by Tina Leonard
He helped himself from the truck. “Because I know that when Doc gets me bandaged up, I’m going to be sleeping at Mimi’s house. And that makes me think about sex.”
Mimi wasn’t thinking about sex. In fact, she was going to put Mason to bed and tell him not to even so much as roll over! He’d frightened her, more than she cared to admit. It had been all she could do to act like a sheriff’s daughter and not scream when she saw him lying on the ground.
Cool, calm, collected.
She was barely holding herself together.
AS MIMI DROVE, Mason decided his face hurt like hell and his pride was pretty damaged, too. How could he have let those two-bit hoods jump him? He should have learned something in police training, but clearly, he hadn’t been thinking about two-by-fours. Wanting more experience, he had gone into the city and taken some squad car rides and some courses that were beneficial to being a sheriff. And then got laid low by petty creeps. He was lucky he had all his teeth.
He was also lucky that Mimi wasn’t the squeamish type. His shirt was pretty red with blood, though one of the ladies had handed him a cloth to press against his wound.
She banged on Doc’s door. “Hang on and let’s see what Doc has to say.”
“But then I want to talk seriously to you, Mimi,” Mason said, trying to make his voice stern and failing miserably. Doc let them in, sending Mason right to a couch so he could look at him under the light of his reading lamp.
“You really need to take a run down to the hospital,” Doc said.
“I don’t wanna.” Mason closed his eyes, feeling very tired all of a sudden. “You’ve stitched us Jeffersons under more exciting circumstances.”
Doc sighed. “All right. Thing is, I think you should be scanned for a concussion.”
“What good would it do?” Mason asked, hearing Mimi groan. “I’m not trying to be stubborn. If I have a concussion, it’s not like there’s anything they can do about it. I’ll just rest at home.”
“I know you won’t rest,” Doc said.
“I’ll make him rest,” Mimi said, and Mason perked right up.
“I can stay at your house and let you be my nurse?”
“Hold still,” Doc said. “Unless you’d prefer I sew up your lips instead of this gash.”
Mason sighed. He felt Mimi move restlessly beside him and wondered if she was getting light-headed from seeing blood and stitches. Actually, he was starting to get light-headed himself. “Make me look good for my girls, Doc,” he said.
“Is he all right?” Mimi asked.
“Yeah,” Doc said, snipping a stitch off. “He’s an ornery ol’ rascal, but he’ll be fine. Some love and attention ought to be as good on his soul as a stay in the hospital. And I’m pretty certain he prefers you and Nanette to any nurse they have over there, although they’re all very competent.”
Mimi looked at Mason’s poor bleeding face and swollen mouth. A shiver ran over her. What if her dad hadn’t sent her out? What if those thugs had done worse?
“Mason,” she said, when Doc went to get some antiseptic. “Mason, I’ll marry you now.”
His hand shot out and grabbed hers. “The Curse of the Broken Body Parts strikes again. I’ll hold you to that promise, after I date you for a suitable amount of time, of course, so you will have something to look back on fondly.”
Mimi jerked her hand back, surprised. “I thought you didn’t believe in the Curse.”
“I didn’t. Now I do.” He gave her a gimlet eye. “Since it’s happened, I’m going with it. When are you marrying me?”
Mimi blinked. “You’ll need some time to recover—”
“No. I won’t. I’m tough. And you’re not getting any younger, so we better start working on that family.”
“Mason!” Mimi glanced at Doc, slightly annoyed by the teasing.
“In that little toy box the Union Junction girls have, can they dig out a nurse’s uniform? I’d really like to see you in one of those. It’s always been a—”
“Mason,” Mimi said, “you may be bordering on delirium. Please go back to sleep.”
“Think I will.”
Doc laughed. “Who would have thought Mason Jefferson had such a wild—oh. Sorry, Mimi,” Doc said, his eyes twinkling. “My patients usually aren’t so loquacious.”
