A Cold Creek Noel. RaeAnne Thayne

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?”