A Very Daring Christmas (The Tavonesi Series Book 8) (30 page)

“Let’s go for science.”

He walked out of the store with a chemistry set and a telescope. And four hardballs, a bat and a glove, all wrapped in festive paper with Dylan’s name on each. He stood on the sidewalk. And then went back into the store and got two more bats—one for Sophie and one for Tyler. He juggled the gifts and then tossed them into the backseat of his car.

The bookstore would be more of a challenge. Cameron would’ve known what to buy. But she was off with his kid and Prince Charming. His kid? Not his kid.
Peter’s
kid. He eyed the bar next to the bookstore. And then shrugged and made a beeline for the children’s section of the bookstore.

He piled four of the books from the Friendly Dragon series into the backseat. He’d also bought
Battle Bugs: The Spider Siege
, because he liked both the idea and the cover. By the time he left the bookstore, it was late afternoon. Back at Trovare he stashed the presents under the tree and went off to look for Dylan.

Sabrina cornered him and wanted a full account of his shopping. He had to drag the receipts out of his wallet to remember what he’d bought.

“Where is the little beast?”

Sabrina’s eye twinkled. “Cameron or Dylan?”

“Dylan.”

“About ten minutes ago he was headed out to the barn with Dimitri and Cameron.”

The leaden thunk in his belly came out of nowhere.

When he reached the barn, three of the four horses were out of their stalls.

He scanned the horizon. They had just neared the edge of the pine forest. He saw one of the horses rear. But the rider kept his seat.

Jake saddled the gelding he’d brushed that morning and rode as fast as a coon dog on a scent. He caught up with Dylan’s horse first and snatched him from the saddle. He snuggled Dylan close and wrapped his arm around him. “Hold on to my arms and do not let go.”

Dylan clamped his hands around Jake’s forearms like a vise.

He circled his horse and rode toward Dimitri and Cameron. The next scene couldn’t have played out in slow motion and been any less horrific. Cameron’s horse snorted and reared; Jake saw the snake on the trail. He reached for her reins. Dimitri circled and grabbed at the reins from the other side. But Cameron lost her seat and fell between Dimitri’s horse and hers. Her scream of pain cut through his head.

“Back off!” Jake yelled. He slid Dylan to the ground and then leaped down after him. “Go stand over there.” He pointed to a towering Douglas fir, a safe distance from the horses and from where the snake had slithered into the grass at the other side of the trail. “And do not move.”

Dylan nodded and hurried to the tree.

Jake grabbed his reins and those of Cameron’s horse and dragged both animals a safe distance from where she lay sprawled across the trail.

He knelt over her.

“I’m okay. Dylan—”

“Shhh... don’t try to sit up.” He pressed his hand gently but firmly to her belly to make sure she didn’t move. Though he wanted to cushion her head from the stubbled trail, he knew better than to move her.

After securing his horse, Dimitri ran up to them.

“If you know what’s good for you,
you
will remain quiet.” Jake kept his voice low. “I have had enough of princes and castles and movies. What the hell were you thinking, bringing them out here on these horses?” He held up a hand. “No, don’t answer that. Go back to the barn. Call 911. And take Dylan with you. On foot. Send Alex and Sabrina for the horses.”

“I have a better idea.” Dimitri pulled his cellphone from his pocket. But then shook his head. “No reception here.”

“It’s
my
fault,” Cameron said through the tears streaming down her face. She pressed against Jake’s palm, resisting him.

“Don’t move around, Cameron. Please. Try to relax.”

“I had a few lessons. And Dylan said he knew how to ride and—”

“No, it’s my fault,” Dylan said, wiping at his tears with his sleeve as he walked over to the three of them. “I lied. But I wanted to ride. And you weren’t around, and I didn’t want to stay in the barn alone and”—he snorted a sob—“I’m sorry.”

Jake hoped the kid hadn’t inherited the Ryder thrill-seeking genes along with his looks.

“If it’s anybody’s fault it’s
mine
,” Dimitri said. “I know horses. I shouldn’t have believed either one of them when they said they could ride.”

The remorse and concern written on the guy’s face told Jake more about the man than he’d been willing to see.

“
She’s
an actress, and
he’s
a rascal,” Jake said, surprising himself with his effort to let Dimitri off the hook. “They would’ve fooled me too.”

Jake put his hands on Dylan’s shoulders. “Look, it’s okay. There was a snake in the path. You didn’t put that snake there, did you?”

Dylan shook his head and hauled in a shuddering breath.

“Some horses always spook at snakes.” He turned back to Cameron. “
Please
stay as still as you can. You could have a concussion. I’ll stay here with you and wait for the EMTs.”

He hadn’t said so many damn
pleases
in his life. Cameron’s tears had stopped, and though she didn’t show it, he knew she had to be in some pretty bad stomach-crunching pain.

“My head’s okay,” she said. “It’s my arm that hurts. I think I broke it.”

She started to shiver. Jake took off his jacket and tucked it around her and then turned to Dylan. “Go with Dimitri back to the barn.”

“I don’t want to go with him. I want to stay with you and with Cameron.”