“Mason’s been surprising me these days, too.” Mimi wondered if Mason would remember her offer to marry him. He was being such a rascal she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to remember!
“You’re just the right medicine for him, Mimi. There, all done.”
He put away his equipment, and Mimi looked at Mason with some puzzlement. “Mason, Doc says you’re fine to go home.”
“Good.” Mason slowly moved his legs over the side of the sofa and stood, letting Mimi support him. “I feel just a wee bit woozy, like I’ve had one too many beers.”
“Do you want me to drive you out to the ranch? Your family is all there, and I know you don’t want to miss seeing them.”
“Nope. I want peace and quiet and I won’t get it there. Your bed is fine.”
Mimi blushed as she saw a tiny smile flit across Doc’s face. “Thank you, Doc, for seeing us at this hour.”
“You just keep that reprobate still, Mimi. It’s going to take your finest nursing skills to keep him in his place.”
“Good night, Doc.” She helped Mason toward his truck, glad when he regained his own firm footing. After they got in, she drove toward her town house. “What are we going to tell Nanette?”
“That things happen for a reason, and Mommy should have married me in the first place.”
Mimi frowned. “That’s not what I meant, nor is it true.”
“But now that you’ve hurt me, I think it’s a sign we should get on with the show.”
“Mason, I did not hurt you,” Mimi said hotly. “You walked into someone’s two-by-four. I wasn’t even around!”
“I’m falling in love with you,” Mason said. “It’s the Curse.”
“Oh, goodness,” Mimi said. “I can’t tell if you’re being weird because you are or because of the shots Doc gave you.”
“Mimi,” Mason said, his voice serious suddenly, “I have a bone to pick with you.”
“You always do. Pick away.”
“What were you thinking going up to those thugs and chatting with them like you were Miss Union Junction?”
“I was looking for you.”
“Don’t do that again,” Mason said. “Only one of us is sheriff, and I wear the badge.”
Chapter Fifteen
Mason saw Mimi’s back go tight and knew she was about to let him have it. She’d yowl about him being a chauvinist, and that would be good, because it would keep his mind off the pain.
Not the pain in his face, which hurt, but the pain of seeing his girl get snippy with two no-goods. For the first time in his life, he’d been frozen, unable to do anything, his body pretty much defying even the will to stand up.
Later, when he was more rational, he would make sure she’d never do that again. Right now, it was enough to give her a small tongue-lashing. Closing his eyes, he listened to her heap abuse on him for his smart remark.
What had he gotten himself into? Mimi was always going to be a sheriff’s daughter. She would never think anything of going right at any problem, and since she’d thought Mason needed saving, there she’d gone.
His lips pursed. “I do not want you saving me ever again, Mimi Cannady.”
She gasped. “That’s a strange thank-you.”
“From now on, I want you to stay home with Nanette.” There at least he would know she was safe, with their daughter, and not into mischief. “If you think there’s a problem, you can send my brothers.”
But next time there won’t be a problem because I won’t have my mind so wrapped up in Miss Independence.
As soon as he thought that, he realized he was kidding himself. If he married her—when he married her—she was going to keep his brain running in dizzy circles.
It was who Mimi was and why he couldn’t get enough of her, but God, she made him kooky.
“You know, your dad would have wanted your mother to stay home,” he began, and as soon as he said that, he knew he’d struck a wound far deeper than the ones he’d just suffered.
Silence met his words.
Mason winced, kicking himself. “Mimi, I’m sorry. I…wasn’t thinking about what I was saying, I swear.”
She didn’t say anything. Once she stopped the truck at her town house, she got out, made sure he could stand upright, then opened the front door.
Sheriff Cannady cursed when he saw Mason’s face. “Looks like you got the wrong end of a baseball bat, son, not that there’s a right end.”
“Something like that,” Mason said, desperately needing a bed and wishing the pain meds would wear off so he could think more clearly.
