haven’t hired her. She’s not working here.”
“Then what’s she doing sleeping in our bunkhouse?” Hoss demanded, upset.
“My station wagon got stuck in the mud last night,” Jacey said. She leaned back in her chair slightly, rubbing a gentle, protective hand across her belly.
Turning his attention away from her pregnancy and the unwanted memories it evoked, Rafferty looked at the men. “She’ll be on her way to wherever she was headed—”
“Indian Lodge, in the Davis Mountains State Park and then El Paso,” Jacey informed them with a smile.
“—as soon as the river goes down.”
“Then let’s hope it never goes down,” Curly joshed with a seductive wink aimed her way.
Everyone laughed—including Jacey—everyone except Rafferty. Finished with his breakfast, he stood. He was about to start issuing orders, when Jacey let out a soft, anguished cry.
All eyes went to her.
She blew out a quick, jerky breath. The color drained from her face, then flooded right back in.
“You okay?” every man there asked in unison.
Jacey pushed back her chair, got clumsily to her feet. Trembling, she looked down at the puddle on the seat of her chair. Eyes wide, she whispered, “I think my water just broke!”
THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING! Jacey thought as the door to the bunkhouse opened once again and a silver-haired, older man who bore the same rugged features Rafferty Evans sported walked in. Eyes immediately going to her, he swept off his rain-drenched hat and held it against his chest. “What’s going on?” he asked with the quiet authority of someone who had long owned the place.
Jacey braced herself with a hand to the table. “I think…I’m having my baby,” she said as a hard pain gripped her, causing her to double over in pain.
The ache spreading across her middle was so hard and intense, she couldn’t help but moan.
Her knees began to buckle.
The next thing she knew, Rafferty was at her side. One hand around her spine, the other beneath her knees, her swept her up off her feet and carried her the short distance to the bed where she’d spent the night.
He laid her down gently.
Jacey shut her eyes against the continuing vise across her middle.
“We need to get you to the hospital,” Rafferty said gruffly.
Another pain gripped her, worse than the first. She grabbed Rafferty Evans’s arm and held on tight, increasing her hold as the knifelike intensity built. The combination of panic and pain built; hot tears gathered behind her eyes. Oh, God. “I don’t think I can wait for an ambulance.” Glad she was lying down—she surely would have collapsed had she been on her feet—she blew out another burst of quick, jerky breaths.
This was not something Rafferty wanted to hear. He stared down at her, willing her to stop the labor, as surely as he had rescued her the night before. “Yes. You can.”
Hysterical laughter bubbled up in her throat. She shook her head and tightened her hold on him before he could exit the cook’s quarters. “I can feel the baby coming!”
“It’s still going to take a while.”
Was it? She blew out more air, beginning to feel even more frantic now. This wasn’t supposed to happen for another two weeks!
The group of cowhands pushed their way in. Along with them was the elder rancher. “I just called the hospital,” he reported grimly. “The Medevac chopper can’t take off until the fog lifts, which won’t be for at least another half hour. And with the bridge out…If this baby’s in a hurry, we may have to deliver it ourselves.”
Jacey couldn’t help it—she uttered an anguished cry as another excruciating pain circled her waist, pushing downward.
Vaguely she was aware of Rafferty swearing.
“Don’t look at us!” the group of cowboys said, already backing up, palms raised in surrender. “None of us know anything about birthing babies.”
The elder rancher looked at Rafferty. “Looks like you’re on, son.”
Rafferty did a double take that was no more encouraging. “Why me?” he demanded.
“Because you’re the only one of us who’s had any veterinary training!” Stretch said.
Veterinary training! Jacey thought.
Rafferty looked as unimpressed by his education as Jacey. “One semester,” he stated plainly, glaring at the hired hands who circled the bed. “That hardly qualifies me to work as an obstetrician.”
“Maybe not,” Hoss drawled, “but right now, boss, you’re all we got.”
Besieged with another contraction, Jacey grabbed the blanket she was lying on with both fists. This was going to be some story. First, she got hopelessly lost, something she never did. Then she drove her car into a ditch, spent the night in a bunkhouse, was unwittingly mistaken for the new cook, whipped up breakfast to great acclaim…and then went into hard, fast labor. Next thing she knew…She moaned out loud as the pain increased unbearably. “I can’t believe I’m talking about having my baby delivered by a vet-school dropout!”
“Now, now. He’s got to know something,” Curly soothed with a wink.
“Yeah, he delivers all the horses and cows on the ranch,” Red added helpfully. “The ones that need help birthing anyway.”
“It’s not the same thing,” Rafferty protested grimly.
“Not even close,” Jacey agreed in the same humorless tone.
“Close enough,” the older man countered sagely, stepping in with that cool air of authority once again. “Emergency Medical Services said the docs over at the Summit Hospital E.R. will answer any questions you have and talk you through it until they can get here—just give ’em a call.” He pushed the phone into Rafferty’s hand, then extended his palm to Jacey. “I’m Eli Evans by the way,” he said warmly, reassuring her with a glance that all would be well. “My son and I own this place.”
Eli seemed like a nice guy. Hospitable and ready to lend a hand, unlike his son, who seemed to be offering aid with as much reluctance as Jacey felt receiving it.
Another contraction wrapped around her middle. It was all Jacey could do not to whimper as the pain increased. Recalling her labor coach’s advice to relax and distract herself from the discomfort as much as possible during the early stage of labor, Jacey puffed, “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Her know-it-all sister had been right—Jacey shouldn’t have taken her sweet old time getting to El Paso for the birth.
Jacey forced a determined smile and kept her attention on Eli. “And thanks for the lodging last night.”
“You’re welcome.” Eli squeezed her hand reassuringly, before releasing it. “Although, for the record,” he said mildly, “I would have put you up in the ranch house.”
“My room was fine.” She’d slept well. Which was good, considering what she had ahead of her.
“You ought to taste the breakfast she cooked us,” Stretch remarked.
Eli’s craggy brow lifted in surprise. “You cooked?”
Jacey shrugged as perspiration beaded her entire body. “It seemed a fair trade. Besides, we were all hungry.”
Unable to help herself as the pain increased to defcon levels, she let out a low, keening moan.
Every cowboy in the room—except Rafferty—stepped away from the bed she was lying on. As if it would somehow help to give her space.
And