The Maverick's Snowbound Christmas. Karen Rose Smith

pregnant Newfoundland once. Ever since then, I’ve kept up my strength. It comes in handy at times like these.”

      He beckoned to the tack room. “Come on, let’s finish our lunch. Maybe nibbling on those cookies will help us forget about the wind howling outside. Are you nervous being in here?”

      Following him to the warmest spot in the barn, she sat in the captain’s chair and watched as he poured coffee into the top of the thermos and handed that cup to her. He used a foam cup for himself.

      “Nervous?” she asked. “You mean about the storm?”

      “About the storm, about being cooped up in here with a relative stranger, about not knowing when you’ll get out.”

      She motioned to the heater. “We have heat.” She gestured to the cookie tin. “We have food.” She pointed to the water. “We even have bottled water. That’s more than a lot of people have on a daily basis. I think we’ll survive. No, I’m not nervous.” Though if she was really honest with herself, being this close to Eli in a confined space caused the jitters to plague her.

      “How long did it take you to gentle Amber?” Conversation seemed the best way to calm them. She had to admit she wanted to know Eli better.

      “It depends on what you mean by gentling,” he explained. “It took about a week until she would come to the fence when I called. I just sat there and spoke to her in a low voice, not expecting anything from her. The next part of the gentling was treats. A hungry horse will want to get to know you faster. I ordered those organic cookies that are supposed to be good for horses. She definitely needed her share of vitamins. She took to them. I’d hold out one of those and she’d come right up. She was still skittish, but after another week or so of that, she let me touch her. First her neck, then her flank, then her nose. I would just go outside and sit with her and whittle.”

      “Whittle?”

      He shrugged. “It’s just a hobby of mine.”

      “So you took time out of your daily schedule to spend with Amber?”

      “I did. How else was I going to get to know her, or let her get to know me?”

      Hadley pulled one of the cookies from the tin to give herself something to do and something else to think about other than the sound of Eli’s voice and the idea of him running a hand down Amber’s flank. The cookie was chocolate chip, and she took a bite and savored it. “Great cookies.”

      “My mom knows how to bake.”

      “Melba does, too,” Hadley said. “And she teaches me favorite recipes whenever I’m around her.”

      “Do you cook much for yourself?” Eli asked.

      Hadley shook her head. “I’m rarely at my place. Mostly I pick up takeout. Sometimes on weekends I’ll make a stew or soup, sticky buns or a loaf of bread. It isn’t that I don’t know how, it’s just that I don’t have time. I’m taking lessons for my pilot’s license now. I have even less leisure time than before.”

      For some reason, Eli frowned. “A pilot’s license. You sound like a woman who wants adventure.”

      Something about the edge to his voice told her he didn’t think that was a good thing. “I don’t know about wanting adventure. I just don’t want my life to be static. Piloting a small plane could help me reach patients at a greater distance, even the wild horses if they need medical care. I haven’t figured it all out yet. I just know I want to.” Changing the subject away from her life, she said, “I understand you have cousins staying here now.”

      “I do, but I’m not in the mix too much. I built a cabin on my chunk of the ranch in late summer, so I have privacy when I want it. My brother Jonah designed it, and I worked on it myself.”

      “Did you decorate it, too?” She could imagine that it was a bachelor pad with a requisite big-screen TV, recliner, king-size bed and not much else.

      But Eli answered her seriously. “My sister Kristen gave me some suggestions, but for the most part I went online and found the rest.”

      “You mean like stuff for the walls?”

      “Why sound so surprised?” he asked with amusement twinkling in his eyes. “I like art and pottery. There’s a wall hanging a friend of my mom’s made. Or are you more surprised that I know how to use a computer? I’m a rancher, Hadley, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have other skills.”

      He seemed insulted when he said it, and she’d never meant for anything she’d said to be an insult. But she must have touched some kind of nerve because he definitely had withdrawn.

      Taking a cookie from the tin, he stood. “If you could keep an eye on Amber, I’m going to check on the other horses. Just yell if you need me.” Then he gave her a look. “Yell if Amber needs me. I have the feeling you’re the type of woman who doesn’t need anyone.”

      Leaving her sitting there with her mouth practically open, he left.

      * * *

      Eli had to admit he didn’t know what had gotten into him. Maybe he’d just wanted to put some kind of wedge between himself and Hadley since they’d been thrown into this situation that had seemed to produce a potent attraction. Or maybe, truth be told, he’d never put his failed relationship with Elaine in the past. He thought he’d gotten over any insecurity he might have had about not going to college or seeking a higher education. At the time, he’d told himself it was an unnecessary expense and not essential to a good life. After all, he could read on his own, and he did. He knew about subjects from inorganic chemistry to horse husbandry, and he had traveled. He’d traveled with Elaine.

      When she’d left, any wanderlust he might have had went with her. Hadley, with her education and expertise and adventurous spirit, had reopened past wounds without even knowing it. It wasn’t her fault. She was who she was. The problem was—she was damned attractive. But she seemed to have an attitude that he was a cowboy, a rancher who couldn’t see farther than the end of his nose. That’s what had gotten under his skin. Granted, he was self-taught at computer skills, but he could master any program or app. He didn’t care about just barbed wire and the best boots to wear on the ranch.

      He was emptying a sack of feed into a bin when Hadley called to him. “Amber is down again.”

      Without hesitation, he rushed to the horse’s stall, wondering if this time the foal would be born or if something else was going on. He saw right away that Hadley had wrapped Amber’s tail. Smart move, and he should have done it.

      “Do you need the foaling kit?” he asked. He had one and kept it well stocked.

      “No, I have my bag.”

      He could see the placental sac had broken. The pressure of Amber lying down had probably ruptured it.

      “She’s starting to push,” Hadley said, kneeling on the straw beside Amber.

      Eli knew this part of the labor. It should happen fairly quickly. If it didn’t happen in an hour, then there was trouble.

      Amber was making groaning sounds now, and Hadley was concentrating on her and what was happening. “I see it,” Hadley said, and he knew she was talking about the white sac that covered the foal.

      But Eli realized suddenly that this wasn’t going to be a normal birth. The foal was in the breech position, hind feet first.

      Crouched down beside Hadley, Eli asked her, “What’s the best way to handle this?”

      They both could see the hooves, and they were flexed upward toward the mare’s tail. “Are we going to lose it?” he asked, his chest feeling tight.

      “We are not going to lose it,” Hadley assured him. “Breech births are more difficult, but we can still make this as natural as possible without complications.”

      As Amber groaned, Eli’s elbow brushed Hadley’s. Their eyes locked for a moment, and he said huskily,