Worth the Trouble

by Becky McGraw

  Ethan was in the middle of dressing, had just buttoned his jeans when Joel burst through his bedroom door.

  "What the hell happened?" he asked frantically. "Where's Terri?"

  "She's okay, man...it's all good now," he told his brother-in-law. The man looked fit to be tied.

  "All good?" Joel howled, then demanded, "What the hell happened?"

  "One of the guests took out a horse without permission and ended up hurt down by the creek."

  "Hurt badly?" Joel asked and started to pace at the end of the bed.

  "Bad enough to need to be flown out," Ethan told him and slipped his t-shirt over his head before finishing, "A broken leg, maybe fractured clavicle, bumps and bruises."

  "Where's Terri?" Joel stopped to ask with his hands on his hips.

  "She was down by the creek, should be back any minute."

  "If she went in that creek, I'm gonna kick her a--"

  "Kick my what?" Terri demanded walking into the room behind him.

  Joel spun around and jerked her to him, squeezing her tightly. Ethan thought if her husband didn't let her go soon, he might be giving his sister resuscitation in a minute.

  "I'm fine, Joel...let me go," Terri mumbled into his chest, pushing against it.

  "Did you go into the water?" Joel asked, his eyes narrowed angrily.

  "Heck no, Ethan did," she said with a snort. "I'm not stupid."

  "Ethan went into the creek?" Joel repeated incredulously and turned around to give him a wary look.

  "Yes he did, and he saved Big Mike and Rocky," Terri informed then looked around Joel at him. "I'm proud of you baby brother, thank you," she told him.

  "Anytime, sis, it was fun," he said with a chuckle.

  Joel shook his head then asked with concern tingeing his voice, "Why did Rocky need saving? Is she hurt?"

  "No, she decided she needed to help Rambler who was tangled up in the woods, so she jumped into the creek at the bend and tried to swim to the other side."

  "Jesus, I leave for a few hours and this place turns into drama central," Joel muttered then spun on his heel and stomped out of the room.

  Ethan laughed then asked, "Are we still having the bonfire and barbeque tonight?"

  "Yeah, I think we could all use a beer or ten after the crap that went down today," Terri replied.

  "Sounds like just what the doctor ordered."

  "Speaking of doctors...you have an appointment with yours next week. I think he'll be happy to see your progress," she told him. "I really am proud of you, Ethan."

  Pleasure flowed through him as he said, "I'm proud of myself." Sitting on the bed, Ethan put on his socks then slid his feet into his spare boots. His other pair was down by the creek. "Did you pick up the clothes I left at the creek?"

  "Yeah, they're in the back of the truck."

  "Did Rocky make it back to the barn with that horse yet?" he asked nonchalantly. He wanted to make sure the stubborn cowgirl hadn't gotten lost out in the woods, but he didn't want his sister to make too much of his concern. She had interfered enough already trying to push them together.

  "Yeah, I saw her riding into the barn when I was heading here," she told him.

  "Good, just checking to make sure we don't need to send out a rescue party."

  If she was lost, that party wouldn't include him. Someone else could go out looking for her, Ethan Baker really was done chasing Roxanne Baker in any way, shape or form.

  Between all the times she'd turned him down or pushed him away since he met her, the kindergarten riding lesson earlier, and the way she reacted when he was trying to rescue her at the creek, he finally got it.

  Roxanne Baker didn't have an iota of faith in him, she thought he was weak and disabled. The more he thought about how she acted earlier, what she'd done and why she jumped in that creek, the angrier he got.

  She hadn't jumped in that water because she thought Rambler was in danger, she'd jumped in because she was afraid he would fail in his rescue attempt, and thought she could do better.

  The only reason she had been helping him with therapy and riding lessons was because she thought he was a charity case. Roxanne Baker had no faith that he would ever get to the point he could join that search and rescue team.

  And she had made it more than obvious she wasn't interested in him as a man, didn't think he was one anymore.

  They'd had sex once, and that really was the end of it.

