by Regina Duke
Uly made a face. “When you said you had a new puppy, I thought you meant a Doberman. What on Earth are you doing with that little lap shark?”
Polly settled into one of the red chairs with Charlie on her lap. “My back,” she said. “Doctor suggested I downsize. I can’t lift the Dobies anymore. And if I’m going to be a good doggie mama, I need to be able to lift them in an emergency.”
“Sorry,” said Uly. “I didn’t know your back was ailing you.”
“You might have if you bothered to give me a call now and then.”
Uly rolled his eyes.
Belle lifted a hand. “I should be going. It was nice to meet you.” She directed that at Polly.
“Oh, please don’t go. I really want to show my gratitude for you saving my little dog.” Her eyes lit up with a realization. “You’re the appointment. Thor told me he’d put an ad in the paper for an assistant when he thought he’d be running the fundraising committee.”
Belle blinked at her. “Thor?”
“My other boy,” said Polly. “I wanted them both to have manly and meaningful names.”
Uly’s voice was ragged around the edges. “Yes, and we’ve both thanked her many times for doing so.”
Polly humphed. “Sarcasm is not a tool I would use with my mother, if I were you.”
Belle lowered her purse to the floor and sat in the other red chair. “You mean I came here to do an interview with the wrong man?”
“Oh, no,” said Polly. “He’s the right man. When he hurt himself over there in Kuwait, his father wanted to send him home to Texas so I could look after him. But Thor and Ashley just had a baby boy a month ago, and I was up here in Eagle’s Toe, helping with the baby. So I told Rudy to send Uly here instead. And Thor is so busy with his business and all, he asked Uly to take over the hospital’s fundraising committee.”
Uly squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Mom, you don’t have to give her the entire family history.”
“Oh, you hush.” Polly leaned toward Belle. “He’s really a wonderful young man, but he’s in a lot of pain with his injuries.”
Belle nodded. “Broken ankle.”
Polly added, “And the broken rib and the contusions. He fell a long way.”
Uly thought he spotted a look of compassion for a moment on Belle’s features, but it was gone as quick as it came.
“So how did the interview go?” asked Polly.
Silence.
Polly looked from one to the other. “Uly, did you even conduct an interview?”
Uly took a careful breath. He pointed back and forth between himself and Belle. “We came to an understanding.”
“Is that right?” Polly eyed him suspiciously. “Is that her file right there?”
Uly glared at his mother.
Belle turned her face away, but Uly saw her hiding a smile. He snorted. “You think this is funny?”
Belle bubbled over with laughter. But she choked it off. “No, of course not. I mean, I would never laugh at an injured man.”
Uly concentrated on breathing in a way that didn’t hurt. It occurred to him that Belle was extremely attractive. He hadn’t paid attention before because she was irritating the heck out of him, but when she smiled, her beauty warmed his heart.
Belle continued, “I didn’t become a nurse to make fun of a person’s pain and suffering. But your mother seems to know you rather well.”
Polly’s face lit up. “You’re a nurse?”
“Yes, ma’am. I worked the ER in Denver for eight months.”
Polly nodded. She studied Belle with renewed interest. “You must have handled a lot of difficult cases.”
Belle gave a little shrug. “You might say that.”
Uly had the feeling there was more behind that statement than she was letting on.
Polly asked, “Why on Earth are you applying for a job as a fundraiser’s assistant?”
Belle’s expression darkened. “There was an incident. With a doctor. Someone had to leave, and it’s always the nurse.” She spoke matter-of-factly, but she lowered her gaze. “I decided to try something else for a while. Did you know that thirty percent of nurses change jobs within a year of graduation? Perfectly common.”
“May I look at your file?” asked Polly. “I may be able to help you find a position.”
“Of course.”
“Of course not,” barked Uly. “Mom, just leave this alone, all right? I’m not going to have an assistant running around this office making me crazy. Thor saddled me with this fundraising gig because he didn’t want to say no to his friends on the board, but he didn’t want to do it himself. Now I can fundraise all by my lonesome. I’ll call a few of Dad’s oil buddies and before you know it, Fineman Memorial will have its new wing. Or whatever they need.”
