by Gigi Moore
“He’s retrieving the culprit,” Maia murmured.
“Oh.” The gravity of the situation didn’t escape anyone else in the room, except that she and Maia seemed the most traumatized, Desiree noticed. She supposed they remained typical city girls unable to deal with some of the harsh realities of ranch life.
Desiree remembered how Maia had cried when Daddy read them Old Yeller as kids and got to the part in the book when Travis had to shoot the dog. Though Desiree had shed a tear or two, Maia had been almost inconsolable. Not to mention her sister’s crying jag after the hunter had shot Bambi’s mother when they’d watched the video.
Desiree thought to this day that that was the moment when Maia had decided to not eat “anything with a face” anymore. The decision ultimately gave Jeremiah and his boys plenty of stuff to rib Maia about over the dinner table when everyone else usually indulged their taste buds with some kind of meat or chicken product.
No one ribbed either sister now, however.
“Give me the keys to the truck and I’ll run her to the hospital myself.” Carson addressed Jeremiah, and Jeremiah grimly nodded as he headed off to retrieve the keys to his pickup.
“I’m going with you,” Desiree said.
“Now why should you have to sit in an emergency room babysitting me on a Friday night?”
“It’s what sisters do. It’s not like I’m doing anything else anyway.”
Maia arched a brow and cut an eye in Carson’s direction. “No?”
“Nothing that can’t be tended to later.” Desiree knew she blushed and tried to keep her voice as steady as possible. Her sister was determined as well as incorrigible, but then Desiree helped her cause by wanting to tag along, which would throw her in direct contact with Carson.
Jeremiah came back with the keys and tossed them to Carson, who grabbed them from the air. “Call us and let us know how things are going.”
“Will do,” Carson said then turned to Maia. “You ready?”
“Let’s get this over with.”
“Wait for me. I’ll run up and throw something on,” Desiree said.
“We’ll be in the truck.”
Carson’s voice didn’t betray anything of what he thought of the turn of events, not that Desiree expected it to. She was used to his strong, silent way by now, except that she had seen him when he wasn’t so silent, even if he still came off as strong.
Strong, demanding, irresistible, and sexy.
She rushed upstairs to her room and slipped out of her robe and pjs and into the jeans and shirt she’d had on earlier. As a concession to the extrawrinkled state of her shirt and the cool spring evening, she slipped on a red hoodie from her closet.
Desiree went back downstairs, said good night to Jeremiah and Maria—who both gave her knowing looks that made her face hotter than it felt already—then headed out back, where Carson sat in the driver’s seat idling the truck.
As soon as Desiree headed for the pickup, Maia got out of the cab and held the passenger door open for her. “I’ll take the window seat if you don’t mind.” She smiled, leaving no room for argument unless Desiree wanted to be stubborn and make a scene. Desiree knew that Maia knew Desiree liked to cause scenes about as much as Maia liked to stay out of her sister’s business.
Desiree walked by her sister to climb into the cab next to Carson, then Maia climbed into the cab after her.
Carson gave her one measuring look, then silently put the truck in gear and backed out of the driveway.
That brief, simmering look heated her blood in her veins. It made her shudder at the proximity of his body. “How long a trip is it?” Desiree blurted, desperate for something to say to break the ice and tension.
“Unfortunately, the nearest hospital with a twenty-four-hour ER is Valley View. It’s about an hour away. There shouldn’t be much traffic this time of night, so we should be there in a little less than that, not much longer.” His words sounded clipped, economical, much like his movements as he changed gears on the truck. The action brought his hand in near-enough contact to her thigh that Desiree closed her eyes at the image of his hand continuing its course and sliding between her legs, creeping higher and higher until he caressed her slit.
Desiree unconsciously licked her lips, and when she opened her eyes it was to the sight of Carson staring at her before he slowly returned his gaze back to the road.
Desiree felt a pinch to her side and turned to glare at Maia, who just smiled back.
Between Maia to the right of her and Carson to the left of her, Desiree knew the next sixty minutes would prove the most tension filled in her life.
Typical male driver that he was, Carson got them to the hospital in forty-five minutes.
Desiree couldn’t complain. They all arrived in one piece and the sooner Maia got to see someone, the better, right?
Of course she didn’t see someone right away. It was an emergency room, after all.
Despite it bustling with activity, it came nowhere near reaching the levels of energy and action one might see in a New York City emergency room on a Friday night, however. In light of this, Desiree chose to stare at the large, flat-screen TV broadcasting the evening news high up in a corner of the waiting room rather than pace or talk to Carson to pass the time. The latter should have been the most desirable to do, especially in light of them having slept together just a few hours earlier, but this, in fact, made things more uncomfortable between them, à la the morning after.
Desiree questioned her wisdom in tagging along when she remained nothing more than a fifth wheel, totally unneeded in the situation. Maia had Carson to hold her hand until the doctor on duty got to her. Since her wound wasn’t considered an emergency, not like some of the other bloody and bone-crunching injuries Desiree had seen since they’d arrived, Desiree guessed they’d be there a little while longer.
She wished Sam were there to buffer things, but remembering what he probably remained busy doing depressed Desiree even more.
