Page 72 of The Cowboy Comes Home

He should have listened to his gut. Should have listened back when it had screamed at him not to get involved with a cop. Because here he was again, on this side of the bad news, waiting for it to rip his heart out all over again.

Did you see the chief storm out of Yippee Ki Yay next door?

I did! And no wonder. He gets like that when one of his people is hurt. He’ll be at the hospital before the ambulance.

He had been in the bakery to pick up some of the cherry turnovers Emily had admitted were a weakness for dessert tonight. He was barely resisting the alluring scent of their cinnamon rolls, and had just decided they’d make a great breakfast treat for the morning after another fantastic night together, when he’d heard the two women talking. He’d frozen, even his breath stopping in his throat. And then the killing blow had come.

And Emily Stratton, of all people. She’s the sweetest thing.

The adrenaline had hit as hard as that bull had. He’d been back out in the ranch truck before the bakery door had closed behind him.

So here he was, in a place he’d sworn never to set foot in again, a hospital emergency room. And so rattled that when someone with a name tag approached him and asked what he needed, he couldn’t even put a coherent sentence together. How could anybody even think when the person you love was beyond those doors, maybe forever beyond your reach?

The person you love.

He nearly groaned aloud as he admitted to himself what he’d been denying. And didn’t it just figure that he’d admit he loved her here and now, when he could be…losing her.

“Tucker,” he heard, in a deep male voice. He looked up to see Chief Highwater coming toward him, the doors to that inner sanctum of the emergency closing behind him.

The memories swamped him then, not of his own time in a place like this, but an earlier time, when a man in uniform had walked toward him and his mother, in those last few seconds before his life had been blasted to bits the first time. The uniform now might consist of the western shirt, cowboy boots and the dark gray cowboy hat, with the badge at his belt, but the air of authority was there. Even more so, because this was the man in charge, and everyone knew it.

Tucker wanted to run. Just as he’d wanted to when he was that kid, to avoid the doom he had sensed was approaching. Only now he knew running wouldn’t change a damned thing. He knew life was what it damned well was, and so was death—

“She’s going to be fine, Tucker.”

He drew back. Searched the man’s face for any sign of falsehood.

“I’m not sugarcoating anything,” the chief said, no doubt having seen expressions like his countless times before. “She took a slight hit, but she’ll recover.” Shane Highwater’s mouth quirked slightly. “She’ll be cranky at the downtime, but she’ll recover. Completely. At the risk of sounding like a bad line of dialogue, it really was just a flesh wound. Just grazed her right side. She’ll be out of here in a few hours, and her staying that long is only a precaution.”

Tucker let out the breath he hadn’t really been aware of holding. He wanted to sag down to the floor, he suddenly felt so weak. He gave a sharp shake of his head.

“What happened?” he asked. Chief Highwater looked at him consideringly. “Look, I know you can’t tell me all of it, if it was some big crime thing, but—”

“It would have been, if not for Emily. It was an attempted carjacking.”

Of course it was. Life was that cruel.

“She stopped it, and quite possibly saved three innocent lives, including a child, in the process.”

At the risk of her own. Because that’s what cops do. Didn’t you learn that all those years ago?

“The only one really hurting is the carjacker who had the gun. And fired the first shot, by the way. He won’t be pulling any stunts like that again anytime soon.” Suddenly the chief was grinning. “In fact, Officer Stratton targeted him so exquisitely I doubt he’ll ever be able to accurately wield a pistol again.”

Tucker blinked. “What?”

“Oh, she stuck to the standard and went for center mass to take him down. She just managed to make the round go through his hand first.”

He let out a short, sharp breath. Why didn’t that surprise him? Because it was Emily, of course.

But then something else hit him. “Lobo! Is he okay?”

For a brief moment the chief just looked at him. Then a slight smile curved one corner of his mouth. “Good job, Tucker, knowing what she’d worry about most. Lobo took down the second suspect. And distracted the first in the process, letting her make that shot.”

“But he’s okay?”

“He is. This all happened out near the Rafferty ranch, so Chance came out to help. He’ll keep him until we can get there to pick him up.”

“I’ll go get him,” Tucker said without a first thought let alone a second. “I’ll take him home to Emily’s. He’ll feel better there.”

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