One Tough Cowboy

by Sara Orwig

  “Sure,” Josh replied, thinking he might as well be sinking in quicksand. He stood as she swung her legs out of bed. She was wearing only that short, blue cotton hospital gown. Her legs were long and shapely, and he drew another swift breath, having to make an effort to keep from staring.

  “Can you hand me that robe?” she asked. Their fingers brushed, a feathery contact that he felt down to his toes.

  With a graceful movement, she slipped into the short, cotton hospital robe and belted it around her tiny waist. She lifted her long, silky hair over it and shook her head, causing her hair to swirl across her shoulders.

  “Want a wheelchair to ride downstairs?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No. They told me I could get up if I wanted to. If I get light-headed, I’m to let them know.”

  “Since I’ll be with you, the guard won’t have to tag along.”

  “That could put you in danger.”

  Josh laughed. “I doubt if there’s any danger in the cafeteria. The time it could be dangerous here is in the dead of night, when things quiet down. I’m not worried about it.”

  “You don’t scare easily, do you?”

  “Not easily enough,” he remarked dryly, thinking that if he had any sense, he would get far away from her.

  “The doctors told me that they’ll wake me up through the night. If I can remember everything, I’ll be released in the morning.”

  “I still think you’ll have relatives or friends show up anytime now,” he told her.

  “I hope so,” she said.

  He hoped so, too, but he didn’t voice it aloud.

  As they left her room, Josh explained to the guard they were going to the cafeteria. They rode down in an elevator, and Josh was all too aware of the strangers around them. They were riding with two other men and a woman. On the third floor, another man got on. And then Josh realized one of the men was staring intently at Laurie.

  Chapter 3

  J osh tensed, every nerve coming alive. He moved closer to Laurie, slipping his arm around her waist. She looked up at him in surprise, but he kept his eyes on the stranger who was watching her. The man looked at Josh. His face flushed and he looked away.

  Josh glanced around the elevator, saw everyone looking at Laurie and realized people simply noticed her because of her beauty.

  He relaxed and took a deep breath, his arm dropping from her waist.

  “What was all that about?” she asked when they stepped into the hall and the other people scattered.

  “That guy was staring at you. My nerves are on edge. Then I realized they were all staring at you because you’re pretty.”

  “Thank you,” she said politely.

  “I’m keeping watch.” Walking along the hallway, he couldn’t stop from regarding each stranger with suspicion.

  Josh wasn’t hungry. When they reached the almost-empty cafeteria, he got pop while Laurie ordered a ham-and-cheese sandwich. He chose a table in a corner, where he could watch the door and the people in the room. He wanted to be able to see everything that was happening.

  Laurie smiled at him as she sat down. “So, Josh, tell me about your life.”

  “It’s simple. I ranch, raise cattle, live on Cotton Creek. I’ve lived here all my life.”

  “Where did you go to school?”

  “In Stallion Pass. It’s the closest town.”

  “Stallion Pass? That’s an interesting name. Do you know why it’s called that?”

  “There’s an old legend about a ghostly white stallion—really an Apache warrior who was killed because he wanted to marry a U.S. Cavalry officer’s daughter,” Josh replied with a smile.

  “So what’s the legend?”

  “The white stallion is still supposed to inhabit these parts and bring love to the person who tames him. What’s funny is that there has been a real, wild white stallion in Piedras and Lago Counties for years. It’s not the same horse, of course, but there’s been one. Right now, I’m owner of the current one. A friend caught the stallion and gave him to me.”

  Her eyes twinkled. “So true love is coming into your life.”

  He grinned. Amused, he shook his head. “Nope. I don’t believe that foolish old legend and I’m not looking for love.”

  “Why not, Josh Kellogg? I thought everyone was looking for love or had already found it.”

  “Naw. I told you, I have a busy life, too busy for marriage.”

  “Oh, my. Too busy for love? It must be cold and lonely. Maybe you need rescuing as much as I do.”