“Stop fidgeting,” Maia whispered in her ear. “Everything’s going to be fine, especially if you just relax, accept, and let things happen.”
Desiree didn’t have to ask what Maia meant. She wasn’t talking about her injury or consequent concern for her welfare. She was talking about Carson and Sam. She wanted Desiree to accept them and let things happen.
Desiree remained shocked that she had “let things happen” earlier, that things between her and the two men had gotten so far out of control. Now separated from the act by a few hours, with a clearer head, she couldn’t believe she had been so…reckless. That was Maia’s style, not hers. Her style, however, had obviously changed. She had changed, more than she realized or wanted to admit.
Desiree wasn’t sure if this proved a good or bad thing. Someone needed to have a level head between them. Someone needed to see reason, and nurturing a relationship with two men when she knew it couldn’t go anywhere wasn’t being levelheaded.
“You think too much.” Maia elbowed her in the ribs just as a doctor came into the waiting area with a clipboard in his hands, visually scanning the room.
“Maia Jensen?”
He had a deep voice, his slight southwestern drawl commanding attention and his ebony hair and Caribbean-blue eyes keeping it.
Desiree let her gaze drift down from his lightly tanned face and peered at the name tag pinned to his white lab coat. She took note of the name printed there—T. Malloy—and thought he wasn’t a bad-looking specimen at all, aesthetically speaking, of course.
Beside her, Maia perked up considerably and instantly, probably reacting to the tall, dark, and handsome drink of water who’d called her name. Her tone proved a note lower and sultrier than her normal voice, putting her sister in full-fledged flirtation mode when she finally responded to T. Malloy’s inquiry. “That would be moi.”
Doctor Malloy seemed to perk up himself, blue eyes noticeably widening just a tad beneath his lush black eyebrows as he looked at Maia. Desiree could almost see an arc
of energy flowing out between her sister and the doctor.
Wow. She’d heard of love and lust at first sight and instant attraction, but she’d never seen it in action before, if that’s what this was.
“You can follow me this way and I’ll take a look at that wound.”
Maia gave Desiree one more poke in the ribs with her elbow before she sprang to her feet to follow Doctor Malloy out of the waiting area.
Desiree turned her attention from them, as they disappeared into one of the treatment rooms, to Carson sitting beside her, and her heartbeat stuttered at the dark look in his green eyes. She actually raised a hand to her throat as if to defend herself. “What?”
Carson just made a sound in his throat that sounded strangely like a growl and shook his head as he turned his attention to the TV overhead.
What was that about?
“You didn’t have to drool over the guy,” Carson muttered.
“I beg your pardon?”
“The doctor. Granted, I suppose he’s good looking in an Ivy League, city slicker kind of way, but you didn’t have to drool.”
“I wasn’t drooling!” Desiree realized she had raised her voice and glanced around the waiting area to see who paid attention to them, which was almost no one, thank goodness. She turned in her seat to face Carson, who kept his stony profile to her as he seemed to follow the action on the TV screen as if his life depended on it. There was no mistaking the muscles working along his clenched jaw like he chomped a bit, though. “What is your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem, but if a slick pretty boy is more your style than Sam and me, then why’d you bother…being with us in the first place?”
What pretty boy? Doctor Malloy? Okay, sure she had thought it when he’d first come into the waiting area, but who could be any more pretty than Carson and his brother? Both were so gorgeous and rugged that they made her wonder why they had been with her earlier.
Carson was jealous? Why? He had no reason in the world to be! The only man who had been crowding her thoughts as much as him since she had been on the ranch was his brother, and there was no competition there since she wanted them both equally.
Want? Why don’t you just admit you love them?
Desiree struggled with whether or not she should tell Carson how she felt but didn’t want to sound like she was patronizing him or trying to stroke his ego. She had to admit she was horrible at it, not used to catering to anyone’s ego outside of business. This was different. Carson and Sam constituted a personal relationship, a rare one she wanted to nurture and enjoy—against her better judgment.
“Is he?” Carson turned from the TV to face her.
“Is who what?”
“Is Doctor Malloy more your style?”
“As opposed to what?”
“Two…cowboys.”
Desiree couldn’t help thinking he’d been about to say something else entirely, the pause between words was so profound.
“If the two cowboys are you and Sam, then no, Doctor Malloy is not my style. I don’t have a style.”
At least before Carson brought it up, she wasn’t aware she had a style or a preference except for someone decent and considerate. Looks counted, she supposed, but they had never been a priority to her. Besides, if she went by her experiences with Jeremy, then she couldn’t trust her judgment in these matters anyway. No one had been more considerate, decent, and good looking than him. He had been what her coworkers and Maia thought of as a “catch,” and look how that had turned out.
“Oh, you’ve got a style,” Carson said, looking her up and down as if measuring her worth and finding her wanting.
Could he have been any more disapproving? She felt like she was right back where she had started with him when he looked at her with nothing but annoyance and contempt.
At Desiree’s confused silence, Carson frowned and shook his head.
“You really have no idea, do you?”
Desiree sighed, tired of the mind games. “Idea about what?”
