Her Renegade Rancher EPB

by Jennifer Ryan

  “Good.”

  She did as the paramedic instructed, wrapping Colt’s head the best she could in the small space she had to do the job without moving him.

  “Great job. Now, I need you to climb out of there so I can get in and put a neck and back brace on him so we can move him.”

  Luna raised her hands to Scott. “My legs are kinda locked in this position. Can you give me a hand?”

  “Sure thing. Hold on.” Scott gripped her hands and pulled her up.

  Her thighs, calves, and knees burned, but she managed to stand on her feet and grab hold of the window frame and lift herself out. Scott helped her down off the truck and jumped up to take her place inside.

  Police arrived just as the other fire paramedic nudged her aside and began helping Scott, sending equipment down to him as Scott called up for it. Their methodical way of doing things eased her mind. They knew what they were doing. They’d get Colt out.

  A sheriff’s deputy pulled her aside and peppered her with questions she automatically answered, even though her focus remained on the truck and the man she loved more than anything or anyone.

  The firemen shut the hood and used a tool to pry the windshield off. They pulled Colt from the truck through the gaping hole, strapped to the backboard, his arms crossed over his chest and bloody shirt. They’d bandaged his left arm and shoulder, but they’d kept the bandages she’d put on his head in place. Blood seeped through the white gauze, making her stomach sour and pitch. She fought back the urge to hurl and held herself tighter, fighting off the shivers that had everything to do with her fear of losing Colt and not the brisk night.

  “Miss Hill. We found this in the cab of your Rambling Range truck. Is it yours?”

  She stared down at the plastic bag containing Colt’s cell phone. “No. It’s Colt’s. That’s how they called me.”

  “But you don’t know for sure who made the call?”

  “No. I’ve given you all their names. Check with Deputy Foster. He’ll have the report on the last time they threatened Colt’s life.” She held her hand out toward the truck. “Look at what they did. They even used my truck to make their point.”

  “How did they get the keys?”

  “We keep them in the office in the stables. We lock it up at night, but during the day, we’re all in and out of there. Anyone could sneak in and take a set.”

  “You need to be more careful.”

  She needed to protect Colt from something like this ever happening again.

  The paramedics gave her a look when she ran to the back of the ambulance and jumped in. Scott pulled a blanket from a drawer and draped it over her shoulders. For the first time, she realized she didn’t have a shirt on and had stood there all this time in nothing but her bra. She gripped the sides of the blanket and held it closed, noticing the blood on her hands. Colt’s blood.

  She stared down at him strapped to the gurney. A fresh wave of tears filled her eyes and spilled over. Scott took Colt’s vitals again. Afraid to ask, but needing to know, she whispered, “How is he?”

  “Vitals are stable. He’s lost a lot of blood. He’s in and out of consciousness, but nonresponsive. We’ll have to do a CT scan at the hospital to check for intracranial hemorrhage. Do you know if he’s allergic to any medications?”

  “I-I don’t know. I need to call his brothers.”

  “Do that,” Scott encouraged.

  She placed one hand over Colt’s and squeezed. She pulled the phone from her pocket and realized she didn’t have Rory or Ford’s cell numbers, so she called Sadie.

  “Hey, Luna, have you talked to Colt?” Sadie answered.

  “Sadie, put Rory on the phone right now.”

  The urgency in her voice made Sadie hesitant. “Luna?”

  “Now. Hurry.”

  “What’s up?” Rory’s deep voice sounded so much like Colt’s.

  “First, Colt is alive. We are on the way to the hospital right now. Does he have any allergies to medication?”

  “No. What happened?”

  “Someone ran him off the road. He’s got a major head injury. H-he’s unconscious.”

  “We’re on the way. What else do you need to know now?”

  She asked Scott.

  “Has he had any recent illnesses or injury?”

  “No,” Rory answered after she put him on speaker.

  “Does he take any medications or recreational drugs?” Scott asked, still monitoring Colt.

