AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A horse . . . dragged . . .” She turned her head and glanced at her wrists, longing for the rope she swore she could still feel. Red burns marked her skin. When she looked at Shep again, she mourned for the way he stared at her, intently and passionately. “I—”
“Shh . . .” His voice became a low, comforting rumble. “Rest easy now, Emma.”
Blackness began to creep into her vision again and the world turned a little fuzzy. She shut her eyes against the pain hammering in her head, and that’s when she heard the ambulance sirens blasting through the air. Slowly, the missing pieces began to come back to her. She rejected Shep twice last night. Once at the bar, and again after their little show on stage. And apparently now, she wasn’t having the best sex of her life with a dirty-talking cowboy, she had head trauma.
Chapter 2
The day began normally enough. Shep hopped on his horse, Tadgh, and joined the morning cattle drive handled by the cowboys at his late father’s multimillion-dollar cattle company, Blackshaw Cattle Company. Truth be told, he expected to have a quiet day that mirrored every other day this week, since he’d given his team at his wilderness survival company, Blackshaw Survival,
time off. His team was due back to work in a couple weeks for the next contract with the military to train their soldiers how to survive under harsh conditions. When his team was home with their families, Shep took time off, too. In his absence, Lorraine, the receptionist, handled the day-to-day tasks. Though his expectations of a calm day vanished when Emma’s scream sent him and Tadgh galloping at full speed in her direction. Of course, he hadn’t known it had been Emma at the time, until he saw her face. Though one quick look at the fear in the horse’s eyes told him all he needed to know.
Not only had the chestnut gelding been abused at some time in his life, but the woman who had melted in his arms last night at the bar was the granddaughter of Daisy Monroe, an old lady who had a habit of taking in animals that should’ve been euthanized. No one had a bigger heart for abused animals than Mrs. Monroe. Shep had heard through the gossip grapevine that Daisy’s granddaughter had moved into the hobby farm after Daisy’s passing, but he hadn’t connected the two until he saw the horse.
Earlier this morning, when he first roped the crazed horse dragging Emma through the grassy meadow, he’d thought she’d been dead. But that rope, tied tightly around her left wrist, likely saved her life because it kept her head off the ground. While Shep suspected she’d be bruised from head to toe tomorrow, she’d have her life, and that was a good end to his day.
It’d been an hour now since they’d arrived at the hospital, and he’d been waiting to be allowed into her hospital room. When he finally entered the room, he found Emma lying in bed with her eyes shut, sleeping soundly. Her long, chocolate-brown hair spilled out onto her pillow, her pink, pouty lips parted with her deep breaths.
Not wanting to disturb her, he carefully grabbed the chair next to her bed and sat down, waiting for her to wake up. Twice now this woman had fallen into his life, and Shep didn’t believe in coincidences. He wanted to know more about this sweet little thing who went all soft and warm when he touched her.
Right as he leaned back into his seat to relax, her eyes snapped open, and revealed beautiful light-green eyes, as she said, “I banged Jake, the CEO.”
“Did you now?” Shep fought off his smile, sure she had no idea what she was saying to him. He’d been warned by Doc Thompson that she’d been heavily drugged. Regardless, curiosity had him digging into her life. “When did you do that?”
“Oh, for the last year or so, but it was the biggest mistake of my life.” Her glassy eyes locked onto his. “Let me give you a piece of advice, stay away from the bad boys. They’re all trouble.”
Shep stretched out his legs. “I will. I assure you.” Just so happened, he was also one of those bad boys, who never quite followed the rules, always paving his own path in life, and so were his two brothers. “Is that why you’ve moved to River Rock?” He had heard through gossip that Emma was originally from New York City. “To get away from this guy?”
“Well, partly.” She stared up at the ceiling, looking at nothing. “Of course, Grams’s death brought me here, but I haven’t left River Rock because I don’t want to go home and face all the whispers and looks of coworkers who think I got my promotion all because I fucked my way to the top. So, here I am, rethinking my life and forming a new plan.”
“And then?”
She looked at him. Or at his chest, her eyes rolling a little. “Then I will kick ass.”
He laughed softly and placed the heels of his boots on the end of the hospital bed, staring at the beauty in the middle of the mattress. She was cute and feisty. His type of woman. And the sexy soft moans he heard last night at the bar remained imprinted on his mind. If it were up to him, he’d hear them again soon. “Sounds dramatic.”
“Totally dramatic. Horrible, in fact. First, I need a plan.” She glanced back up at the ceiling. “I need to rethink where I’m going after where I’ve been. I’ve put in years . . . so many fucking years . . . and then Grams died and she, for some reason, left me the farm, and then I thought, why in the hell not. I can do this. I can raise abused animals. Well, obviously I can’t because I guess I was being dragged in the field by a crazy-ass horse and eating cheeseburgers.”
Shep barked a laugh, unable to stop himself. Eating cheeseburgers? “And apparently, you’re hilarious on drugs.”
“Ah, I see the nurses have taken good care of you, Emma.”
Shep glanced left, finding Doc Thompson stepping next to Emma’s bed. He was an older man; his retirement was long overdue. His good bedside manner shined when he rested his hand on Emma’s shoulder, giving a gentle smile before he turned to Shep. “It’s just the morphine talking. Try not to pay too much attention to what she says.”
Shep nodded and smiled in return. Amusing, is what it was. His ex-girlfriend, Sara, a woman whom he’d uprooted his entire life for and dated for four years, had become uptight and rigid before their relationship ended a little over two years ago. Emma was like a breath of fresh air.
He began to wonder if fate was dropping him a line, when Emma spoke up again. “Wait. Where am I?”
“You’re at the hospital, Emma.” Doc patted her on the arm before turning back to Shep. “She’ll be fine once she sleeps a little bit.”
“Of course, I’ll be fine.” She lowered back down onto the pillow and cringed, breathing deeply for a few seconds before adding, “I can handle everything. I don’t need anyone. In New York, I was a big deal. Executive Creative Director at only twenty-seven.” Her eyes fluttered shut and she mumbled something incoherent.
“You’re still a big deal, dear.” Doc grabbed the clipboard off the end of the bed and began writing. “I think we should take the morphine down a notch or two.”
Shep smiled. “Probably a good idea.”
“Bad idea,” she interjected. “These drugs are so . . . exactly what I need.” She paused. Then, “But you should take that dirty-talking cowboy with you when you go.” She gave Shep a good hard look, with a blatant sexual regard that caused his cock to swell. When her eyes lifted to his again, she added dryly, “That guy right there is far too sexy for his own good. That makes him my nemesis.” She paused, closed her eyes, and snored a little, then opened her eyes again and said, “You know you want to kiss me. Remember how good it was? What are you waiting for?”
Doc laughed. “And that’s my cue to leave.”