  Josh knew they were flirting, and it was a pleasant diversion to banter with a sexy lady, yet he also knew every second with her was a threat to his well-being.

  “No rescue needed here.”

  She smiled. “So tell me more about your family and all those stepmothers.”

  “My dad is no longer living, and right now one of my stepmothers lives with me, as I said. But she’ll be moving out in two weeks because she’s marrying again. I have two younger brothers who are in college. Actually, they’re half brothers. But we’re pretty close.” He waved his hand. “That’s it.”

  “I suspect there’s a lot more to you than that,” she said, leaning closer and smiling at him, making him feel as if his life were of monumental interest to her. Her steady gaze shut out everything else. He forgot danger, other people, his surroundings, lost once again in her eyes and knowing he’d better rally more resistance to the pretty lady. “So tell me about your brothers.”

  Josh shrugged. “Kevin’s the charmer. Like our dad. And he’s irresponsible like our dad. Ben is reliable.”

  “Like you, I’ll bet. What do you do for entertainment? Who’re your friends?”

  “Right now I’m busy working, so having fun is way down the list. I do like dancing with a pretty woman,” he said, unable to resist. “I also like having lunch with a pretty woman.”

  “Oh, my,” she said, tilting her head to study him. “I can’t believe there’s no woman in your life if you like things like that. And if you’re busy with work, which means I’m keeping you from your work right now.”

  “It’s worth it,” he said with a smile. “My broken fences will still be there tomorrow, and I can fix them then. In the meantime, this is a lot more interesting.”

  “For a little while maybe I’ll be Laurie and forget what’s out there in the world waiting for me. At least until memory brings it all back. Somehow right now, it feels good to just be a woman talking to a good-looking cowboy, with nothing to fear or worry about.”

  “That’s great, but don’t lull yourself into letting down your guard.”

  “Against the bad guys or against you? Do I have to be careful around you, Josh Kellogg?” she said teasingly.

  “No, you don’t,” he replied. “We won’t have enough of a future together for you to have to be careful.”

  “A person falling in love doesn’t necessarily worry about the future. So what happens if I fall in love with my rescuer?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

  Josh knew she was teasing, flirting for the fun of it. Even after the ordeal she had been through, she was coming to life before his eyes, radiating vitality. “I think it’s a whole lot more likely that your rescuer is the one who’s going to do the falling. You’re the prettiest gal around here, and this is the most enjoyable lunch I’ve had in a heck of a long time.” He reached across the table to smooth her hair away from her face.

  She laughed. “That doesn’t say a lot for me, because I’ll bet you don’t eat lunch at all, or you eat with your cattle while you’re working. Right?”

  He nodded. “Yep, but it’s the most fun I’ve had anytime lately, day or night.”

  “This lunch? You must be working too hard! So when do you go dancing with pretty women? Every Saturday night?”

  He grinned. “Last Saturday night I delivered a calf, put out a grass fire that was started by someone tossing a cigarette and got to bed about four in the morning. I don’t remember the last time I went danci
ng, but it’s back there in my past somewhere.”

  “The Saturday before last?”

  He thought for a moment. “I worked until twelve on a hay baler that was broken.”

  “I still say that maybe we both needed rescuing.”

  “And you’re ready, willing and able to rescue me?” he asked softly, touching her cheek again.

  She laughed and waved her hands. “Touché. No. I’m not ready to rescue you and not able to, either. I have to get my memory back before I do anything. I don’t even know my name,” she said solemnly.

  “You will,” he said.

  She took dainty bites of the sandwich, but several times she closed her eyes to chew, as if she were eating a magnificent gourmet meal instead of a simple ham-and-cheese sandwich. “This is so good. I was terribly hungry and this tastes marvelous.”

  “That’s good. If I’d known you were so hungry, I could have brought something in that might be tastier.”

  “This is great.” She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin and studied him. “You take life pretty seriously, don’t you?”