  “No,” Rory snapped.

  “Has he been drinking tonight?”

  “No,” Luna answered. “He’d never drink then drive.”

  “He left here to go do some shopping or something in Bozeman, then he said he was staying at Luna’s place. I doubt he stopped off for a beer or anything.”

  “R-Rory,” Colt mumbled, responding to his brother’s voice.

  “I’m on my way, Colt. You hang in there. I’ll be there soon. Luna is with you.”

  Luna squeezed Colt’s hand, a wave of relief washing through her. He held tight back but never opened his eyes. The small show of strength gave her hope he’d be okay.

  “I’m here, Colt. You’re going to be okay. I’m here.”

  Colt squeezed her hand tighter. “Stay,” he whispered.

  She wished she could make that promise and mean it.

  Chapter 27

  Luna sat in the waiting room, her mind and heart in the emergency room with Colt. They wouldn’t tell her anything. She wasn’t family. She wasn’t his wife. She’d filled out as much of the admitting paperwork as she could, but his family would have to complete all the little details she didn’t know. The things she hadn’t had a chance to learn yet and might not get the chance to if he didn’t pull through this.

  “Do you know when the truck was stolen?”

  She’d almost forgotten the deputy was still standing there, waiting for her to answer another round of questions.

  “No.”

  “And you’re sure you can’t identify the person who contacted you?”

  “I wish I could.” The information she believed to be true didn’t help her prove a single thing. One of the Traverses tried to kill Colt.

  “All this to get you to sell the ranch.”

  Not really a question, but she nodded just the same, her gaze locked on the doorway, waiting for a doctor or nurse to come and tell her about Colt. She sat on the edge of the chair. Hoping. Waiting. She really needed to hear something soon, or she just might lose her mind sitting in this drab room that smelled of stale coffee and her own desperation.

  The Kendricks filed in the doorway, led by a very angry-looking Rory.

  “Deputy Foster. You again.”

  “Nice to see you, too.”

  Rory crouched in front of Luna, pulled the blanket draped over her back closed, and touched her face. “Luna, what happened?” He kept his voice soft like he spoke to a child. She had to look really bad, to make the gruff man treat her so gently.

  Tears gathered in her eyes. “They said they’d hurt him if I didn’t sell. I didn’t sell, so they hurt him. They hurt him really bad.” The tears streamed down her face again, but she didn’t care. Her heart throbbed with a piercing pain she thought would never stop. “They hurt him because they knew it would hurt me.” She looked Rory in the eye. “I’m sorry.”

  He took her hand, but she snatched it back, hissing in a swift breath to ease the sting. Rory took her wrist and gently drew her hand back and turned it over, swearing when he saw the raw, blistered skin.

  “How did you burn yourself?”

  “Truck was on fire. I had to put it out.”

  Rory and Ford both swore. Sadie took the seat beside her and wrapped an arm around Luna’s back. “What happened to your shirt?”

  Rory had let go of the blanket. Luna stared down at her light blue bra and the blood smeared across her middle. “I’m covered in Colt’s blood,” she whispered.

  “It’s okay. We’ll clean you up.”

  Remembering wha
t Sadie really asked her, she said, “I used my shirt to open the hood and put out the fire, then I used it to stop the bleeding on Colt’s head.” She turned to Sadie. “It wouldn’t stop.”

  “I think you’re in shock.” Sadie stood and pulled Luna up by the arm. The blanket fell to the floor at her feet. Rory and Ford and even the detective looked everywhere but directly at her. “Let’s go find a nurse to look at your hand. We’ll find you something to wear. Ford, go look in the car and see if Rory left a shirt in there or something.”

  “On it.” Ford rushed out ahead of them.

  Before Sadie took Luna out of the room, Luna turned back to Rory. “If the doctor comes, you tell him I have to see Colt. Okay? I have to see him.”

  “You will, Luna. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Luna walked down the hall with Sadie, but not before she heard Deputy Foster say, “She’s messed up.”

