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  Kelly watched him go, admiring his grace, his height, his willingness to participate. Even wearing a shepherd’s robe, there was no denying the man’s masculinity. He radiated it like a beacon. Which made his charm all the more appealing.

  Oh, she knew there was an attraction between them—she’d have to be blind to miss it. But she’d made it clear right from the get-go that she wasn’t interested in a relationship.

  Kimberly and Jessica had to be her first priority. Life had turned upside down for them all during the past year.

  This was a stopover, a chance to heal, a chance to rethink and regroup.

  And as much as her battered feminine soul wanted to answer the call of Chance Hammond’s flirtations, she knew she had to resist.

  Holding her hands out for Jessica and Kimberly, she made her way over to the concession stand just as cars were beginning to turn into the church parking lot. They would make the loop from Main Street through the church lot, driving slowly to take in the live nativity and listen to the Christmas hymns. If they wanted, they could stop at the refreshment stand for a hot drink passed through the car window.

  Iris Brewer, who owned Brewer’s Saloon in town, looked up from pouring steaming coffee into a plastic cup.

  “Well hello, there, loves. Did Mildred and Opal come with you all?”

  “No,” Kelly said. “They claimed their bones weren’t up to standing in the cold half the night. They’ll be along later, though.”

  Mildred and Opal Bagley were widowed sisters who owned the boardinghouse where Kelly was staying. The sisters were characters, fond of bickering good-naturedly, yet were as sweet and welcoming as you could ask for. But Kelly knew she needed to find other housing. In another week or so, extended families would start showing up for the holiday celebrations, and since the new hotel wasn’t built yet, the Bagley widows’ boardinghouse was going to be bursting at the seams.

  “Can we help out?” Kelly asked Iris.

  “Of course. I’ll hand you the coffee and hot chocolate, and you can pass it right through the car windows. The little ones can help with the cookies, but mind that you stay close to your mom,” she cautioned them. “No getting toes under the tires, you hear?”

  Jessica and Kimberly were happy to have a job and puffed up their little chests importantly.

  “We don’t see much of you, Kelly,” Vera Tillis commented as she lined up to wish the cruisers a merry Christmas and smile at excited children bouncing in the back seats of the cars. “I trust you got over your bug?”

  Kelly pulled the collar of her coat higher around her chin, not only to ward off the icy-cold air, but to hide.

  “Um, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.” She’d told an outright fib when Chance had asked her to join him at one of the neighbor’s houses on Thanksgiving.

  Somehow, though, the man made even a simple request for a patient consult sound like a date. Socializing outside of work was simply too risky.

  Tonight, she’d had little choice. He’d been sneaky, brought the sleigh and appealed to Jessica and Kimberly, knowing full well the girls would sway her decision.

  She’d have looked like a mean old witch if she’d refused to go with him.

  Besides, there was no sense in her daughters suffering because she was worried about keeping a lid on her emotions. Soon enough, Chance would get tired of the chase and give up on her. Men usually did when something wasn’t serving their needs. She ought to know.

  A steady stream of cars lined the streets of the town, and after a while, Kelly forgot all about being cold. They’d gone through several urns of coffee and cocoa, and backup pots were already brewing.

  “Can we go look at the baby Jesus and camels now?” Jessica asked.

  “Yes, do go,” Iris encouraged. “I see Mildred and Opal headed up the walk. They’ll take over for you.”

  Kelly adjusted Kimberly’s scarf, tucking it more snugly around her neck, buttoned Jessica’s coat and gave a warning look when the little girl started to complain, then held out her hands, holding both her daughters close to her side as they slipped between cars and moved toward the nativity scene.

  A huge crèche, built by the town’s contractor, Jake McCall, was the focal point of the production, a bright star seemingly floating several feet above the wooden structure. One of the new babies in town—Kelly wasn’t sure which, Eden’s, Dora’s or one of Emily’s twins—was being lowered into a bed of straw. Probably one of the twins, because Emily was stepping in to play the part of Mary, and her husband, Cheyenne, was dressed as Joseph, gazing in wonder at the baby in the manger.

