A Cold Creek Noel (The Cowboys of Cold Creek) (10 page)

“So, Dr. Caldwell, how are you finding Pine Gulch?” Trace was
asking.

“Ben. Please, call me Ben. We’re enjoying living here so far.
The town seems to be filled with very kind people. For the most part
anyway.”

He didn’t look in her direction when he spoke but she cringed
anyway, certain his pointed barb was aimed at her.

“It’s the
least part
you have to
worry about,” Taft said with a wink. “I could name a few people in town whose
bad side you want to stay far clear of. I’m sure Trace knows a few more on the
law enforcement side. We’ve got our share of bad customers.”

“I’m sure you do,” Ben murmured. “Rude, arrogant jerks.”

“You better believe it,” Taft said.

Becca quickly cleared her throat. “Uh, can you pass the
potatoes?” she asked Ben.

“Sure, if there are any left.” He picked up the bowl Caidy
always served the mashed potatoes in, the flower-lined earthenware that had
always been one of her mother’s favorites.

For the first time since she sat down, he looked in her
direction, though his gaze was focused somewhere above her head. “Everything is
really delicious,” he said. “Isn’t that right, Ava? Jack?”

“Supergood,” Jack said. He had a smudge of gravy on his cheek
and looked absolutely adorable. “Can I have another roll? Ooh, with jam! I
love
strawberries.”

Ben grabbed one of her cloverleaf rolls and spread some of her
jam on it. When he handed it to his son, Jack gobbled it in three bites,
smearing red along with the gravy. Ben shook his head, picked up his napkin and
dabbed at the mess on Jack’s face. She watched out of the corner of her gaze as
those big hands that had held her close attended to his child, and something
soft and warm unfurled inside her chest.

He looked up at just that moment and caught her watching. Their
gazes held for one long, charged moment while the conversation flowed around
them. Then Ridge asked him another question and he looked away, breaking the
connection.

He and his children fit in well with the family. Taft’s
stepson, Alex, and Jack seemed like two peas in a proverbial pod, with Maya
attending closely to their every word, and Gabi and Des had been quick to absorb
Ava into their circle.

This was only temporary, she reminded herself. After the
holidays, he would take his cute kids and his friendly housekeeper and move into
the big house he was building. In a matter of days, he would be just a
peripheral figure in her world. He wouldn’t even be that if she didn’t need to
take one of the dogs for the occasional visit to the veterinarian.

She should be relieved about that, she told herself. Not
glum.

“I love that painting over the fireplace,” Ben said into a
temporary lull of the conversation. “I see the artist’s last name is Bowman. Any
relation?”

The rest of the table fell silent—even the children. Nobody
seemed willing to jump in to answer him except Ridge.

“Yes,” her oldest brother finally said. “She is a relation. She
was our mother.”

Ben glanced around the table, obviously picking up on the
sudden shift in mood.

“I’ll admit, I don’t know much about art, but I find that piece
striking. I don’t know if it’s the horses in the foreground or the mountains or
the fluttery curtains in the window of the old cabin but every time I look away
for a few moments, something draws me back. That’s real talent.”

Her heart warmed a little at his praise of their mother’s
talent. “She was brilliant,” Caidy murmured.

He looked at her and she saw an unexpected compassion in his
eyes. Seeing it made her feel even more guilty. She didn’t deserve compassion
from him, not after her mean words.

“Several of her paintings were stolen eleven years ago,” Trace
said. “Since then, we’ve done our best to recover what we can. We’ve had
investigators tracking some of them down. This one was located about three years
ago in a gallery in the Sonoma area of California.”

“It was always Caidy’s favorite,” Ridge put in. “Finding it
again was something of a miracle.”

This shifted all attention to her again and she squirmed. Did
anybody besides Laura and Becca pick up the tension in the room? She doubted it.
Her brothers usually were oblivious to social currents and the kids were too
busy eating and talking and having fun. Just as they should be.

To her relief, Laura—sweet, wonderful Laura—stepped up to
deflect attention. “So, Dr. Caldwell, you and your children are coming along on
the sleigh ride after dinner, aren’t you?”

“Sleigh ride!” Jack exclaimed and he and Alex, best buddies
now, did a cute little high-five maneuver.

Ben watched them ruefully. “I don’t know. I kind of feel like
we’ve intruded enough on your family.”

“Oh, you have to come,” Destry exclaimed.

