Leyton sat down next to Travis.
“Bad up top?” Travis asked, probably wondering why Leyton didn’t try to carry him up to the next two levels.
“Nah. I just think I’ll sit this one out. Help is coming. Let someone else do their job for a change.” Leyton had lost too much blood. He needed a doctor to take care of him this time, well, and hauling a six-foot man up ladders wasn’t the same as carrying a backpack. Besides, with the injury to the back of his head, his whole skull felt like a jackhammer was rat-a-tat-tatting on the back of it.
“You okay, Leyton?”
Travis must have realized Leyton would have still made the effort to carry him up the ladder unless he just couldn’t. Despite the way his head and shoulder were paining him, he was thinking over the situation here, wondering why they hadn’t smelled Butch down here. And then he thought about the photo. He’d been down here. He had to have worn hunter’s spray. Maybe afraid that now that a cougar was after him, he could follow his scent and track him down faster.
“Yeah, I’m okay. After we take down this bastard, or, maybe I should say, after we recuperate from this, then take down the bastard, want to work for me in my new field office?” Leyton asked.
Travis smiled and leaned his head against the rock wall. “Same pay?”
“I’ll have to ask the boss.”
“You’ll be the boss.”
“Only of the field office and I’ll be out working just like anyone working for me. I might have a little higher pay to put up with dealing with the undercover agents under me.”
“And the boss will still be the boss?”
“Yeah, but you won’t have to deal with him, just me.”
Travis closed his eyes. “After we recuperate and take down the bad guy.”
“Yeah, it’s a deal.”
* * *
Dan and a crew of men were checking over the rocks blocking the mine, figuring as long as no one was in there, it was a good deal. But when he smelled the recent scents of several men, one being Leyton, the man who had taken Kate hostage no matter what she said had really happened, he wondered what the hell the guy was really up to. He didn’t recognize the scents of the other men.
Stryker was fuming. “He’s been here, caused a mine explosion, and who knows what else.”
“Several men have been here,” Chase warned. “Not just him.”
Dan’s phone rang and he saw it was Kate’s after-hours emergency service. “Yeah, Becky?”
“Oh, Sheriff, that Leyton guy? He’s Leyton Hill. He didn’t say he wasn’t related to Stryker, but he said he and another man are injured in the mine.”
Dan looked at the blockage again.
“He’s an undercover agent with the Cougar Special Forces Division, CSFD …and he’s setting up a field office in Yuma Town.”
“Like hell he is.”
“He’s been shot and I told Dr. Parker. She’s already on her way.”
“Hell.”
“And the other man’s got a simple fracture—his leg.”
“What the hell were they doing in there?”
“I don’t know. He just said that he had two medical emergencies and he wanted to talk to Dr. Parker. But she told me to give him her number so I did. And then I called you.”
“All right, got a call coming in. Thanks!” He took Kate’s call next. “Okay, what the hell is going on?”
“I’ve got the ambulance on its way. Have you cleared the rocks so that you can haul the injured agents out?”
“That’s my next call. We’ll need some heavy equipment for the job. We didn’t think anyone was in there.”
“Well there is. And I better see that everyone is moving rocks when I get there or else.”
Dan smiled. “We’re on it, Kate. I’m ordering men and equipment right now. Talk to you in a bit.”
“What the hell was that all about?” Stryker asked.
“We’ve got two injured men in there. Move what you can. I’m going to make some calls.”
14
When Kate arrived at the scene of the cave-in, it was worse than she had expected. All of the men were lifting rocks out of the way, trying to clear at least a small hole big enough to extract the injured men. She moved in to help, but Dan stopped her. “Doc, damn it, you don’t need to cut your hands up on all this rough rock. They’ll need you to do surgery on them when we get them out of there. So just let us handle it. Heavy equipment is on its way.”
She hated feeling useless. As soon as the EMTs arrived, she knew they knew their job, but she wanted to have her hands on the situation. She couldn’t stand this waiting around. Yet, that’s just what she had to do and was glad know one called for any other emergency services while she was here. Four hours later, they’d made a hole big enough that Stryker climbed through. Even that was dangerous in the event another slide occurred.
“Leyton!” Stryker called out.
He moved farther away from the cave-in and she heard him call out again, “Leyton! Stryker Hill, Deputy Sheriff of Yuma Town. Where the hell are you?”
Kate began moving toward the hole and Chase seized her arm. “Kate…”
“We have to move them. They’re obviously not mobile enough to walk out on their own. And they’ll need fluids.”
“The EMTs…”
“I’m going with them.” Only she went first.
Dan hurried to give her a headlamp. Then she crawled through the narrow opening, though it wasn’t as bad for her as it had been for Stryker because he was bigger framed than her. When she reached the other side, she felt a distinctive claustrophobia settling into her bones. But she breathed through it, knowing Leyton and Travis needed her badly.
The EMTs followed, and then several other men to help carry them out.
The air was still dusty from the cave-in, but there was no sign of Stryker. She heard him calling from the tunnel below them. Then deeper when he went down another ladder. And swore.
