The Pines Of Winder Ranch. RaeAnne Thayne
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it be lovely if he were away from the ranch or busy helping Easton with something or tied up with some kind of conference call to Seattle?
She could only dream, she supposed. More than likely, he would be right there waiting for her, ready to impale her with that suspicious, bad-tempered glare the moment she stepped out of the car.
She let out a breath as she turned onto the long Winder Ranch access drive and headed up toward the house. She could at least be calm and collected, even if he tried to goad her or made any derogatory comments. He certainly didn’t need to discover he possessed such power to upset her.
He wasn’t waiting for her on the porch, but it was a near thing. The instant she rang the doorbell of Winder Ranch, the door jerked open and Quinn stood inside looking frazzled, his dark hair disheveled slightly, his navy blue twill shirt untucked, a hint of afternoon shadow on his cheeks.
He looked a little disreputable and entirely yummy.
“It’s about time!” he exclaimed, an odd note of relief in his voice. “I’ve been watching for you for the past half hour.”
“You...have?”
She almost looked behind her to see if someone a little more sure of a welcome had wandered in behind her.
“I thought you were supposed to be here at eight.”
She checked her watch and saw it was only eight-thirty. “I made another stop first. What’s wrong?”
He raked a hand through his hair, messing it further. “I don’t know the hell I’m supposed to do. Easton had to run to Idaho Falls to meet with the ranch accountant. She was supposed to be back an hour ago but she just called and said she’d been delayed and won’t be back for another couple of hours.”
“What’s going on? Is Jo having another of her breathing episodes? Or is it the coughing?”
Tess hurried out of her jacket and started to rush toward her patient’s room but Quinn grabbed her arm at the elbow.
Despite her worry for Jo, heat scorched her nerve endings at the contact, at the feel of his warm hand against her skin.
“She’s not there. She’s in the kitchen.”
At her alarmed look, he shook his head. “It’s none of those things. She’s fine, physically, anyway. But she won’t listen to reason. I never realized the woman could be so blasted stubborn.”
“A trait she obviously does not share with anyone else here,” she murmured.
He gave her a dark look. “She’s being completely ridiculous. She suddenly has this harebrained idea. Absolute insanity. She wants to go out for a moonlight ride on one of the horses and it’s suddenly all she can talk about.”
She stared, nonplussed. “A horseback ride?”
“Yeah. Do you think the cancer has affected her rational thinking? I mean, what’s gotten into her? It’s after eight, for heaven’s sake.”
“It’s a bit difficult to go on a moonlit ride in the middle of the afternoon,” she pointed out.
“Don’t you take her side!” He sounded frustrated and on edge and more than a little frazzled.
She hid her smile that the urbane, sophisticated executive could change so dramatically over one simple request. “I’m not taking anyone’s side. Why does she suddenly want to go tonight?”
“Her window faces east.”
That was all he said, as if everything was now crystal clear. “And?” she finally prompted.
“And she happened to see that huge full moon coming up an hour or so ago. She says it’s her favorite kind of night. She and Guff used to ride up to Windy Lake during the full moon whenever they could. It can be clear as day up in the mountains on full moons like this.”
“Windy Lake?”
“It’s above the ranch, about half a mile into the forest service land. Takes about forty minutes to ride there.”
“And Tess is determined to go?”
“She says she can’t miss the chance, since it’s her last harvest moon.”
The sudden bleakness in the silver-blue of his eyes tugged at her sympathy and she was astonished by the impulse to touch his arm and offer whatever small comfort she could.
She curled her fingers into a fist, knowing he wouldn’t welcome the gesture. Not from her.
“She’s not strong enough for that,” he went on. “I know she’s not. We were sitting out in the garden today and she lasted less than an hour before she had to lie down, and then she slept for the rest of the day. I can’t see any way in hell she has the strength to sit on a horse, even for ten minutes.”
Her job as a hospice nurse often required using a little creative problem-solving. Clients who were dying could have some very tricky wishes toward the end. But her philosophy was that if what they wanted was at all within reach, it was up to her and their family members to make it happen.
“What if you rode together on horseback?” she suggested. “You could help her. Support her weight, make sure she’s not overdoing.”
He stared at her as if she’d suddenly stepped into her old cheerleader skirt and started yelling, “We’ve got spirit, yes we do.”
“Tell me you’re not honestly thinking she could handle this!” he exclaimed. “It’s completely insane.”
“Not completely, Quinn. Not if she wants to do it. Jo is right. This is her last harvest moon and if she wants to enjoy it from Windy Lake, I think she ought to have that opportunity. It seems a small enough thing to give her.”
He opened his mouth to object, then closed it again. In his eyes, she saw worry and sorrow for the woman who had taken him in, given him a home, loved him.
“It might be good for her,” Tess said gently.
“And it might finish her off.” He said the words tightly, as if he didn’t want to let them out.
“That’s her choice, though, isn’t it?”
He took several deep breaths and she could see his struggle, something she faced often providing end-of-life care. On the one hand, he loved his foster mother and wanted to do everything he could to make her happy and comfortable and fulfill all her last wishes.
On the other, he wanted to protect her and keep her around as long as he could.
The effort to hold back her fierce urge to touch him, console him, almost overwhelmed her. She supposed she shouldn’t find it so surprising. She was a nurturer, which was why she went into nursing in the first place, long before she ever knew that Scott’s accident would test her caregiving skills and instincts to the limit.
“You don’t have to take her, though, especially if you don’t feel it’s the right thing for her. I’ll see if I can talk her out of it,” she offered. She took a step toward the kitchen, but his voice stopped her.
“Wait.”
She turned back to find him pinching the skin at the bridge of his nose.
“You’re right,” he said after a long moment, dropping his hand. “It’s her choice. She’s a grown woman, not a child. I can’t treat her like one, even if I do want to protect her from...the inevitable. If she wants this, I’ll find a way to make it happen.”
The determination in his voice arrowed right to her heart and she smiled. “You’re a good son, Quinn. You’re just what Jo needs right now.”
“You’re coming with us, to make sure she’s not overdoing things.”
“Me?”
“The only way I can agree to this insanity is if we have a medical expert close at