His Hired Bride

HOYT got right in at the doctor’s, since they’d arrived just before Doc Harris finished with his last patient of the day. Eadie was surprised when Hoyt asked if she was going in with him. He’d said he wanted her to go in to help him keep the doctor’s instructions straight, but Eadie was suspicious of that. She went along though, torn between the pleasure of being needed and the feeling that Hoyt was somehow toying with her. He seemed as hale and hearty as usual, so the fact that he wanted her to go in with him was odd.

No sense trying to figure this out, though. Eadie sat down on a chair out of the way and tried not to be conspicuous while the nurse took his vitals, noted them on his chart, then went out. Whatever reason Hoyt wanted her in here, it was sure to seem strange to the doctor.

And maybe suspect. After all, Hoyt was a known ladies’ man who’d had a parade of women through his life. Eadie was his lackluster, part-time secretary who not only worked three afternoons a week for him, but had now trailed into a doctor’s private examination room with him. Eadie felt no small embarrassment over how that might look to the doctor. Would he think she was imposing on Hoyt to get his attention? Eadie suddenly decided she was willing to risk Hoyt’s ire by leaving him alone in here.

And of course, the doctor came in just as she stood to go to the door and slip out. He eyed her like some unusual phenomenon.

“Well, hello to you, too, Eadie,” Doc Harris said as he peered at her over his half-glasses, his kind eyes lively with curiosity. “Is there some interesting development between you two?”

Eadie’s face went red-hot. “H-Hoyt…just wanted me to—to come in and get your instructions straight, but I don’t need to do that until you finish with him.”

The doctor looked at Hoyt. “Do you want her in or out while I have a look?”

“In.”

The terse little word was nothing less than an order, and the doctor grinned.

“She stays then. Let’s get that shirt off and see what we’ve got.” He spared a moment to send Eadie a glance. “Might as well have a seat, Eadie. Right over there’s fine.”

Eadie felt another tide of fierce heat wash into her face and hesitantly went back to the chair to sit down, but kept her gaze fixed on the floor as Hoyt took off his shirt. Doc Harris adjusted the table to an incline so Hoyt could sit back. She could tell the doctor was carefully pulling away the gauze patch. And then she heard it hit the nearby tray as he discarded it.

“Ah well, it’s just a nick,” the doctor scoffed. “I thought we had something serious here. Eadie could have fed you an aspirin and sewed you up in a flash. Or called the vet.”

Eadie’s gaze flew to the doctor’s grinning face, then realized he was making light of Hoyt’s injury as a tease. After all, the gash was almost four inches long, and it was oozing again. Eadie realized then that this was a typical joke between macho males. Doc Harris would have made the same remark if Hoyt had come in with his leg half cut off. And she could tell by Hoyt’s rugged profile that he was grinning almost proudly. Men!

The doctor went briskly out, leaving the door open. Eadie took a steadying breath, tried to stay where she was and not stare at Hoyt’s bare chest. Doc Harris came back fairly soon and his nurse trailed in after him with a stainless-steel tray that she exchanged for the one with the discarded bandage.

Doc dismissed his nurse, wishing her good-night, then took care of everything himself. All the while, the two men talked cattle and markets as if they were doing no more than chatting over coffee. Eadie was relieved that they both seemed to have forgotten she was in the room, but she was aggravated to be present for this.

What a ninny she’d been to allow Hoyt to put her in this position, and yet she couldn’t entirely blame him for that because a large part of her couldn’t help giving in to him. He’d truly wanted her in here, whatever his reason, and she couldn’t help thinking again about that time years ago when he’d come to her rescue.

The two situations weren’t even remotely alike, except that what he’d done for her in her time of trouble and need had automatically guaranteed that she’d never refuse to come to his aid during his time of trouble or need. She’d just never considered that his trouble or his time of need would be so relatively minor. She hoped they’d all be this minor.

In truth, being in here with Hoyt gave Eadie a strong taste of what it might be like to be entitled to be with him in things as small as going to the doctor. If she were a wife instead of an employee, she’d get to share a multitude of things like this, along with happier things.

And that was just more proof of the shameful fact that she was pathetic enough about Hoyt to grab for every crumb that fell to her, however much her pride squirmed and screamed at the indignity. On the other hand, depending on how things worked out with her little ranch in the next few months, her pride might have at least some hope of relief if she decided to sell out and move to Coulter City. She’d be doing that sooner rather than later if some unforeseen financial crisis popped up.

It took a moment for her to realize the doctor was waving his hand to get her attention.

“I thought you were supposed to listen to my instructions?”

Eadie cringed a little. “Sorry. I was thinking about something else. When was his last tetanus shot?”

The doctor’s smile widened. “Good question.” Then he winked at Hoyt. “Is she always that good at keeping track of you?”

“I’m just a weekly paycheck to her, Doc,” Hoyt complained, though his dark eyes glittered with amusement.

“I’ll look up the date, but I’ll call in a ’script to the pharmacy for an antibiotic and a painkiller.” He looked back over at Eadie. “He’ll need to take the antibiotic till it’s all gone, of course. Make sure he takes it with food. No booze with the painkiller. No driving. And keep him off machinery and horses while he takes that one. Stitches out in seven days.”

The doctor peeled off his latex gloves and discarded them, then washed his hands. He went out as Hoyt gingerly rose to a full sitting position. Eadie got up and retrieved his shirt to hand it to him.

“Help me with this, would you?” he said, and Eadie sorted out the sleeves and helped him put on his shirt, careful to accommodate him to keep his movements from pulling on the flesh around the stitches.

