Wild at Heart (Healing Harts)

by T. J. Kline

  “I’m just looking out for you, Bailey. The same way I do with Jessie and Julia.”

  Bailey dropped the mug into the top rack of Jessie’s dishwasher, taking a deep breath to control herself before opening her mouth to speak. She had the Hart family temper and was just as likely to shoot off her mouth as Justin, usually with complicated results. She’d been trying to learn to control it but wondered if it might not kill her.

  “I don’t need your protection, any more than they did,” she said, spinning back to face him and slamming the dishwater closed. “You’re not the family patriarch. I have a father and you aren’t him. I don’t need another. The sooner you realize that I’m going to do as I damn well please, the better we’ll get along.”

  “Maybe if your dad stepped in every once in a while, instead of letting you do whatever you ‘damn well please,’ I wouldn’t have to act this way.”

  How dare he? Her father might not be perfect, but he’d done the best he could trying to raise a teenage girl on his own while running a car dealership that kept him away from home sixteen hours a day. Bailey knew she could be impulsive, but it wasn’t for lack of her father trying to rein her in.

  “Justin, Uncle Luke has done his best to—” Julia began.

  Bailey stabbed a finger to Justin’s chest, clenching her teeth in fury. “You have no right.” Bailey didn’t trust herself to speak, but once again Justin’s comment had lit the short fuse of her temper and she couldn’t seem to keep her mouth shut. “Find someone else to micromanage. As far as I’m concerned, you get eight hours a day, four days a week. You don’t get to tell me what to do before or after my shift at the clinic. Got it? Because if you try this again, you can kiss my ass. I’ve quit on you before and—”

  Jessie’s new husband, Nathan, unfortunately picked that moment to come through the kitchen doorway. “Morning.”

  Even his chipper disposition couldn’t cut the near-palpable tension in the room, and he paused as he poured his coffee. His brow furrowed and he shook his head. “I don’t even think I want to know what I just interrupted.”

  Jessie moved to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Family drama that will blow over, I hope,” she whispered quietly, but not quietly enough for Bailey to miss. “You might want to get your coffee to go.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Nathan. I’m on my way out.” Bailey glared at her three cousins. Jessie and Julia looked surprised by her outburst while Justin stared at her like she was a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum. “I’m sure these three can fill you in. They seem perfectly capable of scheduling my life without me.”

  The screen door slammed shut behind her as she jogged down the steps to the Harley-Davidson parked on the gravel driveway. The motorcycle was just one more thing she’d done to chap Justin’s hide recently. Bailey pulled her helmet on and fired up the engine, loving the way the deep rumble vibrated through her entire body. She couldn’t wait to send all of her gear down to LA before following, opening this baby up on the highway. A deep ache of longing churned in her stomach, making her sick. She needed space, freedom. She wanted to see the sparkle of lights from the windows of high-rise skyscrapers, to feel the pulse of the city where the streets didn’t roll up at ten o’clock. She needed to get away from being a black sheep rebel in a perfect family, to finally spread her wings, making a name for herself instead of living in the shadow of perfection she could never attain.

  Maybe she was more like her mother than she thought. Guilt gnawed at the edges of her heart at the thought of abandoning her family while they still needed her. Bailey didn’t want to think about the woman who’d run out on her and her father. She refused to be like her. Twisting her wrist, she laid on the gas, letting the wind whip away her sullen thoughts.

  CHASE MCKEE SAT in his police cruiser on the near-deserted stretch of highway with his radar gun in his lap and dumped two packets of sugar into the coffee he’d just grabbed from the new shop in town. Unable to ignore the plaintive whimper from the backseat, he tossed a piece of stale doughnut to Gracie, his black German shepherd drooling on the upholstery. Julia would rip him a new one for feeding her scraps if she found out, but he’d left the bag of kibble back at the station, and since Gracie was still in training as a search-and-rescue dog and he was her handler, she went everywhere with him.

