“What are you doing here?” he repeated.
“I was worried about you. I wanted to be certain you were okay.”
“How’d you find out I’d been hurt?”
“I told her,” Kitty said firmly. “I thought she should know.”
Travis muttered something and closed his eyes. Whatever he’d said beneath his breath Megan knew wasn’t particularly complimentary. When he looked at her again, he was still frowning. “I’m sorry Kitty called you. I’m okay. Just banged up a little. You shouldn’t be here.”
Megan felt as though he had slapped her. “I was worried—” she began but he cut her off.
“I’m fine. Really. This is nothing. You should get back home. If I need anything, Kitty’s here.”
Megan couldn’t look at the other woman standing there so quietly. She kept her eyes wide, determined not to let him see the tears she was fighting.
“If that’s what you want,” she finally said around the lump in her throat. Afraid that she would betray her feelings at any moment, she spun around and walked out of the room.
After a long silence, Kitty finally said, “You can really be an ass, sometimes, you know that?”
Travis’s head was hurting like hell and he didn’t need anybody giving him a bad time. He felt as though every muscle in his body was screaming at him. His chest hurt with every breath he took.
“She wasn’t supposed to know about any problems I have on the road. I’ve told you that. She doesn’t know anything about the risks. I wanted to keep it that way, damn it!”
“Oh? And if you’d broken your fool neck, I suppose I wasn’t supposed to let her know about that, either?”
He tried to shift in the bed and let out a groan before he could control it. “I’m not hurt that bad and you know it.”
“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t know it. What I know is that you’re one stubborn, idiotic cuss of a man who’s too afraid of losing his macho image to thank his wife for dropping everything to fly here to see about him.”
“I don’t want her worrying about me.”
“Oh, that’s a good one. Of course now she won’t be worrying about you at all. She’ll be too busy filing divorce papers to give you much of a thought.”
He groaned. “You think I was too rough on her?”
“Try cruel. Whether you know it or not, you had all of us, doctors included, worried about you. You’ve been lying there unconscious for almost thirty-six hours. That’s enough to shake anyone. It was stupid of me to think that a blow might have knocked some sense into your head, of course. I’ve watched you trying to kill yourself for the last several months, pushing all the limits with every event. I should be used to it by now.”
“You know why, Kitty. I told you. I need all the prize money I can get. I’m trying to help Megan get her ranch financially back on its feet.”
“Does she have any idea the kind of risks you’re taking in order to make the money to help her?”
“Of course not. She doesn’t need to know. Besides, I’m also saving to buy some horses. Once I’ve got enough money to invest into some good breeding stock I won’t have to stay on the circuit like this.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you walked off—or should I say you were carried off—with the prize money here as well. Your scores beat out the other contenders. I picked up the check for you, which is why I’ve been hanging around, waiting to give it to you.”
He touched her hand in a light pat. “You’re a good friend, Kitty. You always have been.”
She sighed. “Not good enough, it seems. I can’t seem to stop you from ruining the relationship you’ve been talking about wanting so badly for years.”
He tried to smile and winced. The entire side of his face was swollen and sore. “Maybe you should go find her for me so I can explain. I guess you’re right. I didn’t want her insisting on my quitting right now and I knew she would if she knew about some of my injuries.”
Without another word Kitty hurried out of the room and down the hallway, looking for Megan. It was too late. Megan was gone.
After carefully checking the hospital corridors and lobby she returned to the room. “You’re in worse trouble than we thought, Travis. She took you at your word. She’s nowhere to be found.”
Travis felt as though a herd of buffalo was trampling his skull. “Damn. I’ve got to talk to her and explain.” He was having trouble concentrating. He closed his eyes, saying, “I’ll give her time to cool down, then I’ll call her. I’ve got ten days before the next rodeo. I’d planned to go home but maybe I’ll wait until—”
“You’re not doing anything with a cast on your foot.”
He glanced down at his encased foot. “I’ve cut those damn things off before. As long as I don’t put my full weight on it, I’ll do all right.”
“You’re crazy, Travis. I’ve always known that. All you rodeo characters are.”
“You should know, honey, you’re one of us.”
She shook her head. “Only because I don’t know any other kind of life.” She studied him for a long moment. “You want me to stay so I can drive your rig to Wyoming for you when you’re ready to leave?”
“Where’s your rig?”
“I had one of the guys drive it over to Boise for me. He’s got a spread near there. I didn’t know how long you’d be laid up, and I didn’t want Blaze left unattended. Roy’ll look after her until I can get there to pick her up.”
“Thanks for the offer. I’ll keep it in mind.” He closed his eyes once again. “Give me some time to get over this granddaddy of all hangovers. Maybe, then, I’ll be able to think better. Megan’s going to be furious with me. She’s got a temper that won’t quit.”
“You’ll deserve anything she cares to dish out, cowboy. You need your butt kicked.”
“Yeah, well, it won’t be the first time I’ve been on her list of undesirables.” His grin was halfhearted at best. “At least we’re married now. Thank God. I’ll make it up to her when I’m feeling better.”
