Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set

by Elizabeth Bevarly

  “What?” Callie dished some egg casserole onto a plate and pushed it, and a fork, toward him. “Eat up. Reba actually made this. And what’s wrong?”

  Reba made it? When did that happen?

  Mercer turned to replace the carafe. “We’re almost out. Should I make another pot?” A chorus of yesses went up around the table. She fiddled with the filter and old grounds and then continued, “She’s single, you know, from what I understand. And man, she sure knows her way around a kitchen. Did you see what she did in here before she left yesterday?”

  Parker was still stuck on the first of Mercer’s words. She’s single, you know… Yes, somehow he needed to learn the rest of the Reba Morris story. What had happened between wedding and single? It was going to nag at him, and he really didn’t want it to. He brought the coffee to his lips and sipped. “So how come you know so much, Mercer.”

  She shrugged. “She’s new. People ask questions and talk.”

  Hmm. “You women…” He glanced off for a second, thinking, and then asked, “So what do they say about her?”

  Callie laughed. “I think big Brother has a crush on our new neighbor.”

  Parker shot her a look. “I’m thirty-five, Callie. I don’t have crushes.”

  “But you like her,” she replied.

  “She’s a very nice woman.” And that was not a lie. “You all have already acknowledged that.”

  Brody rose and chuckled, taking his cup with him, and headed for the counter where he waited for another cup of coffee.

  “What’s so funny, Brody?”

  He shrugged, grinning. “Nothing.”

  Parker glared.

  “You’re smitten.”

  “Smitten? What the hell kind of word is smitten?”

  Brody faced him and laughed aloud. “What would you rather I say, that you want to get into her panties?”

  Parker’s face heated up. Quickly he shot back with, “We’re not talking about getting into anyone’s panties here, Brody.”

  Hell, I want to get into her panties.

  Brody set his cup down and put his hands up in surrender. “No worries, big Brother, I’m just saying that I think you like her a bit.”

  “Enough.” Parker’s voice rose. “End of subject.” He waited a few seconds to clear the air and then added, “One of us might need to take her to the doctor since her truck is out of commission.” He glanced at his siblings.

  Brody nodded and leaned into the counter. “She’s lucky that truck didn’t roll a few more times. I went down there this morning. She could have been hurt a lot worse had it teetered off into that gully.”

  Parker figured as much. “I’ll take a look after I get some coffee in me.” He took another sip. Mercer was right. Still hot. “I guess I’ll call a wrecker sometime this morning.” Hell, one more thing.

  “I wonder where she wants to take it?”

  “I haven’t a clue. I suppose Reba should make that decision. Insurance and all. I’ll take care of it.” He looked to Brody then, expecting another snarky remark, but it didn’t come.

  “Let it sit,” Brody added. “It’s off the road and not in the way. But that glass needs to get cleaned up. I’ll have a couple of the boys get down there. Maybe fix a tarp over the windshield to keep the animals out. I know you’ve got other things on your plate today.”

  Parker looked to his stepbrother. Brody sure had changed the past few weeks. He’d been more help to him lately than he had ever been. “Thanks. That would be good.”

  “Mom wanted me to help her at the lodge today,” Mercer said. “I’m not sure what time I will be finished or I’d take Reba.”

  Callie looked to Parker. “I can do it. I don’t have anything going on.”

  “Great.” Thanks, little sister. He was trying to avoid taking her himself. He didn’t want to stir up the speculation about him liking her any further. “She was sleeping so I guess give her some time….”

  Parker mentally went over his schedule. What day was it, anyway? Saturday. “Ah hell, I have an appointment in town at ten.” He had spoken with his father’s attorney yesterday, and Tom had suggested the meeting. He hadn’t told Liz about it yet. “I almost forgot.”

  “Can it wait?” Mercer asked. “You’re dead tired.”

  No, it couldn’t. “Naw. Tom was insistent. No worries.” He gave her a smile.

  “Well, if you’re sure. I can call and reschedule.”

