Still, she was nearly the last person to the dining hall. By the time she stepped inside the rest of the guys she was there with were all seated and eating. The only person not there yet was Levi.
"You all right?" the ranch owner asked as he stepped in the door behind her.
"I'm fine." She hobbled to the table on legs still not as flexible as she was used to and took a seat. Her rear end protested sitting again, but her legs were screaming from walking. She was just glad there was no activity scheduled for this afternoon. Maybe she'd fall face down on her bed for a couple hours. It was the only thing she could think of that wouldn't hurt. Maybe.
Chapter 9
Levi hadn't realized how green and out of shape some of these people were. Mariah hadn't been the only one to have difficulty getting off her horse, but he didn't think she'd noticed. He'd checked with each of them as they'd dismounted and headed inside, leaving Billy and Tyler to take care of the horses while he joined their guests over the meal. None of them had walked easily after the ride. He'd have to remember that when planning future trips. Shorter rides unless the clients were experienced riders.
After speaking with Billy about what to do with the horses, Levi had followed Mariah into the dining hall, noticing that she seemed to be limping. He frowned. That wouldn't be from the ride, or at least not only. Then he remembered seeing her twist her ankle the night before. She'd walked fine at dinner, but he wondered if maybe the injury wasn't more severe than she'd let on.
"You all right?" he asked as he came up behind where she'd stopped a few steps inside the doorway.
"I'm fine," she said before hobbling to the table and sitting. The grimace that flashed across her face told him her back side hurt nearly as much as her legs. Levi just shook his head and wondered at the kind of people who would pay good money to be so far out of their element.
He took his seat and helped himself to the food already set out on the table, joining in the conversation and answering questions where needed, but keeping an eye on Mariah. He didn't like the way she'd limped in here and wanted to check on her ankle before dinner.
* * *
One by one, the men from Sheppard Entertainment had finished eating and excused themselves. Not a single one of them moved easily when they'd gotten up and headed out. Levi had to fight the smile that threatened to spread across his face.
Finally it was only himself and Mariah left at the table.
"You've been quiet since we got back, what did you think?" he asked, trying to make sure she wasn't uncomfortable being alone with him.
"The country is pretty, if a bit," she hesitated, "empty."
"It's not empty," Levi couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. "It's just not full of people." She shot him a glare. "Have you ever lived anywhere but a city?"
"No." She shrugged as if it didn't matter. "I grew up in Las Vegas and when I left looking for bigger and better things I went to Los Angeles. I got on with Sheppard Entertainment about a year ago. I like it. It pays for a decent apartment and car, keeps me busy and lets me hob knob with the rich and famous."
"What about the job itself? How do you like that?" he couldn't help but ask.
Mariah shrugged. "It's okay. Nothing to write home about, but we work to live, and we put up with a lot to get to do the things we want right?"
He couldn't argue with her there, we do put up with a lot to get to do the things we want. As a matter of fact, he was putting up with city folk wandering around his ranch, having to entertain them and take them out to see the place when he'd rather just take care of the cattle and be here on his own.
She pushed herself to her feet, another grimace crossing her face before she was able to stop it.
"You sure you're all right?" He stood as she took the first obviously painful steps.
"Yeah, just sore from the ride. We all are."
"You are, but it looks like it might be more than just being sore from the ride this morning."
She frowned and hobbled past him, he followed, not letting this go.
"You didn't seem so worried about the guys. You let them go without the third degree. Why am I so special?"
"Because none of them twisted their ankle wearing three inch heels in gravel yesterday."
Mariah stopped, twisted around and started at him for several seconds. "I didn't think anyone saw that."
"Sorry," he shot her a half-hearted smile, "if it's any consolation, I think I was the only one who did." He stepped up beside her. "Here, let me help you to your cabin then I'd like to take a look at that ankle."
She started to protest.
"I just want to make sure it's not too bad and that you're not making it worse by walking on it."
She gave him an unhappy look, but didn't argue as he slowed his pace and stayed right beside her all the way to her cabin.
Once she'd unlocked the door, Levi stood back letting her go inside without him. She sat on the bed and toed off one boot then tried to do the same to the other, but it didn't budge.
"It's stuck." She looked up at him with wide eyes.
"Would you like some help?" He didn't want to scare her or make her feel like he was trying to take over.
"Please?"
Levi stepped in the still open door, took hold of her boot and pulled. Nothing. He changed his grip and tried again. It moved a little but didn't come off.
"Ouch, that hurts."
Levi released the boot, stepped back and looked at it a moment, then knelt beside her and stuck his fingers down inside the top of her boot. Crap there wasn't nearly as much room in there as there should have been. He stared down at the boot clad foot resting on the floor for a minute then looked back up at Mariah, finding her watching him with big scared eyes.
"I'd like to try to pull it off one more time, from a different angle. If that hurts too badly, we're going to have to cut it off."
"Cut it off?"
He nodded. "I've got a pair of sheers in the barn that will do the job, but I'm hoping we don't have to use them." He took a deep breath and let it out. "This will probably hurt, at least a little. Are you ready?"
