A Cowboy Family Christmas. Judy Duarte

building up a sweat.

      Lainie turned back to face the entrance and shuffled the linen to one arm. She reached for the knob and opened the door. As she crossed the threshold, into the tidy and modestly furnished interior, she caught a whiff of must and dust. “I guess we’d better open some windows and air it out.”

      “That’s not a problem.” Drew followed her inside. He set his suitcase on the hardwood floor near the small green plaid sofa and his briefcase on the oak coffee table.

      Lainie carried the linens to the bed and placed them on the bare mattress. Then she took the towels and washcloths to the bathroom. When she returned to the bedroom, she found Drew opening the window. He looked especially nice from the backside—broad shoulders, narrow hips...

      Enough of that. Drew Madison was a cowboy—fancy duds or not. And what was worse, Lainie hadn’t lucked out when it came to assessing the characters of men she found attractive.

      “The pillows, blanket and spread must be in the closet,” she said.

      “I can take care of that. I’m sure you have other things to do.”

      She had a ton to do before her day ended. When she’d checked her email at Caroline’s, Mr. Carlton had forwarded the next batch of Dear Debbie letters. But Nate had asked her to help their guest get settled. It wouldn’t be right to take off and leave him on his own.

      “No, I—” She’d just slid open the small closet door, when a brown furry streak jumped from the top shelf, landing on her head. She screamed and swiped at her hair to no avail. The damned creature dropped to her chest and scampered under the bib of her overalls. She shrieked again, and Drew was at her side in an instant.

      “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

      “No!” She continued to scream and shudder. She hopped up and down in an attempt to dislodge it, but it scurried around her waist and into her pant leg. She grabbed Drew’s arm as if he could save her.

      His brow furrowed, his expression one of concern. “What? What is it?”

      “It’s a mouse. And it ran down my...” Oh, my God. It was still in there, trying to find a hiding place.

      A childhood memory replayed in her mind—the abandoned warehouse in their run-down neighborhood, the innocent game of hide-and-seek, the rat’s nest that turned into a little girl’s worst nightmare...

      Lainie let go of Drew, who wasn’t any help, unhooked the overall buckles and shimmied out of the baggy britches until they bagged at her ankles. She struggled to kick off her laced shoes.

      “How can I help?” he asked.

      If she wasn’t in the midst of a mind-boggling crisis, she might have offered a suggestion. But all she could think to do was to scream yet again.

      The nasty little creature was burrowing into the folds of the fabric, squirming to escape almost as frantically as she was. When she finally tugged off her second shoe and stepped out of the overalls, she turned to Drew and pointed at the pile of denim. “Get it. Take it outside.”

      Drew bent to do as she’d instructed, but not before the mangy little beast took the opportunity to zip under the bed.

      Lainie shuddered and straightened, then she turned to him.

      He stood there stoically, his gaze on her. Apparently, he didn’t give a fig about the mouse that could easily burrow into his bed tonight.

      He studied her for a couple of beats, then he looked away.

      It took her those same beats and another to realize she was standing before him in her stocking feet, wearing only a baggy T-shirt and a pair of pink panties. And skimpy ones at that.

      Her cheeks heated and her lips parted. Oh, no. Now what?

      Drew snatched a folded sheet from the mattress and held it out to her.

      She grabbed it and rushed to the bathroom, but it wasn’t the blasted mouse she hoped to escape this time. It was the dashing cowboy who’d seen more of her than she’d wanted to reveal.