This Love (Cowboys & Angels 6)

I sat in the chair behind the large mahogany desk and pulled out my phone. I’d talked to Cord not long ago, and he had mentioned not feeling well. I needed to find out if he was feeling any better.

Hitting Cord’s number, I waited for him to pick up.

A rough sounding voice filled the line. “Hello?”

My heart leapt to me throat. “Cord?”

“Maebh? Baby, what time is it there?”

He sounded bad. Really bad.

“It’s nearly midnight here. Me da is having a party for his birthday. You sound terrible.”

“I feel terrible. I don’t even think I have the energy to go to the doctor to find out if I have the fucking flu.”

Gasping, I jumped up.

“Cord, you need to have one of your brothers or sisters take you…you know your ma would take you in a heartbeat.”

“It’s alright. I’ll go tomorrow. Right now I just want to crawl in bed and go to sleep. I feel like fucking shit.”

Me heart hurt knowing he was sick, and I wasn’t there.

“I’m so sorry I’m not there.”

Silence.

“Cord? Cord!” I shouted.

“Y-yeah…sorry, baby. I took some medicine, and I think it’s knocking me out. Baby, I need to go, my head is fucking pounding.”

“Okay, I love you, Cord. I’ll be home soon.”

“Love you, too.”

Then the line went dead. Jerking the phone away, I stared at it. He hadn’t even said good-bye.

I raced out of the office and through the house. I threw the door to me bedroom open and grabbed me case. I wasn’t going to stay here another minute. Cord needed me and I wanted—no, I needed—to be there for him. I sent a quick text to Amelia, letting her know I was going to leave right away. They didn’t need to know I was going to take me father’s private plane. I had yet to tell Cord exactly how well off me family was. I didn’t want it to be a factor in anything. Not that I thought the Parker family would have liked me more, or befriended me solely because of the wealth I came from. Yet, it was still hard to trust people with that bit of information. I’d seen it change people. Sean, for one. He’d known I was from money, but when he found out how much, it became his mission to make me his wife. The money had changed him. I knew deep down in me heart it wouldn’t change Cord, but I couldn’t risk that yet.

After packing up me things, I set off to find me da. He was in the library with the last remaining guests. One was the Duke of Cambridge. His father and my father were good friends. This was the first time I’d met him, and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice he was. At one point in the evening, he even offered to accompany me on a walk around the garden—something that had been unnecessary, and I had to tell him why.

Me boyfriend in the States would kick his arse.

Walking up to me father, I touched his arm gently. The Duke looked at me with hungry eyes while he let his gaze sweep over me body. I gave him a polite smile and figured he had one too many shots of me da’s whiskey.

“Cord is sick with the flu. I’m going to go home early. Do you think you can get the plane ready?”

He looked at his watch. “At this hour, Maebh? You want to leave now?”

“As soon as the plane can be ready. You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

He nodded and motioned to the few gentlemen left in the library. “Excuse me, I need to make a call.”

They all nodded, and I couldn’t help but notice the Duke’s gaze drop to me chest and then quickly back up. Once upon a time, I might have been turned on by such a handsome man making his interest known, but now, the only thing I could think about was the man I loved back in Texas. The man who was sick and needed me.

I sat back in the large leather chair and wrung me hands. Me da’s plane wouldn’t be ready to go until six in the morning. It was midnight back in Texas so I didn’t want to call and wake up Cord. Once I landed in San Antonio, I’d call Melanie to see how Cord was since it would be mid-morning by the time I landed.

Closing me eyes, I let the tiredness of me body settle in. The plane wasn’t even off the runway when I was lost to sleep. Thank God for private planes with bedrooms.

Nine hours later I rushed to the car park while listening to a message from Cord. He was delirious and taking nonsense. I tried Cord’s phone but it went straight to voicemail. I was thanking God I’d arranged to have Eric bring me car to the airport and leave it. It rang and went to voicemail.