“In this weather? Not a chance. I’ll clean the wound and stitch him up while we try to get him warm. Best we can do.” His eyes found hers, and she could read the anger he was fighting to hold inside. “I could use your help.”

“Of course. I’ll put some water on and find some towels, get things ready for you. Just let me know what you need.”

Kade nodded. He’d been raised on the ranch. Ranchers handled all kinds of animal emergencies. Ellie wasn’t surprised that Kade planned to tend to Smoke’s injury, which included sewing him up.

Maria appeared in the doorway, her arms full of towels, what looked like an old sheet, another blanket, and a heating pad. She set them on the end of the breakfast table.

“Thanks, Maria,” Kade said.

Billy shoved open the kitchen door, letting in a blast of icy air. “I brought the vet kit. Can you fix him?”

“Thanks. I’m going to need that. We’re going to do everything we can to take care of him.” Kade looked down at the dog, whose chest barely rose and fell. “He’s still alive, still responding.” He started cleaning the wound, cutting away the fur and swabbing the area around the bullet hole with alcohol. “Keep him covered except where I’m working.”

Ellie and Billy held Smoke steady while Kade gave him a shot of lidocaine to numb the area around the wound, and also a shot of penicillin.

“Once I get him stitched up, we’ve got to get his body warmed up to room temperature.” But at the moment, the cold was working in their favor, keeping the dog sedate while Kade worked over him.

While Kade finished cleaning the wound, Ellie threaded a needle. Kade wasn’t the only one who’d been raised on a ranch. She handed him the needle, and he began pulling it through the dog’s flesh, sewing the entry wound good and tight, then the exit wound. When he finished, Ellie moved the heating pad up to cover a little more of Smoke’s body, then covered him with a blanket.

“Best we can do for now,” Kade said. “Once we get him warm, we can move him to his bed in my study.”

Maria turned and started for the door. “I’ll go in and get it ready for him, make sure it’s clean and warm.”

Kade just nodded.

Ellie watched the careful way his hand gently smoothed over Smoke’s body. The shooter had chosen a precious target tonight, one dangerously close to the ranch house. How far was the man willing to go? Who would be his next victim?

Kade took a last long look at the dog who meant so much to him and everyone on the ranch. At the hard glint in his whiskey-brown eyes, Ellie knew exactly what he was thinking.