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Again he bypassed the waiting area and walked out the emergency entrance to scan the parking lot, but there was no sign of Natalie’s white SUV. He glanced at his watch and knew she had to be close. He wouldn’t allow himself to consider that something might have happened en route to delay her.
To keep any thoughts blocked, he retrieved Will’s cell phone from the bag and used the number in his brother’s contact list to call Tori. Her phone rang once, then twice more before her voice mail came on. He left a message that omitted most of the worrisome details and asked her to call him. Not sure when Tori might check it, Beau decided to try her again in a few minutes. In the meantime, he phoned the ranch house and talked to Bernice. Again, he soft-pedaled Will’s condition.
“You will let us know the minute you hear anything, won’t you?” the anxious housekeeper urged as a siren’s wail grew steadily louder, indicating the approach of an emergency vehicle.
“I promise. Tell Jasper not to worry. Will’s in good hands.”
A patrol car, its siren screaming, came speeding into view and swung into the driveway to the emergency entrance. There was abrupt silence as the siren was killed. But it was the white SUV directly behind that claimed the whole of Beau’s attention.
The white Land Cruiser screeched into a parking stall next to the emergency entrance. The door flew open and Natalie spilled out of the driver’s seat, one hand clutching a small medical cooler. Dressed in jeans and a wrinkled khaki work shirt, she was disheveled and windblown, her face bare of makeup.
And she had never looked more beautiful, for a multitude of reasons, none of which was necessarily related to the other.
Her head came up the instant she saw him, her back straightened, and Beau had the impression she was erecting mental barriers against him.
“Thank God you made it without being pulled over,” Beau said, relieved the two-hour window wouldn’t be pushed to the limit.
“I probably would have if I hadn’t had an escort,” Natalie told him, directing a side glance to his right.
Until that moment, Beau had totally forgotten the police cruiser that had pulled into the emergency driveway ahead of her. He turned as Hoyt Axelrod came walking up, sunlight flashing on the sheriff ’s badge pinned to his crisp uniform.
“Sheriff.” Beau wasn’t sure whom he’d expected to see, but it wasn’t Axelrod
“Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I had stopped by the call center when they got the word that Will had been snakebit. Few minutes later we heard that Natalie was making a mercy run to bring her supply of antivenin.” He absently shifted the holstered pistol to a more comfortable position. “I figured she could make the drive quicker, with fewer incidents, if she had an official escort.” A dark eyebrow shot up. “Can you imagine a hospital in Texas running out of such a thing? ’Course, it is spring, and the rattlers are coming out of their dens all cranky and hungry.”
“How’s Will?” Natalie inserted.
“Not good,” Beau admitted.
Immediately she struck out for the automatic door to the ER. “I brought six vials. It was all I had.” She tossed the information over her shoulder as the door opened ahead of her.
Beau followed her inside while the sheriff trailed both of them. In short order, they located a nurse. Natalie passed the cooler to her and dug a folded piece of paper from her pocket.
“I’ll need someone to sign this, accepting the transfer of the vials,” she told the nurse.
“I’ll get it signed and bring it right back to you,” the nurse promised after a brief scan of the unfolded paper.
“I’d like to see my brother,” Beau said.
“Not yet.” The nurse smiled her regret. “When we have him stabilized, somebody will come and get you.”
It wasn’t exactly the answer he wanted, but grudgingly Beau accepted it, holding his silence when the nurse walked away.
“He’s going to be fine now, Beau,” Natalie assured him.
“Thanks to you.” He glanced at the woman standing at his side and experienced a prick of conscience. “Sorry, I should have said that sooner. Heaven knows you didn’t have to volunteer to bring it to the hospital.”
“Will is my friend,” she said with quick emphasis. “You do things like this for friends.”
On the surface she seemed to be using friendship to justify her actions. But Beau had the impression she was using it to keep him at a distance.
“You’re right, of course,” he agreed, and smiled to himself, certain there had never been anything remotely platonic about their feelings toward each other in the past. And that was still true today, no matter how much she might try to convince herself to the contrary.
“Hey, you two!” the sheriff called to them from a small alcove outside the waiting room. “I just brewed some fresh coffee. Want a cup?”
“I could definitely use a cup.” Natalie was quick to accept the offer as she turned from Beau and started across the space to the alcove.
“Make that two cups.”
