The Maverick's Snowbound Christmas Read online

  Eli was taken by surprise when his lips brushed Hadley’s. Just from that simple touch there was heat and a potent desire he didn’t know if he’d ever felt before. He didn’t know what he’d intended, but he got more than he bargained for. When his tongue swept her bottom lip, she responded. Her hand went to his neck, her fingers tunneling in the hair at his nape. His arm curved around her tighter. As his tongue touched hers, sparks became a roaring fire. He slanted his mouth to gain better access. His tongue darted against hers, probing and stroking. She gave as good as he did.

  He wasn’t thinking. He was only feeling, sensation after sensation, when a noise punctured the sensual haze that surrounded them. He couldn’t make sense of it at first because all of his attention was on this amazing kiss. But then the hum became a growl and then a churning, and he realized someone from the outside world was coming to their rescue.

  The only problem was, he didn’t know if he wanted to be rescued.

  Either his break in concentration affected Hadley, or she, too, was aware of the noise coming from what had to be a snowplow.

  “I guess we’d better—” She started to sit up.

  “I’d better open the door so they know we’re in here,” he said.

  And before Eli knew it, they’d scrambled apart and gotten to their feet. Hadley scooped up the kitten, folded her into the crook of her arm, and was petting her as if her life depended on it.

  When he was unsettled like this, the way he handled it was by action. So he said, “I’ll go meet them,” though he didn’t know who “them” was. All he knew was that whoever was running those snowplows had saved him and Hadley from either a mistake or a terribly awkward situation. What had led him to kiss her like that?

  He was still asking himself the question when he shoved his arms into his jacket and wrenched the door open so hard, the wood squealed. But he still couldn’t push it open more than six inches. He’d left his Stetson on a peg near the door. Now he grabbed it, pushed it through the opening and waved it outside. They should see a black hat against all that white snow.

  And they did. As he watched, he recognized Old Gene running the snowplow. Hadley’s grandfather drove the machine practically up to the door. Levi Wyatt, Hadley’s sister Claire’s husband, jumped down from the other side of the snowplow with a shovel in his hand. Gene could get only so close to the door, but Levi soon shoveled a path the rest of the way so Eli could push the door open.

  Behind him, Eli was aware of Hadley. She’d come out of the tack room and shut the door, probably to keep the kitten and her momma inside. Knowing her, she’d probably fed them, too.

  Soon both Gene and Levi were in the barn checking on them.

  “So I see the two of you survived,” Old Gene said, as he first looked at Eli and then at Hadley.

  “Amber had her foal,” Hadley said in way of explanation. “Momma and colt are doing just fine. I want to help Eli feed the horses before I get out of here, and I have to take the momma cat and kitten along. Can I get around anywhere in town?”

  Levi gave her an odd look, as if he knew she didn’t spend most nights in a barn with a practical stranger. “Main Street in town has been cleared. Some plows are working on the side streets.”

  Gene seconded that with a nod. “You should be able to get to the clinic and back to the rooming house.”

  “You don’t have to help me feed the horses,” Eli said. “I know you want to get going.”

  “It will take me a few minutes to shovel out her car,” Levi said. “So you don’t have to rush if you want to make sure everything’s okay in here before you leave.”

  “I’ll find you a box for the cat and kitten,” Eli told her. Without meeting her gaze, he went to do just that.

  He needed time to think, time to remember, time to figure out exactly how Hadley Strickland had mixed up his thoughts and his feelings until he didn’t know which way was up.

  * * *

  As soon as Hadley was closer to town, she phoned Brooks. To her surprise, he was at the clinic. “I stayed overnight,” he said. “We had a couple of patients I wanted to make sure were okay.”

  “Jazzy was alone at the ranch?” She thought about the horses there as well as his dad, who still needed care.

  “A part-timer who helps with the horses stayed with Jazzy overnight. My wife is quite capable, you know.”

  “I know,” Hadley admitted. “It’s just with the blizzard and the electricity out, it’s tough to be alone on a night like that.”

  “I talked to her this morning, and everything’s fine at the ranch. Where are you?”

  “Since you’re at the clinic, I’m on the way to you. I have a momma cat and a baby who have to be checked out and tested. They were in Eli’s barn.”

  “So you were there overnight?” His voice held more than that simple question.

  “I was. The mare and foal are doing well, and Old Gene and Levi came to plow us out. I’ll be at the clinic in about five minutes.”

  And she was. She was able to park along the street but had to climb over a snowbank holding the box with the cat and kitten. Brooks must have seen her coming though because he came out and took the box. Everywhere she looked she saw mountains of snow. The street was cleared, and the walk around the clinic was shoveled or snow blown. She was sure Brooks had taken care of that.

  Once inside the clinic, Brooks said, “Let’s get these two tested, then we’ll see what else we can do for them.” Brooks took them into an exam room, and she stayed with them as he got the samples he needed.

