A Cold Creek Noel (The Cowboys of Cold Creek) Read Online Free PDF Page B

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