The Texan's Secret (16 page)

Kid strolled toward him. “Hey, the nurse, Molly, has a friend. Want to go out tonight?”

“Are you out of your mind? I’m going to the apartment to rest—alone.”

“Okay. Don’t blow a gasket.” Kid gestured toward Cadde’s door. “What did Jessie want?”

“To see her husband.”

“Really? I thought she’d phone in her get well wishes.”

“That’s cold, Kid, even for you.”

“She keeps him on tenterhooks all the time.”

“Maybe he keeps
her
on tenterhooks,” Chance retorted. “I don’t know and I’m not getting involved in their marriage.”

“Whoa.” Kid held up his hands. “I think Chance needs a nap.”

“Go away, Kid.”

“I’m going.” He headed back to the nurse’s station. “Sure you won’t change your mind?” he called over his shoulder.

Chance didn’t answer. He didn’t feel he needed to. He ran his hands over his face. What a horrible day. Once again he stood alone in the hallway, feeling lonelier than ever. His arms ached for Shay and he couldn’t shake that feeling. He wondered how long it took to get over a broken heart.

He glanced down the hallway and blinked. Was that…? The woman looked like Shay, with all that blonde hair cascading down her back. She spoke to a nurse. Was he so tired he was imagining her? The nurse pointed to him, and Shay took off at a run.

Was he dreaming?

A
S
S
HAY REACHED HIM
he did the only thing he could: held out his arms. She barreled into him, almost knocking him off his feet. He held her even though he knew he shouldn’t.

“I’m sorry. I was scared, but I love you. Just know that I love you.” Her arms clasped him tightly around the neck, her breath fanning the side of his face.

He breathed in the lavender scent of her hair and rejoiced in the feel of her against him. But it couldn’t be this easy. He had to have answers.

“How’s your brother?” she asked.

“He’s going to be fine.”

“Good.”

“Shay.” He eased away from her. “Yesterday you didn’t love me. Today you do. To say the least, I’m a little confused.”

“I’m sorry.” She stroked his face. “I can explain, but it’s a long story. I can’t do it here. Darcy is with Blanche and I have to run. I’ll be at your apartment about six. Okay?”

“Okay.” He gathered her into his arms once more and felt her heart beating against his. She loved him. He wasn’t going to look that gift horse in the mouth.
Besides, he didn’t have the energy to keep resisting something he wanted so badly.

He kissed her with all the longing inside him and then just held her as the loneliness ebbed away. In her arms he felt as if he’d found home, a place of peace and trust that only she could create.

After a brief kiss she pulled away. “See you tonight.” And she disappeared as quickly as she had arrived.

Just know that I love you.

Like a starving man, he could live on that—for a very long time.

S
HAY RUSHED THROUGH
the back door feeling as if she’d been granted a reprieve—for now. Tonight she had to tell him the truth, and then… She didn’t want to think beyond that.

Placing her purse on the kitchen table, she noted the house was very quiet, except for the movie running on the TV. Where was Darcy? Her heart jumped into her throat.

“Darcy!” she shouted.

“Mom’s home,” she heard her say, and in a second Darcy raced into the room, Tiny, as always, behind her. “Did you see Chance?”

“Yes, sweetie, and he’s fine.”

“Is he coming here?”

“No. He has to rest, but I’m going to check on him later.”

“Can I go, too?”

Shay hated to douse that hope in her daughter’s
eyes, but tonight was for her and Chance alone. “No, sweetie.”

“Shoot.” Darcy snapped her fingers.

“Did Nettie come over?”

“Yes, and I told her I had everything under control, so she went home to take a nap.”

Shay knew they depended on her too much, but Nettie was all she had. Shay was there for Nettie, too, so she supposed it worked both ways. And that’s what families did—depended on each other.

She nodded toward the hallway. “What were you doing?”

“Playing checkers with Blanche,” Darcy said, as if it was something she did every day.

“What?”

“Yeah. She beat me, too.”

“What brought that on?” Shay was more than curious. Blanche never made any effort to get to know Darcy. She just wanted her out of the house.

Her daughter shrugged. “She asked for some water and I got it with ice and a napkin, just like you do. Then she wanted to know what I was doing and I said nothing ’cause the TV is broke. I couldn’t get it off the movie, Mom. It’s broken.”

“I’ll take a look at it,” she offered with a sly grin.

“Blanche said it’s not much fun when you have nothing to do. I told her that if Petey was here we could play checkers, and that I always beat him. She asked if I could beat her. I said I didn’t know. She said get the checkers, and I did. We’ve been playing…oh, I gotta go back. We have to finish a game.”

