Missy's Moment (The West Series Book 4) (3 page)

Then he’d given up his last hundred dollars to enter in the bronc busting competition at the rodeo, which, luckily, he’d won. He’d headed out to the next rodeo and won that one as well. He kept winning and eventually he was approached by a company just outside of New Orleans who wanted to sponsor him.

It had taken him almost a year to pay off his father’s final debts, but by then he was so engrossed in bronc busting, he hadn’t stopped.

It took the nasty fall in Montana to finally slow him down. Laid up in the hospital bed with a broken leg, three busted ribs, and a headache to rival all others, he’d finally thought about what he wanted to do with himself. He’d been injured before—he had pins in his right wrist, his left ankle, and had more stitches than he could count—but no other injury had affected him like this one had.

It took almost two months for him to finally make his way back to Texas. It hadn’t been easy for him to drive up to Saddleback and ask his cousin for help.

Lauren had always been his favorite. She’d been more like a mother to Ryan and him than a cousin. She was only five years older than him but in so many ways, she was more mature. She’d been running Saddleback, the family ranch, since she was eighteen.

When he’d driven up a few days ago, she’d rushed from the large front porch and hugged him so tight, he’d thought she’d cracked a few more of his ribs.

“What the hell have you done to yourself?” she’d asked as she pulled him into the house.

He’d laughed. “Fell off a damned horse.”

She’d glared at him. “This is more than just falling off; this is getting stepped on a dozen times.

He’d smiled and nodded. “I guess that’s about right.”

“Reece Loyal West, what in the world am I going to do with you?”

“You could give me a place to stay until I’m back on my feet.” She’d smiled and nodded.

“As long as you promise to stick around longer.”

“I guess I can do that.”

The next day, he’d moved into a large ranch-hand house they had along the back of their property.

He’d been at Alex’s and Haley’s weddings a few years back and had gotten to meet all of their husbands, but there were a few new editions that he’d yet to see.

He’d met Lauren and Chase’s son, Rickie, but now they had an almost-one-year-old daughter, Emma, who was the spitting image of her mama.

That first night at dinner, Alex and Haley had brought their families over, and he’d met Alex’s daughter, Laura, and Haley’s twin boys, Conner and Caden. He couldn’t help but stare down at the matching boys’ faces and think about his own twin. Where was Ryan? There was still a large hole in his life that his brother used to fill.

He’d gotten along great with Grant and Wes. He’d met all of them, including Lauren’s husband, Chase, before.

Now here he was a few days later, working in the corral and helping to break one of Chase’s horses. Chase had

warned him about jumping on the mare, but he hadn’t listened. He’d wanted the feeling of excitement he got from riding hard and fast.

When he landed, though, he heard something snap and cussed himself for the fool he was.

“What on earth!” someone shouted. “Johnathan Chase Graham! Why would you let him get on Ralph?”

Ralph? Reece thought. Who the hell was Ralph?

“Now listen, Lauren, I tried my best to talk him out of it,” Chase said, rushing over to him just as Lauren got there and gasped.

“He’s bleeding.”

He looked down at his leg and cussed. Sure enough, he’d busted the skin wide open just above his knee.

“It’s nothing,” he said, but he was quickly hushed by Lauren.

“Go pull the truck around. We’ll have to drive him into the clinic.” She helped him stand up as her husband rushed over to pull the truck closer to the corral.

“Why on heaven and earth would you get on a horse this soon?”

“I thought it was the right thing to do.” He smiled down at her and winced with pain as he tried to use his recently healed leg.

“Did you break it again?” she asked, looking down at his torn jeans.

He tested it out and shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“It would serve you right if you had.” She helped him into the truck. “I’ll drive him in; you can stay with the kids.”

“No, I’ll do it. It might take a while.”

“Fine, but call me the second you hear anything,” Lauren said, reaching over and snapping Reece’s seat belt into place. She leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Dummy,” she whispered before shutting the door. It was a nickname she’d always had for him. Ryan’s nickname had been Dumber. He supposed he was lucky that she thought of his brother as dumber than he was.

Chase pulled out for the short ride into town.

“I’d like to start breaking horses. You know…as a business,” Reese told him.

Chase laughed. “In your condition?”

“Well, maybe in a while. It’s something I was always good at.”

“Yeah, you looked real good flying through the air and landing on your face.” Chase laughed.

“I’m just a little distracted, that’s all.”

“Well, when you get all healed, you’re welcome to use the corral out in the east field. I don’t think it’s wise to keep too many new horses near the house.”

He nodded. “Maybe I’ll find a place of my own. I have some money saved up.” He thought about all of his winnings, which he hadn’t touched in three years. He didn’t even know how much he had in the bank. After dealing with his father’s debt, all that mattered to him was that there was a positive in front of the numbers instead of a negative.

“Grant could help you out there. He has some connections in town due to his business.”

“Isn’t he a lawyer?”

Chase laughed. “Yeah, but we don’t hold it against him. He’s the closest thing we have to a closing company in town. He knows all the listings and which people are looking to list their places.”

“Maybe I’ll check with him.” He looked down at his leg and cussed as he watched blood squirting from his knee. “But I think it will have to wait a while.” He could feel his head spinning and tried like crazy to hold onto consciousness.

“Damn it, don’t you go passing out on me like a little girl.” Chase shook his shoulder, but it was too late; everything had gone white.