But, oh, the foolish and dismally unforgettable pleasure of helping Hoyt with a task as casually intimate as putting on his shirt! His hard body was so wholly masculine that her insides quivered like jelly. The fact that she couldn’t avoid having the backs of her fingers brush against his hot skin here and there was another pleasure/torment.

Hoyt at least buttoned his own shirt, but didn’t tuck it back in. “Do you mind running me to the pharmacy to pick up the medicine or do you have to get home?”

“We’ve got time for that,” she said as she belatedly forced herself to step back, feeling a little chastened for her earlier declaration that she had dishes and chores to do. She did have to do those things, but there was still plenty of time to keep to schedule, thanks to the doctor’s quick work.

He came back in then with a syringe and a small vial. “Eadie was right on the money about the tetanus shot. It’ll probably ache worse than the scratch on your side.” Now the doctor gave Eadie a sparkling glance over the top of his half-glasses. “You might want to step out for this one, since it’ll go in his hip.”

Eadie nodded, only too glad to comply. That would have been even more over the top and unnecessary than being present for all the rest. She took refuge in the waiting room until Hoyt came out. They walked to the pickup but there was no discernible sign of weakness in Hoyt at all. When they got to the pharmacy he went in by himself while she waited. It wasn’t long before he’d come back out with a small white bag and they were on their way back to Donovan Ranch.

“My thanks for your help, Eadie,” Hoyt said, and his mood seemed mellow and almost pleasant. She hadn’t seen him like this in weeks, and got the idea that coming with him to Coulter City might have helped do that.

It was a dangerous notion though, and close to lethal to think that she could have a mellowing effect on Hoyt. Yes, her calmness usually did have a strong effect on him, but he’d been particularly difficult lately, and she’d seemed to have lost the knack. When he’d come to the house this afternoon, he’d been even more impossibly cross and difficult than usual. Remembering that made her realize his good mood now might be solely because his bad mood had simply burned itself out.

They’d just got to the Donovan Ranch driveway and turned onto it when Hoyt broke the pleasant silence.

“Miss Ed’s probably gonna go home at her usual time tonight. Is there a chance you could come back after chores to set me up for the night?”

Shocked, Eadie glanced over to see the dead seriousness about him. And there was just the faintest impression that he was cradling his side but trying not to be obvious about it, as if, despite the truck’s cushy suspension, the light vibration from the graveled driveway made him uncomfortable but he was too macho to let on.

Eadie glanced back at the road ahead and gently slowed the big truck in hope of minimizing his discomfort. Now that it had been a while since he’d got the injury, it was probably making itself sharply felt. The local anesthetic had surely worn off, and his side had suffered not only the injury, but the trauma of being stitched.

Yes, he probably was genuinely hurting now. Eadie glanced at Hoyt a second time to see him silently watching her, his dark eyes unreadable as he waited for her to reply.

Her soft, “Of course I can,” made him give a grim nod so she faced forward again. There’d been no sign of teasing in his gaze this time, no hint that he was putting on.

Of course I can she’d said. Eadie suddenly knew then that she’d always do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted her to. Heaven help her, she’d probably be saying yes to Hoyt Donovan or Of course I can for the rest of her days.

She was like an old-time cowboy who swore allegiance to the brand he rode for, and lived it out come hell or high water until the day he died and was planted under the sod in the ranch cemetery. The dreary knowledge dragged her spirits low.

Before Eadie headed back to Donovan Ranch, she had a quick bite to eat, took a shower and washed her hair. She applied a bit of makeup before she dried her hair and put on a good pair of jeans and a yellow cotton shirt. Eadie would never wear either the yellow shirt or her single pair of designer jeans to work outside, and both were a nice change from what she wore every day of the week except Sunday and special occasions.

It wasn’t a big change from her regular jeans and work shirts, which she also wore to do paperwork at Hoyt’s, but it was something. And she’d gotten her shower out of the way because she wanted to be ready for bed when she got home. The only thing left to do was wash her face and go right to sleep. Morning came early at 4:00 a.m., and tomorrow would be a long day.

Tonight would be something out of the ordinary for a workday night, and Eadie felt too foolishly excited about going over to help Hoyt to be sensible about this. Though she was a hopeless case where he was concerned, she would at least be dressed a little nicer tonight and feel good about the way she looked while she was being an idiot.

Eadie knew she didn’t look bad. She was plain, but not unattractively so. Her blue eyes were standouts because of her light tan and her dark, shoulder-length hair. She had even features and a nice smile. In truth, she’d always been happy about the way she’d looked.

Until she’d fallen for Hoyt. Knowing about his taste for beauties had caused her to compare herself with some of the most spectacular women in Texas, so of course she’d come off looking as plain as an unpainted fence to herself as well as to Hoyt.

She hoped she at least had a nicer personality than some of Hoyt’s women. He’d always seemed to like her well enough. But then, he also liked his housekeeper, Miss Ed, so his liking wasn’t proof of anything in particular. Miss Ed was no beauty herself, but Hoyt hadn’t hired her to hang around his house looking beautiful.

Though the very sour Miss Ed was a good woman, she had anything but a Miss Vivacious-Never-Met-A-Stranger personality. Hoyt had hired her because she took care of his house the way he liked and she was a peerless cook, so she got along with him fine.

Eadie got along with him fine, too, despite his prickly moods. He seemed to enjoy talking to her, venting his complaints, getting her opinion, and he appreciated the way she handled the things he’d hired her to do for him. Beauty and sparkling wit were irrelevant, though Hoyt sometimes seemed at least charmed by her.