The Maverick's Christmas To Remember. Christy Jeffries

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      “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 СКАЧАТЬ