Page 9 of Take Me Please, Cowboy
For a moment, there was just silence and then the beautiful girl looked at him, and had tears in her eyes.“I was so scared,” she whispered.“The whole drive I just kept praying.I didn’t know what was happening and wasn’t sure he’d make it.”
“You couldn’t call an ambulance?”
“We live thirty miles away, up in the mountains.I couldn’t wait for an ambulance to come.”She struggled to smile, wiping moisture away from beneath her eyes.“Besides, it looks like they’re all here anyway.”
“You did good,” Rye said.“And your uncle will get great care here.Marietta Medical is a great hospital, but I’m sure you already know that.”
“I didn’t know that.I’m still relatively new here, arrived late May.”
“From where?”
“Texas.My family lives in a small town called Last Stand in the Hill Country.”
“I’ve been there.”
“You have?”
He nodded.“Right next to Fredericksburg, yes?”
“Yes.”She smiled at him, some of the tension leaving her face.“I’m Ansley Campbell,” she said, extending her hand.
He was happy to take it.Her hand was soft, smooth, her skin cool.“Rye Calhoun.”
“I’ve never met a Rye before,” she said, taking her hand back, slipping it into a pocket of her jeans.
“You’re my first Ansley.”
Her smile widened.“So, what brings you to Marietta Medical?”Her gaze skimmed over him, as if looking for blood or an injury.
“I brought a friend.He’s back there somewhere getting stitches.I’m just waiting for him.”
“I didn’t think the rodeo had even started yet.”
“It hasn’t.”
“What happened?”
There was something about her voice that made Rye’s chest tighten, making him feel.She didn’t exactly have an accent, but he wasn’t surprised she was Texan.Her voice was warm, a little husky, a little breathless, and it made him feel a little warm.A little restless.“JB has a mean horse,” Rye said, not wanting her to know that JB had been fighting.It didn’t seem suitable for her ears somehow.
Ansley’s eyes widened.“His horse kicked him?”
“I told you he was mean.”
She looked at him, her dark blue gaze searching his.“Are you being serious?Because I’m not sure I believe you.”
Rye sighed.“Okay, JB was in a fight.I brought him to get stitches.”
She pushed up the brim of her cap.“Why didn’t you just say that?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Ansley laughed.“I have five brothers, including one that’s a fighter pilot.You don’t have to protect me.I’ve heard it all and seen it all at this point.”
Rye heard her, but looking into her face with those exquisite cheekbones, full lips, and perfect chin, he didn’t think she knew as much as she thought she did.It wasn’t a criticism, either.She struck him as sheltered, innocent, and he wasn’t going to be the one that broke her trust.
Before he could speak, the swinging door opened and JB emerged, face clean, dark stitches running through one eyebrow and then down his cheek, his skin mottled with emerging bruises.He also looked as if he’d sobered as his eyes locked with Rye’s, his expression chagrined as he crossed the waiting area.
“Thanks for waiting, Calhoun,” JB said gruffly, folding his discharge papers and shoving them into his denim pocket.
