Her body was warm and soft against his, vulnerable and real, making fear congeal in his gut. He’d never been scared of death in his life, but he was absolutely scared shitless right now at the thought she could get hurt. “My truck is parked in back,” he said softly, “and the keys are in the ignition. Drive like hell south and you’ll reach a general store. Call the cops from there, and don’t come back. Got it?”
“Let me go,” she snapped, pushing at him. He wasn’t sure if the resistance was for Nathan’s benefit, or if she didn’t like his plan.
Too bad if she didn’t like it. He was getting her the hell out of there. “Got it?” he asked quietly, locking his arms around her waist, a move that brought her tightly against him.
She looked at him. “You come with me,” she whispered.
“Won’t work that way,” he said. “Got it?”
She searched his face.
“We will both die,” he snapped, barely able to keep his voice quiet, the fear for her safety was so great. He knew Nathan would believe the false struggle for only so long. “Get the hell out. Got it?”
She looked at him for a long moment, and finally nodded. Relief rushed through him, and for a moment, he paused, sliding his fingers along her jaw. Her skin was so soft, so beautiful, so flawless. “You’re the sunshine that I’ve never seen in my life, until now,” he whispered. “Never stop pouring your light into the world. Promise?”
Tears filled her eyes, but she nodded. “Don’t die,” she whispered. “He doesn’t deserve it.”
“I know, babe. I know. But sometimes that’s the way life is.” Unable to stop himself, he bent his head and kissed her. A slow, short kiss that said all the words he didn’t know how to say. A thank you for showing him the things he’d never been able to see before this moment. He pulled back, searching her face. He saw confusion and warmth, a kindness that made his heart turn over. He was vaguely aware of Octavia’s snort of disgust, and Nathan’s command to hurry up, but he didn’t care.
All that mattered was Noelle.
He pulled back, and for one endless, agonizingly short moment, he simply stared at her. He saw in her eyes the future that he’d never hoped for, the hope he’d never dared have. On her face, he saw something similar, a warmth directed right at him that seemed to sink deep into his heart…and suddenly, he didn’t want to die either.
He wanted a chance with this woman. A chance to see what could happen.
But it wasn’t a risk he would take if it meant endangering her.
There would be time only to save her. Not both of them. He had to make the choice. “I wish I had more time with you,” he said softly.
Tears filled her eyes. “Not again,” she whispered. “God, not again.”
He knew she was referring to the man she’d loved and lost, and his heart turned over. Somehow, in the short time they’d been together, she’d put Wyatt in the same place in her heart. Son of a bitch. If he died, it would hurt her.
Screw that.
She didn’t get hurt twice.
For her sake, he’d have to live. Resolution flooded him, and he turned toward Nathan and Octavia, his mind rapidly assessing his options. Octavia was furious, but his gut told him she wouldn’t kill him. He had to bank on that. Was it worth the risk of being wrong, if it gave him a chance to save his own life?
He felt the way Noelle’s fingers were digging into his back, and he knew the answer was yes. For Noelle, he’d do whatever it took to try to stay alive.
Chapter 12
If Wyatt was going to stay alive, he was going to have to come up with another plan. Swearing, he looked past Nathan and Octavia to his horse, who was munching on the hay by the door.
“A few more feet,” he said to Noelle, moving her further toward the stall door, changing the angle slightly. Could he really pull off saving both of them? He wasn’t sure, but he had to try.
She let him move her, and he whistled softly under his breath. Lightning’s head snapped up and he turned to look at Wyatt, his ears perked. His tail stopped swishing, and his attention focused fully on Wyatt, waiting for the next command.
One chance. They would have one chance. Wyatt moved a few more inches to the left, trying to get in the best spot. Octavia’s eyes narrowed, and she looked over her shoulder. He swore, aware that Octavia knew how he trained his horses.
It was now…or never. He whistled sharply, two quick blasts, and Lightning exploded into motion, launching into a full gallop, straight at Wyatt. Nathan whirled around, and Wyatt shoved Noelle toward the door. “Go!”
