"That's up to the judge, but if you get a
good attorney, probably not long."
That was Luke's advice too, so she'd do that
right away. Sabrina Roberts carefully took out each band of bills,
and counted them, with Cassie standing there watching. She counted
a second time, and came up with the same total. After she finished,
she gave Cassie a receipt for the money, and took the box over to
her car and locked it in the trunk.
The detective and Officer Melton told her
they were staying around until a tow truck came for the vehicle,
but Cassie decided to go back to Luke. She thanked them and then
went back up to his room. When she went into the room, he was
dozing peacefully and she didn't wake him. Instead, she sat down in
the chair beside the bed and called her real estate attorney for a
recommendation on an attorney to handle this situation.
After she talked to Mike Peterson, the
attorney he referred her to, Cassie felt tons better. He heard her
tale, then assured her with all the evidence against James and
Diana, he felt sure he could convince the judge to release the
money to her immediately. She called the woman at the real estate
commission next, and told her what was going on, and that the money
had been recovered.
The woman told her that if James took a plea
agreement and admitted guilt, that she would close the
investigation immediately. Cassie agreed to keep her informed, then
called her banker and told him that James had been arrested, and
that the police had recovered the money.
After a few minutes of her needling the man,
he agreed to unfreeze her accounts after he called the police and
verified what she'd told him. That wouldn't really do her any good
until she could redeposit the money, because all of her accounts
were all empty. But at least she could close her pending deals,
because she would use her own money to get the escrow account
fixed. As much as it galled her, she'd dip into her personal
savings account to take care of that.
She saw Luke move in the bed, then his warm
brown eyes popped open and he gave her a sleepy sexy smile. "God, I
love waking up to see you," he said in a low voice.
Love for him poured through her, filling her
heart to near bursting. She stood up and placed a soft kiss on his
mouth, then whispered, "You're going to get tired of seeing me,
because I'm not going anywhere, Luke. You're stuck with me for
good, cowboy."
"Can't think of anywhere I'd rather be
stuck..." he told her and kissed her again, tasting testing, trying
to deepen it, his hands moving up to her waist.
She pulled back from him, and sat back down.
"None of that right now..." she smiled smugly then said, "I need to
tell you my good news..."
He lifted an eyebrow and smiled. "I need
some good news...shoot."
"Well, Detective Roberts took the money, and
gave me a receipt..."
"That's good news?"
"She said that with all the evidence they
have now against James, he'd probably accept a plea deal, so we
don't have to go to court...which means I'll get the money back
soon. I talked to an attorney and he agreed. He's going to contact
the judge they assigned to the case and work it out."
He grinned broadly, then said, "Now
that
is good news. Congratulations, darlin'."
"There's more..."
His other eyebrow raised and he put his hand
over his heart. "Be still my heart..."
"The banker is going to unfreeze my
accounts, and the real estate commission is closing the
investigation, once they verify everything I told them."
Luke sat up and then cringed, grabbing his
side. She put a finger of her mouth to shush him from the whoop she
knew he was about to let loose, then pushed him back down on the
bed. "Stop that!" she ordered in a harsh whisper.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged
her down to him, then claimed her lips in a kiss that curled her
toes, one that got interrupted by the nurse who cleared her throat
behind Cassie.
Cassie pulled away from Luke and spun to see
the dour woman standing there with an angry expression, her hands
on her round hips. "You two are something...this needs to stop. Mr.
Matthews needs his rest," she said disapproval pinching her thin
lips.
"What Mr. Matthews needs is to get the hell
out of here," Luke said in a feral tone, and began ripping the
adhesive patches off his chest, flinching as they pulled the hair
on his chest.
The nurse gasped then ran over there and
took them out of his hands, and shoved him back down onto the bed.
"You're going to make your wound start bleeding again!"
"I don't give a damn, get this crap the hell
off of me,
now,
" he demanded and ripped off the last white
circle from his chest and handed it to her.
"The doctor is not here, that's not
possible."
Luke stuck one of his long naked legs out
from under the cover and went to sit up again. God, he was an even
worse patient than she was, if that was possible. He needed to get
a grip on himself, before he opened up that wound again. "Luke!"
she yelled and walked over beside the nurse, "Settle yourself down
or I'm gonna hog-tie you."
He stopped his motion and then looked up
into her eyes with a sexy grin. "Now that definitely sounds like
something I'd be okay with, sugar."
The nurse looked at them like they'd both
lost their minds and Cassie and Luke shared a glance then their
shared laughter bounced off the walls of the room. The nurse
harrumphed and flicked off the monitor that was attached to the
leads, mumbling something about wishing she was the doctor so she
could get him out of her hair, before she stomped out of the
room.
They laughed again and she gently pushed him
back to the bed, "Now, you be good, and you'll be out of here
tomorrow."
He scooted over in the bed and patted it.
"I'll be good, if you come lay down here with me. It's late and I'm
tired, but I'm not going to sleep without you beside me."
Cassie chewed her lip, looked back over her
shoulder where the nurse had exited, then looked back at him. What
the hell, she thought, what were they going to do kick him out?
He'd be happy as a hog in shit if they did...so she laid down on
the bed beside him, careful to avoid his injured side. His arm
instantly went around her and he pulled her closer to him, snuggled
his nose into her hair and sighed closing his eyes. "Love you,
darlin'," he said then she heard his soft snores in her ear.
Cassie smiled peacefully then closed her own
eyes.
