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  “You’re not sure what you want, are you? The temptation to go with him is there, but you don’t feel good about doing it. Am I right?”

  Norah was a little surprised at how easily her father had identified her dilemma, but she merely shrugged in reply.

  “You like Rowdy Cassidy, don’t you?” her father asked.

  Norah added cocoa to the warm milk and stirred briskly. “He’s stubborn as a mule, and I swear I’ve never known anyone more egotistical. His arrogance is beyond explaining and he—”

  “But you like him.” Her father spoke again, and this time his words were a statement and not a question.

  Norah’s hand stilled. “I think there must be something wrong with me, Dad. Rowdy’s in love with Valerie—he might as well have come right out and said it.”

  “You’re sure about that?”

  Norah wasn’t sure of anything. Not now. For one thing, it just didn’t make sense that Rowdy could hold her and kiss her the way he had if he was really in love with her sister.

  “Valerie came to see him…while I was there. He asked her to come and work for him again.” She turned back to the stove and resumed stirring. Her feelings about what had taken place between Rowdy and her sister hadn’t sorted themselves out in her mind yet. What did his offer to Valerie really mean? Was he so desperate to have her back in his life that he was willing to ignore her marriage to Colby? A sharp pain cut through her at the thought.

  “Are you sure you’re not mistaking regret for love?” her father asked gently. “Rowdy and Valerie worked together for a heck of a long time. Her engagement came as a shock to him. My feeling about their last confrontation—when Val flew to Houston—was that they both said things they later regretted.”

  “Valerie didn’t say no, but she did ask for time to think it over. She refused to make a commitment either way.” Norah poured the steaming cocoa into mugs and carried them to the table. “But you know, I think that was exactly what Rowdy expected from her. He was angry at first, but I had the impression it was more for show than anything.”

  David chuckled, then sipped his hot chocolate. “My guess is that being thwarted by two of my girls in one evening came as something of a shock to the boy.”

  Norah paused. “How’d you know I turned him down?”

  David shrugged. “I just do. I’m not sure why, but I knew you had. Are you having second thoughts now?”

  “And third. Earlier I was positive I’d made the right decision—and now I’m not.”

  Knowing that Rowdy would be out of her life in a matter of days had given her pause. His reaction was apparently the same. He didn’t need a private nurse, and if she’d accepted his generous offer, she’d only be there to provide entertainment… Norah sighed.

  Her father pointed at the sapphire-and-diamond necklace. “Is that new?” he asked.

  Norah’s hand went to her throat and she nodded. “Rowdy gave it to me—as a bribe, I suspect. I guess I should return it to him. Actually, I’d forgotten I had it on. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

  “Very. If you want my advice about the necklace, keep it. Rowdy never intended it as a bribe. He’s truly grateful for everything you’ve done.” He swallowed the last of his chocolate and stood.

  “How can you be so certain?” Norah wanted to know.

  Her father hesitated, frowning slightly. “I just am.” With that, he turned and walked away.

  When Norah arrived at the hospital late the next morning, Rowdy’s bed was empty.

  She walked into the room and for a moment was too stunned to move. After spending a restless night weighing the pros and cons of his offer, she felt she had to talk to him again, even if it meant visiting the hospital on her day off.

  “Looking for someone?” Rowdy asked from behind her.

  She whirled around to discover him sitting in a wheelchair, his leg extended and supported. “When did this happen?”

  “Only a few minutes ago. Sure feels good to be out of that bed.”

  Norah laughed and knew immediately what she wanted to do. “I imagine it does. Wait here. I’ll be right back, I promise.” She checked in at the nurses’ station, scanned Rowdy’s chart and quickly returned to his room.

  “What are you doing now?” he asked when she stepped behind the wheelchair and began to push him down the hallway. “Hey, where are we going? Not so fast,” he muttered. “I’m getting dizzy… Besides, I want a chance to take in the view. All I’ve seen for weeks are the four same walls.”

