Authors: Ciana Stone
“Watch me.” Ana threw back the sheet and went to hop off the bed. Only her ribs
made her gasp and hang onto the bed for support. “Where are my clothes?” She looked
around the room. “And my purse? And you still haven’t told me what happened to
Fergi.”
Chase looked around as well. “I don’t know. I guess they put your clothes
somewhere. I don’t know anything about a purse. And who the hell is Fergi?”
“Well, find out!” Ana was starting to panic. Every cent to her name was in that
purse. Without it, she was completely sunk. No way to get her car fixed, get a place to
stay or feed herself.
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Chase hurried out of the room. Ana searched the room and found a plastic bag in a
small closet containing her clothes. She hurriedly dressed and was putting on her shoes
when Chase returned with a doctor.
“Miss?” the doctor addressed her.
“What?” She looked up at him.
“I don’t think it would be wise for you to leave just yet.”
“Nonsense,” she argued. “A few broken ribs aren’t that serious. So, if you’ll just
give me my purse and my discharge papers I’ll be leaving.”
The doctor looked at Chase and Chase shrugged. “Miss…?”
“Stillwater,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yes, Miss Stillwater. There was no purse brought in with you. All of your personal
belongings—”
“No, no, no, no, no!” She put her hands up to her face, the heels pressing into her
eyes. “This cannot be happening!”
“Miss Stillwater, if you would just—”
Ana cut the doctor off. “Get out! I mean it. Get out of here and leave me alone.”
The doctor gave Chase a look and left the room. Ana turned on Chase. “You too.
You’ve screwed up my life enough for one day, so get out.”
“Look, Miss Stillwater, I know it’s an inconvenience losing your purse but—”
“An inconvenience?” She turned on him with eyes flashing. “An inconvenience is
having to detour a block to get where you’re going. An inconvenience is having no
cream for your coffee. This…” she gestured around the room. “This is not an
inconvenience. Losing every last red cent to my name is not an inconvenience. Having
my car break down in Bumfuck, Arizona, is not an inconvenience. Having my noaccount husband shoot at my familiar is not an inconvenience. Getting beat all to shit
and having to hide out for two months, getting sued for contributing to the delinquency
of a peeping-tom minor, watching your rabbit get eaten by a Doberman, losing your job
because your stupid boss couldn’t grow his stupid pot at home—none of that is an
inconvenience
! It’s life saying, ‘Fuck you, Ana Stillwater—fuck you up the ass and to hell
with the jelly.’”
At a loss for more words, yet still filled with rage and anxiety, Ana plunked down
on the bed and buried her face in the pillow, screaming her head off. All of the events of
the last few months finally burst through the emotional barrier she’d created and she
could no more stop the flood of emotion than she could prevent the sun from rising.
The monitor beside the bed started beeping madly and the door to the small closet flew
open and banged against the wall.
Chase stood there dumbfounded. The damn machine beside the bed was beeping
enough to pierce his eardrums, and the woman was screaming at the top of her lungs
into the pillow, kicking her legs like she was swimming and bouncing the bed around.
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Chase ‘n’ Ana
Part of him wanted to laugh at the dramatics and all the crazy things she’d said.
Another part was extremely aroused by her energy, anger and fire, and yet another part
wondered why, of all the people in the world he could have run over, did it have to be a
beautiful lunatic.
“You’ve got to stop that!” He walked over to the bed and grabbed her shoulder to
roll her over. “You’re gonna have people thinking you’re dying in here.”
“Ouch!” she yelled as he rolled her face-up on the bed. “Get off me, you
Neanderthal! That’s hurts!”
Chase released her and stepped back. “Sorry. But you’ve got to calm down.”
“Do I?” she spat at him. “Why? Because it keeps from upsetting other people?
Because it makes you uncomfortable? Well, guess what? I don’t care. I’m sick and tired
of being everyone’s doormat and getting shit on every time I turn around and if I feel
like screaming then I’m going to scream.”
