“Shit!” Billy was already halfway out of his seat, tugging at the kit under the bench. He turned back, glaring at Sam. “Come on!”
She couldn’t move, couldn’t look away, as memories flooded her. Suddenly, she was fifteen years old, and that was her father lying in the dirt.
Billy grabbed her sleeve and hauled her along with him. It was enough to bring her back to the present, and she snagged her backpack as she followed Billy out of the grandstand.
They raced to the waiting ambulance, Sam flinging open the back doors as Billy ran around front to start the engine. The downed rider would need to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Sam checked the gear, laying out the items they’d probably need—bandages, immobilizers, latex-free gloves, even an emergency airway kit.
She glanced at the stretcher under the bench seat. He was going to hate it, but that rider would need to be taken out on the stretcher.
Her father had been like most riders, willing to put up with any pain at least until he was out of the view of the public. It was one of the things he and Mom had argued about, along with the inherent dangers of the sport. As in everything, though, Dad won.
So when he broke a rib, he waved off assistance and made it out the gate on his own. A twisted ankle rated a cursory check by the sports medicine guys, and he limped out of the arena under his own power. He may have collapsed the minute the crowd couldn’t see him, but a mix of bravado and superstition kept him upright as long as possible.
This rider wouldn’t have the choice.
A rodeo worker in a bright red shirt ran up to the ambulance and closed one of the doors. “We need you in the arena, now,” he yelled over the sound of the crowd.
Sam nodded, then pulled the second door shut and signaled to Billy to get going. Her jaw ached from being clenched so tightly. To bring the ambulance into the arena like this was a bad, bad sign. The last time she’d seen it happen, they’d loaded her father in the back and taken him away. Forever.
She held on as they opened the gate to let them through. The ambulance bumped and swayed over the rough dirt of the arena. Billy pulled up in front of the downed rider, positioning it so the majority of the spectators couldn’t see what was happening. Preventing panic was as much a part of the job as stabilizing the injured rider.
But keeping her own panic under control was a far different thing.
Shaking herself out of her reverie, Sam opened the door and climbed out of the ambulance. Grabbing the stretcher, she handed it off to Billy as he joined her from the front of the vehicle. The sports medicine guys stepped aside as they approached, giving them room to maneuver. Sam noted that someone had already immobilized the rider’s neck, which was good. Billy helped her move him onto the back-stabilizing stretcher, being careful to jostle him as little as possible.
With a well-timed heave, they had the stretcher up and into the ambulance and the doors closed before the crowd could focus completely on what they were doing. Muffled sounds outside the closed doors suggested that the rodeo clowns were working hard to distract the crowd, though it would be almost impossible to keep their minds off the accident completely.
Billy grabbed the blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around the patient’s arm. “Vital signs?” He glanced up when Sam didn’t respond.
“Shit,” he muttered, then opened the door and waved at a passing sports medicine worker.
The red-shirted man hopped into the ambulance. “What can I do?”
Billy handed over his blood pressure cuff. “You can take over for me and let me drive. We need to get this guy to the hospital fast. And—” He glanced at Sam. “She could be having some trouble with this.”
“Screw you,” Sam gritted through clenched teeth. She didn’t bother to look up, all her attention on the downed rider. “I’m fine. Just get this thing moving.”
The sports medicine pro took the spot across from her, Billy racing around to the front of the ambulance and jumping in the driver’s seat.
Sam barely registered the change, focusing on stabilizing the rider and assessing his injuries. She cut open his shirt and spread it wide, noting the angry bruise covering him from neck to waist. At least one shoulder was dislocated, and his sternum didn’t look good. Lifting his hand, she noted the glove he was wearing, glad he’d had at least this minor protection against injury.
From the opposite side of the stretcher, her new assistant removed the rider’s jeans, expertly manipulating his knee. “Sprained,” he said, visually inspecting the rest of the leg. “Possible broken femur. Name’s Duane, by the way.”
She almost corrected him until she realized he was talking about himself, not the patient. Luckily, he didn’t seem to need a response.
Duane reached for a blanket to cover the rider. “How’s he doing?”
