He couldn’t finish. Embarrassed, Ed ducked his head. “You just let me know. And let us all know how little Lee’s doing, hear?”
Jake nodded. Amanda was going to have to tell Jake how his neighbors and friends reacted. There were four more of them out at that ranch who had organized the transportation in for Gen and Zeke, and another half dozen had offered everything from food to horse care during the crisis. The nurses had told Amanda that the entire town of Lost Ridge had been on the phone at least once asking after Lee, and asking to pass along the word that all Jake had to do was ask. More would have been there except that the hospital was so distant.
“Clovis,” Jake said. “You might go with Ed. It’ll be time to feed the horses soon.”
Clovis jumped to attention, glad for the order. “You bet, boss. You want me to cover Target Watch with Gray boy like we’d planned today?”
Amanda’s heart froze. Her hand closed more tightly around Jake’s. But it was Jake who answered.
“Grayboy’s dead.”
Amanda heard Clovis gasp. She knew that Ed and Zeke went very still. No one knew yet. They’d brought Lee back to the ranch in the back of the truck, so the paramedics could be called. No one except Jake and Amanda knew that Grayboy’s body still lay down in that ravine where he’d broken his neck.
“Boss!” Clovis pleaded, his face screwing up in distress. “What’re you talkin’ about?”
“Lee was riding Grayboy last night,” Jake said. “They fell.”
“But it was dark!” the little man protested. “What was that girl doin’ ridin’ a valuable animal like that in the dark?”
“Clovis!” It was a roar, and it shook the room to silence. Amanda felt the shudders race through Jake. She saw the threadbare control fray even further.
“I’ll explain tomorrow,” she said, trying her best to convince the foreman to go with only the message in her eyes.
He understood. With only one more jerky nod, he resat his weather-beaten old Stetson and turned for the door. “I’ll take care of things till you get back,” was all he said in farewell.
Left behind, Amanda and Zeke watched Jake from either side. The clock ticked inexorably, and the truth remained caught between Jake and Amanda. Zeke’s jaw was working. Even so, the young man kept his silence. He stretched, got to his feet and poured another round of coffee.
The three of them spun the minute the door opened.
It was Gen. Still in her professional persona, still grim-faced. Striding across the floor instead of strolling.
“What?” Jake demanded, already on his feet.
Gen waved aside the question. “Nothing new, I’m afraid. I was just catching up. She was awfully lucky that she didn’t have a neck injury the way you guys played cowboy and dragged her back in a truck, for God’s sake.”
“Gen,” Zeke admonished.
Gen waved him off, too. “Force of habit. I’m sorry. The sum total is, a broken forearm, a dandy of a laceration on her head—by the way, Jake, I like the model that you’re sporting. We should get that treated while we’re here—”
“Drop it, Gen.”
She just nodded. “Yeah, right. Who am I to talk medicine to you? Anyway, she doesn’t have any bleeding in her head, just some swelling, which we’ll know if it’s going to get better in a few hours. As to the belly, it was definitely spleen and liver. So far, she’s a lucky little girl.”
“So far?” Jake demanded.
Gen did her best to flash him her most unconcerned smile. It didn’t quite work. “They know what the problem is. They’re still trying to fix it. They’re also giving her quite a bit of nice, new blood.”
“Which means what?”
“We wait. You read the op permit. They have a lot of stuff to do, and all of it’s tricky.”
Jake grew, if possible, more rigid, until Amanda was sure he’d just snap in two. She couldn’t believe he was still standing up. She couldn’t believe he was conscious. Even so, when Zeke shoved a cup of coffee into his hand, he could hardly raise it to his lips to drink.
“You really should get some sleep, baby,” Gen coaxed him, her eyes as eloquent as her sister’s. “You’ll scare the hell out of her if she sees you this way.”
Jake just shook his head.
“Do you want to tell us now?” Zeke asked.
