Given half the chance, he would give her everything she deserved and more. Ace would, as well. He knew it as surely as he breathed. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for that one woman meant to be theirs.
She had to wake up first.
The fact she had been unconscious in his bed for nearly twenty hours worried him. He was concerned about not only a concussion and possible amnesia, but a potential brain bleed. He wasn’t equipped to deal with anything worse than stitches in his little mountain cabin. Hell
, Golden was barely able to handle more than broken bones and birth.
It was the one and only downfall to living in the small town. Their hospital was small, and there were no specialists available. If she had internal bleeding—which he didn’t see the normal abdominal bruising to indicate it—or bleeding in her head, they were screwed, and her chances of survival dropped drastically.
“Shake it off, Nick,” he mumbled to himself as he watched Roxie chase a jackrabbit around the yard as he made his way to the wood shed. Grabbing the axe, he hefted it in one hand while tossing logs over by the stump he used to break them on with the other.
The first crack of wood was like a bolt of lightning splitting a tree in two. His arms vibrated with the sheer force of power behind each swing. It wasn’t long before each strike was met with resistance due to weakness in his arms. His small pile of split logs was soon two feet high. He was sweating so hard his shirt was soaked through to his coat.
“You done yet?” he heard Ace ask from the porch. “I’m exhausted from watching you.”
“Whatever. Just get your ass over here and haul this shit inside,” he grumbled. A rumbling motor from a snowmobile could be heard in the distance, hopefully, signalling the doc’s arrival.
Watching as the older man came flying through the field, Nick laughed at the fun he was having spinning round in the fresh snow.
When the motor stopped, Nick walked over to greet the doctor. “How ya doing, Roger?”
“Doin’ good, Nicky boy. This that cousin of yours?” he asked pointing to Ace as he dismounted the outdoor vehicle.
“Sure is. Ace, this is Doc Roger,” Nick introduced.
“Thanks for coming out, doc,” Ace said as he shook his hand.
“Roger’s fine, boy. Now tell me about this problem you have?” Straight to business.
Leading the man inside, they shook the excess snow from their coats as they hung them up before entering their visitor’s room.
Explaining when and where they found the woman, he kindly asked them to leave so he could examine her further. Shutting the door behind them, neither man spoke a word as they waited. Restless, Nick paced his way up and down the hall for what felt like hours.
Rumbling voices could be heard beyond the closed door she was looking at. Whining, too, from a dog, maybe. She wasn’t sure. She couldn’t recall anything. Her name, where she was, what happened to her.
Pain accompanied every breath she took, but that was all she knew. Did those deep voices cause her suffering? Was she trapped? Kidnapped? How did she even know what kidnapped was when she didn’t know her own fucking name!
Rolling to her side, her chest was pierced with such agony that she cried out. The dog started barking rapidly, causing her head to pound. Rushed footsteps were nearly inaudible between the barking and pounding.
When the door flew open, and a dog came dashing through, she screamed as she scrambled backwards off the bed. Landing on the floor had spots dotting her vision from everything she was experiencing. The bombardment of pain and fear escalated to mass proportions, and she feared a blackout was in her future.
“Whoa there, Snow,” one man crooned, coming around the end of the bed. His dirty-blond hair and light eyes made him seem like he might be nice, but what did she know?
Shaking her head, she hoped he would leave her alone. Instead, he sat down.
The other man crawled onto the bed, sitting in the same spot she’d just vacated.
The dog whined at her feet, her little body vibrating.
Deciding the animal was her safest bet, she reached a hand out to it. It immediately leapt towards her. Bracing for the pain the impact would cause, she was surprised when the other guy with his sexy dark hair, deep chocolate eyes, and brooding demeanor said, “Gentle, Roxie,” in a commanding voice, forcing the dog to halt her forward momentum.
She was amazed when Roxie crawled towards her, laying her head on her knees with big brown and blue eyes begging for love. Taking a quick peek at the two men crowding her room, she gingerly laid her own hand on the canine’s head, scratching her ears lightly.
“I’m glad to see you awake; you’ve had us worried,” the man on the bed spoke.
The other one, the lighter one, cleared his throat, grabbing her attention. “Kinda afraid you weren’t gonna wake up.” His shy smile was magnetic. Clearing his throat, he continued talking. She only half-listened as he told her they’d had a doctor come out to see her. Determine her injuries. But without scans and tests, all they knew for sure was that she was beaten and had bruised ribs along with multiple bruises and small contusions on her body.
She was so lost. They were acting as if they knew her. Did they? Should she remember them? The hammering in her head was starting to make her eyes pulse with pain. Shaking her head back and forth, she buried her it in her knees next to Roxie’s panting face.