A Cowboy for Christmas

by Sara Richardson

  It just might turn out to be a holly, jolly Christmas after all.

  Anita peered through the magnifier, picking out shards of glass from Ben Whitfield’s wound before thoroughly cleansing it.

  She noticed that his big, strong father had to look away from the bloody mess.

  “You may want to take a seat over there, Huck. This is going to get worse before it gets better.”

  He didn’t need any coaxing. His skin had already turned the color of putty.

  “I’ll give you something to deaden the pain before I start stitching you up, Ben.”

  The teen swallowed hard before nodding.

  A short time later, assured that the lidocaine had taken effect, Anita began the task of stitching up the wound. While she worked, Ben watched with interest.

  She looked up. “Can you feel this?”

  He shook his head. “Even though I’m watching you, it’s like you’re working on someone else, Doc.”

  “That’s good. But you’ll have to endure some pain when the effects of this local anesthetic wear off.” She tied off the last stitch. “I’ll give you a prescription for pain. If you’re lucky, you may be able to fill it at Woodrow’s Pharmacy, if they haven’t yet closed for the night. If they have, call and leave them a message so they have it ready for you first thing in the morning. And just in case, I’ll find you a sample to take home so you won’t have to spend the night in any discomfort.”

  Satisfied that the wound was neat and tidy, Huck Whitfield stepped up beside his son. “I’m so glad you were here, Dr. Cross.”

  “So am I.” She gave him a warm smile.

  “I hope we haven’t spoiled your plans, Doc.”

  “Not at all.”

  The boy sat up and Anita braced a hand to his chest. “Hold on, Ben. You’ll want to move slowly for a while and maybe lean on your father when you leave here.”

  He was about to argue when he suddenly went pale.

  “Is the room spinning, Ben?”

  He nodded.

  Huck wrapped an arm around his son’s shoulders and held on until the boy’s normal color returned.

  “Wait here and I’ll get a wheelchair.” Anita turned and was out of the room before father or son could say a word.

  Minutes later she returned.

  Huck eased his son from the gurney and helped him into the wheelchair.

  At the reception desk, Anita wrote out a prescription and handed it to Huck, along with a sample pill from a drawer.

  He hurried outside and drove his truck right up to the front door. With Anita pushing the chair, he managed to get his son into the passenger side.

  “Thanks again, Dr. Cross.”

  “You’re welcome, Huck. Merry Christmas.”

  He touched the brim of his hat in a salute before rounding the truck and climbing into the driver’s side.

  The snow, Anita noted, was nearly knee-high.

  She gave a sigh of regret, thinking about the fine food her uncle had boasted about waiting for them at the Malloy Ranch. There was no way Burke would make it through this blizzard to fetch her and no way she could even make it back to her uncle’s house across town.

  It looked as though her first Christmas in Glacier Ridge would be spent in the sterile confines of the clinic.

  Not that it mattered. She’d spent plenty of lonely nights while working at the hospital in Boston. Like every profession, there was a pecking order. The newest interns were assigned the hours that the established doctors managed to avoid. And though Anita had enjoyed the camaraderie and the spontaneous celebrations she and the others often gave to lift their spirits on their working holidays, she’d missed the warmth of family that had been lost along the way.

  Tonight, it wasn’t the loneliness or the lack of dinner that had her spirits plummeting. It was the fact that she’d allowed herself to spin way too many fantasies about a certain rugged cowboy. Now here she was, staring reality in the face once again.

  Her sweet mother used to warn her that she was much too fanciful to endure the rigors of a medical career. Just thinking about the mother who died too young had Anita feeling the old twinge of regret. Her mother had always hoped her only child would follow her into a teaching career, but after spending time with her father at his medical practice in Boston, Anita had fallen completely under the spell of medicine. When she was just a little girl, she’d known that she would be a doctor like her father and her uncle. To that end, she’d worked doggedly through college and medical school, hoping to join her father in his practice. But when her father had remarried while Anita was fulfilling her internship and had moved across the country to begin a life with his new, much younger bride, Anita decided to make her own way and had stayed on in Boston.

  Her uncle’s need for an assistant had given her a lifeline when she’d most needed it. While she gave him the help he needed, he, in turn, filled her need for family.

  And it had come at the lowest point of her life, when a selfish surgeon had trampled on her poor heart.

  Shivering, she hurried inside, grateful for the warmth. At least she was warm and snug and safe from the storm. Hopefully Dr. Rob Miller would soon arrive from Rock Creek to share the work. Her uncle had assured her that Dr. Miller would take good care of their patients in their absence.

  She gave a firm nod of her head.

  What could possibly go wrong?

  Chapter Three

  The wind was howling like a beast, sending the snow into drifts that completely obliterated any trace of the road in places. As the ranch truck reached the end of the dirt track and inched onto the interstate, Colin could feel the wheels skidding as they tried to grab traction. A layer of ice on the pavement beneath the mounds of snow presented a real problem. For a moment the truck slid; then the wheels found a dry spot and Colin breathed a sigh of relief as he was able to guide his vehicle into a line of tracks dug deep into the snow. Apparently he wasn’t the only fool trying to navigate this blizzard. Now all he needed to do was hope the fool whose tracks he was following knew where the road ended and the snowbanks began.

