She grabbed the matching gray sweatshirt off the bed and handed it over. “Looks like you’re ready to go. How does your shoulder feel?”
“Like a cannon ball tore through it, but I’ll live.” His left shoulder was covered with a thick white bandage, his arm in a sling. The doctor had said Cain had been lucky in a way. The path the bullet had torn had missed most of the major muscles and tendons.
“Sanchez is in the hall,” Jenny said. “Your men have been staying outside the door in shifts. They’re probably armed, even if they aren’t supposed to be.”
He nodded. “They’re good men.”
“And good friends. They were worried about you.”
Nell made a disgruntled sound in her throat. “Who’d you piss off bad enough to try killing you?” she asked.
Cain clenched his jaw. “I wish I knew.” He bent and brushed a kiss over Nell’s cheek. “You can bet I’m going to find out. In the meantime, I don’t want you to worry, I’ll be fine.” He smiled. “Why don’t we get out of this place and go home?”
“Good idea,” Nell said. “You goin’ to the ranch or back to Jerome?”
He glanced at Jenny.
“I have to get back to work,” she said. “Tomorrow night’s Halloween, one of the busiest nights of the year.” She wished she could stay with Cain at the ranch, make sure he was okay, but she was determined to make the Star a success, and she had a responsibility to the people who worked there.
Cain’s dark eyes locked with hers. “I’ll be going back to Jerome.”
A look passed between them. He was going back for her. He was worried about her. Jenny felt a pinch in her heart.
“Emma, can you give us a lift?” Cain asked.
“Of course. I’ll go get the car and pick you up out front.”
The door to the room opened, and Cain’s nurse, a short, buxom woman dressed in green scrubs, walked in, pushing a wheelchair. “Take a seat,” she said.
“It’s my shoulder, not my legs,” he grumbled. “I can walk just fine.”
“Standard procedure.” The nurse cast him a warning glance. “Get in or you don’t leave.”
Jenny bit back a smile as Cain muttered something no one could hear and settled himself in the chair. The nurse pushed him out into the hall, where he stopped to thank Sanchez, who was sitting on a bench near the door.
“I want you to know how much I appreciate the way you and the other guys looked out for me. Tell them that, and tell them I plan to find the a-hole who shot me and make him pay.”
Sanchez just nodded. “We areamígos. Friends take care of each other.”
Cain squeezed the older man’s shoulder. “Tell the boys to be careful out there. This bastard is dangerous, and we don’t have a clue who he is.”
They left the hospital and headed through town, back up the curvy road to Jerome. Jenny got out of the car at the Copper Star.
“I’ll be right back,” Cain told Emma as he followed Jenny out of the vehicle.
Jenny stopped and turned. “You need to relax, let yourself heal,” she reminded him.
Cain ignored her. “I’m putting someone on you until this is over.”
“What? A bodyguard? I don’t need a bodyguard. They’re after you, not me.”
“And a good way to get to me is through you.”
“I don’t need—”
He leaned down and kissed her, lingered, went a little deeper. “I’m overruling you on this. I need to make some calls, then I’ll be back. I’ll stay with you until he gets here.”
She could still feel his mouth on hers, the possessive way he’d kissed her. Jenny just nodded. “Okay . . . if you think it’s necessary.”
