Here Comes Trouble (35 page)

"Morning, Sis--time to find out if you've got
some crud going on in that chest. Sit up," he commanded then sat on
the bed beside her and stuck a thermometer into her mouth. "Joel
says that you've been coughing, you might have aspirated some of
that water you swallowed."

"I'm fine," she mumbled around the
thermometer, and he reached up to push it back into
place.

"Either you let me look at you, or you go to
the hospital, you're choice," he told her and waited for her to
decide.

"Fine," she huffed and sat up.

Ethan chuckled then put the cold metal end of
the stethoscope to her chest and turned his head while he listened.
"Take a deep breath," he said and she inhaled. "Let it out slowly,"
he told her.

Terri was a nurse she knew the routine, so
when he moved the end to the other side, she automatically inhaled,
then release the breath. "Okay lean forward and do it again," he
instructed and put the stethoscope to her back, moving it around
while she inhaled and exhaled.

"Cough," he told her and stopped in a certain
spot.

Terri took a deep breath then her lungs
spasmed and she coughed without trying. She felt the rumble in her
chest, and the burning was extremely painful.

"Yep, you need antibiotics, sis...doctor, or
ER?" he asked her. He removed the thermometer from her mouth and
read it. "You've got fever too."

"Damn," Terri said and plopped back against
the pillows. "Call Jenny she can probably write me a script," she
told him then realized what he was wearing. "You been reading those
westerns again? Looks like you fell out of the pages of one," she
said with a snort. Her brother was not a country boy either, even
though he was definitely in cowboy mode today. Usually, he was a
jeans, t-shirt and tennis shoes kind of guy...when he wasn't in his
firehouse turnout gear.

"I'm bull riding, remember?" he said then
stood. "Have to look the part too," he grinned. "Besides, that
female cowhand who is teaching us to ride a horse is pretty damned
hot...what's her name? Rocky?"

"Roxanne, but yeah everyone calls her
Rocky."

"I like a capable woman, and that woman can
sure ride a damned horse. Kinda quiet though," he told her with a
chuckle.

"Better stay away from that one, I think she's
the silent deadly type, and I'm sure she's castrated a calf or two
in her time," Terri told him and wiggled her eyebrows.

When his hands moved to cover his crotch and
his smile faded, she burst out laughing, which triggered another
coughing fit. Breathing weakly when it subsided, she told him,
"Call Jenny...please."

"Sure thing...haven't seen her lately anyway,"
he said and Terri saw the sparkle in his eyes. Her brother had
nursed a crush on her best friend, since he'd met her. But Jenny
didn't have one on him, and now she was married. Terri kind of
wished they'd have gotten together. With her brother's penchant for
activities that could kill him, he could use a trauma doctor for a
girlfriend.

"She's married now and swallowed a basketball
which is gonna pop any day. I'm sure she'd like to see you too,
though. Watch out for her husband, he's pretty
possessive."

"I promise not to flirt...too much," he said
with a big grin that she was sure made women everywhere swoon at
his feet. He was her brother, so she wouldn't know, but she did
know Ethan had his share of women chasing after him. "Give me your
truck keys, Joel said you traded your roller skate for a
truck?"

"Yeah, the Miata wasn't practical out
here...although since I might be leaving, I'm kind of regretting
that decision now."

"Leaving?" Ethan repeated with his eyebrows
raised.

"Yeah, I think I made a mistake coming out
here. That's why I went riding alone yesterday...to think," she
told him and looked away.

"You love that asshole too don't you?" he said
and huffed out a breath.

Her eyes flew to his and she feigned
innocence. "Who?"

"Joel Rhodes," he tilted his head and gave her
a I know you know look.

"Doesn't matter if I do, he's into the flavor
of the month, and I stick with my favorite. You know I've been with
a man like that before."

"Didn't look that way last night to me," Ethan
told her then sat on the bed.

"You wouldn't know, you were too busy saving
my ass...thanks by the way," she said and leaned up to kiss his
cheek.

"He was helping, Terri...and he was a
wreck."

She put her hand over his lips and said, "Let
it go, Ethan...it's already hard enough to leave."

"Then why the hell are you leaving?" Ethan
said loudly, then the door opened and Joel stood there with the
door knob in one hand and a breakfast try in the other.

Joel's throat worked a few times and his hand
tightened on the doorknob before he asked, "Yeah, why are you
leaving?"

Terri's eyes stayed on his and she saw the
sadness and hurt there. When she didn't answer, he sat the tray on
the dresser then quietly closed the door behind him.

"Thanks a lot brother," Terri growled and
slugged him in the shoulder. With a sigh and the urge to cry again,
Terri plopped back on the pillows.

"You just thanked me for saving your life, and
now you hit me?" Ethan whined and rubbed his arm. "That poor
bastard got the worst of it though, he's in love with you. He now
has a special place in hell right next to mine, brat," he told her
with a grin and a kiss on her cheek. He picked up her truck keys
from the night table then told her in a smooth smarmy voice, "I'll
call
Jenny
."

"Try not to incite Chase into kicking your
ass, please," Terri groaned and covered her head with a
pillow.

"Chase?" Ethan asked and stopped at the
door.

Terri peeked from under the pillow and told
him, "Joel's brother is her husband."

Ethan groaned then asked, "He an asshole like
Joel?"

"Nah, he's the nicest guy you'll ever meet,
until you mess with his wife," she warned and Ethan shook his head
and walked out.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Why the heck was Joel being so nice to her
now? Her eyes moved from the door to the steaming breakfast tray
and her heart wiggled in her chest. Holding her in the tub, feeding
her soup, then staying with her all night and bringing her
breakfast were not the actions of a man who just wanted
sex.

