by Vella, Wendy
“I saw how upset you were that day, Annabelle. I saw that something had gone down, and the reason you had decided to sell the car was to get money fast. I have money, lots of it, so I gave some to you under the guise of selling your car because I knew you wouldn’t take it any other way. I’m sorry you found out. That was never my intention, but now that you have, we need to move past it.”
“How? I want to rip you apart! Damn you, Ethan, now I have to pay you back and…and…” God, how was she going to do that? “And quickly.”
“I know you think you have to, but you don’t. Here’s the thing, Annabelle, and I’m not telling you this because I want to brag, but I have so much money I will never in this lifetime or the next use it. So what I do is use it when I think someone needs my help. You were that someone that day, Annabelle, a friend who needed my help, so I gave it.”
“My pride won’t allow me to let you give me money.” She stopped fighting him because his words said that he’d given her the money because he’d wanted to help her, and while she didn’t want his help, his intentions had been good and she had no right to go off at him. Slowly the anger inside her drained away.
“Would you feel the same if Jake or Buster gave it to you?”
“Yes.” Annabelle felt him exhale. Obviously he’d thought it was just him she didn’t want to accept anything from.
“You can let me go now.”
“Do I have to? Damn, honey, you have a fine body.” He accompanied these words by pushing his face into her hair and sniffing. “You smell nice, too.”
“Ethan.” Annabelle tried to sound pissed off, but it came out more like a sigh.
“You gonna take another swing at me if I release you?”
“No…I should, but I won’t, because I’m a better person than you.”
She didn’t want to feel regret when he dropped his arms so she could step away from his body, but she did. The man was potent. She’d always reacted to him being near her, which was the reason why she always abused him. No way was she letting him close, no way in hell. He was a womanizing machine and she might want him, but she would never follow through.
“It’s true, you are.”
He was aroused—she’d felt it pressed between her buttocks—but he wasn’t embarrassed, so she struggled not to be.
“What you did for me was a really nice thing, Ethan, but I have to pay you back.”
Before she could react he’d grabbed her again; one big hand had cupped the back of her neck and he’d pulled her into his arms. The kiss was hot and hard and she tried to resist but it was futile, and in seconds she was slumped against him as he took her mouth. Annabelle clenched her fingers into his shirt and kissed him back. Angling her head, she climbed to her toes and met him. Their tongues tangled, teeth clashed. It was hot and sexy and she wanted more, needed more of him. His hand cupped her breast, fingers stroking the hard nipple, and she heard a moan slip from her throat.
“Annabelle.” He rasped out her name. “I want you so bad.”
“I know,” she whispered against his lips, “but it’s a bad idea.”
“Feels like a real good one right now.”
“Ethan, it would ruin everything. You know I’m right.”
“To hell with right. Just take your clothes off, honey, and let me kiss your body all over. I’ve fantasized about you naked since I met you. Tell me you haven’t done the same.”
She had, many times.
“It would screw with what we have. Jake, Branna, Buster, all of them. It would mess with all that if we did this.”
He sighed. Annabelle didn’t resist as he held her closer; she simply rested against him, laying her head on his chest.
“God, I want to screw with you.”
Annabelle smiled. It was nice, just being held like this, having a man put his arms around her for no other reason than comfort. She could still feel his erection, but she wasn’t threatened. Ethan was a gentleman for all he was a pain in her butt, and for these few brief moments they’d called a cease-fire between them. She had no doubt it would be brief, especially on her part, but at that moment she was too weak to resist.
“I have to pay you back, Ethan.” Annabelle pushed away from him again.
“You don’t.”
“I do.”
“All right, then, get your clothes off and we’ll start the repayments now.”
“Not going to happen.”
“You’re a hard woman.”
“I am. Years of experience taught me it’s the best way to be.” She looked down at their feet and saw the card. Bending, she picked it up, reaching it just before he could. “Whose wedding are you invited to?”
“That’s private.” He tried to grab it from her, but Annabelle danced back a few steps.
“Hope Gelderman.” Annabelle read the name on the invitation. “Who’s that, a cousin or something?”
“My sister.”
His words were flat and emotionless. Looking at him, Annabelle saw his face had closed up; his jaw was clenched, body tense and blue eyes as cool as ice. She’d never seen him look like that; he was always smiling or trying to charm someone.
“It says here the wedding is next week. When you leaving?”
“You done reading my personal mail, Smith?”
“Answer the question, Ethan.”
“I’m not going.” He turned away from her, picked up a tool and started doing something with it.
“You’re not going to your sister’s wedding?”
“I just told you that.”
He was banging something now, so she waited until he’d finished. “Why aren’t you going to your sister’s wedding?”
He was too much a gentleman to ignore her, so he put down the tool carefully then turned to face her again. “Because I’m not.”
“That’s not a reason. Give me a better one.”
“Go away, Annabelle. I’ve got work to do.”
“She’s your sister, Ethan. There has to be a reason why you won’t go.” Annabelle had two brothers who’d tried to keep stuff from her; she knew how to interrogate when required.