  People from all over the county and as far away as Miles City and Billings lined the streets with cars and pickups, cruising by to view the Christmas scene.

  One of the camels, an impressive seven feet in height, was standing and looking bored half to death. Another was kneeling, its knobby knees bent, long eyelashes fanning its eyes. Portable heaters kept the set warm, and the cabin-size wood structure kept stray snow flurries off the cast of characters.

  Chance held the lead ropes of two donkeys. He looked up and saw her coming, spoke to Wyatt Malone—who was indeed minding the sheep with an eagle eye—then handed one of the donkeys off to his friend and moved around behind the crèche motioning for Kelly to follow.

  “How’s it going, Hollywood?”

  She shivered inside her jacket. “Freezing.”

  “Aw, this is mild. Wait’ll we get a blizzard—” he winked “—and we have to make a house call.”

  “I think I can wait.” That was another thing that made her feel as though she’d stepped back in time. House calls. Where she came from, that was unheard of. But they were very much a part of Chance Hammond’s medical practice.

  Jessica whispered something to Kimberly, and both little girls gazed at the top of the Christmas tree several yards away, then looked above the crèche to the Star of Bethlehem suspended by wires.

  “Do you believe in angels?” Jessica asked Chance.

  He smiled. “Sure.”

  “Did you see her?”

  “Yep.”

  “No. Not the toy one on the tree,” Jessica insisted.

  “Oh. You mean the ones over there?” He pointed to where a choir of angels were singing Christmas hymns, flashlights hidden beneath their silver wings to give a glow to the wings and halos.

  “No, the real one.”

  “Jess,” Kelly cautioned when her daughter’s voice raised an octave in impatience.

  Chance winked. “I guess I didn’t see her, then. Probably only special little girls get to see real ones.”

  Kimberly looked at him, her eyes as solemn as his tone. He reached out and trailed a gentle finger over her cheek.

  Passing the donkey’s lead rope to Kelly, he said, “Can you hold this for a second?”

  Kelly didn’t want the responsibility, but the rope was already in her hands before she could object. Her insides quivered with nerves. She’d heard that animals could sense when someone was afraid, so she did her best to bluff, to pretend that she stood chest to nose with donkeys every day of her life.

  She watched Chance as he bent down to inspect the hem of his shepherd costume where a tear in the shape of his boot heel had rent the fabric. Rather than dwell on the proximity of the donkey’s teeth to her sweater, she focused on Chance’s long fingers. She imagined they could probably stitch a torn seam in fabric as well as they could a life-threatening laceration in skin. He was an excellent doctor.

  She glanced up just as an old Buick pulled away from the crèche on its way to make the loop of the church parking lot. Suddenly the car backfired. The explosion of sound ripped through the crèche, setting off a chain reaction that resembled a slow motion free-for-all.

  Voices shouted and soothed as animals shied.

  The donkey Kelly was holding lunged, nearly knocking her over, and kicked out with his hind legs.

  “Watch out!” She shoved Jessica and Kimberly back, but the warning wasn’t quick enough
for Chance.

  He gave a startled yelp as the animal’s hoof connected with his temple, knocking him flat on his back where he lay unmoving. Unconscious.

  Stony Stratton was at Kelly’s side in an instant, taking the reins of the donkey, speaking gently to the animal and getting him back under control.

  She rushed to Chance, kneeling in the snow, checking his pulse, the gash on his head. She was only vaguely aware of the crowd that had gathered around them. Her sole focus was on Chance, and she mentally blocked offers of help and words of concern.

  “Chance.” She called his name loudly, held her hand on his chest when he stirred and tried to sit up. “Stay put.”

  “What…?”

  “Just be still, would you?” Her heart raced, but her hands were steady as a rock as she assessed his injuries, applied pressure to the wound, dug a penlight out of her pocket and shone it in his eyes to check the reaction of his pupils.

  “I’m okay,” Chance protested. “Just give me a—”

  “Hush.”

