“Oh, fuck.”
“My sentiments exactly.” As he watched, she opened her eyes, blinked, then turned looked at him.
“Hi.”
“Hi yourself. I want to get you out of here. Where does it hurt?” He couldn’t keep his hands off her. She was alive. She could talk.
He’d been a cop long enough to know she could easily have been killed.
“I think I bumped my head.”
“Yeah, I see a bit of a goose egg coming up. Anything else?”
“Shoulder where the seat belt grabbed me. I wasn’t going very fast, Matthew. As soon as that jackass pulled up beside me, I slowed down. I guess I should have stopped. I never expected him to ram his car into the side of mine like that.”
“Most people can’t think rationally in a moment like that, baby. Thank God we were talking at the time. Okay, I’m calling for an ambulance.”
“I don’t need an ambulance. Really. They’d just cart me off to Waco, and I’d be in the ER for hours. ”
“You’re fucking getting an ambulance. Deal with it.”
He just stared at her as she unfastened her seat belt. Because she seemed determined to get out of the car, he helped her. He kept his hands on her until he saw she was steady.
“See? I’m standing on my own two feet. I’m shaking, a bit sore, a little scared, and a lot pissed off. But I’m not hurt badly. I don’t need an ambulance.”
She was standing and lucid. “Fine, then you’re going to the clinic in Lusty. Come sit in my car while I call Adam.”
“Can we go to the storage place first, since we’re almost there? I want—”
Matthew stopped and stepped in front of her, and she must have finally realized how coldly furious he was because she immediately shut up then shrugged her shoulder.
The shrug made her wince.
“We are going immediately to the clinic. If you say one more word about going anywhere but the clinic, it’ll be the hospital in Waco for you. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important to me at this moment than making sure you’re okay. Got it?”
“Got it.”
He drew her into his arms and held her. He knew she could feel that he was shaking. He didn’t care. “Scared the living hell right out of me. I thought we’d lost you.”
He felt her arms come around him, and he felt her trembling. “I thought you’d lost me, too.”
He led her to his cruiser, then eased her into the front passenger seat. He took a moment to run back to her damaged vehicle. Her purse had tumbled onto the floor, and he grabbed it, making sure he got everything that had fallen out of it. He returned to his own car and called Adam. He told him what had happened and gave him the information he had on the Taurus. Then he shut the radio off and turned the car toward home.
“Adam’s contacting the highway patrol. They’ll likely meet him at your car. Adam’s already issuing a BOLO. Once they’ve finished forensics, it’ll be towed. Gord Jessop has one of the best car repair shops in the entire county. They’ll probably take it there.”
“Okay. The guy must have been drunk.”
Matthew divided his attention between the road and his woman. “Don’t close your eyes, baby. I don’t want you passing out on me.”
Kelsey laid her head back. “I don’t feel anywhere near to passing out. I’ve got a mild headache, is all.”
“I’ve no doubt. You’re also likely black and blue all over.” And if she wasn’t really sore right now, she would be in the morning. It only took about twenty minutes to drive back to Lusty. Matthew pulled his cruiser to the curb in front of the clinic. He wasn’t surprised when Steven’s Jeep squealed to a stop right behind him. Steven had the passenger door of the cruiser open and was lifting Kelsey out of the car before Matthew rounded the hood.
“Jesus.” Steven’s face looked white and tight with fear.
“I’m all right, Steven. Where’s—”
“Mom’s at the ranch with Benny. Adam called me.”
Kelsey didn’t argue about being carried. Matthew followed his brother and Kelsey into the clinic. Shirley had the door open to the first exam room, and Doctor James Jessop was already there, waiting for them.
“All right, let’s have a look at what you’ve done to yourself. Gentlemen? If you would give us some privacy?”
Matthew looked over at his brother, then turned back to his Uncle. “She’s ours,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere.”
* * * *
Kelsey had never been fussed over like this.
At first she’d wondered whose idea it had been to keep her so occupied with visitors she didn’t have a moment to think about the accident. Then she realized that, much as the people of Lusty had immediately pitched in to provide for Benny, they’d jumped at the chance to pamper her, too.