Cowboy's Triplet Trouble. Carla Cassidy

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СКАЧАТЬ and the only thing he wanted now was for the doctor to fix up Grace so she could be on her way home. He’d encourage his brother to do the right thing and then Jake would wash his hands of the whole mess.

      He wouldn’t mind spending a little time with his nieces, eventually. But before that could happen Justin and Grace were going to have to figure things out. And that had nothing to do with him.

      He’d spent most of his life shouldering responsibilities to make life easier on everyone else around him. Now what he wanted more than anything was just to be left alone.

      It was almost an hour later that Dr. Wallington came out to greet him. Jake stood and shook the older man’s hand. Dr. Wallington had been their family doctor for years.

      “Grace wanted me to come out and let you know she’s fine. X-rays showed no break, although her shoulder is severely sprained. I’m putting her in a sling to immobilize it for a couple of days and I’ve given her some pain medication. In the meantime she shouldn’t do any driving or lifting and I’ve told her if it isn’t better in three or four days she should come back in.”

      Jake smiled, nodded and thanked the doctor while inwardly cringing at the news. There was no way he could put Grace in her car with three babies to return home. She was going to need help, and plenty of it.

      A weary resignation rose up inside him. All he’d wanted from life was a little peace and quiet, but any hope for that flew out the window. His life was about to be turned upside down with the invasion of three little girls and a woman who disturbed him in a way no woman ever had before.

       Chapter 3

      “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Grace muttered to herself as she waited for the nurse to return to the room to fit her with a sling. She’d been stupid to chase out of the house after Justin, and even more stupid to be so angry she’d managed to miss the first porch step and fall on her shoulder.

      Now she was in a mess. The doctor had said she couldn’t drive and she couldn’t lift. How was she going to manage? The last thing she wanted to do was to ignore the doctor’s advice and exacerbate the injury.

      Tears suddenly burned at her eyes. This whole trip had been a nightmare. She’d been stupid to believe that there was a possibility of a happy ending for her babies, that she’d somehow walk away from here with a loving, caring man committed to being an integral part of their lives.

      In her very first encounter with Justin she’d thought he was charming and hot, but now she realized he was just an immature hothead.

      She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. She wanted to believe that once the initial shock of the whole situation wore off, he’d step up and be a man. Be the father she wanted for her girls. But her first impression of him had definitely been a bad one.

      In the meantime, she was going to have to leave this examining room and ask Jake, with his dark blue eyes and that edge of aloofness about him, if she could stay at his place for a couple of days until her shoulder healed enough that she could make it back home.

      There was no way she could take the chance of trying to drive home alone, no way once she got there that she could take care of the girls. She certainly couldn’t depend on Natalie. Her sister might be good for an hour or two of help here and there, but not the kind of care it would take for the next couple of days.

      She’d have to depend on the kindness of virtual strangers and she hated that. The tears threatened to fall and she wasn’t sure if they were caused by her situation, by Justin’s reaction or the pain that radiated down her arm from her injured shoulder. She quickly swallowed against the tears as the nurse reappeared in the room.

      Within minutes her arm was immobilized, and she’d called Natalie to let her know what was going on. Afterward she walked into the waiting room where Jake stood staring out the window. For a moment she didn’t make a sound, just stared at his broad back.

      He looked so solid. For a fleeting moment she wished he would have been the handsome cowboy at the wedding that night. It was a ridiculous thought. She knew no more about Jake than she did about his brother Justin. But what little she did know led her to believe that Jake would never find himself out of control, drunk in bed with a stranger. And he would have never torn out of a driveway after screaming to some woman that she’d ruined his life.

      He whirled around as if he’d heard her thoughts, and he couldn’t quite hide the scowl that had apparently ridden his features before he’d turned.

      “Ah, there you are,” he said smoothly as he approached her. “It looks as if you’re going to be our houseguest for a few days. I’ve already called Jeff and Kerri to get things arranged at the house.”

      “I’m sure after a good night’s rest I’ll be fine to go home in the morning,” she said as they left the hospital and walked outside.

      “We’ll see in the morning.” He didn’t sound too sure about her being capable of leaving that soon.

      “I’m so sorry about this,” she said when they were both back in his truck.

      “You really have to stop apologizing.” He smiled then and unexpected warmth fluttered in her chest. He had such a nice smile. “Accidents happen, Grace. We’re all just going to have to figure out how to make the best of things.”

      “That’s what I was trying to do by coming here. I’d hoped to take a difficult situation and somehow make it work in the best interests of my daughters.” She paused for a long moment, and then continued, “I was a fool to come here.” A touch of bitterness laced her voice.

      “I’m hoping by tomorrow you and Justin will be able to sit down together and work things through.”

      “If today was any indication of the way one works things through with Justin then I don’t think my body can take it,” she replied drily.

      He shot her a quick glance. “We’ll just have to make sure you stay on your feet tomorrow.”

      “Tell me about him,” she said. “What does Justin do for a living?”

      Jake hesitated a minute. “He works for me at the ranch part-time.”

      That didn’t sound great. She wondered what he did with his other time. “I’m assuming he isn’t married. Does he have a girlfriend?”

      Jake shot her a tight smile. “Justin dates a lot, although he’s been seeing Shirley Caldwell for the last couple of months. She works as a waitress at a café in Cameron Creek.”

      “I really don’t want to make any trouble for him.” Grace frowned and tried to focus on the conversation instead of the excruciating pain that racked her arm each time she moved. Surely by morning it would be okay and she could get home.

      “Let’s just get you back to the ranch and settled in and we’ll sort the rest of it out later.”

      They both fell silent for the remainder of the ride. What she’d wanted to ask him about his brother was if Justin was trustworthy and kind. Was he a good man who would make a good role model for his daughters? She didn’t want to judge him based on their initial interaction earlier that day. She hoped Jake was right, that Justin’s actions upon seeing her and the girls weren’t indicative of who he was as a man, and once the shock wore off things would be fine.

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