Christmas at Home

by Carolyn Brown

  “They’ll freeze out here, Creed. We’ll have to take them inside or they’ll be dead by morning,” Sage said.

  “They are out of season for sure. Cats usually don’t have litters until the spring and then maybe another in the fall, but not in December. Looks of them, they were just born today, and you are right, they won’t live in this kind of cold.”

  “The only thing to do is take them in the house. We can make a litter pan out of an old dishpan if you’ll bring in a bucket of dirt from the barn floor. I wonder how long she’s been in the barn.”

  Creed grinned. “Evidently she’s been here long enough to have babies. Do you want to carry her and the kittens in the house or get the eggs?”

  “I’ll get the eggs. I’d be afraid I’d drop one of those little things in the snow and it would freeze to death before I could find it.”

  “Then I’ll take her and the kittens inside and come back to finish my end of the chores,” he said.

  She’d gathered four eggs and was already in the house when she realized that she’d obeyed his orders without even thinking.

  “Well, shit!” she said as she washed the eggs and put them into containers to go into the refrigerator.

  What a day!

  First no Grand.

  Then a cowboy and a dog and mistletoe everywhere.

  That was more than enough for one day, but then the angel appeared along with the cardinal. And now cats!

  And this was just day one. There were twenty more to go.

  Creed came in right behind her, a momma cat’s head poking out of his coveralls at chest level. “She’s a good cat. She didn’t even scratch me when I zipped up to just under her chin. She knows I’m bringing her into a warm place.”

  “Noel told her when she bumped noses with her that we were good folks,” Sage said.

  “Got a basket and a towel or another old blanket?” Creed asked before he removed the cat from inside his coveralls.

  Sage grabbed an extra plastic laundry basket from the pantry and hurried back to the hallway to find a blanket in the linen closet. When she returned he unzipped to his waist and handed her the yellow momma cat. She was nothing but an armful of bones and long fur.

  “Good grief, Creed, she’s skinny. Her hair made her look like she was chubby, but I can feel her ribs.”

  “She and Noel have been on the run for a while. I told you I bet they were dropped at least a week ago and they’ve been living on whatever they could scrounge up.”

  “Where are the kittens?” Sage asked.

  Creed pulled two black ones from one pocket and a yellow one from the other. He laid them gently in the basket and Sage put the momma in with them.

  “Think she’s hungry?” Sage asked.

  “Probably half starved, but we’ve got lots of milk. Give me a few minutes and she can even have it warm right from the cow. Whip up a couple of those fresh eggs to go in it for extra protein and she’ll love it.”

  Noel checked out the cat and kittens, then went straight for her own blanket.

  “Whoever dumped them should be shot,” Sage grouched.

  “It happens, but they’ve got a good home now, don’t they? I’m going back out and milk before I get too warm in all these layers. See you in a few minutes,” Creed said.

  The door opened, a blast of cold air swept across the floor, and then it closed again.

  “Yes, you do have a good home now. Don’t you worry, momma cat. We won’t let your babies die.” Sage removed her coveralls and hung them up, cleaned the water from the floor again, and went straight to the living room. She shoved two more logs into the fireplace and sat down on the floor between the animals.

  “I didn’t even want pets. So what makes the difference?” she said aloud.

  I wanted you to have a pet because you needed something to love that wouldn’t leave you. Looks like you got them because they needed you. It was Grand’s voice again but Sage just nodded in agreement. Could be that the cowboy needs you too.

  Sage set her mouth firmly and said, “Now that is enough.”

  Noel looked up and whimpered.

  “I wasn’t talking to you. You can stay as long as you like. There’s lots of room on the ranch for your puppies. And your friend and her babies can live in the barn when the cold weather passes and it’s warm enough to put them out there.”

  “What did you name her?” Creed asked when he returned half an hour later, a bucket of milk in one hand and a bucket of dirt in the other.

  Sage looked from man to cat and back again.

  “Well?” Creed poured the cold dirt into the old rusted dishpan.

  “What makes you think I named her?”

  “You did. I can see it in your face. Why didn’t you have pets before now? You love animals.”

  “No, I don’t,” she argued. “Pets just die and leave you all lonely again anyway. And who knows if these are really strays. Their owners might come looking for them soon as the weather clears up.”

  “I doubt it. Most folks wouldn’t go out looking for a pregnant cat or an ugly dog, and you didn’t answer me.”

  “Like I just said, pets either run off or die and I’d be left with the pain of it.”

  “Better to have loved and hurt than never to have loved at all,” he quipped.

  “Oh, so now you are a prophet?” she shot back at him.

  “No, ma’am. Not me. I’m not that smart on a good day, and this one has been real strange in my world.”

  “You damn sure got that right.” Sage whipped up several eggs and added warm milk to them. Noel saw her pick up the pie pan and came running so fast that she lost traction and slid the last five feet on her belly.

  Creed looked at Sage and they both burst out in laughter.

  “And that’s why we have pets!” he finally said. “They make us laugh and give us something to pet and to tell all our secrets to without worrying that they’ll ever tell a living soul.”

