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“You’re in no condition to be doing anything,” she said flatly. “Except following doctor’s orders.”
His chuckle was muffled by the bedcover and for some reason the sound made her wonder what it would be like to be between the sheets with this man and have nothing between them but hot skin. How would it feel to surrender to all that masculine strength and passion?
The fact that she was even imagining such things was enough to jangle her senses. Lawrence was the only man she’d ever made love to, and since she’d lost him Ava had balked at the notion of another man touching her in an intimate way. So why was this man breaking into her safe little world? Why was he making her breath catch and her heart pound? It was crazy and scary and she had to put a quick end to it.
“I won’t be in this condition too much longer,” he reminded her.
His taunting voice broke into her runaway thoughts, and she resisted the urge to rip a piece of adhesive tape from his healthy skin. “That’s right. And once you’re healed, you won’t ever see me again.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that.”
The teasing tone of his voice had changed to a husky promise, and Ava inwardly shivered. There were all kinds of retorts and reprimands she could shoot back at him. But it was becoming clear that if she jumped into a verbal sparring match with Bowie Calhoun, she’d wind up the loser.
With her lips pressed to a determined line, she silently redressed the remainder of his wounds, then turned back to the nightstand to gather her things.
“Are you finished?” he asked.
In more ways than one, Ava thought grimly. “Yes. You may sit up and put your shirt on.”
“Aren’t you going to help me with it?”
She wanted to bark a loud, clear no. But his arm and shoulder had to hurt. To punish him because of her body’s crazy responses was hardly professional. And that was the sole reason she was here at this sprawling ranch—to be this man’s nurse.
Sighing, she reached for the gray shirt lying at the foot of the bed and carefully eased it over his left arm and shoulder and then the right. When she finally pulled the fronts together in the middle of his chest, he lifted his head and Ava found herself looking straight into his eyes. The connection caused her heart to take a wild leap.
“I’m sorry if I made you angry,” he said gently.
She dropped her gaze from his and focused on buttoning the shirt back together. “I’m not angry.”
“Good. Because I like you, Ava Archer.”
Heat suddenly rushed to her face, and in an effort to hide it, she turned and grabbed her tote.
“Don’t worry about it, Bowie. It’s just a nurse thing. You’ll get over it.”
He chuckled again. “I wouldn’t bet on that, either.”
Not daring to glance his way, she walked to the door. “Remember to keep your ankle elevated as much as possible. And make sure you don’t get your bandages wet.”
“I already know all that stuff. Tell me something I don’t know.”
She glanced over her shoulder at his fresh, rugged face and realized she felt more alive than she had in years.
A faint smile tugged at her lips even though she was trying to stop it. “I like you, too, Bowie Calhoun.”
“Will I see you tomorrow?”
“You’ll see me every day until my job here is finished.”
A corner of his mouth lifted in a sexy grin. “Then I’ll have to make sure your job lasts a long, long time.”
And she was going to have to make sure to keep this man at a safe distance, she thought as she quickly stepped through the door and shut it firmly behind her. Otherwise, she was going to forget she was a nurse and remember she was a woman.
Chapter Two (#ulink_8a3d007c-e611-5082-a7e3-7e872e23cfc3)
Later that morning, Bowie hobbled his way down the stairs and into the family room at the back of the house. He was surprised to find his sister-in-law Lilly and Tessa, the Calhouns’ young house servant, decorating a huge Douglas fir. Colleen, his two-year-old niece, and her eleven-month-old brother, Austin, were both underfoot as they tried to get in on the fun.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Bowie asked as he approached the group. “It looks like someone is getting ready for Santa Claus.”
The cheerful boom of his voice had both children forgetting about the tree and racing over to greet their uncle. Colleen immediately grabbed his leg and hung on, while Austin held his arms up and begged for Bowie to hold him.
Lilly called to her young daughter. “Colleen! Don’t grab Uncle Bowie like that! You’re going to knock him over!”
Bowie laughed as he looked down at the two young children. Colleen was the blond-haired, blue-eyed image of her mother, while little Austin favored the Calhouns with his strawberry-colored curls and green eyes. It still amazed Bowie that Rafe had been the first one of his brothers to have children. Rafe had always been such a playboy. But falling in love with Lilly had definitely changed his rowdy ways. Now his brother was more than content to spend his free time with his wife and babies. Bowie adored women, and he liked children, too, but he couldn’t imagine making them the center of his life.
“If little Colleen can knock me over, then I’m ready for the nursing home.” Using his good arm, he scooped up Austin and gathered the boy to the right side of his chest. The effort caused him a bit of discomfort, but he hid it carefully. Showing any sign of weakness wasn’t his style. Which made his injuries that much harder to bear.
He said, “Come on, kids, let’s go have a look at this Christmas tree.”
