Montana SEAL (4 page)

“I’d rather you left me alone so I can get some rest. When the doctor comes in, I’m going to demand that he release me.”

Sadie didn’t mention anything about the possibility of his staying longer or that he might be undergoing surgery. Allie could tackle that with her father. She had more practice. In the meantime, Sadie opened the magazine and read aloud about the latest in organic fungicide to battle such diseases as leaf spot, mildew and black patch in alfalfa. She went on to the next article about symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of corneal ulcers in horses. The next article was a personal account of a North Dakota rancher’s encounter with a bear in his barnyard.

Mr. Patterson had stopped complaining and grown quiet.

Sadie glanced up.

Hank’s father leaned back in the bed, his eyes closed. When he wasn’t frowning, he reminded her of Hank so much her heart squeezed tightly in her chest. What would it have been like if she’d stayed here, married Hank and lived on the Bear Creek Ranch? They’d have had a kid or two by now. She’d always imagined them growing old together. A sharp pang of regret hit her hard, and she swallowed the lump in her throat. No use crying over choices made. She had her life. Hank had his. They didn’t fit in each other’s worlds anymore.

Not knowing whether or not he was asleep, Sadie leaned forward, studying the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

Lloyd frowned and propped one eye open. “Don’t stop now. I want to know how he got the bear out of the barnyard.” He settled back. “Had a bear in my barnyard once. Left before I could get back to the house for my rifle.”

Sadie went back to reading the story about the bear in the barnyard, keeping her voice soft and soothing, hoping to calm Mr. Patterson.

A few paragraphs later, the door swung open.

Expecting the doctor, a nurse or Allie, Sadie glanced up with a smile on her face.

The smile froze as a tall, broad-shouldered figure filled the doorway. The blood rushed from Sadie’s head and she swayed, glad she sat in a chair, or she might have melted into a puddle of goo on the floor. “Hank?” she whispered. “Is it really you?”

H
ank stood transfixed
, his hand on the door as he stared into the room. Sadie McClain sat in a chair beside the hospital bed, her blond hair hanging down around her shoulders, her sky-blue eyes wide, soft pink lips forming an O of surprise. She pushed to her feet and swayed, her face turning pale and then flushing a pretty pink.

His heart stopped for a long, moment, as if time had frozen. Then his pulse kicked in, hammering against his veins, reminding him he was still alive and he was there for his father, not for Sadie.

Hank nodded his head toward her. “Sadie,” he said, and then dragged his gaze away from her to the bed.

His father blinked his eyes open and focused on Hank. “What the hell are you doing here?” He held up his hand. “No. Let me guess. Allie!”

The door opened again and Allie entered backward. “Dad, stop your bellerin’. They can hear you all the way down the corridor. I thought you might like some real coffee. It’s much better than what they served for breakf—” She turned, balancing two cups of coffee. “Hank!”

Hank snatched the coffee cups from her before she dropped them. “Hey, Allie Cat.” He set the cups on the nightstand and pulled his little sister into his arms. “It’s good to see you, squirt.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed hard. “I missed you, you big jerk.”

“Hey, watch your mouth.” He rubbed his knuckles across her head like he had when she was ten years old. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Nothing’s going on,” his father assured him. “You don’t need to be here. You might as well go back to your unit. You’re not needed here.”

That hurt. Fortunately, Hank had heard worse from his father. For some reason, his father never had a kind word to say to him. Ever since his mother died.

“Dad, I’m here for a month.” Hank crossed his arms over his chest and stared down his father, not out of disrespect, but out of the very same stubbornness he’d inherited from his father. “So, you might as well get used to it.”

“I’m not getting used to anything. I don’t need you here.”

“Fine. Then I’ll stay in Eagle Rock at Ruby’s Bed and Breakfast.”

“Ha! Ruby sold it,” his father said and winced. “Damn it. I could do without the aggravation.” He shot a glance at Allie. “Why did you go and call him?”

Allie’s lips thinned. “Dad, be reasonable. You were shot.”

“I know that. I was there.” Hank’s father slapped the bed and doubled over, his face turning white. “Damn it. What does my being shot have to do with your brother?”

“I don’t know.” Allie stared up at her brother. “What does this have to do with you?”

Hank was tired of the arguments and exhausted from the flight. His knee hurt, and he didn’t have it in him to argue. “You want me to leave? Fine.” He spun on his heels and would have headed out the door, except he caught the disturbed expression on Sadie’s face. All his anger melted away in that one look from Sadie. He couldn’t leave. Not yet. Not without clearing the air between him and his first love.

Allie hooked her arm through Hank and Sadie’s and herded them through the door. “Sadie, tell Hank what happened while I try to talk sense into Daddy.” She pushed them into the corridor, and let the door swing closed behind them.