  “No, thanks.” He glanced at his watch. Nearly seven o’clock. “I might be able to catch a couple of hours’ sleep before I go.”

  Callie stood, scooting her chair back. “Good idea, Parker. Go crash. I’ll make sure you are up in enough time to get to your appointment. And I’ll check on Reba too.”

  Parker smiled and stood and then gave his little sister a hug. “You don’t have to tell me twice.” It sure was good to have her home again—permanently. He slammed back as much of the coffee as he could, knowing no amount of caffeine would keep him awake in a few minutes.

  ****

  At about twenty minutes until ten, Reba fluttered her eyes open and slowly perused her surroundings. The cuckoo clock hung on the opposite wall. The time had to be right because she’d worked for hours getting the thing set correctly a few days before. She didn’t know if the time was approaching ten o’clock in the morning or in the evening.

  Felt like someone had shrink-wrapped her brain.

  Her gaze traveled to the window, where the sun poked through filmy sheers. “Morning,” she said. Okay, so she was starting to get her bearings straight.

  Scooting toward the edge of the sofa, trying to kick the footstool under her feet down in the process, she spied the wooden chair across the room.

  Ah. Parker McKenna. Where might he be now?

  She called out his name. Silence.

  Pushing off the couch, she winced, sore from her ribs to her shoulders. A small pain shot through her left arm.

  Dammit. This was surely going to cramp her style for a few days. She needed her arm and her hand and her fingers.

  Dammit. Dammit.

  Her calendar. Where had she left it? What was on her agenda for today?

  The kitchen, of course. That’s where she kept everything. After all, her kitchen was her livelihood.

  She ambled through the door to her favorite room in the house and immediately started feeling better. She’d been happy to find when she’d arrived a few weeks earlier that the kitchen—even though this was a log cabin—was bright and airy. A very large bay window faced the back of her property and framed the mountains in the distance. She paused to glance about, pleased with her recent renovations. Her new stainless professional gas stove and oven was the biggest splurge, but she justified it as needing the proper tools to do her job.

  A job that she needed to get to this morning.

  Calendar. She spied it across the room sitting open on her desk and made her way toward it. But a paper on the kitchen table, fluttering slightly from the overhead ceiling fan, caught her attention. She reached for it.

  Reba,

  Had to get back to the ranch. Called my doc and shared your symptoms. Says you are likely fine but should check in with your doc ASAP. Let me know if you need help getting to Livingston.

  Parker

  He’d added his phone number by his signature. Well then, Mr. Parker McKenna. Thank you very much, but I’ll take it from here.

  That was a relief. It gave her some breathing space to figure out her next steps. It gave her some space from the hunky cowboy she had kissed.

  Gah! What got into her?

  There was no room in her life right now for a relationship. She’d just spent the larger part of the past three years caring for a dying man—a man she loved very much. Her husband. And she had no desire to spring forward so quickly into another man’s arms.

  She needed time. And healing. And the means to find herself in the aftermath of losing herself. This was her time, and she needed to be stingy with it.

 
Parker McKenna would be an infringement upon that promise she’d made to herself and to her husband on his deathbed.

  The promise to fulfill her dreams, whatever they may be.

  She never told Jack what those dreams were. She simply nodded and told him she would. After he passed and the details were worked out with the insurance company, she realized Jack had more than amply provided for her financially—and that reaching her dream of quitting her going-nowhere administrative assistant job of fifteen years was definitely a possibility.

  No, it was reality.

  So she had. And she’d bought the Crandall cabin and decided to kick-start her small business into a higher gear.

  Her dream. Her gift from Jack.

  Parker McKenna didn’t fit into this picture. Too much like a love triangle. Having Parker in her head, and maybe heart, would compete with Jack’s memory, which was very much still alive in her spirit.

  No. Not happening.

  At her desk, she carefully opened her laptop with her right hand and pulled her planner toward her. Focus on work, Reba.