Lilly shook her head at Bowie. “You shouldn’t be carrying Austin. In fact, you shouldn’t have come down the stairs without me or Tessa helping you,” she scolded. “Why didn’t you call for one of us? And you’re only using one crutch!”
“I was careful. And two crutches are cumbersome. One works better,” he told her. “So what’s with the tree? Isn’t it early to be decorating for Christmas?”
She shot him a playful frown. “This isn’t a marine barracks, Bowie. And it’s the second of December. It’s time to start decorating. Haven’t you looked outside? Dad has some of the hands putting up the lights on the house and in the yard.”
This would be Bowie’s first Christmas since his return home from the Marines. During the years of his military service, he’d managed to get furlough and spend a few holidays here at the ranch, but that wasn’t the same as living here. He’d almost forgotten all the hoopla that took place on the ranch prior to Christmas. The kitchen was always full of rich food and every room was decorated in some form or fashion. Even the barns were strung with lights and the horse stalls adorned with wreaths and bows.
“I haven’t noticed,” Bowie told her. “The nurse was here to change my bandages. I’m still trying to recover from her visit.”
Surprised by his news, Lilly said, “Oh, I wasn’t aware Ava was starting the job today. I would’ve come up and said hi to her. Uh, why are you still trying to recover? Was it that painful?”
“It wasn’t painful at all. I was only teasing.” But Ava’s visit had been eye-opening, Bowie could have told his sister-in-law. He still couldn’t shake her image from his mind, much less the sound of her voice or the tender touch of her hands. He’d been around plenty of women in his life, but none of them came close to affecting him the way she had. “She got me all fixed up. No problem.”
“Great. When Dad said Chet was sending Ava out to nurse you, I knew she’d be perfect.”
“She told me you two are friends,” Bowie commented.
Lilly nodded. “We’ve been friends and coworkers for several years. Although now that I work at the clinic, I don’t get to see her very often.”
There were lots of things Bowie would have liked to ask Lilly about her friend, but he wasn’t going to. He didn’t much care for snooping into a person’s private life. He preferred to ask the person face-to-face. And he’d already found out much more about the nurse during her short visit than he’d expected to. The fact that she was a widow, and had remained single for all these years, was still nagging at him.
“Well, well, little brother has come down to join the land of the living.”
Rafe’s voice had Bowie glancing over his shoulder to see his older brother walking into the room. He was dressed in batwing chaps and a sheepskin-lined coat. A soiled felt Stetson was pulled low on his forehead, while spurs jangled on his boot heels. Rafe wasn’t just the image of a cowboy, Bowie thought, he was a cowboy inside and out. As foreman of the Silver Horn, his brother had the enormous job of keeping a crew of men working and a few thousand head of cattle healthy and producing.
“I’m already pretty damned bored with that bedroom,” Bowie told him.
“The last time I looked, you had a TV, a stack of movies, books, a stereo and a laptop in your room. That isn’t enough toys to keep you occupied?” Rafe teased.
“You’re making me sound spoiled, when all I want is a little human company. By the way, what are you doing in the house at this hour?”
“Greta promised to make cookies for the fence crew. They’re working out on Antelope Range, replacing barbed wire on some of the cross fencing. And since it’s starting to snow, I thought I’d drive out and give the boys an early treat of hot coffee and cookies. Want to come along?”
“To Antelope Range? If I remember right, that’s several miles out there,” Bowie said.
Rafe chuckled. “Well, if you need to stay where you’ll be warm and cozy, then go ahead.”
“Rafe!” Lilly protested. “Bowie hasn’t been out of the hospital even two days yet. He needs to recuperate before you start dragging him all over creation.”
Just hearing Rafe accuse him of being soft was enough to make Bowie set little Austin on the floor and turn toward his brother. “I haven’t lost anything out on Antelope Range, but I’ll go with you. Otherwise, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Bowie, as a nurse I’m advising you not to leave the house,” Lilly insisted.
Rafe cast his wife a subtle look. One that Bowie didn’t understand, but Lilly seemed to catch instantly.
“Don’t worry, honey,” Rafe said. “I won’t let him out of the truck. He’s only going along for the ride.”
Lilly gave her husband a dismissive wave before she turned her attention back to the tree decorations. “I don’t like the idea at all. But I can’t fight two men at once. And maybe a bit of fresh air will do him good,” she reluctantly added.
“Tessa, would you go upstairs and get one of Bowie’s old coats and a hat?” Rafe asked the maid. “We’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
“I’ll be right down with them, Rafe,” she replied.
Tessa left to fetch the garments, and Rafe and Bowie started out of the room. As they made their way down a hallway, Rafe slowed his stride to match Bowie’s hindered pace.
