A Cold Creek Noel (The Cowboys of Cold Creek) (2 page)

“Can I go back and find him?” the girl asked.

“Because Joni isn’t out here either, they must both be busy. He
won’t want to be bothered. You two sit down here and I’ll go back to let him
know we’re here.”

“I could go,” the girl said a little sulkily, but she plopped
onto the bench across from Caidy. Like father, like daughter, she thought. This
was obviously the new vet’s family, and his daughter, at least, seemed to share
more than blue eyes with her father.

“Sit down,” the girl ordered her brother. The boy didn’t quite
stick his tongue out at his sister, but it was a close one. Instead, he ignored
her—probably a much worse insult, if Caidy remembered her own childhood with
three pesky brothers—and wandered over to stand directly in front of Caidy.

The little boy had a widow’s peak in his brown hair and huge
dark-lashed blue eyes. A Caldwell trait, apparently.

“Hi.” He beamed at her. “I’m Jack Caldwell. My sister’s name is
Ava. Who are you?”

“My name is Caidy,” she answered.

“My dad’s a dog doctor.”

“Not just dogs,” the girl corrected. “He’s also a cat doctor.
And sometimes even horses and cows.”

“I know,” Caidy answered. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Is your dog sick?” Jack asked her.

“In a way. He was hurt on our ranch. Your dad is working on him
now.”

“He’s really good,” the girl said with obvious pride. “I bet
your dog will be just fine.”

“I hope so.”

“Our dog was hit by a car once and my dad fixed him and now
he’s all better,” Jack said. “Well, except he only has three legs. His name is
Tri. My dad says it’s ’cause he always tries hard, even though he only has three
legs.”

Despite her worry, she managed a smile, more than a little
charmed by the boy—and by the idea of the taciturn veterinarian showing any hint
of sweetness.

“Tri means three,” Ava informed her in a haughty sort of tone.
“You know, like a
tri
cycle has three wheels.”

“Good to know.”

Before the children could say anything else, the older woman
came back through the door leading out of the treatment room, her features set
in a rueful smile.

“Looks like we’re on our own for dinner, kids. Your dad is busy
fixing an injured dog and he’s going to be a while. We’ll just go catch some
dinner and then head back to the hotel for homework and bed.”

“You’re staying at the Cold Creek Inn, aren’t you?” Caidy
asked.

The other woman looked a bit wary as she nodded. “I’m sorry.
Have we met?”

“I’m Caidy Bowman. My sister-in-law Laura runs the inn.”

“You’re Chief Bowman’s sister?” There was a definite warmth in
the woman’s voice now, Caidy noticed wryly. Her charmer of a brother often had
that effect on those of the female persuasion, no matter their age.

“I am. Both Chief Bowmans.” With one brother who was the police
chief and the other who headed up the fire department, not much exciting
happened in town without someone in her family being in the thick of it.

“How nice to meet you. I’m Anne Michaels. I’m Dr. Caldwell’s
housekeeper. Or I will be when he finally gets into his house. With the maids at
the inn cleaning our rooms for us, there’s not much for me to do in that
department. Right now I’m just the nanny, I suppose.”

“Oh?”

The woman apparently didn’t need any more encouragement than
that simple syllable. “Dr. Caldwell is building a house on Cold Creek Road. He
was supposed to close on it last week, but the contractor ran into some problems
and here we are, still staying at the inn. Which is lovely, don’t get me wrong,
but it’s still a hotel. After three weeks, all of us are a little tired of it.
And now it looks like we’ll be there until after the New Year. Christmas in a
hotel. Can you imagine such a thing?”

Maybe that explained the man’s grouchiness. She felt a little
pang of sympathy, then she remembered how he had basically shoved her out of the
treatment area. No, he was probably born with that temperament. He and Festus
would get along just fine.

“It must be very frustrating for all of you.”

“You don’t know the half of it. Two children in a hotel, even a
couple of rooms, for all those weeks is just too much. They need space to run.
All children do. Why, in San Jose, the children had a huge backyard, complete
with a pool and a swing set that rivaled the equipment at the nearest park.”

“Is that where you’re from, then? California?”

