Cowboy Up (Coming Home #3)

My shoulders droop and the tension I felt in them drains away. “I know.”

“What do you mean you know?”

“Jess admitted it.” I look down at my lap. “I know he’s dead. And I know she did it too. I’m not upset he’s gone, but knowin’ that, in his way, he tried to stop her doesn’t exactly make me feel good that he died doin’ so.”

“And him? What did he say to you?”

Pulling my head back, I look into his face, confused by his question. “Pardon?”

“I forgot about it until I stood over his body and told Sheriff Holden that John approached you yesterday afternoon.”

“Oh, that,” I whisper, nodding. “I wasn’t keepin’ it from you, Clayton. Things were just, well . . . He was the last thing on my mind when I was gettin’ ready to marry you. I only had room for happiness and it slipped my mind.”

“I’m not mad, darlin’. I just want to know what he had to say. Piece this shit together the best I can.”

I search my mind, replaying everything I can remember. After what Jess said, some of John’s confusing words make more sense.

“He tried to stop her,” I finally say after the silence stretches on. “It didn’t make any sense when he came up to me in town, but after what she said about him, I get what he’d been tryin’ warn me about.”

“Explain that to me.”

I sigh and recount everything from when I was starting to cook, to when Jess broke the door, and every word she had to say before what happened in the office. I know it costs him to sit here and not react. The tic in his jaw muscle and the twitching of his left eye betray the calm he’s trying to project. Once I tell him everything, I take a gulp of air and lean back, instantly exhausted.

“I don’t give a shit that he thought was protectin’ you. He should’ve gone straight to the fuckin’ cops when he realized what Jess was up to instead of ‘helpin’’ her with some misguided belief that he was doin’ it to keep you safe. There’s no fuckin’ gray line, Linney. You could have died tonight, regardless of what he tried to do leadin’ up to it. You could have been lost to me forever, and I’ll take your life over theirs any day.”

“I wasn’t justifyin’ his actions. I agree with you, but even though he failed, he tried.”

“And failed. All that matters is that he failed.”

I nod. “Our ugly isn’t goin’ to touch us anymore.”

He closes his eyes and his nostrils flare while he composes himself. “Nothin’ but good’s gonna touch us, darlin’.”

I nod, resting my head against the pillow with a yawn. Clayton leans over me and presses his mouth to my forehead. I blink up at him and smile. “A honeymoon might be a good idea now,” I slur, exhaustion pulling me under.

“Seein’ that we’re gonna be mighty busy in the next handful of months, I think you’re right.”

I hear some feminine giggles but give in to the tiredness and fall asleep, knowing that I’m safe, Clayton’s safe, and there isn’t anyone else out there who can hurt us.





29


CAROLINE


“My Best Friend” by Tim McGraw

- -

“What?!” I screech, looking at the doctor like he’s lost his mind.

I woke up ten minutes ago when the doctor and the evil nurse who’d been torturing me all night clattered into the room pulling some equipment. Okay, so she hadn’t been torturing me, but each time she came in to wake me up, it sure did feel that way. Logically, I know head injuries aren’t anything to take lightly, but I’m exhausted and sleep is the only thing I want.

“Pardon?” the doctor questions, looking up from the chart in his hand.

“I get that I bumped my head and all, Doc, and I’m not tryin’ to tell you how to do your job, but maybe we should be checkin’ my noggin . . . or better yet, yours, because nothin’ you just said makes sense.”

Clayton’s manly chuckles tickle my fingers and I glance away from the doctor to see my husband hiding his smile behind the hand he’s been holding all night.

“Mrs. Davis,” the doctor says, and I look over from Clayton to narrow my eyes at him. “Tracey’s monitored you all night and we have no reason to believe that further testing is needed regarding your injuries. I’ve given your husband your care instructions and he knows what to look for in the event that more medical treatment is needed—which, I’m confident won’t be the case.”

“So you’re just goin’ to let me leave without makin’ sure the head you’ve kept me here all night for is fine?”

Closing the chart, the doctor crosses his arms over his chest and smirks. I’m not sure what he thinks is so dadgum funny. At this point, I wouldn’t mind knocking him over the head. When his grin grows and two dimples appear, I make a mental note to find out if he’s single. He’s young, clearly successful, and handsome—though, not as handsome as Clayton. Perfect for Lucy, even if I want to shake some sense into the crazy-talking man.

“We wouldn’t let you leave if there was even a slight concern, Mrs. Davis.”

“Well, clearly there’s somethin’ wrong with my head, doc. I’m hallucinating, hearin’ things or somethin’! Either that or I’m dreamin’, because there isn’t any other reason you’d be standin’ there with Nurse Pokes-for-fun, tellin’ me I’m pregnant.” I take a deep breath, my eyes widening. “Oh, my God! I’m losin’ my mind, aren’t I? The fall knocked somethin’ loose and you’re about to ship me off to a home!” I turn my head to look at Clayton. “I don’t want to go to a home!”

His shoulders shake as he laughs at me. “Linney, love, no one is puttin’ you in a home.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Well, maybe we need to put him in one then,” I snap, pointing at the doctor.

“Maybe it’ll be easier if we show you, hmm?” the evil, poking-me-all-night nurse says in a sugary sweet voice.

“Show me what?”

“Your baby.” She smiles and I stare, my mouth hanging wide-open.

I stop arguing and, with a huff, lie back on the bed. There’s no way I’m pregnant. I haven’t missed my period. Aside from the whole being-shot-and-passing-out thing, I feel fine. I haven’t been sick, tired, or sore.

Clayton sits up straighter when the nurse holds up some long, ET-looking finger and starts covering it with a condom. I frown when the doctor starts moving the sheets from my legs, taking the condom finger from the nurse. My hand is squeezed at the same time the doctor starts explaining to me that he’s about to insert the finger into my vagina.

“Whoa!” I swat at his hands when he moves my gown. “You can keep your kinky alien probe away from me, mister.”