  “Just be patient,” Norah said, enjoying herself. Finding his bed empty had sent her into a tailspin. But once she’d seen him and decided what she should do, she’d felt an overwhelming sense of relief. She was almost giddy with it.

  “Are you kidnapping me?” he joked, when she backed him into the elevator. “Sounds a bit kinky, but I could go for that.”

  “Hush now,” she said, smiling at a visiting priest who shared the elevator with them.

  “I always knew you were crazy about me,” Rowdy continued. “But I never realized how much.”

  “Rowdy!” She rolled her eyes, then looked in the priest’s direction. “You’ll have to excuse him, Father. He’s just spent the past few weeks tied to a bed.”

  “So I see.” The priest glanced at Rowdy’s right leg.

  “There were…other complications,” Norah said with an exaggerated sigh.

  “Poor fellow. I’ll be saying a prayer for you, young man.”

  “Thank you, Father,” Rowdy said so seriously that it was all Norah could do not to break into giggles.

  The morning was gorgeous. The sun was shining, and the scent of blooming flowers drifted past on a warm breeze. Robins, goldfinches and bluebirds flitted about, chirping exuberantly.

  Following a paved pathway, Norah pushed the wheelchair toward a small knoll of rosebushes that overlooked the town. Orchard Valley lay spread out like an intricate quilt below them. Norah stepped forward to watch Rowdy’s face when he saw her home.

  For a long moment he said nothing. “It’s a peaceful sort of place, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” she said quietly. “People still care about one another here.” She sat on a stone bench and breathed in the fresh morning air.

  “Is this the reason you won’t come with me?” Rowdy asked, gazing out over the town. “Because you don’t want to leave Orchard Valley?”

  “No,” she answered honestly. “You’re the reason.”

  “Me?” He wore a puzzled, hurt look. “It’s the necklace, isn’t it? You assume that because I gave you a gift I was asking you to be more than my nurse.”

  “No,” she told him. “That didn’t even cross my mind. It’s so many other things.” She leaned back, resting her hands on the sun-warmed bench. “I’ve never been more impressed by anyone than by you, Rowdy Cassidy. Your business judgment, your decisiveness, your sheer nerve. Your kindness, too. Just when I’m convinced you’re the most egotistical man I’ve ever met, you do something wonderful that completely baffles me.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like offering my sister the job she wanted.”

  “I’d behaved badly with Valerie. We both knew it, and it was up to me to make amends. I suppose you think I’m carrying a torch for her.” He paused as if he were trying to decipher her expression. “But I swear that isn’t true. If you must know, I felt cheated when Valerie returned to Houston engaged. I’d missed her all those weeks, and I was looking forward to having her back. Next thing I know, she announces she’s going to marry some doctor.” He shook his head. “I’ll tell you, it felt like a slap in the face when I heard about Colby.”

  A weight seemed to lift from Norah’s shoulders. Impulsively, she leaned forward just enough to brush her lips against his cheek.

  Perplexed, Rowdy raised his hand to his jaw. “What was that for?”

  “A reward for getting Colby’s name right.” She smiled in relief. Rowdy’s resentment toward Valerie’s husband was gone and, however reluctantly, he’d
accepted both the situation and the man. She also had a glimmer of insight into his feelings: his pride had taken a severe battering. Rowdy was used to being in control, and suddenly—with Valerie—he wasn’t. “Sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

  “Don’t be so hasty.” He folded his arms, relaxing in the warm sun. “What will you do if I say Colby’s name three times in rapid succession?”

  Norah smiled. “I don’t know. I might go completely wild.”

  Rowdy laughed outright, then grew serious. “Hey, I’m going to miss you.”

  Norah lowered her eyes as dread filled her. “I’m going to miss you, too,” she whispered.

  He reached for her hands, covering them with his own. “Come with me, Norah,” he said. “I’ll work out something with the hospital. I’ll buy the whole building if I have to, but I want you by my side.”

  The temptation to be with him was so strong that Norah briefly closed her eyes against the almost physical pull she experienced. “I…can’t.”

  “Why?” he demanded, clearly exasperated. “I don’t understand it. You want to come, I know you do, and I want you with me. Is that so hard to understand?”

