Authors: Gigi Moore
The guests and some of the staff, however, proved like Maia, partaking in late-night activities either in town or in the bar and arcade on The Double R.
She imagined the bar might be where Maia hung for the evening if she hadn’t gone out with Tamara, Jess, and Jax. The four of them all liked to hang out at a hot spot in Eagle County called Joe’s. Desiree had yet to go, though she’d heard a lot about it, especially raves from Maia. She wondered if Sam or Carson had ever been. She doubted it. As reserved and careful as she proved, those two were ten times more so, and she couldn’t imagine them hanging out in a bar mingling with a bunch of strangers. Their style ran more along the lines of communing with nature on their off time.
Desiree wondered what they were up to now, tempted to go out and find them despite the fright she’d given herself doing just that not a few hours ago. However, anything had to be better than sitting here pretending not to think about them. She needed to be proactive instead of staring at that bed and imagining all the things she could be doing in it with them.
Desiree closed the book she’d been trying to read, stood, and placed it in the seat of the rocker where she’d been sitting. She snatched her robe off of the back of the rocker and threw it on over the short pajama set she wore then headed out into the hallway toward the stairs.
Maybe she’d go make herself a cup of tea, bring it back to her rooms, and watch some TV. That might do the trick. Yeah, and it was like oh such an exciting walk on the wild side.
Be still my foolish heart.
The organ in question suddenly sputtered to erratic life as Desiree neared the bottom of the stairwell and heard the commotion going on in the kitchen.
She heard Maria’s voice raised in alarm and then Jeremiah’s commanding, deep tone directing someone to “lay her on the sofa.”
Lay who on the sofa?
Desiree headed toward the living room, where Jeremiah led Carson, Maia in tow, to the large, country floral sofa.
“What’s going on?” Rather than alarm, Desiree felt in her element, the older sister there to comfort and console.
However, Carson had assumed that role as he gently placed Maia on the sofa and asked Maria for a phone.
“I’ll get the iodine to wash it some more,” Jeremiah said and turned from Carson and Maia. “How do, Desi?”
She barely got out a greeting before he rushed by her and up the stairs two at a time.
Desiree crouched beside her sister. “What happened?”
“Stupid raccoon decided I was dinner and took a nibble on my hand.”
“Oh no…” She glanced up at Carson, who was on the cordless that Maria had brought him from the occasional table at the front door.
He gave her a stern look then spoke into the receiver, his tone clipped and officious. Less than a minute later he hung up. “Had to leave a voicemail.”
“Who’d you call?”
“Division of Wildlife. Animal Control doesn’t handle wildlife issues on private property.”
Desiree remained impressed with his peripheral knowledge, realizing that being a cowboy involved a lot more than breaking horses and cattle drives.
“Here’s the iodine!” Jeremiah practically flew down the stairs, wielding a bottle and some cotton balls to administer the solution.
“Do you need me to call an ambulance?” Maria asked.
“No!” Maia and Carson both chorused.
“It’s urgent, but not an emergency. We can just drive her to the hospital.” Carson took the bottle of iodine from Jeremiah, sat beside Maia on the sofa, and carefully pulled back the gauze that covered her injured hand.
Desiree watched as he put some of the iodine on a cotton ball then gently swabbed the bite area with the solution. She couldn’t help but think how composed and capable he remained, reassuring Maia when she winced, tenderly pushing a loose lock of her pixie cut away from her face. “Where’s Sam,” she asked, because wherever Carson was, Sam usually wasn’t far behind.
“He’s retrieving the culprit,” Maia murmured.
“Oh.” The gravity of the situation didn’t escape anyone else in the room, except that she and Maia seemed the most traumatized, Desiree noticed. She supposed they remained typical city girls unable to deal with some of the harsh realities of ranch life.
Desiree remembered how Maia had cried when Daddy read them
Old Yeller
as kids and got to the part in the book when Travis had to shoot the dog. Though Desiree had shed a tear or two, Maia had been almost inconsolable. Not to mention her sister’s crying jag after the hunter had shot Bambi’s mother when they’d watched the video.
Desiree thought to this day that that was the moment when Maia had decided to not eat “anything with a face” anymore. The decision ultimately gave Jeremiah and his boys plenty of stuff to rib Maia about over the dinner table when everyone else usually indulged their taste buds with some kind of meat or chicken product.
No one ribbed either sister now, however.
“Give me the keys to the truck and I’ll run her to the hospital myself.” Carson addressed Jeremiah, and Jeremiah grimly nodded as he headed off to retrieve the keys to his pickup.
“I’m going with you,” Desiree said.
“Now why should you have to sit in an emergency room babysitting me on a Friday night?”
“It’s what sisters do. It’s not like I’m doing anything else anyway.”
Maia arched a brow and cut an eye in Carson’s direction. “No?”
“Nothing that can’t be tended to later.” Desiree knew she blushed and tried to keep her voice as steady as possible. Her sister was determined as well as incorrigible, but then Desiree helped her cause by wanting to tag along, which would throw her in direct contact with Carson.
Jeremiah came back with the keys and tossed them to Carson, who grabbed them from the air. “Call us and let us know how things are going.”
