Unbridled (Unlikely Lovers) (14 page)

Travis smiled.
“Yes, I do. Even the broken ones are pretty.”

Miranda
scowled at him. “Has he been showing you my old x-rays? That’s a breach of confidentiality, Rodney. HIPPA will get you for that.”

“I didn
’t have to see the x-rays,” Travis said. “I’ve got eyes.”

Rodney gazed at him with newfound reverence.
“Ohhh…x-ray vision! You are one lucky man.”

“Shut up and drive, Rodney
.” Miranda growled. “I’d like to get home before I have to feed the horses again.”

Travis patted her hand.
“Let’s wait and see what the doctor says about that.”

She glared at him. “Oh, really?”

“Really. I’ve always heard that doctors and nurses make the worst patients, but I never believed it until now.”

Miranda snorted a laugh.
“Not true. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the worst patients are the overdoses. The only kind that might be worse is a drunk with an upper GI bleed.”

“She
’s got you there, pal,” Rodney said with a nod. “You should try taking pictures of a drunk sometime. It’s a real bitch.”

Travis was undeterred.
“If the doctor says you can’t lift or he wants you to stay in bed for a few days, I’ll feed the ponies for you. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

Rodney leaned down to whisper in
her ear. “You’ll never get a better offer. I’ve never said that to a woman in my life.”

“Yeah, well,
you
wouldn’t,” Miranda drawled. “You’d dearly love for a woman to get hurt worse so you could take more x-rays of her.”

He rubbed his chin, pursing his lips.
“Hmm…hadn’t thought of that.”

She heaved a weary sigh.
“Just drive, Rodney. I
really
want to go home.”

Chapter 14

Travis held his breath as Dr. Schwartz flipped through the radiology reports. “The knee is only bruised, you do
have a mild concussion, and there are three broken ribs—”

Miranda
grimaced. “I knew that.” 

“I’m going to let you go home,” he said with an inflection that suggested he would’ve preferred to keep her overnight. “B
ut you have to take it easy for a few days. I’ve written an excuse from work for two weeks, and in the meantime, don’t lift anything heavier than a bottle of water. In light of the concussion, I’d rather not give you anything stronger than Tylenol or Motrin for the pain. We’ll give you an incentive spirometer to use every two hours to prevent pneumonia.”

“Pneumonia?” Travis echoed. This was a complication he hadn’t considered.

“The spirometer encourages her to take deep breaths,” Dr Schwartz explained. “People with broken ribs tend to breathe more shallowly than normal, which can cause secretions to pool in the lungs and possibly result in pneumonia. You’ll need to make sure she uses the spirometer as directed. Plus, you need to assess her neurological status every two hours for the first twenty-four and every four hours for at least another day after that. If you notice any significant changes in her level of consciousness, bring her back here immediately. We’ll print out a list of instructions for you.”

Travis nodded
, not only relieved that the news wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, but also pleased that he now had the perfect excuse to stay with Miranda for a few days. “No problem.”

“
So much for the trip to the ER,” she muttered after the doctor left. “Guess I’d better take my note up to the unit.”

“Want me to take you in a wheelchair?”

She scowled at him, but she didn’t refuse, which seemed a little out of character.
She must be in more pain than I thought.

As he wheeled her into the ICU,
although Travis felt completely out of his element, Miranda seemed right at home. “Holy cow, Lola! What on earth did they have to pay you to get you to work the day shift?”

The tall blonde grinned as they approached
the desk. “Night shift differential, time and a half, plus the call-in bonus. You better believe I did some wheeling and dealing before I said yes.” Her smile disappeared as she leveled a disapproving glare at Miranda. “What happened to you
this
time?”

“I fell on the ice when I went to feed the horses this morning.” Miranda held up the note from the doctor. “Is Jeni here? I need to give her this.”

“She’s on break.” Lola blew out an exasperated breath. “Those horses are going to kill you someday—either that, or you’ll wind up permanently crippled.
Then
what will you do?”

Miranda
shrugged. “Retire on disability, I guess. Just remember, I can out-walk you even with a brace on my leg.”