She stared at her booted foot for several seconds then her gaze flicked back to him. "I guess. As ready as I'll ever be, at least."
Levi stood and lifted one leg over hers until he stood astride her leg, his back to her as he faced the boot, then he cupped one hand under the heel and pulled not just out but up as well. It took a moment, but he felt the leather begin to slide. Behind him, Mariah sucked air between her teeth and he knew he was hurting her, but the boot was coming off so he continued to pull. In a few seconds the tooled leather slipped off her foot, he dropped it to one side and knelt again.
He looked up at her face to see how she was doing then picked up Mariah's foot and gingerly peeled the sock back. Her skin was red and swollen. It was no wonder they'd had a hard time getting her boot off, he thought as he looked at where the seams of the boot had made indentations on the sides of her ankle.
"Did you ice this yesterday?"
"No. I didn't think about it."
"Was it swollen last night?"
"A little." She made a face a she stared down at where her leg seemed to go straight into her foot, forgetting there should be an ankle there at all.
"Was it swollen this morning?"
"A little, but not this bad."
Levi moved to the phone beside the bed, picked up the receiver and dialed the kitchen.
"I need an ice pack in the Wren cabin, please."
"I'll send one right down."
Lewis didn't bother asking questions, at least not now. It was one of the things Levi appreciated about him. Lewis got the job done and worried about questions and curiosity when there was more time. Levi went back to Mariah and picked up her foot again. He gently pressed against her ankle, manipulating it this way and that as he tried to get an idea of how badly she was hurt.
"I don't think it's broken. You'd have a hard time walking if it were. Harder tha
n you are now, I mean. It feels like a sprain. If you'd iced it yesterday instead of soaking it in heat, it probably wouldn't have gotten this bad. Spending several hours dangling off the side of a horse didn't help either." He looked up to find her watching him with a scowl. "I know the horseback ride wasn't your idea, but if I'd realized you hadn't iced this yesterday or that it was still swollen, I'd have figured something else out."
"Sir, I have your ice pack." Tyler stood at the door, holding out an old fashioned rubber lined bag with a stopper at the top.
"Thanks." Levi took it. "You can go back to what you're doing, I'll come check on things in a bit."
The kid walked away. Levi watched him a moment then turned back to Mariah.
"Here's what you need to do. Take a hot bath, add Epsom Salts to the water, you'll find some in the cabinet under the sink. I keep them everywhere we have a bathtub around here. But don't put your foot in the water. Keep your ankle propped up on the side of the tub, and use this." He handed her the ice bag. "After your bath keep off it as much as possible and keep it elevated. I'll come by and check on it before dinner." He glanced around the room. "If you need anything. Anything. Call and we'll get someone down to help you."
"What if I need help in and out of the tub? Will one of your men come help me then?" She watched him with narrowed eyes. "I've not seen a single other woman around here. I'm not sure I need that kind of help."
Levi sighed. "If you need help in and out of the tub, we've got a couple women around. Stephie, who does the housekeeping. She also helped decorate the cabins, and helps out in the kitchen too. It's just that we're a small operation, I don't have a lot of employees, men or women. Lewis, the cook, has been with me for years. I've got a few hands, and a couple women who help with different things like the housekeeping and the book keeping."
She watched him with narrowed eyes a moment then sighed and seemed to relax. "I can make it into the tub just fine. And thank you for looking at my ankle. I would never have gotten my boot off without your help."
"No problem. Please let us know if there's anything we can do for you." Levi ducked out of her cabin, closing the door behind himself and headed for the barns to make sure the horses had been properly cared for.
Chapter 10
The door clicked shut and Mariah shook her head. She didn't know what had come over her. It had only been in the last few minutes she'd realized what an ungrateful bitch she was being. Suspicious of Levi's every move and comment. Sometimes she didn't know what came over her, and at others she knew exactly what it was.
It hadn't taken her long, only a few weeks after she'd arrived in L.A. to realize that everything had a price. If someone did you a favor, they expected one in return. If someone was kind, they wanted something from you. It wasn't until she'd seen his face after she'd asked who they'd send to help her out of the tub that she'd realized what she was doing.
There had been a time, before she'd gone to Los Angeles, that she hadn't expected everyone to have ulterior motives for their every action. It wasn't until she'd seen the sympathy and hurt in Levi's eyes at her accusation that she realized she'd come to expect the same backstabbing from everyone. She sighed and shook her head. She didn't want to be that kind of person.
Peeling her blouse off over her head, she might as well get in the tub and see if she could hurt a little less. She could brood about what she'd done. What LA had made her once she was there. Sitting there only made her stiffer. Besides, he'd told her to elevate her ankle and she couldn't do that sitting there like this. She stood, careful to keep weight off her bad ankle and shimmied out of her jeans, letting them lay where they fell when she kicked out of them, then taking her ice bag, she headed for the bathroom.
