Here to Stay (Silhouette Special Edition) (5 page)

But she
did
care. She couldn’t help it. Miles had touched something deep inside her, in the part of her heart where she was a woman first, and a doctor a distant second. Instinctively she recognized that, if circumstances were different, she could fall in love with a man like Miles.

The more she thought about his reactions, the more upset she became. What gave him the right to attack her for caring about people, even strangers, just because he lived like a hermit? The truck’s engine protested her angry stab at the gas pedal. She barely managed not to tear out of the parking lot.

By the time Sasha reached the farm driveway, the hurt had faded to a dull ache. And she realized, with a little hiccup that was halfway between a laugh and a sob, that she’d gotten exactly what she’d deserved. She’d let her guard down around an unknown animal, and he’d struck out when he felt threatened. It would be a good lesson to keep in mind when she went to pick up Desperado tomorrow.

D
arrel Hogg shot another stream of tobacco juice into the mud near Sasha’s feet. One more time, she thought grimly, and she was going to shake him by his bony shoulders until he swallowed the noxious stuff. She didn’t have to glance at her friends Donna and Marie to know they shared her lack of enchantment with Mr. Hogg.

“I still don’t see how you three little girls are gonna get this devil into that trailer,” he drawled smugly.

Sasha met his beady eyes, trying for her best Clint Eastwood impression. “I suggest you move out of the way, Mr. Hogg. Desperado doesn’t seem to like you.”

The man snorted, then launched another stream of tobacco juice into the stinking ooze of Desperado’s paddock. “That monster don’t like nobody, sweetcakes. What he needs ain’t TLC. He needs a two-by-four between his damn eyes. If you’re too soft to do that,” he added with a shrug, “least you can do is use a tranquilizer gun on him. Unless you girls would like to spend the night with yours truly.”

The slimy creep had the nerve to leer. That did it! Sasha took a step closer, her hands on her hips. Hogg gave her a shifty-eyed look and shuffled his feet in the dirt.

“If anyone needs a tranquilizer dart, it’s you. Now back off,” she said, stepping a little closer. To her satisfaction, he backed up an equal step. “Right back to the porch would be a good idea.”

She felt Donna and Marie step up behind her, one on each side. The appropriately named Mr. Hogg stepped back on his own. With good reason. At five foot nine, Sasha was the shrimp of the trio. She took an-other little step toward him, Donna and Marie sticking close beside her. Darrel Hogg swore under his vile breath and shuffled toward the run-down farmhouse across the muddy yard.

Donna smothered a snort of laughter. Marie indulged in some colorful phrases about Darrel Hogg’s ancestry. Sasha turned and grinned at her friends. “Okay,
girls,
shall we convince Desperado he’ll be much better off with TLC than a two-by-four?”

With the two women, both experienced horse trainers, working beside her, Sasha tried to coax the wild-eyed stallion into the trailer backed up to the only opening in the small paddock. Desperado let them come just so close, then reared, snorted and wheeled away, flinging mud from his ragged hooves. After a half hour, both Sasha and the horse were sweating in the chill, damp April afternoon. When Donna and Marie paused to grab a drink, Sasha joined them.

She took a long swallow from her bottle of spring water, thankful they’d had the foresight not to expect clean water from Darrel Hogg’s well. His yard smelled like a swamp. God only knew what microor-ganisms were lurking in his water table, waiting to poison the unsuspecting.

“I will not let that beast get the better of us,” Sasha muttered, head bowed against her forearm as she leaned on the cab of her truck.

“Which beast? Hogg or the horse?” Marie asked.

“Both of them,” Sasha told her, but she suddenly thought of Miles Kent. She certainly could add him to the list of male beasts. He’d been as unpredictable, as potentially dangerous as the exhausted, frightened stallion now eyeing them from the far side of the paddock.

“Got any ideas?” Donna said. “I hate to desert you, Sasha, but I’ve got to get home before my kids do, or they’ll destroy the kitchen making themselves snacks. They’re into peanut butter banana melts this week, and that stuff is sticky.”

Sasha gave her friend a weak smile as she pondered the situation. She studied the wild-eyed, muddy maniac staring at her across the paddock until a thought struck her.

“Let’s try something different. I’m going to get the bucket of crunch and go in alone. You two climb out and try to stay very still, out of sight.” She picked up the small pail of horse treats, then shrugged at her obviously skeptical friends. “Unless I yell for help. Okay?”

“Sure,” Donna said, sounding anything but.

“Do they have shrinks at 911?” Marie joked.

