The hospital corridor smelled like blood. The notion that it was Emily’s blood made Levi weak in the knees and sick all over.

Shot. He still couldn’t believe Beech was that crazy. But according to a quaking, sobbing Daisy, her father had shot Emily.

The amount of blood that flowed out of Emily’s upper leg scared him senseless. Lots of blood. Too much blood.

Now, she was inside the Calypso Hospital emergency room, and Levi was out here in the waiting area, struggling to hold onto his sanity until he knew if she would be all right. Daisy sat in a padded vinyl chair quietly playing with Mason, though she was still milk pale and looked ready to cry at the drop of a hat. Levi could no more sit than he could fly. He paced up and down, back and forth, nagging every person in scrubs for information.

Before the ambulance arrived at the ranch, Emily had regained consciousness briefly and opened her eyes. They were glazed as if she didn’t know where she was. Blood loss would do that to you.

Levi had blurted, “I love you,” like some kind of maniac, and when the corners of her mouth lifted the slightest bit, he said it again about a hundred times. She didn’t smile anymore, but she’d let him know she heard.

Chanting the words in between prayers, he’d held her hand until the paramedic had pried his fingers loose and refused to let him, Daisy, and Mason ride together in the ambulance. So he’d driven his truck. Driven like Dale Earnhardt while praying as if he had a direct line to the throne room of heaven. Pleading for Emily to be all right so he could make up for all the stupid things he’d said and done. So he could tell her everything she needed to hear. He’d never prayed so much in his life.

At one point, he paused in his prayer-pacing to text the pastor. Marcus would pray. God would listen to a preacher.

I hear you, too.

Levi’s eyes fell shut. Thank you, God in Heaven. Emily needs you. So did he, but God could work on him later. Emily first and foremost.

Fear not.

“Will she be all right?” He’d spoken aloud, but he didn’t care if the whole world thought he was loony.

“Mr. Levi, Mason’s real wet.” Daisy looked toward him from a chair that swallowed her up, Mason propped on her lap. The usually happy girl’s blue eyes weren’t smiling today.

“The bag’s in the truck.” He glanced toward the door to the parking lot. When was the last time Mason had been changed? He couldn’t even remember. “I’ll get it in a minute.”

With her usual maturity, Daisy rose and handed him the baby. “I’ll go, Mr. Levi. You wait for Miss Emily.”

Her lips quivered. Tears sparkled on her pale lashes. Though tough as a bull hide, the little lady was as scared as he was. Levi put his free hand on her narrow shoulder.

In his kindest, most confident voice, he assured her, “You did good, Daisy. You saved her. God is in there with Miss Emily. She’ll be all right.”

“I prayed real hard.”

“I know you did. And God heard. After I change Mason, I’ll buy you a Coke, okay?” As if a soda would wash away the trauma of what she’d seen and experienced today. It wouldn’t. Trauma that cruel never left. But a can of pop was the only thing he knew to do.

Daisy nodded and headed out to the truck, head down, steps unusually slow.

She carried too heavy a burden for such small shoulders.

He hadn’t questioned her about what happened. She was too upset, and so was he. The sheriff would do that, but she’d said enough for Levi to know she’d been there. Poor kid. To know that. To have witnessed that.

If he wasn’t so worried about the love of his life, he’d drive out to Beech’s and do some bodily injury. The Caldwell brothers were on their way with Connie and Gilbert and probably half the town. They wouldn’t be happy with Beech either.

Daisy returned, and Levi kept his word. After changing the baby, he bought her a soft drink and tried to make himself sit down.

The Caldwells arrived, a barrage of worried faces. Connie came straight to him and gave him a hug. The knot in his gut loosened. Before he could guide the family away from Daisy’s hearing and reveal all he knew, the emergency room door scraped open.

Every person in the room surged forward.

A nurse stepped out and gazed around at the crowd. “Levi?”

He stepped up. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Emily’s asking for the cowboy with the baby and the terrified expression.”

That would be him.

Ace, Emily’s oldest brother, pushed to the front. “She’s okay?”

“She will be.” The nurse moved to one side and held the door. “She said to tell the rest of you to sit down and relax and not to hurt anyone.”

Nate snorted. “Smart aleck sister.”

