Anita's Triple Temptation [Men of Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (4 page)

Soon, Dave moved his hand upward, running his hand up the horse’s nose, scratching his fingers between the animal’s eyes. The colt’s ears stood up, more attentive though still trying to retain contact with him. After a few more minutes of this, Dave slowly raised his other hand out reaching for the horse’s neck. Once his hand touched the soft fur of the sloping neckline, he began to stroke it downward, still not moving quickly to avoid spooking him.

Continuing the same motions over and over, letting his new horse get used to him, Dave reveled in the joy at the trust the animal gave him. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest as he finally had his own horse. He was finally old enough to accept the promise his grandfather had given him many years ago when he kept asking for his own horse. His little face actually hurt from smiling so much but he didn’t care. His greatest wish had come true.

It was during that thought that one of the hands behind him had sneezed, frightening the horse and Dave, the former rearing up on his hind legs before anyone could settle him down at the unexpected noise. Frozen, Dave watched the colt rise up and then begin to descend but his body would not register the danger. The shouting was heard within his mind, but he still wouldn’t move.

A hand grabbed him from behind, trying to pull him back but the hooves of the young horse came down as he moved, catching him on the right side of his face. Bright lights seemed to explode in his head as searing pain coursed through his face. Blood spurted from his nose and the gash on his cheek, his eyes not able to see anything except his beautiful horse, though for some reason he was looking up at him from the ground.

The shouts around him got louder as someone continued to scream, though he didn’t know who. Moments later, his horse was pulled away as gentle hands pulled on Dave and his horse was moving away from him. It was only a few moments later that darkness encompassed him.

Later, he woke in the hospital, the whole left side of his face numb and bandaged up. Crying could be heard and he had to turn his face far to the left to see his mother sitting next to the bed he was lying in. Her face was red as were her eyes, her hands in her lap. His father stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders, his stony features belying any emotion, as usual.

As he moved his mother became attentive, moving closer to the bed. Standing, she placed her hands on the rail. “Oh, Davey. I can’t believe this happened to you. You are never going back there.”

Her voice was shaky while tears were evident in her eyes. Dave shook his head at her comment. Trying to speak, Dave had to clear his throat a couple of times before he was able to get something out. “Please let me go back. It wasn’t his fault.”

“That horse could have killed you!” she cried. “I won’t—”

His father interrupted her by placing a hand on her hand on the rail. “Don’t, Ann. Let him be. It was an accident. My father was there.”

A pout formed on her lips as she deferred to her husband though she didn’t agree with him. It wasn’t a secret of how she felt about the ranch, but it was the way Dave’s father had grown up so she knew it was pointless to argue.

A nurse came in and checked Dave’s vitals before addressing his parents. “The doctor will be in to go over a few things with you.”

“Will he be able to go home now?” his mother asked.

Shrugging, the nurse looked at his chart. “That is up to the doctor at this point. He’ll be here in just a bit.”

Several hours later Dave was wheeled out of the emergency room by an orderly. Stopping at the doorway to the waiting room, Dave saw his grandfather sitting in one of the chairs. His larger frame seemed to dwarf the chair, his normal presence seeming larger than life. It was the first time he had seen his grandfather worried about anything.

A deep worry line ran across his forehead while below that his eyebrows were knitted together. His hands were in his lap, clenched together, white knuckled. Glancing up at the doorway, he spotted his grandson, a flash of relief in his eyes. Tears filled his eyes as he first looked up at Dave’s father and then his mother. “I’m so sorry.”

“Dad,” the middle Olson man said, a bit exasperated. “I’ve already told you there is nothing to apologize for. It was an accident. I was coming up to the corral when it happened. I saw the whole thing.”

Dave looked up at his grandfather through his only good eye at that point, fear registering at the possible loss. “Gramps? I still get to keep him, don’t I?”

A gasp was heard from his mother who was behind the orderly, but they all knew that the best way for Dave to overcome his trauma would be for him to keep the colt. His grandfather glanced up at Dave’s mother briefly. Seeing her worried face, he breathed in deeply. Letting out the breath slowly, he nodded. “Yes, son. You can keep him.”

Smiling though it hurt his face, Dave was happy. That had been one of the best summer vacations of his life, and yet he remembered the pain and heartache that came with it. His grandfather passed away toward the end of August that year from lung cancer. His grandmother had been right about the cigars.

* * * *

The memory flashed through Dave’s mind as he watched the older man rise from his chair as a nurse stepped into the room. “Mr. Johnson, your wife is in the recovery room now. I’ll take you to see her now.”

Mumbling his thanks, the man seemed to relax a bit for the first time since they had arrived.

He followed the nurse out of the room, leaving the three ranch hands as its only occupants. They all looked at each other. James spoke for the three of them, smiling. “Hopefully we won’t have to wait on Anita like that in the future, but we will be living that long for her.”

Dave knew better since he was the oldest of the three of them, but he would do everything possible to live as old as he could to take care of Anita and his two friends. Leaning his head back against the wall, he watched the two through lowered eyelids. They fidgeted in their nervousness, needing to learn how to control their stress levels. He wanted them to live a long happy life with their woman, even when he wasn’t around anymore. He would need to talk to them about it soon.

* * * *

It was about an hour later that a rustling at the doorway caught James’s attention. Kevin was texting on his phone and Dave was lost in thought. Looking up from the magazine he was blindly flipping through, he found the nurse from earlier standing there rather sheepishly.

“I’m sorry,” she said, blushing. Kevin and Dave’s attention was drawn to her immediately. “I didn’t catch your names, but Miss Cummings is awake. She didn’t know you guys were here but she woke in a panic.”