Twelve
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Megan recognized the voice coming from below. She hadn’t expected him to be home this soon. She wasn’t prepared to see him. Not yet. Not now. Refusing to look down from her perch on top of the water tower, Megan concentrated on tightening the fitting of the replacement pipe she’d just installed to stop a leak.
“Megan O’Brien Kane! Get down from there before you break your fool neck.”
Once the fitting was tightened enough to suit her, she threw her leg over the side of the supporting structure and began to lower herself down the ladder. She was not coming down because she’d been ordered to do so…she was coming down because she had completed what she’d set out to do.
Megan didn’t take orders from anybody, most especially not from Travis Kane.
Travis’s hands grabbed her around the waist before her feet reached the ground and he swung her around, causing her to clutch his shoulders for balance.
She hadn’t seen him in weeks, not since she’d walked—correction, been ordered—out of his hospital room. She hadn’t spoken to him since then, either. Not that he hadn’t called, but she had always made certain that someone else answered the phone and told him she was unavailable. She’d had nothing to say to him.
She still didn’t.
He looked thinner, which wasn’t surprising. It was obvious that he hadn’t been taking care of himself, which certainly wasn’t her problem. He’d made that very clear.
“What are you trying to do, kill yourself?” he demanded.
She lifted her eyebrows as she met his gaze. “And if I am, what business is it of yours?” she asked, stepping back from him and walking over to Daisy.
“Why didn’t you have one of the men do that?”
She paused without turning around, gathered the reins into one hand and stepped into the saddle before answering him. “I let them go.”
Travis’s jaw
dropped at her calm announcement. “You did what? What are you talking about?”
She turned Daisy’s head. “We can talk about it at the house,” she said, leaning forward and signaling Daisy into an easy canter.
Travis lifted his hat and wearily resettled it on his head. Yep, he had really done it this time. He couldn’t believe . she’d stayed.so angry this long for something he said when he was half out of his mind with pain and a blasted concussion. Hell, he didn’t even remember what he’d said to her. The first few days after he’d regained consciousness had been a blur to him. Of course Kitty had been more than willing to repeat everything to him on more than one occasion when he’d been upset because Megan wouldn’t take any of his calls.
All right. So he’d messed up. Hell, he was only human. Nobody was perfect, after all. Why couldn’t she understand that she was the very last person he had expected to see when he woke up in that blasted hospital? Now she wouldn’t give him a chance to explain.
No, wait. Hadn’t she said she would discuss it at the house? He’d been so focused on finding her when he first arrived at the ranch that he’d done no more than make sure she wasn’t around the house before getting directions from Butch as to possible whereabouts. He’d quickly unloaded his horse and come looking her…for all the good it had done him.
He looked up at the water tower. Damn fool woman had no business clambering around up there. Didn’t have a lick of sense. And what had she meant by laying off the help he’d hired? She couldn’t take care of things on her own. Hadn’t she already learned that?
Travis made no effort to catch up with her. Instead he just followed the trail she’d taken. Man oh man, but he was tired. He’d driven long, lonely hours for several days in order to get back home.
God, he’d missed talking to her, seeing her. This was the longest he’d.been gone since they were married. But his injury had set him back and he’d needed to make up for his hospital expenses and his missing some of the other rodeos he’d intended to enter before he’d gotten hurt. His ribs had been slow in knitting, his head had.felt as if it was going to topple off his shoulders for weeks afterward and his ankle still bothered him.
Now he was, through with the rodeo for the season. He had enough money to start adding to his stock. Who knew? He might decide not to follow the circuit next year. His ankle was still acting up on him. Besides, he was tired of all the traveling.
He missed Megan, he missed waking up with her curled up in his arms every morning, missed falling asleep with her beside him at night.
The problem was he had to get her to understand that he hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings when she’d flown to Oregon to check on him. When he’d recovered from his injuries, he’d been touched that she’d cared enough to come…touched and encouraged. He just couldn’t get her to take his phone calls so he could tell her so. He needed to explain if she would just get off her high horse and listen.
He rode into the ranch yard and nudged his horse into the barn. Spotting Daisy in her stall, he knew that Megan had already been there and gone on to the house. After unsaddling his mount and making sure he had his feed, Travis headed toward the house.
“Hi, Travis,” Maribeth sang out cheerfully as he neared the porch. “How come you’re limping?”
“My ankle’s still a little sore,” he said, negotiating the stairs with care. “Did Megan go inside?”
“Yep,” she replied without moving from her position curled up on the porch swing. “She wasn’t in the best of moods. Does she know you’re home?”
“Uh-huh, which is probably the reason she isn’t in the best of moods. I’m not her favorite person at the moment.”
Maribeth grinned. “Yep, guess that’s true enough. She acts like she never heard of you whenever I mention your name.”
He shook his head with disgust and went inside. There was no one in the kitchen. He stuck his head back out the door. “Where’s Doris?”
“Oh, Megan let her go. Said we didn’t need a housekeeper. She insists she and I can keep up with everything.”
“The cooking, too?”
Maribeth laughed. “Yeah. We eat a lot of frozen stuff these days, but I’m getting a little better at cooking. I really miss Mollie, though. She actually liked doing all that stuff. Can you imagine?”
