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“Well, that’s it,” she said, taking a moment to straighten the hand towel on the bar as she automatically did the same with the larger ones next to it. Clearly Hoyt wasn’t the neat freak she was. “Be sure to ask the doctor when your last tetanus shot was in case you need another. I was just about to get home.”
With that, she turned to walk to the door without looking directly at him, but Hoyt caught her arm. The fresh jolt that he gave her sent her gaze shooting up to his.
“That’s it?” His dark brows were cranky whorls that confused her.
“I said I’d call the doctor.”
“You’re gonna let me drive to town alone?”
Eadie studied his stern face a moment, unable to miss his disapproval. “You said you’d drive yourself.”
“You’d let me do that? I thought women liked to fuss.”
Eadie gave her head a disbelieving shake. “Do you…want me to fuss?”
He released her arm then and growled, “Not if you have to strain yourself.”
Eadie stared harder, unable to grasp this, though she was almost amused by it. “So you do want me to fuss,” she concluded as she tried to come to grips with the idea. “How much fussing…would you want?”
She almost giggled over how ridiculous that sounded, but didn’t dare. Hoyt looked deadly serious!
Now some of his stony expression eased and a bit of the ire in his dark eyes died down, as if her question mollified him.
“Considering how froze up you are, slather it on. I’ll let you know if it’s too much. My side’s stingin’ like a son of a buck, and it feels like you cleaned it with acid.”
Eadie ignored the crack about her being “froze up” and instantly felt bad that she’d hurt him. She impulsively touched his arm. “I’m sorry. Can you walk to my truck or do you need help?”
“I can walk,” he grumbled, then added, “just steady me till we’re sure.”
Genuinely sorry she’d hurt him and anxious to make up for it, Eadie took back the hand towel and moved to his uninjured side. She helped him lift his arm as she ducked beneath it so he could rest it across her shoulders and lean on her if he had to. She hesitantly put her arm around his waist and got a grip on his belt, both to avoid coming in contact with his injured side but also to provide a hold in case his legs somehow did give out.
That idea seemed absurdly far-fetched because Hoyt was so physical and naturally strong, but if he was feeling poorly enough to sacrifice a little male pride to ask for assistance, then he must be feeling bad. He hadn’t nicked an artery, but maybe he was a little shocky. Could he have hit his head?
“You’re a puny little thing, you know that? How the hell do you do outside work?”
Eadie turned her head to briefly look at him before she faced forward to start him toward the door. He didn’t sound weak, just irritable. Looked it, too.
“Thanks for the compliment. I don’t have to be big to use smarts. Lean on me if you need to because it’s almost closing time at the doctor’s. You don’t want to pay for the emergency room,” she said as they walked out into the bedroom.
“You’re supposed to coddle me, not worry me about money,” he said, vexed.
“Sorry.”
“And it sounds like you don’t think I’m worth the extra fee.”
Eadie tried to be patient with that surprising hint of self-pity. It was out of character. “Money’s an automatic worry for me,” she said calmly. “I forget some folks don’t need to worry.”
“That’s right, it’s my money,” he said, then went on. “But how come you worry? Are you saying I don’t pay you enough?”
“It’ll be easier to coddle you if you stop talking.”
“I never noticed meanness in you before, Eadie Webb.”
She couldn’t help an ironic smile, since he couldn’t see it. “I’m not surprised.”
“Why aren’t you surprised?”
He was like a child who couldn’t stop asking questions. Eadie was patient with him because his relentlessness might be a cover for genuine pain. “You’ve got better things to do than make a study of me.”
“Do tell,” he said, and the way he drawled it the slightest bit made her smile again. “Maybe I ought to use my convalescence to make a study of you. What do you suppose I’d find out?”
Oh, Lord, what was this about? Her smile faded. It was about nothing, absolutely nothing. She’d do well to remember that.
“If you were studying me now,” she said, suddenly inspired, “you’d figure out that I’m beginning to doubt you need me to lean on.”
“You think I’m fakin’?”
“Yes, and I wish you wouldn’t. I’ve got a sink full of dishes and chores in a couple hours, so if you don’t really need me, I’d just as soon get home.”
“What if I paid you overtime?”
“I wouldn’t take pay for something like this.”
“Then I reckon I could do your dishes later.”
