trees were wound in bright Christmas lights. The driveway was crowded with cars.

Mitch sat in his parked car staring at the giant nativity scene dominating the front yard and tried to figure out what he was doing there. He hated big parties full of strangers. He hated little parties full of strangers. He hated parties. He hated strangers.

But Web was going to be at this party, and it seemed to Mitch that it might be easier to speak to him in neutral surroundings than in the midst of his family. If things went well at the Engstroms, maybe they could go somewhere afterward and really talk, because for all Mitch kept telling himself that his mind was all made up, he couldn’t help thinking that he’d made that mistake once before.

He made himself get out of the car and walk up the long, wide cement walk.

It turned out not to be so bad after all. Gidget was surprised and delighted at Mitch’s appearance and insisted on pouring a double margarita and introducing him to everyone in sight. It was hard not to relax under the influence of so warm a welcome.

“I told you everyone in these parts loves the ballet.” Gidget ushered him out to the long buffet table laden with homemade tamales, chili-cheese quesadillas, armadillo eggs, fried jalapeños, Texas caviar made with black-eyed peas, and chicken enchilada puffs. There was a separate dessert table with cinnamon cookies, bizcocho, butterscotch pie, pan de polvo, bunuelos, Three Kings Bread, and maraschino cherries marinated in chocolate vodka.

“I don’t think most of these people give a damn about ballet, but I guess it’s true that Texans are the friendliest people in the world.”

“If you do say so yourself.”

Mitch laughed. His smile faded at the sight of Web out on the patio with a circle of other tall, rugged-looking men who, he guessed, were also Texas Rangers. The men drank beer and joked amongst themselves.

“I’m packing pounds on just looking at this table.” Gidget sighed.

Web hadn’t spotted Mitch. He was listening to a tall man with dark, curly hair who was, judging by the expression of the others, telling a long and familiar story. The other man finished, Web drawled something, and the ring of men burst out laughing.

Mitch smiled faintly. He didn’t need to hear the words to know that the wisecrack was classic Web.

As though feeling his gaze, Web glanced at the sliding glass doors and caught sight of Mitch. He turned away, said something to the group. There was more laughter. Web asked the man next to him something. The man raised his beer and nodded his head.

Web nodded and walked toward the house. He was still smiling, still casual.

Mitch’s heart began to thud as it always did when he heard the intro bars of music before he went on stage.

The glass door slid open.

Web stepped inside the house, moving aside as a string of small, shrieking children pushed past him and ran into the backyard.

“Look who’s here,” Gidget said brightly.

Web nodded hello. “Having fun?” he asked Mitch.

“Sure. You?”

“You bet.” Web nodded politely and went on to the kitchen. He passed through the family room a minute or so later carrying two beers and went out through the glass door rejoining his friends on the patio.

Acid began to boil and bubble in Mitch’s gut. What a mistake this was. What had he been thinking? What had he imagined coming here would prove? What part of You Can’t Go Home Again did he not grasp?

“Gosh, we’re nearly out of tamales.” Gidget disappeared back into the kitchen.

Mitch turned his back to the patio where Web had handed off the extra beer and was once more laughing, safe within the circle of his friends, and emptied his margarita into the nearest plastic miniature palm. He realized only too late that the palm wasn’t plastic.

The glass door slid open behind him again and Mitch guiltily jumped.

“Where’s your friend?”

Mitch turned. Web was right there, looking grave and handsome in cowboy boots, jeans, and a corduroy jacket. “Either on his way back to the airport or sitting in a Holiday Inn watching the It’s a Wonderful Life marathon.”

Web kept his voice low, though no one in the room was paying them any attention. “So is it over between you?”

“Yes.”

“What about this offer from—” Web broke off as Gidget rushed out of the kitchen. She opened the sliding glass door and hurried out to the circle of men on the patio. Whatever she said dispersed them in a moment. They came inside the house, moving with low-key but swift purpose.

“Time to ride, partner,” the tall man with dark, curly hair called to Web.

Web nodded. He turned back to Mitch. “Damn. Sorry. I’ll call you this evening.”

Mitch nodded.

