Regan's Pride by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

and feel his mouth on hers, all those long years ago. She closed her own, waiting for death to come up and claim her. Her last conscious thought was that in whatever realm she progressed to, perhaps she could forget the one man she’d ever loved. And once she was gone, perhaps Ted could forgive her for everything he thought she’d done.
    The impact was sudden, and surprisingly without pain. She felt the roughness of leaves and limbs and a hard, rough blow to her head. And then she felt nothing at all.

Chapter 3
    T ed Regan had been sitting at his desk trying to make sense of a new prospectus. Sandy had only just gone out the door, after spending the night at the ranch. Suddenly, the front door was opened with force and his sister came running back in, red-faced and shaking.
    â€œWhat is it?” he asked quickly, putting the papers aside.
    â€œIt’s Corrie.” She choked. Tears were running down her cheeks. “It was on the radio…she’s been in a terrible accident!”
    His heart stopped, started and ran away. He jerked out of his chair and took her by the arms. It wasn’t pity for her that motivated him; it was the horror that made him go cold. “Is she dead?” She couldn’t answer and he actually shook her. “Tell me! Is she all right?”
    His white, desperate face shocked her into speech. “She was taken to the Jacobsville General emergencyroom.” She choked out the words. “The radio said she was skydiving and fell into some trees or power lines or something. They don’t know her condition.”
    He didn’t stop to get his hat. He shepherded her out the door at a dead run.
    Later, he didn’t even remember the ride to the hospital. He marched straight to the desk, demanding to know how Coreen was and where she was. The woman clerk didn’t try to deny him the information. She told him at once.
    He walked straight into the recovery room, despite loud objections from a nurse.
    Coreen was lying on a stretcher there, clad in a faded hospital gown. There were cuts and bruises all over her face and arms, and she was asleep.
    â€œHow is she?” he demanded.
    The middle-aged nurse who was checking her vital signs nodded. “She’ll be fine,” she told him. “Dr. Burns can tell you anything you want to know. You’re a relative?”
    Technically he was, he supposed. If he said no, they wouldn’t let him near her. “Yes,” he said.
    â€œDr. Burns?” the nurse called to a green-gowned man outside the door. He excused himself from the doctor to whom he was speaking and came into the recovery room.
    â€œThis gentleman is a relative of Mrs. Tarleton.”
    Ted introduced himself and the doctor shook his hand warmly.
    â€œI hope you know how much we all appreciate the pediatric critical care unit you funded here, Mr. Regan,” the doctor said, and the nurse became flustered as she realized who their distinguished visitor was.
    â€œIt was my pleasure. How’s Corrie?” he asked, nodding toward the pale woman on the bed.
    â€œMinor concussion, a cracked rib and a burst appendix. We’ve repaired the damage, but someone should tell her not to skydive during thunderstorms,” he said frankly. “This is her second close call in as many months. And we won’t even go into the damage she sustained in the glider crash or her most recent brush with a sheet of tin…”
    Ted went very still. “What glider crash?”
    Dr. Burns lifted an eyebrow. “You said you were a relative?”
    â€œDistant,” he confessed. “Her husband was buried yesterday.”
    â€œYes, I know.”
    â€œI’m from Victoria. I’ve just moved back here, into my grandfather’s house.”
    â€œOh, yes, the old Regan homeplace.”
    â€œThe same,” Ted continued. “I’d lost touch with Barry in the past few weeks, but we were cousins and fairly close.