Eadie giggled over that. “Would I have any left that weren’t broken?”
“I’d buy you a new set. And a dishwasher, too.”
“I’ve got a dishwasher, but I can’t use the extra water. Please, let’s just get you to town.”
Eadie got him to the front door then had a brief argument about whether they’d take her little truck or his big new supercab pickup. She gave in for the sake of time and helped him into his truck before she rushed to the driver’s side and got in to start the engine and get the air conditioner going.
She turned to get out and dash to the house to call the doctor, but Hoyt vetoed it. “Miss Ed should already have done it, so let’s just go.”
So Hoyt had been putting her on, at least about wanting her to stitch him up instead of a doctor, since the call to the doctor had already been made. She closed the driver’s side door and adjusted the seat so her feet could reach the pedals before she put on her seat belt.
“Your legs are short.” Hoyt’s brusque observation made her smile a little as she put the big truck into gear.
“Thanks so much for all the fine compliments, boss. I’m puny, my legs are too short, I’m mean. And let’s don’t forget how ‘froze’ I am. Keep that up, and you might turn my head. Of course, that might be just before you got dumped along the highway someplace.”
“Huh. Those are not coddle words, Edith Regina Webb.”
“No, they aren’t,” she said and flicked a glance his way. “And you’ve sprung a leak. Better put that towel over it and apply some pressure.”
Eadie faced forward and pushed down on the accelerator to rocket down the long driveway to the highway. Once she got on the pavement, she settled back and tried to enjoy the novelty of driving a nearly new pickup with a powerful engine that all but flew them to Coulter City.
CHAPTER TWO
HOYT got right in at the doctor’s, since they’d arrived just before Doc Harris finished with his last patient of the day. Eadie was surprised when Hoyt asked if she was going in with him. He’d said he wanted her to go in to help him keep the doctor’s instructions straight, but Eadie was suspicious of that. She went along though, torn between the pleasure of being needed and the feeling that Hoyt was somehow toying with her. He seemed as hale and hearty as usual, so the fact that he wanted her to go in with him was odd.
No sense trying to figure this out, though. Eadie sat down on a chair out of the way and tried not to be conspicuous while the nurse took his vitals, noted them on his chart, then went out. Whatever reason Hoyt wanted her in here, it was sure to seem strange to the doctor.
And maybe suspect. After all, Hoyt was a known ladies’ man who’d had a parade of women through his life. Eadie was his lackluster, part-time secretary who not only worked three afternoons a week for him, but had now trailed into a doctor’s private examination room with him. Eadie felt no small embarrassment over how that might look to the doctor. Would he think she was imposing on Hoyt to get his attention? Eadie suddenly decided she was willing to risk Hoyt’s ire by leaving him alone in here.
And of course, the doctor came in just as she stood to go to the door and slip out. He eyed her like some unusual phenomenon.
“Well, hello to you, too, Eadie,” Doc Harris said as he peered at her over his half-glasses, his kind eyes lively with curiosity. “Is there some interesting development between you two?”
Eadie’s face went red-hot. “H-Hoyt…just wanted me to—to come in and get your instructions straight, but I don’t need to do that until you finish with him.”
The doctor looked at Hoyt. “Do you want her in or out while I have a look?”
“In.”
The terse little word was nothing less than an order, and the doctor grinned.
“She stays then. Let’s get that shirt off and see what we’ve got.” He spared a moment to send Eadie a glance. “Might as well have a seat, Eadie. Right over there’s fine.”
Eadie felt another tide of fierce heat wash into her face and hesitantly went back to the chair to sit down, but kept her gaze fixed on the floor as Hoyt took off his shirt. Doc Harris adjusted the table to an incline so Hoyt could sit back. She could tell the doctor was carefully pulling away the gauze patch. And then she heard it hit the nearby tray as he discarded it.
“Ah well, it’s just a nick,” the doctor scoffed. “I thought we had something serious here. Eadie could have fed you an aspirin and sewed you up in a flash. Or called the vet.”
Eadie’s gaze flew to the doctor’s grinning face, then realized he was making light of Hoyt’s injury as a tease. After all, the gash was almost four inches long, and it was oozing again. Eadie realized then that this was a typical joke between macho males. Doc Harris would have made the same remark if Hoyt had come in with his leg half cut off. And she could tell by Hoyt’s rugged profile that he was grinning almost proudly. Men!
