Judy Christenberry - Wanted - Christmas Mummy

“Damn. I remember now. That blasted woman!”

“Woman? Is your social life picking up?”

“Yeah, thanks to Ben and Will.”

“What do they have to do with it?”

“They put an ad in the paper to get me a wife. I’ve been advertising for a housekeeper for a month with no response. They thought they’d improve on my offer.”

The doctor laughed. “Get any responses?”

Doug could feel his face reddening. “Some you wouldn’t believe. Then, last night, this woman turns up on my doorstep. Came all the way from Kansas, expecting me to marry her, I guess.” A sudden thought made him frown and increased the pain in his head. “Did she come into town with me last night?”

“I only saw Moss and Curly. They slept here at the hospital ‘cause of the storm.”

“Damn! I bet she’s still at the ranch with the boys. Where’s Moss?” he demanded, rising as if to get out of the bed.

“Hold it, Doug. You’re not going anywhere. I’ll find Moss and Curly for you, but you need to stay here until tomorrow.”

“Jim, if that woman is out there with my kids, I’m going back this morning, if I have to crawl to get there. You don’t understand what these women are like. They’re desperate!”

The doctor frowned and reached for Doug’s wrist to take his pulse. Then he pushed the button to summon the nurse. “Madge,” he ordered when she appeared, “go find Curly and Moss and have them come here.”

Again Doug struggled to get up.

“Doug, you can’t get out of bed. We haven’t set your leg because of the swelling.”

Doug gave his physician a pained smile. “Well, Doc, I reckon I’d better find a way of getting around because there are some things that just can’t wait.”

The doctor smiled, as if enjoying himself. “That’s why Madge left that bedpan handy. If you hurry, you can take care of business before company arrives.”

Doug glared at him.

“BOSS, I STILL THINK this is crazy. The lady seemed nice last night. I’m sure the boys are fine.” Moss was following in the tracks of the snowplow down the snowy road to the ranch.

“One of the boys said she cooked dinner last night,” Curly added helpfully.

“Just hurry,” Doug ordered through gritted teeth. He didn’t feel like making conversation. His leg was in a temporary brace and he’d had to be carried to the truck. Jim had thrown in a pair of crutches at the last minute but had warned him to use them only for trips to the bathroom. At least he hadn’t offered a bedpan again.

In four or five days, Doug would have to return so they could put his leg in a cast. Until then he had to stay in bed. Great! Now, one of his cowboys would have to play nurse-maid, and they’d be two men shorter than they already were.

It was all that woman’s fault. Things had been going along just fine until she arrived. Honesty forced him to rephrase that statement. They’d been surviving until she arrived. They could’ve used a housekeeper, of course, but he’d just about given up on that plan.

“Who was that lady? The one you’re so worried about,” Moss asked, checking in the rearview mirror for his boss’s response.

“Uh, she’s a visitor.”

“Mighty pretty,” Curly said, turning to grin over his shoulder.

“She’s okay,” Doug muttered. He didn’t want to discuss her, or think about her, or remember her warmth, her curves, her cooking.

“Hey! Maybe she came in response to that ad!” Moss suddenly exclaimed, a big grin on his weathered face. “You know, the one Ben and Will—” His glance met Doug’s in the rearview mirror and he suddenly stopped talking. He’d known Doug long enough to recognize the danger signals.

Curly, too, looked at Doug and said nothing.

Moss cleared his throat. “Uh, want us to move the herd closer in, since the snow’s let up? It’d make it easier to feed them.”

Doug concurred with his suggestion, and any other conversation for the rest of the ride dealt with work. The drive seemed interminable to Doug, every jolt shooting pain through his entire body. Jim had given him pain pills, but he refused to take any until he made sure he had that woman out of his home.

He’d need his wits about him to get rid of her. Especially if she’d spent the past few hours charming his boys as she had done last night.

He’d checked himself out of the hospital long before he should’ve, according to Jim, who protested his decision, but Doug wasn’t going to let a little red tape interfere with protecting his children. When they reached the ranch house, Moss pulled the Jeep as close to the steps as possible behind the woman’s car. She was still here.

The two ranch hands both came to his door, opened it and began to ease him forward on the seat. He gritted his teeth at the pain.

“Easy, boss, we got you,” Moss muttered.

They carried him up the steps, his broken leg stuck straight out in front of him. Curly managed to get the front door open and they backed into the warmth of the hall. Silence greeted them.

“Where is everyone?” Curly asked, but Doug had just about reached the end of his patience. His leg was aching big-time.

“Just take me up to bed. Then we’ll sort everything out.”

They made their way up the stairs and Moss shoved open the door to his room. The two cowboys stopped in their tracks, and Doug, clinging to their broad shoulders, looked up to see what the holdup was.

What he saw was a rather shapely female posterior. Leslie Hibbets snapped to attention and whirled around. Before she could sputter anything, the boys came racing around the bed.

“Daddy!” Leslie stepped in their path before they could crash into the cowboys holding their father.

“You can see your dad in a minute. I think we’d better finish his bed first so he can lie down. You’ve been such super helpers, your dad will be so proud.”

Instead of the frightened faces he expected, his sons beamed at him and then scurried back to the other side of the bed. They never obeyed him like that! Stunned, he watched the lady also turn away. That was when he realized she’d been bent over his bed, making it up.

“What are you doing?” he demanded, all the frustration he felt evident in his voice.

She turned around again and stared at him. All warmth was gone from her blue eyes. “I used your bed last night. So I washed the sheets this morning and now we’re putting them back on.” There was a challenge in there, as if daring him to complain.

“Wow! You must’ve been up early,” Moss said before Doug could speak. His voice fairly dripped with admiration, but Doug suspected it had nothing to do with her early rise. She looked just as sexy this morning in her tight jeans as she had last night.

Her smile didn’t lessen her sexiness.

“Not too early. The boys said they always get up at six.” As if just now remembering the two cowboys were still holding him, she hurried back to her bedmaking.

“You lucky devil,” Moss muttered in Doug’s ear. Doug glared at him.

“Each of you get a pillow,” Leslie ordered his children, and they hurried to follow her orders.

What had she done—hypnotized them?

“Now you can put Mr. Graybow in bed,” she suggested to Moss and Curly, stepping back out of the way.

As eager as his body was to make the acquaintance of something soft and stationary, Doug wasn’t a happy camper. For some reason, he grew less so as the fresh smell of clean sheets hit him. He hadn’t bothered with such niceties since Agnes left. He hadn’t had time, he defended himself, as he closed his eyes and relaxed for just a moment.

“Does he have any medicine he’s supposed to take?” that lilting voice asked, and his eyes popped open.

“Yeah, some pain pills,” Moss answered before he could stop him.