Web gripped his arm briefly. “Don’t go anywhere, okay? Not till I have my say.”

“Okay.”

With that, Web was gone.

“Did you meet Erik?” Gidget asked Mitch a little while later.

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, you’d remember meetin’ the best-lookin’ man in the house. Darn it all! And now he and the boys got called out. Y’all’d think even outlaws would want to celebrate Christmas Eve.”

Mitch’s heart dropped into the lava churning in his belly. “You mean the Rangers were called out on a job?”

She nodded glumly. Catching his expression, she patted his arm. “You’re sweet to care, but I’m just bein’ a baby. They’ll be back before you know it.”

But the Rangers didn’t come back, and eventually the guests began to say their thank-yous and goodbyes, and depart to their own homes and hearths to prepare for the following day’s festivities.

The evening sky turned purple and then black while Mitch waited for Web to phone. He had no idea how these things worked. Presumably after the Rangers made their bust or did whatever it was Rangers did, they had paperwork to fill out. Maybe the paperwork took a long time.

But when Web had not called by seven o’clock, Mitch began to get worried.

Maybe he didn’t know how Texas Rangers worked, but he knew how Web worked, and if Web said he’d call, then he’d have to have a pretty powerful reason for not following through.

Mitch had thrown out Web’s business card that first night, so he called the Eisleys’ direct.

He knew there was trouble when Aunt Mamie answered on the first ring. Mitch’s awkward request for Web was greeted with a small sound. Not quite a sob but too breathy for normal socializing.

“They’re all at the hospital, Mitch.”

“Which hospital? What happened?” Mexican drug dealers. He was sure of it.

“The Medical Center in San Antonio. There was an accident. All we know is a Texas Ranger has been seriously injured. We’re waiting to hear—”

“Is it Web?”

“We don’t know, honey.”

Mitch knew. If Web was okay, he’d call. He’d know his family would be anxiously waiting news and he’d get word to them.

Mitch didn’t realize he’d said it aloud until Aunt Mamie answered. “Not necessarily. There might could be all kinds of reasons he wouldn’t be able to call right away.”

“What hospital did you say they took him—the injured Ranger—to?”

Aunt Mamie found the address and the phone number, reading it carefully to Mitch. She finished with, “You mind your driving, Mitch. Web would have a conniption if somethin’ happened to you. And tell them to call me as soon as they know anything!”

Later, Mitch remembered nothing of the drive although at the time he was conscious of keeping an eye out for deer or reindeer or anything else that might delay him.

Web would have a conniption if somethin’ happened to you. That had to mean something if Aunt Mamie said it right out loud like that. If Aunt Mamie openly acknowledged what maybe everybody already recognized? That Mitch and Web belonged to each other? That they’d always belonged to each other?

At last Mitch arrived at the hospital and strode up to the front desk in the reception area.

“There was a Texas Ranger brought here earlier?”

“Third floor,” the girl said, in the resigned tone of someone who’d been answering the same question for hours.

“Is he—how is he?”

“You can wait for news on the third floor with everyone. I’m sure there’ll be word before long.”

He took the elevator to the third floor. The hall was crowded with people, some he recognized from the Engstrom party earlier that afternoon. He hesitated, looking for someone he knew. He spotted Mrs. Eisley talking to Gidget Engstrom. He started to make his way over to them.

“Mitch!”

Web stood in front of him. He had stitches in his hairline and a bruise on his cheekbone. His shirt was spattered with something dark that looked like blood. His jacket was torn. The main thing—the only thing—was he was alive.

Alive and in one piece.

“Mitch. I tried to call you.” His hands closed on Mitch’s shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

Now there was a fool question. “I called the ranch and talked to Aunt Mamie.” Mitch steadied his voice. “She said the family had got word that a Ranger had been hurt but nobody knew who. I was sure it was you.”

Web’s face changed. He pulled Mitch into his arms. Mitch hugged him back with all his strength, which was considerable. He heard Web’s gasp. Mitch wasn’t sure if that was because he’d just broken a few of Web’s ribs or because they were hugging right there in the hospital hallway crowded with family and medical personnel and Texas Rangers.