As worried as they were, knowing she hadn’t lost her sense of humor lifted their spirits.

“Go, Levi.” Connie took Mason from his arms. “She wants you.”

She wanted him. Him. After all he’d done to hurt her.

A love so big he could hardly carry it pushed him through the door and into the emergency room. At the counter running along one wall, a nurse in blue scrubs tapped on a computer tablet. Above her, two metal cabinet doors hung open, displaying rows of medical supplies inside. An assortment of mysterious equipment lined the other walls. A sink, an oxygen set up, a beeping heart monitor. The fact that the heart beeping was Emily’s scared him to death.

His gaze zeroed in on her. Covered to her chest with a white sheet, she lay on a table in the center of the room, tubes running into both arms. One dripped blood, the other some kind of clear liquid. A pronged tube hissed oxygen into her nose.

“Hey,” he said, barely able to breathe and scared to touch her.

The hand with the clear liquid reached for him. “I’m okay.”

He clasped her fingers in his. She was cold. “Do you need a blanket?”

As if waiting for someone to ask, a nurse placed a white blanket over her.

“Oh, that’s warm.” Her words were breathy as if she were exhausted. “Tell Daisy this is not her fault. She did everything right.”

Levi nodded, throat clogged with emotion. Emily, thinking of others when she was the one injured.

“I have, but I’ll tell her again.”

“Stop worrying. Doc says I’ll be fine.”

A doctor in black-rimmed glasses, scrubbing his hands at the corner sink, glanced up and met Levi’s questioning stare. He was young, not Doc Bridges, the physician Levi had known as a kid.

“She will be,” the doc replied to the questions Levi wanted to ask. “We got the bleeding stopped, and after we get that bullet out and some antibiotics in, she’ll mend quickly.”

“Don’t let my brothers do anything crazy.” She squeezed Levi’s fingers. “You either. Let the sheriff handle Beech. Promise?”

Right now, he’d promise her a trip to Mars if she asked. And he’d figure out a way to make it happen. “Promise. Now, stop worrying and let the doc get you fixed up.”

The doctor, blue towel in hand, stepped close to the table. “Time for X-ray, Emily, and then on to the O.R. to get that bullet out. Your friend will have to leave now.”

Levi leaned down and kissed her softly.

Her eyes filled with tears. After all she’d been through, it was his kiss that made her cry.

“Will you be here when I get out?” she whispered.

The question stabbed him through the conscience. “I’m not going anywhere, Emily. Now or ever.”

A puzzled wrinkle appeared in her forehead. “Never? What about Texas?”

“I’ve tried living without my heart for fourteen years. Now, that I found it, I’d be a fool to leave it again.”

Her eyes dropped closed, and a tear trickled down her cheek. Levi kissed it away and whispered, “You’re my heart, Emily. I love you. Forgive me.”

She just smiled.

---

Emily woke to the sound of voices. Her brain was foggy, her eyes too heavy to open. Her mouth tasted like a combination of wet cotton and insecticide. She tried licking her lips, but they felt sticky as if someone had smeared them with a glue stick.

What in the world had happened to her? Where was she? Dreaming?

Yes, dreaming. She’d had a terrible nightmare. Someone with a gun. Searing pain. Blood. So much blood.

“She’s coming around,” a voice said. Nate, she thought. Her brother was here.

She heard boots shuffle against the floor, a door open, a voice she didn’t recognize. “She was a lucky woman. The bullet missed the bone and only nicked the femoral artery.”

“Artery? Was that why there was so much blood?” Ace’s voice, worried, shaky.

The dream had been real. She’d been shot by Arlo Beech.

Levi had come for her. Levi had promised…something. She tried to pry her eyelids upward. They wouldn’t cooperate.

Was Levi here? Had she dreamed it, or had he promised to stay with her?

A hand touched her cheek. “Hey, beautiful. Time to open those pretty green eyes.”

Levi.

She sighed softly, relaxed, and drifted back into darkness.

When she woke again, her eyelids popped open. The lights had been dimmed. She looked around the space. She was in a hospital room. Outside was dark. Around her bed, three brawny cowboys sprawled in chairs or against the wall. Her brothers and Levi.

