“I am glad that you managed to get away from him. He sounds like the worst kind of controlling abuser. You didn’t deserve any of that,” he said kindly, and offered her a reassuring smile that made River want to leap across the room and into his arms. Which she absolutely wasnotgoing to do. Men? Nothing but trouble.
“Thanks. I just don’t know what I am going to do now. I feel like I’m running away from my problems and not dealing with them. But I also feel like I can’t go back to my old life.”
“You don’t need to worry about that right now,” Daniel said. “You’ve only just arrived in town, you need to take a breath and relax. Find some peace, and what you want for yourself. The future will get here soon enough, don’t waste the time you have right now by worrying about it.”
River cocked her head in his direction, mulling over the words.
“That’s probably the most sensible thing anyone has said to me in over a year,” River said and then burst into laughter. Daniel frowned. Great. He probably thought she’d lost it.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I must seem hysterical to you, and honestly I do feel a little bit hysterical, but it’s just because of how ridiculous this all is. I mean, I lost everything and had to leave everything I had ever known behind, and the majority of my belongings, and here I am, sitting in the living room of a perfect stranger, who is so disarmingly handsome that I havecompletely unburdened my soul to him after a single sip of mulled wine that I’m notactuallyconvinced has any alcohol in it.”
“Disarmingly handsome?” Daniel grinned at her.
“You know what you look like,” River replied, trying to dismiss her comment, with color rising in her cheeks.
“I see, well then I won’t tell you that you are stunningly beautiful,” Daniel shrugged playfully. River glowed at the compliment and was once again lost for words. She opened her mouth to say something, but the doctor’s phone rang and whatever she was going to say was lost between chirps and vibrations.Thankfully.
“Hello?” Daniel said as he answered the phone, and then his forehead creased in a frown. “I see. I’ll be right out.”
“Emergency?” River asked.
“Yes, out on one of the farmers. I have to drive out there now. Sorry to do this, but if you come back later, we can sort out that script for you. I shouldn’t be back any later than four.”
“Okay, I will. Thanks for the drink, and for listening,” River said as she took her mug into the kitchen, rinsed it and put it on the side. She felt a small amount of disappointment at having to leave so suddenly, but already the thought of coming back to see him later was sending a wash of warmth through her. Andthat, she told herself sternly, can stop right now.
Chapter Four
Daniel
Daniel showed River to the door and sighed at his own bad luck.
I told you, you should have just claimed her, his cougar griped.
That is not how it works,Daniel reminded the animal.We can’t just…force her to be with us. She might be our fated mate, but that doesn’t mean she can’t choose to reject us. I’m not about to blow it because you’re impatient.
And what if she doesn’t want to wait?his animal argued.
Daniel ignored it, and the unease feeling in the pit of his stomach, busying himself finding his medical bag, his car keys, and coat before he set off for the Jones’ dairy farm on the other side of Grant’s Christmas Tree farm. It was about a twenty-minute drive, and it gave him plenty of time to think about River.
There was no question in his mind that he would do everything he possibly could to convince River to stay in town. He had already started to think of a few ways in which he might persuade her to stay, but the longer he thought about it, the more each of his plans seemed to be completely terrible. What if it backfired? She might laugh in his face, maybe even leave because he had tried to pressure her into staying. She’d looked so scared, so vulnerable, as she’d opened up to him about her ex—an ex who Daniel very much wanted to pay a visit to and teach a lesson in manners right now—and the last thing she needed was to feel pressured. He had to go slowly with her. But not slowly enough that she decided to move on before he could sayanything.
By the time he arrived at the dairy farm, he had talked himself into and out of asking River to stay with him half a dozen times. But the moment he opened the car door, he heard screams of pain and knew he had to focus.
There’s a lot of blood,his cougar growled.
Yes, I smell it,Daniel replied tensely.We might already be too late.
No, not yet. We have some time, but we must hurry,the cougar said firmly, and Daniel set off at a run.
He sprinted in the direction the screams and the metallic scent of blood were coming from, and turned a corner to see Duncan Jones lying on the ground with a chunk of metal sticking out of his leg.
His mother was beside herself with tears and his father was trying to move her away from the area.
“It’s okay, Mary. I’ll take care of him,” Daniel assured her with his best bedside manner, and Barry, her husband, finally managed to steer her away from the bloody scene and into the house where he could calm her down.
“How bad is it?” Duncan asked as he teetered on the brink of consciousness.
“Pretty bad,” Daniel said—there was no point in lying. “How did it happen?”