Web drew back. His face was drawn with weariness. “I’m sorry you had that scare. I’m fine.”

“What happened? Mexican drug dealers?”

Web’s smile flickered. “No. Homegrown American lowlifes. We were in a high-speed pursuit of a pair of bandits when one of them turned around and plowed his monster truck right into us. Erik got the steering wheel in his chest. He’s in surgery now.”

“Is he going to make it?”

Web’s jaw hardened. “We don’t know yet.”

It was a long wait. Eventually the hall thinned out. The older Eisleys said goodnight and left. Mitch sat in a hard plastic chair beside Web, prepared to wait for however long it took. It was after midnight when they finally received news that Erik was going to survive.

“I’ll drive you home,” Mitch said.

Web nodded, wearily following Mitch to his car.

“What about this thing in Canada?” Web bucked his seat belt. If Erik had been wearing a seat belt he wouldn’t have been so badly injured, but they had been chasing bad guys and no one was thinking of seat belts.

“What thing in Canada?” It actually took Mitch a couple of seconds to remember. “Oh.” Mitch had put the key in the ignition, but he didn’t turn it. He faced Web, although it was difficult to read his face in the greenish light of the underground parking lot. “Are we having this out now? Because I can’t drive and talk about this stuff.”

“I’m not afraid to say it first,” Web said. “I love you. I guess I always have. I guess I always will.”

“Whether I keep dancing or not?”

“I’m not asking you to give up your career.”

“What are you asking?”

“I guess…whatever you can give. I don’t have a lot of faith in long-distance relationships, but I’m willin’ to try.”

“I don’t have a lot of faith in them either, but it’s a bad time in my career to take a leave of absence.”

“So you’re goin’ to Canada?”

“I don’t know. I want it. But I don’t want it at the expense of you.”

“It won’t be at the expense of me.”

Mitch considered this. “I could do the Les Grand Ballet while I figure a way to move my home base from New York to here.”

“Here?”

“Not the parking lot. No.”

Web wasn’t smiling. Mitch sighed. “I had all day to think about this. Ever since you walked away this morning.” He’d also had time to think abut it during the longest drive and worst hour and a half of his life.

“Sorry.” Web sounded sheepish. “I guess I was afraid to hear what you were goin’ to say.”

“It’s dancing I love, not the rest of it. The fame part of it mostly stresses me out. ABT and the University of Texas in Austin collaborate in a summer training course every year. If I said the word, I could be part of that. If I said the word I could probably find a place as a principal dancer in any company in Texas. Performing with the ABT gives me a lot of clout.”

“I’ve seen you dance. You don’t have to convince me. I don’t want to take that away from you.”

“You didn’t always feel that way.” Mitch could smile about it now, but once upon a time it had hurt like hell.

“Once upon a time I thought dancing was going to take you away forever.”

“It didn’t have to be either-or. It still doesn’t, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Let’s go home and talk about it.”

Mitch nodded and started the car engine.

He appreciated that Web kept the conversation largely impersonal on the drive. Web was sleeping when they pulled into the Eisleys’ front yard. The lights were off in the house.

Mitch leaned over and pressed his mouth gently to Web’s. Web’s eyelashes fluttered, he murmured something and sat up. “Huh?”

“We’re home.”

“That sounds nice.” Web’s hand tangled in the hair at the back of Mitch’s as he pulled him in for another kiss. “Come inside. I want to show you something.”

Mitch followed Web across the hard, frozen ground, up the wooden porch, inside the dark house with its warm Christmassy smells of baking and pine trees and cinnamon candles.

Web caught Mitch’s hand, leading him into the front room. The Christmas tree was lit, presents gleaming in the soft, colored light.

“Wait here. I’ll be right back,” Web whispered.

He disappeared upstairs and Mitch folded into the rocker near the fire, which was down to red embers.

For the first time in a very long time, he had no idea what was going to happen. He had no plan and no control but he could not remember feeling more excited or happy.

He looked away from the fireplace as the stairs squeaked. Web came back in the room. “I have something for you, but first I want to tell you something.”

