yes. I’m feeling much stronger now. I can make it on my own.”
In spite of her insistence, he held on to her until they reached the door to the restroom. “Take your time,” he told her. “And when you’re finished, just wait for me up front in the waiting area.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, Roslyn was sitting in the passenger seat of Chandler’s truck. Her overnight case, filled with everything she needed for a night’s stay, was sitting behind her, on the back seat.
“Sorry about having to leave your car, Roslyn, but part of the road to Three Rivers is rather rough. I promise it will be safe parked behind the clinic. There are security cameras all around the property and I’ve never had anything vandalized or stolen. Besides, I really don’t think you’re up to driving another twenty or so minutes.”
Sighing, she rested her head on the back of the seat, while thinking how nice it felt to have this big, strong man handling everything for her. Even if it was just for this short evening.
“I’m not worried about my car. It’s covered with tons of insurance. Besides, once I get to where I’m going I plan to trade it in for something more practical.”
Roslyn had never wanted the Jaguar to begin with, but Martin, her father, had always insisted she had to drive a luxury car, not some cheap, middle-of-the-road compact. Otherwise, everyone would get the idea that the law offices of DuBose, Walker and Finley were going broke.
The idea had her silently snorting. If her father never earned another penny in his life, he’d still have an obscene amount of money stashed away in several banks. At the age of seventy he was still driven by his work, still obsessed with adding more power behind his name and seeing his fortune grow. But all the wealth or notoriety of Martin DuBose hadn’t been able to buy his wife’s health or to keep her from dying. Maybe someday he would realize that, she thought sadly. Perhaps one day he might regret the time he could’ve been spending with his wife and daughter, instead of in a courtroom.
Chandler said, “Everyone on Three Rivers has to be practical and drive a truck. After a while the rough road would shake a car to pieces.”
“Is your home that remote?” she asked.
“We have a few neighbors, but there are miles in between all of us.”
“I’ve always lived in the city.” She peered out at what little she could see from the path of the headlights. Now and then they passed groups of mesquite trees, or a ragged patch of prickly pear. Otherwise the countryside appeared open and bare. “I do wish it was daylight so I could see everything. This is the first time I’ve been in Arizona.”
“What do you think so far?”
“It’s beautiful. And rugged. And wild.”
He tossed a grin in her direction. “You left out hot. It gets as hot as hell here.”
“Well, Fort Worth isn’t exactly cool in the summer months.” She’d not meant to come out with that, but what the heck. It didn’t matter if Chandler knew where she was from. He wasn’t going to broadcast the information.
“I noticed the Texas plates on your car. I’ve been trying to figure out what part of the state you might be from. I know it’s so big that it’s referred to in regions. North, south, east and west. I know some folks from South Texas, but they don’t sound like you.”
“That’s right. I was born and raised in North Texas.”
“But now you’ve left. Any regrets?”
“There will be places and people I’ll miss,” she confessed. “But no. No regrets.”
“The Hollister family has been rooted here for so long I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
“Your sisters must feel differently about that,” she said thoughtfully.
“Well, love changes some people. Vivian is happy to live on the reservation with her husband. Now Camille is just the opposite. She’s avoiding Three Rivers and Wickenburg because of a lost love. Or so she thinks.”
A lost love. After Erich gave her an engagement ring and vowed his undying devotion, Roslyn had discovered he’d had been seeing other women. And with that shocking discovery, she’d believed she’d lost the one love of her life. But soon afterward, she’d realized she’d not lost anything. Rather, she’d escaped making a giant mistake with a man who knew nothing about real love.
“Men think with their heads. Not their hearts,” she murmured more to herself than to him.
“Not always.”
That brought her head around, and as she studied his profile, which was illuminated by the dash panel lights, she wondered if he’d ever trusted his heart to a woman and had it broken. She couldn’t imagine him grieving over a broken romance. She could, however, imagine him having passionate sex without promises or strings attached.
“Are you married, Dr. Hollister?”
His short laugh was an answer in itself. “No. I barely have time to eat, much less see after a wife and kids.”
For some inexplicable reason, his response saddened her. It shouldn’t matter to her that this man was completely devoted to his career. “Well, it’s good that you know your limitations.”
“Hmm. I didn’t know I had limitations. I just thought I was a busy man.”
She forced herself to smile. “Sorry. You’ll have to overlook me. I’m rather tired and things aren’t coming out of my mouth exactly right.”
“Well, just a few more miles and we’ll be at Three Rivers. You can put up your feet and eat some of Reeva’s good cooking.”
Three Rivers. Each time he spoke the name it was like he was speaking of a place close to heaven. And for this one night that was exactly what she needed.
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, Chandler helped Roslyn into the house. After depositing her in a comfortable chair in the den, he went looking for his mother.
“Mom! Are you in here?” he called as he entered the large kitchen located at the back of the house.
Reeva, a tall slender woman in her early seventies with a long salt-and-pepper braid, was standing at the sink. She looked over her shoulder at him and frowned.
“You’re filthy and I’m shutting down the kitchen.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. Like where is Mom.”
“She’s down at the foaling barn with Holt. Better not go down there. You know that they’ll put you to work and you don’t look like you can stand on your feet much longer.”
After working on Three Rivers for too many years to count, Reeva was crusty and cranky and very astute.
“Well, I’m going to have to call her up here because I’ve brought company home with me. And I’m not sure where to put her.”
Reeva
