Same Time, Next Christmas. Christine Rimmer

least. She actually felt completely comfortable kidding him a little. “Do not make me hurt you.”

      He snorted. “It’s embarrassing.”

      “I’ll never tell a soul.”

      “It was raining when I cut down that tree. I forgot to bring gloves and my hands were soaking wet. Plus, I was feeling pretty bad from this damn bug I seem to have caught.”

      She tied off a stitch. “So then, what you’re telling me is you almost chopped off your own leg?”

      He let his head fall back again. “I come from a long line of woodsmen on my mother’s side,” he said wearily. “No self-respecting member of my family ever got hurt while cutting down an eight-foot tree.”

      “Until you.”

      “Go ahead, Sabra Bond, rub it in.”

      “Where’d you get that tree?” She tied off another stitch. “I didn’t see a tag on it. Have you been poaching, Matthias?”

      “You can call me Matt.” He said it in a lovely, low rumble that made her think of a purring cat—a very large one. The kind that could easily turn dangerous. “Everyone calls me Matt.”

      “I kind of like Matthias.”

      “Suit yourself.”

      “I’ll ask again. Did you steal that gorgeous tree from the people of Oregon?”

      He grunted. “I’ll have you know I’m a game warden, a Fish and Wildlife state trooper. I catch the poachers—so no, I didn’t steal that tree. I took it from property that belongs to my family.”

      “Ah. All right, then. I guess I won’t have to turn you in.”

      “You can’t imagine my relief.”

      “I have another question.”

      “Why am I not surprised?”

      “Didn’t it occur to you to head for a hospital or an urgent care after you took that ax to your leg?”

      He didn’t answer immediately. She was considering how much to goad him when he muttered, “Pride and denial are powerful things.”

      By the time she’d smoothed antibiotic ointment over the stitched-up wound and covered it with a bandage, he was sweating more heavily than ever. She helped him off with his other boot. “Come on,” she coaxed. “Stretch out on the sofa, why don’t you?”

      “Just for a few minutes,” he mumbled, but remained sitting up. He started emptying his pockets, dragging out his phone, keys and wallet, dropping them next to the lamp on the little table at the end of the sofa. From another pocket, he took the shells from his rifle. He put them on the little table, too, and then leaned back against the cushions again.

      She asked, “Do you have another sock to keep that bare foot warm?”

      “You don’t have to—”

      “Just tell me where it is.”

      He swiped sweat from his brow. “In the dresser upstairs, top drawer, left.”

      Sabra ran up there and came down with a pillow from the bed and a clean pair of socks. She propped the pillow against one arm of the sofa and knelt to put on the socks for him. By then, he wasn’t even bothering to argue that she didn’t need to help him. He looked exhausted, his skin a little gray beneath the flush of fever.

      She plumped the pillow she’d taken from the bed upstairs. “Lie down, Matthias.” He gave in and stretched out, so tall that his feet hung off the end. “Here you go.” She settled an afghan over him and tucked it in around him. “Okay, I’ll be right back.” And she hustled over to the sink to run cold water on a cloth.

      “Feels good,” he said, when she gently rubbed the wet cloth across his forehead and over his cheeks. “So nice and cool. Thank you...” Under the blanket, his injured leg jerked. He winced and stifled a groan. The lidocaine was probably wearing off. But the acetaminophen should be cutting the pain a little—and lowering his fever.

      “Just rest,” she said softly.

      “All right. For few minutes, maybe. Not long. I’ll be fine and I’ll take you where you need to go.”

      She made a sound of agreement low in her throat, though she knew he wasn’t going anywhere for at least a day or two.

      Within ten minutes, he was asleep.

      Quietly, so as not to wake him, she cleaned up after the impromptu medical procedure. She even rinsed out his bloody boot and put it near the hearth to dry.

      Two hours later, at a little after eight in the evening, Matthias was still on the couch. He kept fading in and out of a fevered sleep. There wasn’t much Sabra could do for him but bathe his sweaty face to cool him off a little and retuck the blanket around him whenever he kicked it off.

      She put another log on the fire and went through the cupboards and the small fridge in the kitchen area. He had plenty of food, the nonperishable kind. Beans. Rice. Flour. Pasta. Cans of condensed milk, of vegetables and fruit. She opened some chili and ate it straight from the can, washing it down with a glass of cold water.

      Matthias slept on, stirring fitfully, muttering to himself. Now and then he called out the names of men, “Mark, no!” and “Nelson, don’t do it!” and “Finn, where are you?” as if in warning or despair. He also muttered a woman’s name, “Christy,” more than once and vowed in a low, ragged rumble, “Never again.”

      He woke around nine. “Sabra?” he asked, his voice dry. Hoarse.

      “Right here.”

      “Water?”

      She brought him a tall glassful. “Don’t get up. Let me help.” She slipped her free hand under his big, sweaty head and held the glass to his mouth as he drained it.

      With a whispered “Thank you” and a weary sigh, he settled against the pillow again.

      She moistened another cloth in the icy water from the sink and bathed his face for him. “You know what, Matthias?”

      “Ungh?”

      “I’m going to go ahead and unload your Jeep for you.”

      He made another low sound in his throat. She decided to take that sound for agreement.

      “Well, great.” She patted his shoulder. “I’ll just get after that, then. Go back to sleep.” Scooping his keys off the side table, she put on her jacket and quietly tiptoed out to the porch.

      The gorgeous sight that greeted her stole her breath and stopped her in her tracks.

      Just as Matthias had predicted, the rain had turned to snow. She gazed at a world gone glittering white.

      In the golden light that spilled out the cabin windows, the fat flakes fell thick and heavy. They’d piled up on the ground and decorated the branches of the western hemlock and Sitka spruce trees. There was a good three inches already.

      “So beautiful,” she whispered aloud and all of her worries just fell away, both at the mess that currently added up to her life and the challenges she’d faced in the past few hours.

      How could she be anything but happy in this moment? Christmas was falling from the sky.

      She knew what was coming. She would be staying in this cabin for at least a few days with the man who’d introduced himself by pointing his rifle at her. Should she be more upset about that?

      Probably.

      But after they’d gotten past those terrifying first minutes when she’d feared he might shoot her, things had definitely started looking up. He was a good patient, and he seemed kindhearted beneath that gruff exterior.

      And this situation? It felt less like an ordeal and more like an adventure. As if she’d fallen out of her own