  “Someone has to,” he replied.

  “Do you want me to stop prying into your life?”

  “Nope. There’s nothing there I mind anyone knowing, only it’s not all that fascinating. It’s pretty damn simple.”

  “You don’t care what I ask?”

  “Fire away,” he said. Laurie finished eating and pushed her plate aside. She leaned forward with her hands folded together on the table, and he reached over to touch her fingers. “You or someone else did your nails not too long ago.”

  “I don’t remember,” she said, frowning and studying her hands. She took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Just now you said someone needs to take life seriously. Who doesn’t in your life?”

  “That’s a question no one who lives in these parts has to ask. My dad was a charming, fun-loving, easygoing man. I told you, he drew women to him effortlessly. But he also didn’t take responsibility for things in his life, so I’ve been trying to run our ranch and now I’m just trying to save it. He gambled, loved women and parties and a good time. And he spent money without a thought for how much he had or where the next dollar was coming from.”

  “Wow,” she said, growing solemn, and he touched her cheek.

  “Don’t look so serious. It’s what I’m used to and have lived with for thirty-three years. I’m making a go of things. My dad always meant well, but he just didn’t stop to think about consequences. He was lovable and, in his own way, good to me, and that’s more than a lot of people have. Even with all the problems, I miss him. He died two years ago.”

  “I’m sorry…. So you’re the responsible one. What about the brothers you told me you have?”

  “They’re younger and in college, and I’m running the ranch, which is a good, productive spread on prime land.”

  “And there’s no woman in your life because you’re so busy working? Is that it?”

  “Basically, yes.”

  “You ever want there to be a woman in your life or are you one of those confirmed-bachelor-forever men?”

  “I guess I’m one of those bachelors. I watched my father go through all those marriages. I’ve lived too closely with hurt and anger. There have been enough marriages in my life to sour me on it forever. Besides, I might not be one bit better at making a marriage last than my father was. After all, a broken home is all I’ve ever known.”

  “Yet you’re not scared to flirt with me a little.”

  “Naw. Twenty-four hours from now you’ll probably be gone from my life forever, so today I can flirt and come on a little strong and it doesn’t matter.”

  “You’re toying with my affections.”

  “No more than you’re toying with mine,” he retorted.

  She laughed. “Maybe it’s a way of avoiding thinking about my problems.”

  “It sure as hell is a way to avoid thinking about mine. No, sitting here looking into your big brown eyes, wondering what it would be like to kiss you—that’s a heck of a lot more fun than what I have waiting at home.”

  “Oh, my!” she said, fanning herself.

  He was enjoying flirting with her, but he knew he should stop. “Ready to go back to your room?” he asked, feeling restless and on display in the cafeteria, where people came and went steadily.

  “Yes, I am.”

  He moved close beside her and took her arm, aware of a faint scent of perfume mixed with antiseptic.

  He was just as edgy going back upstairs to her room, but he had realized she was going to draw attention wherever she went. He hoped the Bexar sheriff was upstairs waiting, but to Josh’s disappointment, when he asked the guard, the sheriff still hadn’t shown up.

  In her room, Laurie sat on the bed while he dropped back down into the chair. “I like having you here, but now I think I’m keeping you from all sorts of jobs you should be doing. When you want to go, it’s okay,” she said. “You don’t have to stay.”

  “Now you’re willing to send me on my way. You had a death grip on my arm earlier when I tried to leave you.”

  “You were my lifeline. You were the only person I thought I could trust.”

  “You didn’t know you could trust me.”

  “Oh, yes, I did, after the first few scary minutes,” she said, her big eyes as mesmerizing as ever. “When you lifted me out of the car into your arms, I was completely at your mercy. When you tried to help me, I knew I could trust you.”

  “When I went after your attacker, you ran away from me, and you fought me like a wildcat when I found you.”

  She blushed. “Sorry. I heard gunshots and panicked. I just wanted to get away. I didn’t even know where I was going.”

