Page 14 of Wrangling the Wandering Rancher (High Country Ranch #4)

14

Tanner wanted to shout out his frustration. Maisy had lapsed into unconsciousness, and he hadn’t been able to rouse her for the past hour.

Ahead, he could see the faint lights coming from town—probably from the saloons and hotels that were still open and busy at the late hour. He was almost there after nearly fourteen hours of traversing the long mountain trails to return to civilization.

He’d had to go slow to keep from jostling her. The few times he’d stopped to give the horse a break, he’d checked her bandage, and at least her injury hadn’t been bleeding too badly. She’d slept most of the day, rousing once in a while for him to give her sips of water. But clearly, her body had taken all it could handle.

Even though the ride had taken him longer than usual, it was almost over. He just prayed the doctor was home, because the wound site needed to be treated before it festered.

“We’re almost there, darlin’,” he whispered against her head, which was resting on his chest. She’d tried hard, whenever she’d been awake, to keep herself from sagging into him, but she’d grown weaker, and now he was holding her entirely within his embrace—to keep her comfortable and warm.

All throughout the long hours of the ride, regret had chased him, catching up with him plenty of times. He’d replayed that last minute together in the cabin, when he’d broken away from her, stalked across the room, and let fear take control. He’d been afraid of what was happening between them. He’d been afraid of the danger of their situation. And he’d been afraid of making mistakes that might cost him too much.

No matter the fears, he shouldn’t have pulled his revolver out on Smoke. He should have talked to Maisy first.

He glanced over his shoulder. Smoke was keeping to the shadows but had been trailing them the whole ride out of the mountains. Tanner had caught glimpses of him from time to time.

Now as he peered over the foothills he’d left behind, the moonlight illuminated the swells of earth, mostly barren except for a few boulders and dry brush and sage. He couldn’t see any movement or any hints of light. Everything was silent. There wasn’t a single wild creature in sight—probably because Smoke’s presence had scared them away.

He shifted forward and nudged his gelding into a gallop. With the weight of two people, the horse was tired, but it kicked up its pace anyway.

Maisy released a soft moan, the increased pounding likely making her more uncomfortable again.

He pressed a kiss to the side of her head. He was taking a liberty in kissing her that way, and he never would have considered doing so if she’d been awake. She was angry with him over all that had happened, and she would have shoved him.

And he wouldn’t have blamed her for pulling away or telling him to stop. He had no right to kiss her, even just her head. But that didn’t keep him from wanting to kiss her or from thinking about the kisses they’d already shared.

The truth was, after that last kiss in the cabin, he’d known deep inside that everything in his life had changed as a result of being with her this time. Maybe a part of him had realized he’d eventually kiss her. After all, he’d always liked her, always flirted with her, always enjoyed her company. Even though he may have rationalized his feelings away after each previous visit, the attraction had been building all along.

With a sigh, he adjusted his hold on her so she rested against him as comfortably as he could manage. A few minutes later, he reached the outskirts of town and slowed his mount. Most of the houses and businesses were dark with slumber. And maybe the doctor’s would be dark too.

But Tanner pushed forward anyway toward the white clapboard building halfway down Main Street. A light burning from inside the front window cast a glow on the sign next to the door that read: E.P. Howell, M.D. Physician and Surgeon .

Hopefully the light inside meant Dr. Howell was still awake and wouldn’t mind the interruption at the late hour.

Tanner reined in his horse, climbed down, then settled Maisy in his arms. He hurried up the front stoop to the door. Finding it unlocked, he opened it and stepped inside.

The front room of the doctor’s office resembled a parlor, with a settee and wingback chairs and several end tables positioned to face a fireplace, which was dark and cold. A small bookcase sat against one wall, with old newspapers stacked on one shelf and medical journals cluttering the other. Another wall contained a collage of photos of people—presumably the doctor’s family, although Tanner had never asked the older man.

Light came through the open door of an adjacent room—what might have been a dining room if it hadn’t been transformed into an examining room.

“Dr. Howell?” Tanner called, too worried about Maisy to wait.

“Be right with you,” the older man called from the examining room.

Tanner crossed to the door and peered inside.

Dr. Howell, a short man with gray hair that seemed to perpetually stick up, stood on a step stool beside a man who was getting stitches in his scalp. At the sound of Tanner in the doorway, Dr. Howell glanced up from the suture and thread he was slipping into a layer of bloodied skin.

“Tanner Oakley,” the doctor said in greeting as he pulled the thread through. “Who you got there?”

“This is Maisy Merritt, Cleveland Merritt’s daughter.”

Dr. Howell made a humming noise as if he was trying to place the names. He snipped at the thread. “Doesn’t sound familiar.”

Tanner hadn’t expected it to. Cleveland hadn’t been around town much since moving to the area. He hadn’t been around much at all. If he’d been home, the neighbors wouldn’t have resorted to a shoot-out to get Smoke.

And maybe Maisy wouldn’t have gotten hurt.... Even though Maisy hadn’t talked about why she’d stepped outside the cabin, he’d figured it out easily enough. She’d hoped for some gunfire to distract the men while Smoke slipped out the window. And her plan had worked, except that she’d gotten hurt in the process.

