Page 27 of Rawhide and Ransom

“I know what Running Bear is asking of you is difficult, but I’ll be in the waiting room, you hear?” Instead of immediately exiting the truck after turning off the motor, he took a moment to gaze deeply into her eyes.

Only when she nodded did he open the door and assist her to the pavement. They walked in silence into the hospital. The backs of their hands brushed a few times, but neither of them made any effort to pull away.

He gave their names to the receptionist in the lobby and asked for Ace Dakota’s room number.

The woman’s expression grew shuttered. “He doesn’t take visitors.”

“Ask him,” Hawk urged. “Tell him his daughter-in-law is anxious to see him.”

“It’s your grave,” she muttered, picking up the phone.

“Anxious?” Annalee hissed behind her hand to Hawk.

“Very anxious.” His dark gaze glittered into hers, both steadying her and making her heart race. He leaned her way. “A poker player you are not. You wear every thought and emotion in plain sight for all to see.”

She made a face at him. “To a Comanche, that’s a sign of weakness, isn’t it?”

“To this Comanche, it’s beautiful,” he returned with a wink.

Oh!She caught her breath and stared back at him, utterly mesmerized.

“Ma’am?” The receptionist sounded irritated. “Miracles clearly never cease, because Mr. Dakota has agreed to see you.” She shook her head. “The hardest nut to crack in the state of Texas.”

At Annalee’s expression, she hastily added, “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

“I’m his daughter-in-law, remember?” Annalee smiled wryly at her. “You didn’t say anything I don’t already know.”

“I’m still sorry,” the woman said again. “I’m sure none of this is easy for you.”

“We’re good.” Annalee thanked her for making the phone call. Then she walked with Hawk to the elevator. “She’s not wrong, you know. I feel like a lamb being led to the slaughter.”

“Not on my watch.” He held the elevator door open for her and stepped in after her.

For reasons she couldn’t even begin to explain, she stepped closer to him.

He reached for her hand, covering it with his much larger one. “Your fingers are like ice.”

“So is my heart,” she mourned. “You have no idea what it’s been like being Ace Dakota’s daughter-in-law. He’s nothing like Running Bear. He disinherited his own son.” It was something that grieved her to this day. “He built walls between them that never came down. He never even got to say goodbye to Chayton, and I’m pretty sure he blames me for it.”

“Why would he blame you?” Hawk scowled as the elevator door rolled open.

“He never approved of me.” She glanced away from him as they left the elevator together. “Not as a person. Just not for his son.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” His voice was so matter-of-fact that she smiled.

“I’m nothing, Hawk. I came from nothing,” she informed him quietly as they made their way down the hallway. “Just a messed-up kid in foster care who became a mother before she was finished growing up herself.”

“Eh, we all have a past.” He didn’t say what his was, and she didn’t ask. Somehow, she doubted it was as dismal as hers.

“I got lucky,” she continued ruefully, “when an older couple decided it was their Christian duty to adopt me. It felt like winning the lottery, and the farm I inherited from them felt like winning a second lottery. I guess you could say that marrying Chayton felt like winning a third lottery. But I eventually lost it all, and now I’m back to being nothing.” The hole Chayton’s absence had left inside her and the sting of failure was overwhelming at times.

“Wrong.” Hawk stopped in the middle of the hallway and spun her toward him so quickly that it took her breath away. “You’re a child of God, Annalee. So is Miley. You’re also Running Bear’s family and someone who’s very quickly becoming important to me. You’re not nothing, you hear?”

She nodded mutely, amazed at how a few words from him had suddenly made her feel like something. However, she knew from experience that the man she’d come to visit was all too capable of returning her to the state of nothingness.

“You matter to God,” Hawk growled, as if sensing her thoughts. “You matter to Running Bear. You matter to Miley. You matter to me.”

She gave a helpless chuckle, fighting tears. “Okay. Now I feel rich again.”

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