A Cold Creek Noel. RaeAnne Thayne

       “My head is telling me it’s a completely ridiculous idea to kiss you again.”

      Caidy gazed at him for a long, silent moment, her eyes huge and her lips slightly parted. “And does your heart have other ideas? I hope so.”

      “The kids—” Ben said, rather ridiculously.

      “—are busy watching a show and paying absolutely no mind to us in here,” she finished.

      He took a step forward, almost against his will. “This thing between us is crazy.”

      “Completely insane,” she agreed.

      “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

      “Probably the same thing that’s wrong with me,” she murmured, her voice husky and low. She took a step forward, as well, until she was only a breath away, until he was intoxicated by the scent of her, fresh and clean and lovely.

      He had to kiss her. It seemed as inevitable as the sunrise over the mountains.

      A Cold

      Creek Noel

      RaeAnne Thayne

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      RAEANNE THAYNE finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains, where she lives with her husband and three children. Her books have won numerous honors, including RITA^® Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be contacted through her website, www.raeannethayne.com.

      To Tennis and Kjersten Watkins, with love.

      We can’t wait to see what life has in store for the two of you!

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Epilogue

       Excerpt

      Chapter One

      “Come on, Luke. Come on, buddy. Hang in there.”

      Her wipers beat back the sleet and snow as Caidy Bowman drove through the streets of Pine Gulch, Idaho, on a stormy December afternoon. Only a few inches had fallen but the roads were still dangerous, slick as spit. For only a moment, she risked lifting one hand off the steering wheel of her truck and patting the furry shape whimpering on the seat beside her.

      “We’re almost there. We’ll get you fixed up, I swear it. Just hang on, bud. A few more minutes. That’s all.”

      The young border collie looked at her with a trust she didn’t deserve in his black eyes and she frowned, her guilt as bitter and salty as the solution the snowplows had put down on the roads.

      Luke’s injuries were her fault. She should have been watching him. She knew the half-grown pup had a curious streak a mile wide—and a tendency not to listen to her when he had an itch to investigate something.

      She was working on that obedience issue and they had made good strides the past few weeks, but one moment of inattention could be disastrous, as the past hour had amply demonstrated. She didn’t know if it was arrogance on her part, thinking her training of him was enough, or just irresponsibility. Either way, she should have kept him far away from Festus’s pen. The bull was ornery as a rattlesnake on a hot skillet and didn’t take kindly to curious young border collies nosing around his turf.

      Alerted by Luke’s barking and then the bull’s angry snort, she had raced to old Festus’s pen just in time to watch Luke jig the wrong way and the bull stomp down hard on his haunches with a sickening crunch of bone.

      Her hands tightened on the steering wheel and she cursed under her breath as the last light before the vet’s office turned yellow when she was still too far away to gun through it. She was almost tempted to keep going. Even if she were nabbed for running a red light by Pine Gulch’s finest, she could probably talk her way out of a ticket, considering her brother was the police chief and would certainly understand this was an emergency. If she were pulled over, though, it would mean an inevitable delay and she just didn’t have time for that.

      The light finally changed and she took off fast, the back tires fishtailing on the icy road. She would just have to trust the salt bags she carried for traction in the bed of the pickup would do the job. Even the four-wheel drive of the truck was useless against black ice.

      Finally, she reached the small square building that held the Pine Gulch Veterinary Clinic and pulled the pickup to the side doors where she knew it was only a short transfer inside to the treatment area.

      She briefly considered carrying him in by herself, but it had taken the careful efforts of both her and her brother Ridge to slide a blanket under Luke and lift him into the seat of her pickup. They could bring out the stretcher and cart, she decided.

      She rubbed Luke’s white neck. “I’m going to go get some help, okay? You just hold tight.”

      He made a small whimper of pain and she bit down hard on her lip as her insides clenched with fear. She loved the little guy, even if he was nosy as a crow and even smarter, which was probably why his stubbornness was such a frustration.

      He trusted her to take care of him and she refused to let him die.

      She hurried to the front door, barely noticing the wind-driven sleet that gouged at her even under her Stetson.

      Warm air washed over her when she opened the door, familiar with the scent of animals and antiseptic mixed in a stomach-churning sort of way with new paint.

      “Hey, Caidy.” A woman in green scrubs rushed to the door. “You made good time from the River Bow.”

      “Hi, Joni. I may have broken a few traffic laws, but this is an emergency.”

      “After you called, I warned Ben you were on your way and what the situation was. He’s been getting ready for you. I’ll let him know you’ve arrived.”

      Caidy waited, feeling the weight of each second ticking away. The new vet had only been in town a few weeks and already he had made changes to the clinic. Maybe