Dan (Texas Rascals Book 9) Page 11

  Someone pulled out a harmonica and began to play “Down in the Valley.” The festive mood continued as everyone sang along. Dan’s rich baritone blended with the other voices, yet stood alone, strong and distinct.

  “Angels in heaven know I love you,” he sang, wrapping his arms around her waist. Raleigh leaned into him, savoring the happy moment she knew would never last.

  Pete drove the rig across the pasture, and soon they lost sight of the house. They lumbered over bumpy hills, and several times she lurched into Dan’s chest. One song flowed into another. She tilted her head back and eyed the wide expanse of sky and stars.

  “We created this,” Dan whispered. “You and me and Pete and Caleb.”

  “Yes,” she said. At this moment, the world seemed made for them, but Raleigh knew just how short-lived joy could be. The minute she dropped her guard, took happiness for granted, trusted in the status quo, life dissolved into heart-wrenching tragedy. It had occurred again and again, teaching her severe lessons at an early age.

  Pete reached the end of Dan’s property and turned the trailer around. Couples cuddled. Mesquite loomed in the dark. An owl hooted. Hay and peanuts scented the breeze. Dan’s wristwatch glowed green, and she could hear the steady, reliable ticking.

  The tractor labored, sending vibrations seeping through the bed of the trailer, flowing energy upward to invade her bottom with spirals of sensation. She shifted and wondered if Dan felt it, too. His grip on her waist tightened as they traveled to the house. Several guests yawned. The singing stopped and conversation lagged.

  The rig ground to a halt in front of the barn. Guests hopped down, voicing their thanks for a great party and drifting in the direction of their vehicles.

  Raleigh started to get up, but Dan kept her restrained in his arms.

  “Wait,” he said. “Let them all leave.”

  Bidding their visitors good night, they sat planted in the comfortable hay, watching a succession of departing headlights sweep over the driveway. Dan plucked loose straw from her hair, feathering it gently across her cheek.

  “That tickles.” She giggled.

  “I’d like to trail it over your whole body,” he said.

  Oh, heavens, she would like that, too!

  “Well,” Pete announced, climbing down from the tractor. “I’m turning in for the night.” He grinned slyly.

  “Good night, Pete,” they chorused.

  Chuckling, Pete shook his head and disappeared into the night.

  Dan lay back in the hay and pulled Raleigh down beside him. His outstretched arm rested under her head. “Alone at last,” he whispered.

  “We’re going to have one heck of a mess to clean up in the morning,” Raleigh said.

  “There you go again, obsessing about work. Relax. Clear your mind.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  “Skeptic,” Dan replied, propping himself on one elbow and peering down at her. She knew he was going to kiss her, but she possessed no will to resist.

  His lips sought hers, hungry, searching, demanding. His kiss escalated her passion, left her gasping for more. Threading both hands through her hair, he held her face to his and delved deeper with his tongue, stoking the torch flaming inside her.

  With the agility of a champion Thoroughbred, he rolled them over until his body covered hers like a saddle blanket. He kissed her again and again, expertly, intently, his lips promising so much more to come.

  While his mouth occupied hers, his fingers smoothly undid the buttons on her dress, exposing the flesh beneath. The night breeze cooled her sizzling skin like a soothing balm. But then his large hands skimmed her rib cage, provoking a fresh cascade of heated longing.

  “Raleigh, Raleigh, Raleigh,” he crooned. His fingers released the catch on her bra and pushed the restraining material out of his way. Moaning deep in his throat, he cupped her breasts in his palms.

  His deep, guttural sounds ignited her. Writhing under his touch, she cried his name, no longer aware of her surroundings, no longer caring. All that mattered was Dan and her body’s starving response. She wanted him, needed him, but she was so afraid to surrender everything.

  Wrenching his mouth from her lips, he trailed fire-red kisses down her neck, teasing her with his tongue. Intense shivers rippled through her body as she arched her back and begged for more.

