Stone Cold Cowboy(13)

“If she wakes up, give me a call. We’ll get this sorted out.” The deputy handed over his card. Rory stuffed it into the front pocket of his too small shirt.


Rory sat with his feet propped on the cart beside Sadie’s bed, his arm along the length of her leg, his hand over hers. He rolled his head to the side when someone entered the room. He expected the nurse to come back and check Sadie’s vitals again, but Ford and Colt walked in and stopped short, both their gazes locked on his hand on Sadie’s.

“What are you guys doing here?”

Ford held up the pizza and six-pack in his hands. “I brought dinner and beer. Thought you might be hungry.” He set both on the tray table at the end of the bed.

Colt held up a duffel bag and yanked the shirt down from over his shoulder and tossed it to Rory. “Brought you one of your shirts. Stopped by her place and talked to her dad. He’s not well at all and scared for her. I told him we’d take care of her and see she gets home whenever they release her. I packed her some clothes.” Colt dropped the bag at the end of the bed without hitting Sadie’s tiny feet.

Rory pulled off Colt’s flannel that had kept him warm but was damn uncomfortable when it pulled and pinched every time he moved. He tossed the flannel on Sadie’s bag and pulled the dark gray thermal on. Comfortable and able to flex his arms and move his shoulders, he relaxed.

“Thanks, guys.”

“There’s something you should know.” Colt unscrewed the cap on one of the beer bottles and took a long pull. “I found the Higginses’ five horses, saddled and grazing in the back pasture outside their house.”

“Based on the missing horses, the deputy thinks her brother is involved.” Rory swore and shook his head.

Colt scrunched one side of his mouth into a lopsided frown. “Those damn fools just left them there. That or they turned them loose and the horses found their way home.”

“They hurt her, left her and the horses, they don’t give a shit about anyone or anything, just taking the cattle and running off with them.” Ford clenched his hand tight on the end of the bed frame and stared down at Sadie.

Rory popped the top on his own beer and drank deeply, wishing it was something stronger. “I find her asshole brother, he’s going to wish he never stepped foot on our land or left his sister for dead.”

“Why the hell is she handcuffed to the bed?” Colt asked, shaking his head. “Even if she took the cattle with those guys, she’s suffered enough.”

“She didn’t do it.” The warning in Rory’s voice made Colt narrow his eyes.

“I never said she did it. I’m just saying . . .”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’m pissed and tired and frustrated as hell.”

“So, a normal day,” Ford tried to tease him out of yet another of his black moods.

Sometimes Rory found the overwhelming responsibility to oversee the ranch and take care of his family wore on him. He spent too much time working, not enough time . . . doing anything else. He couldn’t remember the last time he took a day off. He couldn’t remember the last movie he went to see in the theater, let alone the last time he went out with a woman. He vaguely remembered sex involved more than a hot shower and his hand.

He felt Sadie’s soft skin beneath his fingers. In the past, just the sight of her stirred something deep inside him that felt like the crack of a seed just beginning to sprout. But without any light inside him, it died each and every time he walked away from her without so much as a hello.

Now, sitting beside her, touching her skin after all he’d been through today, it felt like the newest seed to crack open inside him not only sprouted, but sprang a new leaf, trying to reach up and out of his chest and finally grow into something. What? He didn’t quite know, but he was tired of everything he wanted and needed being smothered under responsibility.

“Rory, you stare at her any harder, you’ll wear a hole in her.” Ford handed him a paper plate with two slices of bacon and tomato pizza. His favorite. “Eat, man. We’ll figure this out.”

“Nothing to figure out. We need to find her brother and whoever else did this to her.”

“The cops can’t even find that fuck.” Colt wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “Asshole’s been running around for years doing anything he damn well pleases.”

“She always pays the price,” Ford said.

“What do you mean?” Rory asked, eyeing his brother.

“It’s no secret she’s the one who cleans up that guy’s messes. That fight with Colt isn’t the only time he went into that bar and started some trouble. She’s paid off bar tabs, gambling debts, lawyer bills when Connor actually got caught, and settled up with folks when her brother stole their shit.”