Darcy darted off and Shay leaned against the counter, thinking,
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

Now she just needed to keep the miracles coming.

C
HANCE WOKE UP
stretched across his bed in Jockey shorts. The ice that was supposed to be on his arm was now against his waist. Damn! He sat up and glanced at his watch. Six o’clock and Shay wasn’t here. He’d give her time. She could be caught in traffic.

Grabbing a robe, he headed for the kitchen and fresh ice. He sat on the sofa and positioned his arm on a pillow so the pack wouldn’t fall off, then he leaned his head back and waited for Shay. At six-thirty he was still waiting.

Had she lied? He had to get off the Shay merry-go-round. It was about to kill him.

He got up and went into the kitchen, and was reaching into the freezer for more ice when his cell buzzed. He looked around. Where was it? He made a mad dash to the bedroom and clicked on.

“Chance, I can’t get in. The door is locked.” Her voice had never sounded more wonderful.

“I’ll be right there.” He tied the belt on his robe and slipped on flip-flops. No one was in the building, so he didn’t have to worry about his wardrobe. It seemed to take forever for the elevator to get to the bottom level. He quickly opened the outer door and yanked Shay inside, pulling her into his arms.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” he muttered against the side of her face, the feel of her skin igniting every emotion in him.

“Darcy wanted to come and it took a while to make her understand that she couldn’t.”

He swept Shay onto the elevator and into his arms again, kissing her long and deep. He didn’t have any plans of letting her go anytime soon. They sidestepped from the elevator, across the hall and into the apartment without their lips losing contact. Chance kicked the door shut.

“Chance, wait…” Shay pulled away.

“I don’t want to wait,” he murmured, trying to capture her lips again. But she held her head back.

“Where’s your phone?”

He pointed to an end table. She picked up his cell, poked in a number and handed the device to him. “Tell Darcy you’re okay and you’ll see her whenever.”

“Hey, hotshot,” he said when Darcy answered.

“Chance, are you okay?”

“I’m fine now that your mom is here.” He kissed Shay lightly.

“I said a prayer for you.”

“I appreciate that, hotshot. Thank you. It must have worked ’cause I feel much better.”

“I’ll say another.”

“Thank you, and be good for Nettie.”

“I will. Bye.”

He laid the phone down and reached for Shay, molding her body against his. She moaned.

“
Chance…
We need to talk.”

He shook his head. “No waiting. No talking. Just you and me, right here, right now.”

“But…” His tongue licked the corner of her mouth
in a provocative gesture. What was left of her control snapped.

“No buts, either.” He groaned. “I want you to ease every ache in me, every ache. And so we’re clear, it’s not just sex.”

“No.” She bit his earlobe. “It’s not just sex. It’s a lot more.”

“Yes.” He took her hand and led her to the bedroom. Sitting on the bed, he pulled her between his legs and started undoing the buttons on her blouse.

As he unfastened her bra, she pushed the robe from his shoulders and gasped.

“What?”

“You’re hurt,” she said, gazing at his black-and-blue arm. “Oh, Chance, you’re so bruised.”

“It’ll heal.”

“You should put some ice on it or something.”

“It can wait. Everything can wait.” He teased one nipple. “But this.”

“Oh, Chance.”

He lay back on the bed and pulled her on top of him. Nothing was said for some time, but their moans and sighs filled the room.

W
HEN
C
HANCE WOKE UP
it was six o’clock in the morning. He reached for Shay, but knew she wasn’t there. He sat up and noticed the note on the nightstand.

“Love you” stayed with him while he dressed, and he had a feeling it was going to stay with him the rest of the day. He called Sam from his office to see if the rig was running, pulling pipe to get to the broken one. It was. He said he was on his way, to make sure the rig was drilling by nightfall.

As he headed out, he paused by the elevator for a moment, his thoughts on his older brother. On impulse he walked to Cadde’s office. He was shocked to see Barbara at her desk. She usually didn’t come in this early.

“Good morning, Mr. Hardin. Can I help you?”

“Nah. I’m fine.”

He moved toward Cadde’s door and Barbara jumped to her feet. “Mr. Hardin…”

“You don’t want me to go in there, do you?”

“I’d rather that you didn’t,” she replied.

“And I’d rather that I did.” Without another word, he stepped inside. And there was Cadde, sitting in his big chair, staring out at the view of Houston with a bandage on his head.

“Have you lost your mind?” he berated Cadde, for what it was worth.

“I couldn’t take one more minute in that hospital.”

“Did you call Jessie?”

“No.”

“How can you be so inconsiderate?” Chance reached for his phone. Jessie informed him that she already knew because the hospital had notified her.