  Norah pressed her hands against the sides of his face. He was so dear to her. When she said goodbye to him, she was sure a small part of her would die.

  “Answer me,” he pleaded.

  Norah felt the emotion building in her, felt tears crowd into her eyes. “You need to realize something about me, Rowdy. Right now, you know me as a competent nurse, as Valerie’s little sister, but you don’t really know me. I have lots of friends and I like to go out, but basically I’m a homebody. Oh, I enjoy traveling now and again, but home is where my heart is. I love to bake and knit. Every year I plant a huge vegetable garden.”

  His expression revealed how mystified he was.

  “I’m nothing like Valerie. She’s so talented in ways I’m not.”

  “Do you think I’ve got the two of you confused?”

  “No,” she said softly. “I just don’t want you to think of me as her replacement.”

  His eyes widened and he slowly shook his head. “No. I swear to you that isn’t the case.”

  “You don’t need a nurse. You’ll do fine if you use a bit of common sense. Once the cast is off, you’ll require physical therapy for a while, but I won’t be able to help you with that, anyway. I’m not trained for it.”

  “I like being with you,” he said defensively. “Is that so wrong?”

  “No.”

  “Then what exactly is the problem?”

  “You don’t know the kind of person I am….”

  “That’s what I’d like to find out,” he argued, “if you’d give me half a chance and quit being so stubborn.”

  “I’m traditional and old-fashioned,” she said, ignoring his outburst, “and…you’re not. I’m the kind of woman who enjoys sitting by the fireplace and knitting at night. I’m not an adventurer, a risk-taker, like Valerie. I love my own familiar little world. And…and someday I want to marry and raise a family.”

  “I wanted to hire you as a nurse,” Rowdy growled. “Next thing I know, you’re talking about marriage and babies. You’re right—it was a terrible idea. Forget I ever suggested it.”

  Norah hadn’t explained herself well. He assumed she was looking for a marriage proposal, and she wasn’t. Refusing his job offer was simply a form of self-protection. Because it would be so easy to lose her heart to Rowdy Cassidy and she couldn’t allow that to happen.

  By his own admission, he wasn’t the marrying kind, despite what he’d felt for Valerie. Nothing in Rowdy’s life, not a wife, not children, would ever be more important to him than CHIPS.

  Rowdy was due to be discharged from the hospital the following day. Norah had been on duty since seven; at nine, the flowers started to arrive. Huge bouquets of roses and orchids, one for every staff member on the second floor. Rowdy had ordered them to show his appreciation for the excellent care he’d received. The gesture touched Norah, reminding her how thoughtful and generous he could be.

  She’d braced herself for this day. Within a few hours, the infamous Rowdy Cassidy would be released from the hospital. He’d be out of Orchard Valley and out of her life.

  Arrangements had been made for a limousine to pick him up at the hospital’s side entrance, to avoid the ever-curious press.

  Karen Johnson had asked Norah if she wanted to be the one to wheel him out, and she’d agreed. From the hospital the limousine would drive Rowdy into Portland, where he was scheduled to hold a short news conference before boarding a Learjet for Texas.

  His stay at Orchard Valley Hospital was almost over. CHIPS and the world he knew best were waiting for him. Instinctively, Norah understood that once he left Orchard Valley he’d never return.

  An hour later she was wheeling an empty chair down the corridor to his room when she saw her father. She was so surprised she went completely still.

  “Dad, what are you doing here?”

  “Can’t a man come visiting without being drilled with questions?”

  “Of course, but I didn’t know any of your friends were here.”

  “They aren’t. I’ve come to talk to that rascal Cassidy.”

  “Rowdy?”

  “Got any other rascal cowboys I don’t know about?”

  “No…it’s just that he’s about to be discharged.” She couldn’t imagine what her father planned to say. In fact, the whole family seemed to be taking a new interest in Rowdy. Karen had said that Colby had stopped in to see him the day before. Apparently the two men had hit it off and could be heard laughing. Rowdy hadn’t mentioned the meeting to Norah, but then there hadn’t been much of a chance to talk to him, either.

