Texas! Chase #2 Read Online Free PDF

She almost bent double against the assault of his harsh words. The blood drained from her head so quickly, she felt faint.
    The second the words were out of Chase's mouth, his head dropped forward until his bruised chin rested on his chest. He muttered a litany of expletives. Beyond that, the silence in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.
    At last he raised his head. "I'm sorry,
    Marcie."
    She was nervously clasping and unclasping her hands as she stared sightlessly into near space. "I wondered if you blamed me for the accident."
    "I don't. I swear I don't."
    "Maybe not consciously. But deep down—"
    "Not at all. It was a thoughtless, stupid
    thing to say. I told you I'd make an enemy of you. I can't…" He raised his hands helplessly.

    "Sometimes I get so furious about it, I
    turn nasty and victimize whoever happens to be around me at the time. That's why I'm not very good company. That's why I just want to be left alone."
    His emotional pain was so starkly evident, it was easy to forgive him for lashing out at her. He was like a wounded, cornered animal that wouldn't allow anyone to get close enough to help him. For the two years since Tanya's death he had been licking his wounds. They hadn't healed yet. Left alone they never would.
    They would only fester and become worse.
    Chase was no longer capable of helping himself.
    "Do you insist on leaving this hospital?"
    "Yes," he said. "If I have to crawl out."
    "Then let me drive you home. To Milton
    Point."
    "Forget it."
    "Be reasonable, Chase. Where will you go?
    If you were staying with that clown and he's left for Canada, where will you go?"
    "There are plenty of other rodeo folks I can stay with."
    "Who might or might not take proper care of you." She moved closer and laid her hand on his bare shoulder. "Chase, let me drive you to Milton Point."
    Jaw stubbornly set, he said, "I don't want to go home."
    What he didn't know was that Marcie could be as stubborn as he. Her personality had an inflexible streak that few ever saw because she only exercised it when given no alternative.
    "Then I'll call Lucky and discuss with him what I should do with you."
    "The hell you will," he roared. He came off the bed, reeling from his weakened condition when his feet hit the floor. "Leave my family out of this. I'll manage just fine by myself."
    "Oh, sure. You can barely stand up!"
    Gritting his teeth in frustration and pain, he said, "Please go away and leave me alone."
    Marcie drew herself up to her full height. "I
    didn't want to bring up such a delicate subject,

    Chase, but you leave me no choice. There's the matter of the money."
    That took him aback. For a moment he merely stared at her blankly, then, drawing a frown, he growled,
    "Money? What money?"
    "The money it took to admit you to this hospital and get treatment. I didn't think you would want to be admitted as a charity patient, so I paid for everything."
    "You what?"
    "You had no insurance card in your wallet.
    We didn't find a significant amount of money there either, so I footed the bill."
    He gnawed on his lower lip, his agitation plain. "The entry fee was several hundred dollars, but if I hadn't put it up, I couldn't have ridden in the rodeo. I was low on cash."
    "Then it's lucky for you I happened along, isn't it?"
    "You'll get your money."
    "That's right, I will. As soon as we get to
    Milton Point you can withdraw it from your bank account or borrow it from your brother."
    "Marcie," he said, ready to argue.
    "I'm not leaving you to your own devices,
    Chase. According to sources who know you well, you've been drinking too much. How can your body heal if you take no better care of it than that?"
    "I don't give a damn whether it heals or not."
    "Well, I do."
    "Why?"
    "Because I want my five hundred seventy-three dollars and sixty-two cents back." Having said that, she marched to the door and pulled it open. "I'll send a nurse in to help you get dressed." She lowered her eyes pointedly, reminding him that he