A Cold Creek Noel (The Cowboys of Cold Creek)

by Thayne, RaeAnne

  “Shouldn’t be a problem. It’s a big roast and I can always throw in a few more potatoes and add more carrots. Who did you invite?”

  He shrugged. “Just the new vet and his kids.”

  Just the new vet? The man she happened to have tangled lips with in this very kitchen twelve hours earlier? The very man she was trying to shove out of her brain. She opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out except an embarrassing sort of squeak.

  “He was out shoveling when I cleared the drive with the tractor and we started chatting. I mentioned dinner and then the sleigh ride after and asked if they would like to join us.”

  She suddenly wanted to take the ball of dough in her hand and fling it at her brother. How could he do this to her? She had warned him not to get any ideas in his head about matchmaking, yet here he was doing exactly that.

  She supposed she shouldn’t be so surprised. All three of her brothers seemed to think their mission in life was to set her up with some big, gorgeous cowboy. Ben wasn’t exactly a cowboy, but he had the big and gorgeous parts down.

  How was she supposed to sit across the dinner table from the man when all she could remember was the silky slide of his tongue against hers, the hardness of those muscles against her, his sexy, ragged breathing as he tasted her mouth?

  “You don’t mind, do you?”

  She would have laughed if she suddenly wasn’t feeling queasy.

  “No. Why should I mind?” she muttered, while in her head she went through about a dozen reasons. Starting and ending with that kiss.

  “That’s what I figured. You and Becca and Laura are always making way too much food. Inviting the vet and his family for dinner seemed like a nice way to welcome them to the ranch. And I figured his kids might get a charge out of going with us on the sleigh ride later.”

  Of all her three brothers, Ridge was the most taciturn. His failed marriage and the burden of responsibility that came with running the family ranch while the twins pursued other interests made him seem hard sometimes, but he also showed these flashes of kindness that tugged at her heart.

  “I’m sure they will. It’s bound to be something new and exciting for a couple of kids from California. They probably don’t have much snow where they’re from.”

  “Awesome!” Destry exclaimed. “I hope they’re good singers.”

  Right. Singing and Ben Caldwell. Two things she should avoid at all costs thrown right in her face. This should prove to be a very interesting evening.

  Chapter Seven

  “Do you think Alex and Maya will be there?”

  “It’s a good bet, kid,” Ben told his son as the three of them walked down the plowed lane through the gentle snowfall toward the ranch house. The snow muted all sounds, even the low gurgle of the creek, on the other side of the trees that formed an oxbow around the ranch.

  The cold air smelled of hay and pine and woodsmoke. He breathed deeply, thinking it had been far too long since he had taken time to just savor his surroundings. The River Bow was unexpectedly serene, with the mix of aspens and pine and the mountains soaring to the east.

  “I hope Gabi is there,” Ava said, looking more enthusiastic about the outing than she had about anything in a long time. “She’s superfunny.”

  “I’m sure she will be. Ridge said their whole family was coming for dinner and she’s part of the family.”

  He and his kids, however, were not. They were only temporary guests and he probably had no business dragging his children to their family dinner, especially after the events of the night before.

  He should have said no. Ridge Bowman took him by surprise with the invitation while they were out clearing snow and he had been so caught off guard, he hadn’t known quite how to reply.

  The kids would enjoy it. He had known that from the get-go. He was fairly sure he wouldn’t. He didn’t mind socializing. Brooke had loved to throw parties and some part of him had missed that since her death. But this party was obviously a family thing and he hated to impose.

  If that wasn’t enough, he also wasn’t ready to face a certain woman yet—Caidy Bowman, of the soft curves and the silky hair and the warm mouth that tasted like cocoa and heaven.

  That kiss, coming on the heels of his vivid, sexy dream about her, left him aching and restless. He hadn’t slept at all after he left her house. He had tossed and turned and punched his pillow until he had finally gotten up at 6:00 a.m., before the children, and started shoveling snow to burn away some of this edgy hunger. Mother Nature had dumped quite a bit of snow throughout the day, so he had plenty of chances to work it off.

  That kiss. He had wanted to drown in it, just yank her against him and tease and taste and explore until they were both shaking with need. Somehow he knew she would respond just as he had dreamed, with soft, eager enthusiasm.

  How did a guy engage in casual chitchat with a woman after he had kissed her like that without wanting to do it all over again?

  Despite the December chill, he unzipped his coat. He probably couldn’t do much about his overheated imagination, but the rest of him didn’t need to simmer.

  A couple of dogs came up to greet them as they approached the house and Jack eased behind him. Though his son saw plenty of strange dogs at the clinic, he was often apprehensive around animals he didn’t know. A large, untrained mastiff had cornered him once at the clinic a few years earlier, intent only on friendliness, but Jack had been justifiably frightened by the encounter and wary ever since.

  “They won’t hurt you, Jack. See, both of their tails are wagging. They just want to say hi.”

