The Cowboy's Temptation (9 page)

“Oh, no. I don’t know how,” she said breathlessly.

 

“Well, then, I think a lesson is in order,” he said and took her hand in his and pulled her onto the dance floor.

 

Elissa pulled back, not wanting to make a fool of herself. “Jake, really. I don’t know how to dance well. I haven’t done anything like this in years.”

 

He pulled her into his arms, one hand behind her back, the other holding her hand in his strong one. “Just follow my lead,” he said softly.

He gave her a short lesson on how to two-step off to the side of the other dancers. Once he felt like she had the hang of it, he swung her into the twirling other dancers. Elissa was overwhelmed at first. She had trouble concentrating on what she was supposed to do and where the other dancers were.

“Elissa, look at me,” he said, loud enough for her to hear him over the loud country music.

 

Elissa instantly looked up at his strong features.

 

“Relax,” he demanded. “Trust me.”

Elissa didn’t know if that was possible. She’d had so much experience not trusting men that his command was almost ridiculous. But she forced herself to pretend so he wouldn’t yell at her again. She relaxed her shoulders and smiled up at him.

“That’s better,” he said and within moments, they were twirling around the room. Jake spun her in circles, dipped and tucked, backwards and forwards while Elissa just followed his lead, loving every moment of the dances. She had never felt so alive in her life and she laughed up into Jake’s smiling eyes.

After several songs, the music slowed and Jake instantly pulled her closer, not releasing her from his embrace. The music swirled around their bodies, twining her feelings in his strong arms. Jake moved her hands up to his shoulders and she loved the way his body felt as it gently touched hers. Her fingers moved slightly on his shoulders and she could feel the muscles flex at her slightest movement.

Sighing deeply, Elissa wished that this night could last forever. Jake wasn’t yelling at her, there wasn’t any e-mail piling up, no clients demanding her attention and no brokerage firm demanding that she sacrifice her life and her intellect to their greed. All that was in the world was right here, in Jake’s arms, his heart beating strongly under her fingertips.

Elissa woke to the sound of someone banging on her bedroom door. She rolled over, noted that it was still dark outside, then rolled back under the covers to go back to sleep. In her dreams, she was dancing slowly with Jake and he was bending down to kiss her, slowly moving his lips over hers, his tongue dancing within her mouth and his hands sliding down her waist, then back up again to cup her breasts.

A few minutes later, Jake was leaning over her bed, gently shaking her awake. “Elissa, wake up,” he called to her.

“Mmmm, Jake,” she moaned, still mostly asleep. She wasn’t able to differentiate between her dreams and reality since both had the same thing happening. She pulled Jake closer and whispered a secret in his ear, then rolled back over, pulling the covers higher on her shoulder.

“Oh, darlin’ if only you were awake enough to realize what you just said, you’d be in a world of trouble,” he chuckled. He pulled the covers off her, instantly waking her up and sitting up in bed.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, instantly awake and reaching for the covers to pull back up over herself. She was only wearing a cotton camisole and bikini underwear to sleep in, both too revealing for Jake’s all-knowing eyes.

“I’m sorry, Elissa. But you’re a sound sleeper and Ronny needs you,” he said and lifted her into his arms. “Come on darlin’, we got to get you out of here before we both forget our priorities.”

He carried her into the bathroom, “Ronny is going to have her baby tonight. You have fifteen minutes before we take off,” he said and shut the door on her next question.

Elissa wanted to scream but then his words sunk into her sleep-drugged consciousness. Ronny was in labor! That realization spurred her to get moving. She took a five minute cold shower, cold only because she didn’t want to wait for the hot water to reach the faucet, then quickly dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt. She pulled her hair back and ignored her make-up. She was hopping down the stairs, moving as quickly as she could while pulling on socks and tennis shoes.

“I’m ready,” she said breathlessly to Jake who was standing at the bottom of the stairs, his hat in his hand, obviously ready to leave the moment she emerged.

“That was fast,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who could be ready in less than ten minutes,” he said as he put a hand on the small of her back to guide her out the door.

He lifted her into the truck, then came around to the driver’s side. The truck raced along the road but not in the direction of the main street. Jake was driving towards an old barn that she’d thought was abandoned. “Where are we going?” she asked, her eyes wide with anxiety for Veronica.

