A Cold Creek Noel. RaeAnne Thayne

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

      Ben 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