A Conard County Homecoming by Rachel Lee

Author:Rachel Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Ashley battled irritation as she entered her house and began to strip for a shower. What the heck had she done? She’d brought him home when he zoned out. Was that a crime?

Standing under the hot shower spray, washing her hair, she decided that she might be overreacting. The guy had evidently had an episode. He didn’t seem to have any idea of why, and he’d been surprised to find himself back at home. That must be hell to deal with. Plus, he probably hadn’t come back entirely from wherever he’d gone. So, yes, he’d been short, had wanted to get away from everyone. For all she knew he was both worried and exhausted. He might have been battling demons while he went away. Bad memories. They would hardly put him in a good mood.

By the time she’d finished blow-drying her hair enough that she wouldn’t freeze by the time she got to the hospital, she was feeling a whole lot more charitable toward Zane. He couldn’t help it. She knew that. What did she expect? That he’d come back from a bad episode and be all cheerful and sunny?

Of course not.

She pulled on a warm blue jogging suit and her other pair of running shoes, grabbed her wallet so she’d have money to ferry coffee and food to Trace if he needed it, then bundled up and headed for the hospital.

A glance at Zane’s place showed that lights were on, so he wasn’t sitting in the dark. That much was good, she supposed.

But what an odd day. First the visit to Cadell’s ranch, where Zane had seemed to unwind and make a connection with Mikey. Then the utterly unexpected invitation to join him for lunch at Maude’s, followed by asking her to walk with him.

Maybe he’d overloaded. He probably wasn’t used to that much company anymore. It was as if he’d been reaching out for the first time in what must have been a very long time for him, given what he had told her, and then something had snapped inside him, isolating him once more.

She guessed she could understand that. She could certainly forgive it. Whether she’d expose herself to more of it remained to be seen. Attractive as he was, he might be more of a complication than she was truly willing to deal with.

At the hospital she went to the maternity waiting room and found Connie there with Trace Archer, Julie’s husband. A tall, lean man, he couldn’t be a stranger to tough times. As she understood it, he’d been shot in his right hand and to this day suffered an awful lot of pain from it. Julie had once confided his only relief from it would be amputation. So far he hadn’t wanted to use that escape hatch.

She gave Trace a quick hug. “So where are we?”

“Likely going to be an all-nighter,” Connie answered. “Marisa wanted to come, but Jonni’s down with some kind of stomach bug and while she could have left him with Ryker, she didn’t think the bug would be welcome here.

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