Snickering softly, the two women retreated from the fence to hide themselves beside the trailer. Sasha shook the pail of treats, catching Desperado’s attention. After almost a half hour of excruci-ating patience, he let her approach him, let her entice him toward the trailer ramp. To her amazed satisfaction, the huge horse followed her into the dark trailer, one step at a time. With the skill of long practice, Donna and Marie quietly shut the trailer door and secured the ramp while Desperado greedily stuck his head into the bucket of treats.

“That’s it, son,” Sasha crooned. She still had to snap the lead shank to his halter and get herself out of the trailer, but everything had gone so well that she couldn’t resist lingering a moment with the stallion. Carefully, she reached out and stroked the crest of his heated neck. He blew into his treat bucket.

“Easy, pet. You’re doing just fine now. I’m going to hook the line to your halter. Then we’re on the way to your new home, and you won’t have to see Darrel Hogg ever ag—”

The world exploded. Stars burst in front of her eyes. She fell back against the chest board, still clutching the bucket. Pellets of crunch hailed into her face. Her head banged on the metal partition brace. She started to sag to the floor of the trailer, unable to stop herself from sliding toward Desperado’s lethal front hooves.

* * *

“Here we are, Mr. Kent,” the volunteer following him around chirped. The woman was motherly, apple cheeked and exhaustingly cheerful. She was doing her best, but he couldn’t wait for her to leave him alone. He was trying to be polite, but didn’t want to be cheered up. Between the eerily empty police report on his identity and the memory of Sasha’s hurt eyes when he’d yelled at her yesterday, he had plenty to be miserable about.

“Thanks,” he managed to mutter as she took his elbow and stood waiting to help him ease down to his bed. He adjusted his grip on the cane. If he didn’t know he’d lose his balance, he’d shake off her well-intentioned grasp. He knew he was pushing his luck, but he hated feeling dependent on anyone, especially someone who thrived on the helplessness of others.

“
There
you are!” That nurse who knew Sasha—Emmy?—the one who’d been such a tyrant about his shower, burst into the room. She fixed him with a look that seemed to be accusing him of something, but he really wasn’t interested. He had enough on his mind.

“Oh! Hello, Mom,” Emmy said to his volunteer and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Mr. Kent, Sasha was just brought into Emergency. I thought you might want to—”

His heart felt as if it had stopped. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. She’s waiting for—”

“Get me down there,” he growled at his volunteer.
“Now!”

“Oh, dear! Yes, of course! Hello, Emmy. Excuse us.”

This time he welcomed the woman’s steadying grip. His knee and ankle protested the exercise he insisted on overdoing. He gritted his teeth all the way to the elevators. Damn! He’d been such a jerk yes-terday, sending Sasha away like that. She’d only been trying to help. But he was so concerned about his pride that he’d slashed at hers.

If this was what he was really like, he didn’t like himself much.

Everything took too long. The elevator wouldn’t come. When it finally did, it stopped on every floor while people dithered about getting on or off. Then, when he got into the emergency room, there was no sign of Sasha. His volunteer made vague noises about not being allowed to wander around getting in the way. He stopped a doctor.

“I need to find Dr. Reiss.”

“I don’t think we have a Dr. Reiss on staff.”

“She’s a patient. Just came in. Emergency. I need to find her.”

“Oh. Right. I know who that is.” The doctor frowned. “Are you a member of the family?”

He didn’t even hesitate. Glaring right back, he said, “Yes. Where is she?”

“You’ll have to check with the admitting nurse. I have a patient to see. Excuse me.”

“Mr. Kent?” His volunteer spoke up from behind him. “I asked about your Dr. Reiss for you. She’s in examining room B. Would you like me to...? Yes, I suppose you would. Come with me.” Suddenly that sugary voice didn’t irritate him half so much.

“Thanks,” he said a little gruffly, meaning a whole lot more. He didn’t even mind when she patted his good shoulder.

A nurse bustled out of examining room B just as he got there. His volunteer led him into the small room. “I’ll leave you with your young lady. Here’s a chair for you. If you need help getting back, have someone call me.” He nodded and managed a half smile. She patted his shoulder again and left.

He leaned on the cane and stared at the woman lying on the examining table. She was filthy, and the odor of horse and hay was strong even over the smell of disinfectant. Her face was hidden by towels, but there was blood on her shirt and on her neck, and on her hands as she held the towels to her face. Dear God, what had happened? His gut twisted at the possibilities.

“Sasha?” he said, but the sound stuck in his throat. He tried again. “Sasha? It’s Miles. What happened?”

“Oh, Miles!” she said softly, her low voice muffled by the towels. “It was nothing. Really.”

“Sure. That’s why you’re in the hospital, covered with blood.” He stepped closer to the side of the examining table.

She removed the towels from her face. He braced himself. What he could see of her face didn’t look bad. Dirty and bloody, but not cut up. Then she turned her head and met his eyes. The left side of her face was swollen and raw, as if she’d been beaten with a club. His stomach clenched.

