The Maverick's Christmas to Remember
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Christy Jeffries
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HarlequinChapter One
Caroline Ruth loved romance and happily-ever-after stories and all sorts of things that her academic-minded mother considered nonsense. That was how she knew with absolute conviction that this career as an assistant wedding planner in Rust Creek Falls, Montana, was tailor-made for her. And so did her boss, who was currently on her honeymoon and had left their newest client in Caroline’s more-than-capable hands.
Josselyn Weaver sat across the desk from her, poring over bridal gown catalogs as they both waited for the groom to arrive to the couple’s initial consultation. Picking a gown always seemed to hold the most excitement for the brides, but Caroline knew that booking a venue was the foundation of building a successful event. After all, the guest list and decorations and theme usually depended on the location.
Caroline’s stomach growled and she wished she had stopped for a breakfast croissant at Daisy’s Donuts on her way to work this morning. But she’d been so eager to get to the office and prepare for this meeting that she’d barely allowed herself time for a couple of bites of a disgusting protein bar she’d found smashed in the bottom of her giant tote bag.
“So when we met a couple of months ago, you were pretty adamant that you wouldn’t be getting married anytime soon,” she finally said when Josselyn looked up from a glossy magazine spread. Not that she wanted to rush the bride, but Caroline had too much energy for long periods of silence, no matter how comfortable they were. Besides, the more she could learn about the couple she was working with the better. “I’m glad to see you changed your mind.”
“I know. I remember you telling me that you’d be planning my wedding soon and I thought it was the craziest thing I’d ever heard.” Josselyn’s eyes were bright with humor, and Caroline smiled since she was well accustomed to people not really taking her instincts seriously. The bride continued, “I’d just moved to Rust Creek Falls to take the school librarian job and wasn’t even looking for a date, let alone a relationship. I know people say that love finds you when you’re not looking for it, but if someone had told me that I’d be engaged by Christmas, I never would have believed it.”
Caroline gulped as a shiver made its way down her back.
Engaged by Christmas.
The words brought back the memory of Winona Cobbs’s prediction that Caroline would be engaged before she turned twenty-four. That was a bit more than a month away, which meant that if the old psychic was correct, the right man would need to come along soon.
Shaking off the tingling vibration along her skin, Caroline glanced down at the wastebasket by her feet and wondered if she’d been a little too quick to throw out the half-eaten protein bar. She was suddenly feeling a bit light-headed and needed to keep this meeting moving along.
“So tell me about your fiancé,” she suggested. She was almost as new to the small town as Josselyn was, and despite the fact that she’d already assisted with a few weddings out at Sunshine Farm, Caroline hadn’t met the groom yet.
“Drew is an obstetrician at the Rust Creek Falls Clinic. His first wife died in a car accident several years ago, and since this is his second wedding, I want to make sure that I’m being respectful to her memory.”
“Of course.” Caroline nodded sympathetically. “And if I remember correctly, he also has an adorable son that introduced you two, right? I’m guessing you’d like him to be involved in the wedding somehow.”
“That would be wonderful,” Josselyn replied as her cell phone vibrated. She looked at her screen. “Drew just texted. Apparently, he ran into his brother at Daisy’s, but the good news is that he’s bringing donuts to apologize for running late.”
“No problem.” Caroline waved a hand in dismissal as her stomach clenched in anticipation of a sugary treat. Josselyn picked up another bridal gown magazine, and Caroline decided to steer her toward the more important decisions. “Have you guys talked about the size of the wedding or whether you want it to be indoors or outdoors?”
“Well, he’s originally from Thunder Canyon, so we were kind of thinking something in Kalispell might be a bit more accommodating for everyone traveling. I’m not really sure how many people we’re inviting, but his family is huge. And I was hoping we could set the date within the next couple of months, so we would probably need an indoor venue since Montana winters can be pretty unpredictable.”
“I know the perfect place!” Caroline jumped up so quickly she hit her knee on the corner of the desk drawer. “Hold on, I have more information on it in one of these binders.”
Their current office building used to be an old train depot at Sawmill Station, and when her boss, Vivienne, converted it for her wedding planning business, her husband had built her a wall of bookshelves. Cole had promised to install a rolling ladder when they returned from their honeymoon, but until then, Caroline had to drag a piece of furniture over and climb up on it every time she needed to reach something on the top shelf.
To take her mind off the fact that she was balancing on an antique wooden chair in a pair of high heels, Caroline kept talking, hoping her enthusiasm disguised her nervous energy. “There’s a historical brick building in Kalispell that is currently an art museum, but the back opens up into this huge open space. And get this. It used to be a Carnegie library before the city relocated the library to their current location. But the historical society rents it out for events and, well, if I wasn’t so short I could reach the brochure and just show you.”
“Can I help?” Josselyn asked, coming to stand nearby.