Polly was nodding as he spoke, but she was perusing Belle’s file as she did so. “That’s a good idea, dear. You hit up your father’s rich friends. No need for an assistant.”
Uly stopped cold. “Are you agreeing with me?”
Polly smiled sweetly. “Of course. There’s no reason in the world to waste this young lady’s nursing degree by having her answer your phone. No indeed.”
Uly narrowed his eyes. “Mother, what do you think you’re doing?”
Polly turned to Belle. “First of all, Miss Daireng….” She glanced at the file again. “May I call you Belle?”
“Yes, of course.”
“You seem very young to be an ER nurse.”
“I’m twenty-two,” said Belle.
Polly looked abashed. “Everyone is starting to look younger to me. It’s just part of getting older. Don’t mind me.”
Belle relaxed in her chair. “That’s all right. You were saying? About a possible position?”
Polly stroked the puppy in her lap. “How would you feel about home care nursing?”
Uly held up a hand. “Stop right there. I don’t need a nurse.”
Polly snapped at him, “You need your head examined, that’s what you need. You practically got yourself killed in a foreign country and you never even called me.”
“Dad called you. I was in the hospital.”
“No need to get defensive,” said Polly. “I’m needed at Thor’s place. He’s super busy, and Ashley is a new mom, and she can’t be left all alone day in and day out with a new baby. She needs my help. Mothering is something I have experience with. But nursing? We need a professional. You need a professional.” She turned to Belle. “I’ll lay it out straight for you, dear. My husband is a billionaire. Rudy Garrison. He made his money in oil and my grandfather made a heap of it in the railroad business. So there won’t be any problem paying your salary. I’ll see that you get whatever you were making at the ER, plus some extra because Uly can be cantankerous. How does that sound?”
Ulysses pushed himself back from the desk. “Now just a freaking minute here. I don’t want a nurse, and if I did, it wouldn’t be this nurse.”
Polly was taken aback. “And why not?”
“For one thing, she’s uppity.” Uly attempted to maneuver the chair around the desk but only managed to bang his cast against the edge of it again. “Oh, for God’s sake!”
Belle jumped up and took charge of the wheelchair. She moved it easily around the desk and parked it next to Polly. “I may be uppity, but I’m a great nurse. And if anyone ever needed one, you do. Mrs. Garrison? I accept your job offer.” She held out her hand.
Polly shook it. “Good. We’ll work out the details as the need arises. That okay with you?”
“Yes, ma’am. Is that a copier? I’ll copy my nursing license for you. You can check up on me through the Colorado Board of Nursing.” She acted on her words, but kept talking. “I’ll need to see where Ulysses is staying and I may need to order some equipment. Will that be a problem?” She handed Polly the copy of her license.
“Of course not. You do whatever you feel is right.” She tapped the personnel folder. “Your supervisor sings your praises in here. Do you mind if I give her a call?�
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“Not at all,” said Belle. “I would expect you to.”
Uly groaned his displeasure. “This is not going to work out.”
Polly poked his arm with one finger. “Ulysses Garrison, I am at my wit’s end with you. You won’t tell me about your accident. You won’t tell me about your life in Kuwait. I’m just supposed to drop everything and patch you back together without so much as a by your leave. Well, I have a new grandson to look after and a daughter-in-law showing signs of postpartum depression, and you are just going to have to suck it up, mister.” She stood up, cradling the puppy. “Belle, you call me if he gets out of line. Oh, you may need some cash.” She dug in her purse with one hand and pulled out a wad of bills confined by a fat rubber band. “Uly has my phone number. We’ll be in touch. I’ve got to get back to the cabin.”
Uly stared at the door for several seconds after Polly left.
Belle tucked the cash into her purse. “It won’t be so bad, you know. I’m not an ogre. And I’m a very good nurse.”
“Garbage.” Uly’s voice was garbled.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Hurry!” He pointed at the wastepaper basket.