  “You’re so sweet.” He sighed. Feverishly, he tore his shirt open, buttons popping into the hay with soft plopping sounds. He guided her hands to his bare chest. Her fingers splayed outward, massaging him, kneading him, arousing him to unbelievable heights.

  She tugged gently at his chest hairs, and he growled in answer. Angling her hips upward, she moved against him, felt his obvious arousal straining at his restrictive blue jeans. She whimpered, acutely aware of his masculine hardness.

  Her hands clutched his shoulders, and she savored the tactile experience of caressing his warm skin. What strange, mystical powers did Daniel McClintock possess that he could reduce her to a quivering mass of pure desire?

  The pressure between them increased to a fever pitch. Jack’s tender lovemaking had never aroused her to this level of wondrous ecstasy.

  Jack.

  Thoughts of her late fiancé zapped through Raleigh’s mind like a charged cattle prod.

  Dear God, hadn’t she learned her lesson? What was she thinking, succumbing to Dan? Physical intimacy with this man made it so much harder to keep a rein on her emotions. And control her feelings she must, if she ever hoped to keep from destroying him and herself in the process.

  She had to shut down her feelings and do it now while she still possessed enough strength to resist his overwhelming temptation. She simply could not afford to put Dan’s life in jeopardy by loving him.

  “Raleigh?” His fingers slowed but continued to caress her bare skin.

  She squirmed from his touch, agony ripping through her.

  “Stop!” she cried, pushing against Dan’s chest and heaving with all her might. He tumbled to one side. Sitting upright, she fumbled to fix her bra and close the buttons on her dress.

  Dan sucked in ragged gasps of air. “What’s wrong?” he asked, instantly attuned to her acute distress.

  What had she done? She’d been such a fool to let things go this far!

  At that very moment, the porch light at the big house flashed on. Raleigh frowned. Pete should have been asleep by now. When the front door slammed, instant fear shot through her.

  Pete came running down the steps, stumbling in his haste.

  Suspecting the worst, she leapt from the back of the trailer. She knew a crisis when she saw it.

  “Raleigh?” Dan rolled out behind her.

  Flying at a dead run, she met Pete in the middle of the exercise yard. The older man’s hands trembled violently, his weathered face blanched deathly pale.

  “What is it Pete? What’s wrong?” She grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

  “Come quick,” he finally managed.

  “What’s wrong!” she shouted.

  “It’s Caleb. He’s real sick. Oh, Raleigh, I think he might be dying!”

  11

  Raleigh clutched a hand to her heart. She tore across the yard, heading for the house, Pete and Dan at her heels.

  “Caleb!” she cried, pushing through the front door and spying her little brother doubled over on Dan’s sofa.

  Kneeling beside him, she gathered him into her arms and rested his head on her shoulders. She brushed a copper-colored strand of hair from his eyes.

  “What’s wrong, honey?”

  “Sis,” he whispered. “I hurt so bad.” Trying to be brave, he blinked back a tear, his bottom lip quivering.

  “Where does it hurt?” She felt blood rush to her head, and her temples pounded. Dizziness assailed her. She swayed beneath his weight, struggling to remain calm.

  “Here.” Caleb clutched the right side of his lower abdomen.

  “He’s got to be taken to the hospital,” Dan broke in, grabbing his ha
t off the peg by the door and slamming it onto his head. “Immediately.”

  Dazed, her mind numb with terror, she nodded.

  Bending over, Dan scooped Caleb from Raleigh’s arms and started out the front door. Temporary paralysis rendered her motionless. Like a helpless bystander, she watched Dan take her only surviving family member away from her.

  Oh, dear God, she couldn’t lose Caleb. Not him, too.

  “Raleigh,” Dan called to her from the open door. “Come on.”

  Jumping to her feet, she grabbed an afghan from the back of the sofa and ran after them.

  “Should I come?” Pete asked, his face twisted with worry.

  “Stay here and look after the place,” Dan commanded, stalking purposefully toward his truck.

  Why, oh, why had she gone on that damnable hayride? If she’d stayed home with her brother where she belonged, she would have been there for him when he’d needed her most. But she’d been in the back of the tractor-trailer rig making out with Daniel McClintock.