“Mason, I’m making up the guest bedroom for you,” Mimi said, her tone stony. “And remember, Doc doesn’t want you moving for forty-eight hours because of your concussion.”
“Concussion?” Mimi’s dad asked. “You’re going to have a hell of a headache most likely. For a few days at least.”
“I already do,” Mason said, treading up the stairs. He had a helluva heartache, too, but he didn’t know if forty-eight hours of rest was the proper course of action for that or not.
“HE’S SO PIGHEADED, Dad,” Mimi said, putting away the cups after she and her father had late-night tea. Tea never kept her awake, but tonight she’d probably stay awake, caffeine or not. “He was upset with me for going after him.”
“Well,” her father said, “that’s probably my fault. I felt it was best for you to go, since I didn’t feel anything was really wrong—I just wanted to ease my worries. I didn’t want to look like ol’ nosy Pop going to check up on his daughter’s beau.”
Mimi smiled. “I don’t think Mason would have thought that, but at the same time, I was worried, too. I wanted to know where he was.” But Mason wasn’t going to see it any way but his, of course.
That was something she needed to accept about loving him the way she did: he was contrary, and he wanted everything to fit his views. “Unfortunately,” she told her dad, “he heard me confront the bad guys. It’s really set him off.”
Her father nodded. “Think maybe you shouldn’t have.”
“I was…worried. They didn’t look like they were up to any good. Still, I couldn’t be certain. We don’t usually have anything but the odd mischief-maker come through Union Junction.”
“Mimi, my girl, you know it didn’t make two bits of difference once you got it in your head to take matters into your own hands. If Mason’s gonna be the sheriff, you’re gonna have to let him be a man, honey.”
Mimi blinked. “Ugh, I don’t like anything about the sound of that.”
Her father laughed. “I imagine you don’t.”
“Maybe he’ll forget.”
“I don’t know.” Her father snapped a cookie in half. “The thing about the male of the species is that he’s very possessive about what belongs to him. No man wants his woman to be in danger.”
“Belongs to him? Woman? Dad, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk like this,” Mimi said with a teasing smile.
He shrugged. “It’s hard to remember the feeling, but I know I had it once.”
“Oh, Dad.” Mimi’s smile faded.
“I made my peace with things over the years. I have to be honest, though, I admire Mason’s determination to make certain his family stays together. It takes two to feel that way, you know. Commitment.” He sighed. “Not so many people understand that word anymore.”
“Maybe what I think is stubbornness on Mason’s part is really commitment,” Mimi murmured.
Her dad stood. “Well, I enjoyed the tea and cookies, daughter.” Leaning down, he kissed her forehead. “You’re a good girl, Mimi. You’ll make the right decisions for everyone concerned.”
“I love you, Daddy. Good night.”
Mimi watched her father head up the stairs. For the first time, she felt some comfort about the situation with Mason. She’d been the driver in their relationship for so long that she hadn’t given him much credit for his driving skills—nor a chance to assert them.
When the revelation came, it left Mimi breathless. She had always wanted control because she was afraid. Abandonment by her mother had made her want to take care of everything in her environment. Rescue it. Make it happy. Whatever it was—fill in the blank—she took charge.
And because of his father, Mason was the same.
“Which means we’re going to butt heads every day of our lives, just like he did with his brothers,” Mimi murmured. Neither of them trusted enough to let go and relax.
Her father was right, even if he’d couched it in unpalatable terms. If she loved Mason, if she wanted to spend her life with him, she had to realize that just as she’d sent him off to read his father’s journal, in case there was some hidden booby trap that would affect their relationship, she needed to be doing some housekeeping in her own life.
She felt as though a boulder had lifted off her spirit.
It was okay to be fragile. Okay to be weepy, scared and cranky. It was even okay to allow Mason to make some decisions. He could be the leader sometimes, and she could follow. In an adult relationship there was give and take, compromise. It didn’t matter who the leader was. As long as their hearts cared more about togetherness.