  “I don’t want to,” Jack said, hiding even further behind him.

  “You don’t have to, then. Ava, can you carry the bag with Mrs. Michaels’s salad and toffee while I give your brother a lift?”

  She grabbed the bag away from him and hurried ahead while he scooped up his son and set him on his shoulders for the last hundred yards of the walk, much to Jack’s delight. It wouldn’t be long before the boy grew too large for this but for now they both enjoyed it, even with his son’s snowy boots hitting his chest.

  In the gathering dusk, the log ranch house was lit up with icicle lights that dripped from the eaves and around the porch. People on the coast would pay serious money for the chance to spend Christmas here at a picturesque cattle ranch in the oxbow of a world-class fly-fishing creek.

  Several unfamiliar vehicles were parked in the circular driveway in front of the ranch house and that awkwardness returned. If not for his children’s anticipation, he probably would have turned on his heels and headed back to the cottage.

  Ava reached the porch before they did and skipped up the stairs to ring the doorbell. As Ben and Jack reached the steps a woman he didn’t know with dark hair and a winsome smile answered. “You must be the new veterinarian. Ridge mentioned you and your family were joining us. Hi. I’m Becca Bowman, married to Trace. Come in out of the snow.”

  He walked inside and went to work divesting the children of their abundance of outerwear: coats, gloves, hats, scarves and boots. Becca gathered them all up and set them inside a large closet under the curving log staircase.

  “Are you Gabi’s mom?” Ava asked, sitting on the bottom step to slip out of her boots.

  “I’m her big sister actually. It’s a long story. But I guess in every way that matters, I’m her mother.”

  An intriguing story. He wondered at the details but decided they weren’t important. Becca
had obviously stepped up to raise her sister and he couldn’t help but find that admirable.

  “Where is Gabi?” Ava asked eagerly.

  “She and Destry are around somewhere. They’ll be so excited to see you. They’ve been waiting impatiently for you to get here for the past hour.”

  Ava beamed with an enthusiasm that had been missing for far too long. Maybe staying here at the ranch near a friend for a few weeks would be good for her. Maybe it would finally help her resign herself to their move to Idaho, to the distance now between her and her grandparents.

  “Last I saw them, they were playing a video game in the den. Straight down that hall and to the left.”

  Ava took off, with Jack close on her heels. He thought about calling them back but decided to let them figure things out. Kids usually did a much better job of that than adults.

  “I think dinner is nearly ready,” Becca said to him. “Come on into the great room and I’m sure one of the boys can hook you up with something to drink.”

  She led him into a huge room dominated by a massive angled wall of windows and the big Christmas tree he had seen glimmering from outside as they approached. Where was Caidy? he wondered, then was embarrassed at himself for looking for her straight away.

  Her brother Ridge headed over immediately with a cold beer. “Hey, Doc Caldwell. Glad you could make it.”

  At least one of them was. “Thanks.”

  “Have you met my brothers?” Ridge asked.

  “I know Chief Bowman. Fire Chief Bowman,” he corrected. He could only imagine how confusing that must be for the town, to have a fire chief and police chief who were not only brothers but identical twins.

  “You’ve deserted us at the inn, I understand,” Taft Bowman said.

  He winced. The only thing that bothered him worse than being obligated to Caidy was knowing he had checked out prematurely from the Cold Creek Inn. “Sorry. We were bursting at the seams there.”

  “Oh, no worries about that. Laura’s already booked your rooms through the holiday. She had to turn away several guests in the past few weeks and ended up contacting some of them who wanted to be on standby. They were thrilled at the last-minute cancellation.”

  He had expected the immensely popular inn would do just fine without his business. “That’s a relief.”

  “She’s been saying for a week how she thought your kids needed to be in a real house for the holidays. She was thrilled when Caidy talked to her about having you stay here. As soon as she hung up the phone, she said she couldn’t believe she’d never thought of the foreman’s cottage out here.”

  “I’m already missing those delicious breakfasts at the inn,” he said. That was true enough, though Mrs. Michaels was also an excellent cook and had taken great delight just that morning in preparing pancakes from scratch and her famous fluffy scrambled eggs.

  In his three weeks of staying at the Cold Creek Inn, Laura Bowman had struck him as an extraordinarily kind woman. The whole family, really, had welcomed him and his children to town with warm generosity.

  “The guy over there on his cell phone is my husband, Trace,” Becca said. “He’s the police chief and is lucky enough to be off duty tonight, though his deputies often forget that.”

  The man in question waved and smiled a greeting but continued on the phone. Ben suddenly remembered the toffee and pulled out the tin. “Where would you like me to put this?”

  “You didn’t have to fix anything,” Becca scolded.

  “I didn’t have anything to do with it,” he admitted. “My housekeeper did all the heavy lifting. She sends her apologies, by the way. She would have come but she needed to take a call from her daughter. She’s expecting her first grandchild and the separation has been difficult.”