  Self-loathing swelled inside her. She blamed herself for everything. Had she been insane? She’d known better than to let Dan get close to her. Look what had happened the minute she’d started to care for him!

  “Raleigh, open the door,” Dan said patiently. His arm muscles bulged from the effort of holding her husky, fourteen-year-old brother aloft.

  Caleb moaned. Raleigh wrenched open the door and stood back while Dan wrested Caleb inside. She scooted in beside her brother, and Dan took the wheel.

  “What were you doing at Dan’s house?” Raleigh asked Caleb. Looking down, she was appalled to find she’d buttoned her dress incorrectly. She quickly redid the buttons, hoping Caleb hadn’t noticed. Dan attempted to piece his shirt together without buttons. Oh dear.

  “I wanted to play video games,” he whispered, pressing a hand to his abdomen. “But I felt too bad.”

  “Why didn’t you tell Fay?”

  “I didn’t want to bother her. I thought it would go away. So, I waited for you to come back from the hayride.”

  Guilt’s vicious claws tore into her. She looked over at Dan and saw that his lips were flattened into a grim line. He shifted the pickup into reverse and rocketed out of the driveway, spewing gravel.

  “It hurts,” Caleb whimpered and drew a sharp breath.

  “Shh... don’t talk.”

  What would she do if something happened to Caleb? Panic dashed through her at the awful thought. Her mouth went dry. No. She refused to consider that possibility. Nothing was going to happen to him. He would be fine. She had to believe that.

  “You hanging in there?” Dan glanced over at her. Although she laid part of the blame at his feet, she was glad to have him here, on her side.

  She nodded. Caleb’s head flopped back, and she braced him against her shoulder. He felt so hot.

  “I’m tired,” her brother mumbled, then put out his tongue to moisten his lips.

  Dan trod on the accelerator and belatedly turned on the headlights. “Hold on, kid,” he soothed.

  “I can’t seem to get enough air.” Caleb sighed.

  Raleigh rolled down the window. “Lean your head over this way and take some deep breaths.”

  “You always know what to do, Sis.”

  No, not always, she thought, shooting another look in Dan’s direction. If she’d known what she was doing, she would have left the ranch the very first time Dan kissed her.

  Dan turned off the gravel road, guided the truck onto the entrance ramp, and hit the highway. The nearest hospital was twenty miles away. It might as well be two hundred.

  Perspiration lay thick on her brother’s upper lip. Raleigh smoothed the moisture away with her sleeve. Dan drove faster. The pickup shimmied, they were going so fast. Raleigh hoped they’d meet a police cruiser to escort them, but no such luck.

  The lights of Rascal sparkled in the distance, a welcoming beacon. So close, and yet, so far. What would happen if they didn’t make it in time? What if his appendix had burst and he died? Raleigh shook her head. She couldn’t afford the luxury of negative thoughts. If she gave in to that horrible conclusion, she would break down completely, and Caleb was depending on her.

  “Everything is going to be all right,” Dan told her, as if reading her thoughts. “Caleb will be just fine.”

  Raleigh’s chest tightened. It had been so long since she’d had someone to lean on. She clutched Caleb’s hand and held on.

  After what felt like an eternity, they roared into town, Dan skillfully steering the speeding pickup down the main thoroughfare and onward to the hospital. Screeching to a stop outside the emergency doors, Dan threw the truck into park.

  “I’ll be right back with some help,” he said.

  Raleigh watched him disappear through the door marked Emergency Entrance in red neon. She gently nudged her brother. “Caleb, honey, we’re here.”

  Dan returned in record time with a nurse pushing a wheelchair. He wrenched open the passenger-side door and together they helped Caleb from the pickup.

  Doubling over, Caleb grasped his lower abdomen and groaned. The sound sent chills of horror pulsing down Raleigh’s spine. Only Dan’s comforting arm wrapped securely around her shoulders kept her from collapsing in despair.

  The nurse eased Caleb into the wheelchair and whisked him inside.