  Sage was still giggling so hard that the milk sloshed when she picked up the pan. “You’re going to have to set it down, Creed. I’ll spill it.”

  He reached around her to pick up the pan and suddenly they were face-to-face, noses barely inches away from each other. She could have gotten lost in his green eyes, which were staring so intently into hers. His lips parted slightly and her tongue instinctively wet her dry lips in anticipation of the kiss. She was a boiling pot of desire just wanting to feel his mouth on hers.

  * * *

  Creed wanted to taste those luscious lips more than he’d wanted to kiss any other woman in his life. When she moistened her full lips, he could hardly wait for the sizzle that they promised. She had shut her eyes and was leaning in toward him when Noel jumped between them and her paws landed on Sage’s hip bones.

  Sage’s eyes popped open.

  Creed took a step back so she could see that he didn’t have his hands in that place.

  Sage blushed and mumbled something about Noel being hungry.

  He set the pan on the floor and turned around to remove his coveralls for the umpteenth time that day.

  “Guess she likes her milk,” Sage said.

  “Looks like it.”

  “How am I going to get Angel fed without Noel drinking her supper too?”

  Creed chuckled. “I figured you’d name her Mary since she had babies in the manger because there was no room in the inn.”

  “I thought about it, but a cat shouldn’t be named after Jesus’s momma. I’m not one for making God mad in the middle of a blizzard. Besides, all that fluffy hair reminds me of angel wings.”

  He pointed. “Look.”

  The cat and dog were sharing the pan of milk.

  “I told you they were friends,” Creed said.

  * * *

  Sage was afraid the “almost-kiss” would be an ele
phant in the room all evening, but it wasn’t. They had soup again for supper and she actually felt like she’d known Creed forever. He could be an outlaw or a serial killer. Just because he’d charmed his way past Grand didn’t mean that he was the greatest thing since ice cream on a stick. She shouldn’t trust him and it riled her that she did.

  Before Sage trusted anyone she had to know them a long time, but there she was laughing and talking to him as if they’d both grown up on the Rockin’ C. She was supposed to be making him miserable, not befriending him.

  At the supper table, Noel begged and whined. When they set a pie pan of soup and corn bread on the floor Angel joined her again.

  “She’s even eating carrots, Creed.”

  He leaned over so he could see the animals. “Which one?”

  “Angel is eating carrots and peas.”

  “She’s hungry,” Creed said. “Poor little thing probably thinks she’s died and gone to heaven.”

  Grand’s voice whispered into her ear, He’s a good man.

  She wanted to argue with her grandmother, but her heart said that Grand was right. Creed was a good man. He could be trusted. He just wasn’t the right man for the Rockin’ C.

  When she slipped into her bed that night she laced her hands behind her head and stared at the dark ceiling. It had been the strangest day of her entire life. Maybe it was because she didn’t have a telephone or a laptop, and the only person she could talk to was Creed. Maybe those three pieces of mistletoe really were an omen.

  Whatever it was, she sure hoped the next day wasn’t a repeat, because it was confusing the hell out of her. She touched her lips and felt cheated. She’d wanted that kiss to see if she really was attracted to the cowboy or if it was just a simple proximity issue. Close by. Nothing to do but think about those sexy eyes and dark hair. Cooking together. Working side by side. Cats with babies. Pregnant dogs. All combined, it would knock a hole in any woman’s hormones.

  Chapter 4

  Going to bed before nine o’clock made for an early morning. Creed looked at the clock beside his bed at four o’clock. He rolled over and pulled the window curtain back. The snow was still falling just as hard and fast as it had been when he went to bed. The wind whirled down the canyon walls turning the naked mesquite and scrub oak limbs into musical instruments that hummed something like Christmas carols.

  There was no going back to sleep no matter how tightly he closed his eyes or beat on his pillow, so finally he crawled out, padded into the kitchen, and put on a pot of coffee. While it perked, he dressed for chores. He turned the gas off from under it just before he and Noel went out the back door. If Sage got up early, it would be ready. If she didn’t, it would still be hot when he brought the milk inside.

  The hay was half gone, but there was enough to keep the cattle happy until nightfall. He shoved the rest of the bale out into the lean-to and shut the doors tightly behind it. He fed the hogs, gathered the eggs, and then milked the cow.

  Sage still wasn’t awake when he took the milk inside, so he strained it and put it away. And that’s when the cranky mood hit him. If he was home in Ringgold during a snowstorm, he’d spend time in the tack room or in the barn working on equipment. Or he’d go up to the Chicken Fried Café and talk to the other ranchers in the area. One day was his limit when it came to sitting still all day, and he damn sure didn’t look forward to day two of it.

  He poured a cup of coffee but didn’t strip out of his outdoor clothing. Instead he carried the cup with him to the back door and turned to look at Noel. She’d huddled down into her blanket with a paw over her nose. It didn’t look like she had any intentions of going back out into the storm, so he went without her.

