Page 33 of A Forgotten Heart
Nick was slow to stand. “Just give me a moment.”
Worried, she set the folded blanket on the floor and went to him.
Careful to not rip open his scabs, she peeled back his bandage. The wound flared red, but no signs of fresh blood. Relief pushed through her.
He was in no condition to ride anywhere. He must’ve overdone it yesterday. He wasn’t going to make it back to the ranch.
He wouldn’t thank her to say so.
“There are huge snowdrifts everywhere,” she said instead. “You’ll want to stay in town a day or two.”
He smiled at her with such warmth that her stomach tumbled. “We would sleep a lot more comfortably at the hotel, huh?”
His words hit like a blow, though he didn’t realize it. They absolutely couldn’t.
Elsie replaced his bandage with shaking hands. “We should go to Merritt and Jack’s place.”
Merritt would know what to do.
“Merritt and who?”
“Jack. Merritt’s husband.”
She saw his confusion and consternation in the way his brows drew together. “Merritt isn’t married.”
“She is married. Since last February.” That was why Elsie had come to teach in Calvin—Merritt had given up her post after she’d married.
That knowledge pressed against her chest, but she swallowed the words to tell him. She couldn’t admit she was teaching in Calvin without telling him everything.
“We need to go,” she reminded him gently. She grabbed his hand and tugged. But he didn’t budge.
Instead, he turned her hand over in his and smoothed his thumb over her ring finger. “El, I’ve wanted to ask, why aren’t you wearing my ring?”
He had to have felt her hand tremble, but he didn’t let go.
When she couldn’t find an answer, he went on. “Drew gave me my mother’s ring after she died. I know I gave it to you to wear.”
Except they weren’t married. And she couldn’t bear to lie to him.
She tugged her hand free. “We need to go.”
He followed her into the front room, where movement outside the window caught her attention.
She froze.
Outside, a tall man in a cowboy hat crossed the street in their direction. But it was the dog at the man’s side that raised her pulse.
Nick’s dog.
And they were headed for the doctor’s office.
“Nick, someone’s coming,” Elsie called out.
Nick shuffled into the front room, not sure whether the nauseated feeling churning in his gut was from walking or from the tense tone in her voice.
Maybe he shouldn’t have kissed her last night, but she’d responded with such hunger, as if starved for his touch, that he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.
And as she’d drifted off to sleep, the way she’d nestled into him had been tinged with desperation.
