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“Could be hours,” Granger boomed. “Now, quit holding out on us, boy. That your baby in her or not?”
Grady nodded once and quietly murmured, “It’s mine.”
“Oh. Oh, my Lord,” Tara Rose whispered and sank into a seat, staring glazy-eyed at the wall.
Granger grinned. “Well, boy, howdy,” he cheered, smacking Grady’s hip. “I always knew you had good taste in the ladies, kid. But you topped the cake with this one. That Gilmore girl’s a fine woman. Good breeding stock. Why, the two of you will have strong, healthy babies. Damn, boy. . .”
/> He beamed as he continued to pummel Grady’s thigh like he was giving a congratulatory slap on the back. “What a way to carry on the line. I couldn’t have picked out anything better for you if I’d chosen her myself. B.J.’s a sturdy one. Got nice, wide, child-bearing hips and—”
“Dad!” Tara Rose hissed in a strangled voice.
Grady lifted his face in time to see B.J. standing frozen in the doorway, her face drawn and pale.
“Oh, good,” she said as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face. “I missed the big announcement.”
Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she passed out cold.
Chapter Eleven
“Now, why are you driving my truck again?”
Grady held in a deep sigh. But then he glanced at B.J. in the passenger seat, and the frustrated weariness dissolved instantly. She still looked pale. Too pale.
“How’s the head?” he asked, reaching out to once again feel the bump she’d accrued from landing noggin-first on his mother’s hardwood floor.
She quickly lifted her hand to the spot before he could touch it, sinking her finger into the thick mass and wincing.
“It’s fine.”
Dropping his fingers, Grady’s eyes drifted over her hair before once again returning his gaze to the road. He couldn’t recall ever seeing her hair down before. It was surprising how long and. . .pretty it was. The brown hue was a rich chocolate with golden hints of natural highlights. The locks were more straight than curly, providing a healthy bounce to them that tumbled over her shoulder and made him want to bury his nose in her neck and have all that long, silky hair coat his face.
“Still have a headache?” he asked, forcing his attention back to the road as he realized he hadn’t even seen her hair down the night they’d slept together. But he’d certainly been quick about pulling the ponytail holder from her skull so he could feel for a bump when she’d passed out nearly twenty minutes ago.
B.J. muttered, “It’s not so bad I can’t drive my own freaking truck.”
Grady ignored the comment, all the while trying to forget the fear that had pounded through him when he’d seen her wilt to the floor like a stage actress in some dramatic Shakespearean performance. Only this had been real. . .way too real. Still upset he hadn’t been able to make it to her in time to catch her, Grady winced as the thump her skull had made when she hit the floor continued to echo through his ear canal.
“Oh, my God,” his mother gasped as Grady fell to his knees in front of the collapsed B.J.
“B.J.?” he rasped, irrationally afraid she’d already passed on to the next world. He scooped her into his arms, gently cradling her head and feeling around for blood and brain-tissue.
“She okay?” his grandfather asked as he drove his motorized wheelchair up behind Grady and stopped next to Tara Rose, who was standing with both hands covering her chest.
The injured party herself answered. “What the hell am I doing on the floor?”
Grady thought he was going to take his own turn on the floor and pass out from relief. B.J. cursed as he found the tender spot on her scalp. Instinctively, she swatted his hand away. But he’d already felt for himself the skin had not been split open. There was a decent-sized goose egg growing, but that seemed to be the extent of the damage.
“Are you okay?” he asked, immediately reaching out to help her when she tried to sit up.
“Just dandy,” she muttered, wincing and then swaying as soon as she was upright.
Grady reached out to steady her, tightly wrapping his hand around her shoulder. Even after she caught her bearings, he continued to hold onto her, grateful she was at least conscious. Worry pounded through him, he couldn’t seem to breathe right.
“What happened?” she asked, glancing past him at his mother and grandfather.
“You passed out cold, kiddo,” Granger said. “Took the prettiest little nose dive to floor I’ve ever seen.”
B.J. snorted. “Really? I guess all that practice in front of the mirror paid off then?”