  Even with the wipers at full speed, it was impossible to see more than a few feet through the blowing curtain of snow.

  He spotted the headlights of an approaching vehicle. When the car suddenly swerved, he realized it was heading directly into his path.

  To avoid the head-on collision, he turned the wheel as far as he could. He felt the rush of air rock his truck as the crazy driver roared past.

  Though Colin had managed to avoid an accident, he couldn’t stop the skid that suddenly turned into a wild spin as his truck careened off the road and landed backward in a deep gully.

  For long moments he sat very still, feeling the rush of adrenaline when he thought of what could have happened. Finally he reached for his cell phone. He was halfway between the ranch and town. An impossible walk in either direction.

  He studied his phone with a frown. There was no service. It was typical in a town ringed by so many hills and mountains.

  Forcing his way out of the passenger side of the truck, he studied the crazy angle and knew, without a doubt, there was no way he would be able to drive out of this mess. His truck was stuck here until the blizzard passed and a tow truck could make it through the interstate. It could be days before that happened. And with no phone service, he couldn’t hope for any help from the ranch.

  Knowing he couldn’t stay here, he turned up the collar of his parka and started walking. He had to choose between walking back to the ranch or toward Anita, and that was an easy decision to make.

  With the storm swirling around him, Colin had no way of judging how long he’d been on the road or how far he’d come when he heard the sound of an approaching truck.

  He turned and began waving his arms, hoping the driver could spot him in the blowing snow.

  The snowplow slowed, then stopped.

  “Hey.” The driver shoved open the passenger door. “Not a night to be out in this mess. Where’re you
headed?”

  “Glacier Ridge.” Colin climbed inside, grateful for the blast of heat. His hands and feet had long ago gone numb.

  “I won’t be going in that far. Our job is to clear the interstate first. Probably won’t hit the small towns until late tonight. But I can drop you a couple of miles from Glacier Ridge if you want to walk the rest of the way.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “I guess some guys will go through anything to get home for Christmas.”

  Colin didn’t bother to correct him. It seemed too much effort to explain why he was going to all this trouble on Christmas Eve.

  As the driver put the truck in gear and started forward, Colin gave a sigh. All this, and he had no way of knowing if Anita Cross would even be at the clinic by the time he reached it. If there were no emergencies or if the doctor they’d hired to handle their patients while they were away had finally arrived, she might have headed back to her uncle’s place. Though he’d tried calling several times, there was still no service. He wouldn’t know anything more until he got there.

  When the snowplow finally came to a halt, the driver called, “This is as far as I go. Glad I could get you almost home for the holidays.”

  “Thanks. Merry Christmas.”

  Colin stepped from the truck and directly into the blowing, drifting snow.

  It was too late to consider what he had gotten himself into. Like the gamblers at Clay’s Pig Sty, the local saloon in Glacier Ridge, who thought of themselves as those big-time gamblers they saw on television, he was all in.

  There was no turning back.

  Colin trudged through drifts that in places were nearly to his waist. His dark Stetson was mounded with a layer of white. His breath plumed in the frigid air.

  When he reached the town, it looked otherworldly, until he realized what was wrong. There were no lights. No blinking red and green on the gaudy tree in D and B’s Diner. No sparkly gold lights at Gert and Teddy Gleason’s new fancy spa next to their barbershop. And no winking welcome sign at Clay Olmsted’s saloon.

  He made his way to the clinic, which was in total darkness.

  His heart dropped. With the power out and the roads too clogged with snow to drive her car, poor Anita would have had to walk in the darkness to her uncle’s place across town, nearly a mile.

  He gave a sigh of disgust. He’d come this far. There was no turning back now. Though the other side of town felt like the other side of the moon right now, he had no choice but to see this through.

  He was about to turn away when he spotted some movement inside the glass doors of the clinic.

  “Hello.” He pounded on the heavy outer door with both fists. “Who’s there?”

  He pressed his face to the door and struggled to see through the frosty glass.

  There was more movement, closer now. Suddenly the door was opened and Anita seemed as astonished to see him as he was to see her.

  “Colin.” Even in the darkness, her relief was evident. Without a thought to what she was doing, she threw her arms around his neck, her fingers curling into the collar of his parka, as though holding on for dear life.

  “Anita.” At her embrace, he felt the quick curls of pleasure. Their faces were touching. He breathed her in, and the sweet smell of her perfume went straight to his heart. “I was afraid you might have left for your uncle’s house.” His breath feathered the hair at her temple.

  She looked up, her lips brushing his cheek. “I couldn’t leave the clinic without someone here to handle emergencies. Dr. Miller from Rock Creek was supposed to be here, but I guess he couldn’t make it through the storm.”

  She seemed to realize what she was doing and made an awkward attempt to step back.

  As she held the door, he moved past her, shaking snow from his hat.

  His first thought had been to just keep on holding her out of pure relief that she was here and she was all right. Since he didn’t feel free to do that, it was enough to just stand and look at her, all buttoned up in her white lab coat, her cheeks a bit flushed, her eyes a little too bright.