She took off in a sprint, and Wyatt launched himself at Nathan. Lightning plowed into Nathan, knocking him off balance just as Wyatt reached him. Wyatt tackled the other man, reaching for his gun as Lightning thundered past.
There was a deafening blast, and Wyatt gasped as pain shot through his hip. Jesus. He’d been shot?
“Wyatt?” Noelle’s horrified gasp ripped through him.
She was still there. Shit. He had to give her time to get away.
Adrenaline rushed through his body, and Wyatt rolled to his side as Nathan started to scramble to his feet. Wyatt tackled him and shoved him to the side, slamming him into the side of the stall. Nathan’s head hit first, and he went limp, collapsing on the ground. Wyatt sank beside him, his hand on his hip, gasping for breath.
“Get off him.”
He turned his head and saw Octavia pointing the gun at him. Her hands were shaking, and her face was ashen. Hell. “Put the gun down, Tav,” Wyatt said, keeping his voice steady. “You haven’t done anything yet. Let him take the heat.”
She shook her head. “Get in the stall, Wyatt.”
Wyatt felt Nathan move slightly, and realized the other man was starting to regain consciousness. Swearing, he grabbed Nathan under the arms and staggered to his feet. “I’m putting him in the stall, Tav. You’ll have to shoot me to stop me.” He intentionally used her nickname, trying to create a bond.
She raised the gun, aiming it at his chest. “I won’t let the man I love go to prison. Put him down, Wyatt. Put him down.”
Nathan groaned, and Wyatt knew they were almost out of time. Shit–
Movement behind Octavia suddenly caught his eye. He had a split second to see Noelle reach for a small fire extinguisher hanging by the door, before he jerked his gaze off her. Shit. What was she doing?
He couldn’t let Octavia turn around and see Noelle. Swearing under his breath, he began dragging Nathan toward the stall again. “You’re better than this, Tav. You’re brilliantly talented at journalism, and you don’t need to be stuck in this life, trying to steal to get money. You can do more. Don’t let him drag you down.”
“I mean it, Wyatt! Put him down!” She pulled the trigger, and Wyatt jumped as the wood behind his left shoulder splintered.
Hell. She was willing to shoot him. Clearly, he wasn’t as charming as he’d thought he was. He was going to have to work on that next time he was at the wrong end of a gun.
He saw movement behind her, but he didn’t dare draw her attention to Noelle, so he kept his gaze on Octavia. Why the hell wasn’t Noelle leaving?
Nathan twisted out of his grip suddenly, and Wyatt swore, knowing that it was over–
Fire extinguisher foam suddenly blasted Octavia in the back. She shrieked and turned around, and got it full in the face. Wyatt slammed his fist into Nathan’s face, and hurled him into the stall. He slammed the latch shut, then leapt at Octavia as she stumbled, covering her face with her hands.
He snatched the gun from her hand and turned it on her. “Get down, Octavia.”
She immediately dropped to her knees, coughing and gagging. Noelle was behind her in a split second, binding her wrists with the same rope that Octavia had been planning to use on them. Noelle grinned up at him, then looked behind him. Her face went stark in warning. “Nathan’s coming–”
Wyatt grabbed the abandoned fire extinguisher and spun around just as Nathan opened the stall door. He hurled the exting
uisher at him, catching him square in the chest, knocking him down. This time, Wyatt didn’t give him a second chance to get up. He sprinted over with the rest of the rope, and tied him down.
It took only seconds to immobilize him, then Wyatt stepped back, leaving him trussed up like a calf in a roping event. He looked over at Noelle, and then grinned when he saw her standing over Octavia, looking incredibly pleased with herself. “You did great, Noelle.”
She beamed at him. “Thanks. I really couldn’t bring myself to brain her with the fire extinguisher, but my last book had a particularly soft-hearted villain, so I just did what she did and sprayed instead. It worked just like my research said it would. It was fun.” Her smile faded as her gaze settled on his hip. “You’re shot?”
The moment she said it, the pain came rushing back. Dizziness slammed into him, and Wyatt sank to his knees, pressing his hand to his hip. Noelle gasped and ran over, catching him as he started to slide to the ground. “I don’t have cell service. Where’s a phone?”
