Lone Star Book Blog Tour: Mistletoe Miracles by Jodi Thomas (Excerpt and Giveaway)

EXCERPT

From Mistletoe Miracles 

by Jodi Thomas

     A pickup rattled along the road a hundred feet away. For a blink, the lights shone on the animal lying so still.     A dog.

Jax advanced and knelt as a low cry of pain came again.

“Where’d you come from, boy?” Jax whispered as he slowly moved his hand toward the animal.

The dog showed no aggression.

Jax lightly brushed the animal’s side. Halfway down the body he felt the thick wet warmth of blood.

The dog raised his head a few inches but didn’t growl. He was comfortable around humans, even appeared to trust.

“I can’t see how to help you.” Jax guessed that if he left the animal here until dawn, he’d bleed out or, worse, be eaten by some predator. He tugged off his rain slicker and wrapped it around the dog, tying the jacket’s arms to hold the animal in the wrap.

With little effort, he lifted what looked like a half-grown collie pup and headed toward his cabin. Within a few minutes, he was on familiar ground, moving slowly, making his way home.

The pup didn’t make a sound. He was either too far gone to fight or somehow sensed he was being helped.

As Jax neared the light shining from his cabin porch, a dozen possibilities sparked through his mind. There were no neighbors close enough to have an animal wander onto his place, but folks from town did drop off dogs and cats from time to time on country roads. Maybe they thought they were giving the pet a chance at another life. In truth, all they were giving him was starvation.

This collie might have been dumped out here. Maybe he was in the road when the red sports car passed. He might have even caused the accident.

Or, like the driver, he might have been thrown when the sports car rolled. If the driver hadn’t bothered to belt herself in, she probably hadn’t secured her dog.

Maybe she’d glanced over at him and missed the bend in the road. Any way Jax looked at it, there was probably a fifty-fifty chance the animal caused the wreck.

A head poked out from beneath the slicker. Big black eyes, golden hair, blood shining across his long nose. The collie pup stared up at Jax and tilted his head in question.

“Hello there, buddy.” Jax climbed the three steps to his porch. “How about you let me take a look at you?” He laid the dog on a workbench and started unwrapping his coat.

The dog pressed his nose against Jax’s palm and gave a low cry.

“I know, buddy, it hurts. I’ve been there.”

Slowly Jaxson slid his hand along the animal’s sides. Blood. Lots of blood.

Gathering his fishing gear and a pile of rags, Jax put together his emergency kit. Hot water. Duct tape. A few boards to act as splints. Not exactly the medical supplies he needed, but he’d work with what he had.

Not once did the animal growl or snap, but his low cries let Jax know that he was hurting.

Jax tried to make sense of what happened. The dog must have crawled away from the accident. If the driver was unconscious, she couldn’t have told anyone. The men on-site were too interested in saving her. They probably never noticed the dog.

Slowly, trying to cause no more pain or damage, Jax began cleaning the wounds and stitching up open gaps with fishing wire. The light was good but the night was cold, almost freezing.

The emergency medical training he’d taken while he’d been a fireman was of little help on an animal. One broken leg. One deep gash just behind the dog’s ear. When he moved his hand over the animal, the dog jerked slightly. His shiny coat of fur hid other wounds.

For the first time in two years, Jax forgot about his scars, his pain, his problems and went to work on a dog that had been overlooked.