Anne Michaels nodded and Caidy thought she saw a note of
wistfulness in the woman’s eyes that didn’t bode well for the chances of Dr.
Caldwell’s housekeeper-slash-nanny sticking around in Pine Gulch.

Anne watched the children, who were paying them no heed as they
played a game on an electronic device Ava had pulled out of her backpack.

“Yes. I’m from California, born and bred. Not Dr. Caldwell.
He’s from back East. Chicago way. But he left everything without a backward look
to head west for veterinary school at UC-Davis and that’s where he met the late
Mrs. Caldwell. They hired me to help out around the house when she was pregnant
with little Jack there and I’ve been with them ever since. Those poor children
needed me more than ever after their mother died. Dr. Caldwell too. That was a
terrible time, I tell you.”

“I’m sure.”

“When he decided to move here to Idaho, he gave me the option
of leaving his employment with a glowing recommendation, but I just couldn’t do
it. I love those children, you know?”

Caidy could relate. She loved her niece Destry as fiercely as
if the girl were her own. Stepping in to help raise her after her mother walked
out on Ridge and their daughter had created a powerful bond between them as
unshakable as the Tetons.

“I’m sure you do.”

Anne Michaels gave a rueful shake of her head. “Look at me,
going on to a perfect stranger. Staying at that hotel all these weeks is making
me batty!”

“Perhaps you could find a temporary rental situation until the
house is finished,” she suggested.

“That’s what I wanted to do but Ben doesn’t think we can find
anyone willing to rent us a place for only a few weeks, especially over the
holidays.”

Caidy thought of the foreman’s cottage, empty for the past six
months since the young married couple Ridge had hired to help around the ranch
had moved on to take a job at a Texas ranch.

It was furnished with three bedrooms and would probably fit the
Caldwells’ needs perfectly, but she was hesitant to mention it. She didn’t like
the man. Why on earth would she want him living only a quarter mile away?

“I could ask around for you if you’d like. We have a few
vacation rentals in town that might be available. At least it might give you a
little breathing space over the holidays until the house is finished.”

“How kind you are!” Mrs. Michaels exclaimed.

A fine guilt pinched at her. If she were truly kind, she would
immediately offer the foreman’s cottage.

“Everyone here in Pine Gulch has been so nice and welcoming to
us,” the woman went on.

“I hope you feel at home here.”

Again that wistfulness drifted across the woman’s features like
an autumn leaf tossed by the breeze, but she blinked it away. “I’m guessing the
dog Dr. Caldwell is working on back there is yours, then.”

Caidy nodded. “He had a run-in with a bull. When you pit a
forty-pound dog against a ton of beef, the bull usually wins.”

She should be back there with him. Darn it. If she were better
at handling confrontations, she would have told Dr. Arrogant that she wasn’t
going anywhere. Instead, she was sitting out here fretting.

“He’s a wonderful veterinarian, my dear. I’m sure your pet will
be better before you know it.”

The border collies at the River Bow Ranch weren’t exactly
pets—they were a vital part of the workload. Except for Sadie, anyway, who was
too old to work the cattle anymore. She didn’t bother to correct the woman, nor
did she express any of her own doubts about the new veterinarian’s
competence.

“I’m hungry, Mrs. Michaels. When are we going to eat?” Bored
with the game apparently, Jack had wandered back to them.

“I think your father is going to be busy for a while yet. Why
don’t you and Ava and I go find something? Perhaps dinner at the café tonight
would be fun and we can pick something up for your father for later.”

“Can I have one of the sweet rolls?” he asked, his eyes
lighting up as if it were already Christmas morning.

The housekeeper laughed. “We’ll have to see about that. I’d say
the café’s business in sweet rolls has tripled since we came to town, thanks to
you alone.”

“They are delish,” Caidy agreed, smiling at the very cute
boy.

Mrs. Michaels rose to her feet with a creak and a pop of some
joint. “It was lovely to meet you, Caidy Bowman.”

“I’m happy to meet you too. And I’ll keep my eye out for a
suitable vacation rental.”

“You’ll need to take that up with Dr. Caldwell, but thank
you.”

The woman seemed to be efficient, Caidy thought as she watched
her herd the children out the door.