Those were things that a lover did for someone
they cared about. It was easy to make the decision to leave when
Joel was in angry and sullen mode, not so easy when he was like
he'd been last night and this morning. Kind,
caring...
loving
.

Was that where Ethan got the crazy idea that
Joel loved her?

Alpha male that her brother was, she was
surprised that thought had even entered his head, but then not so
surprised. Her brother was intuitive to other people, and
sensitive. Even though he had a hard shell, he had a soft heart.
God, she'd never tell him that, he'd kill her for even thinking
it.

Maybe there was something she was missing
here.

The signals she had been getting from Joel
since she'd been at the ranch had mostly been back off, I'm not
interested in anything other than your body. Combined with his
attitude toward her, making the decision to leave had been the
right one to protect her sanity. Terri wasn't going to let herself
fall deeper in love with a man who could easily crush her, if she
let him.

She'd done that with her ex-husband Craig and
that's exactly what had happened. By the time she finally left him,
and faced that he wasn't ever going to love her or change, she had
nothing left inside. With five years time, including two years of
therapy, she'd managed to figure out where she went wrong and
repair her life.

The conclusion she'd come to after her
disaster of a marriage was that in her youthful naivety, she'd
trusted the wrong man with her heart, not seen the signs over his
good looks, until it was too late. From that realization came the
vow that next time she would choose more wisely, before she gave
her heart to anyone again.

The path to hell is paved with good
intentions
. Terri's grandma had always said that and Terri had
never fully understood what it meant, until now.

Because despite that vow, she was in love with
a man who didn't intend on hurting her, but would. He had never
mentioned forever, much less told her that he loved her. She'd let
herself fall for a man who was so hurt himself, he might never be
capable of loving again.

The hell of it would come if she stayed and
tried to help him believe he could, but he never got over his
ex-wife's treachery enough to trust her and love her like she
needed to be loved. If one day, she realized he had just been using
her to salve his broken heart, her own might never recover from the
blow.

Deciding to stay here with Joel would be an
all in proposition. Terri couldn't risk that without some kind of
assurance that he was ready for more than a superficial
relationship. The only way to find that out was to ask
him.

It was time to take off the gloves and have
the showdown that had been brewing between them for a month...hell
a year if she counted their first time. Because if she was
perfectly honest with herself, that was when she'd fallen in love
with the man.

Throwing back the covers, Terri sat on the
side of the bed and stood then held onto it to get her balance,
giving her brain time to stop sloshing around inside her skull. It
almost felt waterlogged from her harrowing experience in the
creek.

She'd eat her breakfast, take a shower and get
dressed then go find Joel. It was time for her to sort this mess
out and finalize her decision to leave, or stay. One way or
another, today was D-day for them.

An hour later, Terri felt a hundred times
better than she had when she woke up, but her hand shook when she
grabbed the door knob. Her nerves were strung as tight as barbed
wire. Taking a deep breath, she twisted it and walked out into the
hallway to go and find Joel.

Penny was in the kitchen and said she hadn't
seen him since he'd made the tray for her. A couple female guests
in new white R&R robes passed her near the stairs and she
assumed they were guests here for the spa package. Other than them,
the big house appeared empty. On the way down the hall, she had
knocked on Joel's bedroom door, but he hadn't answered. The last
place he could be in the big house was his office, but she didn't
find him there either, so she headed outside.

Joel put another section of log up on the
block, lined it up, then took a step back and brought down the
heavy axe, splitting it dead center. The pieces fell to either side
of the block and he wiped the sweat from his forehead then repeated
the process. He was afraid that there wouldn't be enough wood on
his entire thousand acres to get rid of the sickness and regret
inside of him though. One tree felled by lightning in the storm
might give him a little respite, but he didn't think chopping an
entire forest of firewood would accomplish that
entirely.

Terri was leaving, he'd seen the determination
in her eyes, heard it in her voice when she told her brother. Joel
had told her he loved her last night, something he didn't think
he'd be able to do, then he'd shown her he loved her by taking care
of her. He had done all he could do. It wasn't enough, she wasn't
going to forgive him.

Even though he wanted her to stay, said he'd
beg her to stay, he wasn't going to do that. It would be selfish
and wasn't fair to her, because even though he loved her, Joel
wasn't sure he could give her what she
needed...deserved.

After what she'd gone through with her
ex-husband, she deserved to be happy. Because of who she was she
deserved that. Joel wanted that for her, and he loved her enough to
let her go.

He put another chunk of log on the block and
brought his ax down so hard it not only split the wood, the ax
embedded in the block. Breathing hard, Joel stopped for a minute
and leaned down on his knees. The conflicting emotions pouring
through his system like acid almost overwhelmed him. He had to get
a grip on himself if he was gonna pull this off.

A gunshot echoed through the trees and Joel
stood up and shaded his eyes to look at the tree line across the
far pasture. The shot sounded like it came from a high-powered
hunting rifle. He hadn't given anyone permission to be hunting on
his land, so he wondered if maybe it was one of the ranch hands out
in the woods shooting target practice. With as many guests as he
had milling about, someone could get hurt. He hoped it wasn't a
trespasser or poacher, because they could get nasty and he didn't
have a gun with him.

Joel picked up his t-shirt from the ground and
wiped his face, then swatted the woodchips off of his chest and
shoulders, before he straddled the four wheeler he'd ridden from
the house and cranked it up. He felt a breeze by his right ear,
then heard a ping on the side of the metal barn behind
him.