  While she was with her own furry clients in Bozeman, she tried to keep busy waiting for test results. But here, all she could do was pet the two cats and think about Eli. Not only think about Eli, but think about that kiss. She supposed it was natural when two people were attracted to each other—and they certainly were—for something like that to happen. They’d been in close contact for hours, sleeping cuddled together for body heat. The attraction had just suddenly walloped them both. At least she guessed that’s what had happened. She’d protected herself so carefully for so long, never letting her guard down, never letting an attraction take over again. But yesterday, watching the birth, finding the cat and kitten, being cooped up in that room with Eli, somehow she’d become vulnerable again. She couldn’t let that happen. She really couldn’t.

  When Brooks returned to the exam room, he was smiling. He was an attractive man, over six foot. He was lean and broad-shouldered with dark brown eyes that usually had a twinkle. But nothing about him made her heart go pitter-patter. Nothing about him attracted her the way Eli did.

  “What’s the verdict?” she asked, and realized she was holding her breath.

  “They’re clear, both FIV and feline leukemia. But I agree that the kitten could use eyedrops. And they both need a flea treatment. Is Eli going to keep them? The baby requires more care than running around a barn.”

  “I don’t know what he’ll do. I suppose I could call him. Maybe since we’re not in the midst of a blizzard, I can reach his cell.”

  Brooks must have noticed her tentative tone because he asked, “Didn’t you two get acquainted while you were there?”

  “We were caring for the horses,” she said, almost defensively.

  Brooks’s eyebrows arched. “I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise, but you must have had time to talk. You’re a good judge of character. You know how to take care of human clients as well as the furry ones. Didn’t you get a read on Eli?”

  Oh, she’d gotten a read on him okay. At least she thought she had. But then really, what could you get to know in just a few hours?

  “I like the way he handled his horse,” she answered, noncommittally. “But I’ll give him a call and see what he wants to do about the cats.”

  Brooks gave her an odd look and then a nod as he left the exam room.
/>   She took out her phone. Eli answered on the second ring.

  “Hadley,” he said. “You got back to the clinic okay?”

  There was that protective note again. She wasn’t sure if it bothered her or reassured her.

  “Yes. Brooks was here. He tested the cat and kitten, and they’re clear of FIV and feline leukemia. But the little one needs eyedrops. I guess I’m calling to find out what you’re going to do with them. You can’t really let the kitten just run around loose in the barn.”

  “I suppose I could keep them in the office in the barn.”

  She thought about it. “You really should do that until the flea treatment works.”

  “Flea treatment?”

  “Even in winter they can have fleas and ear mites. I’ll give them a treatment that will take care of that, but you really need to give it forty-eight hours. You don’t want to drag the fleas somewhere else.”

  “No, I certainly don’t. Okay, in the office it is.”

  “Are you going to come pick them up?”

  “I can do that. How long will you be there?”

  Brooks could show Eli what to do, but she knew he probably wanted to get back to his ranch, too. “I can stay until you get here.”

  “I’ve been shoveling and snowblowing since the lane was opened. I’ll take a break from that and come get them. I should be there in about fifteen minutes.”

  “See you then.”

  As the call ended, Hadley stared at her phone. She wondered if seeing Eli again would be an awkward reunion.

  The kitten meowed, breaking into her thoughts, and she cuddled it next to her body. But her thoughts returned to the one subject that had dominated her mind for the last hour: Eli’s kiss.

  The best kiss of her life.

  Chapter Five

  Hadley heard the door to the clinic open and close. In the exam room with the momma cat and kitten, she waited for the knock on the door. It came.

  Brooks opened the door a crack in case the cats were exploring on the floor. He immediately noticed she had kept them on a blanket on the table. “Eli’s here,” he said with a grin.

  She supposed Brooks was just being his cheery self and she tried not to read anything into that grin.

  Eli must have been right behind him because Brooks stepped aside and there the rancher was. He seemed even taller and more broad-shouldered in the exam room than he had in the barn. It made sense, she supposed. The exam room was smaller than the tack room. She always used logic when she was disconcerted or unsettled.

  “I’m sorry to bring you out in this snowy mess,” she apologized. “I didn’t want to coop them up in a crate here if I didn’t have to.”

  “No problem.” When Eli came closer to the table, she felt a few sparks lighting her nerve endings. Maybe they came from remembering his hand on her face, the touch of his long fingers, the sensuality of his kiss. The room was getting warmer, and that wouldn’t do at all.

  “You said they tested clear?” he inquired, but his gaze was on her, not on the cats.

  “They did.” The kitten stood up when she saw Eli as if she remembered him.

  She scrambled over to him, meowing, and he picked her up. “You’re going to have to stay in the tack room for a day or two,” he told her. He looked at Hadley. “Momma cat, too?”

  “You’d better. Do you have any other cats around the barn?”

  “I haven’t seen any others. My guess is with this snow, none will go wandering either.”

  “Are you going to leave these two in the barn permanently?” She was having a problem keeping her mind on the conversation when Eli’s gaze was locked on hers.

  “I haven’t decided yet. Maybe Mom will want them up at the house.”

  “Is she a cat person?”