Belle moved quickly and set the plastic container on his lap. “You feel sick. You look pale.” She touched his skin. It was cold and clammy. “This is not good.”
CHAPTER THREE
Belle began to steer the wheelchair toward the corridor.
Uly balked. “Whoa, Nelly. Where do you think you’re taking me?”
“The ER. You look terrible.”
“Well, I may not be the handsomest face on the planet, but dang, that’s no reason to rush me into surgery.”
Belle stopped pushing in the receptionist’s bare office and stepped around to face him. Hands on hips, she said, “Your mother just hired me to be your private nurse. Shall I call her and let her know what a disagreeable patient you are?” She wondered how she was going to take care of this stubborn man-child if he fought her at every turn.
Uly patted the air. “Calm down. No need to pull out the big guns in the first ten minutes. I feel lousy because I’ve been up here in this office trying to deal with my brother’s ambitions, and I hurt all over. I didn’t eat breakfast, and frankly my mother brings out the worst in me.”
“I could tell.” Belle took a slow breath. “All right. No ER. If,” she added, “you’ll tell me the name of your local doctor and fill me in on your injuries. And if you’ll take your pain meds. And what’s this about a broken rib?” She had her suspicions about the severity of Uly’s injuries if he was able to get through the day without his pain medication. She pinned him with a no-nonsense stare until he started to squirm.
“All right, all right. Maybe I exaggerated a little to my mother about my ribs.” He sighed heavily and set the wastepaper basket on the floor. “She wanted me to come stay at the cabin with her and Thor and Ashley and the new baby. I just didn’t want to have to deal with all of that. Every time I see them, they pelt me with questions about Kuwait, about what happened, how I got hurt, nonstop.” He shook his head miserably. “Isn’t a patient supposed to have peace and quiet?”
“Where are you staying?”
“At the Cattleman’s Inn. They have excellent elevators there, and it’s only five minutes away as opposed to the thirty-five minute drive from the cabin into town. Driving is the worst. I tried when I first got here. Impossible.” He looked bewildered. “Even an automatic transmission. I was just too damn sore to turn and look behind me, and five minutes sitting behind the wheel left me exhausted and aching.”
Belle nodded. “We don’t realize what our core does for us until we’re injured. So what happened to you in Kuwait?” She watched him closely and noted that his gaze moved elsewhere as he spoke.
“I fell. It was a stupid accident. I dropped twenty feet and hit a few railings on the way down. Tried to land like a cat and broke my ankle.”
“How bad?”
“Bad enough.”
Belle crossed her arms. “Fine. I’ll call your doctor and ask to look at the X-rays.”
“Oh, for the love of— Can we not get him involved? They put me in a cast and then my father showed up and insisted on sending me home on a medical transport.” He tried to make light of it. “Now that’s the way to travel. No worries about coach seating on one of those.”
“When did the accident happen?”
Uly waved a hand in the air, searching for a date. “Two weeks ago.”
Belle frowned. “You fell twenty feet, sustained painful injuries, and were sent home on a medical transport, and that date is not etched in your brain?”
“June eighth, okay?” he snapped. “Do you want the time of day and the latitude and the longitude, or is that sufficient?”
Belle pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. He remembered, all right. “That’s enough for now. Where are your pain pills?”
Uly thrust two fingers deep into his shirt pocket and handed over the small plastic bottle.
Belle read the label carefully. Then she opened it, poured one into her hand, and said, “Let’s get you some water. Did they give you anything else?”
He dug into his pocket again and retrieved a fatter bottle.
Belle recognized it as an NSAID. She poured two of those into her hand and gave him back the bottle. “You’re taking these right now.”
Once he had swallowed the pills, Belle began pushing the chair again.
“Hey, I thought we settled all that ER stuff!”
This time she didn’t stop. “For now. But you should get on your phone and call your driver. I’m taking you back to your hotel so you can get some rest. Have him meet us where he dropped you off.”
She noticed the tension drain from his shoulders.
“Okay. I’ll call him.” He thumb dialed on his smartphone and made arrangements.