“Where’s Connie?” And Daisy and Mason? Her throat hurt too much to say all their names.

Levi bounded up from his chair. Nate and Ace bolted upright as if her voice were an alarm clock.

“What did you say, darlin’?” Levi leaned over her. His red-rimmed eyes said he hadn’t slept, and his whiskery jaw said he hadn’t shaved.

She moved her thick tongue. “Connie?”

“She took Daisy and Mason to the Triple C for the night.”

Emily wiggled her hand from beneath the sheet.

Levi latched on as if she were a lifeline.

“You stayed.”

“Not leaving either.”

“Good.” She swallowed. “Can I have water?”

Levi fumbled with the pitcher before putting a straw to her lips.

“My throat’s so sore.”

“The surgery,” Ace said. “They stick a tube down your throat.”

Emily grimaced. Nate punched his brother’s arm. “Don’t be so graphic. She’s been through a lot.”

Levi stroked the hair away from her face. “Are you hurting? Do you need anything for pain?”

His touch was soothing enough. “No.” She was still too groggy. “How’s my leg?”

“Leg’s good. Bullet’s out, no permanent damage. Doc says you’ll be immobile for a few days and really sore, but he expects a full recovery.”

She nodded. “God was with me. He saved me.”

“I wish He’d deflected that bullet for you.”

“I think He did. The rifle was pointed at my chest. I ran.” Big green eyes nearly did him in. “All I could think of was getting to you where I’d be safe.”

“I always want you to feel safe with me, Emily.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll protect you, take care of you, and I promise never to let you down again.”

Nate cleared his throat. “Do you two need a little alone time?”

Ace grinned and whacked his brother with his hat. “Come on, Nate. Let the two love birds work this out before we have to shoot Levi, too.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It sure as heck ain’t.”

The door opened, and two of her favorite cowboys took their leave.

Her other favorite cowboy eased a hip onto the edge of her bed, slowly, carefully, as if he were afraid she’d break. He still held her hand, and from the look of terrified determination on his wonderful, exhausted face, he wasn’t going to let go any time soon. “I’m sure glad they left, ‘cause I need to say something, and you know how hard that is for me.”

She knew. Oh, how she knew. “You can tell me anything.”

“Yeah, well, how’s this for starters. I love you. I never said it to anyone in my life but you. Well, Mason recently. He’s the one who made me realize how much words matter. When I was growing up, no one ever said those things to me. I didn’t want him lacking in the love bucket.”

She giggled. “The love bucket?”

“Told you I’m not good at this stuff.” He looked to the side, hissed through his teeth and tried again. “All these years of running, roaming, I was looking for home.” His gaze came back to her. “I was looking for you. I can’t live without you, Em. I’ve tried. I hated it.”

“Me, too.”

“Stupid for me to move to Texas if you’re here.”

“It sure is. But you have a sign up at the ranch.”

“I’ll take it down as soon as I get home.”

“Home?” The admission made her heart leap. Had he finally settled his feelings toward his family ranch?

“Yeah. Scott made that ranch a home. He left it to me and Mason. We belong there.”

“What about your dad?” Slim Donley was a cancer he had to treat before he could ever be happy at the Donley Ranch.

Levi’s eyes dropped shut. “I did a lot of praying today. God told me to let go of my old man. To let all of it go.”

“Can you do that?”

“With the Lord’s help, a man can do about anything. That’s what Aunt Ruby told me.”

“Ruby’s a wise woman. You should listen to her.”

“What my dad did…I can’t change it. For so long, I thought you’d hate me because of him. I thought you’d see me as a reminder.”

“It was never your guilt to bear, Levi.”

“Getting that through my thick head has taken a long time, but I understand now.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “I’m still so sorry about what happened that day, and if my dad was here right now, I can’t say there wouldn’t be trouble. Forgiveness takes time.”

Emily asked the question that had haunted her for fourteen years. “Why did you leave without so much as a call?”

“More stupid on my part. My dad threatened me with prison if I didn’t. I believed him.”

Hers eyes widened. “He was the one who locked me in that stall, who attacked me. You did nothing wrong. He couldn’t send you to prison.”

“You were so upset. I didn’t know how to comfort you. I didn’t know what to say. All I could think of was making the old man sorry he’d ever touched you.”

