The Cowboy's Christmas Lullaby

He grinned. “Right. I’ll keep my eye out.”

“Goodbye,” she said, then slipping her hand from his, she quickly turned and climbed into the car.

Once she’d shut the door and fastened her seat belt, she didn’t allow herself to glance at him through the window. Instead, she drove away and tried her best not to notice the lights of his truck reflecting in her rearview mirror.

Chapter Three (#ud6fd0b17-adf7-56c7-91d5-42c7deb71e50)

A week later, Marcella was nearing the close of her Friday shift in the ER when fellow nurse and friend Paige Winters walked up behind her.

“Dr. Sherman is being his usual nasty self again,” she said with a weary sigh. “Thank goodness our shift is nearly over. He can take out the rest of his sour attitude on the next crew of nurses instead of us—or me, I should say. The man has had the evil eye on me ever since I came to work in the ER. I’d give anything to slap that smirk of his right off his face.”

“Including your job?” Marcella asked as she yanked a soiled sheet from an empty bed.

“Well, no. I love my job here at Tahoe General too much to let one moody doctor ruin it.”

Marcella tossed the dirty sheet into a nearby hamper, then turned to see that the other nurse had already started fitting a clean sheet on the just-stripped mattress.

Paige was a year or two younger than Marcella, and though she was a natural redhead, like her, Paige’s shoulder-length hair was a deep wine color that contrasted vividly with her pale gray eyes. She was an extremely hardworking, dedicated nurse, and Marcella had often hoped that the other woman would find a man to love her. She deserved that much from life and more.

From the opposite side of the narrow bed, Marcella said in a hushed voice, “Dr. Sherman isn’t giving you the evil eye. He’s giving you the eye. Period.”

A fiery blush spread across Paige’s cheeks. “I am so tired of everyone hinting that Dr. Sherman has the hots for me,” she muttered. “The man is as cold as an ice cube. He wouldn’t know what to do with a woman if she fell right into his arms!”

“Nurse Winters! I need you down here! Pronto!”

The sound of Dr. Sherman’s bellow from the opposite side of the treatment room put a tight grimace on Paige’s face.

“See? He’s a jerk in a lab coat. And not nearly as good-looking as Dr. Whitehorse, who’s been giving you the eye for months now.”

The other woman hurried away, making it impossible for Marcella to deflect Paige’s remark about Dr. Whitehorse. Sure, the man was young and handsome and nice. She liked him as a friend, but he just didn’t make her heart go pitter-patter. Not the way that darned cowboy up on the Silver Horn had done.

Denver Yates. This past week she’d thought of little else. And the fact that Harry and Peter kept bringing up his name didn’t help matters at all. From the remarks they made, she could tell both of them expected to see Denver again. Preferably in the near future. And she hadn’t had the heart to burst their bubble. Neither of them would understand that enduring friendships rarely grew out of chance meetings.

You need to forget the cowboy, Marcella. He probably has a girlfriend. And even if he doesn’t, he’d hardly be interested in a mother with two kids. Wake up! A hunky man like Denver can have his pick of women. You can bet he’s already put you and your sons in the very back of his mind.

Doing her best to shove the miserable voice out of her head, she finished the last few minutes of her shift, exchanging patient information with the fresh group of nurses. By the time she’d changed clothes and headed out to the parking lot to her car, seven o’clock had turned into seven forty-five.

She was climbing into her car when she heard the cell phone inside her purse ringing. The caller was most likely her mother, she thought wearily, wondering why she hadn’t yet been by to pick up the boys. After twelve years of Marcella working long, erratic shifts as a nurse, her mother still didn’t understand her schedule would never be predictable.

After starting the car, she pulled out the phone and was surprised to see it had been Lilly Calhoun ringing, rather than her mother. Since her friend never called just to chat, Marcella decided to take a minute to return the call. If something had happened on the ranch, she wanted to know about it.

“Hi, Marcella,” Lilly answered cheerfully. “Sorry to bother you at this hour. Are you home from work yet?”

“No. I’m still in the parking lot. Is anything wrong?”

“No. Everything is great. I’ll just keep you a minute. I wanted to ask if you’re free tomorrow night. I’d like for you to come to a little dinner party I’m having.”

