Page 76 of A Cameo for a Cowgirl

“I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“No, that will only cause a fuss, and it’s not like this isn’t similar to what we had already planned, right?”

“Cassie, no.” He reached down, touched her face tenderly, his other hand holding hers tight. “No.”

“Come on, Harrison, what are your lines?” Mal called.

Was he serious? Harrison stood. “That has to be a cut. Cassie just got bitten by a snake and I’m not joking. Medic!” he called.

“What?”

“Look!”

Harrison’s head swiveled to where the cameraman was pointing at the creek. Sure enough, the garter snake was there again. There was a general cry and hasty exit from the vicinity, along with cries to kill it.

“Don’t hurt it,” he yelled. “It doesn’t attack people unless threatened, and it’s got an important job in the environment.” Honestly, didn’t these people know anything?

The medic hurried over, and soon exchanged Harrison’s bandage for a real one, as Mal and the camera crew exchanged colorful views on the dangers of filming in the wild.

Mal shook his head, and moved to Cassie, regret in his features. “I’m so sorry Cassie. I never expected—oh.” Heavy sigh. He turned to the medic. “Will she be okay?”

The medic helped prop her upright as her breathing slowed until she could finally suck down bottled water. She coughed again, then glanced up at Harrison, her eyes holding a plea.

“Cassie?” Harrison hunkered next to her, wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“She will be,” the medic said. “But she needs to go to hospital to make sure there’s no allergic reaction.”

“I’ll take her.”

“We need you here, Harrison,” Mal said.

“No, I need to be with her.”

“Harrison.” Cassie’s hand on his chest snagged his attention. “It’s okay. I really will be fine.”

This was a mistake. He should never have agreed to this. He’d only done it for his own selfish reasons, to have her with him, to have him play the hero for her damsel in distress. And look what had happened. He could never be her hero.

“Harrison?” She smiled up at him. Her good hand touched his cheek. “Thank you. My hero.”

Gladness chased gratitude, as the moment filled with a heavy intensity. Suddenly he didn’t care that they were surrounded by cameras and crew members or a director who was annoyed with him. He gently pushed his cheek into her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm.

Her eyes widened, and she lifted her bandaged hand to his shoulder, and he knelt beside her, drawing her up into a long embrace, her face tucked against his neck. “I’m so sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” she murmured, her lips against his jaw.

She was so forgiving, so lovely, so tender. Cassie’s forthright attitude had taken some getting used to, but he wanted more of this in his life. More honesty, less pretense. And while he still wanted to continue acting, he needed someone who wasn’t caught up in the fakeness of popularity or photographic perfection. He wanted—needed—a woman with zero filter, someone grounded in God and the good things of life. Someone exactly like Cassie James. Someone whose character shone from the inside out, adding an extra layer of beauty. Honest. Loyal. Everything he wanted.

Then he knew a deeper impulse to kiss her, so drew back slightly, her lips a breath away. She smiled at him, which he took as an invitation, and closed his eyes as he gently pressed his lips to hers.

Cassie might be tough and strong, but her lips were as soft as silk, and the first silken caress soon inflamed his desire for more. “Cassie,” he groaned.

“And that’s a cut.” Mal appeared above them. “Looks like that creek was a little warmer than first supposed.”

Harrison smiled, remembering what had been said in the car on the way here. “I like that temperature just fine.”

“Hey Mal, come look at this,” the video editor called.

Harrison helped Cassie to stand. “I really want to come with you.”

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