When he opened his eyes again, he was looking into the biggest bluest eyes he’d ever seen. The woman’s sandy blonde hair had fallen around her face, and she was looking down at him with concern. Without thinking, he reached up and brushed the strand of hair away from her face. He recognized the face instantly and smiled when she frowned down at him.

“Missy,” he whispered.

“What have you done to yourself?” she asked, She looked away as someone else spoke to her, and he instantly wanted her blue eyes back on him.

His mind drifted until he heard the word, “shots.” Then he sat up.

“I don’t need any shots.” When he tried to get off the table, she pushed down on his shoulders until he lay back down.

“You will stay put until I tell you to move. Is that clear?” Her blue eyes turned fierce.

“Yes, ma’am.” He lay back down and closed his eyes. He heard her ask Chase a few questions, and then she asked him to wait outside in the waiting room while she examined Reece, which got his mind thinking in all different kinds of directions.

It had been a while, almost five months, since he’d been with a woman. Who could blame him for the thoughts he was having now?

“Can you remove your pants, or do I need to cut them off of you?”

He looked up at those blue eyes and just smiled until he saw her cheeks flush. “I think I can manage.”

“Good.” She handed him a standard hospital robe. He hated these damn things.

“Can’t you just patch me up while I keep my pants on?”

“No,” she said as she put things onto the silver tray in front of him.

He stood up to yank his pants down, and the room began to spin again. Cussing under his breath, he closed his eyes and tried to steady himself. When he felt her cool hands on his hips, his eyes flew open. She tugged his torn jeans down his legs until they got hung up on his boots, and then she pushed him lightly until he sat back down on the table.

“How’d I get in here? Please don’t tell me Chase carried me like a baby?”

He enjoyed the rich giggle that escaped her lips. “No, we moved you to a gurney.” She nodded to the rolling bed that was sitting against the wall.

She pulled one of his boots off and reached for the other one.

“I’d better do that one. I have a few pins in that ankle that hurt when it’s pulled too much.” She nodded and stood back, watching him.

He bent down and, using his other foot, managed to pry the boot loose.

She set the boots on a chair by the door. When she turned back around, her eyes roamed over his now bare legs. When he handed her his jeans, she hesitated.

“Get injured often?” she asked, looking at the many scars he had on his legs.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Comes with busting.”

She shook her head. “Sounds like you need a new job,” she said as she started working on his knee.

He tried not to look at the nasty gash and focused on her instead. Her hair was darker than he remembered. He’d met her a few times, most recently at Alex’s wedding where he’d quickly developed a huge crush on her. He had seen her from across the room and had wanted to rush over and ask her out. But she’d had a date, a skinny black-haired guy with glasses, which had reminded him that he had a date as well. His date was blonde and busty, and their relationship lasted only three weeks, one of his longest relationships to date.

“When did you move back?” he asked, wishing he could reach out and touch her silky hair again. When he’d seen her last, she was living in the city attending college.

“Two months ago,” she said as she cleaned his knee. She looked up from his knee for a moment. “When did you get into town?”

“A few days ago. I’m staying with Lauren and Chase until I can find a place of my own.”

He watched her eyebrows go up in a sexy arch.

“I’m over at Alex and Grant’s. You’re here to stay then?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Until I can think of someplace else to be. How about you? Are you here to stay?”

She nodded and got back to work cleaning the dirt from his wound. “Until I can think of someplace else to be.”

He winced when she pulled a large pebble from under his skin.

“Sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay.”

“Do you pass out every time you see blood?” she asked, casually.

He looked up at her and winced. He hated the weakness. “So far.”

“Chase told me that you’d been injured recently.”

“Yeah, a couple of broken ribs, broken leg.” He shrugged. “For the most part I’m healed.”

“Most part?” Her eyebrows did the sexy arch again.

“I’m walking around just fine. Still breathing.”

“Mr. West,” she began.

“Reece,” he corrected.

She shook her head and continued. “If you continue to treat your body like it’s a plaything instead of a well-oiled machine, you won’t be using it much longer.” She tossed the tweezers on the tray, picked up a threaded needle, and began to place tiny stitches into his skin.

“Are you a doctor?” He frowned, causing her to pause.

“No.” She frowned back at him. “The doctor is away at lunch. Would you like to wait an hour and have Dr. Conner put these in instead?”

“No, it’s just that…” He trailed off. “No, ma’am.”

She nodded and got back to work. She was fast and very efficient, and her stitches looked better than those he’d received from some of the best doctors around. She placed a white bandage over the wound.

She examined his leg, moving her hands gently over his hairy muscles. It was pure torture to sit still. She finally nodded and said, “You’ll need to stay off your leg for a few hours. No horseback riding for at least a week. You can come back then and we’ll remove the stitches. Take a few aspirin when you get home.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He was already thinking about riding again, when she tugged on his sleeve.

“I mean it, Reece. No riding until I say so.” She frowned at him.

“Go out with me this weekend,” he blurted out. Normally he didn’t just bark out a date request. Maybe it was the pain blocking his normally smooth personality.

She looked at him and a small smile formed on her lips.

“I don’t date patients, Mr. West.” She turned around and tossed him his pants. “You’re free to go.” She looked at him one last time and then walked out of the room, leaving him wishing he hadn’t fallen off the damn horse.