A Cold Creek Noel (The Cowboys of Cold Creek)

by Thayne, RaeAnne

  He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. She could tell by his expression that he had given in. Ridge might be a hard man when it came to their cattle and the ranch, but when it came to his daughter he was soft as new taffy.

  “You’re a good father, Ridge.”

  “She loves Christmas,” he finally said. “What can I do?”

  The rest of them weren’t quite as fond of the holidays as Des but they put on a good show for her sake. Since their parents’ murders just a few days before Christmas eleven years ago, the holidays seemed to dredge up difficult emotions.

  Becca and Laura had worked some kind of sparkly holiday magic over Trace and Taft. This year the twins seemed to be more into the spirit of Christmas than she’d ever seen them. They had both volunteered to cut trees for everyone. They had even gone a little overboard, cutting a few extras for neighbors and friends.

  She and Ridge didn’t share their enthusiasm, though they both went through the motions every year. Caidy even had all her Christmas presents wrapped and the actual holiday was still more than a week away. No more last-minute panics for her this year.

  “What time are they coming?”

  “I told her to make arrangements for about seven. I figured we would be done with Sunday dinner by then.”

  Though Taft and Trace both lived closer to town, her brothers usually brought their families out to the ranch every week. With the hectic pace of their lives protecting and serving the good people of Pine Gulch, it was sometimes the only chance she had to see them all week.

  “I’ll throw some cookies in just before they get here so they can have something warm in their little bellies before they go. And I’ll make hot chocolate for the ride, of course.”

  “Thanks. Destry will appreciate that, I’m sure.” He finished wiping down the countertop and set the cloth on the sink’s edge. “You won’t consider coming with us?”

  By his solemn expression, she knew he was aware just what he asked of her. “I don’t think so.”

  “You would really send me off on my own with five or six giggly girls?”

  “You can take one of the dogs with you,” she offered with a grin.

  He made a face but quickly grew serious again. “It’s been eleven years, Caidy. Taft and Trace have moved on and both have families. Of all of us, you deserve to do the same. I wish you could find a little Christmas joy again.”

  “I find plenty of joy the rest of the year. Just not so much in December.”

  His mouth tightened, his eyes darkening with familiar sadness. Each of them had struggled in different ways after their parents’ deaths. Ridge had become more stoic and controlled, Taft had gone a little crazy dating all the wild women at the tavern in town and Trace had become a dedicated lawman.

  And she was still hiding away here at the River Bow.

  “You need to move on,” her brother said. “Maybe it’s time you think about trying school again.”

  “Maybe.” She gave a noncommittal answer, too tired to fight with him right now after the ordeal of Luke’s injury and the hours spent in the waiting room of the veterinary clinic. “Hey, thanks again for letting the vet stay in the foreman’s cottage. It shouldn’t be longer than a few weeks.”

  Ridge wasn’t fooled for a moment. He knew she was trying to change the subject. For once he didn’t try to call her on it.

  “Just think. For a few weeks anyway we’ll have our own veterinarian-in-residence. With your menagerie, that should come in pretty handy.”

  She made a face. Given her unwilling reaction to the man, she would rather not have need of his professional services again anytime soon.

  * * *

  A good four inches of snow fell during the night. It clung to the trees and bowed down the branches, turning the town into an enchanting winter wonderland, especially with the craggy mountains looming in the distance.

  Added to the few inches that had fallen the previous evening, that should be plenty for Destry to have a great time with her friends on the sleigh ride the next night, Caidy thought as she drove through the quiet stillness of the unplowed roads on her way to the clinic the next morning.

  It wasn’t yet seven. She hadn’t slept well, her dreams a troubled, tangled mess. With worry for Luke uppermost in her mind, she had risen early and finished her chores. Ridge could take care of breakfast for him and Destry when he finished his own chores. Saturday morning pancakes were his specialty.

  Even with her restless sleep, she could appreciate the beauty of the morning. Colorful Christmas trees gleamed in the windows of a few houses, and she liked to imagine the children there rushing to plug in the lights the moment they woke up so they could enjoy the display before the sun was fully up.

  When she reached Dr. Caldwell’s office, she wasn’t particularly surprised to see the parking lot hadn’t been plowed yet. Like many of the small businesses in Pine Gulch, he probably paid a service to take care of that for him and the plows hadn’t made it here yet.

  With four-wheel drive and high clearance, her truck had no problem navigating through the snow. Mindful of helping the plow work around her vehicle, she parked at the edge of the lot, next to a snow-covered Range Rover she assumed must belong to Ben.

  As she headed for the building, she worried she might be waking him after a long night of watching over Luke. The sidewalks had been cleared, though. Unless he paid someone else to take care of that chore, she guessed Ben had taken care of the shoveling himself.

  She wasn’t surprised to find the front door locked. When Doc Harris was here, she never had to bother with the front door; she could use the side entrance she had used the night before.

