Page 74 of The Cowboy Comes Home

“You look good, for someone who just got shot,” Nic said, and her teasing words did nothing to hide the concern in her expression.

“I’m fine,” she said. “It really is just a graze, only took some cleanup and a few stitches. I’ll be out of here as soon as the doctor gets a minute to clear it.”

Nic nodded toward the phone in her hand. “Talking to Tucker? I sort of thought he’d be here. He already cleared it with Jackson to take some time off.”

The worry came back in a rush. “No. The chief. I asked him to discretely check on something for me.” Nic lifted a brow, but didn’t ask. Emily hesitated, but she felt as if she had to tell someone. “I asked him to check out exactly how Tucker’s father was killed.”

Nic frowned. “Why would—” She stopped abruptly, her eyes widening. Nic was nothing if not quick on the uptake. “Let me guess. A carjacking?”

Emily nodded.

“Wow,” Nic said after a minute. “That’s a nasty bit of déjà vu.”

“He was acting…strange. I mean I expected he’d be upset, but he was way beyond that. So I started to wonder.”

“Where is he?”

She had to smile at that. “He went to get Lobo from Chance and take him home. He thought he’d be happier there.”

“I’m sure he will, until he sees you and knows you’re all right.” Nic tilted her head slightly. “It was good of Tucker to think of that.”

“Yes. But…he scared me, Nic. It was like he wished he’d never…that we’d never…”

“Fallen in love?” Emily blinked, drew back slightly. Nic chuckled. “Do you really think we didn’t know? Just seeing you two together, it was like there was a big neon heart hanging over you.”

“Now there’s an image that’s going to be hard to put out of my mind,” Emily said dryly, but she couldn’t help smiling.

Nic took another sip, looking thoughtful now. “What?” Emily asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Just thinking,” Nic said.

“I can tell. That’s what scares me.”

Nic laughed. “No, I was just thinking that maybe Tucker needs to talk to Lily.”

Emily blinked. “Um…he just did? At length?”

“Yes, he did,” she agreed, her tone a little too bland now, setting off alarms in Emily’s head.

“But?” she asked warily.

Her friend’s next words proved those alarms were well warranted. “But probably not about what it’s like to love a cop.”

“Nic,” she began warningly, knowing her friend planned to not-so-subtly nudge yet again. But then the ER doctor arrived with the release paperwork, a plastic bag with some medicines, and a couple of pages of instructions. Nic volunteered to take her home, and things were so tense with Tucker right now she agreed.

When they got there, Lobo was so delighted she forgot about everything else for a few minutes, greeting and hugging the dancing dog who had kept things from turning out much worse. But when she straightened up—making sure not to wince when the movement tugged at the stitches—and looked at Tucker, who was just standing there watching, rather stone-faced, she didn’t know what to say.

“Do I need to stay and referee?” her friend asked with an arched brow.

“No,” Tucker said flatly. Then, after a deep breath, he said more gently, “I’ll see to her.”

It was only when Nic had gone that she turned on him. “You’ll ‘see to’ me? You make that sound like you’re babysitting. Like it’s a…not something you want to do, but a duty.”

She saw him wince before he lowered his gaze and wondered if she’d hit close on that one. Which in turn only made her angrier. “I’m going to take a shower.”

He looked up sharply. “You should wait.”

That irked her, too. She wasn’t sure why she was so wound up, other than because he was. “The doctor said it was fine. The wound is sealed in plastic at the moment for just that reason.”

---