Page 26 of Heart of Stone

“Keep him still, if he’ll stay still,” the doctor replied sourly. “That one’s got a powerful strong will. I’ll leave you some laudanum to dose him with if he’s hurting or if he gives you too much sass. If he doesn’t start vomiting blood, he’ll be all right in a couple of weeks. Ah, there you are, Aggie. You’ve got those extra bandages I sent you for?”

“Yes, Papa.” Agnes Wilson stepped into the room, smiling kindly at Luke before handing her father a stack of neatly rolled white linen. Luke welcomed her presence, because she seemed to radiate an air of quiet competence that he found soothing. “I told Mama you wouldn’t be too late for supper.”

“Thanks, darlin’,” the doctor replied as piled the bandages on the table next to Stone’s bed. He turned back to Luke. “You’ve seen cracked ribs before, I’m sure. You need to keep him wrapped up tight so he doesn’t break what’s only bruised right now.”

“I’ll make sure he don’t. He’ll be still, Doc. I’ll see to it, even if me’n the boys have to hog-tie him to the bedposts. How long before he can get up at all? I’m sure that’ll be the first question he’ll ask, but I ain’t about to let him up no sooner.”

“He can get up in the morning, if he’s feeling like it. No work, though.” Doc Wilson pulled a bottle out of his bag and handed it to Luke. “The dose is written on the label. Don’t let him drink any alcohol while he’s taking that.” He closed his bag and rested his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “He’ll be all right. I know you don’t want to think about the ranch getting another new owner now that you’re getting this one broken in. Tell the boys not to worry. He’ll be back to ordering them around in no time.”

Privately, Luke thought it might not hurt to tell Stone he’d been confined to bed rest for at least a couple of days just to be on the safe side, but he nodded an acknowledgment of Doc Wilson’s instructions.

“You’re right.” Luke mustered a smile. “I just about got him trained right, and I ain’t ready to take on anyone new, so I’ll take good care of him. He’ll follow your instructions. I’ll see to it myself.”

“Good man. Well, I’d best be off. Aggie-girl, let’s leave Luke to it.” With that, the doctor nodded to Luke and headed out the door.

Agnes paused on her way out and patted his arm. “He’ll be all right,” she said softly, her brown eyes full of sympathy. “Papa would have told you if it was worse. It might be best to have someone sit with him at night, though, in case he tries to get up.” She paused, hesitating for a moment before continuing. “He was asking for you before he fell asleep, too. Luke, be careful who sits with him, all right? Laudanum can cause people to say some interesting things.”

Luke peered at her searchingly, wondering what she might have already heard or guessed, but afraid to ask. Instead, he kept his expression as neutral as possible and simply nodded. “I’ll surely keep that in mind, Miss Agnes. Thanks for lettin’ me know.”

“Of course, Luke.” She smiled at him warmly. “I’ll have a talk with Mary before we go. She should know just how crazy people can talk sometimes when they’re dosed. I want to make sure she knows it doesn’t mean anything at all.” With that she left the room, the faint scent of lemon verbena trailing behind her.

Luke silently groaned at the indirect confirmation that Stone had saidsomethingto make her suspect the truth. For a moment, he was tempted to run after her and ask what it was so he’d know what he was battling against, but since she seemed willing either to ignore it or help explain it away, he decided he was better off not knowing. But he was getting damned tired of having all the problems of a secret relationship without any of the benefits that would make having to hide more tolerable.

He moved to stand beside Stone’s bed. “Figures,” he said, shaking his head at Stone even though a scolding would do no good now. “Any other time, you won’t say ‘peas’ for a potful, but you get a drop of laudanum in you, and suddenly, you want to tell the whole world your secrets. Well, you can be damned sure I ain’t lettin’ anyone else stay with you while you’re takin’ it.”

There was a plain wooden chair by the window, and Luke dragged it over to the bed and sat down, folding his arms across his chest.

“And you can forget about gettin’ out of that bed tomorrow too,” he added with a stubborn frown.

He watched Stone’s silent form, carefully monitoring the rise and fall of Stone’s chest. It was easy enough to set down his rules, especially when Stone wasn’t awake to hear them, but he knew the battle would begin once Stone woke up. But Luke had doctor’s orders on his side, and he intended to make sure Stone got plenty of rest and healed up proper, whether Stone liked it or not.

It wasn’t long before Mary came up to see if there was anything she could do, and Luke sent her to tell Shorty and the rest of the hands that Stone would be confined to bed for a few days, but he would be fine. He also requested a few newspapers to keep him occupied while he kept vigil beside Stone’s bed, and he settled in as comfortably as the wood chair would allow to watch and wait.

By the time he finished up the last newspaper Mary had brought, afternoon was turning into evening, and when he heard footsteps on the stairs, he thought maybe Mary was bringing his supper.

Unfortunately, however, it was the last person he wanted to see. James swept into the room and stared at Stone’s unconscious form with shock that somehow didn’t seem quite believable.

“Why, whatever happened? I go into town for a few hours, and suddenly everything goes wrong.”

Because losing cattle and an important piece of equipment taking extensive damage doesn’t qualify as things “going wrong”,Luke thought sourly, but he didn’t say that aloud as he struggled to remain polite. “Stone got thrown. Doc’s been out. He’ll be fine in a few days.”

“My poor cousin.” James shook his head and sighed. “It seems ranching is a terribly dangerous business, doesn’t it? He didn’t crack his skull open, did he?” James peered at the bandage around Stone’s head and shivered theatrically. “I hate the sight of blood.”

Luke had the sudden, irrational urge to give himself a nasty paper cut with one of the newspapers, but instead, he offered a tight smile. “Your concern for your cousin is mighty touchin’. But don’t you worry none. He’s hard-headed in more ways’n one.”

Jame’s blue eyes narrowed as he frowned down at Luke. “I don’t appreciate being talked to in that tone of voice by thehelp,” he snapped, sounding annoyed and not at all conciliatory, as he always seemed to be in Stone’s presence. “My cousin’s plebeian origins obviously prompt him to treat his employees as though they were friends, but you need to remember who your betters are.”

Luke knew he ought to “stay in his place” for Stone’s sake, especially since they had no idea how long James intended to remain, and he hadtriedto behave, showing proper deference to Stone in James’ presence. Men like James Rivers didn’t intimidate him, and while he wanted to make Stone look good in James’ eyes as well as avoid making people talk, a man had his limits, and Luke had just about reached his. Too much had happened in the past few days, and he’d come home to find the man he loved laid up with cracked ribs, and he was in no mood to act deferential tonight.

Looking James right in the eye, he replied, “I do remember.”

He had the satisfaction of seeing James turn scarlet, and for a moment, he thought James might lunge at him across the bed. But then James seemed to get himself under control, although he didn’t bother to mask his dislike as he peered at Luke down the length of his nose. “I won’t forget this,” he bit out. “You can rest assured of that.”

He didn’t wait for Luke to reply before storming out of the room and down the hall. Luke heard the door to the front room slam, and then everything was silent.

Aw, hell, Luke silently groaned. He should have kept his mouth shut and kept up the pretense of respect, but he’d let his temper get the better of him. There was no telling what kind of trouble he’d stirred up for Stone, but maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. If they were really lucky, James might pack up his bags and head back to the big city that much sooner.

It was a long shot, he knew, but a man could dream.

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