“Oh, God, baby!” he gasped. “What happened?”

“Desperado tried to kiss me,” she murmured.

He reached for her hand. She let it rest limply in his. The strength he’d found there before was gone. Impulsively he lifted her hand to his face and pressed his lips to her knuckles. Her dark eyes met his steadily, widening a little in surprise when he kissed the back of her hand. Hell, he was surprised, too. But it felt right. In fact, it was the first thing he’d done in this whole nightmare of his that did feel right. He was trying to offer comfort, but he really wanted to cling to Sasha’s hand as if it were a lifeline, and he a drowning man. Somehow, he had to make her understand what he himself didn’t.

“I’m so sorry, Sasha,” he said, holding her hand against his own battered cheek for a long, silent moment.

“How touching,” a man’s voice teased from the doorway. “Hello, Sasha. Mr. Kent.” Miles wasn’t especially surprised to see Dr. Peter Simmons, Sasha’s foster brother, grinning and shaking his head. “Don’t tell me you broke your nose again?”

Miles wanted to grab him by his lab coat and make him apologize for taking her injuries so lightly, but a tiny laugh escaped Sasha’s bruised lips before he could say anything. “Good news travels fast around here,” she muttered.

“It’s been a slow night,” Simmons answered. As he walked closer, Miles could see the concern behind the grin. Reluctantly Miles conceded that maybe the guy was joking to hide his real feelings. “How’s the head?”

“Hard,” she muttered.

Simmons snorted. “Tell me something I don’t know.” Then he looked at Miles and all traces of humor left his eyes. “Am I leaving her in good hands, Kent?”

Sasha’s fingers tightened briefly in his. Miles looked back levelly. “As far as I know.” It was as much of the truth as he knew. If he was some kind of monster in his past life, there didn’t seem to be any evidence of it to fill in the blanks in his memories.

Simmons nodded. “She’s a lousy patient.”

“Peter, go shrink somebody’s head!” Sasha scolded, her voice just a little slurred. “I hate it when you treat me like a child.”

“Then don’t act like one,” Simmons told her, winking. “I’m off in three hours. If you need anything, get me paged, or call Marla at home. Promise?”

Sasha sighed. “Promise. Give Marla and Jimmy my love.”

The door closed again behind Simmons’s back. Miles looked down into Sasha’s eyes, sick at the sight of the bruises on her beautiful face. Her wobbly smile didn’t do a thing to reassure him as he drew her hand to his cheek again. It felt cold.

“Sasha, can you forgive me for being such a jerk yesterday?”

She gave him a soft smile. “Yes, I forgive you for being such a jerk yesterday.” Then her smile faded. “How are you feeling today?”

He squeezed her hand gently. “I’m fine,” he told her, dodging the unspoken question about his memory. “The important thing is how you are. Do you think anything is broken?”

“Not this time,” she said. “I’m glad you’re here. It’s kind of scary being alone and hurt, isn’t it?”

Again he evaded her silent reference to his own circumstances. He wasn’t ready to face that yet. But he could offer Sasha some of the comfort she’d given him. “I’ll stay with you, if you want.”

She sighed. “Thanks. I’d really like that.”

A very young-looking doctor barged into the little examining room. “Sir, you’ll have to leave while we treat Ms. Reiss,” he said brusquely.

He turned to the man. “This is
Dr.
Reiss. And I’m not leaving unless she says so.”

The doctor’s mouth opened and closed, like a fish. Then he sighed and nodded. “As long as it’s all right with the patient.”

“Gentlemen? I appreciate your concern over protocol, but I’d really like to get cleaned up and go home. I’ve still got chores.” Sasha sounded amused in spite of the way her words slurred slightly.

Miles felt his face get warm at her gentle scolding. The doctor’s baby face turned the color of new brick. “I’ll send in a nurse to clean you up while I take another look at your X rays. I’d like to keep you overnight for observation,” he told her pompously.

Sasha smiled as if dealing with a very persistent child. “I can’t. I have my own patients waiting for me.”

They batted the question back and forth like a Ping-Pong ball until the outmatched junior doctor shrugged and gave up.

Miles waited for the other man to leave before giving in to a protective urge. “Sasha, he’s right. You shouldn’t go back to the farm alone. And you shouldn’t do chores tonight. If you can’t afford to stay overnight in the hospital, I’d be glad to—”

“Don’t be silly. It’s covered by my health insurance. What I can’t afford is for anything to happen to any of my animals because I’m not there to take care of them. I’ve got some friends lined up to help as soon as I get home.” She smiled, and he could see the stubbornness behind the sweetness. “I promise I won’t do the heavy stuff. But I have to be there to make sure everyone is okay.”