  “Sounds like she saved Colt’s life.”

  “She did.”

  A shiver raced up Luna’s spine, thinking of Colt bleeding in that ditch. Luna had only one thought in response to their conversation: Colt wouldn’t have needed to be saved if the Traverses had heeded her warning. Now she’d make them pay and keep Colt safe, no matter how much it hurt her to do it.

  Colt woke up by degrees, the many aches and pains in his body throbbing along with the beat of his heart. Nothing hurt more than his head. He opened his eyes and blinked against the soft light coming through the mostly closed blinds. Rory sat next to his hospital bed, his arms crossed over his chest, his head bowed, sound asleep. Ford sat on the floor by the windows behind him, back against the wall, in pretty much the same crossed arms pose as Rory. Sadie lay asleep on a cot in front of Ford.

  Colt’s head felt like someone struck him with an axe and left it lodged in his brain. He tried to think about what happened and how he got here, but nothing shook loose from his throbbing brain except the pain. He raised his hand to his forehead and rubbed at the headache, making it hard to keep his eyes open. He pulled his hand away, making sure he didn’t pull the IV line out of his hand, and spotted Luna standing with her back against the wall, staring straight at him.

  “Luna.” Her name came out on a relieved sigh. When he hadn’t seen her right away, he’d thought she wasn’t here. But there she was, standing there staring at him with those beautiful blue eyes, though they were filled with worry and a sadness he didn’t understand.

  She swept her bangs away from her face. He loved it when she did that, but he didn’t like the bandage circling her fingers and palm.

  Why the hell was she wearing a man’s shirt?

  “Honey, what happened to your hand?”

  Rory leaned forward and put his hand on Colt’s arm. “Man, you’re awake. How do you feel?”

  “Like shit. Everything hurts.”

  “You took a pretty good beating to your left side.”

  Colt hadn’t even tried to move his left arm, his shoulder hurt so badly. He felt the bruising across his chest where the seat belt caught him.

  It all came back to him. “Shit. Someone hit me with their truck. I don’t know how they didn’t see me.”

  “They did it on purpose.” Luna didn’t move from where she propped herself against the wall.

  “What?”

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Rory said, pulling a sleepy Sadie into his lap. “Right now, you need to rest. You’ve got a concussion to go with the nasty cut on your head. Your arm’s been stitched up in several places. The bruised ribs from the seat belt will take the longest to heal. Meanwhile, enjoy the pain meds.”

  While the pain encompassed most of Colt’s body, the distance Luna kept from him hurt the most. He held his right hand out to her. “Luna, honey, come here. What happened to your hand?”

  She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes, fighting off tears that came anyway. She bounced off the wall and finally came to him, taking his left hand gently in her right one, pressing something against his palm.

  He didn’t understand the pain in her eyes or the tremble in her lips, but it made his chest tight and his own eyes water. Something was terribly wrong.

  “I love you.”

  The softly spoken words stunned him. She actually loved him. Until that moment, he hadn’t understood how much he wanted to hear her say it. How much he wanted her to mean it.

  “I am so sorry this happened. More sorry than I can possibly say.” She bent her head, fighting off her emotions, then raised it and looked him right in the eye. “They won’t stop. But I’m going to find a way to make them pay for what they’ve done. Until then, do not call me. Do not come to the ranch. Stay away from me,” she choked out, squeezing his hand closed around whatever she put inside of it. “I’m going to finish this on my own, and you are going to let me, because I can’t live each and every day knowing they’re coming after you to get to me. I hope when this is over, we find our way back to each other again, but I can’t take the chance I lose you forever. Please, Colt, for me, do as I ask. Stay away.” She turned to Rory. “Keep him home. Keep him safe. Please.” She walked right out of the room.

  “Luna,” Colt called after her, but she didn’t even turn back, and the door automatically closed. He opened his hand and stared at the butterfly bracelet he gave her. “Luna!”