“True,” Lola admitted. She glanced at Travis. “I’ve
already had one knee worked on, and it took so long to heal I didn’t have enough sick time left to fix the other one.”

“Unlike me, who
’s one of the walking wounded whenever I get hurt,” Miranda said. “I’ve had to wear leg braces and use crutches, but I’ve always been mobile.”

“You
still
need to be more careful.”

“I
am
careful. I can’t help it if Mother Nature is always slamming me with mud and freezing rain.”

“And evil
horses,” Lola added.

“They aren
’t evil,” Travis said. “One of them helped her up after she fell.”

Miranda twisted her head around to look up at him.
“Really? You mean I didn’t imagine that?”

“No.
Kira nudged you a couple of times and then after you got up, you held onto her tail while she walked to the barn. I’d have thought she would’ve kicked you, but she didn’t seem to mind at all.”

Lola
’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “And where were you when this happened?”

“
Watching from the kitchen window. After she fell, I got dressed and went up to the barn to check on her.”

She arched an eyebrow.
“Got
dressed
?”

Travis
didn’t blush very often, but his face suddenly felt very hot. “Well…I did have to put on my coat and boots.”

“It
’s a long story.” Miranda handed over the doctor’s statement. “Give this to Jeni when she comes back, and I’ll tell you about it later.”

Lola chuckled.
“I can’t wait to hear
that
story. Call me when you get home.”

“I will.” Miranda
glanced up at him again. “Okay, Travis. I’m ready whenever you are.”

He
drove her down to the emergency entrance, parking the wheelchair inside the sliding glass doors. The weather had warmed up even further, and the ice was melting rapidly. 

“
Great,” Miranda grumbled. “Just what we need. More water.”

Travis stifled a laugh. She certainly had a one-track mind when it came to rain.
“Better wait here while I go get the truck.”

“I can walk
,” she protested. “No one said anything about not walking.”

“Yes, but that doctor told you to take it easy for a few days
, and I had to go a long way to find a parking space.”

Although he suspected she would’ve argued about it u
nder normal circumstances, like riding in the wheelchair, she seemed to accept it and waved him on. “I’ll wait right here.”

Travis
set off at a brisk pace, hoping she wasn’t in too much pain, and also wondering why she kept downplaying the fact that they were lovers. He
felt like shouting it to the world. Still, she’d been pretty embarrassed when she left for the barn. He wanted to kick himself for letting her go alone.

I
would pick one that’s too independent for her own damn good.

Even so, he wouldn’t change a thing about her. She’d been
badly hurt and had yet to shed a single tear. Smiling to himself, he realized something else. He was proud of her. She was tough, resilient, and one absolutely incredible lover. His balls tingled at the memory.

Of all the times to get hot and bothered…

Miranda watched
Travis walk away, only then allowing herself to fully acknowledge the pain. About the only part of her that didn’t hurt was her left arm, and she was very glad he’d talked her into waiting for him. Thank God he’d been there to drive her to the hospital—although, if she’d been alone, she might have stayed home and saved the insurance company a little money. She was happy to have the time off from work, though. If nothing else, getting that doctor’s statement made the trip worthwhile.

T
aking care of the horses would be the tough part. Although Travis had said he would feed them, she doubted he would actually be willing to drive back and forth to her farm twice a day. It would’ve been different if his house was right across the road, but she had absolutely no idea where he lived. Even so, as bad as she felt, she was willing to take him up on his offer—regardless of any inconvenience to him.

No, that isn’t the reason.

Her accident had nothing to do with it. She wasn’t totally incapacitated, and if she had to, she could do the chores herself. It was the fact that Travis was the one offering his assistance that made her willing to accept it. Having him visit twice a day was worth a few broken ribs. Still, she saw no reason to let herself get soft and vowed not to let him do anything that wasn’t strictly necessary.

As he drove up
to the loading dock, she got to her feet, amazed at how stiff her knee had become in the short time she’d been sitting in the wheelchair. He’d pulled up close to the curb, but when she opened the door and put her left foot on the running board, her right knee wobbled painfully, threatening to give way beneath her.

Travis hopped out of the
truck. “Will you hold on a second and let me help you?”