“Yes!” Gabi joined her. “It’s going to be awesome! We’re going
to sing Christmas carols and have hot chocolate and everything. Oh, please, come
with us!”

If things weren’t so funky between them right now, she would
have told him he was fighting a losing battle. One man simply couldn’t fight the
combined efforts of the Bowmans and their progeny, adopted or otherwise.

“We’re not going far,” Ridge promised. “Only a couple miles up
the canyon. Probably shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

“Resistance is futile,” Taft said with a grin. “You might as
well give in gracefully.”

Ben laughed. “In that case, sure. Okay.”

The kids shrieked with excitement. Caidy wished she could share
even a tiny smidgen of their enthusiasm. The only bright spot for her in the
whole thing was that Ben’s presence probably eliminated the need for her to go
along. Ridge couldn’t claim they didn’t have enough adults now. She would just
offer an excuse to stay at the house and let the rest of them have all the
Christmas fun.

She was still going to have to figure out a way to apologize to
the man, but at this point she would take any reprieve she could find, however
temporary.

Chapter Nine

A
fter dinner had been cleared, the girls’
other friends began arriving. Caidy threw in the trays of cookies she and Destry
had readied, her brothers headed out to hitch up the big draft horses to the hay
wagon and everyone else began donning winter gear. After the cookies came out,
Caidy walked through the house gathering all the blankets she could find.

As she headed down the stairs with an armload of blankets, she
saw through the big windows that the snow had eased and was only falling now in
slow, puffy flakes. Moonlight had peeked behind the storm clouds, turning
everything a pearlescent midnight-blue.

It was stunning enough from here. She could only imagine how
beautiful it would be to ride through the night on the wagon, with the cold air
in her face and the sound of children’s laughter swirling through the night.

She was almost sorry she wasn’t going with them. Almost.

She continued down the stairs, doing her best to avoid making
eye contact with Ben, who was helping Jack into his boots.

“Sleigh ride. Sleigh ride. Sleigh ride,” Maya chanted, wiggling
her hips that were bundled up along with the rest of her in a very cute pink
snowsuit with splashy orange flowers.

Caidy couldn’t help laughing. “You’re going to have a wonderful
time, little bug,” she said, kissing Maya’s nose. She loved all of the children
in her family but sweet, vulnerable Maya held a special place in her heart.

“You come,” Maya said, reaching for her hand.

“Oh, honey. I’m not going. I’ll be here when you get back.”

“What do you mean, you’re not going? You have to come,” Ridge
said sternly. “Where’s your coat?”

“In the closet. Where it’s staying. I figured somebody needs to
stay here. Keep the home fire burning and all that.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Becca said from underneath Trace’s
arm. “I’ve got that covered.”

For the first time, Caidy realized her sister-in-law wasn’t
wearing a coat either.

“Why aren’t
you
going?” Ridge
asked, looking even more disgruntled.

“I’m planning to sit this one out. I have court tomorrow and
some work to do before then. And, to be honest, I’m not sure being bounced
around on a hay wagon right now would be the best thing for, well, for the
baby.”

For a moment everyone stared at her. Even the girls who had
come for Gabi’s little sleigh ride party stopped their giggly chatter.

“Baby? You’re having a baby?” Laura exclaimed.

Becca nodded and Trace hugged her more tightly, then kissed the
top of her head, clearly a proud papa.

“When?” Caidy asked, thrilled for both of them.

“June,” Gabi declared proudly. “I’ve been
dying
to tell everyone! I kept my mouth shut, see, Trace? You said I
couldn’t. Ha!”

Her brother laughed and grabbed his wife’s sister with his free
arm, pulling her into their shared embrace. “You did good, kid. We were going to
tell everyone at dinner but the right moment never quite came.”

“There’s never a
wrong
moment for
that kind of great news,” Ridge said. “Congratulations. Another Bowman. Just
what the world needs.”

The next few moments were spent with hugs and kisses and good
wishes all the way around. Even Ben shook both of their hands and kissed Becca’s
cheek, though he had just met her that afternoon.

She suddenly remembered with a pang that he had lost a child
when his wife died. Was this spontaneous celebration of impending parenthood
difficult for him? If it was, he didn’t show it by his manner.

Now Maya’s chant changed to “baby, baby, baby,” but she didn’t
lose the hip wiggle. Caidy hugged her too. “It’s wonderful news, isn’t it?
You’ll have a new cousin.”

“I like cousins,” Maya said.

“Me too, bug.”

