Page 41 of My Billionaire Cowboy Protector

“There was a fire. You went into the barn to save the horses,” Lane explained.

“Are they okay?”

“All of them are good, even Diablo. You saved their lives. Ryder checked them all out. They inhaled some smoke, but none of them were burned.”

“Thank goodness,” she whispered.

She tried to move but a horrible pain exploded in her entire body. Tears sprang instantly to her eyes.

“You need to stay still, Honey,” Lane said. “A burning board fell on you. You have second-degree burns on your back, left arm, and left shoulder.”

Nurse Kelly walked in with a short petite woman.

“I’m Doctor Gardner. I don’t often get to treat a hero,” she said.

“Not a hero. I just had to get them out,” Taylor said.

“That’s my definition,” the doctor said. “You are probably feeling some discomfort.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Taylor replied. “I feel like someone took a horse whip to me and flayed open my skin.”

“More morphine. Got it,” the doctor said. “I’m not surprised. You have second-degree burns which means that your epidermis and the second layer of skin are burned. You are badly swollen and are covered in blisters. You will heal. The only thing that we really need to watch for is infection. If Robert and Sam hadn’t pulled you out when they did, it would have been a lot worse, because you were on the cusp of third-degree burns.”

“They are the heroes,” Taylor said.

“Them, too. I’m a little concerned about your brain. The board cracked your skull and you had to get twelve stitches. I’m pretty sure that you have a concussion. I want to keep you in here for a day or two to treat the burns and monitor your head.”

“Is it necessary?” Taylor asked.

“Yes,” Doctor Gardner and Lane said at the same time.

“Fine, but how am I supposed to eat in this position? I’m starving.”

Everyone laughed and Doctor Gardner said, “That’s a good sign. We’ll bring in an egg crate foam mattress for you to lay against. It’ll take the pressure off of your burns. You’ll be able to sit against it. It’ll be a little more comfortable, although you will still feel some pain, even with the morphine.”

Taylor nodded and ordered lunch.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Lane said.

Taylor’s heart sank.This is where he tells me that he had a good time, but we should go our separate ways.

“I really care about you. You are an amazingly wonderful woman. We have a lot of fun together. I know that the engagement was fake and I’m not ready to go there yet, I would like to make our relationship kind of an official thing and see where we go.”

Taylor’s heart skipped a beat and she smiled. She opened her mouth to answer and then she saw a nurse standing in the doorway listening. The woman wasn’t Taylor’s nurse. When she saw that Taylor had noticed her, the woman hurried off.

Closing her eyes, Taylor said, “I think that Anthony’s sister heard everything.”

“Dang it. My guess is that Anthony started the fire, and she was trying to figure out whether he would be charged with assault, attempted murder, or something else if we could prove it was him.”

“Now, he has another weapon to use against us,” Taylor said.

He gently touched her face, and said, “We’ll get through this together. Plus, we have people who love us.”

Taylor nodded, but she was dreading the fallout from the rumors. “By the way, in answer to your questions, I’m all for seeing where our relationship will go. I definitely have feelings for you.”

Lane brushed a kiss across her lips and said, “Good.”

The next morning, the doctor examined Taylor’s burns. “They are healing nicely. I’m sure that you got a concussion. I would like for you to stay one more day to make sure there is no infection, but if you want to go home, I’ll sign off on it. I’ll give you some salve for your back and pills for the pain. If you start to get dizzy, your vision blurs, or you have any of the other symptoms listed on the paperwork, call me.”

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