  “I see you’ve lost power.”

  She nodded. “I guess the whole town did.”

  “This is a medical clinic. I’m sure your uncle would have had a generator installed for just such emergencies.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re right. When it didn’t kick on, I tried phoning my uncle, and there was no service.”

  “Yeah. My cell phone is dead, too.” He stood still, trying to get his bearings. “Got a flashlight?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve been going through drawers and cabinets, but so far, nothing.”

  “That’s all right.” He started toward the inner rooms. “You stay here. I wouldn’t want you to trip on something. If I’m lucky and find the generator, there should be light and heat in a few minutes.”

  She put a hand on his arm. “Would you mind if I come along?”

  He absorbed the warmth snaking through his veins at her simple touch and thought again about drawing her into his arms but didn’t want to add to her alarm by being too bold. “You afraid of being alone?”

  She sighed. “I guess I am. Just a little. I’ve been hearing noises, like the rattling of doors. Probably the wind. I was very close to panic just before you got here, thinking I’d be spending the night alone in a cold, dark place.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t blame you for feeling spooked.”

  Bold or not, it was the perfect excuse to draw an arm around her shoulders.

  Oh, she felt so good tucked up by his side. He was tempted to linger here in the darkness, absorbing all the little sparks of heat that had his heartbeat revving.

  “We’ll be the blind leading the blind.” His mouth brushed the hair at her temple as he added, “Just remember to move slowly and keep one hand out in front of you so you don’t get smacked by a wall or door.”

  He felt her shiver as they made their way slowly and carefully along a hallway, touching half a dozen doors before Colin paused, his hand on the knob of the door at the end of a long hall. “If I’m right, this should be the utility room, where we’ll find the furnace, air, and, hopefully, the generator.”

  “I hope so.” Her warm breath teased his cheek, and he thought it the sweetest feeling in the world.

  Colin left Anita just inside the door while he felt his way across the room before dropping to his knees. Minutes later a motor kicked on, and the room was flooded with faint light.

  Anita couldn’t keep from clapping her hands in relief. “Oh, how wonderful. I never thought I’d be this excited over such a simple thing as light.”

  Colin fiddled with dials and knobs before turning to her with a smile. “That’ll do it. In no time this place will be warm as toast.”

  Her head tilted upward as he walked to her. “I’m so grateful.”

  “I’m happy to oblige.” Her mouth was inches from his, and the thought of kissing her filled him with a quiet thrill.

  “I was driving myself crazy wondering what I was going to do. By morning it was bound to be freezing in here. But seeing the power was out all over town, I knew it wouldn’t be any better at Uncle Leonard’s house. I’d pretty much decided I would just have to hunker down and stay the night. At least I knew I’d have plenty of blankets.”

  He kept an arm around her shoulders as he guided her across the room. As they stepped out into the hallway, a figure darted into the shadows.

  All Colin’s instincts sharpened. His only thought was Anita and her safety. Anyone wandering the halls of a darkened clinic on Christmas Eve had to be up to no good.

  “Stay here.” Colin pressed Anita back against the wall before rushing down the hall.

  Despite Colin’s words of caution, Anita raced after him.

  Colin snagged the arm of the intruder before he could slip away through a back door that was standing slightly ajar.

  “He has something in his hand,” Anita shouted. “Oh, dear heaven, a gun.”

  Colin�
�s hand connected with the intruder’s, sending the object dropping heavily to the floor.

  Colin kicked it aside before pressing both hands on the intruder’s shoulders, slamming him up against the wall.

  “Who are you and what are you doing in here?” Colin demanded.

  Anita bent to the object the intruder had dropped. “Not a gun. A hammer.” She looked up to study the intruder and realized he was just a boy. “At least now I know it wasn’t the wind I’d been hearing. How did you get that door open?”

  The boy clamped his mouth shut and shot her a look that was somewhere between sullen and terrified.

  Colin tightened his grip on the boy’s shoulders. “You’ll answer Dr. Cross, or you can answer to Sheriff Graystoke.”

  At the mention of the law, the boy’s face fell and he looked as though he would cry. “The guy outside pried it open and sent me in.”

  “This guy have a name?”

  The boy shrugged. “I don’t know him.”

  “You’d break into a medical clinic for a stranger?” Colin’s face was inches from the boy’s. “What did he offer you?”

  The boy hung his head. “Ten dollars. I told him I needed twenty.”

  “And in return, what were you supposed to get for him?”

  The boy wouldn’t meet Colin’s eyes. “He said to grab any medicine that wasn’t locked up. Or, he said, if nothing else, a prescription notepad from the doctor’s office. He said if I didn’t come out with something he could use, he’d hurt me.”

  Colin’s eyes narrowed with sudden fury. He turned to Anita. “Keep hold of that hammer. And stay here with the boy.”

  Before she could respond, he was out the back door.

  She stood, frozen with fear.

  The thought of Colin rushing into the path of a gun-toting criminal had her heart pounding in her chest and the blood throbbing in her temples.

  A dozen thoughts and images crowded her mind, each one more horrible than the next. She stood rooted to the spot, terrified that she would hear a gunshot.