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started walking again, limping heavily. Shannon felt the pain of every step like a knife to her heart. He circled his truck, leaning on the hood for support, and finally made it to the driver’s door, where he placed his palms against the glass. He stood there for a long time, his head bowed, breathing heavily. When he lifted his head again, she saw pain written across every inch of his face.
    “I’ll get my truck,” she said, and this time he didn’t argue.

Chapter 3
    I t took Shannon approximately ten minutes to grab the little horse, walk him back to the shelter, and then return with her truck, an ice pack, a pair of shears, four ibuprofens, and a bottle of water. She told Luke to take the ibuprofens, chopped off the leg of his jeans, wrapped the ice pack around his knee, and opened her passenger door so he could get inside. A few minutes later, they were buzzing down the highway, and Luke was reminded once again of how Shannon handled every task she encountered: with the tenacity of a bulldog going after a bone.
    “So what’s with the pint-size horse with the great big teeth?” Luke asked.
    “He was abused. I’ll spare you the details. He doesn’t trust anyone now. He’s probably going to be one of our permanent residents.”
    “If he keeps on biting like that, yeah. He’s not exactly pet material.”
    “I know,” she said on a sigh. “Unfortunately, most of the animals at the shelter are a little hard to love. Except the kittens. Everybody wants kittens. Sweet, fuzzy little kittens with no issues. For better or worse, we always have enough of those to meet the demand.”
    At that moment Luke realized they’d just passed by the road leading to downtown Rainbow Valley. “You missed the turnoff.”
    “I didn’t miss it. We’re not going to Rainbow Valley.”
    “But the doctor—”
    “The doctor you need to see is in an emergency room in Austin.”
    “Austin?” Luke said incredulously. “That’s an hour away. Just take me to a doctor in Rainbow Valley.”
    “Waste of time and money. He’ll just turn around and send you to a specialist in Austin.”
    “No. It’s probably just a sprain. So driving all the way there—”
    “Sprain?” She glanced down at his knee. “Really, Luke? A sprain?”
    “I’m not going to Austin.”
    “You are if you want proper treatment.”
    “Turn this truck around, Shannon.”
    “But—”
    “Now.”
    She shot him a look of frustration, then pulled to the shoulder of the road. She shoved the gearshift into park, and the engine idled softly.
    “Okay,” she said. “What’s the deal?”
    “I’m not going to an emergency room.”
    “Look at your knee. That’s an injury that won’t wait.”
    But he knew how expensive ER visits could be. First came the bill just because he showed up and was seen by a doctor. Then came the outrageously expensive diagnostic tests. And if he had to have surgery…
    He didn’t even want to think about that.
    “You do have insurance, don’t you?” Shannon said.
    “Yeah,” he muttered. “For all the good it does me.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Insurance companies don’t like to cover bull riders. Too risky. Which means my deductible is so high it’s almost not worth paying the huge premiums.”
    “So it’s good only for catastrophic injuries?”
    “If I end up in a coma for six months or paralyzed from the neck down, I might see a few bucks. But for stuff like this, I’m pretty much on my own.”
    “So this is about the money,” Shannon said.
    Yes, damn it, it’s about the money!
    Luke hated that crawly sensation in his stomach, the one he always felt when he was at the mercy of circumstances he couldn’t control. For the past several years, it seemed as if for every step he took forward, he took one step backward. There were the ever-present injuries and the outrageous medical bills that went with them. The travel expenses that chewed up a lot of his prize money. The bad-luck draw of bulls that were either