  Gracie whined again and he shushed her, reaching over the seat to rub her smooth head empathetically. He felt the same way. While it might be part of his job as a sheriff’s deputy, he hated being stuck sitting out here, waiting for someone to speed by and make it worth the paperwork pulling the person over would entail. Most of the time, he was willing to cut drivers some slack. Outside the city limits, on a long, open stretch of highway, it was easy for locals to slip past the speed limit. He should know, he’d done it often enough growing up here. He was lucky he’d never gotten himself killed.

  The memory immediately dredged up images of his last partner on the Oakland Police Department. He should call Rachel and see how Mason was doing. It had been too long since he’d checked on Lance’s wife and son. Not that she would talk to him anyway. It had been almost two years and at least thirty returned letters and cards since he’d left Oakland, but the guilt he associated with his departure still weighed on him. She hadn’t said one word to him since Lance’s funeral.

  Gracie’s low growl dragged him from his memories. “You’re right, girl. We don’t have time for that right now, do we?”

  To be completely honest with himself, he avoided thinking about Oakland and Lance whenever possible. He might not suffer from traditional PTSD the way Julia and her husband, Dylan, did, but that didn’t make his survivor’s guilt any less real or any easier to endure.

  Chase picked up on the roar of the engine long before the motorcycle actually came into view. Reaching for the radar gun, he aimed it in the direction of the sound.

  Ninety-two miles per hour. Did this guy have a death wish?

  There were far too many twists and turns ahead on the highway to warrant that kind of speed, even for one of the locals. He tossed the gun to the seat and dropped the car into gear, pulling onto the two-lane highway as the bike came into view. He’d no more tapped the gas on the cruiser when the motorcycle blazed past him in a midnight-blue streak. He flipped on his lights and siren and the bike immediately slowed as the rider glanced backward before pulling onto the shoulder.

  At least he has some respect for the law, he thought acerbically as he stopped behind the motorcycle and ran the plates.

  The registered owner’s name came up on his computer screen and his eyes shot back to the rider.

  “Damn it,” he muttered, rolling his shoulders back and preparing for the battle he had no doubt was coming. Chase rolled his eyes and climbed out of the vehicle with a sigh of resignation. Crossing his arms, he greeted the most beautiful woman—and the biggest troublemaker—he’d ever met as she slid her helmet off her head and brushed stray hairs back into her low honey-colored ponytail.

  “Funny seeing you here, Bailey. When did you get this thing, and are you trying to kill yourself with it?”

  She turned her dazzling pearly whites on him, her blue eyes flashing with mischief as she set the helmet on the seat behind her. Chase had been dying to ask her out ever since his return to town almost two years ago but she had no idea and, unfortunately, he needed to keep it that way. Her cousin Justin was one of his best friends, and if he knew Chase thought of Bailey as anything other than Justin’s “little sister,” Chase would probably have to arrest his friend for assaulting a police officer. Not to mention that he’d need to check himself into the hospital. It was better this way. He wasn’t emotionally stable enough to offer anyone more than a few meaningless dates and, while Bailey had a reputation of blowing through guys the way a gambler blew through singles, it would never be enough for him. Bailey was trouble, but she was the best kind of trouble, the kind that made you want to return again and again.

  The truth was, he’d had a thing f
or Bailey as long as he could remember. At first it had started with helping Justin protect her from other kids at school, bullies who picked on the littlest Hart. But he’d watched her grow up, too fast, into a blue-eyed beauty as wild as the pastures of Heart Fire Ranch. She’d somehow managed to keep up with her cousins, including Justin’s football buddies, never one to be shown up just because she was a girl. Bailey was always the first one to jump from the rope swing into the river, the first to take off in a horse race, and last to make an excuse for the stupid stunts they’d done growing up. Unfortunately, as far as she was concerned, he was nothing but Justin’s straightlaced friend who bailed her out, both literally and figuratively, and a verbal sparring partner when she was bored.

  “Just picked it up last week.” Her fingers ran lovingly over the blue gas tank between her thighs, and he felt his body immediately react. He stifled the response. “I guess I’m still getting used to how much power it has.”