As Chance shoved his phone into its leather cover, he heard loud voices in Barbara’s office. Obviously,
Kid was trying to get past the watchdog. In a moment he burst through the door.

“Ah, Chance, I was over at the hospital and…” His eyes swung to Cadde. “Son of a bitch!”

“You two can go to work now,” Cadde said in a flat tone.

“How did you get here?” Kid demanded.

“I called Barbara and she brought my clothes this morning. I always keep some here in the office.”

“There’s a lot in the apartment, too,” Chance added. “Do you even know where home is?”

“As I said, you two can—”

“Like hell.” Kid stomped farther into the room. “You’re not working today, period.”

Cadde ignored him and turned to Chance. “Are they pulling pipe on Crocker Number One?”

“Yep. I’m on my way there now.”

“Forget about the damn well for one day,” Kid yelled, moving toward Cadde. He motioned to Chance, who stepped to Cadde’s right.

“Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. You can march yourself down the hall to the apartment and go to bed or we’re going to throw your ass out this window. Which do you think would be less painful?

“Kid, you’d better—”

Before Cadde could finish what he had to say, Kid and Chance each grabbed an arm of the chair and rolled Cadde out of his office and through Barbara’s, whose eyes opened wide in shock. Down the hall to the apartment they went. Cadde tried to stop the chair with his feet, but soon found that was dangerous. In
the apartment they maneuvered him into the master bedroom and uploaded him onto the bed.

Cadde stretched out. “I’m so damn tired.”

Kid looked at Chance. “Should we tie him to the headboard?”

They heard a snore and saw that Cadde was asleep.

“Guess not,” Chance answered. “He seems worn-out.”

“Yeah.” Kid pushed the chair back down the hall. “I’ll check on him later.”

“And I’m off to the Crocker well.”

Chance spent the morning with the roughnecks as they continued to pull up pipe, trying to reach the broken one. He didn’t offer any assistance because he knew they were well equipped to do it.

As soon as he got off the chopper, the crew had started firing questions at him. “How’s Mr. Hardin? How’s Brad?” Chance was happy to tell them that everyone was fine. He’d checked on Brad before leaving the hospital the night before. The by-pass surgery was a success, and Brad was resting comfortably in CCU with his wife by his side.

Chance had had a chance to speak with the doctor, who said Brad had to change his diet, his lifestyle, and get more exercise. Roughnecking was one of things that had to go. Brad was grounded for life, but Chance was sure he was glad to be alive to witness the birth of his first child.

At noon they reached the broken pipe and had it out of the hole in record time. “Good job,” Chance shouted
above the roar of the rig. “Let’s start reconnecting pipe and get back to drilling.”

“Yes, sir,” Woody said.

Chance climbed down the ladder and removed his gloves.

Sam walked up to him. “They work harder when you’re here.”

He nodded. “That’s the reason for the visit. I want this rig drilling again.”

“I’ll let you know when it happens.”

“Thanks, Sam. I’m going back to Shilah Oil. If anything comes up, call me.”

“Will do. Have a safe trip.”

Chance was back at the apartment by two. He peeped into Cadde’s room, and found him still sound asleep. And Kid hadn’t had to tie him to the bed.

After showering, Chance changed into clean clothes and then headed to the kitchen for ice, because his arm was throbbing. He paused in the doorway. Cadde was sitting on the sofa.

“Hey, you’re up.”

“Yeah. They reach the broken pipe?”

Chance sighed. It was always the oil business for Cadde. Nothing else mattered.

“Yes. Sam’s going to call when they start drilling.”

“Good. And Brad? How’s he doing?”

“Resting comfortably.”

“Good.” Cadde laid his head against the leather. “I feel as if some fat lady is tap-dancing on my head.”

“It’s probably just Kid.”

“Nah, he’s the pain in my ass.” Cadde turned his
head to look at Chance. “Do you have anything to eat in this place?”

“Not much. I’ll go get us something,” he offered, forgetting about his arm. “I haven’t eaten, either.”

In thirty minutes he was back with chicken fried steaks, baked potatoes, the works. They sat at the table to eat and Chance’s thoughts, as they often did, shifted to Shay.

“You’re not staying here tonight, are you?”

“Don’t worry, little brother,” Cadde said around a mouthful of steak. “I’m going home to get a lecture from Jessie, I’m sure.”

“She has a right to be angry.” Chance thought of what Jessie had said to him last night. “Why didn’t you tell her you were bringing me into the business? I sank my life savings into this venture and she might not have signed off on it.”

“I sent her the papers. There was nothing to discuss. Your shares come out of my twenty-five percent. I don’t see a problem.”