“Fine.” Chase tossed her the pillow and turned to close the door. “So ahead.
Scream. Act like a hysterical, irrational woman but it’s not going to change anything
and it sure as hell isn’t going to make things any different.”
“Well, what difference does it make to you?” She came off the bed at him. “You’re
going to leave and go on with your nice life, just a little inconvenienced by the fact that
you ran over me. Not so easy for me. I’m stuck in this…place with no money, no job, no
car and no one to turn to. So don’t preach to me about irrationality, buster.”
With that last word she poked him in the chest with her index finger. Chase looked
down at her, trying to keep a lid on the anger simmering just beneath the surface.
“Don’t do that,” he warned her in a low voice.
“Or what?” She poked him again. “You’ll run over me again?”
She went to poke him again but he grabbed her wrist and jerked her up close to
him. Ana froze and turned white as a ghost. All of a sudden she wasn’t in a hospital
room railing at a cowboy she didn’t know. She was back at home, staring into the face
of her infuriated husband as he rained blows on her. The pain she felt in her ribs was
real but at the moment she didn’t see it as due to the truck that hit her but that caused
by her husband’s fists and feet.
Chase saw the color drain out of her face and fear rise in her golden eyes. He tried
to pull her to him, to comfort her, but that was the wrong move. She went wild, hitting
and kicking at him, wild-eyed and panting.
It was all Chase could do to keep her from hurting herself as he fended off her
blows. It took longer than he anticipated for her to run out of steam. By the time she
literally collapsed in his arms, they were both red-faced and sweaty.
He carried her to the bed and propped her against the pillows. Ana stared at him
blankly for a long time then jerked and blinked several times. “Oh my god.” Color
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flooded her face. “I…I’m…forgive me. I…” She covered her face with her hands,
horrified at what she had done.
Chase waited for her to lower her hands. “Look, Miss Stillwater, it’s obvious that
you’ve had some trouble in your life, and I’ve just added to it. For my part, I am sorry.
And if you’ll let me, I’ll help you get your car back and a place to stay until you can get
on your feet and get home.”
Ana laughed hollowly. “That’s kind of you, Mr. Hawks, but that’s kind of the
reason I ended up here—trying to get as far away from home as possible.”
Chase considered it for a few moments. The doctor had said that the breaks in her
ribs looked to be more of a reopening of unhealed fractures than new breaks. And with
what she’d screamed at him, it was a pretty solid bet that she was on the run from an
abusive husband. Which made her trouble with a capital T. He could be making a huge
mistake, but at this point he didn’t see where he had a choice. “Fine, then don’t go
home. Stay here, find another place, do what you want. But until it’s time for you to
make that decision, I’m going to help.”
Ana was touched that a complete stranger would be so kind, particularly
considering her actions the last hour. “Thank you, but that’s asking too much. When I
said I was broke, I really meant it. I had three hundred dollars in my purse and that’s all
the money I have in the world. Everything I own is in the back of my car on Highway
70, and I don’t have any family. They’re all dead and now it’s just me. But that’s okay.
I’ve been on my own a long time and I’ll figure out a way. I always do. I can’t take
anything from you, Mr. Hawks. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Actually it would,” he argued. “See, the facts are, I ran over you. Now, by rights,
you could sue me for that. But I’m hoping you won’t because it really was an accident. I
was wrestling my cell phone out of my dog’s mouth and just didn’t see you. But that
doesn’t change the fact that I hit you. So, as I see it, the least I can do is help you until
you’re able to help yourself. That way we can call it even.”
Ana studied his face and searched his eyes. Was he really as genuine and sincere as
he seemed, or was he just another person trying to pull the wool over her eyes and get
his butt out of a legal sling into the bargain? She did not want to think so, but she had a
habit of thinking the best of people and it often got her into trouble.
But what choice did she really have? “What exactly did you have in mind?”
