Full Circle (6 page)

"Okay," Josie agreed as they heard sirens in the distance.

Jack waited until the rescue squad arrived, explained briefly that she had taken a tumble and told the paramedics to check out both of them while he checked on her horse. Ozzie was standing outside his stall and appeared to be in good condition. Jack unsaddled him, put him into the stall and quickly returned.

Josie was arguing with the paramedics. "I'm fine!" she repeated several times.

"What's going on?" Jack demanded.

"She won't let us take her in," one of the EMTs complained. "We can't take her against her will."

"Josie!"

"Jack!" Josie snapped back. "I know when I'm okay and when I'm not."

Jack grabbed her arm and in spite of her hiss of pain marched her about twenty feet away from the rescue vehicle.

"Let go!" Josie complained.

"I'm not going to let go," Jack said furiously. "If you don't get in that vehicle and let them take you and Alex into the clinic to be checked out, I'm going to blister your backside and add a sore ass to all your other pains!"

"You will not!" Josie protested.

"Try me!" Jack threatened. "Now get your ass in that ambulance and let the EMTs take you to the clinic, or you deal with me!"

Josie swallowed. She was not up to fighting with Jack and doubted his threat was a bluff. Reluctantly, she gave a slight nod to her head although even that slight motion caused her discomfort.

Jack swung her up into his arms and carried her back to the ambulance where the EMTs helped her inside. He told Alex to go in the ambulance, as both of them would need to be examined at the clinic. He would follow in his Jeep.

He had waited forty minutes before Dr. Mellon came out into the waiting room.

"Good to see you back in town, Jack. The sheriff wants to see you," Dr. Mellon said leading him back into a fully equipped clinic, which resembled a hospital emergency room except on a much smaller scale.

"Is she going to be all right?"

"I can't give out that information," Dr. Mellon said gruffly. "If she wants to tell you, that's her business. Whatever decision she makes, it's up to her, but I will tell you she should not be left on her own tonight."

As Jack entered the cubicle, the doctor pulled the curtains around the bed. Josie was in the hospital bed with a goose egg forming on her forehead and a scrape on her chin. "He wouldn't tell me anything; are you okay?"

"He can't," Josie said. "But, I can. I need your help. Dr. Mellon said I'm okay, the x-rays show no signs of a concussion. Nothing is broken; nothing is sprained, but I hit the ground hard. I'm going to be bruised from one end to the other by tomorrow. He wants to keep me overnight for observation, but I can't. I have to be with Alex."

"I'll take care of Alex," Jack offered.

"You can't. I'm his foster parent. If I'm not available to take care of him overnight, I have to report it, and Social Services will put him into an emergency home situation. That will set off a domino effect that I can't deal with right now. I called social services once because I couldn't get home overnight because I was on a statewide stakeout. They picked him up and stuck him in a halfway house with teenage drug abusers and felons. They claimed it was the best they could do. Alex hitchhiked sixty miles to get back here. That can't happen again. I won't let it happen again. Dr. Melon says staying overnight is only a precautionary measure. He'll let me go home if someone is available to monitor me tonight, but I'm supposed to come back in the morning."

Josie's gray eyes were showing signs of panic and Jack realized it was not for herself. It was for the boy.

"I'll take you both home and do guard duty. I've had EMT and medic training, so I can monitor you."

Josie nodded painfully. "Thank you. Dr. Mellon will agree to that. Everything has to be above board, Jack."

He understood. "We'll figure it out once I get you out of here. I take it Alex checked out okay?"

"Not a bruise on him," Josie said with a pained but pleased smile. "Kids are more resilient. I guess they bounce better than us old guys."

When the paperwork was complete, Jack carried Josie out to his Jeep, followed closely by Alex. Once they were at the Raintree house, Josie being Josie tried to renege on what she had promised the doctor. She tried to talk Jack into going home, but he wouldn't have any part of it. He called in for a pizza delivery for dinner and settled down for an evening of helping a kid with his math homework and TV. After some half-hearted arguing, he was able to tuck Josie into one of the comfortable couches with Alex tucked into the other. Jack dragged a narrow mattress off a daybed he found in a sunroom and tossed it on the floor between them. He had slept on worse and that way he could keep his eye on both of them. Josie took one of the pills Dr. Mellon had given her and dropped off to sleep within minutes.