Marcella frowned. “Dinner party? Lilly, I was just out to the ranch last week at your Halloween party.”

“So? That was mainly for the kids. This is just for us adults.”

So that meant she’d have to tell Harry and Peter she was going to the Silver Horn without them. That would definitely cause a fuss. But on the other hand, Marcella was entitled to an evening out on her own once in a while.

“Is this some sort of special event? Someone’s birthday?” Marcella asked.

“Nothing special. There will only be a few of us. The men are getting together to talk business and Ava and I don’t want to be bored to death. You can at least entertain us with hospital news.”

“I am off tomorrow,” Marcella said thoughtfully. “And it would be nice to have some adult conversation. I’m not sure what Mom will say about watching the boys. If she’s planning on a bingo night, forget it.”

“Don’t worry. If Saundra can’t watch the boys, then bring them with you. Tessa will be keeping all the kids upstairs in the playroom. She won’t mind watching Harry and Peter, too.”

Rafe and Lilly had a young daughter and son, while Ava and Bowie’s baby boy was only a few months old. Tessa would have her hands full without adding Harry and Peter to the mix.

“I’m not sure—”

“I won’t let you refuse,” Lilly interrupted. “This is important.”

Marcella countered, “Lilly, you just said this wasn’t anything special. Are you—”

“I only meant it was important to me that you come,” she quickly explained.

Marcella absently massaged her forehead while watching a group of nurses exit the back of the building. She let out a weary sigh. “Okay, I’m too tired to argue. I’ll be there. What time?”

“Great! Make it about six thirty so we’ll have plenty of time to enjoy a cocktail before dinner. And in case you need more persuasion, Greta is cooking prime rib,” she added. “And coconut cream cake.”

Marcella chuckled. “Pure blackmail. I’ll see you tomorrow night. Right now I have to get home. Uh, who’s doing all that crying in the background?”

“Austin. He’s crying for me to take him over to the barn to see his daddy.”

“Then you’d better pull on your boots and take him and big sister, Colleen, to the barn.”

Lilly let out a good-natured groan. “Sure. Give the little man everything he wants. If Austin grows up to be a spoiled brat, I’m going to tell everyone Nurse Grayson ruined him.”

Laughing, Marcella told her friend goodbye, then ended the call.

* * *

The next evening, Denver quit work at an early hour, and after checking in with Doc Simmons about a pair of sick cows, he headed home to shower and change for the dinner party at the big ranch house.

Managing the cow/calf operation made it necessary from time to time for him to attend business meetings with the Calhouns. Especially with Orin, the father of the five Calhoun brothers, and Clancy, the eldest son and general manager of the Silver Horn. There were also occasions when issues cropped up with local ranchers and Denver needed to make an appearance at a town gathering. But parties were a different matter, and for the most part, he avoided them as much as possible. Yet for some mysterious reason, tonight Rafe had been adamant that he attend Lilly’s small dinner party.

Rafe had said he and Orin wanted to use the evening to discuss some new feed ideas. Denver didn’t believe a word of it. In the twelve years he’d been working on the Silver Horn, the feed program had remained consistently the same. The whole idea had him wondering if Lilly was giving someone a surprise party and Rafe was wanting to keep the celebration a secret. Whatever reason, Denver would have preferred to stay home and catch up on a bit of rest.

Frowning at his image in the bathroom mirror, he smeared a handful of shaving cream over his jaw and chin. Who was he trying to kid? He’d gotten home early for the past several nights. At least, seven o’clock was early for him. But he hadn’t rested or enjoyed the solitude. He’d spent most of the time cleaning the kitchen and thinking about Marcella Grayson and her two sons. And damn it all, he was still thinking about them.

You’re a fool, Denver. The world is full of pretty nurses and single mothers. It’s also full of gamin-faced boys with a penchant for asking questions. There is nothing special about the little family.

Maybe not, Denver argued with the nasty voice in his head, but there’d been something very special about the way they’d affected him. Being near Marcella, holding her hand, even for those brief moments, had reminded him what it was like to hold a woman in his arms and make love to her. And the boys—well, they’d made him remember all that he’d lost back in Wyoming.