Despite allowing her to go down there, as if she was going to let Dan stop her, he and the other men preceded her, and then when they reached the tunnel, Stryker hollered, “We’re over here.”
When they reached them, both men were passed out, pale-skinned, Leyton’s arm around Travis as his friend’s head was planted against his neck. Despite his own injury, Leyton had provided a shoulder for his friend up until he couldn’t any longer. She helped the EMTs start an I.V. on each of them. As sturdy as Leyton was, she had imagined him pacing across the stone floor, anxious to get his friend out, not leaning against the wall, unconscious, still as death.
And worse. She smelled blood at the back of Leyton’s head, and he was bleeding profusely there too. She quickly bandaged his head and ordered the men to be removed at once, worried she might still lose the wild cat who had taken her down in one pounce and altered her life forever.
* * *
When Leyton woke, he expected to be sitting in the damp cave, the underground water running down the rock wall he’d been leaning against, soaking his back, the rough stone digging into his skin, his head and shoulder on fire. He expected to smell the musty air, and feel the cold temperatures, hear the distant yelling of men and banging at rocks, the shovel grinding back and forth, and the sound of Kate’s worried voice, calling out to him from far, far away in a distant galaxy.
He was still cold, only the smell of antiseptics clued him in right away as to where he was now. The clinic. He recognized the scent from when he was here before. Instead of an exam room, which, when he thought of tackling one hell of a sexy doctor, still made him smile—he was resting in a clinic bed on rough, thousand time’s heavily bleached sheets. The railings were up as if he was a child and someone was afraid he’d fall out of bed. He glanced across the room, thinking he’d have a private one, but instead saw Travis, sipping from a straw, as if a broken leg meant he had to take precautions when drinking…well, whatever he was drinking.
Leyton glanced at the door, listening, trying to hear Kate’s voice. He rea
lized he’d grown addicted to hearing her voice, her breath against his chest as they snuggled to sleep, her heart beating against his.
“You’re finally awake,” Travis said. “The doc was so worried about you. You lost a lot of blood, she said. More than you did the last time. So no going home with her tonight.”
Leyton looked back at him. Travis was smiling.
Leyton felt like shit. “How are you doing?”
“Enjoying being pampered at the moment. Though we’ve got a guard on the door.”
Leyton raised his brows.
“For our protection since Butch wants us dead.”
“Or for Kate’s protection?”
Travis propped his head against his arms resting on the pillow. “A little of both. There’s some guy named Stryker Hill who looks a whole lot like you, dude. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were related. Twins even. Only you’re meaner looking.”
Leyton smiled.
“He really doesn’t like you. Think he had the hots for Doc and then you butted in. Doc was worried about your head too. Said you’d taken quite a beating. She had a bunch of tests run on you, worried you might have had your brains scrambled a bit. I told her they were fine. That you were completely coherent, rescuing me, talking with her, ordering her emergency call person around. That doesn’t sound like a man with a head injury to me. She said that head injuries can turn out bad sometimes after the ordeal. Think she’d like to take you home with her and watch over you, just in case. But you had lost so much blood, she left you here for the last two days.”
“Last two days?”
“Yeah. We were both in pretty sad shape. She worried about my head too, but not as much as she worried about yours. Mine didn’t bleed. You had a real mess on the back of your head. Blood everywhere. So you didn’t suffer blood loss just from your shoulder wound.”
“The round?”
“Exited. She said she’d never seen a body where bullets went right through every time and didn’t ricochet off ribs and such.”
“She hasn’t seen me when they did.”
“True.”
“Don’t tell her either.”
“Don’t tell who what?” Kate asked, stepping into the room.
At once, Leyton was ready to get out of the bed. He couldn’t help himself. He hadn’t seen her in over two weeks and it was like he’d never been apart from her. “I’m ready to leave the hospital,” he said, getting ready to help her with the I.V. if she didn’t yank it out fast enough.
She put her hand on his good shoulder, or at least better shoulder, and made him lie back down.
Travis was smiling. “I’ve never seen a woman put you down without you putting up a fight.”
“He fights with women often?” Kate asked, a brow arched.
“He’s just spouting off. Come on, Kate. You can okay me to leave this place.”
“I could, but I won’t. You both need medical care, and you need armed protection, for the time-being. Dan, the sheriff, wants to talk to you both. But I told him he couldn’t until you’re both feeling all right. And I’m the doctor.”
“Did she pull the doctor card on you when you were off on your camping trip?” Travis asked.
Leyton just smiled. He wished she’d come over close enough so he could drag her into his arms for a kiss. Maybe if he’d had a private room, she would have. But with Travis in the room, she was keeping her distance.
“Travis, can you vacate the room for a moment?”
Kate gave Leyton the evil eye. “No, he’s to stay put. He’s got therapy in half an hour.”
“Will you come back and see me then?” Leyton asked, feeling as soon as he said it, he sounded like a lovesick puppy dog.