Sam lifted one eyelid, flicked the penlight. “Still unconscious.” Vaguely, she noted that the ambulance was moving, lights and sirens clicking on as they left the fairgrounds. Luckily, the hospital was just five minutes away, and Billy would have already called for a replacement ambulance. They’d probably pass each other on the way, since she and Billy would be at the hospital for a while. The rodeo would be on hold until the new EMTs arrived.
Much more would be on hold for this rider, for a lot longer. Potential broken bones, dislocations, a likely concussion. And even worse, the potential for internal bleeding.
Sam set up an IV as Duane began treating the obvious scratches and surface injuries. “What do you know about him?”
“Cody Shaw. From Wyoming. On track to make national standings in bull riding. Now, who knows?”
“Wyoming?” Sam kept her head down, kept working, though inside she went completely still.
“Yeah. Long-time rodeo family. His dad was national champion years ago.”
She remembered. Gary Shaw and her father had been friendly rivals back in the day. At least they had been until her dad had died. Then it was as if the Shaws had completely dropped off the face of the earth.
Yet another reason to hate the rodeo.
She taped down the needle of the IV and began probing Cody’s abdomen for obvious swelling. “Is this his first year at the Four Corners Rodeo?”
Duane shook his head, busy stabilizing Cody’s knee. “He’s here most years. Four Corners is one of the top regional events, you know. Nobody on the hunt for Nationals misses it.”
So he’d been in town and she hadn’t known it. Not that she would have expected to run into him, since she tended to avoid the rodeo. Still, it would have been nice to know.
She glanced at his face again, tight and shadowed despite his unconsciousness. Even with the passage of more than a decade she could see the family resemblance. He’d been just eighteen the last time she’d seen him, rangy and lean, but the last thirteen years had been good to him in the looks department.
He was definitely a heartbreaker now.
Well, except for the bruises and swelling.
The ambulance pulled up to the entrance, and two orderlies swung open the doors to retrieve the patient. Sam and Duane walked briskly next to the stretcher as Cody was wheeled into the hospital, relaying the vital information the emergency room crew would need. Then they stepped aside as the ER team took over.
Sam watched as the door closed, taking Cody out of her life again. She turned around and headed for the waiting room.
Duane tipped his hat and took off, ready to catch a ride back to the rodeo. Hopefully his services wouldn’t be needed again today.
Billy caught up with Sam and started helping her with the paperwork. The two of them would remain on call at the hospital unless, God forbid, there was another accident at the rodeo. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than playing musical ambulances with the replacement team. “Shitty day, huh?” Billy muttered, a sympathetic look in his eye. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah.” Sam rotated her shoulders, trying to shake off some of the tension she’d been carrying since her shift started. “I’ll be fine.”
“How’s the cowboy doing?”
“Seemed stable. I’d peg it as a class three injury, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they medevac him to Harborview.”
“I wonder if someone’s notified next of kin.”
Sam stilled, hating the way that sounded. “His folks live in Wyoming.” Unless there was a Mrs. Cody Shaw. Just because no one had run down to the ambulance and demanded to ride along didn’t mean he was single. Lots of the bullriders traveled alone. He could be married.
Dammit.
“How do you know that?”
Sam shrugged, keeping her eyes on the clipboard in front of her. “His dad was friends with my dad. I used to know him from the circuit.”
A long time ago.
Before the accident.
The first accident.
“Maybe you should give them a call,” Billy suggested. “Just in case.”
“I’m sure someone from the rodeo has taken care of it,” she said. “Here, sign this.”
As distractions went, it was laughably transparent, but Billy was nice enough—or smart enough—to let it go. The conversation turned in a less uncomfortable direction, and Sam pretended to be unaffected.
But a corner of her mind kept gnawing on the situation, like a terrier on a bone. It had been thirteen years since she’d seen Cody and his family, thirteen years since she’d followed him around with her fifteen-year-old heart on her sleeve for everyone to see. Thirteen years since her world had come crashing down.