  “I’m going to move the truck to the visitor parking lot,” Dan told her. “I’ll be right back. Will you be okay?”

  Raleigh nodded silently, took a deep breath, and hurried to catch up with the nurse and Caleb.

  The nurse took Caleb behind swinging double doors that announced: Patients and Staff Only. Ignoring the sign, Raleigh pushed through the doors to find herself stopped by a tall man in a security officer’s uniform.

  All around her, the emergency room writhed with activity. Doctors and nurses scurried to and fro. The smell of antiseptic, blood, and soap clung pervasively to the sterile white walls. Stainless-steel equipment glistened beneath the powerful lights. She heard buzzes, beeps, the strangled cry of frantic voices.

  Ugly memories assailed her—memories of the other awful times she’d spent at the same hospital with Pa. Dizziness and nausea washed over her in waves.

  “Miss?” The security officer addressed her.

  Raleigh frowned at him. “Where’s my brother?”

  “I’m sorry, miss, you’ll have to wait outside.” Firmly, he grasped her elbow and directed her toward the door.

  “But you don’t understand,” Raleigh protested. “He’s the only family I’ve got left!”

  Her voice rose, high and shrill. Panic gnashed at her. They couldn’t throw her out. They just couldn’t. Caleb needed her.

  The security guard’s tone grew kind. “I know you’re upset, but I guarantee they’ll take good care of your brother. There’s a waiting room around the corner, and as soon as the doctors know something, they’ll come talk to you.”

  Raleigh toyed with an errant strand of hair trailing down her neck and plucked out a piece of straw. What else could she do?

  Resigned, she allowed the security officer to lead her to the waiting room. Knotting her hands into fists to keep them from trembling, she plopped down on a worn vinyl bench, leaned her head against the wall, and waited for Dan.

  Narrowing her eyes to slits, she stared with disinterest at the television mounted on the wall. Some late-night talk show host razzed a famous movie star. Raleigh sighed and tried not to think.

  Crossing her legs, then immediately uncrossing them again, she opened her eyes and picked up a dog-eared magazine lying on the cheap wooden coffee table that bore cigarette burns and suspicious dark stains. The stains reminded her of blood, and she shivered. Hospitals and their collection of wounded patients made Raleigh nervous. Focusing her eyes on the page before her, she tried to shut out the world around her.

  “How is he?”

  Raleigh looked up to see Dan. Relief flooded her. “I don’t know.”

  Removing his Stetson, D
an sat down next to her. His stamina imbued her with strength; his mere presence braced her courage. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m not.”

  “Miss Travers?”

  Raleigh turned to see a young man in a white lab coat, a black stethoscope dangling from his neck. She blinked. “Yes?”

  “Hi, I’m Dr. Gilford.” He extended his hand.

  Raleigh shot to her feet. The magazine fluttered from her lap and slid to the floor with a soft slithering sound. She clasped the doctor’s hand. “How is my brother?”

  “I’m afraid we’re going to have to take him in for an emergency appendectomy.”

  “Now? Tonight?”

  “Yes. Time is of the essence. We want to get to him before the appendix ruptures. But don’t worry, the procedure is very safe. We perform dozens each week.”

  Don’t worry.

  Placating words. Easy for the doctor to say, it wasn’t his only brother. Soundlessly, she nodded. They’d once told her not to worry about Pa, too.

  Dr. Gilford smiled gently. “It shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours. The nurses are preparing him for surgery as we speak. Are you his legal guardian?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’ll need you to sign these consent forms.” He extended a clipboard toward her. “And, by the way, do you have health insurance?”

  “No.” She took the clipboard and quickly perused the extensive sheet before signing it at the bottom.

  “You’ll need go to the business office and make arrangements for payment,” Dr. Gilford said.

  “I’m paying the bill,” Dan asserted.

  “Well, that’s fine, just stop by the admitting desk and get this straightened out.”

  “And where would that be?” Dan asked.

  “I can’t let you pay for Caleb’s bill.”

  “We’ll argue about this later,” Dan said firmly. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”