Page 87 of The Holiday Gift

“He seems nice,” Ridge said after they had loaded the crate and the ornaments and stood on the porch watching the two SUVs head back down the driveway toward the foreman’s house.

She thought of how abrupt and harsh he had been the evening before at the clinic.Nicewouldn’t have been the word she used to describe Ben Caldwell then, but now she was beginning to wonder.

“I guess,” she answered in what she hoped was a noncommittal voice.

Ridge gave her a sidelong look. “You might want to think about showing a little more enthusiasm if you plan to run off with the man. At least to him. Occasionally a guy needs a little encouragement.”

She rolled her eyes but quickly hurried into the house before Ridge could notice the blush she felt heating her cheeks. She suddenly had a very strong feeling she would have to work hard at being casual and uninterested in order to keep Ridge—and probably the rest of the Bowmans—from trying to do a little matchmaking for Christmas.

* * *

A woman’s body was a mysterious thing, full of secret hollows and soft, delectable curves.

He was in heaven, warm, sweetly scented heaven. Ben trailed his fingers over the woman in his arms, his hands exploring all those hidden delights. He wanted to stay here forever with his face buried in skin that smelled sweetly of vanilla and rain-washed wildflowers and his hands finding new and exciting terrain to discover.

His body was rock-hard and he pressed against her heat, tangling his fingers in acres of dark, silky hair. She smiled at him out of that sinfully delicious mouth that sent his imagination into overdrive, and her green eyes were bright as springtime. He groaned, his hunger at fever pitch, and kissed her.

Her mouth was as warm and welcoming as the rest of her and when she danced her tongue along his, he groaned and gripped her hands, kissing her with all the pent-up need aching inside him.

“Yes. Kiss me,” she murmured in that lilting, musical voice. “Just like that, Ben. Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”

All he could think about was burying himself inside. He shifted and prepared to do just that, his body taut and ready, when a phone trilled close to his ear.

He froze...and woke up from the first sexy dream he’d had in ages.

He could still see Caidy Bowman, tangled around him, her body soft and warm, but when he blinked she disappeared.

The phone trilled again and a quick glance at the alarm read 3:00 a.m. Nobody called at this hour unless it was an emergency. He grabbed for it, ignoring the lingering arousal of his body that had no chance in hell of being satisfied by an actual female right now.

“Hello?” he growled.

“I shouldn’t have called. I’m sorry.” Hearing Caidy Bowman’s voice in his ear after he had just heard her in his dreams, pleading with him for more, was so disorienting that for a moment he couldn’t process the shift.

“Hello? Are you there?” she asked. The urgency and, yes, fright in her voice pushed away the last clinging tendrils of his sultry dream.

“I’m here. Sorry.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for the jeans he’d left there the night before. “What’s wrong? Luke?”

“Yes. He’s not... Something’s wrong. I wouldn’t have called you, except... I don’t think it’s good. He’s struggling to breathe. I thought it might be an infection, but I haven’t seen any signs of a fever or anything. I lifted both dressings and they looked clean.”

He growled and flipped on the bedside light, then scrubbed at his face to rub the last tendrils of that blasted dream away.

“Give me five minutes.”

“Is there something I can do so you don’t have to come up here?”

“Probably not. Five minutes.”

As he threw on a T-shirt and his jacket, a hundred possibilities raced through his head, very few of them leading to a good outcome. He quickly scribbled a note for Mrs. Michaels and stuck it on her door, though by now she was used to him dashing out in the middle of the night.

Snow lightly gleamed in his headlights as he drove up to the ranch house. He saw lights in the kitchen and pulled as close as he could to the side door on the circular driveway, then hurried up the snow-covered walkway, his emergency kit in his hand.

He didn’t even have to rap softly on the door before she yanked it open, her hair tangled around her face and her eyes huge with worry.

“Thank you for coming so quickly. I didn’t want to call you but I didn’t know what else to do.”

He had a strong feeling that wasn’t an easy admission for her to make. She struck him as a woman who didn’t like relying on others.

Yes. Kiss me. Just like that, Ben. Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.

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