A Real Cowboy Never Says No (21 page)

Guilt shot through Chase. How long had Steen been lying here, dying, while he'd been screwing around with Mira? Shit. "When did this happen?"

She looked at her chart. "He was stabbed just before six o'clock. He was in surgery by six thirty. We tried to call several times yesterday evening but we weren't able to go through."

 Chase ground his jaw. It had probably happened right after they'd left to go to dinner with Gary and Martha. He'd never checked the messages on his landline, which was the number that the prison had.
Shit.
"Can we get his other brothers in?" He thought of Zane and Travis, sitting out in the waiting room of the hospital, desperate for news, unable to come in because Steen had refused to name them on his list of approved visitors. They were still trying to reach the others, calling them in. Every Stockton they'd reached was on his way. The brothers were finally coming together, but it was for the wrong reason.

"If it appears that he's close to death, yes, they can come in. Right now, we're waiting. You're the only one who's approved." The nurse checked the machines. "We were hoping you could get here earlier. The first few hours are critical. It's all about a will to live, and Steen, quite frankly, doesn't have it. He awoke briefly, just long enough for us to remove the breathing tubes, but we haven't been able to rouse him since." Her voice was clinical and non-judgmental, simply educating him as to the current situation so he'd be prepared. "Talk to him. Hold his hand. Play songs that matter to him. It sometimes works." She sighed. "Prison sucks the will out of many of the inmates. He may simply want to go, so be prepared."

Fear clenched Chase's gut and he took his brother's hand. "Steen, man. You can't check out. You have less than five months left in that shithole, and then you're coming home. You and me, bro, at the ranch, like old times, with the horses. Got a new young one that I'm saving for you. He's had a tough life and won't trust anyone. He needs you." All the Stocktons were horse people, but Steen had a special touch that the rest of them didn't have.

Steen didn't respond, not even a blink of his eyelids.

"His name's Superman. I figured he needed a badass name, because he's got a long way to go. I can't even get near him. Someone beat the hell out of him, and he's still losing weight. He
needs
you, Steen."

There was still no response, and Chase bowed his head, fighting off the grief. He'd tried so fucking hard to hold his family together, and now, he was losing Steen, for good, for real, forever. "Come on, man. I got this big ranch, and I need help on it." He swore under his breath. Steen, of any of his brothers, had suffered more at the hands of their stepmothers and their father. He'd wound up in prison because a woman he'd loved had betrayed him. There was no one who had less faith in women than Steen, and now he was dying because of it.

Grimly, Chase realized that there was no way in hell Steen would come back to the ranch if Mira were there, no matter what the reason for her presence.

If he even lived.

Exhausted beyond words, Mira sank down on the couch in Chase's living room, her muscles actually shaking with exhaustion. She'd fed all the horses, walked Spy and made sure he was still recovering, cleaned the stalls, and watered the horses.

It had taken all day, and it was almost six now. There had been no word from Chase all day, and she hadn't dared call him, not after the look of absolute horror on his face when he'd realized that Zane had been trying to reach him while he'd been with her. The accusation in Zane's lethal stare had clearly stated what he thought about Chase being with her when their brother was dying.

No room for her.
No room at all.

Mira rested her head against the back of the couch, staring at a photograph of a young Chase and two other teenage boys. They were wearing cowboy hats, and holding the reins of three scrappy looking ponies. Hoodlums in cowboy boots, she was sure. Was one of them Steen?

God, she would never forget the depth of anguish in Chase's eyes when Zane had told him that Steen was dying. His fear had plunged right into her heart. She knew that terror. She'd felt it the day she'd gotten the phone call that her parents had been in a car accident. The hospital had said the same words about her own father, that they didn't think he'd live through the night.

He hadn't.

She knew the shock of losing a loved one in an instant. She knew it too many times over.