  He wished her well and hoped one day she found what she was looking for, because obviously he didn't fit that bill, and he didn't want to anymore.

  Rocky grabbed a beer from the huge wash tub over by the chuck wagon and used the opener mounted on the back to pop the top off. Putting the cool bottle to her lips she took a long swig then sighed as the cool liquid chilled her throat. What a hell of a day it had been, she thought and walked over to sit on a log by the fire. One of the worst she'd had since she started working at the R & R Ranch over a year ago.

  That dumbass male chauvinist guest who had gotten hurt this afternoon wasn't even supposed to still be at the ranch, or riding. His group had left two days ago, but he had extended his stay evidently. Probably because he had skipped her riding lessons, which he sorely needed. According to Dylan who had a confrontation with the man out in the field, Big Mike wanted to take one final ride before he left.

  Well, his final ride had almost been his final ride. If Ethan hadn't stepped up to save him, he might well be dead right now, instead of recuperating at the hospital in Amarillo.

  Earlier, when she got back to the ranch, Rocky called the hospital to check on the man, because even though she had wished him dead a couple of times since she met him, she didn't want him to be dead. According to the exasperated nurse she'd talked with, Big Mike was doing fine, but from the nurse's voice she imagined he was giving everyone hell there too.

  Hearing the sound of a truck motor, Rocky looked up and saw Terri's ranch truck headed across the field. She wondered if Ethan would be with his sister, because she needed to thank him for saving her life too. Jumping into that creek had been a big mistake, and if he hadn't stepped up to help her, she could have drowned. Probably would have drowned.

  Although Rocky was a decently strong swimmer, she had only swam farther down the creek where the current wasn't as strong. Faced with the current near the bend in that creek where they had been, she was as weak as a kitten.

  "Hey, darlin', you doing okay?" Dylan asked and nudged her with his elbow.

  "Yeah, fine as frog's hair," she replied with a grin and nudged him back, then took another swig of her beer. "Just a little waterlogged."

  "You scared the crap out of me," he told her seriously. "I should have gone in that creek after Rambler, instead of you."

  She snorted then asked, "Why because you're a man? You think men don't drown just as quickly as women?" Rocky knew she had more than proven herself here on the ranch. Because she was a woman, she had to work twice as hard as they did to earn respect. Sometimes that wasn't enough though.

  "Um, well, you know...forget I said that," he replied with a chuckle, then his mouth cocked up on one side. "Your sister going to be at the fire tonight?"

  "Stay away from my sister, Dylan...I'm warning you," Rocky growled then laughed when she playfully put her elbow into his stomach.

  "I'm just yanking your rope, Rocky," he said with a snort and stepped away.

  "Thanks for letting her stay at your trailer, I appreciate it," she told him.

  "You're welcome, and it's not a problem. She can stay as long as she needs to stay."

  The ranch truck pulled to a stop by the chuck wagon and Terri slid out of the driver's seat, waving to them as she headed toward the fire. On the other side of the big white truck, she saw a shadow moving around inside the cab and she assumed it was either Joel or Ethan. Her heart sped up a little, as she waited to see who it was.

  Taking a long swig of her beer, she emptied it then walked around the chuck wagon to throw it away, so she could see wh
o it was. When Joel walked into the light thrown by the campfire, her heart sank a little.

  "Hey, boss man," she said as her bottle landed in the bottom of the trash barrel with a clank. "Where's Ethan?"

  His eyebrows raised a little, before he told her, "He's coming in a few minutes in the golf cart."

  "Oh, okay," she replied trying to hide the disappointment in her voice.

  "You need him for something?" Joel asked curiously as he went to the aluminum tub and pulled out a beer.

  "Just wanted to thank him for pulling my fat out of the fire out at the creek. I got in over my head, literally," she told him with a chuckle.

  "That doesn't happen often," Joel said as he opened his beer then took a long draw.

  No, it wasn't often she lost her head, but she had this afternoon.

  Her goal in jumping in that creek was twofold. Not only was she trying to save the horse, she was trying to help the man, because when the backboard got stuck on the log, she thought he was in over his head and would get hurt.