Whatever the case, Tanner’s anger toward Cleveland had boiled the entire ride to Breckenridge.

It didn’t matter now, though. All that mattered was getting Maisy the help she needed.

“Maisy took a bullet to her shoulder.”

While the doctor finished tying off the stitches, Tanner gave him the details of Maisy’s gunshot and the hours that had passed. As soon as the other fellow was off the examining table, the doctor began calling out instructions for what to do with Maisy.

Although Tanner wasn’t proficient in medical procedures, he’d seen enough accidents over the years to assist the doctor during Maisy’s surgery. Even if he hadn’t known a single thing, he still would have stayed and helped.

After administering ether to dull Maisy’s pain, the doctor was able to extract the bullet with forceps. Because of how long the lead had remained inside her shoulder, the doctor was concerned about the wound festering, especially since it was already irritated and swollen. So instead of suturing the flesh closed, he packed it with a clean cloth.

When the surgery was finished, Dr. Howell instructed Tanner to carry Maisy to a bed in the room across the hallway where she would stay for the remainder of the night. When she was settled and resting, Tanner pulled up a chair beside the bed and insisted he was staying for the night. Not even Dr. Howell’s raised brow could deter him.

After having been awake all the previous night, Tanner found himself dozing from time to time, his eyelids growing too heavy to keep open. Fortunately, Maisy didn’t stir—not until dawn, when the ether began to wear off.

In the morning, Dr. Howell gave Maisy an opium painkiller before cleaning the wound again. Since there wasn’t much more they could do for her besides wait for her to heal, Tanner decided that he would take her to High C Ranch to recuperate.

At least there he would be able to stay with her and tend to her without people gossiping about their relationship and making an issue of him staying by her bedside. Because that’s what he intended to do. He wasn’t leaving her side until she was better.

She slept most of the way there. This time he’d positioned her sideways on his lap, cradling her more fully against his body to keep her steady.

As they neared the ranch gate, she opened her eyes, lifted her head from his chest, and glanced around at the cloudy gray morning. “Where are we?” Her voice was groggy, and her pretty blue-green eyes were glassy.

“We’re almost at High C Ranch.”

Her lips curved into a half smile. “I’ve always wanted to visit your family’s ranch and see all the horses.”

“Well, darlin’, I’m making your wish come true.”

Her smile inched higher. “Will I get to see any foals?”

“Of course.” The foals that had been born in the spring and early summer weren’t babies any longer, but they were still young and beautiful and full of spirit. “But first, you have to get better.”

“I’m feeling just fine.” Her eyes remained glassy, and her face was flushed.

“The doctor gave you a lot of medicine, so hopefully that’s helping.” He was grateful she didn’t have to suffer so much from the pain anymore.

“I don’t remember seeing the doctor.” She laid her head back against his chest as if holding it up was too much work.

So far she hadn’t resisted sitting on his lap or the close proximity in general. He could only hope that meant she wasn’t angry with him anymore.

“Dr. Howell removed the bullet last night, and now you just need some time for the wound to heal.”

She didn’t respond, and when he glanced down, her eyes were closed, her long lashes resting against her cheeks. She’d obviously fallen asleep again, which was for the best. The doctor had said she needed plenty of rest.

He situated her more securely in his arms, then bent and placed a kiss against her temple. He’d found himself all too easily kissing her head or hand over the past hours. And he knew he shouldn’t give in to the need, but under the duress of the situation, he’d made excuses for doing so—especially because she was asleep and wouldn’t realize he’d kissed her.

“Thank you, Tanner,” she whispered.

He swiftly pulled back. Blast. He should have waited another minute to make sure she actually was asleep.

“I wouldn’t have made it here if not for you,” she continued softly.

He chanced another glance at her face to find that she was peering up at him, her eyes wide and filled with admiration. There was no sign of anger or irritation that he’d kissed her head. Although he knew he deserved her wrath, he didn’t want to part ways as enemies. At the very least they could go back to the way things had always been between them, couldn’t they?

“You saved my life.” She lifted a hand to his chest and rested it above his heart.

“You probably wouldn’t have been hurt in the first place if not for me.”

“That’s not true.” She tilted her face, and she was suddenly at just the right angle that her lips grazed his jaw.

He stiffened at the contact. It was just an accident. That’s all. Even so, the merest touch of her lips had the power to heat his blood.

Her lips brushed against his jaw again, and she released a breathy sigh. “Oh, Tanner, you feel so good.”

Maybe the contact hadn’t been an accident. Whatever the case, her touch, her groan, her words added more fuel to the heat that had started pumping through him. It was all too easy with Maisy to unleash the attraction.

But he couldn’t. Hadn’t he learned his lesson from staying at the cabin with her? He’d hurt her once, and he couldn’t do it again.

Her fingers skimmed up his chest to his neck. “I think I could kiss you all day long,” she whispered, her voice still groggy.

As bold as Maisy was, this confession was too much, even for her. The medicine was loosening her tongue.

“Don’t you think you could kiss me all day too?” She made a trail to the back of his neck and then sifted through his hair.

The talk of kissing and the feel of her was more than he could bear. He clamped his mouth closed and fought against the need to drop his hand and skim up her arm and touch her hair too.

“Just kiss me, Tanner,” she murmured against his jaw.