Merry Christmas, Cowboy! by Cindy Kirk

Author:Cindy Kirk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2009-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“It’s ten feet to the front door,” Seth said to his friends when the truck stopped in front of his house. “I can make it on my own.”

His bravado must have convinced Josh and Mitch, because they relaxed their grip on the door handle. He’d insisted he didn’t need their help to get from the hospital to the truck, but thankfully they’d ignored his protests. It was nearly impossible for him to take a deep breath. And any exertion seemed to set off a spell of coughing that left his legs weak and shaky.

The doctor in Big Timber had sent him home with an inhaler and told him to take next week off. He had a follow-up appointment in ten days. Hopefully he’d be ready to resume his ranch duties at that time. His foreman would have to pick up the slack until then.

Seth’s hand closed over the door handle but instead of opening it, he paused for a moment calling on his inner reserve. It was important to him that Dani not worry. Once he got to the front door, he wanted everything to appear as normal as possible. That’s why his sister wasn’t here. And why Josh and Mitch weren’t coming in.

“We don’t mind hanging around for a while to make sure you’re okay,” Mitch said, two lines of worry etched between his brow.

“Yeah, you’re not lookin’ so good,” Josh observed.

“I appreciate everything you’ve done.” Seth’s voice shook with pent-up emotion. He owed these guys a debt he’d never be able to repay. Thanks to their courage, his daughter still had a father. And he still had a life. “I’ll be fine. Lauren is here to take care of Dani—”

“But what about you?” Josh’s tone may have been nonchalant but the concern in his eyes gave him away. “Doc Mason said—”

“I’ll be fine,” Seth repeated, more firmly this time.

Out of the corner of his eye, Seth saw Mitch tilt his head, his gaze sharp and assessing.

“I can’t believe we didn’t see it.” Mitch shook his head. “All the way out here you’ve been trying to tell us but we haven’t been listening.”

“Tell us what?” Josh said.

“Lauren is inside. Seth here is eager to soak up some of her TLC.” Mitch’s grin widened. “He doesn’t want us around ’cause we’ll cramp his style.”

“You and Lauren?” Josh whistled. “You’ve been holding out on us.”

Seth shot Mitch a sharp glance. “It’s not like that—”

“Dani already caught ’em smoochin’,” Mitch continued. “When he was wearing a Santa suit, no less.”

“Women love men in uniform. It’s a big turn-on.” Josh rubbed his chin. “I’d like to borrow that suit sometime. Stacie’d get a kick out of it.”

Seth held on to his temper with both hands. He knew they were just trying to distract him…as well as have a little fun at his expense. They didn’t realize Lauren was off-limits. The last thing he wanted was for his friends to have the wrong impression. But he was tired of listening, tired of talking, tired of explaining.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.