Again and again, she'd replayed their car accident in her mind, wondering if it would have been different if she hadn't gone to college, if she'd stayed home, if she'd called her parents that night and made them three minutes later. No matter how many times she revisited the situation, she was never able to make the accident go away. It had taken time, but she'd eventually accepted that she couldn't blame herself for it.

But she'd seen the look on Chase's face, the stricken horror at the realization that his brother had been dying, but he hadn't answered his phone because he'd been with
her.

If Steen died, a part of Chase would always blame her. And if he didn't die, Chase would realize that it had been a close call. There was no room for her and them in his life. After tonight, Chase would be sure to always put them first.
Always.

Tears filled her eyes as she looked around the room. She had become accustomed to the ranch, and it had started to feel like home. Some of her books were on the shelves, and her magazines were on the coffee table. Her sweatshirt was draped over the armchair, and a picture of her parents was on the mantle next to Chase's pictures. The fridge now held her favorite kind of yogurt, organic milk, and flaxseed meal for her oatmeal, and there was now fabric softener in the laundry room.

At some point, this ranch had become home, and Chase was a part of it. She hadn't even been aware of it, until now, until she was facing a future without it. She'd assumed she had time to find her way. She'd rested comfortably on the knowledge that Chase would fight for her and the baby, that she didn't need to commit to him because he would wait for her.

But now that opportunity was gone. She'd hesitated, and the window had closed. After spending the night helping Chase save Spy's life, and then playing at the swimming hole, she'd realized that she wanted to be with him, that she wanted to find a way to make it work. Yes, she knew he was damaged and bruised when it came to relationships, but there was such beauty in his soul and in their connection, that she'd realized she had to be brave enough to try.

And now...what would happen after today? Had she lost her chance?

Her phone rang suddenly, jerking her out of her reverie. Was it Chase? Hope leapt through her. She jumped up and raced across the room, sweeping it off the kitchen counter. Her heart fell when she saw Taylor's name on her caller ID, not Chase. With a sigh, she declined the call and walked back over to the couch.

Her old life seemed so far away now. She didn't want to go back there.

Her phone started ringing again, and again, hope leapt through her as she looked down. Taylor again. Fear trickled through her at the repeat call. With foreboding weighing in her heart, she answered the call. "What's up?"

"Did you get my message? Tell me you left."

"Left? What message? I didn't see one from you." Tires rolled on the gravel outside, and she leapt up. "I have to go. I think Chase is back."

"No! Don't answer it! Alan found you! He found the record of the pregnancy test! He's on his way to the ranch!"

"What?" Mira's heart dropped and she raced to the window. A long, black limousine was pulling up in front of the ranch. "Oh, God, he's here."

"Get out the back door," Taylor said. "You have to go."

Mira watched as the rear door of the car opened and Alan got out, along with two other men in suits. Lawyers? "Oh, God," she whispered. "Where would I go? He'd find me."

"Don't answer any questions!" Taylor said. "You'll need a lawyer. Don't let him bully you!"

The doorbell rang, making Mira jump. She backed away from the door, clutching the phone. Dear God, why hadn't she married Chase already? Why had they waited? "I have to go. I have to call Chase."

Someone pounded on the door, and she ducked into the kitchen, leaning against the fridge as she tried to catch her breath, pressing her hand to her stomach. She wasn't prepared to face him. Dammit. She shouldn't have underestimated him. Her hands shaking, she dialed Chase's number.

It went straight into voicemail, and she realized he probably had to turn it off in the hospital. She immediately hung up. Could she really bother Chase when his brother was dying?

"Mira Cabot! Open the door!"

She closed her eyes, trying frantically to decide what to do. Call Chase again? Add to his stress? But then she thought of his reaction when he'd realized he hadn't been there for Steen. It was in his blood to take care of those in his circle, and she knew that the baby was in that circle. Regardless of whether there was a place for
her
in his life, she knew that he would do anything to protect the baby. She had to give him the chance. Ignoring the furious pounding on the door, she dialed his number again. "Chase," she said into his voicemail, her voice shaking. "Alan's here. He found out I bought the pregnancy test before you came to town. I don't know what to do. Call me, as soon as you can. And, I hope Steen's okay. I've been thinking about you all day."