When Caidy finally worked her way around the crowd, she hugged
Becca. “I can’t wait to be an aunt again. I’m thrilled for both of you.”

Becca hugged her back. “Thank you, my dear.”

“All the more reason I should stay here and keep you company,
just in case you need anything.”

Becca gave her a knowing look. “You’re the soul of helpfulness,
Caidy. Either that, or you’re trying to avoid a certain rude, arrogant
veterinarian.”

She cringed at the reminder. “Well, there is that.”

“Sorry, hon. I’d like to help you out but I think Ridge
probably needs your help corralling all those kids. Besides that, I don’t think
it’s a good idea to keep avoiding him.”

“Am I that obvious?” she asked ruefully.

“A little bit. Probably Laura and I were the only ones who
picked up on it. And maybe Ben.”

Caidy blew out a breath. Drat. Becca was right. Ridge probably
did
need her help. “I hate being a coward,” she
murmured.

“It’s only a sleigh ride. An hour out of your life. You can
handle that. You’ve been through much worse.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“I could use a little quiet, if you want the truth. Go,
Caidy.”

“As exciting as this news is, we need to get this show on the
road,” Ridge declared, as if on cue. “Let’s load up.”

The girls squealed loudly. Maya covered her ears with her
mittened hands, wearing a look of alarm.

Caidy gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about those
silly girls. They just want to go have fun.”

“Me too. You come.”

She sighed, resigned to her fate. “Yes, Queen Maya.”

The girl gave her sweet giggle as Caidy grabbed her coat out of
the closet and quickly found mittens and a quite fancy chapeau handmade by Emery
Kendall Cavazos that she had won in the gift exchange a few weeks earlier at the
Friends of the Library Christmas party.

“Hurry up, Caid,” Taft said. “We don’t have all night. The
sooner we go, the sooner we can get it over with and come back to watch the
basketball game. Come on, Maya.”

“I stay with Auntie,” the girl said and Caidy’s heart melted,
as it frequently did around her.

“I’ve got her,” she told her brother.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. We’re coming. I’m almost ready.”

Taft left and she quickly finished shoving on boots, grabbed
Maya’s hand and hurried out to the hay wagon.

The horses stamped and blew in the cold air, which smelled of
woodsmoke and snow. What a beautiful night. Perfect for a sleigh ride. Well, not
officially a sleigh ride because the wagon had wheels, not runners, but she
didn’t think any of them would quibble.

Ridge had lined the wagon with straw bales. To her dismay,
everyone else was settling as they approached the wagon and the only free space
left for her and Maya was near the back of the wagon—right next to Ben. Had her
brothers colluded to arrange that? She wouldn’t put it past them.

Right now, Ben was more likely to throw her over the side than
cooperate with any Bowman matchmaking efforts, but her brothers had no way of
knowing that—unless Laura or Becca had spilled to their husbands.

“Auntie, up,” Maya said.

How was she going to manage this? Maya wasn’t heavy but Caidy
didn’t think she could climb the ladder with her in her arms and she wasn’t sure
Maya could negotiate them on her own. “If you want to lift her up, I can help
her the rest of the way,” Ben said, obviously noticing her predicament.

Caidy scooped Maya into her arms and held her up for him. Their
arms brushed as he easily tugged the girl the rest of the way. Did he feel the
sparks between them, or was it just her imagination? Caidy climbed the ladder
and stood for a moment, wishing she could squeeze up front with Ridge.
Unfortunately, he already had Alex and Jack riding shotgun.

“Sit down, Caidy, or you’re going to fall over when Ridge takes
off,” Taft ordered. Heaven save her from brothers who didn’t think she had a
brain in her head.

Left with no choice, she sat on the same bale as Ben—who looked
rugged and masculine in a fleece-lined heavy ranch coat the color of dust. At
least Maya sat between them, providing some buffer.

Ridge turned around to make sure all his passengers were
settled and then clicked to the big horses. They took off down the driveway,
accompanied by the jangle of bells on the harnesses.

“Go, horsies! Jingle bells, jingle bells!” Maya exclaimed and
Caidy smiled at her. When she lifted her gaze, she found Ben smiling down at the
girl too. Her heart stuttered a little at the gentleness on his expression. She
had called him rude and arrogant, yet here he was treating Maya, with her
beautiful smile and Down syndrome features, with breathtaking sweetness.

She had to say something. Now was the perfect time. She
clenched her fingers into her palms inside her mittens and turned to him. “Look,
I...I’m sorry about earlier. What I said. It wasn’t true. Not any of it. I was
just being stupid.”