He bent over, bracing his hands on the floor as he fought for breath. His hip felt warm, and he could feel the blood seeping over his jeans. He’d had many significant injuries over the years, but never had he experienced anything like this. He gritted his jaw, fighting to shut off the pain. Son of a bitch. He’d ignored pain before, but he couldn’t believe he’d been able to ignore the gunshot for so long.
Except he could believe it. Noelle’s life had depended on him, and a lifetime of ignoring pain had enabled him to save her, to save them. But now that the danger was over…shit.
“Wyatt! Where’s the phone?”
He gritted his teeth, pressing his hand to the wound. “By the barn doors. I didn’t bring mine. Too wet outside.” He bowed his head, sinking to the floor as he heard Noelle talking to the operator. His vision began to blur and he swore. Too much blood loss. He had to stop it. Had to find a way. He tried to crawl over to the tack box by the stall, but his legs weren’t working–
Noelle was suddenly by his side again, her hands on his shoulders. “Wyatt–”
“Get wraps from the tack box.” He gave up trying to crawl and went down on his side. “White cotton. Need to stop the bleeding.”
Noelle felt like her heart was going to stop when Wyatt collapsed on the ground. The blood stain was spreading across his stomach with a speed that was terrifying. How had he kept going when he was shot? The strength of his will was astonishing. Incredible. And not surprising.
She’d known he was strong from the moment she’d met him, but now she knew how strong he truly was, both physically and emotionally. He was the rock her soul had been searching for…and now she might lose him.
Fighting off tears, she raced over to a nearby trunk and opened it. Inside were an assortment of what looked like cloth diapers, which she knew were wraps for the horse’s legs. She grabbed several and ran back to Wyatt, going down on her knees beside him.
Grimacing, she pressed one of the wraps against his hip, flinching when he let loose a string of profanities. “I thought cowboys were tough,” she managed, her hands shaking violently. “And thoughtful. I mean, I just got through almost being murdered, and I need to collapse in emotional anguish now that it’s over, and you’re not giving me a chance to do that.”
He closed his eyes, his face ashen. “I’m a cheating ass,” he muttered. “Never said I was a good guy.”
His words made her heart ache. “You’re not a cheater,” she whispered. “Stop labeling yourself. It’s over, Wyatt. Don’t you realize it’s over?”
His eyes flickered open, and she saw that his ice blue eyes were darker now, richer, more complex. “It’s not over, babe. It’ll never be over.”
Her heart sank, and she bent over him, bringing her face close to his. “It’s over only if you let it be over. You have to let the past go.” As she said it, she thought of David, of Joel, of the restaurant, and she knew she was speaking the truth. Just as Wyatt had to let go of the legacy his father had left him, so did she need to let go of the burden she’d taken on after David’s death. “I want to live, Wyatt. I want to truly live. Don’t you? Not be trapped by a past full of shadows.”
Wyatt searched her face, her beautiful face full of pain and loss and courage…and hope. He saw hope in her eyes, a flash of light that made his own heart start to beat again, a heart that had stopped beating so long ago, long before he’d been shot. He reached up, brushing his finger over her cheeks. “All this time, I thought that winning the championship would make me able to breathe again. I was wrong. It was you.”
She smiled. “And a gunshot wound.”
He shook his head. “No, it was worrying that you were going to get hurt. It was seeing you defend me against Nathan, despite the gun. You’re brave, you don’t give a shit what people think, and you made me care if I lived for the first time in my life, because I wanted to stay alive for you.” Shit. He couldn’t believe he’d just said that aloud.
But when her face softened, he was glad he had. “I’m so glad you did, Wyatt.”
His eyelids started to feel too heavy to stay open, and his head fell back on the hard floor. “Noelle?”
“Stay with me, Wyatt. The medics will be here soon.”
