Seeds of Desire by Karenna Colcroft Read Free Book Online Page B

like
fifty minutes by car. A little less by ambulance. Not a hospital, really,
either. Just a health center. They send a helicopter if someone’s hurt real
bad, take the person to Bangor or Portland. I don’t think she needs that,
though.”
    It seemed like hours before a siren sounded in the distance.
In the bustle of activity that followed, Cassidy lost track of Jared, which
bothered her more than she would have liked. Even if she didn’t like him, she
knew him, and she needed a familiar face and voice right then. The touch of his
hand had warmed her from head to toe, cementing the weird connection to him
that she’d felt earlier.
    Maybe he didn’t only lust after her. Maybe he actually
cared.
    A man and woman turned her over, away from the shovel, and
held something against the side of her face. They lifted her onto a stretcher
and fastened straps around her head, careful to avoid the gash.
    “Sorry,” the woman said. “Head injury. We can’t take a
chance.”
    “I’m going with her,” Jared said firmly.
    “Sorry, sir.” The woman didn’t sound at all apologetic. “We
don’t allow people to ride in the ambulance unless the patient is a child.”
    “Then I’m following you,” Jared muttered. “Cassidy, is there
anyone I should call for you?”
    “No.” No one who would care, anyway. Her mother had passed
away and she hadn’t spoken to her father in years. She had no siblings, no
close relatives at all, and certainly no significant other. She didn’t have
time for that kind of thing.
    “Okay.” He touched her hand again for half a second. Even
that brief contact calmed her. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Chapter Five
     
    The ride to the hospital terrified her. She couldn’t see
where they were going, of course. She hated not being able to see. Even worse,
the straps kept her from moving, which she despised. Forced to remain still,
she felt claustrophobic. It felt as if they took some turns on two wheels,
though she doubted the driver would be that careless. When they finally lifted
her out of the ambulance and wheeled her into the small brick hospital, total
relief filled her, even through the pain. Especially when she heard Jared call,
“Wait for me.”
    The EMTs wheeled her stretcher into a small exam cubicle
with a thin curtain that barely covered the opening. A young woman who didn’t
look old enough to be a nurse took her vital signs and pronounced her “probably
in shock, though the doctor will have to make that call.”
    She left and Jared pulled a chair up beside the stretcher.
“So, are you usually so clumsy?” he asked.
    “So, are you usually an ass?” she snapped, cringing at the
pain speaking brought to the side of her face. She immediately regretted saying
it. If he hadn’t been with her at the site, she would have panicked.
    Jared laughed. “Good. If you can still take swipes at me,
you can’t be hurt too bad. You have one hell of a cut on your head, you know.
They’re going to have to bury the blood back at the site.”
    Cassidy’s stomach rolled. “TMI, thank you very much.”
    “Sorry.” He fidgeted with the button on his shirt cuff. “You
scared the hell out of me, Cass. I didn’t know for sure how bad you were hurt.
Looks like you’re going to be okay, though.”
    “I scared myself,” she said softly. “That poor kid too, I
think.”
    “Her daddy took her away from the scene. I think she’ll be
okay. Worry about yourself, would you?”
    “Are you going to stay here?” A few hours earlier, Jared
would have been her last pick for someone to comfort her. That contact between
them at the planting site had changed things. She’d seen something in his eyes
that looked almost like friendship. Nothing like the lust with which he’d
looked at her the night before. Their interlude, even though she’d gone to him
out of anger, had triggered something.
    She looked up at his warm brown eyes, his perfectly shaped
nose and his lips, which now seemed incredibly