“Nope, I almost have it.” It wasn’t very ladylike—especially in an above-the-knee ruffled skirt—but Caroline put one foot onto a shelf to shimmy up just a little higher and stretched her arm as far as it would go until her fingers could grasp the bottom of the binder. As luck would have it, that was the exact moment when the front door opened.
“Drew...!” Josselyn said, her voice trailing off as she obviously walked away from the bookshelves and toward the entrance. Caroline would’ve stayed focused on what she was doing, but then the bride added, “I didn’t know you were bringing Ben and Craig with you.”
Caroline turned in surprise at the mention of unexpected people and brought her foot off the shelf a little too quickly. There were three men standing in the entryway. However, she only had eyes for the one carrying the pink bakery box. He was wearing a tan Stetson with a red plaid shirt, but that kind of standard cowboy attire was a dime a dozen around this town. What made her dizzy with excitement was the hook-shaped scar on the right side of his neck...just like the man Winona Cobbs had predicted.
Biting her lip, Caroline blinked in wonder at the new arrival. This was it. He was here. She just knew it.
Overwhelmed, underfed and perhaps a bit too eager, Caroline rocked the chair as she tried to climb down. Unfortunately, her high heel hooked onto one of the narrow armrests and she went down fast. The last thought to go through her mind was Engaged by Christmas.
* * *
Craig Clifton saw the woman fall as if it was happening in slow motion. Dropping the box of donuts, he sprinted toward her just as he heard the deafening thunk of her forehead bouncing off one of the wooden shelves. Still a couple of feet away, Craig dived at her in a last-ditch effort to brace her landing. But the odd angle and the impact of her deadweight knocked them both to the ground.
Luckily, he was able to pivot his torso at the last minute, and the back of the lady’s head, as well as her shoulders, landed on his abdomen instead of the hardwood floor. Craig had absorbed most of the impact, but they were now sprawled out in the shape of a T and his childhood friend was yelling at them to stay still.
“Don’t move her,” Drew ordered as he knelt by Craig’s hip. Catching his breath, which had been knocked out of him when they’d collided, Craig sucked in a gulp of air and saw the woman’s long brown hair rise and fall with his chest.
“I can barely move myself,” Craig replied, lifting a hand to the bump rising along the back of his scalp, not surprised to find his Stetson missing. His brothers referred to it as his “going to town hat” since he tended to wear it whenever he left the ranch. Craig wiggled his toes inside his boots and relaxed when he was confident that all his appendages were in working order.
“She’s unconscious,” Drew continued as he touched the lady’s neck, probably checking for a pulse or a broken bone or whatever else it was that doctors checked for. Then Drew looked over to his brother, who was also a physician and currently crouched down with his hands on his knees, staring at the unresponsive woman instead of asking how his best friend’s spine was. “Ben, I left my bag in my car back at Daisy’s. Do you have yours in the truck?”
“I’m on my way,” Ben replied.
“Should we call an ambulance for her?” Josselyn asked as she stood over all of them, concern etched on her forehead.
“It would probably take too long for one to drive here from Kalispell,” Drew replied. “Her heartbeat and breathing seem to be stable and I’m not feeling anything broken. But judging by how hard she hit that shelf on the way down, I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a concussion.”
“That was my first thought,” Ben said as he returned with his doctor bag. “We could take her to the clinic in town, but she’s going to need a CT scan and would have to go to the hospital in Kalispell for that anyway. If we’re going to drive her anywhere, it should be there.”
“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to move her?” Josselyn asked her fiancé, and Craig found himself thinking the same thing.
“Well, we can’t leave her on top of Craig forever, as much as he might enjoy that.” Ben smirked, then must’ve noticed the concern on his soon-to-be sister-in-law’s face. “I promise she’ll be fine.”
Craig had grown up with the Stricklands and knew that if Ben could make jokes during a time like this, the situation couldn’t be entirely dire. He forced his muscles to relax and wondered how he’d gotten roped into accompanying two of his best friends over here for a wedding planning appointment of all things.
One minute he’d been in line at Daisy’s Donuts with Ben, discussing leasing fees for bulls, and the next, Drew was taking them both over to the new ranch at Sawmill Station to get a look at the latest herd of longhorns the Daltons were selling. Apparently, it just so happened that the wedding planner’s office was located on the same property.
“I’m fine, by the way,” Craig said, since nobody seemed to be concerned about his health after he’d taken a dive like that. He looked across the floor to where the pink bakery box had opened and spilled out its contents all over the wooden planks. “But since I’m stuck down here, can someone hand me a donut?”
“If you’re healthy enough to complain, you’re healthy enough to wait your turn.” Drew’s eyes flickered briefly over Craig before he slipped a Velcro cuff onto the arm of the unconscious woman, whose head was still propped up just below Craig’s chest. “Besides, I’ve seen you take worse falls off a bucking horse back in the day. Now, hold still while I get her blood pressure.”