  She looked around the room and moved her hand across the sheet that covered her legs. “I can’t wait to get out of this place, except I’ll have to leave in my cut-up jeans.”

  “I’ve been hanging around because I’m supposed to talk to the sheriff, but after I see him, I’ll go get you some jeans if you’d like.” His gaze drifted over her. “You must be about a size four.”

  “I don’t even know, but you can check my jeans for the size. They’re in that locker.”

  He crossed the room to open a green metal locker, looked at tags in her jeans, aware of how personal looking at her clothing was. And much too aware of the filmy, pink lace panties tossed on top of her white socks in the bottom of the locker.

  “I was right. You wear a four.”

  “You guessed my size exactly, and yet you say there are no women in your life. I can’t remember my life, but I don’t think a lot of men can guess a woman’s size just by looking at her.”

  “I told you—it’s all those stepmothers. I’ve bought clothes for them. I’ve taken care of them. I’ve been close to all of them. That’s six mothers. You get to know women when you’re close to half a dozen of them.”

  “What about your real mother?”

  “She died when I was two. I just have faint, fuzzy memories. I used to think if she had lived, my dad would have been different, but as I got older, I dropped that notion. Probably they would have divorced, just like he did with all the others. At least Dad always brought home likable women. I’ve got super stepmothers,” he said. Then he got to his feet. “I’ll be back in a minute. I want to see if the sheriff has appeared yet.”

  She caught his wrist. “You will come back, Josh Kellogg?”

  He leaned down to look her in the eye, and felt sparks ignite between them. “I wouldn’t miss coming back to you for the world,” he drawled, and she awarded him with a radiant smile.

  With an effort, Josh turned and left quickly. When he stepped into the hall, Sheriff Cordoba was walking toward him. He offered his hand.

  “Josh! Glad I caught you.”

  “Where the hell is the Bexar sheriff? I’ve waited here all afternoon. I’ve called his office twice and they told me he was on his way to the hospital, but he hasn’t shown up yet.”

&nbs
p; “They had a homicide, and he had to go on the scene. When he can, he’ll be here. Sorry you’ve had to wait.”

  “That isn’t why you came to see me.”

  “No. I wanted to tell you that Les and I went over what we could of the wreck. I have one of her suitcases downstairs in my car. I was going to ask her what she wants me to do with it. A hospital has a lot of people coming and going, and is no place to keep big amounts of cash lying around.”

  “She’s got more cash?”

  “Yep.” As he stared at Josh, Will frowned. “The license plate on her car must have been ripped up in the blast. We’ve found one piece and know it’s a Texas plate, but we don’t have a number. We couldn’t find a purse, so there’s no identification. Purse probably burned in the fire. Couldn’t find another suitcase, either, but there must have been one. This one blew clear of the car and it held another big chunk of cash, on top of what we found scattered around the wreck. So far, that cash doesn’t have serial numbers on any list. It’s legitimate. If you don’t mind, come get the bag. Since you’re here anyway, you can take it to her.”

  “Okay, Will. Let me tell Jeff where I’ll be in case that sheriff does get here.” Josh spoke to the guard and then joined his friend.

  The two men rode the elevator in silence and walked through the lobby. When they stepped outside, Will said, “With all that money, I imagine she was on the run, trying to get away from someone who wants her dead. With that kind of cash, she has to be mixed up in something terrible.”

  “There are a million different things it could be. She could be running from an abusive husband, for one,” Josh said.

  “If she is, I’d think he’d already be checking missing persons. Or she could have stolen the money from somebody. I don’t have any answers now and it seems that she doesn’t, either. Damned convenient time to lose her memory.”

  “I don’t know, Will. I’d hate to lose mine if someone was after me and wanted to kill me.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Will said as he unlocked his trunk and handed Josh a large, expensive suitcase.

  “Thanks, Will. I’ll take her things to her.”