He knew he was going to lose consciousness any second. He didn’t know if he was going to come back. He knew he hadn’t known her long enough to feel what he was feeling, to say what he wanted to say, but he was going to say it anyway, because he knew in his gut he was right. He’d lived long enough to see truth when he saw it, and he wasn’t going to hide from it. “You saved me, Noelle. Not just my life, but my heart. For that, I will always love you.” The words felt right as he said them. She’d broken through the walls in his heart the moment he’d seen her trying to claw her way up that muddy embankment, laughing in amusement. When she’d believed in him when no one else had, she’d won his loyalty forever. And when she’d let him see the real her, her tears, her courage, and her grief, he’d fallen in love with her, completely and irrevocably.
He felt the touch of her lips against his, a feather-light sensuality that went straight into his heart. “You saved me right back, Wyatt, and for that, I will always love you.”
He smiled, her words wrapping around his heart. “Just so you know,” he muttered, fighting against the lethargy trying to take him, “I’m going to pursue you like a coyote after a rabbit as soon as I can stand up again, so if that doesn’t sound good to you, then you better hightail it back east before I get out of the hospital.”
He’d give her one last chance, one last opportunity to claim a life without him. One last chance to walk away from the man everyone else thought was a cheater.
But she laughed softly and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I bet you’d look good running across the Oregon plains in hot pursuit. I think I’ll stay around and see if I’m right.”
He smiled, his body relaxing at her words. She’d be there when he woke up, and then…yeah…then it was going to get good.
Chapter 13
Number one.
Number one.
Noelle hung up the phone, unable to stop the tears from streaming down her face. Number one. God, how her life had changed–
Footsteps sounded on the front porch, but before she could wipe away the tears, the front door opened. In walked Wyatt, with a new saddle slung over his shoulder. His limp from being shot fourteen months ago was finally gone, and he was as lean and fit as he’d ever been. Behind him was Brody Hart, who was carrying what looked like a large, white cake box.
The minute Wyatt saw her face, he dropped the saddle and strode right over to her. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? What happened?” His voice was so tender, so sweet, so concerned that she wanted to cry even harder.
She put her hands on his cheeks, his whiskers prickling her fingers. “How is it that I got so lucky to have you?”
He grinned. “It’s a team win, babe.” Then he wiped his thumb across her cheeks. “What’s wrong? Why isn’t my bride smili
ng the day before her wedding?”
Brody cleared his throat. “I’ll just take the cake into the kitchen then, and you can check it out when you’re ready.” He ducked past them, giving them privacy.
Wyatt didn’t even spare his best friend a glance. His entire being was focused on Noelle, making her feel as treasured as he had every day for the last fourteen months. She smiled through her tears. “My agent just called. My new mystery…it hit the New York Times list at number one.” Number one.
His face lit up, and he let out a loud whoop. “Hot damn, girl! I knew you could do it.” He grabbed her around the waist and swung her in a circle, making her burst into laughter as she hung on to keep from flying across the room.
Noelle locked her arms around his neck, beaming up at him. His face was happy and light, a perfect reflection of the joy dancing in her own heart. She loved this man so much, and he poured his love into every moment of life.
Wyatt angled his hat back, then bent his head and kissed her, a beautiful, amazing kiss that made her heart melt every bit as much as it had the very first time he’d kissed her in the barn on that rainy night so long ago.
Noelle clung to him, pouring her love into the kiss, needing to connect with him, to open her heart to this wonderful man who had changed her life. Wyatt’s arms locked around her waist, and she melted into his strong body, loving the feel of his muscled strength encasing her in a shield of his love and protectiveness.
After a long moment, and a kiss that consumed her entire being, he pulled back a tiny bit, just enough for her to see his face. “I’m so proud of you, Noelle,” he said. “I knew that book was genius when I read it, and I knew the world would see its brilliance.”
She sighed and rested her wrists on his shoulders, her hands still clasped behind his neck. “And I knew that you would win that championship. It was so amazing to see you win after all you’d been through.”
It had been a difficult off-season, with his recovery from being shot, but Noelle had used that time to make sure the entire bull riding tour understood what Nathan had done to his reputation. By the time Wyatt stepped back into the chute on the first competition of the season, he’d had fans screaming his name, and cowboys vying for a chance to have his back.
Her Rebel Cowboy: Rodeo Knights, A Western Romance Page 8