“But he’s not a young buck anymore,” Ben said, wiggling his eyebrows with humor and making Craig feel every one of his thirty-five years. The hard floor underneath him and the odd angle of his body weren’t helping the uncomfortable stiffness settling over him.
“I could still outride you,” Craig challenged. “Unless you’re getting in a lot of saddle time in between shifts at that fancy hospital of yours in Billings.”
“Possibly,” Ben said, passing him a glazed twist that had landed halfway on top of a piece of wax paper. “I haven’t seen you move that fast since Brown Fury slammed you up against the pen in the midstate finals.”
“That bull was one mean son of a—”
“Should I call someone?” Josselyn asked, interrupting Craig’s reminiscing about his rodeo days. But it was either talk about something else to get his mind off the injured woman currently on top of him or lie here thinking about the last time he’d been powerless to help a different injured woman.
“She’s stable,” Drew responded. “But we should get her to the hospital in Kalispell to have some tests run.”
Having grown up on his family’s ranch in Thunder Canyon, Craig was no stranger to small towns and medical emergencies. The people there were used to taking care of their own. Not that this particular lady was his own. Hell, he didn’t even know this woman resting so peacefully against him, the porcelain-white skin of her cheek relaxed against the red plaid checks in his shirt. But if the doctors said they could drive her from Rust Creek Falls into Kalispell, then that was what they would do.
As Drew and Ben gently lifted her off him, Craig left his uneaten donut on the floor and rose to his feet, tamping down his impulse to scoop the woman into his arms and carry her himself. After all, he was the one who’d saved her from a second blow to her head when he’d landed underneath her. That kind of bond made a man feel a certain responsibility. But Ben already had her off the ground, with Drew stabilizing her head as they walked toward the door. Which was probably for the best considering they were both trained in moving patients, whereas Craig was better trained to haul her around like a bale of hay.
“I’ll grab her purse,” Josselyn said as everyone seemed to spring into action.
Craig had barely enough time to scoop up his fallen hat and make it outside to open the back door of his crew cab truck. He quickly hopped up and slid across the seat to help gently maneuver the unconscious woman inside. He found himself with her head resting on him again, but at least this time it was on his lap as he sat upright on the bench seat. If he’d wanted to badly enough, he probably could’ve switched spots and let Drew sit back here with her. However, Craig had already taken on the rescue role inside the office and he didn’t feel right about abandoning the poor lady now.
He had to shift his hips carefully in order to fish the truck keys out of his front pocket and pass them to Josselyn, who volunteered to drive so that Drew could be available to check the woman’s vitals during the twenty-five-minute drive. Ben, realizing that there wasn’t enough room in the truck, decided to drive Josselyn’s car back to Sunshine Farm.
“Who should I notify?” Ben asked, and all eyes turned to Josselyn.
“Um, she works for Vivienne Shuster, but Viv and Cole Dalton are in Fiji on their honeymoon. Like me, she’s new to Rust Creek Falls, so I’m not really sure who she’d want me to call locally. I think her parents are college professors or something but I don’t know where they live.”
It seemed so intimate to be talking about the personal details of a woman he’d never met. A woman whose brown hair fell in soft waves against the denim of his jeans. Craig cleared his throat. “What’s her name?”
“Caroline Ruth,” Josselyn said, then put the truck into gear.
Caroline.
Her body was slender and petite, but she had curves in all the right places. A rush of shame filled him as he realized he was blatantly staring at an unconscious lady. An unconscious and vulnerable lady with a body encased in delicate, clingy feminine fabric that would never suit life on a ranch. Not that Caroline looked like the type to spend much time working in the outdoors. He narrowed his gaze toward her high-heeled sandals and the bright pink polish on her toes. She never would’ve fallen off that chair if she’d been wearing sturdy boots and functional jeans. But she was a wedding planner, so what did she know about physical labor?
Josselyn took a bend in the two-lane highway a bit too sharply and Craig instinctively wrapped his hand around Caroline’s waist to make sure she didn’t accidentally tumble off the seat. The touch sent an electric vibration up his arm, making him feel like even more of a creep, so he yanked his hand away quickly, but didn’t know where to put it. Lifting his elbow to the top of the backrest, Craig studied her face for signs of pain or discomfort. Fortunately, she appeared to be completely relaxed in her unconscious state, almost as though she were blissfully at peace.
Caroline Ruth was definitely an attractive woman, he’d give her that. Still. He was in no position to be noticing such things, and she was clearly in no position to be receiving his unwanted attention. Craig shifted guiltily in his seat and Caroline’s eyes suddenly shot open.
“Hey there,” Craig offered weakly. What else was he supposed to say to a complete stranger with her head in his lap? Caroline smiled dreamily at him before her lids fluttered closed and she was out cold again.