  “Ya think?” He couldn’t help but chuckle at her understatement as he clicked the top of his pen and started writing out a speeding ticket. “I need your license and registration.”

  “Aw, come on, Chase. Really?” She bit her lower lip, looking up at him from under her thick, dark lashes, and he felt the heat of desire trickle down his chest and center low in his belly. “I’ll slow down. I swear.”

  “And you’ll never do it again, right?” He didn’t believe her for a second. Everyone knew Bailey’s reputation as the wild child of the Hart family. She didn’t just march to the beat of her own drum, she conducted the entire orchestra to a tune of her design. He held out a hand, waiting for her to retrieve the items for him.

  “Great! This is the last thing I needed today, you know,” she grumbled as she reached for her paperwork in the storage compartment. “I’m already late.”

  “At this rate, you’ll kill yourself before you ever get where you’re headed.” Chase bit back a grin. “Late for what?”

  “Nothing. I’ll just call and reschedule.” She glared at him for the briefest of moments before her eyes turned innocent. “You’re going to keep this between us, right?”

  Chase didn’t even bother to look up from the ticket form he was filling out. “What you really want to know is whether I’m going to tell Justin.”

  He saw her shrug one shoulder in his peripheral vision. “I mean, I don’t really care if you do, I just don’t want to hear him bitching at me more than he already does. You know how he gets, and that’s the last thing Julia needs to hear in her condition.”

  “How’s Julia doing?” he asked, glancing at her. “I haven’t seen her since the trial.” He’d been the arresting officer when Julia’s ex-boyfriend had kidnapped her, and Chase had testified at his trial. He’d seen Dylan several times during various calls since he was working as a paramedic in town now, but he hadn’t run into Julia recently.

  “She’s good. At least, as good as someone whose due date passed a few weeks ago can be,” she clarified. “You know, you should come by for dinner tonight. I’m fixing enchiladas for them. We’re hoping the spicy food will put Jules into labor. There’ll be plenty if you want to stop by.”

  A flirtatious smile spread over her full lips and her eyes sparkled like sapphires. Chase felt the sizzle of heat come to life again. If he didn’t know her better, he’d think she was flirting. That was the last thing he needed right now. He turned the pad toward her and handed her the pen, indicating she should sign the line. She stared up at him expectantly, practically batting her eyelashes.

  Chase cocked his head to the side and gave her a lopsided grin. “Plying me with dinner isn’t going to get you out of a ticket, Bailey.”

  Her eyes narrowed as he tapped the pad again. Bailey jerked it from his hand and scribbled her name, slapping the pen against it irritably when she finished. He ripped her copy of the citation from the pad and handed it back to her with the other documents. “You do realize trying to bribe an officer is a felony, right?”

  She cocked a brow at him as she slid her helmet back over her head and slipped her sunglasses on, starting the engine. “Who said anything about bribing you? Maybe I was trying to poison you.”

  Chase couldn’t help but laugh as she eased the bike back onto the road. “Murder One is a felony, too,” he yelled after her.

  Damn, that woman could turn him on faster than she did that bike.

  Chapter Two

  “THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE finally here.” Bailey would have objected when Jessie wrapped her into a warm hug as soon as she climbed off the motorcycle, but it had been a shit day so far. She might not admit it, but it felt good to lean on someone else, if only for a moment.

  Bailey wanted to laugh at the sentimental notion, unsure what was coming over her. She was rarely emotional but maybe it was low blood sugar. She’d already skipped lunch to help her cousins, and she still had both cabins to clean before heading back to Julia’s to start fixing dinner for everyone. Come hell or high water, she was breaking the news tonight.

  “Look,” Jessie said, chewing on her lower lip. “I’m sorry about this morning. I don’t want you to feel like we’re taking you for granted.”

  “I know you don’t.” But it sure feels like you do.