The reception room seemed even more bleak and colorless after
the trio left. Though it was just past six, the night was already dark on this,
one of the shortest days of the year. Caidy fidgeted, leafing aimlessly through
her magazine for a few moments longer, then finally closed it with a rustle of
pages and tossed it back onto the pile.

Darn it. That was her dog back there. She couldn’t sit out here
doing nothing. At the very least she deserved to know what was going on. She
gathered her courage, took a deep breath and pushed through the door.

Chapter Two

B
en made the last stitch to close the
incision on the puncture wound, his head throbbing and his shoulders tight from
the long day that had started with an emergency call to treat an ailing horse at
four in the morning.

He would have loved a nice evening with his kids and then a few
hours of zone-out time watching basketball on the hotel television set. Even if
he had to turn the sound low so he didn’t wake up Jack, the idea sounded
heavenly.

The past week had been a rough one, busy and demanding. This
was what he wanted, he reminded himself. Even though the workload was heavy, he
finally had the chance to build his own practice, to forge new relationships and
become part of a community.

“There. That should do it for now.”

“What a mess. After seeing how close that puncture wound was to
the liver, I can’t believe he survived,” Joni said.

He didn’t want to admit to his assistant—who, after three
weeks, still seemed to approve of the job he was doing—that the dog’s condition
was still touch and go.

“I think he’s going to make it,” she went on, ever the
optimist. “Unlike that poor Newfoundland earlier.”

All his frustration of earlier in the afternoon came surging
back as he began dressing the wound. A tragedy, that was. The beautiful dog had
jumped out of the back of a moving pickup truck and been hit by the car driving
behind it.

That dog hadn’t been as lucky as Luke here. Her injuries were
just too severe and she had died on this very treatment table.

What had really pissed him off had been the attitude of the
owner, more concerned at the loss of all the money he had invested in the animal
than in the loss of life.

“Neither accident would have happened if not for irresponsible
owners.”

Joni, busy cleaning up the inevitable mess he always left
behind during a surgery, looked a little surprised at his vehemence.

“I agree when it comes to Artie Palmer. He’s an idiot who
should have his privileges to own any animals revoked. But not Caidy Bowman.
She’s the last one I would call an irresponsible owner. She trains dogs and
horses at the River Bow. Nobody around here does a better job.”

“She didn’t train this one very well, did she, if he was
running wild and tangled with a bull?”

“Apparently not.”

He turned at the new voice and found the dog’s owner standing
in the doorway from the reception area, her lovely features taut. He swore under
his breath. He meant what he said, but he supposed it didn’t need to be said to
her.

“I thought I suggested you wait in the other room.”

“A suggestion? Is that what you city vets call that?” She
shrugged. “I’m not particularly good at doing as I’m told, Dr. Caldwell.”

Sometime during the process of caring for her dog, Ben had come
to the uncomfortable realization that he had acted like a jerk to her. He never
insisted owners wait outside the treatment room unless he thought they might
have weak stomachs. So why had he changed policy for Caidy Bowman?

Something about her made him a little nervous. He couldn’t
quite put a finger on it, but it might have something to do with those
impossibly green eyes and the sweet little tilt to her mouth.

“We just finished. I was about to call you back.”

“I’m glad I finally disregarded your strongly worded
suggestion,
then. May I?”

He gestured agreement and she approached the table, where the
dog was still working off the effects of the anesthesia.

“There’s my brave boy. Oh, Luke.” She smoothed a hand over the
dog’s head. The dog’s eyes opened slightly then closed again and his breathing
slowed, as if he could rest comfortably now, knowing she was near.

“It will probably take another half hour or so for the rest of
the anesthesia to wear off and then we’ll have to keep him here, at least
overnight.”

“Will someone stay with him?”

At his practice in San Jose, he and a technician would
alternate stopping in every few hours through the night when they had very ill
dogs staying at the clinic, but he hadn’t had time yet to get fully staffed.

He nodded, watching his plans for a nice steak dinner and a
basketball game in the hotel room go up in smoke. He had become pretty used to
the cot in his office lately. Whatever would he do without Mrs. Michaels?

“Someone will be here with him. Don’t worry about that.”