  Jessica, disobeying the directive to stay back, peered at the wound like a bloodthirsty ghoul.

  “Ew, he’s got a big owie. Kimmy, come look.”

  “Girls, Chance doesn’t need an audience.” She glanced up at Stony and Cheyenne, who were sticking close in case she needed help, but keeping the crowd at bay to give her room.

  “It’s not that bad,” she said. “Go ahead with the production. I’ll shout if I need a hand.” Since they were actually behind the crèche, they had a certain amount of privacy from the cars that had come to a halt when the animals had nearly bolted.

  Everyone except Jessica and Kimberly moved away. Kelly scooped up a clean patch of snow and used it to wipe away some of the blood around Chance’s wound, being careful not to contaminate the actual site.

  “Don’t worry,” Jessica said compassionately, patting Chance on the shoulder. “Mommy can fix your hurt.”

  “She can, huh?”

  “Yep.” Jessica looked back at Kelly, pride shining in her big blue eyes. Kelly had an idea what was coming and didn’t quite know how to head it off.

  “Now is it okay to say you’re a doctor, Mommy?”

  Like a slow-moving spotlight, Chance’s gaze slid up to hers. Confusion and surprise covered the embarrassed discomfort that had been in his eyes a moment ago.

  “A doctor,” he repeated.

  Kelly sighed. She felt guilty as hell asking her oldest daughter to keep silent about her profession. It wasn’t really a secret. She simply hadn’t wanted to resurrect the responsibilities she’d left behind in California, hadn’t wanted to deal with the questions and explanations.

  Her private life was hers. She wasn’t here to be a doctor.

  Still, it made her feel bad that she’d advised her daughter not to mention the details, especially since Jessica was perfectly capable of speaking, and Kimberly, though capable, wouldn’t speak.

  Chapter Two

  “You want to run that by me again?” Chance asked, feeling as if the kick in the head had scrambled his brains. He flinched and tried to evade her when she wiped more freezing snow over his temple, then pressed a handkerchief against his wound.

  “I’m a doctor. And the best you’ve got right now, ace, so stay still and quit being a baby.”

  Jessica obviously thought it was hysterically funny that her mother had called him a baby, because she fell over laughing.

  Chance glanced at Kimberly. He’d be happy to be the butt of a joke if it made the youngest girl respond. A smile peeked out, puffing out her chubby cheeks. But no sound.

  He looked back at Kelly, who was going through all the motions he would have as a certified family physician when assessing an injury.

  He arched a brow, an action that brought a stinging pain to his wound. “Ouch, damn it.”

  Kimberly shook her head, her round eyes filled with life, but her mouth silent.

  Jessica translated. “You’re not supposed to say naughty words. The angel will cry.”

  “Says who?”

  “The angel, silly.”

  Kelly brushed a hand gently over her daughter’s hair and looked down at Chance—a little guiltily, he thought. Why had she kept her credentials from him? Not that he’d ever asked her to perform any duties that would risk his own medical license.

  And why in the world did this kid keep harping on angels as though there was a real one shining in their midst? His head was starting to ache like a kick in the head ought to, and he was feeling decidedly unsettled.

  “She talks to an angel,” Kelly explained softly, answering his unspoken question. “They both do, although Kimmy doesn’t use words.”

  The look on her face as she revealed what he’d already figured out about the angel touched a soft chord in him. A mother’s fierce protection, a plea for understanding.

  There was more to this family than Kelly allowed people to see.

  In the month she’d been working at his clinic, he knew little more than her name, that she was as efficient as all get-out, and that she made him burn.

  It was the damnedest thing. When she’d first arrived in town, he’d hired her on the spot and within a week, despite her “no trespassing” demeanor, his gut told him she was someone special. So he’d asked her out on a date. She’d refused, of course, but the chemistry between them during working hours had been white-hot, had fairly palpitated in the air.

  He’d come within a hairbreadth of kissing her, right there in the storage room amid drug samples, gauze, bedpans and the copying machine.

  All it had taken was the mere brush of their bodies, and the earth had shifted beneath his feet.

