“So, why did you call me?” Jed had pushed off from the desk with her last words. He cringed when he realized how he’d responded. “I’m sorry, Chaney. I didn’t mean to-”
“Don’t apologize. I understand why you would be surprised after some of the things I’ve said to you recently. But, well, that was about us, this is about the ranch. Business. Considering you’ve run a successful business back east and are already on your way out here, I know you understand it. From what I’ve heard of you talking to customers and the man you sold your business to, you’re one of the most honest and knowledgeable people I know when it comes to business.”
Ah, she’ll trust me with her finances, but not her heart. Well, that puts me in my place. “When?”
“As soon as you can.”
Jed didn’t like the slight edge he heard in her voice. It almost sounded like Chaney was scared. Of course, she’s scared. She wouldn’t turn to him unless she didn’t see any other way. A sense of urgency filled him and he wanted to drop the phone and run over there, but she hadn’t said it was an emergency so he would probably look like a heartsick fool. He was, but no one else needed to know it.
“Dale’s waiting on me for a late dinner. Is nine too late?” It would mean another night with no sleep because seeing Chaney that late at night was a sure way to guarantee vivid images of her keeping him awake. However, an excuse to actually see her and make sure she was all right was worth it.
“Okay, yeah, it can wait until then.”
Jed’s sense of urgency returned and he couldn’t push it aside. “Never mind, I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
He started to hang up only to stop when he heard her call his name. “I’m here.”
“Really, nine is fine. An hour or so won’t make a difference. Don’t disappoint Dale. I’m sure he’s looking forward to having dinner with you.”
Jed felt his responsibilities to Chaney and his uncle were tearing him in half. His need to make sure Chaney was okay battling with his concern for his uncle’s health. She was worried; her sudden nonchalance didn’t fool him one bit. “An hour tops.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
Jed replaced the receiver with slow deliberation. Something must be really out of whack to worry her like this. He wasn’t used to a scared Chaney. Angry, stubborn, independent, even passionate yes, but not scared, he thought striding down the hall toward the light in the kitchen.
“So, who kept you so long?” Dale asked as he set a second bowl of stew on the table.
Jed grinned despite his worry. Dale was accustomed to caring for himself. A broken arm wasn’t going to stop him now. “Chaney,” he answered trying to hide his worry behind a wide smile. “Looks like I have a date tonight.”
“‘bout time.”
***
Chaney had hung up the phone with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation. She paced her office for several minutes. She even broke her vow about not chewing her fingernails anymore. After several passes, she stopped just short of skin on one finger.
“This is ridiculous,” she thought, leaving her office and heading to the kitchen. Knowing she would go stir-crazy waiting around the house for Jed, she went to the barn and saddled Sterling. A ride was always the best way to calm her nerves.
When she started out, she gave Sterling his lead and lost herself in his speed. Eventually, she reined him in and slowed to a walk. Chaney spent time looking at the stars in the wide Colorado night sky. The spectacular view reminded her of a time when she and Jed would lay on the rise up ahead and watch for shooting stars.
That very rise lay directly in her path tonight. It was there she had sat, for hours sometimes, waiting for Jed’s anger to cool. She would watch him in silence noticing every muscle in his face, neck, and shoulders. Eventually those muscles would release one by one and he would let out a huge sigh before falling back to lie on the ground. A short while later, if she was able to keep her silence, Jed would start to talk. Sometimes he would tell her about what had angered him. Other times he would ask about her life in an obvious attempt to avoid the topic of himself. Still other times he would reach over lace his fingers with hers and simply say thank you.
It was those times Chaney had cherished the most. Jed at his most vulnerable. His most honest. She never intruded with questions when that happened. Their connection in those moments was beyond words. It was during one of those episodes she had realized she was in love with him.
It was also very near the place where they had made love the first time, and many times after. Even recently, her conscience reminded her. The memories of the afternoon after Ash had gone home brought a flush to Chaney’s face. A flush that quickly covered her entire body fueling the desire she had fought since they left the cabin. It would be wonderful if only they could go back to the times when life was much less complicated.
A shooting star drew her attention, pulling a smile from her lips and a wish from her heart. She reined Sterling to a halt at the top of the rise and enjoyed the stellar display, letting the calm of the evening wash over her. When the star disappeared so did the peace she had found. As she turned her gaze to the valley below, she couldn’t believe what she saw.
There in the shallow valley dividing their two properties stood a tractor-trailer. It took a moment for the reality of what was happening to register. Rustlers were stealing her cattle. Chaney didn’t think before pulling out the rifle she always carried in her saddle, usually saved for a different kind of predator, and yelling at the men below.
“Hey,” she yelled spurring Sterling into a gallop. “Y’all hold it right there.”
As the space between them shrank, Chaney realized what a stupid mistake she’d made. She had no idea how many men there were or how well armed they were.
A shot rent the air as several men turned in her direction. When she turned in the direction of the shot, she thought she recognized the horse the shooter was riding. Before the thought could solidify another shot split the night. It was so close Chaney swore as she turned Sterling about and tried to make it back over the rise for cover.