Once she had the water running and had added the bath salts, which she'd found right where Levi had said they'd be, she climbed in. It was a little awkward maneuvering, but she managed without slipping and falling on her ass. She turned off the water and leaned back with a sigh. She closed her eyes and let the heat relax her overused muscles. It was an odd contrast to the ice on her ankle, but somehow it worked.
Now that she wasn't pre-occupied with the water and getting situated, thoughts about their host returned. She saw again the concern in his eyes when he'd asked about her ankle, the pure joy that had shone on his face when he'd talked about the land and his family this morning on the trail ride. There was something about him, aside from the arresting paleness of his eyes that kept drawing her attention, which would make someone a good husband one day.
Mariah shook her head at the thought. A husband. Yeah, Levi was husband material, he was a hard worker, caring, and smart, she could tell. It was just too bad that she was nowhere near being ready to settle down. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
* * *
Mariah stayed in the tub until the water turned cold then she got out, dressed and made her way to the chair by the window, phone in hand as she wanted to catch up with her girlfriends while she enjoyed a little of the sunshine streaming in the window.
Twenty minutes later she frowned at her phone. None of her friends were answering. Glaring down at her foot she wondered how long this would last before she could go and do as she wanted.
She adjusted the ice pack and realized there was no ice left in it. Setting the watery pouch aside she lifted her good leg and compared her ankles. She couldn't be sure, but she thought the swelling had gone down some. The ice seemed to be helping. She considered for a moment going to the dining hall to see if she could get more, then remembered Levi's warning to stay off her foot. She frowned at the memory and glanced around the room. As she spotted the phone beside the bed and she remembered him telling her to call if she needed anything.
Mariah glared at the phone across the room she didn't want to have to hobble across the room any more than she wanted to limp all the way up to the dining hall. Then it occurred to her. She was holding a phone in her hand. Using the data, she looked up the ranch's main number then dialed it.
"X-bar-Z Ranch, this is Lila how can I help you?" a sweet, polite voice answered.
”Hi, my name’s Mariah. I hate to bother you but I need some ice for my ankle and I’ve been told to stay off it.”
"No problem. I'll let the dining hall know and we'll get that right to you. You said you're in the Wren cabin, correct?"
"Yes, and thank you."
"No problem, I just hope you feel better and can enjoy the rest of your stay."
Mariah disconnected the call and turned back to the window. She noticed a pretty blue bird and took a few pictures, posting the best of them to Instagram. A knock on her door made her jump.
"Coming." The kid earlier hadn't had a key, so Mariah struggled to her feet, grabbed the watery ice pack and using the furniture to steady herself, hopped over to the door and opened it.
"Hey, how you feeling?" Levi stood there, a round bucket of ice in one hand. A zippered case the size of a hard cover book in the other.
"Better." She hopped back giving him room to come in. "I wasn't expecting you. I thought the boy, Tyler, right? Would bring the ice."
"Yeah, it's Tyler. I was nearby when you called and I wanted to check on you anyway. I hope you don't mind?"
"Not at all."
He set the zipper case on the table next to the door and held out his hand. "Give me the ice pack, I'll refill it. You go sit down."
She handed him the pouch, turned and hopped back to the chair where she'd been. He went into the bathroom and she heard water splashing as he emptied the pouch and refilled it. She'd just settled her swollen ankle back on the ottoman when he stepped back into the room.
"Does the ice seem to be helping?"
Mariah took another long look at the limb in question.
"I think so, but I can't be sure. I wish I'd thought to take a picture before I put the ice on it."
On his way by he picked up the zippered pouch, then continued until he reached her side.
"Let me see."
She watched as h
e knelt beside the ottoman, set both the pouch and the ice pack aside, and took a good look at her ankle, lifting it and flexing it as he'd done before. It hurt less now.
"The swelling has gone down. Is it less tender?"
"It doesn't hurt as much when you move it, if that's what you mean."
"How about when you put weight on it?"
"I haven't. You said not to."
"Okay, good. Rest it as much as you can and keep it elevated if at all possible. The keeping it up helps keep blood from pooling in it and helps with the swelling, as does the ice." He looked down at it again. "Did you bring any shoes other than the heels and the boots? Heels are a really bad idea out here, and I don't want to risk pushing this down in your boots and having it swell again."
"I brought a pair of running shoes, are they okay?"
"Sneakers? That's perfect." He picked up the zippered pouch. "I've got something here that should help." He pulled out some kind of rolled bandage. "Here prop your leg up on this." He turned the zippered pouch up on one side so it would hold her foot dangling in the air above the ottoman and slowly wrapped the bandage around her ankle and down around the top of her foot. "These work really well to help stabilize a sprain, the trick though is to get them tight enough without getting them too tight and restricting circulation."
"How do you know when you've got it just right?" She bit the inside of her lip as she watched him wind the stretchy bandage around her ankle.
"Experience mostly."
"Oh, you wrap a lot of ankles?"
"My fair share."
"You must know a lot of klutzy people then."
Levi's skin pinkened as a blush spread across his neck and face. "Actually, it's rarely human ankles. It's usually horses but the concept is the same, snug but not too tight."
The Cowboy Way Page 3