She hung up, trying to calm her mind enough to think clearly. She could call the hospital, but she had no idea what facility his brother was in.

Footsteps sounded on the back porch, and she blanched when she saw shadows fall across the kitchen window. Before she could move, a face appeared in the glass, and she found herself staring straight into the bitter, angry eyes of her baby's grandfather. His gleam of satisfaction twisted right in her gut, and she instinctively covered her belly with her hands.

His gaze followed her movement, and then he smiled. "Open the door, Mira." He held up a manila envelope. "I have a document for you to read and sign."

She knew what that document was.

It had to be a waiver turning guardianship of her baby over to Alan, and she knew that he would have a way of forcing her to sign it right then and there. He had something on her, something she wouldn't be able to defeat, because he wouldn't have come until he had everything in line. What would it be? Her parents were dead. Taylor? Chase? What did he have on them? What card was he going to play? What knife was he going to plunge in her belly and twist until she caved?

Frantically, she dialed the only other phone number she knew in town.

Gary Keller picked up on the first ring. "Coming for dinner tonight, my dear?"

Before she could say another word, the back door crashed open, and the man who had beat his son so badly that he'd never walked right again strode into her kitchen.

It was too late.

"Chase?"

He looked up in surprise as Zane and Travis walked into Steen's hospital room. For a split second, relief rushed through him, and then the reality crashed down on him. "Why are you here? They said you couldn't come in unless he was dying—"

Fuck.

He looked down at Steen, at the machines pumping life through him, and he felt his world begin to crush in on him."They came and got you?"

Zane looked ashen, and Travis had dark shadows beneath his eyes, even more so than when he'd been at the ranch a few weeks ago. "They said he's giving up." Zane punched his fist against the wall, leaving a dent.

"What the hell, Steen? Why aren't you trying?" Zane dropped his muscled frame into a folding chair, and braced his forearms on his thighs, staring at their brother. Steen's muscle had wasted away, and his chest wasn't even moving perceptibly. "Steen," he said urgently. "We need you, man. Don't give up. It's just a knife wound. You've healed worse than that."

Still no response from their brother.

Zane and Chase exchanged grim looks. "I've said everything I can think of," Chase said. "I don't know what else to say."

Zane ran his hand through his hair. "It's Rachel, isn't it? He gave up the day all that went down."

Chase ground his jaw at the name of the woman who had landed Steen in prison. "Yeah. He changed that day. You could see it in his eyes. They went dead."

"Well, fuck it." Zane hunched forward. "She's just a woman, Steen. Forget her. You want to give her the satisfaction of dying? Your best payback will be to go live and reclaim your life."

Still nothing from Steen.

Travis leaned against the wall, keeping back. "He looks like he's been sick. That can't all be from the last twenty-four hours, can it? He's thin as hell."

"I don't know. I haven't seen him in two years." Chase looked around at his brothers. How long had it been since the four of them were in the same room together? Years, and years. It had to come to this to get them together? It was what he'd been striving for, but hell, not this way. "What about the others?"

"Quintin will be here tonight. Logan's coming in tomorrow. Maddox and Ryder should be here any minute. I can't find Caleb. His number has been disconnected. You got a more recent number?"

"I don't know." Chase dug his phone out of his pocket and tossed it at his brother. "You can check the one in my phone and see if it's different." He looked at Zane, who had been in a coma in high school after a motorcycle. "You think he can hear us? Does he know we're here?"

Zane shrugged. "I don't remember anything from when I was out. If I heard you guys, I don't remember. All I remembered was you standing over me when I was on the side of the highway, shouting at me not to die or you would come to hell and kick my ass." Accusation flashed in his eyes. "You had that chance with Steen, to tell him not to give up, but you didn't answer your phone when they called. If you'd talked to him then, he'd have known we cared. But no one was there, and now he's given up."