In retrospect, she should have reported the attack to the police, but Slim hadn’t done the unthinkable, and she wasn’t sure he would have. She’d been embarrassed, too. Even now, she couldn’t stand the thought of anyone knowing what happened.

Mostly, Slim Donley had intended to humiliate her and embarrass Levi. “He never wanted you to date me,” she said. “He was trying to break us up.”

And he’d succeeded.

“Not because of you. My dad hated for me to be happy, and even more, he hated the idea that I would spend time with you instead of working like a slave on his ranch. He said you were too good for me.” Levi stroked her hand. “He was right. You are.”

Levi had stormed into the barn, yelling and swinging. She’d been crying so hard, she couldn’t think or speak as he’d dragged her to his truck. All she’d wanted was to go home. She’d been a hysterical teenager. So had Levi.

The short drive from his ranch to hers had seemed interminable. He’d gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled grimness and spoken not a word. She’d thought he blamed her. Now, she knew he’d been humiliated and ashamed of being his father’s son.

All the way to the Triple C, she’d bent double, face in her hands, sobbing. Later, she’d told Connie she and Levi had had a fight. Even now, the lie bothered her. It was the only one she’d ever told to her surrogate mother.

“What happened after you took me home? I still don’t understand. How could he threaten you with jail?”

He was finally talking, and she would not let him stop until he got it all out. The wound had festered long enough.

Levi’s lips twisted bitterly. “I tried to kill him.”

“Levi! No.”

“I hated him, Em. We fought like tigers. I was younger and stronger, but he was meaner. I busted his face up pretty good, broke his nose, maybe a few ribs, but he got to his shotgun.” A line of sweat appeared on Levi’s forehead. The retelling was cathartic but painful too. “He told me to get off his property and never come back or he’d see me in prison. He had the damage from my fists to prove I’d attacked him. I believed him.”

“I wish you’d told me. All these years of thinking I’d done something wrong, that you blamed me.”

“What? No! Never.” His shocked expression shifted to tenderness as he leaned close and stroked her hair. “Emily, you’re the purest, finest person I’ve ever known. If my old man had called the police, everything that happened would have come out. Gossips don’t always get the facts straight, and the facts were bad enough. I couldn’t let you go through that. Gossip, stares, questions. Someone would have blamed you. You know how people are. I couldn’t let that happen. You were embarrassed too much as it was.”

Something sweet, tinged with bitter, twisted in Emily’s chest. He’d loved her that much. “You were trying to protect me.”

“Some job I did of that. My leaving only caused you more grief.” He fell silent, pensive.

Emily raised a hand, tubes dangling, and touched his cheek. “The past is gone. This is the present. Let’s live here.”

“Em. Oh, Em. When I saw you lying in that field, I was afraid I’d lost you forever, and my whole world caved in. I regretted everything.” He tipped his forehead against hers. “Back then, I was a kid without any sense. Don’t let me be that crazy again.”

“What about the manager’s job in Texas?”

“I called Jack Parnell while you were in surgery.”

Her heart jumped, and it had nothing to do with her medical situation. “You’re really staying in Calypso, on the Donley Ranch—your ranch?”

A smile lit his eyes. “On one condition.”

Fatigue began creeping up on her again. Her eyelids drifted down. “What’s that?”

“You live there with me. With us, me and Mason. He needs a good mama to love him.”

The drugs tugged at her consciousness, pulling her back into the shadows. “Mmm, sounds good.”

“Will you marry me, Em? Will you be my wife?”

Her eyelids shot up. “What did you say?”

“This is probably the lousiest timing ever, and I don’t have any fancy words, but marry me, Emily. Let me live in the same house with my heart. Let me be the man I always should have been for you.”

To Emily, the timing couldn’t have been better nor the words any fancier. “Soon?”

“The sooner, the better. I love you, I love you, I love you.” He kissed her eyelids, her mouth, her cheeks, and her eyelids again.

His warm kisses felt so good, so relaxing. Levi was here. He would stay. She would be his wife, and Mason would be their son.

Her reply came in a drowsy whisper. “Love…you.”

Then with a smile on her face, Emily drifted off to sleep.