The doctor went briskly out, leaving the door open. Eadie took a steadying breath, tried to stay where she was and not stare at Hoyt’s bare chest. Doc Harris came back fairly soon and his nurse trailed in after him with a stainless-steel tray that she exchanged for the one with the discarded bandage.
Doc dismissed his nurse, wishing her good-night, then took care of everything himself. All the while, the two men talked cattle and markets as if they were doing no more than chatting over coffee. Eadie was relieved that they both seemed to have forgotten she was in the room, but she was aggravated to be present for this.
What a ninny she’d been to allow Hoyt to put her in this position, and yet she couldn’t entirely blame him for that because a large part of her couldn’t help giving in to him. He’d truly wanted her in here, whatever his reason, and she couldn’t help thinking again about that time years ago when he’d come to her rescue.
The two situations weren’t even remotely alike, except that what he’d done for her in her time of trouble and need had automatically guaranteed that she’d never refuse to come to his aid during his time of trouble or need. She’d just never considered that his trouble or his time of need would be so relatively minor. She hoped they’d all be this minor.
In truth, being in here with Hoyt gave Eadie a strong taste of what it might be like to be entitled to be with him in things as small as going to the doctor. If she were a wife instead of an employee, she’d get to share a multitude of things like this, along with happier things.
And that was just more proof of the shameful fact that she was pathetic enough about Hoyt to grab for every crumb that fell to her, however much her pride squirmed and screamed at the indignity. On the other hand, depending on how things worked out with her little ranch in the next few months, her pride might have at least some hope of relief if she decided to sell out and move to Coulter City. She’d be doing that sooner rather than later if some unforeseen financial crisis popped up.
It took a moment for her to realize the doctor was waving his hand to get her attention.
“I thought you were supposed to listen to my instructions?”
Eadie cringed a little. “Sorry. I was thinking about something else. When was his last tetanus shot?”
The doctor’s smile widened. “Good question.” Then he winked at Hoyt. “Is she always that good at keeping track of you?”
“I’m just a weekly paycheck to her, Doc,” Hoyt complained, though his dark eyes glittered with amusement.
“I’ll look up the date, but I’ll call in a ’script to the pharmacy for an antibiotic and a painkiller.” He looked back over at Eadie. “He’ll need to take the antibiotic till it’s all gone, of course. Make sure he takes it with food. No booze with the painkiller. No driving. And keep him off machinery and horses while he takes that one. Stitches out in seven days.”
The doctor peeled off his latex gloves and discarded them, then washed his hands. He went out as Hoyt gingerly rose to a full sitting position. Eadie got up and retrieved his shirt to hand it to him.
“Help me with this, would you?” he said, and Eadie sorted out the sleeves and helped him put on his shirt, careful to accommodate him to keep his movements from pulling on the flesh around the stitches.
But, oh, the foolish and dismally unforgettable pleasure of helping Hoyt with a task as casually intimate as putting on his shirt! His hard body was so wholly masculine that her insides quivered like jelly. The fact that she couldn’t avoid having the backs of her fingers brush against his hot skin here and there was another pleasure/torment.
Hoyt at least buttoned his own shirt, but didn’t tuck it back in. “Do you mind running me to the pharmacy to pick up the medicine or do you have to get home?”
“We’ve got time for that,” she said as she belatedly forced herself to step back, feeling a little chastened for her earlier declaration that she had dishes and chores to do. She did have to do those things, but there was still plenty of time to keep to schedule, thanks to the doctor’s quick work.
He came back in then with a syringe and a small vial. “Eadie was right on the money about the tetanus shot. It’ll probably ache worse than the scratch on your side.” Now the doctor gave Eadie a sparkling glance over the top of his half-glasses. “You might want to step out for this one, since it’ll go in his hip.”
Eadie nodded, only too glad to comply. That would have been even more over the top and unnecessary than being present for all the rest. She took refuge in the waiting room until Hoyt came out. They walked to the pickup but there was no discernible sign of weakness in Hoyt at all. When they got to the pharmacy he went in by himself while she waited. It wasn’t long before he’d come back out with a small white bag and they were on their way back to Donovan Ranch.