  Slipping the band from her long ponytail, Bailey shook her head and ran her fingers through the snarled mess. Twisting it, she dragged her honey-blonde hair back up into a messy bun to keep it out of her face while she cleaned. It was just one of those days where everything seemed to be reminding her of why she wanted to get the hell out of this town. It was barely a pinpoint on the map, one of those places you stopped only when you ran out of gas or were looking for some place nostalgic, like the hole-in-the-wall diner down the road from her place. Justin patched up animals, Jessie rescued at-risk kids and horses, and Julia took in pound puppies to retrain them as service dogs. But Bailey, she was just the one who seemed to leave a mess of trouble in her wake wherever she went. Here she would always be the youngest Hart, and the only one who didn’t have her own thing. She took a deep breath. It was time for her to move on, move out, and make her own way in the world.

  “Go,” she said, waving her hands at Jessie. “I know you have other things to do. I’ll get these done for you, then I have to head back to Julia’s to fix dinner. I sure hope for her sake this works to put her into labor.”

  Her poor cousin looked ready to burst. They were all ready to welcome the newest Hart—Granger, she corrected herself—into the family, but she was starting to worry that Julia might expect her to babysit, too. She’d have to draw the line there. She didn’t do babies. She might adore Justin’s stepson, Sam, but that was only for short visits. And besides, if you asked Justin, she could barely take care of just herself without his direction.

  “What are you smiling at?” Jessie eyed her suspiciously.

  Bailey shook her head. “Nothing you wouldn’t feel compelled to share with Justin.”

  “I would not!”

  Bailey arched a brow and planted her fist on her hip.

  “Okay, maybe I would.” Jessie waved a hand at her cousin. “Why do you feel the need to antagonize him? You push every button he has just because you can.”

  “Nice to meet you, Pot. I’m Kettle.” Bailey held out her hand to shake Jessie’s.

  “Shut up.” Jessie threw a rag at her. “Justin and I don’t fight nearly as often now.”

  “Yeah, not since Nathan tamed you,” she pointed out.

  Jessie took a step back and eyed Bailey. “He did not.”

  Bailey pursed her lips and twisted them to the side, not about to argue the truth. Nathan had mellowed her cousin’s personality, bringing out the softer, sweeter side of her and, while Jessie might not agree, the rest of the family loved this gentler version of her cousin.

  A vehicle honked as it came up the driveway and Jessie jumped up, hurrying to the window. “Crap, Deb’s early. She called a while ago and said she found a couple horses at the auction.”

  “Go,�
�� Bailey said, shooing her. “I’ll finish up and meet you over at Julia’s tonight.” She would rather do the work herself and be alone with her thoughts anyway. She had to mentally prepare for how she was going to break this news in a way that would make her cousins excited for her.

  Who am I kidding?

  With the day she was having, she’d be lucky if they didn’t ask Chase to handcuff her in one of the cabins. An image of the deputy traipsed unbidden into her mind as she pictured him handcuffing her to the big wrought iron bed frame next to the nightstand she was dusting. He’d be the only man she’d ever trust enough to put cuffs on her willingly.

  What in the hell are you thinking? It wasn’t like her to fantasize about any man, but she’d spent the past eighteen months since his return unable to stop drooling over him. Not to mention the past ten years of your life.

  She’d always had a crush on Chase, but who didn’t? He was good-looking, a two-sport athlete, class valedictorian, and an all-around nice guy. He’d joined the military out of high school but, thanks to his friendship with Justin, she’d never lost track of him. If her cousin wasn’t relaying stories about Chase’s success as an MP, the entire town was bragging about his heroism saving those kids from their abusive father while he was working in Oakland as a police officer, although no one seemed to have many details.

  When he’d returned out of the blue eighteen months ago, her heart had done several teenage backflips, but it wasn’t until Julia’s kidnapper’s trial that she’d finally come to grips with the fact that he was never going to see her as anything more than Justin’s troublesome cousin. He might tease and joke around with her, even flirt a little, but since it was never followed up with any sort of concrete action, she could only conclude that it was all in good-natured fun. When she’d finally summoned the nerve to bid on him at the bachelor auction last February, Kristen had outbid her and flaunted the fact that she’d taken him home that night as well, winking as they left together.