“Because I don’t want to.” His lips were clamped together, arms folded tight. Gone was the lover of minutes before.
“You don’t like her or something?”
“Of course I like her. She’s my sister.” His words had an edge to them now.
“Then if you like her, why won’t you go to her wedding? Surely she’ll be upset if you
don’t?”
“She’ll understand.”
There was something deep inside those bright blue eyes. Pain, anger, whatever it was, the Texan had kept it well hidden until now.
“Why will she understand that her only brother can’t attend her wedding?”
“I’m not her only brother. She has two others.”
“You have three siblings? Wow, you kept that quiet.”
“It’s nobody’s business.”
“But everyone else’s business is yours?” Annabelle kept poking and prodding at the small opening she’d started, pushing until she got the answers she wanted.
“It’s not my fault you people talk a lot.”
“We talk a lot?” She snorted. “Gelderman, you rarely have your mouth shut.”
“Whatever. Now why don’t you take that fine ass of yours out of here so I can concentrate enough to get some work done?”
She knew a smoke screen when she saw it. He was trying to push her away with words. “Who don’t you want to see, Ethan?”
Something flicked across his face and then it was gone. “Why all the interest suddenly, Smith? You usually run a mile when I’m near.”
“Who, Ethan?” Annabelle ignored his attempt at diversion again.
“My father, all right?” He ran a hand through his hair after he’d spat out the word as if it tasted foul. “Jesus, you’re a nag. Now go away.”
“No, I’ve decided I want to have sex with you, and I want to do it now.”
Ann
abelle laughed when his eyes widened and he had pushed off the bench before realizing she was teasing him.
“That was cruel, honey, real cruel.”
“Just trying to get you focused, Tex. Now, back to the wedding. You don’t like your father.” She shrugged. “Shit like that happens all the time, and it hardly seems fair to punish your sister because of it. You’re an adult, aren’t you? Surely you can sit through a wedding for a few hours and play nice.”
“It’s not just my father, Annabelle.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t get on real well with most of my family.”
“But you like your sister, and she’s the only one who matters here, Ethan.”
“You go, then,” he muttered.
“Okay, but you’re taking me. We can make it part of the payment for the car money. I’ll work out how to pay back the rest later.”
“What?” He shook his head as if to clear it. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’ll come as your date to the wedding, but don’t think that means I’ll sleep with you.”
“Honey, when I get you in my bed, sleep will be the last thing on your mind.”
“You come out of the womb talking like that?” Annabelle rolled her eyes. There he was, her sexy, smooth-talking Texan. For a while there she’d missed him.
“So, when do we leave?”
“Not happening. There is no way I would subject you to my family. You’ll end up bloodied and bruised.”
He’d turned away from her again and was busy playing with things on his bench. Annabelle moved in behind him and placed a hand on his back. The muscles beneath her fingers were tense.
“She deserves that you go, Ethan, so you’re going, and I’m going with you as protection.”
“My father’s an asshole, Annabelle, plain and simple. I can deal with him, but for Hope’s sake I want her day to be special, and it will be if I’m not there to stir things up.”
She heard the pain in his words, leaning her body into his she rested her cheek on his back. The Texan was hurting, and Annabelle had always been a sucker for a wounded soul, being one herself.
“We can do this, Ethan. I’ll help you.”
“You don’t need to do this because you think you owe me, Annabelle.”
His words were husky and she heard the emotion he was trying to fight.
“I’m doing this because I owe you, but also because you’re a friend,” she clarified.
“Christ, somebody take note, Annabelle Smith said I’m her friend.” He turned and she stood upright. “Here’s the thing, Smith. My father and I are explosive when we’re together. He wants me to do things his way, always has, and I want to do them my way. The rest of the family, besides one of my brothers, just gets caught in the crossfire. I don’t want that for Hope’s wedding. She’ll understand when I tell her.”
“If she understood, Ethan, she wouldn’t have sent you an invitation.”
He clearly hadn’t thought about that. She could see her words had surprised him.
“You think she sent this because she really wants me to be there?” He looked at the envelope she still had in her hands.
“I do.”
Ethan blew out a loud, frustrated breath. “Well, hell, trust a woman to make it all emotional.”
“So, when do we leave?”
“It’ll be messy, Annabelle, there’s no hiding that fact, and in all honesty I’m not sure
I want you knowing how screwed up my family life really is, because until now no one knew, not even Jake.”
“Tex, your story reads like a fairy tale compared to mine, so suck it up, buddy. We’re going to…” Annabelle read the address on the card. “Kiri, Texas.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Forewarned is forearmed.”
“Well, aren’t you just full of it today.” He wiped his hands on a dirty rag.
“You do know that rag is filthy, don’t you? If you have any small cuts on your hands, you’re sending germs through them from that dirty thing.”
“Thank you, Nurse Smith,” he said, finding a smile for her that made Annabelle’s pulse speed up. “Any chance that when we do reach the bedroom, you can wear one of those skimpy uniforms with suspenders?” His moment of vulnerability was over, it seemed.