Fair or not, she’d learned to associate everything rodeo with that horrible summer, and run from it as far and as fast as she could. Now a reminder had dropped into her life with a thud. She was already more tangled up with it than she’d ever intended.
No way was she pulling the rope tighter.
Chapter Two
“You still here?”
Sam looked up from her books. “Don’t have anywhere better to be.”
“Glad to hear it.” Dr. Miller sat in the chair opposite, sighing as he stretched his legs out. “You saved me a phone call.”
“Why?”
“Billy said you know the bull rider you brought in this afternoon.”
“Billy has a big mouth.” She grimaced. “And the operative term is knew. I haven’t seen him for thirteen years.”
The older man’s gaze sharpened at that. Everyone in town knew what had happened thirteen years ago.
“His dad was friends with my dad.” She closed her book and set it on top of the stack in front of her. “After the accident, we lost contact.”
Dr. Miller nodded. “I see.”
He had that concerned-friend look on his face. She’d seen enough of that expression to last her a lifetime.
“So I don’t think I’ll be too much help.”
“That’s too bad.” Dr. Miller picked up the book she’d been reading and turned it over. “A little light reading, eh?”
“Just getting a leg up.” No matter how many roadblocks Chief Branson put up, she was determined to earn that spot in the training program.
He tossed the book down. “I suppose I was hoping I could find someone in town to help Mr. Shaw out for a little while.”
Her spidey-sense went on full alert. “What do you mean?”
“Well, now that he’s regained consciousness, there’s really no call to keep him in the hospital. But he can’t travel, either.”
“I’m sure the hotel will extend his reservation,” Sam said quickly.
“Come on. You know that won’t work.” Dr. Miller stood and crossed to the coffee machine. “He needs someone to check on him on a regular basis. At least for the next seventy-two hours.”
“So why not keep him here under observation?”
He shook his head and took a mug off the shelf. “Limited resources. And you know insurance won’t cover it if they deem it not medically necessary.”
Unfortunately, he was right. Rodeo riders’ insurance, if they could get it, was horribly expensive and covered almost nothing. Sam sighed. “I have to work. I won’t be around during the day.”
“Chief Branson would give you the time off. You can use it to study.”
She searched her mind for another alternative. “What about someone from the rodeo? Anyone?”
“Is there bad blood between you two?” His gaze sharpened. “I won’t ask you to do this if it’ll cause problems.”
“No, no issues.” Cody’d already ripped her heart out of her chest years ago. There wasn’t anything left to damage.
“Good. Let’s go check on the patient now. If he’s awake, we can take care of all the paperwork.”
Sam followed him out the door, wishing she’d had the guts to say no.
And wondering if, in the long run, she really hadn’t wanted to.
***
Cody woke to darkness.
Where the hell was he?
“Are you awake?” A cool hand smoothed the hair back from his forehead.
“Unfortunately,” he muttered, which made her laugh softly.
Her. Her who? Damn, he’d been on the road for a long time, but forgetting the woman he was with…
That was bad. Even for him.
The room, what he could see of it, was unfamiliar. Not surprising, considering how many days he spent on the circuit each year. But this wasn’t a hotel room.
And he couldn’t place the woman standing next to the bed.
It didn’t help that his brain felt stuffed with cotton, and the room kept wavering in and out of focus.
“Pain pretty bad?” She leaned over him, straightening the sheets. He knew that scent. Why didn’t he recognize the woman?
Okay, start with the basics. It was night. The shadows in the room were deep and quiet. And his mystery woman, the one now checking the bandage on his arm—holy hell, how had that happened?—was wearing a nightgown.
The light from the hallway spilled into the darkened room, putting her face in shadows but turning her virginal white gown almost transparent. She probably thought the long-sleeved garment was modest, but with the light behind it, Cody could see every curve of her body.
Damn.
His groin tightened, an instinctive response to this woman. He did know her. Or at least his body did, if his instant hard-on was a clue. Gritting his teeth, he searched his fogged, noncompliant brain. Why couldn’t he place her?
“Hang on,” she said, turning toward the nightstand. The light through the thin fabric outlined one taut nipple.