Here Comes Trouble (5 page)

"I'm right here," she reminded him, then
informed, "I'm making this decision, not Jenny."

"Sorry...so are you interested?" he asked the
prickly woman.

"Since I'm on call twenty-four hours a day for
your guests, I want the same pay I'm getting at the hospital," she
informed him.

He heard Jenny snicker and shot her a look.
"Fine, let me know what that is and I'll have my attorney draw up a
contract. Two years?"

"One year, with the option to renew," Terri
negotiated.

Joel huffed out a breath and shook his head.
"You're awfully demanding for someone who needs a job, you know
that?"

"And you assume an awful lot for someone who
seems to need a good nurse with a trauma background
quickly."

Joel needed something quickly alright...a
drink. He absolutely could not believe he'd just offered her a job.
Yeah, he was planning on hiring a medic for the ranch next week,
but hiring a former lover for that job was way beyond what he
imagined. It could cause big trouble at the ranch, but he'd stepped
off in it now, so there was no going back.

"You'll need to move in next week to order
supplies and set up the station, we open the week after," he told
her. "I've gotta go, I've got work to do," he said then leaned over
and kissed Jenny's cheek. "Don't go back in that house!"

"Yes, sir," Jenny replied testily.

"This has been a heck of a day," Terri told
Jenny with a shake of her head. "I feel like I've lived a week in a
day."

"It'll get better, darlin...just hang in
there," her friend said and dropped an arm over her shoulders.
"Look at the bright side, you have a job now!"

"Yeah, I have a job," Terri agreed, but she
couldn't shake the sense of impending doom that hung over her like
a black cloud. Maybe things would get better, maybe this job would
work out fine, and maybe she'd sprout wings and fly to the moon.
That was how she felt right now, and slightly stunned that she'd
agreed to go to work for Joel Rhodes.

She'd slept with the man, no not slept, she'd
had sex with him--all night long--wild wonderful sex. It looked
like her memory was a lot better than his though. He had acted so
cool and disinterested, it was like they were meeting for the first
time. It was obvious his offer was not because he was interested in
picking up where they left off a year ago. That was a good thing,
because Terri was afraid if the sexy attorney turned rancher
wiggled his pinkie finger at her, she'd definitely go there again
with him. And that could put a fork in their working
relationship.

Terri didn't want to admit it, but she needed
this job, was looking forward to it. His job offer was really the
answer to her prayers, a way out of her current predicament.
Somehow, she would have to ignore the fact that the tall
dark-haired man who'd rocked her world was just about the sexiest
thing she'd seen in a pair of Wranglers and a cowboy
hat.

CHAPTER THREE

Terri had spent the weekend with Jenny and
Chase at their new house, and was glad to leave that lovefest come
Monday morning. Seeing her friend so happy was a wonderful thing,
but being around them just drove home the point how unhappy her own
life had become.

When she moved to Amarillo this week, she
would be totally alone. Although she'd lived alone for the last
five years, Terri had her crazy family for support, and a few
friends.

In Amarillo, she'd have no one
really.

Jenny had Chase, and they'd hang out
sometimes, but between the new baby coming, vet school and her job
with Rhodes Drilling, Terri knew she wouldn't see Jenny
much.

Terri hadn't told her mother she was moving
yet, and she hadn't turned in her notice at the hospital. That was
her plan for today. Tomorrow she'd be packing and Wednesday the
moving company would come and get her things. Most of it was going
into a storage unit that Jenny had helped her find on Saturday. She
wouldn't need furniture or her other things. All she needed for her
new life was her clothes and some personal items.

First things first though, Terri thought, as
she pulled up in the familiar parking lot of Henrietta Memorial
Hospital. Jenny had helped her write her letter of resignation last
night, and it was sitting on the seat beside her.

Make it short and sweet, Jenny had told her,
and that's what she'd done. This visit with the nursing supervisor
in the ER was going to be the same. The woman knew what was going
on with Dr. Gregory, Terri had talked to her about it privately.
When push came to shove though, she'd backed Dr. Gregory...just
like they all had. Her notice probably wouldn't come as much of a
surprise to the woman.

Terri looked down at the navy suit that Jenny
had loaned her. It was a little snug around the hips and bust, and
the skirt that hit her taller friend mid-thigh came to mid-calf on
her, but it looked good...professional. She was going into that
hospital with her chin held high, and then she was leaving the same
way.

Yanking the door handle, Terri grabbed her
purse and the letter and walked toward the entrance with a smile
pasted on her face. Along her path, she encountered several of the
nurses she'd worked with and forced a smile, but she didn't stop to
chit chat. Focused on her destination, Terri walked down the hall
to the nurse supervisor's office and rapped her knuckles on the
door. It opened and she managed one more smile, then stepped inside
when Margaret Keating opened the door wider.

"Terri...I didn't expect to see you today,"
the gray-haired older woman said, then shut the door and walked
around her desk to sit. Terri took one of the chairs in front of
her desk and crossed her legs.

"I imagine you didn't," Terri said with a
short laugh. The woman who she'd trusted enough to tell about the
situation didn't expect to see her for six weeks. "I have something
to tell you."

"I see, and what's that...if it's about the
situation, I can't talk about it."

"No need to talk about anything, Margaret...I
think I know exactly where you stand," Terri told her then leaned
forward to slide the letter across her desk. "I can't work here
anymore. Since I was going to be out for six weeks anyway, I
figured notice wasn't necessary."

Margaret picked up the letter and read it,
then laid it on the desk and leaned forward on her elbows. "You're
a good nurse, Terri...I certainly didn't want to lose you. That's
why I fought for a suspension rather than your
termination."