"Mr. Rawlings?" Alex whispered in the darkened room.

"You can call me Jack, kid. What?"

"Is Josie really going to be okay?" The boy's voice quavered.

"She'll be fine. The doctor will check her out in the morning to make sure. She'll be sore for a couple of days. Most riders get tossed at some point, or another. It's all part of riding, but it still hurts."

"I'll help her as much as I can," Alex promised.

"You have school tomorrow and she's not going to want you to skip. As it so happens, I don't have a thing to do, so I'll ride herd over her for the next couple of days."

"Josie won't like that," Alex warned.

"She doesn't get a choice," Jack said with a grin.

Josie woke up with a jerk and it hurt. Her glance went to the second couch.

"He's already in school," Jack said, looking up from a magazine he was reading.

"Oh, but...."

"I made sure he took a shower, put on clean clothes, ate breakfast, and didn't forget his books or homework. I gave him five bucks for lunch," Jack offered.

Josie pushed herself up slowly. "He skinned you. Lunch is two and a quarter."

Jack chuckled. "I guessed that much but figured it wasn't worth an argument. He was determined to stay home with you today."

"Any excuse is a good excuse for Alex to try to get out of school," she said with a grimace. She squinted at the wall on the opposite side of the room. "Why isn't there a big jagged hole in that wall?

Jack looked in the direction she was facing, "From what?"

"From the semi-truck that came through and ran me over," Josie groaned.

Jack chuckled. "For a second there, I thought you were out of your head. How about a hot shower, some loose sweats and breakfast before I take you over to the clinic."

"I've been thrown before and have had worse," Josie said, moving her neck slowly. "I'll be okay. I have to call my office and the mayor, and tell them I'm coming in late. It's standard procedure."

"I know, Alex told me," Jack answered. "I've already called the mayor and the sheriff's office, and told them you wouldn't be in today, probably not tomorrow, and it could be iffy on the third or fourth day. I can't believe that weenie, Aiden Roland, is the mayor of this town."

"Oh, God," Josie moaned. "Have you forgotten how it is to live in a small town? It will be all over town in fifteen minutes that a man called in for me! They'll be laying bets on whom I'm sleeping with!"

"Sorry, but that boat has already sailed. I called in over two hours ago, identified myself and explained what happened," Jack said, not looking the least bit concerned about staking a claim on her. "Come on, I'll get you upstairs and into the shower, and afterwards, you get to go back to the clinic—fun and thrills."

"Go home, Jack," Josie groaned. "I'll manage and I'm sure you have something to do."

"Nope. I don't have anything to do today. I'm going to keep my promise to Alex that I will take care of you. That's the only way I could convince him to go to school, and I don't break my word. Neither do you. You promised Dr. Mellon you'd be back this morning." Jack leaned over, lifted her effortlessly up in his arms and headed for the stairs. "I've been playing Nosy Nellie since the kid left, and you were sawing logs. This is going to be one hell of a house when you're finished putting it back together. The downstairs is almost complete, except for that crazy library room—it looks like a bomb went off in there. The upstairs has a good way to go yet, but what you've completed is amazing. That is one awesome bathroom in the master suite."

"I sacrificed several rooms to add bathrooms and closet space. Not that it was a big deal in a house with nine bedrooms and only one bathroom," Josie admitted as she relaxed into his arms. It was a whole lot easier to allow herself to be carried than fighting her stiff and aching arms and legs."

Jack took her straight into that awesome master bathroom, set her on her feet, turned on all eight massaging jets in the shower, as well as the overhead rain-shower nozzle. He looked around, found a bathrobe and some towels in a basket and put them within easy reach. "Need help?" he asked with a hopeful grin.

"No. Out," Josie said pointing to the door.

"I won't be far if you need help," Jack said seriously. "I mean it. If you feel weak, call out."

Josie swallowed. "Thanks." She watched him go, but he didn't close the door all the way. She very painfully wiggled her way out of the hospital greens she had worn home from the clinic. She took solace in the fact that her shower was worth every single penny of its extravagant price. The hot water, steam and massaging jets all worked wonders on her sore and bruised body. It also turned her muscles to jelly making her stumble when she stepped out of the steam. She would have fallen if a large fluffy towel had not been tightly wrapped around her in an instant.