“Will do,” Carson said then turned to Maia. “You ready?”
“Let’s get this over with.”
“Wait for me. I’ll run up and throw something on,” Desiree said.
“We’ll be in the truck.”
Carson’s voice didn’t betray anything of what he thought of the turn of events, not that Desiree expected it to. She was used to his strong, silent way by now, except that she had seen him when he wasn’t so silent, even if he still came off as strong.
Strong, demanding, irresistible, and sexy
.
She rushed upstairs to her room and slipped out of her robe and pjs and into the jeans and shirt she’d had on earlier. As a concession to the extrawrinkled state of her shirt and the cool spring evening, she slipped on a red hoodie from her closet.
Desiree went back downstairs, said good night to Jeremiah and Maria—who both gave her knowing looks that made her face hotter than it felt already—then headed out back, where Carson sat in the driver’s seat idling the truck.
As soon as Desiree headed for the pickup, Maia got out of the cab and held the passenger door open for her. “I’ll take the window seat if you don’t mind.” She smiled, leaving no room for argument unless Desiree wanted to be stubborn and make a scene. Desiree knew that Maia knew Desiree liked to cause scenes about as much as Maia liked to stay out of her sister’s business.
Desiree walked by her sister to climb into the cab next to Carson, then Maia climbed into the cab after her.
Carson gave her one measuring look, then silently put the truck in gear and backed out of the driveway.
That brief, simmering look heated her blood in her veins. It made her shudder at the proximity of his body. “How long a trip is it?” Desiree blurted, desperate for something to say to break the ice and tension.
“Unfortunately, the nearest hospital with a twenty-four-hour ER is Valley View. It’s about an hour away. There shouldn’t be much traffic this time of night, so we should be there in a little less than that, not much longer.” His words sounded clipped, economical, much like his movements as he changed gears on the truck. The action brought his hand in near-enough contact to her thigh that Desiree closed her eyes at the image of his hand continuing its course and sliding between her legs, creeping higher and higher until he caressed her slit.
Desiree unconsciously licked her lips, and when she opened her eyes it was to the sight of Carson staring at her before he slowly returned his gaze back to the road.
Desiree felt a pinch to her side and turned to glare at Maia, who just smiled back.
Between Maia to the right of her and Carson to the left of her, Desiree knew the next sixty minutes would prove the most tension filled in her life.
Typical male driver that he was, Carson got them to the hospital in forty-five minutes.
Desiree couldn’t complain. They all arrived in one piece and the sooner Maia got to see someone, the better, right?
Of course she didn’t see someone right away. It was an emergency room, after all.
Despite it bustling with activity, it came nowhere near reaching the levels of energy and action one might see in a New York City emergency room on a Friday night, however. In light of this, Desiree chose to stare at the large, flat-screen TV broadcasting the evening news high up in a corner of the waiting room rather than pace or talk to Carson to pass the time. The latter should have been the most desirable to do, especially in light of them having slept together just a few hours earlier, but this, in fact, made things more uncomfortable between them,
à
la the morning after.
Desiree questioned her wisdom in tagging along when she remained nothing more than a fifth wheel, totally unneeded in the situation. Maia had Carson to hold her hand until the doctor on duty got to her. Since her wound wasn’t considered an emergency, not like some of the other bloody and bone-crunching injuries Desiree had seen since they’d arrived, Desiree guessed they’d be there a little while longer.
She wished Sam were there to buffer things, but remembering what he probably remained busy doing depressed Desiree even more.
“Stop fidgeting,” Maia whispered in her ear. “Everything’s going to be fine, especially if you just relax, accept, and let things happen.”
Desiree didn’t have to ask what Maia meant. She wasn’t talking about her injury or consequent concern for her welfare. She was talking about Carson and Sam. She wanted Desiree to accept them and let things happen.
Desiree remained shocked that she had “let things happen” earlier, that things between her and the two men had gotten so far out of control. Now separated from the act by a few hours, with a clearer head, she couldn’t believe she had been so…reckless. That was Maia’s style, not hers. Her style, however, had obviously changed. She had changed, more than she realized or wanted to admit.
Desiree wasn’t sure if this proved a good or bad thing.
Someone
needed to have a level head between them. Someone needed to see reason, and nurturing a relationship with two men when she knew it couldn’t go anywhere wasn’t being levelheaded.
“You think too much.” Maia elbowed her in the ribs just as a doctor came into the waiting area with a clipboard in his hands, visually scanning the room.
“Maia Jensen?”
He had a deep voice, his slight southwestern drawl commanding attention and his ebony hair and Caribbean-blue eyes keeping it.
Desiree let her gaze drift down from his lightly tanned face and peered at the name tag pinned to his white lab coat. She took note of the name printed there—
T. Malloy—
and thought he wasn’t a bad-looking specimen at all, aesthetically speaking, of course.
Beside her, Maia perked up considerably and instantly, probably reacting to the tall, dark, and handsome drink of water who’d called her name. Her tone proved a note lower and sultrier than her normal voice, putting her sister in full-fledged flirtation mode when she finally responded to T. Malloy’s inquiry. “That would be
moi.
”