Mitch stared up at him. “Okay.” Web’s face was so serious in the shadow-light.

Web sat down across from him. “I know you didn’t believe me when I told you I was coming around to your way of thinkin’ twelve years back. That I was willing to come out for you.”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“It does. I know it hurt you. But it’s the truth. I was going to tell you the next day, but when I got out to your place, you were gone. Your daddy was drunk.”

“Drunk?” Mitch repeated in disbelief. “My father?” He had never once seen his father the worse for drink. Not once in eighteen years.

Web nodded grimly. “He said you were gone and that was all he said. All he ever would say.” Web drew a deep breath. “I waited for you to call. I kept waiting for you to let me know where you were. I couldn’t believe you’d leave without tellin’ me after…everything. But you did.”

Mitch didn’t know what to think, let alone say. In all these years it had never occurred to him that Web had grieved over him as much as he had grieved over Web.

Web’s voice was very quiet, almost a whisper. “That night in the park when I told you I couldn’t do what you wanted, you cried.”

Mitch threw him a quick, startled look. “I guess I did.”

“I knew you all your life. From the time you were a little boy, you never cried. Not about anythin’. Not when you drove a nail through your foot, not when your daddy whipped you and not when those the little shits used to ride you for takin’ sissy dance lessons. But that night in the park, after we argued and I told you no, you turned away from me and you leaned against that big old pecan tree and you cried. You cried like it was tearing you apart, like your heart was breakin’, like everything you’d ever known and wanted was lost.” Web’s voice shook. “And then you wiped your eyes and you went home.”

Where things had gone even better. Mitch fought the old tide of hurt and bitterness. But he had read it wrong all those years ago. Web had suffered too. “It was a long time ago.”

“After you left, I walked in the park some more, by myself, and I realized that anythin’, anything, was better than letting you go on feelin’ that way. I went and bought you this.”

He handed Mitch a small box wrapped in Christmas paper. Mitch took the box and studied the faded red paper with tiny smiling reindeers.

“What is it?”

“Open it.” Web added, “Just keep in mind I didn’t have much of a salary in those days.”

Mitch pulled off the green ribbon and tore open the paper to reveal a little white cardboard box. He took the lid off. His brows drew together at the sight of a pair of earrings. Two small golden studs shaped like tiny stars.

“Very pretty.”

Web gave a smothered laugh. “You don’t understand. Only one was for you. The other one was for me.”

Puzzlement gave way to understanding. Mitch looked down and the small gold stars seemed to flash and scintillate against the blue velvet card. Something funny had happened to his vision.

He said huskily, “How come you haven’t asked me if I love you?”

“Oh, I know you love me,” Web said. “I knew the minute I saw you pouring your drink into that potted palm at Erik’s house. When you walked out of those elevators this evening, I knew this time we’d find our way. You could say it if you want to. I guess I won’t get tired of hearing it in this lifetime.”

Mitch reached for him. “Merry Christmas. I love you.”

About the Author

A distinct voice in gay fiction, multi-award-winning author Josh Lanyon has been writing gay mystery and romance for over a decade. In addition to numerous short stories, novellas and novels, Josh is the author of the critically acclaimed Adrien English series, including The Hell You Say, winner of the 2006 USA Book News award for GLBT Fiction. Josh is an EPIC Award winner and a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist. Josh is also the author of the definitive M/M writing guide Man, Oh Man! Writing M/M Fiction for Kinks & Ca$h. To learn more about Josh, please visit www.joshlanyon.com or join his mailing list at groups.yahoo.com/group/JoshLanyon.

Baby, it’s cold outside…

A man receives the gift of pleasure at the hands of two expert lovers. Boyhood sweethearts get a second chance at romance. Two very proper gentlemen indulge their forbidden desires. A Christmas tree farmer has an epiphany. It may be cold outside, but these four holiday novellas will warm you up. Anthology includes:

My True Love Gave to Me by Ava March

Winter Knights by Harper Fox

Lone Star by Josh Lanyon

The Christmas Proposition by K.A. Mitchell

Stories also available for purchase separately.

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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9280-6

Copyright © 2011 by Josh Lanyon

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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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