Relatively alone with Sadie in the corridor, Hank stared down at her. She’d broken his heart when she’d told him she didn’t want to get married, and that she wanted to pursue her dream of going to California to become a big movie star.

“Hi, again.”

She chuckled softly. “Your father is still the same.”

“If by the same, you mean cantankerous, ornery and pig-headed, you’re right.” Out of habit, his hand rose to touch her, to bring her into his arms and kiss her, but he stopped himself before his fingers made the connection. They weren’t teenagers in love anymore. She was a celebrity. He was a SEAL. By the nature of their chosen occupations, their worlds would never collide.

Except in Eagle Rock where they’d both been raised. In Hank’s case, he’d never wanted to come back. Had he known Sadie would be there…“How long have you been in town?” he asked.

“A few days.”

“I thought you lived in LA.”

“I do—did.” She stared down at her cowboy boots. “It’s complicated.”

Hank nodded. Complicated probably meant it was personal, and she didn’t want to share her reasons for coming home with him. There was nothing between them but a few old memories. Even if those memories were carved into his mind and had been what kept him going during his darkest days, whether in battle or in recovery from injuries.

“You look good,” Sadie said, a strained smile turning her lips upward on the corners.

“You look too thin,” he said, his tone flat, a frown pinching his forehead.

She’d lost the rounded corners of baby fat, her cheekbones and arms were more angular, toned and beautiful in a more mature, upscale fashion. This woman was now Hollywood royalty. She’d walked the red carpet with people way out of Hank’s league, gone to private parties with some of the most elegant and famous people of their time. She’d even had dinner with the president of the United States.

Hell, Hank worked for the president, yet he’d never actually met the man in person.

Sadie’s lips formed a crooked smile that had the added effect of turning his insides to mush. “I can always trust you to give it to me straight. No sugarcoated platitudes. Just the ugly truth.”

Hank shook his head and made the mistake of gripping her arm. Now there was no going back. Ever since he’d seen her in his father’s hospital room, he’d wanted to yank her up against him and kiss away all the years they’d wasted apart. As his fingers curled around her arms, he slowly, inexorably drew her toward him. “What I meant to say is you look incredible.” He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear like he used to do after horseback riding across the prairie grasses.

Her eyes widened and she tipped back her head. “It’s so very good to see you again, Hank,” she said, her voice breathy. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. “You look pretty good yourself.”

God, he wanted to kiss her.

A nurse pushed a cart down the hallway toward them. The front wheel wobbled, making a grating sound, reminding Hank they were in a hospital corridor, not alone. He leaned his forehead against hers and slid his hand down her arm to capture hers. “You want to tell me what happened?” As soon as he uttered the words, he realized there was deeper meaning in the words. He held his breath wishing Sadie would catch it.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out. Then she met his gaze. “You know the intersection with the stop sign right before you get to town?”

His lips curled in a smile. “We used to meet there when we wanted to get away from our respective homes.”

Her expression hardened. “Your dad seems to think someone might have been out hunting and mistook us for a deer. I might have gone along with that theory if that someone hadn’t fired two more rounds, narrowly missing me as I crawled across the ground to my car.”

Hank’s grip tightened on her hand. “You think whoever was shooting was
trying
to hit you and my father?”

She nodded.

Anger boiled up inside Hank. “Why?”

Sadie shrugged. “Could be someone with mental problems, for all I know. I’ve heard of nut cases nailing passersby for no reason other than they were practicing their shooting skills.”

“Do you suppose my father’s flawed personal skills pissed off someone? Hell, he’s probably pissed off everyone in the county at one time or another.”

“Why now? Everyone knows him and what he’s like. He’s cranky, but he’s hard working, and he’d help a neighbor in a heartbeat. Why would someone decide to hurt him, now?”

“And that doesn’t account for the shots fired in your direction.” Hank pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. But I’m glad you weren’t hit.”

“Thanks.” For a long moment, she leaned against him, her hand resting on his chest. Then Sadie glanced up at him. “I don’t know if this has anything to do with the shooting, but I had several incidents with a stalker, back in LA.”

“Stalker?” Hank pushed her to arm’s length. “What stalker?”

She shrugged. “I have the usual paparazzi ganging up on me, but one guy in particular has been following me, anticipating my every move. The obsessive, freaky way he shadowed me forced me to pull up stakes and head home.”

“I suppose overzealous fans are part of the life of a celebrity, but couldn’t you have him served with a restraining order?”

“He’d been pretty good about disappearing before I could get a name and address to have him served. But I got one just before I left LA. The guy’s name is Tim Wallis, if he happens to show up in Eagle Rock.” She squeezed Hank’s hand and let go. “Anyway, that’s what happened, and one possibility of who could have done it. Your father took a bullet, and I got away with nothing more than a skinned elbow.”

