Page 50 of At the Rancher's Pleasure

They’d need to stop soon, but he had another few minutes of pure bliss before they needed to ease off the pace and return to reality and their life-defining chat. Well, for him it was life-defining; whether it would be for Sarabeth he had no idea. But talk they must. Brett started to pull on the reins and heard, above the wind and the sound of hooves on dirt and his hard breathing, a sharp snap. His saddle whipped from side to side beneath him and Brett saw the ground rushing up to meet him.

“Not too bad” and “he was okay” were his last thoughts before his head bounced off the road and he slid into darkness.

Sarabeth paced the waiting room of the hospital, her hands in the pockets of her parka, ignoring the tears sliding down her face. She had kept it together for the last couple of hours, staying calm as she called for an ambulance, not getting in the way of the EMTs when they arrived. They’d checked Brett’s vitals, placed a brace around his neck and loaded him into the ambulance, all without him regaining consciousness. She’d heard the EMTs mention something about TBI—she’d demanded an explanation of the acronym and they’d reluctantly explained that it stood for a traumatic brain injury—and felt cold when they expressed their concern that he’d yet to wake up.

Once at the hospital, he’d been rushed to God knew where, and she’d been told to stay put. Sarabeth leaned against the wall next to a water cooler and tipped her head back to look at the ceiling. She couldn’t live in a world that no longer had Brett in it. That was impossible and incomprehensible.

Their age difference was inconsequential. And running away from happiness because she was scared of what might happen was simply moronic. If Brett recovered—and hewould, dammit!—she’d take whatever he could give her. Friendship, sex, a combination of both for as long as it lasted.

There was nothing like a life-threatening accident to make you see sense.

Oh, God, he had to be okay.

Sarabeth heard footsteps approaching her and turned her head to see Jaynie, Gina, Ross and Charlotte approaching her. Her son was the first one to reach her, and he pulled her into his arms, gathering her close. Sarabeth gripped his shirt and rested her forehead against his broad chest, her shoulders heaving. “I can’t lose him, I just can’t.”

Gina laid her hand on her back and gently rubbed. “You won’t, Mom. It’ll be okay. He’ll be fine.”

Sarabeth lifted her head and swiped away her tears. She saw Jules standing behind Jaynie, his expression grim. “Can you tell us what happened, Sarabeth?” Jules asked.

She forced herself to think. “We were galloping down the road. He was on Ty and flying. Then suddenly he went one way and his saddle went the other way.”

“Sounds like his girth snapped,” Ross said.

Jules frowned. “Where is the saddle now?”

Sarabeth rubbed her fingertips across her aching forehead. “Uh, not sure. I called his foreman from the ambulance, told him Brett was hurt and that the horses were loose. He told me he’d take care of it. He’d have the saddle.” Sarabeth saw the long look Jules and Ross exchanged and frowned. What was she missing here?

“What? What are you guys thinking?”

Jaynie, being Jaynie, didn’t dance around the subject. “Brett’s recently had some threats against him. Should we be reporting this to the police?”

Ross shook his head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Jules, maybe you can make some discreet enquiries.”

Huh? What? Who had threatened Brett? Gina was the first to make the connection. “Oh, come on!” Her eyes blazed with annoyance. “Dad is a pompous, jealous ass but can you really see him sneaking onto Brett’s property and sabotaging his girth? That’s ridiculous!”

Sarabeth agreed. Rusty was many things, but he wouldn’t stoop so low. Would he...?

Ross wound his arm around Charlotte. “Look, the town is already abuzz with news of Brett’s accident—”

“It happened less than two hours ago!” Sarabeth cried.

“This is Royal, Mom. The town heard within a half hour. Speculation is rife because everyone knows Brett is ridiculously anal about his equipment and having a girth break is not normal.” Ross sighed. “Rusty recently threatened him, so you can understand why Jules and I have concerns.”

“As soon as we hear whether Brett is okay, I’ll head back to the ranch, find the saddle and the girth,” Jules said. “We’ll soon know if it was an accident or not.”

Sarabeth nodded. She couldn’t think about the how and why of Brett’s accident right now...she just needed to know that he was okay. So why were they taking so damn long?

She looked at Ross. “Can you go and ask the nurses if they’ve heard anything?”

Jules squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll go and ask in my official capacity as a Texas Game Warden.” He shrugged, big hands holding his overloaded belt. “It might work, it might not.”

“Thanks, Jules,” Ross said, and Sarabeth managed to dredge up a grateful smile.

Jules nodded and as he started to walk away, one of the double doors opened and a doctor stepped into the room, pushing his fingers through his messy hair. He glanced around the room, saw the group huddled in the corner and lifted bushy eyebrows. “Brett Harston’s family?”

Sarabeth didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Is he okay? What’s going on?”

“I’m Dr. Mike Nicolls and I’m a neurologist.”

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