Chapter 6

6

Brandt suspected he knew exactly where he was before he opened his eyes. The sounds of the hospital were distinctive. And he'd been in this place before. Or at least one just like it.

Every damned joint in his body hurt. But he remembered what had happened before. And he was ready to go hunting—as soon as breathing didn't hurt.

Someone came in. He looked up.

A blond nurse stood there. "Hello, handsome. Glad to see you are back with us."

She had those same distinctive green eyes as the woman he loved. "Dixie. Your cousin was there?"

He remembered Meyra. The woman he adored.

All he'd been able to think about when he'd been putting one damned foot in front of the other was getting to her. To seeing her one more time.

He'd always want one more day with her.

"Which one?" Dixie was one of the Talley girls, beautiful women who ran the town inn and the diner and had every mortal man under eighty drooling whenever they smiled.

The town talked about Talleys.

This one was definitely no exception.

But he wanted the sweetest one for his own.

He had a plan to make that happen.

But first, he had to work on getting his ass out of this bed.

"Meyra. I remember her being there. I think. I may have been hallucinating. I remember thinking I just needed to make it to the inn, going over that damned bridge into the back garden. And then she was there."

"She found you. You were very lucky, actually. She heard you from the back porch somehow. She was taking out the trash."

"Did she see the ba—guys on my tail? I think they shot at me." With silencers. The idea that Meyra might be a witness chilled him to the bone. He wasn't going to be worth much here on his back. "Can you get my phone for me, sweetness?"

Not that his phone had done much good before. There hadn't been a single bar of signal last night. Cell service in Masterson was spotty at best. He was ordering a satellite phone first thing in the morning.

"If you smile pretty."

He tried. It came out more as a grimace.

"Well, close enough."

He waited until she was finished doing all the annoying things far-too-cheerful nurses did and he was alone before making the call.

His brother Mac answered the phone. "What in the hell is going on up there?"

"I ran into a spot of trouble."

"No kidding. Some woman from that inn called Powell. Said you're in the damned hospital. We're on Houghton's jet now."

Brandt winced. His older brothers, Mac and Alex, were apparently riding to his rescue. Which meant so was… "All of you?"

"All of us. And yes, we're bringing her with us. She's in a full-on fit—and Mom sent her personally. You just keep getting into trouble up there and she is Powell-panicking about Bubby-Brandt. What in the hell happened this time?"

Brandt filled him in quickly. "I can take care of myself."

"Apparently not. Every time you go to that damned place, you end up in the damned hospital."

"Not quite."

"We'll be there soon. You have a place to live yet?"

"No. I have a few houses to choose from, but I'm staying at the inn. I was on my way to check in when this happened. Bastards jumped me on a property I recently bought directly behind the inn. The place I intend to make into my permanent base up here once some updating and remodeling are done."

Because his woman would want to live close to her family, and Brandt was a man who wanted a few acres or so to spread out on. The property behind the inn had seemed perfect at first, with a cute little walking path she could take to the inn every day.

That property had been nothing but trouble since.

"Then we'll check in, too. See what's so special about these Talleys you keep getting tangled up in."

"You be an ass to any of them, and I'll disown you, Mac. Take my word for it. I care about these women. A great deal. Behave. Got me?"

"Whatever. It sounds to me like they are nothing but trouble. Every last one of them. Kind of like Alex's new neighbors, actually."

He heard his sister snap something at Mac. Of course, she would. Powell was close friends with Meyra's cousin Charlotte. Who had dated Mac for two weeks. It had not gone well. At all.

Brandt's twin sister should know how to behave—and keep the other two in line. Mostly. Powell could be rather terrifying when she wanted to be—all one hundred pounds of her. He adored his twin, but she could be kind of scary when she was determined about something.

Brandt wanted out of there. He wasn't going to subject Meyra to his family without him. He just wasn't.

He knew how Mac operated, after all. His brother would go in, guns blazing, thinking he was riding to his baby brother's rescue, demanding questions Meyra wouldn't be able to answer. And Mac would just overwhelm and frighten her.

Brandt wasn't about to let that happen.

And Mac was the nice one of his two brothers. Alex was a cranky asshole most of the time—Brandt wouldn't want Meyra dealing with Alex without him there, either. Alex would say something he shouldn't—or try to carry Meyra off himself.

Alex had a reputation with women, too.

For that matter, so did Mac.

No. He didn't want either of his brothers around Meyra without him.

When the doctor came in, he told him that. "I need to get to the inn. My family is coming. I need to be there before they get to Meyra."

"They going to cause her problems?" The doctor rumbled when he spoke and could be damned intimidating. "I'll call Joel. Have him meet them at the inn. You aren't going anywhere."

"I need to get there. They can be…problematic. Intense. I don't want them to inadvertently overwhelm her or upset her." They wouldn't mean to, but Alex and Mac were dynamic, dominant, used-to-running-the-world Barratts. They'd make mincemeat out of Meyra if Brandt wasn't there to protect her.

"I'll go over there myself then." Masterson made a note on Brandt's chart. "I'll take care of my little sister."

Meyra's father had married Nate Masterson's mother a while back. Meyra had four older stepbrothers who looked out for her. Rabidly, at times, too. Including the sheriff of Masterson County. Brandt didn't consider that a bad thing.

"How soon am I out of here?"

"Tomorrow at the earliest. You need to be monitored. You are going to be hurting for a while."

"Then sign me out AMA. I'm going back to the damned inn. My family is waiting." And so was she.

Nate wasn't too thrilled.

But the big brute, who probably only outweighed Brandt because Brandt hadn't put the twenty pounds he'd lost after damned near dying back on yet, had gotten the last laugh.

Oh, the doctor was good. Really good.

Nate Masterson had used a secret weapon.

Nate's mother, Dr. Rhea Masterson Talley, was waiting when he checked himself out and found himself a ride courtesy of a doctor who lived across from the inn. Brandt looked at the other man. "Thanks for the lift."

Damn it. Not Rhea. No one could argue with that woman and win. They just couldn't. Meyra's father quaked in his shoes sometimes when he had to deal with her. It was fun to watch, not so fun to be a part of.

"Anytime. If I didn't, Dixie would probably clobber me. She's been…a bit scary lately. I think she's mad at me or something, honestly. I just can't figure out what I did. "

At first, Brandt had been certain Dr. Shane Lowell and Dixie had a thing going on. But he'd been assured that wasn't the case. Still, he knew what he'd seen. It was probably only a matter of time before Shane got Dixie right where he wanted her. Like naked in his bed forever.

He knew how it worked. When a beautiful woman captured a man's soul, it was best to just give in. Roll over and give up so that the fun part of life could truly begin.

That was something he was living out himself. He should have just given in two years ago, swept Meyra off her feet, and carried her back to his lair.

They'd probably have had their first kid by now.

Sometimes his plans got in the way of him living his life—Brandt was working on that.

Rhea and her husband, the general, were right there. Gerald Talley looked at Brandt. "You should be at the hospital, son. Why are you being stubborn?"

"I just am." He wasn't about to tell the man in front of him that he suspected someone was targeting him here in Masterson County. Gerald would take it upon himself to try to find out who.

Brandt didn't need anyone else to fight his battles for him. And he wouldn't have anyone he cared about targeted. Including Meyra's father. "Where's Meyra?"

He needed to see her. Like he probably always would.