“In a town as small as Eagle Rock, it shouldn’t be hard to find the culprit.”

“I don’t know about that. There have been a lot of tourists in the area, coming to get in the last hike of the season back in the mountains. When they cleared out, the hunters moved in. And there’ve been geologists and oil speculators sniffing around, looking for the next big oil reserve. The Crazy Mountain Bed and Breakfast, which used to be Ruby’s, has been booked solid for the past couple of weeks, and the campground south of town has been full.”

Hank frowned. “Hunting season started last week?”

Sadie nodded. “I checked with the sheriff. He said he’d keep an eye peeled for anything out of the ordinary. He checked the area where we were and all around, but he didn’t find any leads.”

“No bullet casings?”

She shook her head. “Only the bullet they pulled out of your father.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Hank said. “Who would want to kill my father or you?” Hank tilted his head. “I can see my father making someone mad, buy why you?”

“Getting rid of the witness?” she offered.

“Well, you both lived, and no one has been brought in for attempted murder. Seems whoever did this is off the hook.”

“Your father and I go through that intersection every time we come to town. Many others do, too. What if the shooter decides he wants to conduct target practice again?”

Hank shook his head. “He has to be caught.”

“Agreed. The sheriff said he’d check the usual suspects. The rowdy teenagers, the county rabble-rousers and anyone else he can think of. They did manage to pull a bullet out of your father’s truck. He sent it to the state crime lab for analysis.”

“Good. In the meantime, we have to be aware at all times.”

“Tell your father that. He’s already madder than hell at being confined in this hospital.”

Hank glanced at the door and braced himself for facing his belligerent father.

Sadie touched his arm. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here. Despite what he says, your father needs you.”

The warmth of her hand on his arm filled Hank with the fortitude he needed to deal with the situation. She’d always calmed him, made him step back from the blowups with his father and think logically. Patterson men were stubborn to a fault. That’s what made him and his father butt heads all the time. Now was no different. Only this time, Hank really did need to be there to figure out who the hell shot his father and tried to kill Sadie.

S
adie followed
Hank back into the room, her heart still hammering, her hand tingling from where she’d touched Hank’s arm. Eleven years had done nothing to quell the hunger that flared each time she was near him. She was still the same girl inside, but she had to consider who she’d become on the outside. Even if she wanted him to be a part of her life, she couldn’t drag him into her world. The red carpets, paparazzi and living in LA would kill him. At the very least, it would kill any kind of relationship they could hope to have. If he was even interested. The best thing she could do for him was to not encourage a resurgence of old desires. They lived vastly different lives now. She had contracts to fulfill, press conferences, media events and more that went along with being a star.

Sometimes she wished she could go back to being that girl who knew that boy and wanted nothing more than to be his wife and have his babies. But if she’d said yes to his proposal when they were teenagers, they’d have stayed in Montana, barely made a living, and Hank would have been as grumpy and bitter as his father. He never would have pursued his dream of joining the Navy and becoming a SEAL.

Walking into the hospital room behind Hank, Sadie couldn’t help noticing how broad his shoulders had become. And he must have grown another two or three inches. He was all lean muscle and dangerously handsome.

She frowned.

Was Hank limping? If so, he was hiding it well.

Neither his father nor his sister had noticed.

But Sadie had, and her heart contracted. Had he been injured in battle? All the years away from him, Sadie had forced aside images of Hank fighting for his life against terrorists. Every time she heard a news report about military personnel dying in battle or a helicopter crash, she stopped everything and waited for the names, nearly fainting in relief when not one of the names listed was Henry Patterson.

“I changed my mind,” Lloyd said before the door closed completely behind Hank and Sadie.

“About what?” Hank asked.

“About needing your help.” Hank’s father waved his hand. “Of course, I don’t need your help, other than helping Eddy get the hay into the barn. But besides that, I don’t need you.”

“Dad, you’re not making sense.”

“It’s the damned drugs. They’re making my head fuzzy.”

Allie touched her father’s good arm. “Tell him what you told me.”

He patted her hand. “I’m getting to it.” Lloyd cleared his throat. “I want you to find out who shot me and tried to shoot Miss Sadie. There.” He glared at Allie. “Are you happy, now?”

Allie smiled at her father. “Yes, Daddy. I’d feel better having Hank around.”

“I’m not concerned about having him around. In fact, if anything, he needs to stay close to the girl. I won’t be straying far from Bear Creek Ranch for the near future. But Miss Sadie wasn’t injured. If whoever was shooting at us decides to shoot again, she needs someone to protect her.”