  “We’ve always had cats around the place. I just imagine Dad with a big bloodhound sitting by his side on the porch if he retires. But I don’t think he’d like that picture.”

  “Probably not,” she agreed. From everything she’d heard about Charles Dalton, he’d be active on the ranch until the day he died.

  Why couldn’t she stop looking at Eli? His gaze seemed to tether to hers. Trying to shake off the pull she felt toward him, she grasped at the nearest thing. The eyedrops. She held them tightly in her hand. “These are the eyedrops for the kitten. I thought we could give her the first dose together,” she explained, covering up her nervousness. “Two hands are always better than one, so if you could get someone on the ranch to help you, that would be great. You’ll have to give her the drops twice a day.”

  She showed him the small bottle and pointed to the instructions. “Just squeeze one drop into each eye. I’ll hold her while you manage the bottle to see how fast the drops flow out.”

  “I have a feeling you’re going to make this look easy when it’s not.”

  “It is easy...once you do it a few hundred times.”

  He chuckled. “All right. I’m ready. I suppose the object of this is to do it quickly so she doesn’t squirm away.”

  “Exactly.” As she held the kitten, Eli let the drop fall into first one eye then the other. The kitten meowed loudly in protest. As soon as Hadley set her down on the table once more, she ran to her momma.

  Eli ran his hand down the momma cat, and again Hadley noticed the gentleness of his touch, the way he brushed his fingers through the cat’s fur. This time she grabbed a package from the counter and showed it to Eli. “These are a snack that will boost their immune systems. Give momma about ten each day. Baby can have two or three. Break them up for her.”

  “I’ll take good care of these two,” he assured her.

  Hadley gave him a long look. He might want to take care of them, but he was a busy rancher, and she wondered if he’d forget them.

  Apparently Hadley didn’t hide her doubt. “I really will,” he said again. “I just have to figure out the best way to do it.”

  He was about to pick up the box that she’d carried the cats in, but Hadley stopped him. “We have cardboard temporary carriers here. Let me get one of those for you. It will be much easier that way. The handles lock together, and you won’t have to worry about the cats getting out.”

  Before she reentered the exam room a few minutes later, she took a deep breath. After she opened the door, she noticed that Eli was studying a chart on the wall while he carried the kitten in the crook of his arm.

  He turned toward her. “You seem to be at home here.”

  “I’ve helped Brooks out a few times, so I know where things are.”

  “Since the receptionist isn’t at the desk, should I pay you?”

  Anne Lattimore, Brooks’s receptionist, was snowed in. She’d called him and said she’d get here as soon as she could. But as far as Eli paying Hadley...

  “Don’t worry about paying today. Brooks will bill you for this office visit and the testing.”

  “You made an overnight house call, so I expect to pay you for your time, too.”

  “I was doing a favor for a friend. It was my time. I’m not going to charge for it.”

  “Hadley—” His voice was a husky, low protest.

  She tried to ignore the way his voice seemed sensual and...intimate.

  “Seriously, Eli. All I did was supervise.”

  “And probably save the colt,” he concluded. “I named him Coco, by the way, because of his color.”

  In spite of her resolve not to fall under any man’s spell ever again, she took a few steps closer to him. “It was an experience I won’t soon forget.”

  They gazed into each other’s eyes, knowing the birth of the colt had been the beginning of something else. However, Hadley didn’t want to acknowledge that. Needing to keep her hands busy, she broke eye contact and opened the carrier on the table. Then she sco
oped up momma and set her inside. When Eli did the same with the kitten, his hand brushed hers. They looked at each other again as if not knowing what to say.

  He closed the carrier and then picked it up, hesitating only a second before going to the door.

  Hadley walked him out to the reception area.

  There he said, “I guess I’ll see you around.”

  Hadley nodded but suddenly couldn’t respond. Seeing Eli again would be a pleasure. But that was a pleasure she was going to deny herself.

  * * *

  When Hadley returned to the boardinghouse from the clinic, she was met with hugs and kisses.

  “Are you all right?” her grandmother asked.

  “Did you freeze while you were out there?” her sister Claire inquired, looking her over.

  “You’ll have to tell us all about it,” Old Gene suggested with a wink.

  Hadley ignored that wink. Realizing she’d had little sleep and the adrenaline that had rushed through her when she was around Eli was ebbing, she was suddenly very tired. Oh, she’d gotten a few hours of sleep last night in Eli’s arms. But the rest of yesterday and this morning had been exhausting, and she didn’t think she was ready to face this crowd of family inquisitors.

  Her sister Claire must have seen that because she said to the group, “Why don’t we let Hadley get her bearings, change clothes, maybe even rest a bit. Then she can come down and have a snack with all of us.”

  While Melba and Old Gene seemed to agree, and Levi tended to his and Claire’s daughter, Bekka, Claire spirited Hadley away up the stairs to the room where she was staying.

  Once inside, Hadley flopped on the bed and said, “Thank you.”

  She sat there for a few seconds until Claire asked, “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “Well, aren’t you going to tell me what happened?”