Sunday Snippet: Carolyn Brown’s Mistletoe Cowboy

It’s almost Christmas and us ladies love our Christmas stories. when I read Carolyn’s upcoming Mistletoe Cowboy the Book 5 in her Spikes and Spurs series I was ecstatic. I love this series.

In this Excerpt Sage and Creed find some Kittens and sage falls a little bit in love with Creed’s soft sweet side.

‘Tis the season for…

• A matchmaking grandma on a long-disantance mission
• Mistletoe temptation in every doorway
• A sexy cowboy with a killer smile

When Gran Presely agrees to sell Creed Riley the Rockin’ C Ranch for a song at Christmastime, he can hardly believe his good fortune. There’s just one little catch-her tantalizing granddaughter Sage is part of the deal…

Sage didn’t want an animal. Pets left holes in the heart when they died or ran away and Sage couldn’t afford any more pain. There was already an ugly dog worming its way past her defenses. Picture her in the barn and hearing a strange noise coming from one of the stalls.

She cocked her head to one side. “It sounded like a baby crying.”

The cattle were eating and the ones that couldn’t get to the hay were fussing about having to wait. The milk cow was putting up a bawling fit about her full udder, and Noel had joined them in the barn. She cocked her head to one side and sniffed the air.

“Shhh, there it is again,” Sage said.

Creed turned his ear toward the empty stall behind Sage.

“I don’t hear a thing. You sure it’s not the wind?”

She listened intently. “No, it’s coming from the stall next to the cow.”

Creed took a step in that direction. “I’d say it is kittens, but it’s the wrong season. Cats don’t usually have babies in the winter because they don’t survive.”

“We don’t have cats.”

Creed opened the door and pointed. “You do now. Those are newborn kittens right there. Recognize the big old yellow mother?”

Sage dropped down on her knees and moved the mother cat to one side. “There are three of them and I’ve never seen any of these animals before.”

Noel plowed right into the stall and touched noses with the momma cat. She purred when Noel nosed each of the newborn kittens.

Creed smiled. “Would you look at that? She’s not afraid of the dog and Noel isn’t killing kittens. Those two are friends. There ain’t no doubt about it. A normal momma cat would have scratched a dog’s eyes out if she’d gotten close to her babies, but they know each other. They were probably hauled off at the same time. Looks like it’s a two-for-one day for you, Sage. You get a cat and a dog and you’re going to get Christmas presents early in the way of kittens and puppies. I can put some warm milk in a pan for her when I do the milking.”

“They’ll freeze out here, Creed. We’ll have to take them inside or they’ll be dead by morning,” Sage said.

“They are out of season for sure. Cats usually don’t have litters until the spring and then maybe another in the fall, but not in December. Looks of them, they were just born today and you are right, they won’t live in this kind of cold.”

“The only thing to do is take them in the house. We can make a litter pan out of an old dishpan if you’ll bring in a bucket of dirt from the barn floor. I wonder how long she’s been in the barn.”

Creed grinned. “Evidently she’s been here long enough to have babies. Do you want to carry her and the kittens in the house or get the eggs?”

“I’ll get the eggs. I’d be afraid I’d drop one of those little things in the snow and it would freeze to death before I could find it.”

“Then I’ll take her and the kittens inside and come back to finish my end of the chores,” he said.

She’d gathered four eggs and was already in the house when she realized that she’d obeyed his orders without even thinking.

“Well, shit!” she said as she washed the eggs and put them into containers to go into the refrigerator.

What a day!

First no Grand.

Then a cowboy and a dog and mistletoe everywhere.

That was more than enough for one day, but then the angel appeared along with the cardinal. And now cats!

And this was just day one. There were twenty more to go.

 

Now skip ahead a few days…

 

“Merry Christmas, Sage,” Creed said.

Why in the world would he tell her that right then? It was the tenth of December, fifteen days before Christmas.

He pointed at Noel who was lying on her blanket wagging her tail.

She’d had the dog more than a week now. How could that be her Christmas present? Creed stepped to one side and she saw the puppies inside the C that Noel made with her body. She squealed and ran across the room, fell down on her knees, and rubbed Noel’s ears.

“Three of them? And they are beautiful,” she whispered. “Look at the little spotted things, Creed. Not a single one looks like her.”

Creed squatted beside her. “They all look just like bluetick hound dogs.”

He picked up one and handed it to her.

She rubbed its head against her cheek. “I don’t know why I fought Grand against a pet.” She held it out from her and studied it: black ears, brown around where its eyes would be when they opened up, a splotchy blaze up across its square black nose. The rest of the white dog was covered with what looked like big blue ticks.

“Hello, Elvis,” she said.

“Elvis?” Creed asked.

“He sang about a blue Christmas. And there ain’t no doubt this little bluetick hound dog is Elvis. Besides, Elvis also sang about a hound dog. Put him back and let’s look at the next one.”

Creed put a second one in her hands and she kissed it on the nose. “It’s a girl and her name is Blue.”

Two big dark spots looked like black paint had dripped on the pup’s back. Her mussel was white and covered with a black mask around her eyes. If she’d been a boy, Sage would have named her Zorro. She wiggled and whimpered so Sage held her close to her chest. She settled right down when she was next to the flannel shirt and when Sage sang a few lines of “Blue Christmas” to her.

“She’s sleeping now. Give her back to Noel and let’s take a look at the next one,” Sage said.

Creed handed the runt to Sage.

“Oh, look! It’s so tiny and has hardly any color at all except for the dark-colored ticks all over her.”

Sage held her out and looked at her carefully. “You are Lady Crosby. I bet you grow up to be a better singer than either Reba or Winona.”

“Hey, now!” Creed said.

“She will. She’ll make them look like they can’t carry a tune.”

“How did you come up with that name?”

“Bing sang ‘White Christmas,’ remember?”

“And we do have a white Christmas coming up.” Creed nodded.

“That’s right.” Sage laid the puppy close to Noel who wagged her tail even harder. “That’s why you didn’t want to go with us, isn’t it?”

Then it dawned on Sage!

“You knew, didn’t you? That’s why you took me out to check on things, right?” she asked Creed.

“I did and you are right. You’d have fretted yourself sick about her if you’d known she was knottin’ up with contractions.”

The cowboy just flat-out amazed Sage.