The Rancher’s
Sweetheart
Book 4 – Callahan Brothers Series
Cheryl Wright
Copyright 2017 by Cheryl Wright
Cover Artist: Black Widow Books
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book
From the Author
He’s been gone more than 18 years now, but I’ll never forget the rodeos my dad (and mother) took us to as kids. We looked forward to going each and every year.
Born in the country (as we kids were), my dad was a country man through and through. His first ever job was at a rodeo. He went on to become a ranger, and a horse breaker, amongst other things. His brother looked after horses all his working life, including taking tourists on trail rides. Every now and then I managed to insinuate myself into those trips.
I grew up with horses, and the country ways of doing things. And I’m so glad I did.
Sadly, we moved to the city down the track, but I loved (and still love) horses so much, I spent nearly all my extra money and most of my weekends going on horse rides.
Thanks
Thanks to my very dear friends (and authors), Margaret Tanner and Susan Horsnell. Without their encouragement, this book would not be written.
Thanks also to Alan, my husband of over 45 years, who has been a relentless supporter of my
writing for many years.
And last, but by no means least, thank you to all my wonderful readers who constantly encourage me to continue writing these stories. It is such a joy to me, knowing so many of you enjoy reading my stories. I love writing them as much as you love reading them.
Chapter One
Kody Callahan opened his eyes and gingerly looked around.
The last thing he remembered was riding his horse Cracker across the back paddock. He’d left home not long after sunrise, as soon as he’d finished his steaming mug of coffee.
Best time of the day for him. Not the coffee so much as watching the sun rise as he sat on a comfortable chair out on his front porch.
What a way to start the day! He turned his head and smiled, and the small movement caused him pain.
He tried to get up off the cold, damp ground, but a wave of dizziness hit him before he’d gotten very far, so he lay back down again. He covered his eyes against the sun momentarily. Sleep, that’s what he needed sleep.
Yep.
Yeah.
Just. A. Short. Snooze.
When he woke again, he felt disoriented. Kody glanced around and saw his cowboy hat just out of reach. He tried to get to it. The excruciating pain in his head had him laying back down, but not before he’d retrieved his hat. He’d had that hat for as long as he could remember. He wasn’t going to lose it now.
He ran his hand through his unruly brown hair to push it off his face and felt the huge lump on the back of his head. A wet and sticky lump. He didn’t need to look at his fingers to know what it was.
“Cracker.” He whistled, and the horse came to him, nickering into Kody’s neck. “Yeah, boy. I know. Not a good situation.” He half sat, as much as he could without passing out, and reached into his oilskin duster for his satellite phone.
Except it wasn’t there.
“Damn it, Kody. You need to let someone know you’re going out alone,” his brother Sheriff Chase Callahan told him. “What if you hadn’t made it back? It could have been days before anyone knew you were missing.”
“You’re just being stupid now,” Kody told him, ready to storm out, except he wasn’t in any condition to go anywhere. That knock on the head was apparently pretty bad. Bad enough for stitches.
“Don’t get me started on stupid....” Chase looked at him knowingly. Kody knew he was right, but if he told someone every time he went out alone, he’d spend all his time notifying folks of his whereabouts and would never get anything done.
Nope, wasn’t going to happen.
“If you weren’t such a damned loner, none of this would happen.” Chase ran his fingers across the stubble on his chin. He hadn’t had time to shave – he’d been dragged out of bed with the call from the hospital that Kody was in trouble.
Not that he’d minded, Kody was sure. They were brothers after all. More than brothers. Best mates.
He lay on a bed in the hospital emergency room, waiting for his head to be stitched. His feet dangling over the end of the bed.
In a flimsy white gown.
He groaned. It couldn’t get any worse. Could it?
His other brother Rory entered the room. “What the hell, Kody?”
His concerned look touched Kody. The words that followed just annoyed him. “Geez man, get yourself a girl. At least she’d know if you didn’t come home when you should.”
Kody tried to sit up and protest, but his head screamed at him and the room spun. Rory took a few quick strides toward him and steadied him, laying him back on the bed. “Steady down. You probably have concussion.”
“That’s exactly what he has.” The sweet feminine voice sang the words in Kody’s disoriented mind, and he turned his face toward her. It hurt like hell. “Stay down please, Mr Callahan,” she said as she moved toward him and felt around his head, checking for any other damage.
“We’re admitting him for at least tonight, depending on how he is tomorrow.” She spoke to Chase and Rory. “We’ll do scans to ensure there are no other injuries. Falling off a horse can be incredibly dangerous, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
“I didn’t fall off my horse, I don’t fall....”
She smiled down at him. Or was she laughing? That charming smile had his hormones doing all sorts of double flips. Hell.
“I’m Molly, by the way. Dr Molly Simpson. I’ll be taking care of you.”