MASON AWAKENED to find a fully dressed Mimi tucked next to him, burrowed against his back. He started to grin, then realized that hurt. But the smile was inside him.
His smile grew steadier when he realized that what had awakened him was a sweet little angel staring down at him. “What is it, honey?” he asked Nanette. “Can’t you sleep?”
“You didn’t read me a bedtime story,” she whispered, so she wouldn’t awaken her mother.
“I was on my way here,” he said, tucking her into bed next to him, right up under his chin. With Mimi’s arm over his waist and his daughter’s sweet-smelling hair under his chin, surely he was the happiest man on earth. “I’ll read you two tomorrow night. You go to sleep now.”
“’Kay.”
He kissed the top of her head, allowing his eyes to drift shut again.
“Why is Mommy sleeping in here?”
“Because I bumped my head and the doctor said I have a bad headache. So she’s keeping an eye on me, like she does for you when you’re sick.”
“Oh,” Nanette said. “How did you bump your head?”
“I wasn’t paying attention,” he said with a sigh. “But I’m not going to do that anymore.”
Nanette giggled. “You might.”
“I don’t think so. It hurt.”
Mostly what had hurt was watching Mimi bossing around a couple of bad guys.
“I love you, Daddy,” Nanette said, her voice already sounding sleepy again.
“I love you, too, sweetie,” he said, his own eyes closing.
He was very grateful Mimi had made him a father, and that alone was enough to make him forgive her just about anything.
MANY HOURS LATER, when the sunlight was streaming into the room, he felt Mimi try to pull away and leave the bed. He held her arm tight so she couldn’t. Rolling over to face her, he said, “Good morning,” and kissed her forehead.
“Good morning. You’re uglier than last night,” Mimi said, gently touching his forehead. “Can I get you anything?”
“No. Just you.” He pulled her tightly against him.
She giggled. “Mason, why is Nanette sleeping in here?”
“She wondered the same thing about you.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“That this was the most comfy bed in the house, and, so, just like in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, everyone wants in it. Mommy Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear.”
Mimi smiled. “That’s not the way the story went, and I doubt you said any of that because I would have heard the two of you jabberin
g.”
“And yet you didn’t.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “You snore like a hardworking ditchdigger, lady.”
“I do not!”
He kissed her lips. “Yeah, you do. It’s all the stress from crime fighting.”
“That’s not funny.”
“No, it’s not,” Mason said, giving her fanny a tiny slap. “No more badass chick adventures for you.”
“I’m going to let you be the big man from now on,” Mimi said primly.
He let out a roar. “What a sweet little thing you are in the morning. So accommodating! But I think your nose is growing, Mimi Cannady.”
“No. I mean it. I realized last night that what I did was dumb. Brave, maybe, but also dumb.”
He chuckled. “You are brave. You also want to be right in the thick of everything that’s happening in life and with everybody’s business.”
She gave him a pretend tweak on the abdomen. “For a guy with a concussion, you sure do think you know a lot. Maybe you should rest your brain.”
“There’s my saucy wench.” He nipped her shoulder.
“Mason,” Mimi said, running a finger down his chest, “I had this bright idea that you would make a great sheriff. You know? But you’re not really cut out for this job. I want you to let Shoeshine Johnson take over the job.”
“Shoeshine can’t,” Mason said. “He runs the school bus, and his own farm.”
“We could run the school bus,” Mimi said.
“We could,” Mason said, “but I like my bright, shiny badge.”
She smiled wistfully. “It looks good on you. I just don’t want you to wear it anymore.”
“Has someone gotten cold feet?” He raised her chin and looked in her eyes. “You’re the one who got me into this gig.”
“I know. You made that clear last night when you said it was my fault you’d gotten hurt.”
Mason forced himself not to grin so he wouldn’t pop a stitch, but he thought Mimi’s little fit of conscience was adorable. “You’ve never taken me seriously before.”
“That’s because you’ve never been injured like that before. They could have killed you, or paralyzed you, or—”