Jack's strong hands steadied her as he tucked the towel around her. He wrapped another towel around her wet hair, and gently lifted and carried her to her bedroom. He had already rummaged through some of her dresser drawers and found sweats, socks, and some little scraps of lace that was apparently panties, and sexy push-up bras. He had been interested but passed on the bras thinking she didn't need anything tight and constricting. He toweled her hair dry and tossed that towel aside. He dried off her legs and put socks on her feet. He gave a tug to the towel covering her torso and pulled it away, his eyes drinking in the view of her firm breasts. Jack ignored his reaction to his idea of damn near female perfection and deliberately switched his attention to the array of dark, ugly bruises. He picked up the oversized sweatshirt he had found and tugged it over her head as she stiffly slid her arms into the sleeves. Pulling her to her feet, he made sure she was standing steady while he squatted down in front of her. He picked up a pair of the skimpy panties, helped her step into them and drew them up slowly while his fingers delighted at the touch of her flesh. He was not so pleased when he outlined additional bruises. The sweat pants followed.

Josie was hurting, but she was also aware that every part of her body was blushing. She swallowed and looked up into Jack's face when he stood up. He bent and barely brushed his lips against hers, looked into her eyes and kissed her, devouring her mouth until he broke away and moaned.

"Now is not the time," Jack said harshly. "Not now, we'll take this up later."

"Yes, later," Josie whispered. She was aware of him, as she had never been aware of him before.

He picked her up, carried her down the stairs and deposited her back on the couch. A few minutes later, he appeared with a cup of coffee and a plate with several pieces of buttered toast. "Sorry, I used up the last of the eggs making Alex a sandwich for breakfast."

"This is fine," Josie said, enjoying the reviving fluid.

"Now, tell me the truth," Jack ordered. "How are you feeling?"

"Bad enough that I'm glad you took over this morning," Josie admitted. "Getting Alex off to school is a hassle every morning. I'm glad you were here to wrangle him this morning. I might have scared him, but I will be okay if you have something you need to do."

"Nice try," Jack said, grinning wickedly. "The only thing I'm doing this morning is taking you back to the clinic, so eat up. The sooner you finish, the sooner Dr. Mellon gets to poke at you some more."

By noon, Josie was back on the couch curled up in a miserable ball of pain. Everything was sore and stiff, and her head ached. The goose egg on her forehead was slowly receding, but leaving behind a large blackish-purple-green bruise. It matched the bruise on her cheek and the scrape on her chin.

She took three calls from her deputies and one from the dispatcher who was her good friend, Georgina Snider. Georgina was the shared dispatcher for the Rawlings's Sheriff's office, as well as the Rescue and Fire Departments. All of her staff wanted to know if she were okay. Rawlings did not have a crime wave going on, so Josie assumed they could get along fine without her.

After those calls, Jack confiscated her phone and arguing with him did not get her anywhere.

Jack deflected three calls from the mayor. Several years behind Jack in school, Aiden Roland had shown considerable interest in her since she'd returned to her hometown. Unfortunately, she shared Jack's opinion of the man. He was a momma's boy, pampered and indecisive. Aiden annoyed her to no end, but as the mayor she had to work with him. Jack also deflected other calls; he was polite, but he was firm. He told people to leave a message because Josie needed to rest.

Truthfully, Jack was annoying her, but she couldn't do without him right now. If she were being truthful to herself—and she didn't want to be—she was glad he was there. She could have managed on her own, but it was so much easier to growl out orders to him. She knew she was being horrid, but damn it—she hurt. At two in the afternoon, she sent him off to the middle school to pick up Alex. The boy had a tendency to wander after school, and she needed to keep him corralled and out of trouble. As soon as the door shut, she curled up on the couch and went to sleep.

Babysitting duty for the kid was not the kind of tending that Jack wanted to do, but he knew Josie was hurting. After six deployments to war zones and countless special operations and missions, he personally knew what it felt like to hurt all over, so he was cutting her some slack. She was still a smart-mouthed little hellion, even if she did not consider herself small at five-foot-six. What Jack wanted from Josie was something he had been dreaming about for a while and trying to ignore, which was why he had been horny and miserable for weeks. He needed some relief. Josie was not a rag-tail little girl, anymore. She was a woman—a beautiful woman he wanted.