“What?” he yelled, leaning down to hear over the rushing wind
and the eight laughing girls.

“I said I’m sorry.” She spoke more loudly but at that moment
all the girls started actually singing “Jingle Bells” in time with the chiming
bells from the horses.

“What?” He leaned his head closer to hers, over Maya’s head,
and she didn’t know what else to do but lean in and speak in his ear, though she
felt completely ridiculous. She wanted to tell him to just forget the whole
thing. She had come this far, though. She might as well finish the thing.

Up close, he smelled delicious. She couldn’t help noticing that
outdoorsy soap she had noticed when they were kissing....

She dragged her mind away from that and focused on the apology
she should be making. “I said I was sorry,” she said in his ear. “For what I
said in the kitchen to my sisters-in-law, I mean. They were teasing me, uh,
about you...and I was being completely stupid. I’m sorry you overheard. I didn’t
mean it.”

He turned his head until his face was only inches from hers.
“Any of it?”

“Well, you are pretty arrogant,” she answered tartly.

To her surprise, he laughed at that and the low, sexy timbre of
it shivered down her spine and spread out her shoulders to her fingertips.

“I can be,” he answered.

“Sing!” Maya commanded as the girls broke into “Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

She laughed and picked the girl onto her lap, grateful for her
small, warm weight and the distraction she provided from this very inconvenient
attraction she didn’t know what to do about to a man who was sending her more
mixed signals than a broken traffic light.

She was taken further off guard when Ben began to sing along
with Maya and the girls in a very pleasing tenor. He even sang all the extra
lines about lightbulbs and reindeers playing Monopoly.

She had to turn away, focusing instead on the homes they
passed, their holiday lights glittering in the pale moonlight.

This wasn’t such a bad way to spend an evening, she decided.
Even with the caroling, she was surrounded by family she loved, by beautiful
scenery, by the serenity of a winter night. She was happy she had come, she
realized with some shock.

The girls broke into “Silent Night” after that, changing up the
lighthearted mood a little, and she hummed softly under her breath while Maya
mangled the words but did her best to follow along. In the middle of the first
“Sleep in heavenly peace” injunction, Ben leaned down once more.

“Why aren’t you singing?” His low voice tickled her ear and
gave her chills underneath the layers of wool.

She shrugged, unable to answer him. She wasn’t sure she could
tell him at all and she certainly couldn’t tell him on a jangly, noisy sleigh
ride surrounded by family and Destry’s friends.

“Seriously,” he pressed, leaning away when the song ended and
they could converse a little more easily. “Do you have some ideological or
religious objection to Christmas songs I should know about?”

She shook her head. “No. I just...don’t sing.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Taft said. She must have spoken louder
than she intended if her brother could overhear from the row of hay bales ahead
of them.

“Caidy has a beautiful voice,” he went on. “She used to sing
solos in the school and church choir. Once she even sang the national anthem by
herself at a high school football game.”

Goodness. She barely remembered that. How did Taft? He had been
a wildlands firefighter when she was in high school, traveling across the West
with an elite smoke-jumper squad, but she now recalled he had been home visiting
Laura and had come to hear her sing at that football game.

He was the only one of her brothers who had been able to make
it. Ridge had still been feuding with their father and had been living on a
ranch in Montana and Trace had been deployed in the Middle East.

She suddenly remembered how freaked she had been as she walked
out to take the microphone and had seen the huge hometown crowd gathered there,
just about everybody she knew. Despite all her hours of practice with her voice
teacher and the choir director, panic had spurted through her and she completely
forgot the opening words—until she looked up in the stands and saw her mother
and father beaming at her and Taft and Laura giving her an encouraging wave. A
steady calm had washed over her like water from the irrigation canals, washing
away all the panic, and she had sung beautifully. Probably the best performance
of her life.

Just a few months later, her parents were dead because of her
and all the songs inside her had died with them.

“I don’t sing
anymore,
” she said,
hoping that would be the end of it. She didn’t want to answer the question. It
was nobody’s business but her own—certainly not Ben Caldwell’s.

He gave her a long look. The wagon jolted over a rut in the
road and his shoulder bumped hers. She could have eased far enough away that
they wouldn’t touch but she didn’t. Instead, she rested her cheek on Maya’s
hair, humming along with “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and gazing up at the few
stars revealed through the wispy clouds as she waited for the ride to be
over.