Travis went upstairs to the room he and Megan had shared for the past six months. When he walked inside he immediately noticed that none of her belongings were on the dresser. He opened the closet door and found his things hanging alone. Not a good sign.
He went into the bathroom and stripped out of his clothes. If he was going to see Megan, he wanted to be refreshed as much as possible. He obviously had some serious fence-mending to do where she was concerned. He just wished he wasn’t so tired. He felt as though he could sleep for a week.
By the time he returned downstairs, a meal of sorts was waiting on the table. Maribeth was filling the glasses with iced tea. There were two places set.
“Who isn’t eating?” he asked, pulling out one of the chairs.
“Megan told me not to set her a place. She’s working in the office this evening and took her dinner in there.”
Travis knew it would be rude of him to join Megan and leave Maribeth to eat in the kitchen alone, particularly when he was fairly certain it was his arrival home that had sent Megan into the other room. He did his best to be polite and visit with Maribeth during the meal. As soon as they were finished, however, he excused himself as politely as possible and went to find Megan. It was time to deal with the situation, make his apologies and put all this behind them.
The office door was closed. Travis tapped lightly and waited.
“Come in.”
He opened the door and spotted Megan working behind the desk. It didn’t look as though she’d had more than a couple of bites of her meal.
“Megan, we need to talk,” he began quietly.
She glanced up briefly, then tore a check out of the register. “Yes, we do.” She watched him sit down across from her. “I managed to sell off most of my beef. Got a fairly decent price, I’m pleased to say.” She handed him a check. “Here’s the money I borrowed from you. I added the current interest percentage. I think that makes us even now.”
He barely glanced at the check. “Megan, I owe you an apology and an explanation for the way I behaved in Oregon. I—”
“Not at all,” she smoothly interposed. “You were right. I had no business going up there. What you do and who you do it with is.none of my concern.”
“Who I do it—? What are you talking about?”
“I’ve spoken to an attorney, explained our verbal agreement and that we are now ready to dissolve the partnership. He said-”
Travis came out of his chair in a lunge. “ What? Now wait a minute! We aren’t going to—I mean, you can’t just—Megan? What are you doing?”
“Playing by your rules, Travis, just like always. I’m sorry if I misunderstood them for a while. You’ve been very kind, loaning me the money and all. Now that it’s paid back I really think it would be better if you move out as soon as possible. I’ve already moved my things out of your room. I suppose you have to make some kind of explanation to your folks and will need a place to stay for a few days, but I really think the sooner you move, the more comfortable the situation will be for both of us.”
He stared at her in disbelief. “Damn it, Megan, will you just listen to me for a minute?”
She folded her hands on the desk in front of her and looked at him. “All right…I’m listening.”
“I was still groggy when you showed up at the hospital. I had no idea Kitty had called you. It was a shock—”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that in the least.”
“I realized only minutes after you left that I’d given you the wrong impression. Kitty went after you but she was too late. I didn’t mean to sound so—so—”
“It doesn’t matter. None of that matters now.”
“It sure as hell does to
me. You’re kicking me out of here just like you got rid of the ranch hands and Doris. Hell, I’ve never been fired from being a husband before. You’re not even giving me a chance to explain.”
“Explain what, Travis? That your life is the rodeo? I know that. That Kitty understands your life much better than I ever will? I understand that, too. That on your few visits home you enjoyed playing house with me? Yeah, I finally figured that one out as well. I was very naive to believe that story you told about loving me all those years, but I don’t guess I blame you for laying it on a little thick. The thing is, you didn’t have to say all of that to me. You never forced me into doing anything I didn’t want to do. I just didn’t realize that you had someone on the road, that’s all. You taught me a lot, Travis, and I—”
“You don’t know a damn thing about what you’re talking about. I don’t have anybody on the road. There’s nobody in my life but you!”
“Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you aren’t involved with Kitty?”
“Kitty? Is that what this is all about? You think there’s something between us? Well, you’re dead wrong! Yeah, we’ve been friends for years. She’s been like a sister to me. I’ve kept an eye out for her, let guys know that if they tried anything with her, they had to answer to me, but. that’s it. There’s been nothing romantic between us.”
“I see.”
He eyed her uncertainly. “You believe me?”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. I’m going to be able to make it now, thanks to your loan. I’ve ordered a herd of angora goats as well as several head of sheep to be delivered next week. I can’t afford the extra help your money provided, which is why I let everyone go, but Butch is here. Between the two of us we can—”
“So you want to call the marriage off, is that it?” he asked in a low voice. “Just like that?”
“Yes, I believe that’s the only thing to do.”
“Why?”
“Because our life-styles just don’t mix, Travis. I honestly thought when we talked about this, that you following the rodeo circuit wouldn’t bother me, but that’s before I saw you lying there unconscious, all battered and bruised, and I understood why you mentioned that others had tried to get you not to do such dangerous work. As long as I closed my mind and imagination to the danger, I was able to handle it, but no longer. It isn’t fair to either one of us. You have your life-style and I have mine. They just don’t have anything in common.”
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