  Just as she thought. A blog post was due up in forty-five minutes, a recipe to the Iron Pizza Chef Bake-off Competition was due by noon, and some edits still needed to be done on the Making Fondant the Fun Way tutorial to upload to her YouTube channel by tomorrow afternoon. And that was only today.

  No time for a doctor visit.

  She sat and placed her fingers on her keyboard to type in her password and winced. Her left forearm, wrist and fingers hurt like nobody’s business.

  She wanted to cry.

  ****

  Liz would kill him if she found out he was meeting with Tom Walker without her. He shouldn’t have mentioned the meeting to his siblings. Damn, he hoped neither of them mentioned it before he got back to the ranch.

  Technically, he and Liz were co-executors of his father’s will. And officially, any decisions and discussions with Tom should happen together. But Tom wanted to talk with Parker alone, and for what reason, Parker wasn’t certain.

  He drummed his fingers on his thigh while he waited in the attorney’s outer office.

  Tom kept Saturday morning hours because he could reach more clients who worked during the week. The receptionist, his wife Caroline, picked up her phone when it buzzed. “Yes?” She glanced to Parker and stood. “Tom will see you now. I think you know the way.”

  Parker rose, his hat in hand, and dipped his head in a nod. “Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

  Tom’s office was all big wood and masculine, with a desk so large that even Parker felt intimidated sitting across from it. If he didn’t know Tom Walker so well—a friend of his father’s since Parker was a kid—he might have been even more intimidated. The distance between them was like a chasm. He supposed that was a tactic of some sort. A lawyer thing, maybe.

  Or perhaps a Montana lawyer thing. Big sky, big desk, big attitude….

  Tom Walker was all of that and more.

  But he rose and rounded the desk as Parker entered, putting out his hand. “Hello, son. I sure do wish we were meeting under different circumstances.”

  Parker agreed. “Yes. Me too.”

  “Have a seat.” Tom motioned to the chair and then sat in his large, leather desk chair. “Hell, I’ll just get right to the point, Parker.”

  Parker leaned forward. “Before you do, Tom. Are you sure we shouldn’t have Liz here? I don’t want to do anything to rock the boat.”

  Tom shook his head. “No. We’ll talk with Liz soon. There is just one thing to discuss now. I know you are under a lot of pressure, and maybe this will help.”

  Parker’s gut clutched a bit. What Tom said sounded like good news but— “Go on, Tom.”

  “You know that all of you kids need to hang around for another week or so. Your dad wanted you together to work out any relationship issues that were going on.”

  “We do know that, and yes, I believe any issues between us have been resolved.”

  “What about any issues with Liz?”

  “Liz?” Shit. What was this about?

  “Yes. I know that Callie has always had a thing going on with Liz. How is that?”

  “Much better. They seem to be on the mend.”

  “Good.” Tom studied him for a moment.

  “What else, Tom?”

  He paused, glancing to the file on his desk. “How is your relationship with Liz, Parker? I know it’s always been decent but… Your dad wanted to make sure it was solid before he disclosed the contents of his will.”

  Parker’s back stiffened. “Solid? Liz and I have always gotten along. Lately we’ve had some disagreements about the dude ranch operation, and hell, yes, I’m a little worried that whatever Dad had in his will is going to affect my livelihood. The ranch. Our way of life. Liz and I don’t quite see eye to eye in that respect. She wants to expand the dude ranch operation, and I’m not interested in having any part of that. I run a working cattle ranch. I don’t need vacationers in my way. I’m worried she’s talked Dad into giving up some of the ranchland for her expansion ideas.”

  Tom stared at him and exhaled. “You need to resolve that soon. In your head. With her. However you do it, just do it. I want it resolved before we go over the contents of the will with the family on…” He looked down to his calendar and put his finger on a date. “Before June 17. That’s two full weeks from the date of your father’s death. It’s about a week and a half from now. I want you to think about how important it is for you and Liz to get along. It is what your father wanted.”

  Parker narrowed his gaze, and his heartbeat kicked up a notch. “That’s it? That’s what you wanted me to come in here for?”