  He eased into the barn and shut the door behind him, lit two Coleman lanterns, and grabbed a wide push broom. Part of the barn floor was dirt, but the majority of it was concrete and it was strewn with hay. He leaned on the broom and noticed that the small hay bales needed straightening. He set the broom to one side and went to work on them. Anything to work the crabbiness out; and it had nothing to do with the fact that he’d missed getting a kiss he wanted or that he’d dreamed of Sage all night.

  He’d come to the Panhandle to get away from all women, not to be mesmerized by one female.

  * * *

  Sage didn’t have to wait for the grumpy mood to hit her. She awoke with it already in full swing. Not even hot coffee waiting on the back of the stove relieved the antsy feeling in her chest. Usually when she got like this she took her paints, and a bologna sandwich, and went to the backside of the canyon to paint from daylight to dark. But that wasn’t possible in a snowstorm.

  She rubbed Angel’s fur and scratched Noel’s ears, but that didn’t help. She wanted Creed to get up and talk to her. That’s when she noticed the milk bucket in the dish drainer and the cheesecloth strainer draped over it, so Creed had been up long enough to do the chores.

  Where was he? If the chores were done, why wasn’t he back in the house? Had one day with her been all he could stand? Was he inching his way up out of the canyon in his truck on his way back to greener pastures?

  She stepped into her coveralls and put her boots on, picked up an old felt hat of Grand’s, and slung the door open. Noel didn’t make a move, so evidently she’d already been out that morning.

  She found him stacking hay. The barn floor was clean enough to eat off of and smelled fresh instead of like two-day-old cow crap. “You plannin’ on eatin’ breakfast this morning?”

  He didn’t look around or slow down. “Is it ready?”

  “Hell, no!”

  “Then I don’t guess I’m ready to eat.”

  “Who pissed in your coffee this morning?” she asked.

  “Same four-legged critter that pissed in yours, I have a suspicion.”

  She popped her gloved hands on her hips and asked, “You are mad at the animals? What did they do?”

  “Think about it,” he answered without stopping work.

  She grabbed him by the arm and swung him around. “I wanted that kiss too, but you damn sure didn’t try a second time, so don’t be blamin’ the dog.”

  A smile tickled the corners of his mouth. He swiped his felt hat off with a flourish, tossed it on a hay bale, and drew her close with one arm. “If that pesky dog jumps up on us, ignore it.”

  “Yes, sir!” she said breathlessly as he ran the back of his rough hand down her cheek and tangled his hands in her dark hair.

  His lips met hers in a fiery clash with enough heat to melt every drop of snow in the canyon. Tongue met tongue in a mating dance that left them both breathless and still wanting more. She’d had passionate kisses before, but Creed wasn’t just kissing her, he was making love to her with his lips and tongue. She could actually feel her boots leave the cold concrete floor and float toward the rafters.

  He drew back and she thought he mumbled her name, but it could have just been a moan like what came from her throat when he nuzzled inside the collar of the coveralls and strung kisses from her ear all the way back to her lips.

  That kiss was even hotter than the first one. She tried to think of a kiss in the past that had turned her knees to jelly and erased every sane thought from her mind. But her mind had shut down and her body had taken over. The fickle thing wanted to sling all its clothing off and feel more than Creed Riley’s hands on her neck and his body pressed to hers so tight that even the north wind couldn’t find a way to get between them.

  She’d had kisses, but she’d never had one that made her completely crazy with want. She’d have to keep her distance from him for sure because if one make-out session in a freezing cold barn could create so much heat, they’d burn the house down if they ever tumbled into a bed.

  Or better yet, wrapped up in a blanket in front of the fire, she thought and then blushed at the visual of him naked with the fire reflecting in his green eyes.

 
; When he pulled back the second time she inhaled deeply and laid her head on his chest. Even through all the layers she could hear his heart thumping like he’d run a mile in hundred-degree heat.

  She tried to force her feet to take a step backwards, but her feet were glued to the barn floor. She was a grown woman, not a hormonal sixteen-year-old girl who chased down good-looking cowboys in the barn to steal a few kisses. And as such, she had to step back, walk away, and not look back. Falling for Creed Riley would be disaster.

  One day, for God’s sake! That’s all I’ve known this man.

  The argument began with common sense and her heart taking opposing sides.

  You’ve been waiting for Creed Riley your whole life. How big is that hole right now? her heart asked.

  Hush! He won’t stick around here past Christmas, common sense said.

  She never knew a heart could talk until she heard it say loud and clear, I want Creed Riley for my Christmas present.

  Dammit! common sense yelled. Don’t listen to that worthless organ in your chest. You can’t have Creed and Grand both, and remember who’s been there for you your whole life.

  Creed hugged her tightly and said, “Well, that made me hungry. Matter-of-fact, I’m starving. Let’s go cook breakfast and check on the livestock in the house.”

  Sage looked up at him.

  Where in the hell had that crazy fool notion of wanting Creed for Christmas come from? It was just a kiss and she’d only known him for a day. The blizzard must have frozen the part of her brain that made adult, sensible decisions.

  It wasn’t until then that she realized she had unzipped his coveralls and her hands were warming against the warm flannel of his shirt. No wonder she could hear his heart beating so well! She withdrew them and brought a full load of guilt with her. She could not, she would not kiss him again.