or anything like that—please get to your doctor for a checkup. Okay?”
“Yes. I promise. Thank you, Bridget.”
“No problem,” she said, then with a broad smile, she rose to a standing position and pointed a direct look at her brother. “I’ve got to get back to the clinic, so I’m leaving the patient in your hands, Conall. You might go lightly on her the remainder of the day.”
“Vanna is going to get the rest of the afternoon off,” Fiona spoke up, using the shortened name that Maura had given Vanessa many years ago when the two had been teenagers. “In fact, Conall is going to drive her home.”
Vanessa opened her mouth to argue, but quickly decided not to make the effort. Fiona could be just as formidable as her son and with Bridget agreeing that Vanessa could clearly use some rest, she had no choice but to go along with the family’s wishes.
Once Bridget had departed the small office, Conall said to Vanessa, “I’ll get your things and we’ll be on our way.”
While Conall collected her sweater and handbag from a tiny closet located in the short hallway separating her office from his, Fiona was already taking a seat at Vanessa’s desk.
“While you two are gone,” she said to Conall, “I’ll take care of the plane tickets and see to organizing anything else you might need for the trip to Vegas. If there are still empty seats, do you want the first flight out?”
“That would be great, Mom. See what you can do.”
With her things thrown over his arm, he walked over to the couch and slipped a hand beneath Vanessa’s elbow.
“Think you can stand okay now?” he asked gently.
Since she’d gone to work for this tall, dark powerhouse of a man, he’d been polite enough to her, but mostly he was all business. It felt more than strange to have him addressing her about personal things and even more unsettling to have him touching her.
“Yes,” she assured him, then feeling her cheeks warm with an embarrassed flush, added, “I don’t think you need worry about having to catch me again.”
Not bothering to make a reply, he began to guide her toward the door. Across the room, Fiona flung a parting question at her son.
“Conall, the hotel rooms. How many nights do you need reserved? Or do you have any idea about that?”
“No idea,” he said. “Better leave that open.”
“Right,” she replied, then tossed a reassuring smile at Vanessa. “Don’t worry, Vanna. Everything is going to be just fine. Why, in no time you’ll have those little babies of yours home and in your arms.”
Vanessa thanked the woman for her kind thoughts and then Conall ushered her out to a shiny black pickup truck with the Diamond D brand emblazoned on the doors.
After he’d helped her into the cab and they were barreling past a fenced paddock filled with a row of busy mechanical horse walkers, he said, “You gave me a fright back there when you fainted. Are you sure you’re okay?”
He was staring straight ahead and Vanessa could read little from his granite-etched profile. For the most part, she’d always thought of him as an unfeeling man, but maybe that was because he didn’t allow his feelings to show on his face. He was certainly going out of his way to help her. Which created an even bigger question in her mind. Why? Even if she was his one and only secretary, her personal problems were none of his responsibility.
“I’m okay, Conall. Really. I just feel… silly for causing you and your family so much trouble.” Her gaze turned toward the passenger window as they curved away from the Donovan ranch house. The structure’s stalwart appearance hadn’t changed since she’d left the Hondo Valley more than fifteen years ago. And she liked to think the big Irish family that lived inside hadn’t changed, either—that if she stepped inside, she’d still feel like Cinderella visiting the castle.
“Forget it,” he practically snapped.
She looked at him. “But you—”
He interrupted before she could say more. “Let it rest, Vanessa.”
Sighing, she smoothed the hem of her skirt over her knees and stared ahead. One minute everything had been going along fine. As fine as it could be for a divorced woman with her family split in all directions and an aging father too debilitated from a stroke to leave the nursing home. Yet those problems seemed small in comparison to what she was facing now.
Still, Vanessa realized she couldn’t give in to the overwhelming shock. She had to straighten her shoulders and take up the reins of her life again. But taking them out of Conall’s hands was not going to be an easy task. He was a man who was all about using his power to bend operations to his liking. And she was all about independence. She didn’t want to be beholden to anyone and that included her boss. Yet this was one time that agreeing to a little help might be the sensible thing for her to do. Especially for the babies’ sake.
“You don’t like accepting help from anyone, do you?” he asked as he steered the truck off Diamond D ranch land and onto the main highway.
The man must be a mind reader, she thought. “I like taking care of myself,” she answered truthfully, then realizing how ungrateful that probably sounded to him, she glanced over and added, “But this is one time I can’t take care of things entirely on my own. And I am grateful to you, Conall. Please know that.”
He didn’t say anything for a while and she was wondering if she’d offended him, when he said, “You can tell me if I’m getting too personal, Vanessa, but what about your brothers? If I remember right, you had four of them. Are any of them close enough to help you with the babies?”
Vanessa choked back a mocking laugh. Her brothers couldn’t care for themselves, much less two needy babies. “My brothers all moved far away from here. They conveniently forgot their parents and only sister. And that’s fine with me, ‘cause I wouldn’t ask them for the time of day,” she said flatly.
“That’s too bad.”
She heaved out a heavy breath. “It’s probably for the best, Conall. None of them have ever made much effort to become responsible men. The only one who comes close to it is Michael—the one your age. And he’s hardly in the running for sainthood,” she added.
He didn’t make any sort of reply to that and Vanessa figured he was thinking badly of her. The Donovan family had always been a strong unit. They lived together, worked and played together, and stuck close even when life’s problems crashed in unexpectedly. He probably couldn’t understand why she and her brothers lacked the love and devotion it took to keep the Valdez family bonded. But then, she’d never understood it herself.
“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to sound so… judgmental. But believe me when I say there are no relatives around to help. Not with the babies, my father, the home place, anything.”
In other words, she had her hands full, Conall thought grimly. As he’d suspected, the Valdez brothers had left Lincoln County. He’d not seen any of them in years and even when they had still been around, Conall hadn’t associated with any of them. He’d never been into strutting around in black leather and begging for scrapes with the law. Some time back, he’d heard the eldest son had served time for