All three men jumped to their feet and moved toward the doorway. The nurse hurriedly moved through the opening and continued on to the double metal doors. Dave stepped quickly to hold the door open for the woman, which she found endearing. It was a trait she noticed many men had around these parts. They had been raised right.

As soon as she entered the main room of the E.R. she felt every female eye turn from their duties to watch as the three cowboys followed her. For a moment, she felt envied that she was with them, but then the letdown was that they belonged to the woman she was tending to. It was then her own jealously spiked for her patient.
Damn
! Now she was in the same boat as the other nurses.

Stepping into the curtained area, she motioned for them to keep it down. “I was only supposed to let two of you back at a time, but I knew you’d all want to be here.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Kevin said politely, nodding his head at her.

Feeling herself blush, she smiled and rushed from the area, leaving the foursome alone.

* * * *

The three men stood looking at their woman, shock registering on their faces at the brutality that had been dealt to her. The left side of her face was swollen, the eye totally unseen. Black, blue, and purple cast an odd mask to her features as it seemed to spread out from the initial wounded area. Her hair had been removed from the ponytail it had been in when she first arrived and now it was fanned out around her head like a halo.

She looked small and helpless lying in the bed, and anger began to course through the men’s veins. Each man looked at the other, a triangle of unspoken anger and an unspoken agreement that they would be out to get the man who had hurt their angel.

Kevin stepped up to the bed on one side of Anita while James took the other side. Dave sat down next to her leg, letting his hand rub it through the light blanket they had spread over her. Her boots had been removed.

Looking at each of the men, the confused look upon her face was unmistakable, but then there was the underlying look of fear also. “God, I can’t believe they called you guys. How’d they even know to call you?” she practically cried out.

“Sweetness,” Dave said softly, his hand stopping on her knee. “We had just gotten there when the bouncer was called over to help. Your neighbor told us where to find you.”

Surprise registered in her eyes at the revelation before tears began to fall. James looked around for something. Eyeing the stool, he pulled it over and sat on it, bringing himself closer to her side. Reaching out, he caressed her cheek, gently pulling her head over so she had to look at him. “Why are you working there of all places?” he asked directly but with tenderness.

Anita’s eyes closed, as if she was trying to shut them out. James tapped her cheek with his fingers. “No, baby girl. You are not going to shut us out.” Then, as if it just dawned on him, he said sadly, “But then, that’s what you’ve been doing. Isn’t it?”

Tears streamed down her temples, dampening the sides of her hair as her hands came up to try to hide her face. Kevin pulled them downward, holding them on her stomach gently as sobs began to wrack her body. She tried hard to be as quiet as possible given where they were, but she couldn’t contain her fears of the future or the shame of being caught where she was.

“Shush,” James said, rubbing her arm with his other hand. “We’ll get into all that later. I called your mother to let her know there was an accident. She’ll watch the boys for the next couple of days. We’ll take you to a motel once you are released here so you can rest and the boys won’t see the worst of it right now.”

Still not opening her eyes, ashamed of herself, she refused to speak. Trying to control her tears, she sobbed quietly knowing all three men were watching her, judging her. Three sets of hands caressed her somewhere on her body. Reveling in the bliss of their touch, she began to doze, her tears beginning to subside as her body began to relax.

* * * *

Footsteps stopped outside the curtain briefly and soft voices were heard conversing, a male and a female. After a moment, the material was pushed aside and all three cowboys looked in its direction as Anita woke with a start. All three men patted their hands where they lay to get her to calm down.

“Miss Cummings,” the middle-aged man in blue scrubs started. “We just got the x-rays back and it looks like there is a fracture in your cheekbone. That’s why there is so much bruising right now. I would like to keep you overnight for observation.”

The three Circle G men glanced at each other before looking at their woman. They would prefer to get her somewhere they could keep her safe, as they didn’t trust Virgil, but knew there was no fighting the doctor. Her eyes were wide with fear, tears still leaking from them.

Dave stood, taking the lead for the ménage relationship as he was the oldest. “Is there any way we can take her home? We’d like to keep her safe.”

Stepping further into the area and pulling the curtain closed behind him, the doctor looked solidly at Dave. “I understand your concern for keeping your daughter safe,” the man began though stopped when the large cowboy growled at him.

“She is not my daughter,” Dave practically spat. “She is our woman. We protect what is ours!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend,” the doctor said quickly. “Our main concern right now is Miss Cummings’s health. The fracture is near the orbital socket and we want to make sure there is no damage to her eye. We have an ophthalmologist coming in first thing in the morning to examine her and then we can determine whether or not she can be released.”

As the doctor spoke, Dave’s anger grew with each word. Clenching his hands into fists, he had to restrain himself from going and finding Virgil, which up until then, they hadn’t thought about him even being a patient there. Going still, he stared at the doctor for a moment before nodding in understanding, his chin jutting out. “But understand this, doctor,” he stated dangerously that if one knew him well enough was a threat and not to argue with him. “We will be staying with her in her hospital room. If you can’t accept that, or try to kick us out, we will take her with us.”

Nodding, the doctor didn’t back down from the threat, taking it as it was given. “Miss Cummings will be taken to a room in just a little bit. You are welcome to stay with her as long as you don’t get in the way of the nurses or any of the exams that will need to be conducted.”

Dave’s hand came out in agreement which the doctor accepted. “Thank you, doctor. I know she’ll be in good hands with you.”

“We are here to take care of Miss Cummings, which we will do. She is a very lucky woman to have you men to look after her.” The doctor smiled. “And, please, no hard feelings?”