“Ha. I have one of those in my closet, actually. I wore it one year to a Halloween party.”
“Hell, Annabelle, as if I wasn’t horny enough.”
She was still laughing minutes later when she reached the van.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The clinic was busy the following week, with a rush of bugs and colds. Annabelle had just walked out to reception to see if anyone else was waiting when Ethan walked in. Jake was with him, and his arm was wrapped in something.
“Been in a cat fight, Tex?” Annabelle refused to acknowledge the sudden sinking feeling that seeing his injury caused in her stomach. She saw sick people every day, and he was no different.
“I haven’t seen her in what…a week? And she can’t even greet me like a normal human, Jake.”
“It’s how we do things around here, Tex. Insults mean we care. Now sit your sorry ass down and I’ll go see Mom and tell her what you’ve been up to.”
“Where’s your bag?” Annabelle questioned Jake. He’d only recently started practicing medicine again. It was a casual thing, but that he was doing it was a big deal, after the trauma he’d suffered as a doctor in the army.
“We were tramping through the Pass, and this idiot tripped on a root, put out his hand and a piece of tree imbedded itself in his forearm. I was just carrying the basics, so I patched him up, but the injury needs a bit more attention.”
“No, please.” Ethan had his head resting on the wall behind him, eyes closed. “No more gentle, sympathetic words. I can’t stand it.”
“I’ll take him through to a treatment room and start cleaning it. Then you can inject him with the biggest needle we’ve got,” Annabelle said, moving to stand before Ethan. He had his long legs open, arm resting on his body. “Not going to faint on me, are you, big boy?” she added, looking down at him.
“Maybe. Then you’d have to resuscitate me.” She saw the pain in the blue depths as he opened them.
“That’s only if you stop breathing, and even then I’m not so sure I’d be keen on it. Are you in a lot of pain, Ethan?”
“A bit.”
“On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst?”
“Seven point five.”
“Okay, then, let’s get you something to ease it.”
He rose slowly and winced as he jarred his injury. Annabelle took his arm and led him through to one of the treatment rooms, where she helped him onto the bed, then propped him up on some pillows.
“You look good in pink.”
Dr. McBride had gone for pink uniforms, because she said it made people happy. Annabelle couldn’t argue with that, as she loved pink.
“You should see the dresses I’ve got for the wedding. Macy loaned them to me.”
“Annabelle, you really don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to. I’ll go by myself,” he added. “I can see now that you’re right. Hope wouldn’t have sent the invitation if she didn’t want me to attend.”
“I’m coming, especially since you’re paying for my flight.”
“Mercenary wench.”
Annabelle pulled a trolley across the room and began to check it had everything she needed. “Sue me.” She took the arm he had lying across his waist and laid it flat on the bed. “You okay?”
“Just not real big on blood, especially my own.”
His face had lost color as slowly she unwound the bandage Jake had wrapped around it.
“Weren’t you in Iraq with Jake?’
“I flew a helicopter.”
“And no one got into it with any blood on them?”
“Yes, Annabelle.” He said the words slowly, as if addressing a child. “But it was different then. Adrenaline a
nd everything else kicked in and I didn’t notice it so much, plus it wasn’t my blood.”
“Okay, so if I want to bring you to heel, I just make one of us bleed?”
“Anytime you want to bring me to heel, honey, you just say the word.”
Even pale and shaky, with a decent slice in his arm, he could still made her pulse
flutter.
“Did they teach you that stuff when you got handed your first pair of cowboy boots?” Annabelle started cleaning around the injury, getting rid of the dried blood.
“What?” His eyes were focused on her, probably because he didn’t want to look down at his arm. Annabelle had treated many people like Ethan, people who hated the sight of blood.
“Talking like that.”
He smiled, but it was a long way off his usual style. “It’s a gift, Smith.” Then Annabelle ran some of the antiseptic wash over the cut and he hissed. “Ouch, Jesus, Annabelle!”
“Stop being a baby. It’s just a scratch.”
“Step aside, Annabelle. I got me a big needle.” She moved closer to the top of the bed as Jake arrived.
“You better at doctoring than her, McBride? Or do I have to call for your mom?”
“Annabelle’s a nurse, and she’s far more experienced in doctoring than me, but I’ll give it a shot just for you, bud.”
“I don’t feel so good,” Ethan whispered. He seemed to be losing even more color.
“Hey, Tomcat, how about if I take off my uniform? Will that help?” Annabelle bent over the bed so he could see only her, and not what Jake was doing.
“It may…some. Not promising anything, though.” He was sweating now, and breathing fast.
“Well, damn if the staunch Texan isn’t just a pussycat after all,” she said gently.
“You only just figuring that out, Annabelle? Damn, I’ve known him for years, and saw through him right from the start,” Jake said from over her shoulder.
“Stop talking and be a doctor, McBride. There’s no way you can do both.” Ethan’s voice was weak but at least he was still talking. “About that uniform, Smith. It sure might help me some if you undid a few of those buttons.”