Anger surged up inside of Terri, and she tried
to tamp it back down, but it came out in her tone, along with quite
a bit of sarcasm. "That was
awfully
nice of you
Margaret...bless your heart," she told her, which any southern
woman knew was the veiled equivalent of kiss my ass. Terri was sure
her meaning was clear...you sold me out, bitch.

With as much dignity as she could muster,
Terri stood and straightened her suit. "That is all I had to say to
you, I'll be going now. Good luck to you and the other women in the
department," Terri told her then grabbed her purse.

Terri saw the woman's eyes flicker with
sympathy, then she muttered, "Terri, I..."

Holding up a hand, Terri cut her off. "No,
don't say anything. Ya'll have made your bed, so you should sleep
in it, I choose not to. That's all that needs to be
said."

"If you need a reference..." the woman had the
gall to say.

"I have another job, so thank you, but no..."
Terri said then turned toward the door, before she let loose the
hot words that were scorching the tip of her tongue.

"I'll hold this resignation until your
suspension is over...in case you change your mind. You should think
about this, Terri."

"I've done nothing but think about it since
Friday, and you can turn it in now, I won't be changing my mind,
Margaret," Terri told her then walked out the door, down the hall
past her gawking former co-workers and right out into the bright
Texas sunshine. Her shoulders lifted like a weight was gone, and
she smiled, actually smiled for the first time since
Friday.

By the time she had her things in boxes on
Tuesday night, Terri was exhausted both mentally and physically.
Grabbing her car keys, she wended her way through the boxes stacked
in her living room, and jogged toward her car. She was going to get
some takeout and a bottle of wine to celebrate starting her new
life, the idea of which was starting to grow on her.

A nurse at a dude ranch, Terri thought in
amazement and shook her head. She would probably encounter more
funny situations than she ever had in the ER. Cowpokes were born
and raised, not trained after sitting behind a desk and pushing a
pencil for years. The greenhorn guests who came to the ranch would
be accidents waiting to happen.

With a smile on her face she clicked the
button on her key fob and heard her car respond. Before she reached
it though, someone got out of the car beside hers and walked over
to her. The parking lot was dark, but she could tell it was a tall
man and panic shot through her. Twisting her car key between her
fingers, she fisted her hand around it and took the offensive
posture she'd been taught in her self-defense class.

"Whoa, tiger, it's just Dr. Gregory," the
smarmy bastard told her.

Terri didn't relax, she remained alert. A
glance around the parking lot told her there was nobody around to
help her if she yelled. This man was not going to take her by
surprise though, she'd be ready if he tried anything.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she spat
angrily.

"I heard you resigned, and I wanted to ask you
to reconsider...I can help get the suspension shortened," he
replied coolly.

"Why, so you can try to get me to sleep with
you again. That isn't happening in this lifetime, bud...or the
next," she grated through her teeth.

He lifted his hand as if to put it on her
shoulder, and Terri couldn't help herself, she lunged forward and
executed a defensive move to knock his hand away. "Don't put your
fucking hands on me asshole."

Terri needed to get into her car, but there
was no way she was turning her back on him to do it.

"The best thing you can do, before I hit this
panic button on my keychain is get back in your car and haul your
ass out of here," she warned him with her thumb hovering over the
button. She knew nobody would hear it, but he didn't.

Their complex was near a busy road, and only a
few empty vehicles were in the parking lot right now. If the
bastard tried anything though, he wouldn't get what he wanted
without a fight. She'd scratch him from asshole to
appetite.

He evidently realized she was serious, because
he took a step back. "You're giving up a good job for what?
Nothing...nobody will hire you now."

"That's where you're wrong, I have a new job,"
she told him snottily. "And it's not working with a lecherous old
bastard who can't keep his hands to himself."

"Lecher--" he repeated the word then stepped
forward again.

Terri didn't retreat, she held her ground.
Leaning forward, she put her nose close to his and then ground out,
"What, you can't get a woman unless you force her to have sex with
you?"

"Why you little, bitch--" he said and grabbed
for her shoulders. Abruptly, he flew backwards then landed on his
back, before someone straddled and she heard a fist crunch against
bone.

The man on top of him, her unknown savior,
jerked him up by the collar of his expensive sport coat and got in
his face, then grated, "If you ever come within ten feet of her
again, let alone put your hands on her, I will kick your ass six
ways to Sunday...got it?"

A whimper-like groan was the answer he
received, and he pushed Dr. Gregory back to the ground, then stood
and brushed off the knees of his jeans and picked up his cowboy hat
to brush it off.

"You okay, sugar?" a familiar voice asked
her.

Joel? What was he doing here?
Whatever
the reason, she was thankful his timing was so good. "Yeah, I'm
fine," she told him and her body relaxed a few degrees.

She saw Dr. Gregory sit up holding his nose,
then he scooted back a few feet, before he pushed to his feet and
run-walked around his car then got inside.

"You shouldn't be out here in this dark lot by
yourself at night," Joel reprimanded then shoved his hat back on
his head.

"The maintenance guy hasn't gotten around to
replacing the bulbs in the security lights," she
replied.

"Good thing you're moving then," he told her
gruffly.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Terri
asked.

"I had to go to Dallas and pick up the rest of
my stuff, so I stopped by to see if you had anything you needed
help moving. I have room in the truck," he told her with a nod
toward the moving truck parked at the back of the lot.

"I'm all packed up, I was just going to get
something to eat. The mover is coming tomorrow morning, so I think
I'm all set."

"Think all your stuff will fit in the moving
truck?" he asked shortly.