“Well, fuck me,” Buster whistled. “That just plain hurts that you didn’t think to give them to your friend.”
“There is no way in hell those women would settle for you after a stud like me.”
That was followed by several imaginative curses from Buster and hoots of laughter from Jake.
“Can’t get more serious than that,” Jake said when he stopped laughing. “I know how important those books were to you, Gelderman.”
“She got hold of Zach finally. He’s coming home as soon as he can arrange leave,” Jake said.
“She’d be happy about that,” Ethan said, remembering Annabelle’s concerns about her other brother not knowing what was happening with Cooper.
They talked a while longer, then Ethan went out and got himself pizza and beer, because the thought was now firmly lodged in his head and nothing else would do. He then canceled any further charters. After a shower, he called Annabelle, but she didn’t pick up, which seriously pissed him off, so much so that he didn’t leave a message.
Falling into bed, he set his alarm. He’d rise early and head to Howling, and then she’d acknowledge him, even if he had to camp in her damned living room until she did.
Ethan had known he loved her, but even if he hadn’t worked that out yet, then the pain in his chest that had started as soon as he flew away from her confirmed it. She was inside him now, in his heart and his head, and he knew there was no way of dislodging her. He just had to make her feel the same way.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Annabelle had been tired before, but this bone-deep weariness was something else entirely.
“Annabelle!”
She looked at the doorway the voice had come through. Cooper had lain in that bed constantly for four days with her at his side, and she was beginning to hate that room, and if she was honest, dislike her brother, which she knew wasn’t fair. He was suffering, as she had known he would be, but he was making her life hell because of it, which again she had known he would.
“Just a minute, Cooper. I need to get the wash off the line,” she said, walking out the back door. The breeze was cold and the feel of approaching winter didn’t lighten her spirits as it once would have. She might moan and bitch with the rest of Howling’s residents about the frozen roads and the snow that would dump in huge amounts on their doorsteps, but the reality was that she loved seeing the white-topped mountains and frozen waters. This was their time. Not many visitors drove here over the steep, slippery roads, so Howling was a quiet, sleepy little town during the cold months of winter, just the way she liked it.
This year she wasn’t sure she’d have the energy to cope with it; shoveling snow and frozen pipes just seemed way too hard to deal with at the moment. Her normal energy seemed to have deserted her, and right at this moment, she wasn’t entirely sure it would ever come back.
She’d taken two weeks off work because that was all she could manage, and even that was stretching her budget tighter, but her brother needed her, and for longer than ten days. By then she hoped at least to have him stable, plus she hoped Zach would be home to help out.
She began to take down the clothes and drop them in the basket, enjoying the chore because it took her out of the house for a few minutes. What kind of sister wanted to get away from a brother who was suffering? She was a bad person for even having the thoughts she did, the ones that had her giving Cooper a piece of her mind. She had tried more than once to get him out of bed, tried to get him to go for a short walk, anything to move him from the bed, but he just glared at her and hissed something foul, and she’d had to walk away or slap the look from his face. She knew time was what was needed, but patience and Annabelle had never been buddies.
And then there was Ethan. He’d called her every day since he’d gone and she was so loaded with guilt over what he’d had to do for her, and the new feelings of love she felt for him, that she couldn’t talk to him like she’d used to. Her feelings had magnified since he’d gone, and now they were so big inside her she didn’t think she’d ever be able to look him in the eye again.
The magnitude of what he’d done for her and Cooper was overwhelming, and he’d done it with no fuss.Here’s $175,000 for your brother’s debts, Annabelle. No biggie, we’ll just call it a gift.Grabbing hold of the line with both hands, she hung her head between them as the weight of standing suddenly seemed too great. She had to find a way to repay him, but she had no idea how.
“Want me to hang you up?”
As if she’d conjured him up, Ethan now stood behind her somewhere, his deep, smooth Texan drawl making her want to melt into a puddle on the ground.
“Hey.” Turning, she made herself smile and stay where she was when all she could think of was running to him and launching herself into his arms—which was crazy, considering she’d just told herself how she was too embarrassed to face him. He stood leaning on the post, blue eyes searching hers, dressed in worn jeans and a sweater. His hair was windblown and on his feet he wore the requisite cowboy boots, which just added to the sexy look.
God, she was in trouble.
Her heart was thumping, her knees felt weak, and tiredness was making everything worse. When she ran a hand through her hair it got caught in several knots on the way. She must look a mess, hair everywhere, no makeup, old clothes, and there he was looking sexy as hell.
“Hey, yourself.” He pushed off the pole and walked towards her and for the life of her she couldn’t move her feet; they seemed to have rooted themselves to the ground. She battled not to lower her eyes and hoped he didn’t see the desperate need inside them.
“You doing okay, honey?”
“Peachy,” she managed to rasp out.
He kept walking until his body touched hers, and then he cupped her cheeks and lifted her face so he could run his eyes over it. Annabelle felt the pad of his thumb brush one cheek and closed her eyes as she battled the urge to cry. She wasn’t a crier by nature, but the fatigue and emotion were making her weak.
“You getting enough sleep, Smith?”
“Sure.” One word, and it was husky and tight with tears.
