Free A Cold Creek Noel (The Cowboys of Cold Creek) by RaeAnne Thayne Page A

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.
    He pushed away the memory of that completely inappropriate
dream and did his best not to notice her faded T-shirt or the yoga pants she
wore that stretched over every curve, to focus instead on the issue at hand.
    “It’s fine. I’m here now. Let’s see what we have going on.”
    The dog was clearly in distress, his respiratory rate fast and
his breathing labored. His gums and lips were blue and Ben quickly pulled out
his emergency oxygen mask and fit it over the dog’s mouth and nose.
    “It’s gotten worse, just in the few minutes since I called you.
I don’t know what to do.”
    He ran his hand over the dog’s chest and knew instantly what
the problem was. He could hear the rattle of air inside the chest cavity with
each ragged breath. He bit out an oath.
    “What is it?”
    “Traumatic pneumothorax. He has air trapped in his chest
cavity. We’re going to have to get it out. I have a couple of options here. I
can take him into the clinic and do an X-ray first, or I can go with my
instincts. I can feel the problem. I can try to extract the air with a needle
and syringe, which will help his breathing. It’s your choice.”
    She paused for just a moment, then nodded. “I trust you. If you
think you can do it here, go ahead.”
    Her faith in him was humbling, especially given the cold way he
had treated her the day before. He fished in his bag for the supplies he would
need, then knelt down beside the dog again.
    “What can I do?” she asked.
    “Try to calm him as best you can and keep him still.”
    The next few moments were a blur. He was aware of her speaking
softly, of her strong, capable hands at his side as she held the dog as firmly
as possible. For the most part, he entered that peculiar zone he found whenever
he was in the middle of a complicated procedure. He listened with his
stethoscope until he could isolate the pneumothorax. The rest was quick and
efficient: cleaning the area, inserting the needle in just the right spot,
extracting the air with a gurgle, then listening again with the stethoscope to
the dog’s breath sounds.
    This was one of those treatments that was almost instantly
effective. Miraculous, even. One moment the dog was frantically struggling to
breathe, the next his airway was free and clear and his respiratory rate slowed,
his wild trembling with it.
    In just moments, he was moving air just as he should through
his lungs and had calmed considerably. Satisfied, Ben took the emergency oxygen
mask off Luke and returned the syringe to its packaging to be discarded back at
the clinic.
    “That’s it?” Caidy’s eyes looked stunned.
    “Should be. We’re still going to want to watch him closely. If
you’d like, I can take him back for another night at the clinic just to be
safe.”
    “No. I... That was amazing! ”
    She was gazing at him as if he had just hung the moon and stars
and Jupiter too. He had a funny little ache in his chest, and another
inappropriate bit of that crazy dream flashed through his head.
    “Thank you. Thank you so much. I was worried sick.”
    “I’m glad I was close enough to help.”
    “I’m sorry I had to wake you, though.”
    So was he. Or he told himself he was anyway. If she hadn’t, he
probably would have a great deal more of his unruly subconscious to be
embarrassed about. “No problem. It was worth it.”
    “Is there anything else I need to be concerned about?”
    “I don’t think