  Rory stood and pressed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from sitting up. “Try not to move too much. You’ll only hurt yourself more.”

  “How can I possibly hurt more than I already do watching her walk out of here like that? What the fuck is going on?” He turned to his family and saw nothing but regret. “Sadie, go get her. Bring her back here.”

  Tears ran down Sadie’s face. She pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

  “Please,” he begged, but no one moved to run after the woman who showed him he had a heart, then ripped it right out of his chest. “What the hell is wrong with you guys? Go get her.” No one moved. “Fine. I’ll go get her.” He tried to sit up, winced against the pain and wave of dizziness, and gave up way too easily when Rory held him down again.

  “Stop. You’re in no shape to go anywhere.”

  “Goddamnit, Rory, I can’t just let her walk out of here like that. I need to fix this.”

  “She did this for your own damn good, and I agree with her.”

  That took the starch right out of Colt. He fell back on the bed, stunned his brother would say such a thing when he had to know how much Luna meant to him. Why wasn’t Rory backing him up on this?

  “Why is Luna running across the parking lot crying?” Granddad asked, walking into the room.

  “I’d like an answer to that very question.” Colt pinned Rory with a sharp gaze, feeling every bit as devastated as Sadie looked, with her arms wrapped around her middle, her brows drawn together in deep concern for her friend. Him. The situation he didn’t understand. “Start talking,” he ordered Rory.

  “The car accident wasn’t an accident at all. She didn’t do what they wanted. They threatened you before, and they made good on it this time.”

  “What?”

  “They tried to kill you to make her sell the ranch. If she refuses, they’ll come after you again.”

  “So, what? She’s going to sell?”

  “No. She won’t let them win. So she’s going back to the ranch. You will stay clear of her from now on,” Rory ordered.

  “The hell I will.”

  “Do you want to die?” Rory shouted, his anger getting the better of him. “Do you want to give them another shot at killing you?”

  “I want my life with her.”

  “She made up her mind. She wants you out of the picture until the cops arrest them.”

  “I’m not leaving her there a sitting duck. I’ll change her mind.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  Colt opened his mouth to convince Rory, but Rory stopped him with his next words. “They called her from the accident. They told her what they’d done and that if she didn’t
sell, they’d kill you next time.”

  Colt couldn’t imagine how she felt receiving that call. She must have been so scared. The bastards terrorized and threatened her. He’d kill them for that alone.

  “She found you on the side of the road. She saved your life.”

  “Is that how she hurt her hand?”

  “The truck was on fire. She put it out, burned herself in the process.”

  “You tell me all this so matter-of-fact. Do you not get that she is what I want?”

  Rory’s gaze grew even darker. “Your family wants you alive. Not living with the threat of death hanging over your head every time you’re with her.”

  “I might as well be dead if I’m not with her,” Colt shouted. He pressed his hand to his splitting head, mentally scolding himself for yelling and tensing up every sore muscle. “Fuck.”

  “Feel the pain, brother. Remember this all happened because you were with her.”

  “Sadie, how can you possibly marry such an asshole?”

  “He’s worried about you, Colt. Luna is doing what she thinks is best.”

  “What is she going to do, stay out on that ranch all alone until God knows when the cops finally get some actual evidence to arrest them?”

  Sadie looked away.

  “That’s what you want for your best friend? For her to hide away out there all alone and vulnerable, all to protect something they’ll never stop coming after her to get?” Neither Sadie nor his brothers said anything. “You guys are unbelievable.” He turned to his grandfather. “Go get the truck. You’re taking me to her place.”

  “No can do, son. Doc says you’re here until day after tomorrow at least.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

  “You can’t even sit up,” Rory pointed out.

  “No, but as soon as I can kick your ass, I’m going to.”

  “Try it, brother. You need someone to knock some sense into you.”

  “Damnit, I love her. You think I’m going to let some spoiled, self-centered, entitled assholes keep me away from her all for a piece of land? Fuck that.”