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feared the boy might have taken
a turn for the worse.
    “Yes, they say they can move
him to a regular room tomorrow if he stays stable.”
    Baylor let out a deep breath
she didn’t realize she was holding until she made the loud sound through the
receiver.
    “Thank goodness.”
    “No, thank you.” Wyatt’s voice
sounded a little different now and it gave her chill bumps.
    “Do you want me to stop by the
hospital?”
    “No, I’m heading back to the
ranch. I need to take a shower and get cleaned up. Could you meet me at my bunk
house?”
    “On my way.” She snapped the phone shut and steered her
car through the small town toward the Double R ranch.
    She was suddenly very excited
about the prospect of seeing Wyatt again. Holding him. Touching him. Knowing he was okay, and that everything
would be okay.
    Well, as soon as they caught a
thief, a murderer, and an arsonist.
     
    ****
     
    The rain had come with no
warning. Wyatt sat on the porch swing in a fresh pair of jeans and towel dried
his hair. He’d just finished a nice hot shower after pulling an all-nighter by
his son’s bed.
    The strain of the situation
gathered in his back. He needed to get this matter resolved, regain his focus
on his goals. The petty theft at the Double R had somehow spun out of control
and all of it had happened on his watch.
    He’d suspected Leon Rinks of
taking the missing items. He had planned to confront him and arrest him as soon
as the man took the bait. But then Leon had shown up mysteriously dead,
possibly murdered, and that spoke of something much bigger going on behind the
scenes.
    Who would want Leon dead, or
was he even the intended target?
    The thought of his son lying in
the hospital bed, hooked up to machines, tubes, and looking as if he were ready
to knock on death’s door made his chest ache. He had never been able to be the
father he should have been to the boy, and coming to Kentucky in search of him
had been the one thing he’d done right in all these years.
    He wasn’t about to let his son
die at the hands of some lunatic, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be run
off the property of his dreams.
    Before he could work himself
into more of an angry lather at the thought of what he would do to the person
responsible for that fire, he saw Baylor’s small car swing around the corner
and down the path to his bungalow.
    He’d taken the Markums ’ generous offer to rent a bungalow on their
property for him and Walker. It provided a nice home for the boy and they’d
both been doing well, with Walker making good grades in school and only bucking
Wyatt’s authority here and there.
    The boy was just like him. He
had the same wild and stubborn hardheadedness that would make a wonderful bull
rider. The boy had asked, but Wyatt had adamantly refused. He couldn’t bear the
thought of his son getting hurt. Even though, having him follow in his boot
steps might have gone some way toward healing Wyatt. Yet he simply couldn’t
allow it.
    But now the boy was hurt
despite Wyatt’s watchful eye. The doctors said he was out of the woods, but
Wyatt wanted to get back to him as soon as he could.
    As soon as he sought some
comfort in her.
     
    ****
     
    They sat in silence on the
porch swing, watching the rain fall. He could smell the scent of her shampoo in
her rain-dampened hair. A mere whiff of it made him hungry—vanilla and brown
sugar.
    He reached over and slid his
hand beneath her hair at the base of her neck, caressing the soft curve at the
back of her head. She shivered slightly at the touch.
    He leaned in and pressed his
lips to the tender skin and flicked just the tip of his tongue against the warm
spot. She tasted sweet and he wanted more.
    He began to suck at her neck as
he nuzzled closer. She emitted a small squeak of tickled pleasure at the
contact. He’d found one of her sweet spots. He planned to find all of them
within the next hour.
    He reached up and touched her
chin with two fingers, turning her to face him.