“Look, Rafe, I know you’re trying to give me a break, and I appreciate it,” Bowie said. “But there’s no need for you to waste time on me. When cabin fever starts driving me crazy, I’ll go outside and walk around.”
“Shut up. This isn’t a pity invitation. And if I know you, cabin fever is already driving you crazy. On the way out to Antelope Range, you’re going to help me check over a herd of heifers. I want to see if you still have the eye.”
“What sort of eye?” Bowie asked as they neared the kitchen.
Rafe chuckled. “A rancher’s eye. What else?”
Yeah, what else? Bowie thought glumly. But he’d never been a rancher. Not like his brothers. Oh, he knew the workings of a cow and he could ride a horse, but he’d never had the natural instinct that Rafe or Finn had, or his two oldest brothers, Clancy and Evan. Yet that hadn’t stopped the members of his family from trying to draw him into the business. On one hand, the idea that they wanted him living and working close to them was endearing. But there was another part of Bowie that none of his brothers or dad or grandfather understood—he needed to be free of constraints. Even those that involved his family. He wanted to do his own thing. Be his own man. Not follow in his family’s footsteps.
“Like I said, you’re wasting your time,” Bowie replied.
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
In the kitchen Greta, a plump woman in her early sixties, packed the bagged cookies and a large thermos of coffee into a cardboard box and handed it all to Rafe.
“That should keep everything from rolling around on the floorboard of the truck,” the cook told him. She cast a skeptical glance at Bowie. “You taking this whippersnapper with you?”
“I thought I could put up with him for a little while,” Rafe told Greta.
“Well, don’t shake up little Bowie too much. He’s in a weakened condition.”
Little Bowie. He was six feet tall and weighed a solid one hundred and ninety pounds. He could hardly be described as little. But Greta had been cooking for the family since before Bowie was born. To her, he would always be the last son born to Orin and Claudia.
Bowie let out a good-natured groan. “For pity’s sake, I’m not a helpless invalid!”
Rafe grinned at his brother. “Don’t worry about him, Greta. I hear he’s going to have a pretty nurse to keep him healthy.”
Greta rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and remember what happened to you the last time a pretty nurse came to the house?”
Laughing, Rafe said, “Sure I remember. She got Grandfather back on his feet and acting like a young man again.”
“Ha! She also turned you into a husband and a daddy!”
“What can I say?” Rafe said happily. “I know a good thing when I see it.”
Tessa chose that moment to enter the kitchen carrying a green plaid ranch coat and a brown felt cowboy hat.
After propping his crutch against a cabinet, Bowie balanced his weight on his good foot and allowed the young woman to help him pull on the coat.
“It’s hell to be helpless,” Bowie muttered as he jammed the hat onto his head.
“It’s a lot better than being under that burning tree,” Tessa said pointedly.
Because Tessa was normally as quiet as a church mouse, both Rafe and Greta burst out laughing.
“Guess she told you,” Rafe teased.
“Amen, Tessa,” Greta told the maid. “The scamp needs to be reminded how lucky he is.”
Bowie started toward the door. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve had all the women I can take for one morning.”
Thankfully, Rafe had parked his truck not far from the back door of the kitchen, and Bowie crossed the distance without too much effort.
Once the two men were buckled inside the warm cab and headed in a westerly direction through the ranch yard, Rafe said, “You know, Tessa is pretty fond of you. I hope you’ll watch what you say to her. She’s got a pretty soft heart.”
Bowie shot a look of disbelief at his brother. “Excuse me, but aren’t you the same guy who went for years never worrying about breaking a girl’s heart?”
Rafe frowned. “I’ve mended my ways since then.”
“Well, Tessa is like a little sister to me. What is she now? Twenty, maybe?”
“She just turned twenty-one.”
And she was wasting her young life here on this ranch, Bowie thought. She needed to be in the city with other young people, doing fun and exciting things. But he kept his opinion to himself. Rafe wouldn’t understand. He believed there was no place on earth like the Silver Horn. He didn’t understand Bowie’s need to experience a broader life.
He looked out the passenger window and released a long breath. “Don’t worry. I’ll be kind to Tessa.”
The truck rolled by the big main horse barn and Bowie instantly thought of Finn. Their brother lived in Northern California now with his wife, Mariah, and son, Harry. In a few months, their second child was due to arrive.
“I miss Finn,” Bowie said. “When I look at the horse barn, I still expect him to be there, taking care of the horses. The ranch isn’t the same without him around.”
“No. But Dad and Colley are doing a good job keeping everything going smoothly with the horses. And let’s face it, Finn is finally doing what he’s always wanted to do, working with mustangs. I’m happy for him.” He glanced over at Bowie. “Now that I think of it, while you’re off work recuperating, you ought to go up and spend some time with him and Mariah. They’d be happy to have you.”