She smiled, and he loved that smile. “I have surgery then. I’ll check in on you before I go home tonight.” She let out her breath on a heavy sigh. “Glad you both are all right. Check on you later.”
Then she left. Without kissing him or anything!
“She’s trying to be a professional, dude,” Travis said, trying to explain her cool behavior. “What do you expect? She’s on the job here, not off camping with you in the wilderness where the two of you could be a couple of fun-loving, wild and sexy cougars.”
Leyton gave him a quelling look.
Travis finished his drink and shrugged. “Just saying. Here, she’s not the same person as you were involved with before. She has appearances to keep up. Everyone expects her to be a certain way. Kissing a patient isn’t part of the job description no matter how you want to look at it.”
Then as if he was sympathizing with Leyton, or worried he was thinking the worst, Travis added, “She’s not given up on you. She’s been in here a dozen times checking on you, worried because you hadn’t woken up any of the other times she came to see you. She could have sent one of her nurses, but she didn’t.”
That cheered Leyton some. But he was still dying to get her alone to himself and show her how much she meant to him. That he was starting a field office here and he was staying for good. It didn’t mean they were jumping in the sack as soon as they could or that he was moving in with her. He understood her need to be a professional. Well, kind of. He understood, sure, but he wanted to move right in with her, claim her, prove to her he was the right one for her and then marry her. He didn’t want to live down the street from her if he could even find a place that close by.
He saw his phone on the table next to the bed and grabbed it.
“I called the boss and gave him an update on what happened to us. He was pissed we let Butch get the better of us, which means double pissed he got the best of you twice,” Travis said.
“Is he sending more men?”
“No. He said we’d better clear this up or he’s canceling his offer to allow you to set up a field office here. You really told him there was a hot bed of trouble down here?” Travis laughed.
“I’m setting up the office with or without his approval.” Leyton searched for a real estate agent in the area and found only one listed. “Ms. Tremoine, my name Is Leyton Hill and I’m looking for two things. Office space near the medical clinic and a house available right next door to the doc’s house. Money is no obstacle.”
“I’ll get right on it, though I don’t think there’s anything right next door to Dr. Parker’s home or her clinic, but I’ll see what I can find and get back to you.”
“Thanks, just make it happen.” Leyton gave her his phone number and ended the call, then looked over at his friend whose jaw was hanging.
“Damn, Leyton, way to crowd the woman. What if she really isn’t interested in you? That the camping experience was a little lighthearted fun and that’s all? Now she’s back to her real life and—“
“Travis—“
“Just saying, dude.”
“There’s probably nothing close to either location that’s readily available. I figured if I said to make it close, the realtor will try and find the closest to that location she can get.”
“I can just see the two of you being next-door neighbors and you borrowing sugar from her.” Travis laughed again.
Then a man loomed in the doorway. Dark-haired, about six-one, his green eyes spearing Leyton, not giving Travis the time of day. Damn, if the guy didn’t look just like him, only he had green eyes and not blue-green like Leyton’s. He was as tall, muscular, but not half as handsome. But Leyton swore he was looking at a brother, if not a twin.
“Leyton Hill, where the hell are you from?” the man asked.
“What’s it to you?”
“If you think you’re going to continue making the moves on Kate, it means everything.”
“Time for your therapy,” a pretty nurse said, coming into the room to get Travis.
“Do you want me to stay and protect you from whoever he is?” Travis asked Leyton.
“Stryker Hill, and there’s no damn way in hell we’re related.”
Travis’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got a brother, Leyton?”
??
?No. People have been known to look similar who aren’t related in the least.”
“With the same last name,” Travis said, skeptically.
“Go on. Get your therapy. We have a job to do and lying around in the hospital isn’t helping us to do it,” Leyton growled.
“All right. Yell for help if you need it.”
Leyton ignored him and turned his glower on Stryker. “Okay, so where the hell are you from?”
Stryker leaned against the wall and folded his arms across his deputy’s uniform. “Ely, Minnesota. You?”
“White Bear…Minnesota.”
Stryker narrowed his eyes at him. “Who were your parents?”
“Foster. Left home when I was sixteen. Joined the service.”
“You would have been too young.”
“Lied about my age. Big for my age. Served as a Ranger until my time was up and went home.”
“Who were your biological parents?”
“Hell if I know, and I really didn’t care. Except that Leyton Hill was my name, and it stuck. Foster parents collected their checks, and when I was old enough, I moved on. You?”
“Fostered until I was sixteen, and then I moved on.”
“To Yuma Town.”
“Yeah, joined the service with the rest of the sheriff’s department before we were the sheriff’s department—Dan, Chase, Hal. What’s this crap about setting up some damn field office?”
“You need my assistance. Seems there’s a lot of trouble in the area.”
Stryker smiled, albeit a little evilly. “Seems to me that you’re some of the trouble, and you needed our assistance.”
“Slight inconvenience. We would have dug a hole and been out of there in no time.”
Stryker snorted. “You’re just lucky we didn’t leave you in there after what you pulled with Kate.”
“Excuse me,” Kate said, interrupting the “talk.”