Her mind registered the sound of the truck’s gates slamming shut and gears grinding as the rustlers made their escape. The only sounds closer were the fast hoof beats of Sterling racing for the rise and the shooter in close pursuit.
Chaney cursed her impetuous nature. Why couldn’t she have stayed in the safety of the house and waited for Jed? What had pulled her out to this isolated part of her property? Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut and simply observed?
The other horse was still following as she heard another shot. This time Sterling reared. Shocked by the uncharacteristic action, she lost control. Her last thought as she flew through the air was that Jed still didn’t know.
***
Chapter Eight
For the second time in less than a month, Jed paced the waiting room at the hospital. This time no one dared talk to him. The only person who would have the nerve to speak when he was in this kind of mood lay unconscious in an exam room down the hall.
“What the hell is taking so long?” he demanded of no one in particular.
“I’ll go check,” a pale faced Belle answered.
He’d told Chaney an hour at best and made it to the ranch in less, but it hadn’t been soon enough. Smitty had waved him to a stop before Jed’s car could reach the house. When the old man told him Chaney’s horse had come back with a shot across its hindquarters and no rider, Jed’s blood ran cold. Thankfully, his brain hadn’t followed. It kicked into gear and started issuing orders.
Jed had no idea why he had picked that area to search. He must have focused in on her earlier comment about needing someone she trusted. The place they had gone to talk when they were younger. The place he had gone to after Ash left and he fought with Chaney. He must have subconsciously thought she might go there to think as well. Jed and all the hands had saddled up horses and headed in that direction. Halfway there he found her. She was lying on the gr
ound looking like a ragdoll someone had tossed aside.
After sending one of the men back for a vehicle and length of board, he had checked her out for injuries. Though he knew she would be black and blue in places, he didn’t find anything that seemed broken. The only obvious injury was to her head and the fact that she wouldn’t regain consciousness scared the hell out of him.
Now what seemed an eternity later, though it had only been about half an hour, he paced the waiting area of the hospital trying to come up with answers.
“They wouldn’t tell me anything,” Belle said stepping back into the waiting area.
Jed didn’t reply.
As the previous few nights had been, it was cool and dry, but you wouldn’t know it to look at Jed. Sweat trickled down the side of his face as he punched the air in frustration. “What the hell was she doing out there?”
No one responded this time. He didn’t expect them to. Smitty was busy twisting his hat in his hands, too worried to answer. Martha was sitting quietly beside Dale her head bowed as if in prayer while Dale patted her hands and kept telling her it would be all right. The errant thought that he should be concerned about the effect the stress was having on Dale flitted through his head, but that was all. His mind couldn’t handle concern for anyone but Chaney at the moment.
He shifted his gaze to Steve, who was busy trying to reassure Belle. Softhearted Belle who, if she wasn’t so worried about Chaney she would probably have been too terrified of him to speak anyway. She looked so fragile he’d been amazed she had the strength to walk down the hall and ask a question.
No one knew the answer to his question anyway.
No, Chaney had always been head strong, stubborn, independent, and too damned adventurous for her own good. Jed knew too well that if Chaney wanted to do something she wasn’t about to stop and ask permission.
Still, why had she been out there when she knew he was coming over? When she had asked him to come over?
The questions were adding up and no answers were in sight. One thing he did know. Chaney was never riding that mammoth stallion again. She’d be lucky if he didn’t--
“Mr. Sampson?”
Jed spun on his boot heal. A nurse stood inside the doorway looking at him. “Yes?”
“They’re through examining Mrs. Sampson. The doctor said you may sit with her if you like.”
The thought that Chaney would prefer Belle be with her zinged through his head. He and Chaney were barely speaking. He should let Belle go, but he couldn’t. He needed to see his wife, touch her and know for an absolute fact that she was alive and breathing.
And if you’re lucky, awake and ready to kick your butt to the next state for letting this happen.
“Go, Jed,” Belle told him.
He nodded his thanks then followed the nurse down the hall.
The nurse pulled the curtain back for him to step inside the small area where Chaney lay. One step was all it took for him to know he would never forgive himself for not heeding his initial impulse to go to her rather than stay and eat with Dale. On a small bed, with cold looking metal rails, and pristine white sheets lay his fearless wife.
Still as death.
Jed’s breath caught in his lungs. He couldn’t move. Then the nurse touched his arm.
“I know she looks pretty rough, but if I know this one, she’ll be fine. Last time she was thrown she woke up spitting nails.”
That jump-started his heart.
“Last time?” Jed asked glancing at the nurse then back at Chaney. Before the nurse could reply, Chaney blinked and Jed quickly made his way to her side. Taking her hand, he called her name softly several times. His reward was seeing her beautiful brown eyes open fully and a smile tug at her lips. “Chaney,” he whispered his voice choked with relief.
“I knew you’d come back, wouldn’t leave me,” she said before her eyes drifted closed again.
Jed stared in wonder at her. What is she talking about? Had she really wanted him to move back to the ranch from his uncle’s?
“Talk to her,” the nurse urged. “We need her to stay awake for a while.”
