"Come down," he called. "We need yourhelp."
What was goingon?
Adrenaline pumping, she grabbed Julianne's sweaty hand. "Come on," she toldBrady.
He grunted, looked like he wanted to refuse, but followed them down the bleachers. Their shoes clanged against the metal, rattling her. Dan met them at the bottom step, another good-looking cowboy behindhim.
Dan was out ofbreath.
"Did you tear your stitches?" she blurted. She shouldn't have. HIPAA protected what he'd revealed in her office, but seeing so many kids and adults doing dangerous stunts in the arena had her on edge. And she'd seen himjump.
And her mouth just ran away withher.
"What?No."
The man behind him scowled. "Whatstitches?"
Dan ignored him, his focus on Megan. "My boss's wife just collapsed. She's pregnant. Can you come helpher?"
Megan felt herself slip into physician mode. "Where?" Then, "I need mybag."
"I can get it for you." Dan almost looked surprised at his own offer. Was that a blush rising in his face? The arena lights and the shadows where they stood beside the bleachers made it hard to tell. She wished she had time to try and make sense of hisreaction.
"Want to come with me? Show me your... car?" He addressed Brady, stumbling over the words a bit, as if he'd been going to saymomagain but thought better ofit.
The cowboy behind him muttered something under his breath. Dan must've heard it. His jaw went rigid, but he didn't say anythingelse.
"Sure. Okay." She dug in her hip pocket for the keys. "Remember where we parked?" she askedBrady.
He gave her a look only a pre-teen boy could pull off. "Duh."
She kept Julianne's hand. Couldn't help looking over her shoulder as she followed the unnamed cowboy toward a two-story ranch house set away from all the rodeocommotion.
Dan and Brady disappeared into the parking area. The man's shoulders were set andtense.
"I'm Nate. I run the Triple H," the cowboy barked, drawing her attention back. "You the new doc intown?"
"Megan Fuller." She was huffing as she tried to keep up with his long strides, Julianne practically running beside her. "This is my niece Julianne. And my nephew Bradywent—"
"With Dan," Nate said flatly. "You wanna tell me about these stitches hehas?"
"I can't," she said. "Patient privacy laws. I shouldn't have even mentioned... what Imentioned."
He nodded, the set of his facehard.
And then they reached the yard. The two-story house rose out of the shadows above them. It was lovely, an older-style farmhouse with the kind of wrap-around porch that invited you to sit and stay a while. Lights blazed from all the first-floorwindows.
"C'mon in.” The cowboy strode up the steps and across the porch. He pushed open the door. “It’s me with thedoc.”
Megan tried to shake off her awareness of the tension that had flowed between the two cowboys. Even though curiosity stabbed her like an out-of-control scalpel. She didn’t have time for curiosity. She had a patientinside.
