throbbing arm needed a break, and so did she. She scooted the stool toward Gordy’s head with her feet. He might be sedated but he’d feel her there. She’d comfort him. And maybe she’d absorb a little comfort from keeping near him too. A little comfort would be good right now. ‘I hope you’re not so fast on the plug-pulling for your people patients.’
REECE RUBBED HIS HEAD, a headache starting between his brows. This was not how he’d pictured their reunion going. That had gone entirely differently. She’d been wearing something sparkly for starters.
‘Hey...’ His brain caught up with the situation now that the immediate emergency had passed. ‘You’re not dressed.’
‘I’m dressed just fine,’ she bit at him, and then her voice turned honey-sweet as she began to pet Gordy’s face and talk to him. ‘It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anyone hurt you.’
‘For the show,’ he cut in. He’d been waiting at the show the whole time to see her perform, and only now did it register with him that she wasn’t dressed for the ring at all. Jeans and a pink T-shirt with a white unicorn and a rainbow coming from its butt, while funny, wasn’t performance attire. ‘You haven’t performed yet. I figured you’d come at the end, the aerial act maybe, but you’re not dressed.’
‘I don’t perform any more.’
‘Why not?’
‘None of your business.’ Her words were angry, but she kept her tone sweet. Not for him, he realized. She looked back at Gordy and ruffled his ears. The sedative had taken the fight out of the little horse, but her touch and proximity soothed him. Despite the drug, he tilted his head against hers and accepted the comfort.
She had the touch. Reece forgot his irritation for a few seconds, remembering the way she’d sat with his head in her lap after the accident, petting his temples in much the same way she that she petted the horse’s face now too.
Two people in one body. In the ring she came alive—so full of energy that even when a trick failed she still held the audience in her hands. And the rest of the time she had that gentle touch that soothed any kind of animal. Even teenage boys. She’d been the only one he’d wanted around him after Dad had died.
The pink T-shirt had a growing spot of red on it where she’d clamped her arm to her side, cradling it protectively against her and using her other arm for Gordy.
‘Hurts?’
‘Adrenalin is wearing off,’ she murmured, ‘but I can wait.’
‘No doubt.’ He made a note to ask Mom all the things about Jolie that he’d never let her tell him before, when he had been trying so hard to stay in school and keep Jolie off his mind. Something was up with her, and it wasn’t just upset about Gordy’s accident. It might even be about more than his reason for being there, and the myriad other reasons she had to be angry with him. Not performing any more wasn’t something she’d have decided for the last week of the circus. It was older than his decision to close the show down. How much older, he had no idea.
He was saved from thinking further about what kind of knots Jolie might have worked herself into while he’d been away when Mack Bohannon escorted the vet into the stable and ushered Reece and Jolie out—two too many people for the small stall.
‘I know that’s not a proper sling.’ Jolie said, gesturing to the small injured horse from the gate, ‘but I couldn’t think of anything else we could do for him that might keep his digestion working properly and keep weight off that leg. We don’t have a sling small enough for him.’
‘I have one.’ The vet pulled a backpack off his shoulder and handed it to Mack, Jolie’s uncle and head of the Bohannon clan. Ultimately, Gordy’s future rested with Mack, who dug into the pack and retrieved the sling then proceeded to help the vet swap it with the makeshift one.
‘He’s going to be okay. He can heal this,’ Jolie said to Mack, who looked grim. Not the right look. Not one Reece wanted to see any more than Jolie did. Whatever her protestations, she didn’t need to watch the play-by-play.
He reached for her shoulder and tried to pivot her toward the door. ‘Let’s get your arm tended to.’
‘I’m not leaving yet.’ Mack looked back at her and she shook her head, her chin lifting, ‘I’m not leaving. You might need me.’
As easy as he’d like to be with Jolie of all people, he’d mistakenly thought perhaps time would have made her somewhat less stubborn. She’d always been this way when it came to Gordy, and Reece had started throwing his weight around to get her to mind him all those years ago when her mother had gotten her back when she’d been taken. That had been the first time his father had ever put him in charge of anyone in the company.
She thought him bossy? Well, she made him bossy.
The vet needed room to work and, knowing very well how hard it was to treat a patient when being hovered over, Reece made his decision. He scooped her legs from under her as his other arm caught across her back, and he carried her out of the stable.
* * *
Too stunned to say anything for a few seconds, it took them actually leaving the stables for Jolie’s indignation and terror to kick back in. ‘Reece! Reece, put me down. I need to stay with Gordy.’
‘You need your arm cleaned and inspected.’ Reece tightened his arms lest she take a mind to thrash free of his grip. ‘I’m done talking about it. Mom will have first-aid supplies in her RV.’
‘No. What if they decide to put him down while I’m gone? He needs an advocate. He needs me there to promise to take care of him. See him through this again. I know he can heal.’ She twisted, testing his hold, and then locked onto him with a baleful glare. ‘Please.’ The word didn’t go well with the glare or the tone.
‘It won’t take long.’
‘It will take five minutes to walk to your mom’s RV. If you must have your way, my trailer is closer!’ As the words tumbled out, she realized what would convince him. ‘I have all the medical supplies anyway, I’m the EMT on staff. And I won’t fight you if you go there and we do this fast. Or just let me go do it myself and—’
‘You’re an EMT?’ He stopped walking and looked down at her, his eyes going from hers to her mouth long enough to distract her. Kissing...would be bad.
Don’t look at his mouth. ‘Can’t you walk and talk at the same time?’ Jolie barked at him, startling his gaze back to hers. ‘I am an EMT, yes.’ With the stable now officially out of sight, the firm heat of his big body and the prospect of being alone with Reece began to scare her more than Gordy’s plight. One crisis at a time, that’s all she could deal with. Not knowing what she might say or how she might react when she got her emotions sorted out? Well, that could cause another crisis. ‘Put me down and let me clean it myself, or start walking. Don’t just stand here while they might be making decisions without me!’
‘Didn’t you have to leave the circus to attend classes to become and EMT?’ What the hell? Why did he care so much about this?
‘Do you see my face? This is the face of someone who is freaking out. Put me down or I swear I will belt you with my broken