  Evidently Kelly hadn’t experienced the same phenomenon, because she still refused to go out with him.

  Although it nearly killed him, Chance had tried to put his baser instincts on the back burner, deciding they could work together without hormones coming between them. They were adults. And with the town fairly bursting at the seams—thanks in great part to the matchmakers—he desperately needed her help at the clinic.

  In a panic when his previous nurse had left, Kelly had been a godsend. He’d originally hired her as his receptionist, but when the office had been overrun one day with patients, she’d jumped right in, taking vital signs, recording patient histories and handling the preliminaries. Amongst the chaos, he recalled commenting that she obviously had training. She’d merely answered yes, and they’d left it at that.

  Now he realized she was probably overqualified for the job.

  “Can you stand on your own?” Kelly asked, bringing his thoughts back to the unsettling situation at hand. “We need to get you across the street to the clinic so we can stitch this laceration.”

  He saw a couple of his buddies moving in to help him to his feet and waved them off. His pride was smarting enough as it was.

  “Yeah, I can stand.” He got to his feet, disgusted when he actually swayed and she reached out for his arm.

  “Macho man,” she murmured. “It won’t kill you to lean on me.”

  That’s what she thought. All he would have to do was ease up to that soft body, and his own would go embarrassingly hard. “I can walk.”

  “Then let’s get to it.”

  “Why don’t you leave the girls with us?” Stony offered, having moved closer despite Chance’s blatant body language discouraging it. Hell, whatever happened to the silently understood male code that most guys respected, giving a buddy plenty of room when it was clear his manliness was challenged?

  Stony Stratton, a man usually stingy with his smiles, grinned like a loon as he gazed steadily at Chance. “Eden and I will keep an eye on Jessica and Kimmy, let them visit with the animals.”

  “Are you sure?” Kelly asked, obviously torn about letting her daughters out of her sight.

  That was another thing she’d been diligent about since she’d come to town. Keeping to herself. Keeping her girls close by. A loner who’d watched from afar.

  Cha
nce decided he’d had about enough of it.

  He wanted some answers—albeit a bit late in the game. And he wanted Kelly Anderson.

  In what capacity, he wasn’t sure. He only knew that he hadn’t felt this way about a woman since his failed engagement to Dana in medical school.

  And though that scared him plenty, it also stung his ego.

  Because she went out of her way not to notice.

  Man alive, he was losing his touch with the ladies, that was for sure. It grated even more that the old fellows in town were vocally, heartlessly, pointing that out at every opportunity.

  “We’d be happy to watch the kids for you,” Eden said, coming to stand beside her husband. “They’ll be fine, Kelly. In fact, why don’t you let them spend the night at our place? Nikki’s been dying for company.”

  “Oh, I don’t know, they don’t have clothes or—”

  “Please!” Nikki begged, reaching out to link hands with both Jessica and Kimberly. “I got piles of clothes. And I got new dishes and Rosie eats all the sugar at the tea parties.”

  “Rosie’s the dog,” Chance explained.

  “Yeah, Mom. Please?” Jessica begged.

  Reluctance was keen in Kelly’s eyes, but once she looked at the hopeful expressions on all three little girls’ faces, she nodded.

  “Great,” Eden said. “You go take care of Chance’s head and don’t worry about a thing.” She ushered the kids off, admonishing everyone to get back in place so the program could continue before the line of cars stretched clear to Wyoming.

  Chance gazed down at Kelly. “Yeah, Doc, take care of my head.” He eased an arm around her shoulders, felt her stiffen. “Don’t want me to fall on my butt again, do you?”

  “Pretty cocky for a man who’s white as that sheet you’re wearing. Come on, cowboy. I think I’m going to enjoy sticking needles in your head.”

  He’d forgotten about that part of it and groaned.

  The clinic, across the street from the church, was only a short walk. Slushy snow grooved by tire tracks, formed twin parallel mounds on both sides of the blacktop. Cars and pickups, with snow piled on bumpers and sticking to mud flaps, were parked diagonally at the curb.