  She realized now that she should have thought more before she jumped.

  Ethan had been a firefighter for a long time, he had the skills he needed to handle that situation and then some. Even though his physical ability was stunted by his injury, he had the mental acuity and determination to get the job done. Right there on the bank of that creek, he had formulated a plan and had taken a leadership role to get it done, without fear and without hesitation. He hit a snag in his plan and she freaked out.

  Because dammit against all odds, she cared about the man.

  Rocky needed to have more faith in him, the same faith that he evidently had in himself now. She had shortchanged him this afternoon, twice, and owed him not only an apology, but a thank you for saving her ass too.

  Hell, the man was amazing in her estimation. In just a couple of months here at the ranch, he was not only out of the wheelchair and walking on crutches and without, he had mounted Diamond on his own just this afternoon, then saved both her and Big Mike.

  "No, it doesn't happen often, but it did this afternoon. I lost my head and got in the way. I could have caused a man to die, two men to die, because of my stupidity."

  "You were just trying to help, right?" Joel offered with a shrug.

  "I wound up getting in the way and making Ethan's job twice as hard. He did good out there, Joel. I think he would be a great replacement for Terri here."

  "I agree, we just have to convince him of that," Joel replied.

  "I'll try to help. I'm going to talk to him when he gets here."

  "Good, I appreciate it. Terri is getting too far along for all this excitement," Joel said then put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. "If my mama caught wind of it, I would be up to my eyeballs in alligators, or have my ass full of buckshot," he told her with a short laugh.

  "Yeah, everyone here knows you don't mess with Miss Curly, or her grandbabies."

  Joel hooted, "Ain't that the truth?" He pointed his beer toward the fire then said, "I'm going find my wife, before she gets into trouble."

  Rocky glanced at Terri who was standing over by one of the younger guests by the fire talking. It was obvious the guy was flirting with her, and more than obvious her husband wasn't happy about it. "Don't get yourself in trouble in the process, boss man," Rocky warned with a giggle.

  "No worries, she'll bail me out...or call Ronnie," he told her with a snort.

  Rocky remembered last year when he got thrown in jail, because the police suspected he had killed his ex-wife. That had been an ordeal, and even though nobody believed he'd done it, if his brother hadn't hired the female attorney to plead his case, he might well be in jail right now. Rocky had met her one day at the house, and from that one meeting she determined Veronica Winters was not a woman she ever wanted to cross.

  Hearing the hum and rumble of the golf cart over the crackling fire, Rocky stepped to the end of the pickup and squinted into the night.

  "I think the man of the hour has arrived," Joel said behind her then grumbled, "I'm going to rescue my wife," as he walked off toward the fire.

  Ethan's face was shadowed by the night when he pulled the cart to a stop beside the pickup, so she couldn't see his expression. Although she knew he had to see her standing there, he didn't make eye contact, and he didn't say hello. Instead, he reached into the back of the cart and pulled out his crutches then got out of the cart and started toward the fire.

  Rocky quickly figured out that he must be angry at her for what happened this afternoon. She couldn't really blame him. Grabbing another beer for herself, and one for him, she opened them then headed over toward where he had seated himself on a log. Dylan was there talking to him and when she walked up, he turned to her with a smile.

  "Thanks, honey," Dylan told her with a wink, then grabbed one of the beers out of her hand, before he drank deeply.

  "That wasn't for you, butthead," she grumped then looked down at Ethan, who still didn't make eye contact or acknowledge her presence at all. How the hell could she apologize if the man wouldn't even look at her? Shoving the beer under his nose, she told him, "Here, you earned this."

  Ethan didn't take it, and he still didn't look at her. He pushed up to his feet, picked up his crutches then waved at Terri and Joel on the other side of the fire, before making his way over there.

  "Ooh, looks like someone is a little pissy with you," Dylan told her with a chuckle, pointing toward Ethan's back with his beer bottle.

