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damage, someone must have hit it with their car and kept on going.”
    He shook his head. “That certainly wasn’t a very nice thing to do.”
    “No, it wasn’t. That mailbox had fond memories for me since my dad built it for my mom. I remember the day he did it. I was eleven at the time. They had visited some friends in Denver and had seen one and Dad knew how much she liked it and decided to build her one himself.”
    Luke reached out and cupped her cheek. He could hear the sadness in her voice. “I’m sorry about that, Mac.”
    He could tell from her expression that his touch surprised her. Without being obvious about it, she eased her face away from his hand and plastered a smile on her face. “No big deal.”
    He knew that it
had
been a big deal, although she was pretending otherwise, and it bothered him. “Before I leave I’ll make it my business to replace it,” he said.
    “You don’t have to do that. It’s not your fault that someone was thoughtless and reckless.”
    “Doesn’t matter. Besides, I’m pretty good when it comes to bricks and mortar. Whenever I came home and they were shorthanded, Blade and Slade were notorious for putting me to work at one of their construction sites.” He then stood and wished he hadn’t. A sharp pain shot up his leg and he gritted his teeth to keep from cursing.
    “When was the last time you took your pain pills, Luke?”
    The sharpness in her voice was as deep as the pain he’d just felt in his leg. He glanced over at her. “Not sure.”
    “Not sure?”
    From the look on her face evidently that hadn’t been a good answer. “Before I left the hospital,” he decided to come clean and say.
    Her eyes narrowed. “The doctor told you to take a couple more of them when you got here.”
    “Yeah, but I’ve been busy.”
    “Only because you were too stubborn to accept my help,” she said, moving toward the bed to turn the covers back. “All men are bullheaded to a certain degree but cowboys are the worst.”
    He felt the need to lean against the bedpost again. “Why cowboys?”
    “I don’t know. You tell me since you’re one of them.”
    Yes, he was one of them and proud of it. He got distracted for a moment when she leaned over and fluffed the pillow, presenting him with her profile, which looked as good as the rest of her. “You don’t have to do that.”
    “Too late. I just did,” she said, before walking away from the bed and back to him. “Now I need you to sit back down so I can help you.”
    He lifted a brow. “Help me to do what?”
    “Take off your clothes.”
    I don’t think so
. He had never liked having a woman undress him, refusing to give a female even that much control. On the other hand, he’d never had a problem undressing a woman and hadn’t yet met a woman who’d complained about him doing so. “I can undress myself, Mac.”
    “I don’t doubt that, but the quicker it’s done the sooner you can get some rest.”
    Getting rest sounded good, he thought.
    “And once you take a couple of pain pills you won’t hurt for a while,” she added.
    And as far as he was concerned that sounded even better. But still. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” he asked.
    She blew out a frustrated breath as she looked up at him. “Yes, several things, but I won’t be able to concentrate on them until I know you’re okay.”
    Luke pressed his lips into a tight line and said, “I didn’t mean to come here and cause you trouble.”
    “You’re not. But I have to admit that I wish you had dropped the stubbornness at the door before you entered.”
    He frowned. “I’m not stubborn,” he said defensively.
    “Yes you are. You keep it up and I’m going to nickname you ‘mule.’ ”
    He lowered himself on the edge of the bed, amused by her words. “I’m not that bad.”
    “So you say.”
    When she reached for the front of his shirt he automatically grabbed her hand. “What do you think you’re doing?”
    She rolled her eyes.