Belle watched him carefully. He was injured, she could tell that easily enough, but she didn’t think he was telling her the truth about the extent or nature of his injuries. For now, he didn’t seem in any danger, and she suspected he would start feeling a lot better once his pills took effect. Meanwhile, why he was so intent on deceiving everyone about how badly he was hurt?
CHAPTER FOUR
Uly knew he should show some appreciation to Belle for not insisting he go to the ER. When he was able to focus on something other than the mess in Kuwait that had landed him back in Eagle’s Toe, he would do something nice for her. But at the moment he wasn’t feeling very nice.
They had to wait ten minutes on the sidewalk for Wilson to arrive. Uly wondered what the man did between phone calls, but decided he didn’t want to know. He had enough problems of his own. Two weeks. Had it only been two weeks? It felt like a year had passed since Ahmed rushed him to the hospital. And where the heck was he, anyway? Uly hadn’t heard a word from him since arriving in Eagle’s Toe.
All the way to Cattleman’s, Uly was lost in thought and gave Belle the silent treatment. When he would steal a glance, he’d find her looking out the window, thinking God knows what. Halfway there, he almost broke the brittle silence, but the driver could hear every word. He didn’t want to start a conversation that could be overheard by a stranger. After all, he barely knew the man. So he held his tongue.
The ride only took five minutes, but it felt like forever. At last the limo pulled under the portico entrance to the hotel lobby.
Uly finally spoke, but only to acknowledge the driver. “Thanks, Wilson.”
“Will you be needing the car again soon, sir?”
“Not for a while. I need a break.”
“Very well, sir. My phone is always on. One moment. I’ll help you out.”
“Thanks.”
“No need,” Belle piped up. “That’s why I’m here. Just activate the lift, please.” She gave the driver a perky smile, then moved around behind the chair.
Uly took a careful breath. He glanced at his cell phone and tried to calculate what time it was i
n Kuwait City. The pain meds Belle insisted he take were beginning to make him much more comfortable physically, but he was agitated by his inability to do simple time zone calculations in his head. He tapped the phone impatiently on his thigh.
Belle said nothing until they were in the elevator. As the doors closed, she spoke. “So, are you going to tell me what is driving you crazy? Or do I get to play Twenty Questions?”
The pain pills weren’t doing much for the knot in Uly’s stomach. His words were clipped and cool. “Waiting for a call from my father.”
“And that makes you tense?”
Uly glowered at her. “How do you know what I’m feeling?”
Belle rolled her eyes. “You aren’t exactly subtle. Something is bothering you.”
Uly clenched his teeth, then realized the anger he was feeling had little to do with Belle. So far he was grateful for the help with his chair, and even though he still felt like a wimp for needing the pain medication, he had to admit he was feeling better than he had since leaving the hospital in Kuwait City.
The elevator doors opened on the top floor to a luxuriously appointed space. Uly glanced up at Belle and was pleased and amused at the expression of wonder on her face. The private lobby was filled with marble and mirrors and elegant touches that reminded him of luxury hotels in Europe. He figured Belle hadn’t had time to do much traveling if she went to work right after nursing school.
Ebony doors bore bronze plaques with the name of a different mountain range on each.
“Mine is the Cascade Suite on the far right.”
“Oh, sorry.” Belle pushed his chair toward the door. “From the outside, I never expected the Cattleman’s to be so luxurious inside.”
“We’re in the new high-rise wing.”
“Oh. My room is in the old part of the building.” She added quickly, “Not too far away if you need me in the middle of the night. Where would you like to be?”
“Over there by the sofa. Could you grab me a beer?”
“Not with your meds.”
Uly expelled a noisy breath. “All right, then, how about a Coke?” He calmed himself. Once again, he was taking out his tension on Belle. He enjoyed watching her reactions to the luxury appointments. And part of him just enjoyed watching her move. She was tall and lithe, with just the right number of curves. As she returned with his Coke, he forced himself to look away. He didn’t want her to catch him ogling her.