  "Shut the fuck up, Dylan," Rocky growled then drank down the whole beer in her hand in two gulps. She wiped her mouth with the back of her arm, then walked back to the chuck wagon to get another one.

  Rocky had a feeling she was going to need a heck of a lot more than that to wash down the crow that was stuck in her throat. It didn't look like Ethan was going to make swallowing it easy either.

  An hour or so later, Rocky nursed her fourth beer, which was usually way past her limit of two, while hiding out at the side of the chuck wagon talking to Jarvis, when Ethan rounded the wagon. Their eyes met and she stopped talking midsentence, then his jaw tightened, before he turned around and started back toward the fire.

  "Ethan, wait!" she yelled and ran after him. Once he got going, he was pretty damned fast, so she had to jog to catch up to him. "Wait!" she said again and grabbed his arm, causing him to wobble on the crutches.

  "What the hell do you want, Roxanne?" he stopped and asked gruffly.

  "I want to talk to you," she told him then stepped around to face him. "I want to apologize for getting in the middle of your rescue at the creek."

  "Well, you apologized, now leave me alone," he replied and tried to move around her, but she sidestepped so she stayed in front of him.

  "Thank you for saving me from my stupidity," she told him and he finally met her eyes warily.

  "You're welcome, now goodbye," he ground out and made a move to leave again, but she stopped him.

  "What?" he demanded and she saw a muscle work at his square jaw, then noticed his knuckles were white on the grips of his crutches.

  She stepped closer to him and put her hand on his chest. "I underestimated you and I promise it won't happen again. What you did at the creek was amazing, Ethan."

  He snorted then met her eyes with his angry gaze. "For a cripple, huh?"

  "You're not a cripple, Ethan. The progress you've made while you've been here is...unbelievable. What you did today is more than an able-bodied man or woman could have done on a good day. You saved that asshole's life, and you saved mine."

  "You can swim, you would have made it out," he dismissed her looking off over her shoulder. "But you didn't help matters by getting yourself in the middle of the situation."

  "I know that, and I'm sorry," she told him, moving her hand up to his cheek to cover that jumpy muscle there, because she couldn't help herself. His five o'clock shadow abraded her palm, sending tingles skittering up her arm.

  When her thumb involuntarily began stroking his che
ek, his hand came up to cover hers. "Don't," he said huskily and pulled her hand away.

  Embarrassment flowed through her and she dropped her arm to her side then stepped back. "Sorry," she said with her face feeling like it was on fire.

  "If I had to guess, that's as many times as you've said sorry in your life?" He asked and his firm mouth cocked up on one side.

  "You'd be right," she replied with a snort. "And all in one night to one man," she added with a smile then tucked her thumbs in her belt loops to keep from touching him again. "Probably owe you a lot more of them too."

  "You don't owe me anything, but you could have a little more faith in people," he replied and met her eyes. His were cooler now, not angry anymore, but not warm either. At least it looked like she was making some headway with him.

  "You're right, I should," she agreed then looked away. "There haven't been many people in my life who inspired faith in me, but you're one of them now. I think you can accomplish anything you put your mind to doing."

  "And trust?" he asked surprising her.

  She hesitated and his green eyes burned a hole in her, while he waited for her response. Trust was another story. The only man she had ever trusted in her life was her daddy. He had always taught her that trust was something earned, not given.

  But based on what Ethan had done today, he had earned hers. Rocky had been scared to death when she let go of that log to jump for his hands, but Ethan had caught her, just like he told her he would.

  "Yeah, I trust you too, Ethan. You're the real deal, and I'm sorry for doubting you."

  "Okay, now that is out of the way, and I'm going to be perfectly blunt with you, Roxanne..."

  "Blunt is good, that way there aren't any misunderstandings," she told him and braced herself for whatever he was going to tell her. If he started with that warning, whatever it was couldn't be good.

  "I like you and I want you, but I'm tired of chasing you. I won't be doing that anymore, so you don't have to worry about me coming on to you again. If you decide you want me too, you'll have to do the chasing, darlin'."

  CHAPTER TEN