Buckhorn Beginnings: Sawyer

He turned to face her, his muscles tense. “Forget the damn damages. I’m not worried about that.”

She looked sad and resolute. “But payment for the damages is all I owe you. I didn’t ask to be brought here. I didn’t ask for your help.”

“You got it anyway.” He stalked close again, unable to keep the distance between them. “No respectable man would leave a sick, frightened woman alone in a rainstorm. Especially a woman who was panicked and damn near delusional.”

“I wasn’t—”

“You slugged my son. You were afraid of me.”

She winced again, then worried her bottom lip between her teeth. His heart nearly melted, and that angered him more than anything else. He sat on the edge of the bed and took her hands in his. “Honey, you can trust me. You can trust us.” She didn’t quite meet his gaze, staring instead at his throat. “The best thing now is to tell me what’s going on so I know what to expect.”

She looked haunted as her gaze met his, but she also looked strong, and he wasn’t surprised when she whispered, “Or I can leave.”

They stared at each other, a struggle of wills, and with a soft oath Sawyer stood and paced away. Maybe he was pushing too fast. She needed time to reason things through. He’d wear her down, little by little. And if that didn’t work, he’d have Morgan start an investigation—whether she liked it or not.

One thing was certain. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight until he knew it was safe.

With his back to her, his hands braced on the dresser, he said, “Not yet.”

“You can’t keep me here against my will.”

“Wanna bet?” He felt like a bastard, but his gut instincts urged him to keep her close regardless of her insistence. “Morgan is the town sheriff, and he heard everything you said. If nothing else, he’d want to keep you around for questioning. I’m willing to give you some time. But until you’re ready to explain, you’re not going anywhere.”

He could feel her staring at his back, feel the heat of her anger. She wasn’t nearly so frail as he’d first thought, and she had more gumption than the damn old mule Jordan kept out in the pasture.

Despite the raspiness of her voice, he heard her disdain when she muttered, “And you wanted me to trust you.”

His hand fisted on the dresser, but he refused to take the bait. He pulled open a drawer and got out a pair of shorts, saying over his shoulder, “I need to shower and get dressed before patients start showing up. Why don’t you just go on back to sleep for a spell? Maybe things’ll look a little different this afternoon.”

He saw her reflection in the mirror, the way her eyes were already closing, shutting him out. He wanted to say something more, but he couldn’t. So instead he walked away, and he closed the door behind him very softly.

SHESLEPT the better part of the day. After taking more medicine and cleaning up as much as she could using the toothbrush he provided and the masculine-scented soap in the bathroom, she simply konked out. One minute she’d been disgruntled because he was rushing her back to bed, and the next she was sound asleep. Sawyer roused her once to take more ibuprofen and sip more water, but she barely stirred enough to follow his directions. He held her head up with one hand, aware of the silkiness of her heavy hair and the dreamy look in her sleepy eyes. She smiled at him, too groggy to remember her anger.

Fortunately for him, since he couldn’t stay by her side, she hadn’t kicked off her blankets again. He’d worried about it, and gone back and forth from his office to her room several times during the day, unable to stay away. After Casey had finished up his chores, he promised to stay close in case she called out.

She hadn’t had any lunch, and it was now nearing dinnertime. When Sawyer entered the room, he saw his son sitting on the patio through the French doors. He had the small cat with him that Jordan had brought home. Using a string, he enticed the cat to pounce and jump and roll.

This time Honey was on her back, both arms flung over her head. He could see her legs were open beneath the covers. She was sprawled out, taking up as much room as her small body could in the full-size bed. In his experience, most women slept curled up, like a cat, but not Honey. A man would need a king-size bed to accommodate her.

He was still smiling when he stepped outside with Casey. “She been sleeping okay?”

“Like the dead.” Casey glanced up at him, then yelped when the cat attacked his ankle. “She looks like someone knocked her out, doesn’t she? I’ve never seen anyone sleep so hard. The cat got loose and jumped up on the bed and before I could catch her, she’d been up one side and down the other, but the woman never so much as moved.”

“She’s a sound sleeper, and I think she was pretty exhausted, besides. Thanks for keeping a watch on her.”

Sawyer saw a movement out of the corner of his eye and turned. Honey was propped up on one elbow, her hair hanging forward around her face, her eyes squinted at the late-afternoon sunshine. Most of the day it had continued to drizzle, and now that the sun was out, the day was so humid you could barely draw a deep breath.

Honey looked vaguely confused, so he went in to her. Casey followed with the cat trailing behind.

“Hello, sleepyhead.”

She looked around as if reorienting herself. The small cat made an agile leap onto the bed, then settled herself in a semicircle at the end of Honey’s feet, tucking her bandaged tail in tight to sleep. Honey stared at the cat as if she’d never seen one before. “What time is it?”

“Five o’clock. You missed lunch, but dinner will be ready soon.”

Casey stepped forward to retrieve the new pet, but Honey shook her head. “She’s okay there. I don’t mind sharing the bed.”

Casey smiled at her. They all loved and accepted animals, thanks to Jordan, and it pleased his son that their guest appeared to be of a similar mind. “You want something to drink?”

She thought about that for a moment, then finally nodded. “Yes, please.”

Sawyer was amused by her sluggish responses and said, “Make it orange juice, Case.”

“Sure thing.”

Once Casey was gone, Sawyer studied her. She yawned hugely behind her hand, then apologized.

“I can’t believe I slept so long.”

He resisted the urge to say, I told you so, and stuck to the facts instead. “You’ve got bronchitis, which can take a lot out of you, not to mention you’re just getting over a concussion. Sleep is the best thing for you.”

She sat back and tucked the covers around her waist. After a second, she said, “I’m sorry about arguing with you earlier. I know you mean well.”

“But you don’t trust me?”

She shrugged. “Trust is a hard thing. I’m not generally the best judge of character.”

This sounded interesting, so he pulled up a chair and made himself comfortable. “How so?”

She gave him a wary look, but was saved from answering when Casey came back in. He handed her the glass of iced orange juice and a napkin.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” He turned to Sawyer. “I’m going to go down and do some more work on the fence.”

“Only for about an hour. Dinner will be ready by then.”

“All right.”

As Casey started out, Honey quickly set her glass aside and lifted a hand. “Casey!”

He turned, his look questioning.

“I noticed your shoulders are getting a little red. Have you been out in the sun much lately?”

“Uh…” He glanced at his father, then back to Honey. “Yeah, I mean, I’ve been outside, but there hasn’t really been much sun till just a bit ago.”

“I know it’s none of my business, but you should really put on a shirt or something. Or at least some sunscreen. You don’t want to burn.”