Safe In The Rancher's Arms. Catherine Mann
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tornado flipped her vehicle. She has severe head injuries, so they’ve put her in a medically induced coma.”
Beth had stopped crying and now visibly pulled herself together. “And the baby?”
“Delivered by emergency C-section. Last I heard, they think she will make it.”
Drew remembered the odd feeling that he knew the woman. “Do you know the mother’s name?”
“They’ve listed her for now as a Jane Doe. Her car was destroyed. Cell phone and purse missing, probably in someone’s backyard five miles away.”
Jed motioned toward his car. “We need to go. Drew, after you’ve had a few minutes to rest, I know they could use the two of us in town.”
Beth still stared at her forlorn house. “You guys go on. I’ll stay here. There’s plenty to do.”
Drew realized then that Beth was definitely in shock. He put his arm around her shoulders, steering her toward the car. It disturbed him that her skin was icy cold. “We can bring some tarps over this evening, but you can’t stay here. I know you don’t want to enter the enemy camp, but I’ll promise you good food, a hot shower and a bed for as long as you need it.”
* * *
Beth allowed Drew to take charge because it was in her best interests and because she was too disheartened to deal with anything but basic needs at the moment.
The road between her house and the magnificent entrance to Willowbrook Farms was two miles long. Ninety-nine percent of the time when Beth departed her property, she turned left out of her driveway. So it felt odd to be deliberately closing the gap between her home and Drew’s. She had only been out this way once or twice, more out of curiosity than anything else. Both times she had been struck by the pristine appearance of Drew’s ranch. It was an enormous, well-cared-for equine operation.
As they drove along—slowly because of the debris littering the road—it was far too easy to see the storm’s path. The twister had clipped a section of Drew’s acreage, veered toward the private road and traveled along it until deciding to thunder across Beth’s once thriving farm. She knew in her heart she was lucky her house was still standing. There were almost surely others in far more dire straits.
“I should have gotten clean clothes,” she cried, realizing her omission.
Drew shook his head vehemently. “You can’t go inside your house until an expert checks for structural damage. Not unless you want to chance spending another night beneath a pile of rubble.”
“Low blow, Farrell,” she muttered. “What am I supposed to wear? I have plans to burn this current outfit.”
“I have seven women on my staff. I’m sure between them they can come up with a solution.”
By the time they finally pulled up in front of Drew’s classic two-story farmhouse, she was so tired her eyes had trouble focusing. He helped her out of the car. Jed followed them inside.
Drew took her arm, steering her toward the back of the house. “Food first.”
“And a bathroom.”
That made him grin. “Of course.”
Jed smiled as well. “If you would like me to, while the two of you are eating, I can round up some necessities for Ms. Andrews and have the housekeeper put them in a guest room.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you. And please call me Beth. I’m pretty sure that rescuing me from a storm cellar puts us on a first name basis.”
She was surprised when Drew spoke up, his face a mix of emotions. “Thanks, Jed. That would be great. Get a couple of the women in the front office to help you. But I’ll pick out a bedroom.”
The brothers exchanged an odd glance that Beth was unable to decipher.
In the kitchen, the housekeeper was waiting. Evidently, she had been on standby since Jed called to say he thought Drew and Beth had been found.
The size of the breakfast was overwhelming, but Beth did her best to try some of everything. Biscuits, ham, fresh peaches and eggs so light and fluffy they almost floated off the plate. Beth hated eating in her grubby clothes, but her stomach held sway, demanding to be fed. The coffee was something exotic and imported. Nothing at all like the stuff she drank at home.
She and Drew exchanged barely a dozen words as they ate. The housekeeper had excused herself, leaving them to their meal in private. Surrounded by windows, the cozy breakfast nook overlooked a small pond.
Drew touched the back of her hand briefly. “Promise me you’ll take a nap. You’ve been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours.”
Her eyes teared up again. She hated feeling so emotional, but the enormity of what had happened was almost impossible to comprehend. And she hadn’t even seen the damage elsewhere.
“You were right there with me. How can Jed expect you to go into town when you’re exhausted?”
“I’ll be fine. My house wasn’t torn apart. You’ve had a terrible shock. Give yourself time to get back on your feet.”
“I’ll nap,” she said, knowing that he was right. “But after that I want to do something to help out in the community.”
His bright blue eyes warmed her to the bone. “Fair enough. And I swear to you that we’ll take care of securing your house before dark.”
“Thanks.” She felt shy suddenly, sitting beside him in this brightly lit room. All of the appliances looked like something out of a catalog. Compared to her small, antiquated kitchen, this room was worthy of a palace.
That impression only increased as Drew ushered her down a hallway and into a large guest suite. Throughout the house, she saw beautiful, gleaming hardwood floors, accented by Oriental rugs that were probably more expensive than her car. Or what used to be her car. Panic encroached as she contemplated everything she needed to do in the aftermath of the storm. In addition to handling details about insurance claims and repairs, she wasn’t sure she had enough cash flow to wait for checks to arrive.
Drew interrupted her internal meltdown. “I thought you would like this side of the house. It gets the morning sun and you can spot the last of the hummingbirds stopping by our feeders on the way south.”
He stood with his hands in his pockets as if he didn’t know what to do with them. His obvious unease was so unusual she was taken aback. “Something’s bothering you,” she said quietly.
“Not bothering me,” he said quickly. “But I do have something important I want to say to you.”
“What is it?” Her stomach quivered. She couldn’t imagine what they had to discuss at this moment.
“I want you to live here at Willowbrook...until the repairs on your house are completed. No hidden agenda, I swear. I know we don’t see eye to eye, but we need to table our disagreement in the short term while things are in chaos.”
Her stomach fell to her knees. He was entirely serious. Though it seemed he was trying to be nice, suspicion reared its ugly head. “We don’t even know each other,” she said faintly.
Drew leaned against a post of the giant rice-carved bed and gave her a crooked smile. “I’m not sure you can say that anymore. We’ve lived a lifetime in the last twenty-four hours, don’t you think? I have plenty of room, and you would have online access and fax machines to deal with your insurance claims. You wouldn’t have to worry about grocery shopping or cooking or anything else. You could concentrate on getting Green Acres back in shape.”
What he offered was infinitely tempting. Her world was in tatters. But she was a mature woman. Would taking Drew’s help be too needy?
“I’ll think about it,” she said. “Thank you for the invitation.”
“Accepting help doesn’t mean you’re weak, Beth.”
“What,