He went out the door and Merrie felt tears welling up in her eyes. He’d seen the scars, she knew he had. He wouldn’t be back. She was sure of it.
“There, dear, all through,” the aide said cheerfully. “Let me help you with the gown. It’s nice and clean.”
Merrie let herself be placed in the hospital gown, and then she lay back on the bed. She felt dead inside. She’d never wanted Ren to see it!
The aide went out, and Ren came right back in.
Merrie stared at him with shock written all over her pretty face.
“What?” he asked as he stood beside the bed.
“You, well, you saw my back...didn’t you?” she asked worriedly, and flushed.
He gave her a sardonic look. “Meredith, I have scars on my own back, and the backs of my legs, from an IED attack when I was in Iraq. Scars aren’t important. Being alive, is.”
She still stared at him. “Oh,” she said in a tiny voice.
He moved to the side of the bed, bent down and brushed his hard mouth gently over her soft one. “Idiot,” he whispered, and he smiled.
She was spellbound. She looked up at him with bright, pale blue eyes, full of hope. “You came back.”
“Of course I came back,” he scoffed. He dropped down into a chair beside her bed. “They found the guy who ran the truck into you.”
“Do you have a bat I can borrow? I’d like to speak with him,” she said coolly.
“Too late. He’s taking up space in the Houston morgue.”
“The morgue?”
“He messed up a hit. I expect the man who hired him had him taken care of. Right in his own cell, apparently.”
“What about the contract killer? Do they know anything about him?” she asked worriedly.
“He made it on to the ranch last night, apparently before he’d had time to talk to the man he subcontracted for the Jacobsville hit. Snowpaw got him, but he escaped.”
“Snowpaw?” She caught her breath. “Is Snowpaw all right? He didn’t hurt him?”
“No, he’s fine,” he assured her, touched by her concern for the animal.
She smiled. “He’s so beautiful, and so sweet.” Her chest rose and fell. “I hope Snowpaw bit chunks out of him,” she muttered. “He won’t get back on the ranch, will he?”
“Not anymore. We’ve got security on our security,” he continued. “Nobody’s getting past any of us to get to you.”
The comment went right over her head. She was still groggy from the anesthesia and she wasn’t quite thinking straight. She studied his lined face. “You look tired.”
“You should see everyone else,” he replied. “Mandy’s gone to sleep. She and Mikey sat up in the waiting room all night while we slept. I was out like a light.” He caught her hand and pulled it to his lips. “I didn’t want to leave you, but I was dead on my feet.”
She studied his hard face with wonder. “You were in ICU,” she recalled suddenly. “You were talking to me.”
“Yes, I was,” he said. His face hardened. “You gave us a scare, honey.”
She flushed a little with pleasure. Her pale eyes lit up as they scanned his face.
He smiled. He liked making her blush. “I’m taking you home with me to Wyoming when you get out of here, if I have to fight your whole family to do it.”
“Ta-taking me home?” she stammered.
He kissed her soft palm. “We have unfinished business,” he said, his voice like deep, soft velvet. The look in his eyes emphasized the words.
“Ren, I don’t... I mean, I can’t... I...” She ground her teeth together, and her face contorted.
“I know all that,” he said easily. “Don’t rush your fences. Everything’s going to be all right.”
“Do you really think so?” she asked worriedly.
“Your brother-in-law is a hell of a lawman,” he said. “You’ve even got the mafia on your side,” he added, tongue in cheek. “I like Mikey. He was really worried about you. He said, and I quote, nobody hurts baby doll on his watch.”
“Baby doll?”
He chuckled. “That’s what he calls you.”
“Wow. I wasn’t sure he even liked me.”
“He likes you.” He made a face. “But not too much, or I wouldn’t say nice things about him.”
She searched Ren’s black eyes until the pleasure became too intense. She dropped them to his broad chest.
He squeezed her fingers. “Hey.”
She looked up, her cheeks blushing.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said deeply. “Not ever, Meredith.”
She felt her breath catching in her throat. What his eyes were telling her was almost too wonderful to believe.
“I’m so sorry, honey,” he said, a husky note in his deep voice. “So very sorry, for everything.”
“You were hurting, and bitter about what happened with Angie,” she said. “I understood.”
He drew in a breath. “Hurting you did nothing about the bitterness. It made everything worse. When Randall told me you were in the hospital, I headed straight for the airport. What I’m wearing is all I brought with me.” He smiled faintly. “So I guess I’m going shopping while you have lunch today.”
She smiled gently. It impressed her that he’d dropped everything so quickly to see her. The look on his face was exciting. He wasn’t pretending. He really felt something for her.