  Likely that’s where she would find Ben Caldwell. She trudged through the snow, enjoying the brisk cold and the scent of snowy pine. A couple hard raps on the door elicited no response. She checked the door and the knob turned easily in her hand.

  After a quick internal debate, she turned the knob and stepped inside. She opened her mouth to call out a greeting but the words vanished somewhere in the vicinity of her tongue—along with any remaining air in her lungs—at the sight of the new veterinarian coming out of the locker room wearing only jeans and toweling off his wet hair.

  That dramatic cartoon gulp sounded in her head again. Wow. Double wow. With ice cream on top.

  His chest was broad and well-defined with solid muscle and a little line of hair arrowed down to disappear in the waistband of his Levi’s, where he hadn’t yet fastened the top button.

  Awareness bloomed inside her, as bright and vivid as the always unexpected crocuses that popped up through the snow along the fenceline of the River Bow every spring.

  Her toes tingled and her heartbeat kicked up a notch and she wanted to stand here for the next few years and just stare.

  He continued toweling his hair, oblivious to her, biceps flexing with the motion, and she completely forgot about the reason she had come. Suddenly he dropped the towel and saw her standing there.

  His pupils widened and for a long moment, he returned her stare. Tension seethed between them, writhing and alive. Her insides trembled and every thought in her head seemed scrambled and incoherent.

  Finally he cleared his throat. “Oh. Hi. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “Sorry.” Her voice sounded raspy and she quickly cleared it, mortified that he had caught her gaping at him like Destry and her friends at a Justin Bieber concert. “I knocked and was just checking the door and it opened
and...there you were.”

  Could she sound any more stupid? Good grief. She wanted to slink away through the door and bury her face in a pile of snow somewhere. Anybody might think she’d never seen a gorgeous, half-naked man before.

  “I just... I can go and come back, uh, later.”

  “Why?” He grabbed a clean scrub top and she couldn’t seem to look away as he pulled it over that delicious chest, her gaze fixed on the disappearance of that little strip of hair trailing down his abdomen.

  Despite his towel job, his hair was still wet and sticking up in spikes. He made an effort to smooth it down but only ended up making it look more tousled and sexy.

  She wanted to gulp again, feeling very much like some ridiculous maiden aunt.

  Which she was.

  “I shouldn’t have come so early. I was just...concerned about how you made it through the night.”

  He shrugged, though she thought she noticed a little spark of something in the depths of his blue eyes. “Not too badly. Luke slept most of the night. I imagine he’s going to be ready for a walk around the yard soon.”

  That must have been why he had cleared away the snow around the sidewalk. She had wondered why that had been a priority, especially because he had told her the clinic would be closed that day.

  She fought the little burst of warmth in her chest. Get a grip, she told herself. She wasn’t interested in some prickly veterinarian who jumped to conclusions and made snap judgments about people before he knew the facts.

  Even if he did have a flat stomach she wanted to trail her fingers along...

  She blushed and looked away. Her dog. That’s why she was here—to check on Luke. Not to engage in completely inappropriate fantasies about a man who would be living just a stone’s throw away from her.

  “I can take him out if you’re sure he’s up to it.”

  “We made one trip out in the night. He seemed to handle it okay. Let’s try again.”

  She headed to the crate where Luke lay. As if sensing her presence, his eyes opened and he tried to wag his tail, which just about broke her heart. “Shhh. Easy. Easy. There’s my boy. How’s my favorite guy?”

  The dog’s black tail flapped again on the soft blankets inside the crate. He tried to scramble up, then subsided again with a whimper.

  “He’s due for pain meds again. I was planning to try to slip a pill in some peanut butter.”

  She unlatched the door of the crate and reached in to rub his chin. “I hope you didn’t keep Dr. Caldwell up all night.”

  “Not too bad.” Ben hadn’t shaved yet and the dark shadow along his jawline gave him a rugged, rather disreputable air. He probably wouldn’t appreciate her pointing that out—and he definitely wouldn’t be interested in knowing about her unwilling attraction to him.

  “We had a few rough moments.” He paused, giving her a careful look. “To tell the truth, I wasn’t completely convinced he would make it through the night. He’s a tough little guy.”

  “It helps to have a good vet,” she said. Even Doc Harris wouldn’t have stayed all night. It was a hard admission, but honesty compelled her to face it. As much as she loved the old veterinarian, she had noticed he sometimes had a bit of a cavalier attitude about the seriousness of some cases.

  Apparently that wasn’t the case with Dr. Caldwell.

  “Sometimes all the veterinarian skills in the world aren’t enough. I guess you would know that, as an animal lover.”

  That was her big worry right now with Sadie. Her old border collie, the very first dog who had been only hers, was thirteen. In border collie terms, that was ancient. As much as she loved her, Caidy knew she wouldn’t be around forever.

  “Luke seems alert now. That’s a good sign, isn’t it?”

