orthopedic surgeon. They had to take more X-rays so I’m just waiting for them to get back. What are you doing here?”
A tiny lift of her shoulders. “I didn’t feel like going home. I was driving around thinking and thought I’d come see if there was anything I could do.”
Shrewd eyes studied her. “What happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, Holly, I was a cop for a lot of years. I can read body language and smell fear a mile away. You’re scared.” He reached out and grasped one of her hands. Fine tremors still shook it. “See?”
She slumped into one of the plastic seats. “Like I said, I didn’t want to go home. My mother decided to go on a little trip and I was afraid…”
“Afraid of what?”
She looked up at him from the corner of her eye. “My truck wouldn’t start after you left.”
He frowned. “What? It was running fine just a couple of hours earlier. There was never any indication something was wrong.”
“That’s because I don’t think anything was.”
She explained the incidents with the headlights and Joel finally arriving to find the disconnected battery cable.
With each word she uttered, Eli felt his blood pressure rise. And the guilt for leaving her behind. He should have made sure she was on her way before taking off. But he’d been so worried about his dad that he’d messed up.
And possibly put Holly in danger because of it. “I’m so sorry, Holly.”
She waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.”
Eli placed his hands on her shoulder and when she didn’t resist, pulled her close for a gentle hug. His heart thudded at her familiar scent, the coming-home feel of her in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and asked, “Did you see anything at all?”
Without looking up, she said, “I saw somebody. An outline behind the wheel of a car. He positioned himself in a way that kept me from identifying him.” She looped her arms around his waist and sighed.
As right and wonderful as it felt to hold her again, his detective instincts kicked into high gear. “What about the car? Did you recognize it?”
Pulling away, she looked up at him and shook her head. “No, but I didn’t get a good look at it, either. The lights were too bright and when he left, he was in the dark, so I still couldn’t see anything.”
“Sir?”
They looked up. Eli squeezed Holly’s fingers before letting go and reaching to shake the doctor’s hand. Her name tag read Dr. Mary Beth Hill. “Your father’s doing fine. We’ve got him on some pretty strong painkillers so he’s out of it right now, but the X-rays show he didn’t do any more damage to the broken bone. He’s very lucky.”
Relief swept over Eli. “Thank you. When can I take him home?”
“I would say tomorrow. We’re just going to keep him for observation tonight to make sure we haven’t missed anything. If he’s still doing well by lunchtime tomorrow, we’ll discharge him.”
“Great. Thank you so much.”
“No problem.”
Dr. Hill left and Eli turned to Holly. “Guess I’ll be spending the night here tonight.”
She nodded and rose. “Then I’ll see you later.”
“Go on home, boy.” Eli turned to see Buckeye standing in the doorway. “We got those people coming to look at the horses in the morning. Since your daddy is laid up here, it’s going to be up to you to make the sale. My sister lives just up the road a piece. I’ll stay with her tonight and get your dad home tomorrow whenever they spring him.”
“But, Buckeye…” Torn, Eli offered a halfhearted protest. He didn’t want to leave his dad, but he knew they needed the sale. Buckeye didn’t like to handle that end of things and Eli didn’t want to ask him to. “All right. Thanks.” He looked at Holly. “Want me to follow you home?”
Relief at his offer coated her pretty, fragile face. “Sure, if you don’t mind.”
“It’s kind of on the way.” He smiled at her and she reciprocated. His stomach did that funny swooping thing it always did when she looked at him like that. When she let the past go and forgot he’d once acted like a jerk. He really was home to stay this time, no matter what she thought. The promotion he’d applied for last month tickled the back of his mind.
Although, if he hadn’t heard anything by now, it was probably a sure bet he wasn’t going to be offered