She shook her head.
“I should be able to get up there by myself.”

Ignoring her protest,
he gave her a boost into the seat. “That’s why I’m here, dear. And don’t worry, I won’t think any less of you for being a wuss.” Closing the door, he went around to the other side and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“
I am
not
a wuss.”

Her indignant reply only made him laugh.
“I know that, but right now, being a wuss is understandable. I saw the x-rays.”

She
blew out a sigh. “I don’t know if I can stand to sit around and vegetate for two weeks. I’ll go nuts.”

“I promise to keep you well entertained.”
His wicked smile and sly wink made her wonder just what sort of entertainment he had in mind.
Oh, surely not….

“Don’t you have to work?”

“Yes, but my schedule is pretty light this time of year. It would be different if it was the middle of show season. I’m booked solid then.” He paused, his concern evident in his frown. “I don’t like seeing you like this. Just this morning you were—”

“Were, what?”
Beyond a vague recollection that her horses had been talking to her, Miranda didn’t remember very much about the state of her health that morning. “I mean, other than the fact that I probably had unscrambled brains and no broken bones.”

With an odd little grin, he reached
over and buckled her seat belt. “You seemed perfectly fine to me.” He started the engine. “How about I take you home, run the backhoe over to my brother, and then come back? Do you need me to pick up anything on the way?”

She shook her head.
“I went to the grocery yesterday. And don’t worry. I managed to keep going with a concussion and my leg in a brace once before. I’m sure I can do it again.”

This time his frown displayed more annoyance than concern.
“Aren’t you taking this independent woman thing a little too far?”

“
I live alone, Travis. It’s not like I have much of a choice.”

Scowling, he took
a deep breath and remained silent for a few seconds, leaving her to suspect that he’d counted to ten before opening his mouth. “I’m not denying you your independence, but I
am
supposed to check on you every two hours. Remember?”

She grimaced. “Oh
, yeah, right…forgot about that.”

“Apparently.” He still seemed
irritated, which was odd for a man who was usually smiling. Then again, she’d been surprised the night before when he’d claimed to be unhappy.

Which
proves how little I know about him.

“
Look, I’m sorry for being such a pain. I just don’t like the idea of putting you to so much trouble.”

If anything, this seemed to increase his irritation.
“Do you really think I consider taking care of you as trouble?”

Anyone else would’ve considered it a royal pain in the ass
. Obviously he had a different opinion. She threw up her hands in surrender. “Okay, you win. If you insist on being my caretaker, then so be it.”

“
And after a week or so, we’ll reevaluate your, um,
need
for me.” His slow, suggestive smile and the flick of his brow made those innocent words seem strangely seductive.   

Mi
randa stared at him, convinced she couldn’t possibly have read that correctly. Then again, there had been that funny little wink a moment ago…

My
brains must be more scrambled than I thought.

Mentally reviewing the events of the morning, she couldn’t recall a single thing that would’ve explained it. She’d been nervous as hell, had made breakfast for him, and then went to feed the horses.
But before that, Levi had called, which was when Travis figured out she wasn’t married.

Was that all
it took? Surely there would have to be more to it than
that
. Was it something she’d missed or something she’d forgotten? She wasn’t about to ask him to explain. That would be much too embarrassing, especially if romance was as far from his mind as it ought to have been. In the end, she simply agreed and tried to settle in for the drive home.

Unfortunately,
she couldn’t find a comfortable position, nor would her befuddled brain leave her in peace. She recalled her intention to tell Travis how she felt about him, but had she actually done it? He hadn’t protested when her friends had assumed he was her boyfriend, and he was acting very strangely. Did he really consider himself as her new love interest? With that spin on it, his behavior made more sense.

There was no r
eason for him to pretend. Being the “significant other” of a patient in the ER allowed him to stay in the room, but that was about it. Besides, she’d told Denise he could stay, even after denying any romantic involvement with him. The only reason Rodney had asked him to step out of the room was to limit his exposure to radiation. Granted, Denise had said there was no heat in the waiting room, but he wouldn’t pretend to be her boyfriend simply because of that, would he?