I love you too, sugar
, she thought,
so damned
much
, right before she drifted off herself.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Taking a sip of the tarry black coffee she'd
gotten at the hospital, before she left, Cassie changed lanes to
avoid a slow dump truck up ahead of her on the interstate near the
Sky Harbor airport exit. She swung Luke's truck back over and then
immediately took the airport exit, studying the signs to see where
she needed to go next. The exit to terminal three came up on her
fast, and she almost missed it, and spilled a little of her coffee
on the seat, but she managed to ease into the chute at the last
minute. Navigating airport roads always made her nervous, even more
nervous considering she was driving Luke's big pickup with a cast
on her left leg.
Cassie eased up under the terminal canopy
and glanced at all the people standing on the sidewalk, looking for
Cole. She slammed on the brakes when she saw him step off the curb
in her path and wave. Damned man, must have a death wish, she
thought, as he walked around to the driver's side and threw his
duffle bag in the bed, then opened the door. "Shove over, sugar,"
he drawled authoritatively.
Cassie scooted over to the passenger side,
more than glad to let him drive. He smiled over at her, his eyes
warm and friendly. "How's your leg?"
"It's good. Other than feeling like I'm
wearing a concrete shoe, I don't even notice it anymore," she told
him and laughed.
His smile faded and then he looked back at
the road and asked, "How's Luke?"
"Ornery, agitated...a worse patient than I
was. I thought that nurse was going to shoot him herself last
night," she chuckled.
"He must be feeling okay then," Cole said
and huffed out what sounded like a relieved breath.
"Yeah, he's going to be okay, Cole," she
told him seriously. "Thank, god...and thank you for coming. As much
as he protested, I think it'll make him feel better."
"Cassie, about what I said by the lake..."
his voice was low and apologetic.
"You only said that because you care about
him, Cole. I understand...and I did seem to be the cause of him
getting into trouble. That's why I was thinking of leaving Bowie
again. I didn't want to ruin his life or your friendship." She
looked out the window and crossed her arms over her chest.
"You're the best damned thing that could
have happened to him. You coming back to Bowie has made him face
things he'd brushed under the carpet for ten years," he hesitated,
with his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter, he admitted, "
I've thought it over and him resigning as Sheriff, is probably for
the best. I pushed him into running for the job in the first place,
and he hasn't been happy...I saw that, but didn't want to admit
it."
"Thank you for saying that," she felt tears
burn behind her eyes, but she held them back with effort.
Silence filled the cab of the truck as he
took the road to get back on the interstate, toward Phoenix. It
lasted until he had been on SR 143 for about ten miles. He glanced
over at her with a serious plea in his green gaze. "Don't leave
him, Cassie...he was a wreck last time...this time, it would kill
him."
Surprised, she turned toward him then stuck
out her left hand to him. He glanced down at it then up into her
eyes, his eyes held tons of questions. "Luke asked me to marry him
in Amarillo," she told him and smiled widely. "I'm not going
anywhere without him, Cole."
He looked back at the road then slammed his
hand on the steering wheel. "Well I'll be damned. That's great
news, sugar. Congratulations," She saw him smile from ear to ear as
he stared at the road and said, "Lucky bastard."
Excitement bubbled up inside of her that
Cole accepted that she and Luke were going to be together, and she
told him all about Luke's grand proposal in Amarillo, and then
gushed on about Titan and how gorgeous he was.
Cole laughed and listened intently, but she
could see something was bothering him. "Something bothering
you?"
He shook his head, hesitated then asked, "So
Luke is planning on helping you with the horses now instead of the
cattle?"
"No--why would you think that?"
"Honey, there's no way he could afford to do
both. He's saved up money, but not enough to buy into the cattle
herd
and
buy the stud you've just described."
Shocked Cassie sat back against the door and
stared at him for a second. His face was an unreadable mask now.
"He said he had enough. I told him I didn't need for him to buy
Titan for me. I have money."
"He was trying to make sure you stayed in
Bowie. He'd been talking about it, but once he started talking
about doing the cattle thing with me, I figured he'd changed his
mind."
Cassie was furious with Luke. He'd lied to
her, and she didn't know what was rattling around in that head of
his. Maybe he planned to take out a loan for the money he needed
for his portion of the price to buy the herd from her daddy. He
should have talked to her about it. So much for him and his
communication speech to her. She huffed out a breath then slammed
herself against the seat back, refolding her arms over her
chest.
Cole gave her a concerned look then asked,
"What's going on in that pretty head of yours, Cassie? I don't want
to cause trouble with you and Luke."
"Oh there's trouble all right, but none you
caused. He should have talked to me..." she huffed out a frustrated
sigh, "He's still in on the herd with you Cole. You don't worry,
I'll fix it, but don't tell him anything...I want him to stew a
while more, he deserves it."
Cole chuckled then and said, "Honey, he's
definitely met his match with you. I have a feeling you'll keep him
in line just fine."
When they got to the hospital, the parking
lot was almost full, and Cole had to take a spot on the last row, a
good trek from the front entrance. They walked across the lot, then
went inside and up to Luke's room. When they walked inside, he was
standing there in a pair of dark blue scrubs beside a wheelchair
with his hand to his side, arguing with a nurse about needing a
wheelchair.
Even though she was still mad at him,
laughter bubbled up inside of her at the incredibly delicious, but
ridiculous sight he made in those scrubs and his cowboy boots. Lot
a hot cowboy doctor. Her mouth watered. She walked over to him and
put her hand on his arm. He turned his angry brown eyes down to
look at her.
"Excuse me,
doctor
...." she said
suggestively, and winked at him knowing he'd remember their
kidnapping/doctor fantasy. "What's a girl got to do to get
kidnapped around this place?"