LITMIR.BIZ

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a problem by the way he leaned on her for support. “Nate! I need help! Sam’s dizzy!”

      Nate and the other four men were down the steps and at Sam’s side in a flash. “Let’s get you into the house, bro,” Nate said, lifting Sam’s arm to his shoulders to relieve the weight from Bria.

      “I can make it on my own steam,” Sam insisted. A muscle along his jaw worked furiously, indicating that he was fighting with everything he had to will the vertigo away.

      Shaking her head at his foolish pride, Bria let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m going to let you all watch him while I go to town to buy groceries and some other necessities.”

      “You are coming back, aren’t you?” Nate asked a little too quickly.

      “Why wouldn’t she come back?” Sam frowned. “She lives here. Where else would she go?”

      “Yes, I’ll be back,” she promised, ducking from beneath his arm. “I assume you took care of everything while I was at the hospital picking up Sam?”

      “All done,” T.J. answered.

      “What’s going on?” Sam demanded, looking from her to his brothers. “If somebody doesn’t tell me what the hell’s going on, I’m going to—”

      “You can be pretty darned ornery when you don’t feel good,” Nate said, shrugging.

      “Bria might decide to take off for parts unknown if you don’t follow doctor’s orders,” Lane added. “If I were you, I’d do what she tells you to do.”

      When Sam seemed to accept their explanation, Bria breathed a sigh of relief. Very many mistakes like the one Nate had just made and they would have to tell Sam the truth before he could remember it on his own.

      “And don’t worry about our getting everything done,” Ryder said, checking his watch. “We took care of getting the livestock loaded and sent on to the Del Rio rodeo. I’m going to hit the road and head on down there now. I’m supposed to work this one anyway, and it won’t be a big deal for me to oversee the wranglers.”

      “Thanks, Ryder,” Sam said. “I appreciate it.”

      “No need to thank me,” Ryder said, shaking his head. “You’d do the same for me if I needed help.”

      “We’ll be down in a couple of days to help out,” T.J. said as Ryder turned to walk to his truck.

      “Are we getting together for my birthday on Sunday, Bria?” Jaron looked hopeful. “You know how much I love your apple pie.”

      “Of course,” she said, smiling.

      She was glad Jaron mentioned his upcoming birthday. Planning his birthday dinner would give her something to concentrate on besides how much she wished things could be different for her and Sam. Besides, she loved holding family celebrations, and with all the men coming back for the weekend, it would give her a break from the pressure she anticipated being under while taking care of Sam.

      Apparently satisfied that everything was as it should be, Sam nodded toward her SUV. “Drive careful, sweetheart.”

      Walking to her Explorer, Bria wondered how she was going to make it through the next few weeks without losing her mind. Sam was far too perceptive not to pick up on every little slip, and it was just a matter of time before he realized that things between them were vastly different from what he remembered. Unfortunately, explaining that their marriage was over and why would do nothing but add to the stress he was already under from just trying to recall the past several months.

      As she drove from the ranch yard, she sighed heavily. How had she managed to get herself into such a complicated situation? But more important than that, how on earth was she going to get herself out of it and remain on the course she had set for herself three months ago?

      With their housekeeper and part-time cook, Rosa, off visiting her sister in San Antonio for a couple of weeks, Bria was in the kitchen cooking supper, while Sam sat in the family room pretending to watch the local evening news. She had insisted that he take it easy and he was trying, but it was damn hard to do. He wasn’t used to being idle and having to sit around with nothing to do made him feel like a worthless slug. He was accustomed to doing what a man was supposed to do—work hard and make a good living for his wife and the family they were planning to have.

      Thinking about his stock-contracting business, he smiled. He was proud of the fact that he had started from scratch and built the Sugar Creek Rodeo Company to the level that he could retire right now without any worries for the rest of his days. But he wasn’t of a mind to do that. As Hank always said, everyone needed a purpose. Sam’s mission in life was to work hard so that Bria would never want for anything, never have to worry where money for their next meal would come from. Unlike what his biological father had done for his mother, Sam intended to see that his wife got whatever her heart desired.

      As he looked around the room, he tried to remember the last time he had been home for more than a couple of days at a time. It was frustrating as hell not to recall even the simplest of memories, not to mention it was taking a big toll on his pride. Showing any kind of weakness never had been his style. But the fact that Bria was witness to his most recent limitations made the whole situation doubly humiliating.

      He was supposed to be strong and capable—the man who took care of her, not the other way around. Unless he missed his guess, she was having just as hard of a time seeing him this way as he was of being the husband with some major limitations and no recent memories.

      From the time she had come into the ICU to see him the night of the accident, Bria had been aloof, and their conversations, what few they’d had, were awkward at best. Had the fact that he had been hurt caused her to think of him as being inept? Or had she been there to see the bull run him down and was still traumatized by witnessing the accident?

      He tried to think, but like everything else that had happened recently, he couldn’t remember. “Bria, could you come here a minute?”

      When she walked in from the kitchen, she looked absolutely beautiful. A few strands of auburn hair had escaped the confines of her ponytail and her cheeks were delightfully pink from the heat of cooking supper.

      “Is everything all right?” she asked, a look of concern in her pretty green eyes.

      “I’m fine.” He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I was just wondering if you were at the rodeo. Did you see what happened?”

      She nodded. “You were … distracted when the bull got loose. But I thought your brothers told you all about that while I was in town this afternoon.”

      “They did.” Frowning, he shook his head. “I just can’t believe I was that careless. I’m normally real cautious around the bulls and especially that brindle. He’s as mean as a rattlesnake. Do you know what had my attention just before the accident happened?”

      “They didn’t tell you?”

      “No.”

      He watched her take a deep breath before she looked down at her tightly clasped hands.

      “I had just arrived and you were watching me.”

      “That doesn’t sound like me. I never let myself get distracted while I’m working with livestock.” He ran his hand over the tension building at the back of his neck. “And normally when you come to one of the rodeos, you get there well before the events start, not when they’re almost over. Why were you running so late?”

      “You know how bad traffic can be on I-35.” She glanced over her shoulder into the kitchen. “I really need to check on the spaghetti.”

      “We’ll talk about it over supper,” he said, nodding.

      When Bria disappeared into the kitchen, he was more confused than ever. Why had he been watching her instead of what he had been doing? And why did she seem so nervous about it? Did she somehow feel responsible for the accident? Was she feeling guilty?

      That

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