  Tom nodded. “For now. I’m following your father’s wishes.” He leaned back in his chair and pushed the speakerphone button. “Caroline, can you find a time to meet with Parker and Liz McKenna on Friday? I’d say we’ll need about an hour.”

  Parker waited while Tom stayed on the line and Caroline came back with a reply. “You have a two o’clock open on Friday, Tom.”

  Tom glanced Parker’s way. “That work for you and Liz?”

  “I’ll check with her.”

  “Do that.”

  “Set it up for now, Caroline.”

  Parker stood. “I need to get back to the ranch.”

  Tom rose and put his hand out again. “I understand. Unless I hear from you or Liz, I’ll see you on Friday.”

  Parker shook his hand. “Yes, sir. See you then.”

  About forty-five minutes later, and closing in on the ranch, Parker contemplated what Tom Walker had told him. His brain spun over and around their brief conversation, and he attempted to rationalize and dissect every word. He figured it pretty much boiled down to his father wanted what he always wanted—for everyone to be happy and get along.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t want that too. He did. He just wanted to keep his ranch intact in the process.

  In his shirt pocket, his cell phone vibrated. Eyes on the road, he fished it out and swiped to see the message on the screen.

  It was a text from Callie. At Reba’s. Says she doesn’t need a dr. Looks like crap.

  Parker frowned and thumbed in the words: Convince her.

  Almost immediately, his phone binged again.

  Callie: Shit. Calling 911. Where are you?

  His foot hit the accelerator.

  Chapter Five

  People were fawning all over her again.

  This was not something she would ever be accustomed to. The last thing Reba remembered was standing in her kitchen talking to Callie, protesting a bit because the feisty young woman was practically insisting she take her to see a doctor, and feeling a little woozy in her tummy and light in her head. Wait. What had Callie said? That Parker had insisted she come and fetch her to take her to Livingston?

  Well, Parker McKenna was not the boss of her.

  But, oh, then this weird rushing sound flooded her ears, followed by the chatter of a thousand people. Sounded like. Thos
e two sensations rode over her with lightning speed and evidently, must have taken her to the floor in seconds.

  As she woke, someone called her name. From afar. Way far. Like she was in a tunnel or a well. Or maybe China.

  Groggy and confused, she focused on the face in front of her.

  “Reba? Oh my God. You had me so scared!”

  A girl. Woman. Brown hair.

  “Wha—?”

  “It’s Callie, Reba. You passed out. I’ve called— Oh! Here comes help!”

  There was some commotion behind Callie. Door slamming. Footsteps. Voice. Voices again?

  “In here!” Callie yelled.

  Reba tried to sit up. The rushing came back. “Ooooh.”

  “Reba! Oh hell! She’s down again.”

  Reba heard those words, but they sounded like slow-motion talk, and try as she might, she couldn’t control her body as she slumped back to the floor. She did register big arms scooping her up and carrying her. Big. Strong. Arms.

  Carrying her.

  Talking to her.

  Smooth. Raw. Sexy. Voice.

  Deep voice.

  Yes. Nice. Saying things. She didn’t know what. Didn’t care what. Big, strong arms were a good thing.

  Reba drifted and snuggled into his warmth.

  ****

  Parker leapt from his truck, crossed Reba’s porch in two steps, and barreled through her front door. He started barking instructions on his way in.

  One look at Reba curled up on the floor alongside a kneeling Callie made his heart jump. “Call Mike Attaway,” he shouted to his sister. “Tell him I’m on the way to the hospital.”

  Crouching beside her, he slipped his arms around Reba’s back and cradled her against his chest. “I’m getting you some help, dammit, whether you want it or not.” He fussed at her, hoping she couldn’t hear him. Hell, he didn’t care if she could hear him.

  “I’m coming with you,” Callie said.

  “Fine. Good.” He’d probably need the help. He headed for the door, then stopped short and glanced about. “Find Reba’s purse. She might need her driver’s license, insurance cards… Hell, I don’t know, a woman always needs her purse.”