  He felt more than a little guilty about that. Anne had come with them to Idaho willingly enough but he knew she missed her daughter, especially during this exciting, nerve-racking time of impending birth. They communicated via videoconferencing often, but it wasn’t the same as face-to-face interaction.

  “Let’s just set it on the table here. Wow. I’ve got to taste some first. I love toffee.”

  “Ooh, send some this way,” Taft said, so Becca passed the tin of candy around to all the brothers.

  “She also made a salad. Greek pasta.”

  “That sounds delicious too. I’ll take it in to see where Caidy wants it.”

  “I can do that.” His words—and anticipation to see her again—came out of nowhere. “I should probably check in on my patient while I’m here anyway.”

  “Okay. Sure. Just through the hall and around the corner.”

  He remembered. He had a feeling every detail of the Bowman kitchen would be etched in his memory for a very long time.

  When he entered, his gaze immediately went to Caidy, and the restlessness that had dogged him all day seemed to ease. She stood at the stove with her hair tucked into a loose ponytail, wearing an apron over jeans and a crisp white shirt.

  She looked pretty and fresh, and something soft and warm seemed to unfurl inside him.

  She must have sensed his presence, though it was obvious she was spinning a dozen different plates. She glanced around and he saw her cheeks turn pink, though he wasn’t certain if it was from the heat of the stove or the memory of the kiss they had shared in this very room.

  “Oh. Hi. You’re here.”

  “Yes. I’ve brought a salad. Greek pasta. My housekeeper made it, actually. And toffee. I brought toffee too.”

  Good grief. Could he sound any more like an idiot?

  “That’s great. Thank you. The salad can go on the buffet in the dining room. I don’t imagine the toffee will last long with my brothers around.”

  “They were already working on it,” he said.

  “Oh, man. I love toffee. They know it, too, but do you think they’re going to save me any? Highly doubtful. It’s going to be gone before I get a taste.”

  “I’ll have Mrs. Michaels make more for you,” he offered, his voice gruff.

  She smiled. “That’s sweet of you. Or I could just arm wrestle my brothers for the last piece.”

  “Right.” He cleared his throat. “Uh, I’ll just take this into the dining room.”

  This was stupid. Why couldn’t he talk to her? Yes, she was a beautiful, desirable woman who had moaned in his arms just a few hours earlier, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t carry on a semi-intelligent conversation with her.

  Determined to do just that, after he had taken the salad into the dining room he returned to the kitchen instead of seeking the safety of the great room with the rest of the Bowmans.

  Caidy looked surprised to see him again so soon.

  “I wanted to check on Luke,” he explained.

  “He seems to be feeling better. I moved him into my room so he has a chance to rest during all the commotion of dinner.”

  “You mind if I take a look at him?”

  She glanced up, surprise in her eyes. “Really? You don’t have to do that. Ridge didn’t invite you to dinner to get free vet care out of the deal.”

  Why had Ridge invited him? He had been wondering that all afternoon. “I’m here. I might as well see how he’s progressing.”

  “Can I take over stirring the gravy so you can show Ben to your room?”

  For the first time, he noticed Laura Bowman, who had been standing on the other side of the kitchen slicing olives.

  “Thank you. It should be done in just a
few minutes.”

  Caidy washed her hands, then tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, nibbling her lip between her teeth just enough to remind him of how that lip had tasted between his own teeth and sent blood pooling in his groin.

  She led the way down the hall to a door just off the kitchen and he heard a little bark from inside the room just before she pushed open the door.

  He had a vague impression of, not so much fussiness, as feminine softness. A lavender-and-brown quilt and a flurry of pillows covered a queen-size bed, and lace curtains spilled from the windows. His gaze was drawn to a lovely oil painting of horses grazing in a flower-strewn field that looked as if it could be somewhere on the River Bow. It hung on the wall at the foot of the bed, the first thing she must see upon awakening and drifting off to sleep.

  He shouldn’t be so interested in where she slept—or what she might dream about—he ordered himself, and he quickly shifted attention to the dog. The border collie was lying beside the bed near the window, in the same enclosure he had rested in while in the kitchen.

  When he saw Caidy, Luke wagged his tail and tried to get up but she bent over and rested a comforting hand on his head. He immediately subsided as if she had tranquilized him.

  “Look who’s here. It’s our friend Dr. Caldwell. Aren’t you glad to see him?”

  Because he had spent two hours operating on the dog and shoved a needle into his lungs a few hours earlier, Ben highly doubted he ranked very high on the animal’s list of favorite humans, but he wasn’t going to argue with her.

  “No more breathing trouble?”

  “No. He slept like a rock the rest of the night and has been sleeping most of the day.”

  “That’s the best thing for him.”

  “That’s what I figured. I’ve been keeping his pain medication on a consistent schedule. Ridge has been helping me carry him outside for his business.”

  He stepped over the enclosure and knelt inside so he could run his hand over the dog. Though he focused on his patient, some part of him was aware the whole time of her watching him intently.