A look of surprise flickered in her eyes. He couldn’t figure
out why for a moment, until he realized she was reacting to his soft tone. He
really must have been a jackass to her.

“I’m sorry about...earlier.” Apologies didn’t come easily. He
could probably thank his stiff, humorless grandfather for that, but this one
seemed necessary. “About not letting you come in during the treatment, I mean. I
should have. And about what I said just now. I’m usually not so...harsh. It’s
been a particularly hard day and I’m afraid I may have been taking it out on
you.”

She blinked a little but concealed her emotions behind an
impassive look. For some reason, that made him feel even more like an idiot, a
sensation he didn’t like at all.

“You were able to save his leg. I thought for sure you would
have to amputate.”

“He wouldn’t be much use as a ranch dog, then, would he?”

Her look was as cool as the December night. “Probably not.
Isn’t it a good thing that’s not the only thing that matters to me?”

So she wasn’t like his previous client, who hadn’t cared about
his injured dog—only dollars and cents.

“I was able to pin the leg for now, but there’s no guarantee it
will heal properly. We still might have to take it. He was lucky, if you want
the truth. Insanely lucky. I don’t know how he made it through a run-in with a
bull in one piece. His injuries could have been much worse.”

“What about where he was gored?”

“The bull missed all vital organs. The puncture wound is only a
couple inches deep. I guess the bull wasn’t that serious.”

“You would think otherwise if you had been there. He definitely
was seeing red. After I pulled the dog out, he rammed the fence so hard he
knocked one of the poles out of its foundation.”

She
pulled the dog out? Crazy
woman, to mess with a bull on a rampage. What was she thinking?

“Looks like he’s coming around,” he said, not about to enter
that particular fray.

The dog whimpered and Caidy Bowman leaned down, her dark hair
almost a match to the dog’s coat. “Hey there. You’re in a fix now, aren’t you,
Luke-my-boy. You’ll be all right. I know it hurts now and you’re confused and
scared but Dr. Caldwell fixed you up and before you know it you’ll be running
around the ranch with King and Sadie and all the others.”

Though he had paperwork to complete, he couldn’t seem to wrench
himself away. He stood watching her interact with the dog and winced to himself
at how quickly he had misjudged her. By the gentleness of her tone and the
comforting way she smoothed a hand over his fur, it was obvious the woman cared
about her animal and was not inexperienced with injuries.

Next time maybe he wouldn’t be quick to make surly comments
when he was having a miserable day.

She smelled delicious, like vanilla splashed on wildflowers.
The scent of her drifted to him, a bright counterpoint to the sometimes
unpleasant smells of a busy veterinary clinic.

It was an unsettling discovery. He didn’t want to notice
anything about her. Not the sweet way she smelled or the elegant curve of her
neck or how, when she tucked her hair behind her ear, she unveiled a tiny beauty
mark just below the lobe...

He caught the direction of his thoughts and shut them down,
appalled at himself. He forced himself to move away and block the sound of her
low voice crooning to the dog.

He had almost forgotten about his technician until she came out
of the employee changing room, shoving her arms through the sleeves of her
parka. “Do you mind if I go? I’m sorry. It’s just past six-thirty and I’m
supposed to be at my Bible study Christmas party in half an hour and I still
have to run home and pick up my cookies for the swap.”

“No. Get out of here. I’m sorry I kept you late.”

“Wasn’t your fault.”

“Blame my curious dog,” Caidy said with an apologetic smile
that didn’t mask the concern in her eyes.

Joni shrugged. “Accidents happen, especially on a ranch.”

Ben felt another twist of guilt. She was right. Even the most
careful pet owner couldn’t prevent everything.

“Thanks, Ben. You both have a good night,” Joni said.

“I’ll walk you out,” he said.

She rolled her eyes—this was an argument they had been having
since he arrived. His clinic in San Jose hadn’t been in the best part of the
city and he would always make sure the women who worked for him made it safely
to their cars in the parking lot.

It was probably an old-fashioned habit, but when he had been in
vet school, a fellow student and friend had been assaulted on the way to her car
after a late-night class and had ended up dropping out of school.