  “Rowdy’s driver will wait,” her father said confidently. “I promise I won’t keep him long.”

  “But, Dad…”

  “Give us ten minutes, will you? And make sure we’re not disturbed.”

  Norah’s heart started to race. “You’d better tell me what you intend to say to him.”

  Her father stopped abruptly and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I’m not going to say anything about my dream, if that’s what’s worrying you. It’s likely to scare him so bad we’ll never see hide nor hair of him again.”

  “Dad!”

  “No, it wouldn’t be a good idea, Norah. The minute he heard about those six youngsters, he’d be out of here so fast it’d make your head spin.”

  Rowdy, nothing. Her head was spinning. “Then why do you want to see him?”

  “That, my darling Norah, is between me and the cowboy.”

  Norah possessed her mother’s calm nature. She wasn’t easily flustered, but her father had managed to do it in a matter of seconds. She paced outside Rowdy’s door, wishing desperately that the walls weren’t so thick and she could listen in on their conversation.

  In less than the predicted ten minutes, which felt more like a lifetime, her father reappeared, grinning from ear to ear. Norah stopped cold when he sauntered out of the room.

  “He’s a decent fellow, isn’t he?”

  Norah was too numb to do anything more than nod.

  With a roguish wink, her father walked away.

  It took her a moment to compose herself. When she hurried into Rowdy’s room, he was sitting on the bed, fully dressed, a brand-new Stetson beside him.

  “Your father was just here.”

  “I know,” she said, doing her best to act casual. “Did he have anything important to say?”

  Rowdy didn’t answer immediately. “Yeah, he did,” he finally said. But he didn’t elaborate, and Norah was left with a long list of unanswered questions.

  Robbins came in to tell him the limousine was ready. Norah brought the wheelchair and adjusted Rowdy’s leg in the most comfortable position. She took her time, until she realized she was only delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later she’d have to wheel him outside.

  Ms. Emerich was already sitting ins
ide the limousine. The driver was waiting to assist Rowdy, and Robbins, too, seemed eager to do what he could. But Rowdy dismissed their offers. “In a minute,” he told them.

  With the help of his crutches he maneuvered his way out of the wheelchair and stood upright. It was the first time Norah had seen him standing and she was astonished by what a large man he was. She came barely to his shoulders.

  “Well, angel face,” he said softly, his eyes holding hers, “this is goodbye.”

  She nodded, but found she couldn’t speak for the lump in her throat.

  “I wish I could say it’s been fun.”

  Norah laughed; she couldn’t help it. “You’ll be your normal self again before you know it.”

  “I expect I will,” he agreed. He reached out and touched her face. “Take care, you hear?” Then he turned away and moved toward the car.

  Seven

  Rowdy Cassidy drove away without so much as a backward glance. The least he could have done was kiss her goodbye, Norah thought. The least he could’ve done was give her one last memory….

  Norah straightened, more determined than ever to put the man out of her mind. And her heart.

  She’d start immediately, she decided, marching back to the hospital with every intention of calling Ray Folsom, who worked in the X-ray department. He’d asked her out to dinner a week or so earlier, but she’d been busy with Rowdy and had declined. Norah stopped at the reception desk in X-ray, planning to leave a message for Ray. The woman on duty glanced up expectantly when Norah approached.

  “Anything I can do for you?” she asked.

  Sighing, Norah placed both hands on the counter and opened her mouth to speak. Then she shook her head. She wasn’t ready to date anyone.

  Unless, of course, it was Rowdy Cassidy.

  A week passed, and Norah swore it was the longest of her life. Fortunately, the preparations for Steffie’s wedding helped fill the void left by Rowdy’s absence. There was some task to occupy almost every evening and for that, at least, Norah was grateful.

  She noticed how closely her family watched her, and she did her best to seem cheerful and unconcerned. It went without saying that Rowdy wouldn’t call. He’d laid his best offer on the table and she’d turned him down. It was over; he’d made that clear.