As she ran her soft hands over his chest, Kody winced. “Just as I thought – you might have broken a rib or two. Or maybe three.” There was that cute smile again. Kody closed his eyes against the implications. “There will be no riding for you for quite some time,” she said, moments before his eyes closed involuntarily.
“I really need to go home.” Kody protested loudly when told he needed to stay in hospital another night.
Rory tried to calm him down. “There is no need to stress. We have it all under control.” Kody glared at him, but Rory continued. “The horses have been taken care of, and I’ve sent one of my ranch hands over to make sure everything is as it should be. He’ll be there until you’re able to take over again.”
Kody groaned.
It wasn’t that he was worried about his ranch, although he was, it was more that he was sick of being in bed. He was bed ridden because of his concussion, and he was over it.
Very over it.
Although that cute little doctor was one consolation.
He shut his eyes against the thought. First of all, he was not interested in a relationship. The last one was an absolute disaster, and he didn’t want to go there again.
Secondly, the cute little doctor, as he’d come to know her, wouldn’t fraternize with her patients. She seemed pretty straight-laced, and with that would come some pretty decent ethics, he had no doubt.
“How are we today, Mr Callahan?” Was he dreaming, or was she really standing next to him?
“Kody,” he said. “The name is Kody.”
She touched him on the shoulder as though she was trying to wake him up. He opened his eyes from the thrill it caused and turned his head toward her. It still ached, but not as much a
s yesterday.
He lifted his hand to his stitched head. “You need to leave your stitches alone, Mr Callahan,” she told him, completely ignoring his request to use his Christian name. “You’ll end up dislodging the dressing.” She sighed. “And then you’ll be open to infection.”
She glared at him as if to dare him to keep touching. “That would, of course, entail a longer hospital stay.”
He squeezed his eyes tight. Now she was toying with him.
He heard his brother chuckle.
Okay, so he was a bad patient. He lived for the outdoors, hence owning a ranch, and spending most of his days on the back of a horse.
He looked up at her and smiled sweetly. “If I promise to behave, can I go home today?” He heard Rory snort with laughter.
She returned his smile, and busied herself checking him out all over, including his ribs. “That would be a no,” she said as she walked away. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He watched her walk away. Watched the wiggle of her cute little behind as she did so. He felt enamoured with this new lady doctor the hospital had employed.
“So much for laying on the charm,” Rory told him, still chuckling.
“She’s cute,” Kody said, without thinking, and his brother stared at him with interest. Too much interest for Kody’s liking.
He half sat up in the bed but lay down quickly as the dizziness overtook him.
“Molly told you about the dizziness, remember,” Rory said, helping his brother to lay down again. “You whacked your head pretty bad and need to rest.” He played with the pillows behind Kody’s head. “Here, I can prop you up on some pillows if you like,” he said, and Kody nodded his agreement.
It was going to be a long couple of days.
Kody lay back on the lounger overlooking the magnificent Montana Ranges.
He sat sipping coffee as he watched the sun rise. He breathed in the fresh country air. He listened to the tinkle of water from the nearby stream. And he watched the birds as they searched for worms in the garden.
Apart from the stitches in his head, and the pain it caused, he considered himself the luckiest man alive.
How many other men got to spend their days outdoors? How many of them got to make their own rules, and spend their time the way they wanted?
Sure, he had chores that needed to be done, horses to take to the sales yard, and fences to fix.
But he lived a happy life, even if he was alone. Despite telling his brothers the opposite, Kody was sometimes lonely. But he’d been bitten by not one but two women who had cheated on him. And he wasn’t taking the chance again.
Despite what Rory said.
He wasn’t looking for a partner just because he might get injured. That was never going to happen. If he found the right lady, then he might consider hooking up, but that wasn’t on his radar right now.
The sting of breaking up was still fresh on his mind.
He took a big sip of his coffee and savoured the taste. The aroma hit his nose and boosted his taste buds. He was in heaven right now.
He suddenly felt weary. Placing his coffee mug on the side table, he closed his eyes – for just a few minutes.
Then he was dreaming.
The cute little doctor was standing over him, her face close to his.
She was touching his shoulder, and he could feel her warm breath as she leaned over him. He breathed deeply, and her fragrance hit his senses.
“Mr Callahan,” Her sweet voice drifted over him. “Wake up, Mr Callahan!” Her voice was harsher now. As though her patience had run out.
He opened his eyes and the sunlight blocked his view. He shielded is eyes with his hand, and there she was.
She was standing over him. She was really there, not just a dream.
And she was close. So close – she was in kissing distance.
He shook the thought away and his head hurt like hell. “Ow!”
She stood up abruptly. “I’ve been trying to ring for hours, to make sure you were alright.” She looked at him disapprovingly. “I was sure you’d gone out on your horse again.” Then her face softened. “I was worried about you.”