“Chaney, honey? Come on, you have to wake up,” Jed told her as the nurse called the nurse’s station to page the doctor. As his hand stroked the side of her face, she snuggled her cheek against his palm. Jed couldn’t remember anything ever feeling as good. “Come on, Chaney.”
“Don’t be so sweet. Talk louder. Tell her to wake up. Get bossy.”
Jed glared at the nurse. His wife had just been in a major accident, could have been killed and this drill sergeant wanted him to yell at her?
“It won’t hurt her, I promise.” The compassion was back in the woman’s eyes.
Jed prayed the nurse knew what she was talking about. “Come on, Chaney girl,” he said more firmly. Her head turned away from his hand bringing regret to his heart, but then he noticed her chin was cocked up a bit, like she was listening, waiting. “Wake up or I’ll send Martha in here.”
The threat worked. Chaney’s eyes blinked again then opened completely. “Why’s Martha here?” she asked staring at Jed with a confused expression.
“Do you know where you are?” the nurse asked.
Jed watched Chaney’s head swing around to look at the nurse. It was obvious she regretted the action when her eyes closed and her fist pushed against her forehead. “Are you all right, Chaney?”
Her head turned back to him but much more slowly this time. “Do I look like I’m all right? My head feels like I was kicked by one of the horses,” she yelled as forcefully as Jed figured she could, considering her condition.
Taking a tension releasing breath and sitting on the stool he dragged over, Jed grinned before answering.
“Well, you sound like you’re all right,” he told her before kissing where her hand had pressed against her forehead a moment earlier. Before he could lift his head, Chaney grabbed him around the neck and whispered in his ear.
“What am I doing in a hospital? Daddy will have a fit.”
He went totally still. Slowly he took her hand from around his neck and leaned back enough to watch her face. “You were thrown from your horse, honey. Don’t you remember?”
The look she cast him would have been comical except for the circumstances. “Jed Sampson, I do not get thrown from horses.”
“Do you know how old you are now?” the nurse asked.
Chaney glared at the woman, and Jed almost laughed. If his brain hadn’t frozen with fear and concern, he would have.
“Of course I know how old I am. I’m seventeen.”
Jed’s breath stopped.
“No, wait,” she said holding up her hand and sending him an evil grin.
He exhaled loudly. She was joking, he thought with relief. Torturing him for not having gotten to the house sooner.
“I had a birthday recently. I’m eighteen.”
This time he didn’t stop breathing. His eyes closed tightly and he was positive there was a strong possibility he would hyperventilate.
“And I got the most wonderful birthday present,” she continued in a soft happy voice.
He glanced at the nurse hoping she would let him know what to do.
“Well, while we’re waiting for the doctor why don’t you tell this handsome fellow about your wonderful present,” the nurse said. “I’ve got to go check on a few things and I’ll tell the doctor you’re awake when he gets here.”
Jed nodded to the woman as she disappeared behind the curtains knowing she was going to tell the doctor about the fact Chaney had lost twelve years. He quickly turned his attentions back to his wife and the gift that had made her so happy. The only presents Jed could remember Chaney getting excited about was the cowgirl he’d made her when she turned sixteen and pretty much anything Belle gave her. He wondered what Belle had given her when she turned eighteen that had been so wonderful. It had to be Belle’s gift.
She was looking at him with that shy secretive smile she’d used when they were alone. Why
would she look that way about a gift from Belle? Then she took his hand and said, “A baby.”
Jed stood abruptly knocking over the stool he’d been sitting on. “A-a- baby?” he said. “You’re pregnant?”
After the words left his mouth Jed realized what Chaney was really saying. She’d been pregnant twelve years ago when he left. The recognition of fear on her pale face quickly followed.
“You’re mad.”
“No,” Jed told her cupping her cheek and trying desperately to hide the turmoil inside him. “No, honey, I’m not mad, just surprised.”
Surprise didn’t really define his present condition, but it was probably all Chaney could handle at the moment. She grabbed his hand and held it tightly as if afraid he would bolt if she eased off.
“I know. We were careful, but I guess it was meant to be.”
The gentle smile, so rare on Chaney’s face anymore tore at Jed’s heart. If it was meant to be, then where was the baby she’d been carrying twelve years ago? Why hadn’t anyone told him? Before he could find a way to excuse himself and ask the nurse hoping she could explain some of this, the doctor walked in.
“Welcome back,” the doctor said to Chaney. “I hear you’re awake and talking.”
“Yes. I’m fine. Well, I think I’m fine. The baby’s okay, isn’t she?”
The doctor seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking. “Yes. To my amazement, from the description of the size of horse that threw you, you haven’t broken anything. You do have a concussion so I want to keep you overnight for observation.”
Chaney smiled up at Jed. “No, I’m not staying. That’s all I need is my father griping at me about a huge hospital bill. Finding out about the baby will be more than enough for him to handle.”
“If the doctor says you need to stay, you’re staying,” Jed told her, replacing the smile on her face with surprise. “You heard me. Besides, if you’re pregnant you want to make sure everything is okay.”
“But Daddy--”
“Don’t worry about your father. I’ll take care of it.” Chaney pressed her fist against her head again alerting Jed that she wasn’t nearly as all right as she wanted everyone to think.
A Daring Proposal Page 13