  He joined her in petting the dog. Their fingers accidentally touched and she didn’t miss the way he quickly lifted his hands. “You can call him Lucky Luke.”

  “My brother and his family already have a dog named Lucky Lou,” she said with a smile. “He survived being hit by a car.”

  “Your brother?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No, but there was a time plenty of the scorned women of Pine Gulch would have gladly tried to run him down. No, Lou. He was a stray, a little corgi-beagle mix who used to wander around our ranch. I was trying to lure him in so I could find his owner, but he was pretty skittish. Then one afternoon he didn’t move fast enough and some speeder hit him. He’s doing great now and is extremely spoiled by Taft’s kids.”

  Stepchildren, actually, but Maya and Alex had quickly been absorbed into the Bowman clan.

  “Well, you can add this one to your collection of lucky pups.”

  “When can I take him home?”

  “Maybe later today, as long as he remains stable.”

  “That would be great. Thank you for everything.”

  He shrugged. “It’s my job.”

  She owed him now. It was an uncomfortable realization—she didn’t like being beholden to anyone, especially not very attractive veterinarians.

  In this case, she could even the playing field a little bit. “I talked to Ridge last night. He says you and your family are more than welcome to move into the foreman’s cottage until your house is finished.”

  “Did he?” he asked, his expression pleased and more than a little relieved. “That would make the holidays much more comfortable all the way around.”

  “You may want to come out to the ranch and take a look at the place before you agree. We’ve kept it up well, but it could probably use a remodel one of these days.”

  “Three bedrooms, you said?”

  “Yes. And Ridge suggested we work something out with rent in trade for vet services, if you’re agreeable. I’ll still probably owe you my firstborn but maybe not my second.”

  He smiled—not a huge smile but a genuine one. Her stomach flip-flopped again and she remembered that moment when she had walked into the clinic and found him half-dressed.

  What in heaven’s name had come over her? She did not react to men this way. She just didn’t. Oh, she dated once in a while. She wasn’t a complete hermit, contrary to what her brothers teased her about. She enjoyed the occasional dinner or movie out, but she usually worked hard to keep things casual and fun. The few times a guy had tried to push for more, she had felt panicky and pressured and had done her best to discourage him.

  She couldn’t remember having such an instant and powerful reaction to a man, this immediate curl of desire. She certainly wasn’t used to this jittery, off-balance feeling, as if she were teetering in the loft door of the barn, gearing up to jump into the big pile of hay below.

  Ridiculous. She wasn’t even sure she liked Ben Caldwell yet. She certainly wasn’t ready to jump into any pile of hay with him, literally or figuratively.

  “I’m sure it’s fine,” he answered. “If it has three bedrooms and a halfway decent kitchen for Mrs. Michaels, I don’t care about much else.”

  She drew in a breath and subtly shifted to ease her shoulder away from his. “For all you know, it might be a hovel. You would be surprised at the living conditions some ranchers force on their workers.”

  “I would like to think you wouldn’t have suggested it if you didn’t think it would work for my family.”

  “That’s trusting of you. You don’t know anything about me. For all you know, maybe I make it a habit of bilking unsuspecting newcomers out of their rent money.”

  “Since we’re talking about trad
ing veterinary services for rent, that’s not an issue, is it? But if you insist, I guess I could stop by your ranch later this morning after Joni comes in to relieve me. She’s coming in around ten.”

  “That should work. I should have just enough time to rush back there and hide all the mousetraps and roach motels.”

  This time he laughed outright, as she had intended. It was a full, rich sound that shimmied down her spine as if he’d pressed his lips there.

  This was a gigantic mistake. Why had she ever opened her big, stupid mouth about the foreman’s cottage in the first place? The last thing she needed on the ranch right now was a gorgeous man with a sexy chest and a delicious laugh.

  “Should I help you take Luke outside before I go?”

  He seemed to know she was doing her best to change the subject. “No. I can handle it.”

  She nodded. “I’ll see you in a bit, okay?” she said, rubbing the dog’s head again. “You need to stay here just a little longer and then you can come home.”

  Luke whined as if he knew she were going to leave. It was tough but she shut the crate door again.

  “You know he’ll probably never be a working dog now. I set the bones as well as I could, but he’ll never be fast enough or strong enough to do what he used to.”

  “We’re not so cruel that we’ll make him sing for his supper, Dr. Caldwell. We’ll still find a place for him on the River Bow, whether he can work the cattle or not. We have plenty of other animals who live on in comfortable retirement.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” he answered.

  She firmly ignored his disreputable smile and the jumping nerves it set off in her stomach.

  “Thanks again for everything. I guess I’ll see you later.”

  She headed to the door, but to her dismay, he beat her to it and held it open, leaving her no choice but to brush past him on her way out. She ignored the little shiver of awareness, just as she had ignored all the others.

  She could do this, she told herself. It would only be for a few weeks and she likely would see far more of his housekeeper and children than she would Ben, especially if he consistently maintained these sorts of hours.