"Yo!" Alex said, curtailing a very nice daydream Jack was enjoying. "How's Josie?"

"She's a pain in the ass, but we have to be nice to her because she's feeling bad," Jack answered truthfully. "She's hurting, and she'll be hurting worse tomorrow. After that, she should start feeling better. The second day is always the worst after an accident."

"Is she going to be okay? What did the doctor say?" Alex demanded.

"The same thing I already told you. How about we stop by Cherilynn's Café and get three dinners to go? We can nuke them later."

"Sure," the boy agreed. "Do I get anything I want?"

"If you're smart, you won't pick junk food," Jack warned. "Josie's not in the mood to put up with crap from anybody; you included."

With two fried-chicken dinners and a club sandwich with a side salad to go, they headed back. Alex was not a fountain of information on Josie. Jack tried to pump the kid, but he didn't give up much. The boy was onto him, and he either rolled his eyes or grunted at the questions.

Josie was sound asleep. It was so much easier to close her eyes and let herself drift away from the pain.

A repeated knocking on the front door awakened her, and the doorbell went off twice—annoying and loud. She had the doorbell set for the Westminster chimes at the maximum sound level because if she was working upstairs or some of the other remote rooms, with power tools and a radio going, she couldn't hear it at the normal settings. She did not want to hear them now! It took Josie three tries to get to her feet, and the effort almost took her breath away. She padded to the front door with bleary eyes and aching body. She was expecting it to be Alex since he had already lost his keys twice.

She flung the door open and covered her eyes to block out the sunlight and frowned.

"Mrs. Tarry?"

"Ms. Raintree," the woman gasped.

As Jack pulled into the driveway, he saw a man and a woman standing at the open front door. He jumped out, left Alex to follow on his own and went up the walk quickly. "Excuse me," he said, slipping around the people he did not know.

He scooped Josie off her feet and carried her directly to the couch. "You're not supposed to be moving around!"

The woman at the door followed on his heels. "Ms. Raintree, do you need me to call the police?" she asked Josie gently.

"No, why?" she asked. "Why are you here, Mrs. Tarry?"

"If this is a domestic issue, the police need to be called," Mrs. Tarry insisted.

Josie laughed when she realized what the woman was thinking. "No, no, Mrs. Tarry, this is not a domestic assault situation and I am the police. Please have a seat. This is Jack Rawlings, a friend. Jack, this is Mrs. Tarry, the supervisor of Alex's caseworker. Mrs. Tarry, I was thrown from my horse last evening. I'm okay, but a little worse for the wear. Jack's been helping me, and he's a little gung-ho about precisely following the doctor's orders."

"Mr. Shorey, ma'am," the portly man said, nervously offering her his hand. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Josie shook his hand, although even that hurt. "I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Shorey. Yes, I will be fine in a couple of days, and I was checked out at our local clinic. I apologize for looking so ragged. I wasn't expecting visitors."

"No, please accept our apologies," Mrs. Tarry said, as she seemed to relax. "We were in the area and I thought an impromptu meeting might be appropriate. Considering our conflicting reports from you against Miss Watson and hers against you, I thought I should check out the situation myself."

Alex came in the front door slamming it shut and announcing, "We stopped for dinner, Josie. I told Jack you would want a salad, but he said you weren't a rabbit and should eat more, so he got you a sandwich, too." He stopped and looked around suspiciously at all the adults.

"Come here, Alex," Josie said, patting the couch beside her. "Please, everyone have a seat."

Alex searched Josie's face. He saw the bruises and scrapes that had gotten more colorful. "Do they hurt?"

"No, not much," she lied and put a hand on his shoulder. "Alex, this is your new caseworker, Mr. Shorey."

"I won't go back to her! I don't ever want to see her again!" Alex erupted angrily, jumping up from the couch.

Jack leaned over, put his hand on the boy's shoulder, and bent over and whispered something in his ear. Alex cast resentful eyes up at him, but he clamped his mouth shut.