“Well, I guess you can stay with me ‘til you’re healed up. After that we’ll figure out
what to do next.”
“Stay with you?” Ugly doubt rose and she tried to push it aside. “I can’t do that. I
don’t even know you.”
“Well, I’m not exactly a serial killer,” he snapped then immediately apologized.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to bite. Look, I’m not suggesting that I take you to bed. Just that I
give you a place to stay. I have extra room and I’m gone a lot, so you probably wouldn’t
see much of me anyway.”
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Chase ‘n’ Ana
“What do you do?” Ana’s natural curiosity was piqued.
“I run a ranch, and I rope.”
“A ranch? As in cows?”
“A few. Mostly horses.”
Ana opened her mouth to say no, but an image flashed in her mind from Fergi,
along with a bit of advice. She would not have acted on the advice it come from another
source, but Fergi was the one dependable being in her life.
“Oh, well… Okay, Mr. Hawks, you have a deal. On one condition. I’ll work for you
in exchange for room and board until I can get a job and get enough money together to
get my car fixed.”
“You want to work for me?” He couldn’t help but smile at the idea. “And just how
much experience do you have with ranching?”
Ana returned his smile. “Not much, but I’m a fast learner. So, do we have a deal?”
She stuck out her hand.
Chance grinned and took her small hand in his. “We do, Miss Stillwater. We
certainly do.”
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Chapter Three
Ana felt like someone being released from prison when Chase picked her up from
the hospital the next morning. As part of their bargain, she’d agreed to spend the night
in the hospital. He’d reciprocated by promising to see about getting her car towed to a
local mechanic he trusted and getting her things from the car.
It had been a long night. Ana had alternated between second-guessing the deal she
made with Chase, and reprimanding herself for turning into a mistrustful person who
didn’t deserve help. It wasn’t until yesterday that she’d realized what a dramatic
change had come over her since the day Giovanni turned on her and beat her to a
bloody pulp.
She told herself time and again that she could not measure anyone else against him,
then immediately questioned whether her judgment had ever been sound. After all, in
the initial phases of the relationship she had believed in and trusted Giovanni. And look
how that had turned out.
Several mental messages from Fergi convinced her that she needed to fall back on
standard operating procedures. Namely, let it go. The past was the past and could not
be changed. It was the here and now that needed her attention, and right now her path
had led her to Chase Hawks.
Trusting that Fergi was right, she drifted off into a troubled sleep dreaming of a tall,
dark-haired cowboy who made her want to remember what it felt like to be in the arms
of a passionate lover.
Now here she was, climbing into his truck to be met by one of the biggest dogs
she’d ever seen. “Ana, this is Cody.” Chase reached over and gave Cody a shove to
move him over on the seat. “He’s a mixed breed, like me. Harmless.”
Ana raised one eyebrow and cut her eyes at him. Somehow she didn’t believe that
either of them was harmless. “Hi, Cody, I’m Ana.” She extended her hand for Cody to
sniff. He took one whiff and wiggled all over. By the time she was seated beside him, he
was licking her face and doing everything he could to climb into her lap.
Chase climbed in behind the wheel and grabbed Cody by the collar to drag him off
Ana. “Don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s never like this.”
“It’s chemistry,” Ana said as she rubbed Cody’s big face with both hands. “Right,
Cody?”
Cody barked in reply and lay his head down on her lap. She looked up at Chase
and shrugged. “Animals like me.”
“Apparently,” Chase commented as he started the truck and pulled out. He had to
admit that he couldn’t blame Cody. He wouldn’t mind putting his head in Ana’s lap. Of
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Chase ‘n’ Ana
course, if he did he’d never be content to just having his head rubbed. Nope. He had
entirely different ideas about having his head in her lap.
“So…” He looked for a way to divert his attention. “You introduced yourself to
Cody here as Ana. Thought that was reserved just for friends.”