The cold air outside the clinic blew a little bit of energy
into him. The snow of earlier had slowed to just a few flurries. The few houses
around his clinic blinked their cheerful holiday lights and he regretted again
that he hadn’t strung a few strands in the window of the clinic.

Joni’s SUV was covered in snow and he helped her brush it
off.

“Thank you, Dr. Caldwell,” Joni said with a smile. “You’re the
only employer I’ve ever had who scrapes my windows.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you right now,” he said
truthfully. “I just don’t want you getting into an accident on the way
home.”

“Thanks. Have a good night. Call me if you need me to spell you
during the night.”

He nodded and waved her off, then returned to the office
invigorated from the cold air. He pulled open the door and caught the
incongruous notes of a soft melody.

Caidy was humming, he realized. He paused to listen and it took
just a moment for him to recognize the tune as “Greensleeves.” He was afraid to
move, not wanting to intrude on the moment. The notes seemed to seep through
him, sweet and pure and somehow peaceful amid the harsh lights and complicated
equipment of the clinic.

Judging by her humming, he would guess Caidy Bowman had a
lovely voice.

He didn’t think he had made a sound, but she somehow sensed him
anyway. She looked up and a delicate pink flush washed over her cheeks. “Sorry.
You must think I’m ridiculous, humming to a dog. He started to get agitated
and...it seemed to calm him.”

No surprise there. The melody had done the same to
him.
“Looks like he’s sleeping again. I can take
things from here if you need to go.”

She looked uncertain. “I could stay. My brother and niece can
handle chores tonight for the rest of my animals.”

“We’ve got this covered. Don’t worry. He’ll be well taken care
of, Ms. Bowman.”

“Just Caidy. Please. No one calls me Ms. anything.”

“Caidy, then.”

“Is someone coming to relieve you?”

“I’m not fully staffed yet and Joni has her party tonight and
then her husband and kids to get back to. No big deal. I have a cot in my
office. I should be fine. When we have overnight emergency cases, I make do
there.”

He had again succeeded in surprising her, he saw.

“What about your children?” she asked.

“They’ll be fine with Mrs. Michaels. It’s only for a
night.”

“I... Thank you.”

“You’ll have a hefty bill for overnight care,” he warned.

“I expected it. I worked here a decade ago and know how much
things used to cost—and I’ve seen those charges go up in the years since.” She
paused. “I hate to leave him.”

“He’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Come on. I’ll walk you out.”

“Is that a service you provide for every female who comes
through your office?”

Close enough. “I need to lock up anyway.”

She gathered her coat and shrugged into it, and then he led her
back the way he had just come. The moon was filtering through the clouds,
painting lovely patterns of pale light on the new snow.

Caidy Bowman drove a well-used late-model pickup truck with a
king cab that was covered in mud. Bales of hay were stacked two high in the
back.

“Be careful. The roads are likely to be slick after the snows
of earlier.”

“I’ve been driving these roads since before I turned sixteen. I
can handle a little snow.”

“I’m sure you can. I just don’t want you to be the next one in
need of stitching.”

“Not much chance of that, but thank you for your concern. And
for all you’ve done today. I’m sorry you won’t see much of your children.”

“The clinic is closed tomorrow. I can spend the whole day with
them. I suppose we’ll have to go look for a temporary furnished house somewhere
or I’m going to have a mutiny on my hands from Mrs. Michaels, which would be a
nightmare.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again, and he had the
distinct impression she was waging some internal debate. Her gaze shifted to the
door they had just exited through and back to him, then she drew in a
breath.

“We have an empty foreman’s cottage on the River Bow where you
could stay.”

The words spilled out of her, almost as if she had been trying
to hold them back. He barely noticed, stunned by the offer.

“It’s nothing fancy but it’s fully furnished,” she went on
quickly. “It does only have three bedrooms, but if you took one and Mrs.
Michaels took the other, the children could share.”

“Whoa. Hold on. How do you know Mrs. Michaels? And who told you
we might be looking for a place?”

“We met in the waiting room earlier. I knew you were staying at
the inn because my sister-in-law Laura runs it.”

If not for that moment of sweetness when he had found her
humming a soothing song to her dog, he would have had a tough time believing the
warm and welcoming innkeeper could be any relation to this prickly woman.