Cowboys for Christmas by Jan Springer Read Free Book Online Page B

some boiling water into a basin. He was frowning and in the way the muscles in his jaw were spasming, he was really pissed off.
    “Who did this to him?” she asked as he nudged in beside him. She kept her voice low as a violent anger raged. She would tear apart anyone who hurt her men. In the past, JJ’s anger had led her to kill her stepfather. Now, with her anger soaring during her closet stay thinking there was an intruder and with what had happened to Dan, she was experiencing a similar feeling of rage. It scared her to feel like she might lose control.
    Rafe shook his head. “I don’t know. Dan didn’t see him.”
    Damn! From a nearby cupboard, JJ grabbed a new bar of soap, unwrapped it and set it on the tray beside the basin with water.
    “I’ll get some washcloths,” she said. But Rafe shook his head.
    “I’ll get them. You just get Dan his coffee and brownies. Hopefully, that will keep his mind off what happened. At least for a few minutes.”
    Rafe winked at her and he hurried away.
    “I wouldn’t mind some coffee,” Brady growled in a low voice as he joined JJ in the kitchen.
    Concern etched his face as he gazed at her. He touched her elbow with a gentleness that almost unraveled her. His brow was furrowed and it was then she realized how badly she was shaking.
    “Are you okay?” he asked with a gentleness that almost unraveled her into a bucket of tears.
    “I will be. When we find out who hurt him, they are dead,” she hissed.
    To her surprise, Brady grinned.
    “Uh oh, I see a she-bear coming out. You look hot when you’re mad.”
    Without waiting for her to answer, Brady left and hurried back to assist Blue with Dan. It was at times like these that JJ was glad the men had designed their ranch with an open concept living room, dining area and kitchen where everyone could see each other. And she could hear what was going on and watch everything while she collected the brownies, other goodies and made the coffee.

    Dan related to everyone how he’d had the feeling he was being watched as he’d checked on the Angus herd in the north pasture during his run. He’d heard the approaching storm and had decided to head back to the ranch on the trail with his four wheeler. But the winds had picked up and so many trees had fallen over the trail so’d started chainsawing through them. Before he knew it, he’d had to take refuge in the tent because of the rain. Then night had fallen and another storm had come, so he’d stayed in the tent for the night.
    In the morning when he’d tried the atv, it hadn’t started. He’d followed their rules by staying with the vehicle until help arrived. He moved his tent to a nearby clearing, built a small fire for warmth and was about to cook some of the dried eggs and bacon he had in his emergency kit, when something had hit him in the head and he’d lost consciousness.
    He hadn’t seen anything. Hadn’t heard anything out of the ordinary. Just that weird feeling that he hadn’t been alone.
    Dan’s head ached like a bitch as he relayed what had happened. Man, he’d never had such an attentive audience toward him. With the gentle way that Blue cleaned and stitched his wound, he wondered why she’d ever given up the nursing profession and stopped being a cop. She was a natural.
    But he didn’t question her. In the past, she’d always been evasive to his questions about her past, so he figured this time would be no different. She was a very private person and he respected that about her.
    Brady and Rafe hovered around him like a couple of clucking hens as they tucked pillows behind him and piled blankets on him. After Blue taped a protective patch over Dan’s stitches, Brady had smacked an ice pack across his aching forehead.
    JJ, though, worried him. She was quiet as she served coffee, homemade donuts and those chocolate chewy brownies he could never get enough of. Dan couldn’t wait to get her alone so he could reassure her that everything was going to be