She pulled her arms from his grasp and walked away, leaving him staring at her back.
Cole bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.Why did he have to say that shit to her?He’d never treated a woman the way he was treating her.Fuck, if his mother ever found out, she’d skin him alive.Was it all jealousy?Yeah, it was, but it was unlike anything he’d felt before.The possessive need he felt for her was scaring him a little, and nothing in his life had ever really frightened him like this before.
Cole berated himself as he got into his truck and drove home.Things between them had to change.He didn’t know how.
Chapter Four
“Mr.Conley, this isTomas.You know, from the Robertson Ranch.”
Cole smiled.He’d known this man the better part of his life.“I know who you are.What’s up?”
Tomas paused quietly for a moment.“I don’t know what to do.Miss Robertson is going to kill herself.I’ve seen you here a few times and thought you might be able to talk sense into her.She won’t listen to me.”
Cole felt his heart seize at the thought of something tragic happening to her.Since he’d seen her a few days before, he’d had to pull himself back from going to her and taking what his body craved with a vengeance.Knowing she felt the same attraction made it even harder.
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s got to be in the mid-eighties, and that young woman is outside doing chores in long sleeves and jeans.I tell her to go inside, it’s too hot, and she says, ‘If the ranch hands are out in this heat, I can be too.’”
Cole pinched the bridge of his nose.He’d done that.This was his fault.“I’ll be right over...”
“There’s more, sir.Several times over the last few weeks, she’s gone into the big house looking ready to keel over.A few hours later, she comes out looking like she’s been sick for a week, pale and clearly in pain.I can tell something is wrong with her by the way she moves.I suspect she’s losing a few pounds a week, too.I’ve asked several times if I can help, but she always says no.”
Real fear raced through him.It sounded like she was slowly killing herself, and for what?“I’m headed over now.Thanks, Tomas.”
Cole drove like a maniac, trying to get to her as soon as he could.Tomas had pointed toward the house when he parked.
Cole waved and headed that way.He lifted his hand and knocked on the front door.A moment later, he pounded a little harder and waited.After a minute, he let himself in and tried to calm down before he tore through the house and scared the shit out of her again.He knew he wouldn’t be able to calm down until he saw her.He rushed through the main floor and then took the steps two at a time to the second story when he couldn’t find her on the first level.
He opened Lester’s bedroom, thinking she’d want the master bedroom, the only bedroom in the house that had a bathroom attached.It looked like it hadn’t been touched since Lester passed away.The bed was made, but the comforter was rumpled as someone had slept on the top.There was even a dirty shirt on the chair, and Lester’s toothbrush and shaving kit on the counter.He suspected that since the rest of the house was spotless, she was leaving this for her own peace of mind.
He walked across the hallway and opened the door.Her bedroom was very dark.She’d hung thick blankets on the windows to block out all the light, but the light from the hallway helped him find her.She was curled up tight in the middle of her queen-size bed.
She looked so damn tiny right then.More so than usual.The constriction in his chest tightened even more since Tomas called him and threatened to take his ability to breathe.
Cole sat down beside her and let his eyes roam over her.Besides being pale and thin, she looked okay.But she wasn’t.Something was going on with her health, and he had a strong feeling he wasn’t going to like her explanation.