“The helicopter,” he said and braked right next to another Circle K ranch truck. Veronica was being helped out of the passenger side by Rick, who was practically carrying his wife towards a hulking black shadow.

“What helicopter?” Elissa asked, jumping out and running towards Veronica who was in the middle of a contraction.

Rick breathed a sigh of relief when Elissa ran up to them. “Thank goodness you made it. She’s been having contractions for the past two hours. They’re now about seven minutes apart.”

Elissa looked at her friend, noting the white lips that were trying to smile. “Ronny, just breathe. You can make it through this, don’t worry.”

Jake herded all of them into a black helicopter, then jumped into the pilot’s seat. They were airborne minutes later and Elissa was holding her breathe, gripping the seat with white-knuckled hands. She had never been in a helicopter before and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

She stared at Jake’s profile as he flew the helicopter through the dark sky. He spoke into a microphone several times, apparently with the hospital letting them know that they were on their way.

Fifteen minutes later, three of them were disembarking from the helicopter. Elissa was grateful to be back on solid ground but one look at Veronica and she knew something was wrong.

They were immediately hustled into the hospital where Veronica was put onto a bed and hooked up to monitors.

Rick took Elissa’s hand and held it tightly for a moment, his worried eyes looking into hers. “You take over, Elissa,” he said fervently. “I can’t watch. Make sure she’s okay,” he said nervously, watching his wife get rolled down the hallway to the labor and delivery room.

Elissa watched for only a moment before turning back to Rick. “Are you sure you don’t want to be there with her? She’ll probably feel safer with you in there rather than me.”

“No, Ronny would be better off with you. Please take care of her. She’s all I got,” he said, running both hands through his hair.

 

Elissa followed Veronica down the hallway, running to catch up with her. They put her onto a bed and re-hooked the monitors while the doctor examined her.

 

“Well, it looks like you’re having a couple of babies tonight,” she said sleepily.

Elissa was a little taken aback by the obstetrician’s casual manner, but reminded herself that she did this for a living and it probably wasn’t as life altering as what the new mom was going through.

Veronica was five centimeters dilated already, she announced. “But with a first baby, this could still take a while. The contractions will start to be a little more intense and will come sooner. If you’d like an epidural, just let me know. You can have it at any time now.”

“Now!” Veronica demanded, gritting her teeth as another contraction came upon her. Elissa held her friend’s hand, watching the monitor that showed the intensity of the contraction.

“This one’s over, Ronny, just hang on for another second,” Elissa said.

 

A moment later, Veronica leaned back on the pillows, her face already beaded with sweat. “Okay, I think that one’s done,” she said and relaxed for another minute.

About fifteen minutes later, the anesthesiologist came in and administered the epidural. Elissa almost passed out when the doctor stuck the long needle into her friend’s spinal cord but the relief on Veronica’s face when the pain killer reached her system helped Elissa deal with the light-headedness.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when the contractions started coming faster. They were two minutes apart, then one minute, each coming on top of the next. The doctor shook her head at one point and announced she was only nine centimeters dilated.

Elissa wanted to hit the woman as she walked out of the room, telling Ronny that everything was okay and she only had a little while longer before it would be time to push.

“Lissy, I can’t do this much longer,” Ronny said, breathing heavily. A moment later, another contraction took over and she had to sit up to roll with the pain. “Why isn’t the epidural helping anymore?” Elissa asked the nurse.

The nurse smiled compassionately. “We could up the dosage, but then it would be too hard for her to push when the time comes. It needs to start wearing off so she can feel the contractions.”

Elissa nodded, but didn’t really understand.

“Rick!” Veronica cried, when the next contraction took over. “I want Rick. Please Ronny, get him in here. I’m scared.” Her friend was gasping for breath and holding Elissa’s hand as if she were trying to break all the bones. The sweat was now dripping down Veronica’s face and her hair hung limply around her white, anxious face.

When the latest contraction slowed down, Elissa wiped Veronica’s face with a cool washcloth. “I’ll be right back,” Elissa said and pried her fingers out of Veronica’s hands.