He sat up slowly to make sure the dizziness didn’t hit him. This cruel creature would put him in hospital again if she knew he was still experiencing some giddiness, albeit when he moved too quickly. “Well, you don’t have to worry, I’m okay,” he told her, a little annoyed that she didn’t trust him to do the right thing.
She stared into his eyes, as though doing so would reveal some medical mystery. “Are you experiencing any vertigo? Headaches? Pain?”
He let out a huge sigh. “I. Am. Okay.” Since when did the hospital do house calls anyway? He stood and headed for the kitchen. “I’m putting the jug on. Want a cuppa?”
It was the least he could do, since she’d come all this way to check on him.
“Sure.” The word came out of her mouth a little breathy.
He gestured for her to sit down at the table as he filled the jug. “Tea, coffee, whiskey?” The last came out on a laugh. He felt nervous around her, and his words were coming out all jumbled.
“Coffee. Thanks.” She seemed a little more relaxed now. She smiled and her whole face lit up. And his heart skipped a beat.
Whoa! What was that about?
He set about normalizing the conversation. “Thanks for checking on me. I must have been in a deep sleep.” He looked to the kitchen clock. 10am. “I closed my eyes for just a few minutes. At least I thought so, and that was at sunrise.”
“You need the rest.” She smiled tentatively. “The more you sleep, the better you will feel. Concussion can be very dangerous if not treated properly.”
He sat down opposite her, and suddenly felt awkward. Right then the jug screamed at him. He jumped up to make the drinks and went sideways.
He felt her hands steadying him, and then helping him into a chair. “Mr Callahan,” He could hear the annoyance in her voice.
“Kody.” He said it with conviction. “Please call me Kody. Mr Callahan was my father.” The last sentence came out quietly. The boys had lost their parents a long time ago, but it still stung.
“Kody.” He like the way his name rolled off her tongue, even if it was a little throaty. “You mustn’t make sudden movements. You still have concussion, and it will take some time before it is completely gone.”
He gazed up into her eyes as she leaned over him, still holding his shoulders. He moved closer to her face. His eyes bore into hers and only one thought crossed his mind. Kiss her.
Kiss her now!
He licked his lips. She licked hers too.
There was electricity between them. He felt it and was certain she felt it too. He lifted his hand and touched his fingers to her cheek.
“I, um,” She backed off. Her fingers went to her lips as though he had actually kissed her. But he hadn’t.
“Molly,” he said, but realized he was being too intimate for the doctor/patient relationship. “Dr Simpson.”
He wanted to ask her out. Wanted to get permission to kiss her. To hold her tight, and just be with her.
Instead he asked how she had her coffee.
She smiled, and he was sure she had read his thoughts. “White with two.”
This was crazy. And totally irrational. She was his doctor. He was her patient. He could not be attracted to his doctor.
It was unethical. Illegal even.
“On second thoughts, I should go.” She turned to leave but he grabbed her hand.
He didn’t want her to leave. Her was enjoying her company, and he knew it was more than feeling a little lonely.
She looked into his face, then lifted her eyes to stare into his eyes. They slowly moved down his face until her eyes focused on his lips.
They stood face to face for what seemed forever. He licked his lips, then swallowed. He pulled his eyes away to break the trance they’d been in.
“Your coffee is ready,” he said, as though nothing else had happened.
“I, I have to get back,” she lied, but he ignored her lie, and handed her a mug of the steaming liquid.
“Would you like to take a walk in the garden?” Maybe she’d feel more comfortable out of the house? He could do with some fresh air, anyway.
“I really do have to go,” she said. “I’ve been here far longer than I should have been.” She sighed. Kody was good at reading people, and he was convinced she didn’t want to leave.
“Come and see me at the hospital tomorrow,” she said authoritatively. “For a check-up.”
“Sorry, no can do,” he told her cheekily. “My doctor says I can’t drive.” He chuckled, and she joined him, producing a delightful tinkling sound he was sure he’d never tire of hearing.
“Then I will do another house-call,” she told him, wrapping her hands around the mug of coffee.
He grinned excitedly. He was going to see the cute little doctor again.
Molly picked up her doctor’s bag and rushed toward her car.
Her heart fluttered with exhilaration.
He’d nearly kissed her – and what’s more, she’d wanted him to. But he was her patient, and that wouldn’t do. A doctor couldn’t kiss her patient, even if he was the one instigating it.
She sat back in the driver’s seat and strapped in, then took a deep breath. And another. And yet another.
What was she going to do? She’d felt something for Kody from the moment she’d seen him. She’d continued to call him Mr Callahan to try and keep some distance.
That worked out well. Not.
As she turned on the engine, she noticed him standing on the doorstep waving. She smiled and waved back.
What would he think if he knew it was her day off and she’d come on her own time? She didn’t lie to him – she had been worried. When she couldn’t get hold of him, she was worried out of her mind.
It was idiotic really. She’d only known him a matter of days. Heck, she’d only been at the hospital for about a week.
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