“How beautiful you are.”
She spluttered. “I am not!”
Carson chuckled, his first moment of lightness since they had arrived at the hospital. He nodded his head and reached for her, curving an arm around her back and drawing her close to his side. “Beautiful and desirable and so fucking naïve it borders on adorable.”
“Watch your language, sweet talker.”
“Get used to it, city slicker. This is who I am—a simple, tough-talking, wild, and rugged country boy.”
Desiree thought she understood where his mind was going—that he thought he wasn’t good enough for her—when nothing could have been further from the truth. Besides which, she didn’t think there was anything “simple” about Carson Quarry. He remained too mysterious, with too many secrets she couldn’t even begin to unravel, to be considered simple by any stretch of the imagination. Both he and Sam proved the most complex and enigmatic men she knew next to Remy Bastien. “Who are you trying to convince?”
“I just want you to know who and what you’re dealing with.”
Desiree looked at him from the corner of her eye. “I know who I’m dealing with.”
“Not yet, little Desi. Not yet.”
Chapter 13
Desiree saw Maia’s face when Doctor Malloy escorted her out of the treatment room under an hour later and had to admit her younger sister looked about as shaken as she felt.
Those cryptic words Carson delivered before settling down to watch television with his arm around her as if nothing untoward had occurred between them set all her nerves on edge with foreboding. When she considered them, they really just solidified what she already knew to be true about the man. He had secrets.
Of course everyone had a past and skeletons in their closets, Desiree told herself, but she wondered even more about the ones that Carson and Sam harbored. She wondered about their elusive pasts.
Carson rose from his seat as Maia made her way over to them after Doctor Malloy gave her some last-minute instructions and a prescription. “So, what’s the verdict?”
“I’m sure you know better than me, Wildlife boy.”
Carson grimly nodded. “Hopefully Sam caught the critter so we can get him tested and have the results back lickety-split. Maybe you won’t have to get the rest of those shots.”
Desiree knew as well as Maia what testing meant, and the idea of it still sat heavy in her stomach. She didn’t wish ill of anyone or anything, but when it came down to her sister and a possibly rabid wild animal, she’d take her sister’s well-being over the animal, of course.
Carson seemed to sense their melancholy and put an arm around each of their shoulders as Desiree stood to join them. “It’s going to be all right.”
“I know.” Maia suddenly brightened. “Especially since I have to come back in three days to get my second shot.”
“You’re looking forward to it?” Desiree asked then realized who she was questioning. Hot doctor plus Maia meant devilment, at least and especially on Maia’s part.
“If I have to get rabies shots, looking at a hunky doctor while I do it isn’t a bad deal.”
Carson chuckled. “I guess not.”
He seemed in much better spirits since their little disagreement, Desiree thought. Maybe she had said just the right thing to calm him down and reassure him that he and Sam were the only men in her life right now, which remained true.
“So, you got everything you need? We ready to hit the road?”
Maia nodded her head. “Yep, I’m all set. Doctor Malloy gave me some pain pills to tide me over until I can fill my prescription.”
Carson looked from Desiree to Maia, sensing as Desiree did that Maia wanted some alone time with her older sister. He stepped from between them and said, “I’ll go ahead and get the truck started while you two girls talk.”
Maia laughed as he left then turned to her sister. “So did you two behave yourselves while I was indisposed?”
“Question is did y
ou behave yourself with the good doctor?”
“You know me.”
“I know. That’s why I asked.”
“Of course I didn’t behave myself, and I was hoping you hadn’t, either.”
“In a hospital waiting room?”
Maia just smiled.
Desiree shook her head. Her sister was just hopeless. She knew Maia wouldn’t let a little thing like inappropriate surroundings stop her from getting a little action going. Although she had to admit the thought of stealing a few kisses from Carson had crossed her own mind. She just didn’t go in for public displays of affection, never had. However, she’d never had a reason to, never had someone she wanted to show how she felt as much as she wanted to show Carson and Sam, regardless of where they all happened to be. Heck, she had started getting busy in the woods with Carson earlier, though she’d managed to let her fear override her lust and stopped.
This was bad. They both made her drop her guard, act like someone else besides her levelheaded, sedate self. Was that such a bad thing, though?
Desiree wondered just how far Maia had gone with the good doctor, if they had gone beyond the doctor-patient bounds at all in the treatment room. She had to admit the man was attractive and right up Maia’s alley. The thought gave Desiree hope that maybe her sister would give her a break once she had her own love life to focus on. One could dream.
Had she passed up a crucial opportunity to get closer to Carson while Maia had been in with the doctor? It wasn’t like the hospital was an optimal place for a romantic interlude, but at this point Desiree was ready to take what she could get, as she didn’t think she would get many more opportunities. She didn’t know how she knew or why she was being so pessimistic, but something told her that the moments of bliss she’d found in Carson and Sam’s arms earlier were not only short lived but would be few and far between.
When they made it out to the truck, true to his word, Carson sat in the driver’s seat idling the engine. He got out and ran around front to open the passenger door for them, closing it behind Maia before he got back into the driver’s seat beside Desiree.
