Montana Reunion by Soraya Lane Page B

louder and she
opened her eyes. “Jack?” her voice sounded hoarse.
    His heart rate seemed to slow the
moment she spoke.
    “Yeah, it’s me. Can you move your
legs?”
    Maddison groaned again, but she managed to turn her body, gingerly stretching her legs.
    “I think I fell off,” she said,
wincing as she sat up.
    “Yeah, I think you might have.” He
couldn’t help but laugh, because it was better than being angry at her. “You
have any idea how much you scared me?”
    She shut her eyes. “Do you have any
idea how much my head hurts? It’s like it could actually split open.” Maddison had her palm pressed to her forehead, the other
hand bracing herself upright.
    “That’s what happens when you jump
goddamn fences without a helmet on,” he scolded, the anger starting to take
hold again now that he was convinced she was fine. “You’re lucky I didn’t
arrive to find you with a serious head injury instead of concussion.”
    Maddison opened her eyes and managed a brave, weak smile. “I’m sorry.”
    “I’m just glad you’re okay,” he
muttered. “Let’s get you up and I’ll take you to my place. Check you over.”
    He bent to put his arm around her,
slowly helping her rise to her feet.
    “Ouch!” She put what felt like all
her weight into him.
    Jack changed his mind and picked
her up instead, not wanting her to put any more strain than she had to on
whatever was hurting. “Rosa, scoot over.”
    His dog moved across toward the
driver’s seat and he helped Maddison slide in.
    “Jack?”
    He let go of her and held on to the
door as he leaned back.
    “Thank you.”
    He touched her shoulder and shut
the door, walking around the back to the driver’s side. She was okay . He needed to keep reminding himself that. She was fine, and nothing was going to
happen to her.
    Trouble was , he didn’t believe himself. Not really.
    He’d
thought he just couldn’t be a father, but maybe he wasn’t capable of being a
husband either. Because just when he’d though he could handle someone like Maddison being part of his life, she’d gone and shown him
just how easy it would be to lose her. And for him to have something else to blame himself for.
    “Do you have pain meds?” Maddison asked him when he finally got in the vehicle.
    Jack forced a smile, not wanting
her to know how rattled he was. “I should have something.”
    “Good.” She put her head back and
shut her eyes again, like she was trying to block the pain out. “Because I don’t want dad worrying about me, so I might stay at
your place a while. If you don’t mind.”
    She turned her head and opened her
eyes, but he refused to look back at her, kept his eyes on what he was doing.
What he needed was to take her home – try to forget all about the fact that Maddison even existed, let alone that he’d been considering
marrying her or the fact she could have died on his land – and be alone for a
while.
    “Sure thing,” he heard himself say.
    Or he could be a complete pussy and do
whatever she wanted.
    Maddison was slowly starting to feel human again. The thump in her head had retreated,
but she was still tender. Her ankle wasn’t broken, given that the burning pain
was starting to subside slightly, and she could almost flex it again.
    “Pain meds kicking in yet?”
    She looked up at Jack’s words. “Yeah, starting to.”
    He walked into the room, standing
back to watch her, looking at her like she might suddenly snap in two. She knew
she’d given him a fright, but she hadn’t given him credit for how hard it must
have been, finding her lying there.
    “You manage to find Finn?” she
asked.
    “Yeah, still grazing near where I
left him,” Jack said, slowly moving closer, hands deep in his pockets. “I took
his saddle off, checked him over, then let him loose.”
    “Thanks.” She snuggled further
beneath the quilt he’d brought her. “I was worried about him. Even when I was
busy smacking the ground,” she said ruefully.
    Jack’s