“My thanks for your help, Eadie,” Hoyt said, and his mood seemed mellow and almost pleasant. She hadn’t seen him like this in weeks, and got the idea that coming with him to Coulter City might have helped do that.
It was a dangerous notion though, and close to lethal to think that she could have a mellowing effect on Hoyt. Yes, her calmness usually did have a strong effect on him, but he’d been particularly difficult lately, and she’d seemed to have lost the knack. When he’d come to the house this afternoon, he’d been even more impossibly cross and difficult than usual. Remembering that made her realize his good mood now might be solely because his bad mood had simply burned itself out.
They’d just got to the Donovan Ranch driveway and turned onto it when Hoyt broke the pleasant silence.
“Miss Ed’s probably gonna go home at her usual time tonight. Is there a chance you could come back after chores to set me up for the night?”
Shocked, Eadie glanced over to see the dead seriousness about him. And there was just the faintest impression that he was cradling his side but trying not to be obvious about it, as if, despite the truck’s cushy suspension, the light vibration from the graveled driveway made him uncomfortable but he was too macho to let on.
Eadie glanced back at the road ahead and gently slowed the big truck in hope of minimizing his discomfort. Now that it had been a while since he’d got the injury, it was probably making itself sharply felt. The local anesthetic had surely worn off, and his side had suffered not only the injury, but the trauma of being stitched.
Yes, he probably was genuinely hurting now. Eadie glanced at Hoyt a second time to see him silently watching her, his dark eyes unreadable as he waited for her to reply.
Her soft, “Of course I can,” made him give a grim nod so she faced forward again. There’d been no sign of teasing in his gaze this time, no hint that he was putting on.
Of course I can she’d said. Eadie suddenly knew then that she’d always do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted her to. Heaven help her, she’d probably be saying yes to Hoyt Donovan or Of course I can for the rest of her days.
She was like an old-time cowboy who swore allegiance to the brand he rode for, and lived it out come hell or high water until the day he died and was planted under the sod in the ranch cemetery. The dreary knowledge dragged her spirits low.
Before Eadie headed back to Donovan Ranch, she had a quick bite to eat, took a shower and washed her hair. She applied a bit of makeup before she dried her hair and put on a good pair of jeans and a yellow cotton shirt. Eadie would never wear either the yellow shirt or her single pair of designer jeans to work outside, and both were a nice change from what she wore every day of the week except Sunday and special occasions.
It wasn’t a big change from her regular jeans and work shirts, which she also wore to do paperwork at Hoyt’s, but it was something. And she’d gotten her shower out of the way because she wanted to be ready for bed when she got home. The only thing left to do was wash her face and go right to sleep. Morning came early at 4:00 a.m., and tomorrow would be a long day.
Tonight would be something out of the ordinary for a workday night, and Eadie felt too foolishly excited about going over to help Hoyt to be sensible about this. Though she was a hopeless case where he was concerned, she would at least be dressed a little nicer tonight and feel good about the way she looked while she was being an idiot.
Eadie knew she didn’t look bad. She was plain, but not unattractively so. Her blue eyes were standouts because of her light tan and her dark, shoulder-length hair. She had even features and a nice smile. In truth, she’d always been happy about the way she’d looked.
Until she’d fallen for Hoyt. Knowing about his taste for beauties had caused her to compare herself with some of the most spectacular women in Texas, so of course she’d come off looking as plain as an unpainted fence to herself as well as to Hoyt.
She hoped she at least had a nicer personality than some of Hoyt’s women. He’d always seemed to like her well enough. But then, he also liked his housekeeper, Miss Ed, so his liking wasn’t proof of anything in particular. Miss Ed was no beauty herself, but Hoyt hadn’t hired her to hang around his house looking beautiful.
Though the very sour Miss Ed was a good woman, she had anything but a Miss Vivacious-Never-Met-A-Stranger personality. Hoyt had hired her because she took care of his house the way he liked and she was a peerless cook, so she got along with him fine.
Eadie got along with him fine, too, despite his prickly moods. He seemed to enjoy talking to her, venting his complaints, getting her opinion, and he appreciated the way she handled the things he’d hired her to do for him. Beauty and sparkling wit were irrelevant, though Hoyt sometimes seemed at least charmed by her.
