“Of course he will.” Gertrude made a face. “Wait’ll the morphine wears off and we try to get him up to see if he can manage crutches. The tougher these cowboys are, the harder they go down. You’d better keep in touch.”
“I’m not deaf,” Rio exclaimed, gray eyes thunderous. “And I don’t think I said for sure I wouldn’t need help, only that I didn’t want it. Dr. Layton or the resident said they’d be back to check me this evening. Earlier I wasn’t thinking straight. Now I have some definite questions for the doctor as to my prognosis. So, Binney...er, Nurse Taylor, keep in touch, okay?”
She felt a childish urge to stick her tongue out at him. Instead she inclined her head, and murmured to Gertrude, “The hospital has my phone number and ER schedule.” With that, she spun away, dumping everything in the trash receptacle situated right outside his room.
“It doesn’t sound as if you made a very good impression,” Gertrude chided, marching to Rio’s bedside.
He scowled all the way through her taking and logging in his vital signs. He practically growled when she pulled a syringe from the deep pocket of her uniform. “No more shots for pain.”
“Dr. Layton ordered a shot every three hours through tomorrow. Then he’ll reevaluate.”
“The stuff you give me knocks me out cold.”
She grinned. “That’s the point. Sleep facilitates healing. Come on. Don’t make me call in an orderly to hold you down.”
Rio noticed pain had begun to seep back. “Is there a reason I need to sleep sitting up?”
“You had a collapsed lung. You don’t want it deflating. I expect if all sounds good later, your surgeon will give us leeway to adjust the head of your bed. Between a tightly taped clavicle, a neck brace and recovering from a pneumothorax, sleeping reclined for the time being is preferable. Has anyone suggested you order a hospital bed to use at home?”
“Yes.” His scowl deepened.
“So is that what you and Binney were fussing at each other about?”
“Were we fussing?” Rio didn’t care to tell a friend of Nurse Taylor’s that his irritation at the younger nurse centered on the fact she’d all but admitted to lusting after Ryder. Not that he wasn’t used to women flocking around his more flamboyant twin, like bees buzzing over a flowerpot. He wondered when it had started bothering him so much. Possibly when he heard admiration for his twin falling from the kissable lips of the attractive blonde nurse with the striking green eyes. Those eyes were memorable, and yet he couldn’t place her. Damn!
Since his head had cleared a little, he searched his memory bank back to high school. It annoyed Rio that he continued to draw a blank when it came to Binney Taylor. He could phone Ryder on the PBR circuit and run her name by him. Given their last falling out, he quashed that thought. JJ was a bit older, but he might remember Binney Taylor. Or his fiancée, Rhonda, who’d also attended their high school.
Why did any of this matter? Why waste time worrying about the past when he didn’t even want to hire a private duty nurse?
In spite of telling himself that, Rio was beset by a longing to see her again. As he tried to sort through why that was, Nurse Murphy popped him with the needle she brandished, and in seconds Rio slipped out of the real world again.
Copyright © 2017 by Rosaline Fox
ISBN-13: 9781488010781
The Rancher’s Surprise Baby
Copyright © 2017 by Trish Milburn
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