Elissa calmly left the labor and delivery room but once she was outside, she sprinted to the waiting room in search of Rick. She found him leaning his head up against a window, his face white with the stress of the situation.

“Rick, Veronica needs you. She’s asking for you.”

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

Elissa took his hands to calm him down. “Nothing is wrong, it is a first baby so it is taking a while. But you have to listen to me,” she said earnestly. “She’s scared and is asking for you. You have to go in there and finish this out.”

He was already shaking his head by the time she finished her sentence. “I can’t. I won’t know what to do. I’ll just make things worse,” he said, backing up a few paces.

Elissa had spent the past ten hours helping Veronica wrestle with her pain and fear. She was tired and wanted her friend’s ordeal to end as soon as possible. So she didn’t have much compassion for the man standing in front of her. Without a conscious thought, she started yelling at the man. “Listen here, Rick. Your wife needs you. She’s in pain trying to deliver your children. She’s asking for you and needs your help and support desperately so you just pull yourself together and get your butt down that hall and into the delivery room.” By the end, she was screaming at Rick and pointing towards the delivery room.

Rick stared at her for about three seconds. Then he handed his hat to Elissa and sprinted down the hallway towards his wife.

 

Elissa let out her breath and collapsed into a chair, still holding Rick’s hat in her hands.

It wasn’t until she noticed the silence that she looked up and noticed Jake. He had been standing beside the window, one shoulder leaning against the wall. His face showed his admiration and Elissa flushed. She hadn’t even looked around to see if there would be witnesses to her tirade.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, sincerely shocked that she had yelled at a man who was as nervous as Rick had been.

“Sorry for what?” he asked, pushing away from the wall and coming towards her. He sat down in the chair next to her, stretching his jean clad legs out in front of him. “I’ve been telling him that for hours. He just didn’t listen until you shouted it.”

Elissa chuckled. “I didn’t shout.”

Jake shook his head. “You shouted. Good and loud. I’m sure there are several other men around her that are right back beside their wives right now, thinking you were shouting at them.”

Elissa giggled. The giggle turned to a laugh. And then her fatigue took over and she started laughing in earnest at the scene she had just created. She laughed so hard she had to grab her stomach in pain and tears were streaming down her face.

Once the laughter subsided, she nodded. “Okay, so I yelled. But it worked.”

 

Jake chuckled and nodded. “That it did. Is Ronny okay?” he asked, concern evident in his tone.

Elissa nodded. “The doctor doesn’t seem concerned. She’s nine centimeters dilated, or she was about an hour ago. So it could happen any minute now,” she said, looking out the window.

There was silence for a few minutes while they each were absorbed in their own thoughts.

 

“Where did you park the helicopter?” she asked.

Jake laughed. “There isn’t a helicopter parking lot. I flew it back to the ranch and picked up the truck. We only use it for emergencies like this or to find the cattle during round-up,” he explained. “I noticed you weren’t thrilled with the ride. Do you not like flying?”

Elissa shook her head. “It’s not that. I’ve just never been in one before and it wasn’t like being in a plane. It might take a little getting used to,” she said. “Want to learn to fly it?” he asked.

Elissa turned her head and looked at his face, trying to determine if he was serious. “You would teach me how to fly after my initial horseback riding lesson? I can tell you I know less about flying helicopters than I do riding horses.”

Jake dropped his head back onto the plastic chair. “God help me, then.”

 

Elissa laughed at his pained expression. “I wasn’t that bad, was I?”

 

She heard his chest rumble in laughter. “Darlin’, you were almost going backwards,” he joked.

 

“I did not,” she contradicted. “Just around in circles…I think.”

 

Jake’s laughter was contagious and she found herself in his arms, laughing at the memory of her first riding lesson.

Three days later, the babies and Veronica were released from the hospital and life was slowly coming down to a routine for everyone again. Jake dragged himself into the kitchen, wondering what he would find to eat. He was disappointed that the lavish feasts he had gotten used to over the past two weeks were at an end now that Ronnie was in the hospital. The thought of slapping together a sandwich almost discouraged him enough to ignore the pain of hunger digging in his stomach. But then he realized he might as well get used to it. He wasn’t likely to get anything more.