“No.” Dylan started to protest, but Jake held up a hand to stop him. “Go with Dimitri.”

“I can make better time running back if he stays with you,” Dimitri said. “And I believe he would prefer to stay with you.”

He had a good point. And he was thinking of Dylan’s feelings. Jake stared up at him. Dimitri didn’t blink.

Maybe the guy was a prince after all.

“Do they spray something in American hospitals to make the smell repulsive?” Coco asked as she entered Cameron’s room.

“They have me so doped up I can’t smell a thing. But you look lovely.”

“Maybe I should try some of those drugs.”

“Well, I do see two of you.”

Coco’s eyes went wide, and Cameron added, “Just kidding. I’m really fine. I have this lovely cast, sort of like a new friend. Wait till my director gets a whiff of this. He’ll have a cow.”

“A cow?”

Sometimes she forgot that Coco was Italian. She was accustomed to the Tavonesis, thought of them as one big family. And though they were, the recently transplanted Italian branch was still adjusting to life in California.

“It’s a figure of speech. I have no idea where it came from. It means he’ll be quite upset.”

“I like ‘have a cow’ better.”

Cameron crooked her finger, drawing Coco close. “Can you get me out of here?”

“I barely got myself
in
here. They’re being very strict with you.”

“Better than allowing strangers with cameras to run around, I suppose. What’s going on at Trovare?” She wanted to ask about Jake and Dylan, but didn’t feel right about doing so with Coco.

Coco tapped her bright red nails on the rail of Cameron’s hospital bed. “Where to start?”

“The suspense, enhanced by the haze of the drugs, is killing me.”

“Sabrina told me to apologize for her. She had to deal with making room for my sisters and Jackie’s brother, who just arrived. You should have seen Pippa’s eyes go wide when she met Cory. Should be a very interesting Christmas.”

Holding her bruised ribs, Cameron suppressed her laugh but couldn’t resist a smile. “It already is.”

“I think you should know that Alex told Sabrina who told
me
that Jake took the Nike contract so he could send money to your project in Dominia. Alex wrote a check too, she said.” She grinned. “I am the bluebird of good news.”

“You are indeed the bluebird of good news.” She didn’t correct Coco’s phrase. God knew there was enough bad news in the world. Maybe good news needed a mascot.

But Coco’s report about Jake’s donation wasn’t just good news. A wave of shame rolled in as Cameron remembered the catty remark she’d made to Jake during the cookie baking. Fooled by her own prejudices, she’d misjudged his motivations. And seeing him with Dylan had shown her once again that Jake was so much more than he appeared. The lens of her fears and the assumptions her defenses had spawned with such force had blurred her ability to see the man. But not anymore. As she’d lain in the hospital bed waiting for word on whether or not she had a concussion, every word, every touch, every moment she’d shared with Jake had come into fine focus. The realization that had flooded her, rearranging what she knew to be true, wasn’t due to the drugs.

“I brought you something to cover this bed.” Coco pulled a red, green and gold throw from the bag she held and spread it over the plain white hospital-issue blanket. “There. Much cheerier.”

“I think I love him.”

Coco tucked the edge of the throw under Cameron’s feet. “Alex? We
all
love Alex.”

“Jake.”

Coco stopped fussing with the throw and put her hands to her hips. “Ah. You finally admit this thing that is so easy for others to see.”

“But we aren’t compatible. We have different goals for our lives. Completely different.”

Coco groaned. “Americans! I wonder that you have
any
people on this continent, you are so stupid in matters of love. What does compatibility have to do with anything? What is love if not to be entangled in separate elations?” She tapped Cameron’s leg. “Differences are the
richness
of life. If you and Jake were the same, one of you wouldn’t be needed.”

Cameron lay back onto the rough white linen pillow. She’d been warned about the chimerical young philosopher of the Tavonesi family, yet she hadn’t had a dose of full-on Coco until now. Maybe it was the drugs, but what Coco said sank deep.

A nurse came in with a tray holding a pain pill and a glass of water. “I think Miss Kelley should rest now.”

“If you love him, you’d better tell him,” Coco said as she gathered her purse and headed for the door. She peered into the corridor. “And it looks like you just might have a chance right now. I’m tempted to stay for the show.”

“
Coco
.”

“I’m going. But remember what I said.”

Cameron took the pill from the plastic cup the nurse held out. She popped it into her mouth but was careful to hold it under her tongue. She wanted a clear head. But the energy buzzing in her chest had nothing to do with her head.

“I had to pretend I was family to get in here,” Jake said as he sailed through the door. His smile faded when he saw the scowling nurse.

“This is
not
visiting time. Miss Kelley needs to rest now.”

“I’ll stay just a few minutes,” Jake said.

“I’ll be back to make sure.”

“Alex hired her,” Cameron said after the nurse left the room. “Private duty. She’s driving me mad.” Her hand trembled as she fished the pill out of her mouth. “She would’ve stood here all night until I took this.”

“You should take the painkillers. You have to stay ahead of pain. Trust me, I know.” He handed her the glass of water from her bedside table. “Down the hatch.”

It would take more than a little white pill to seal up the heartbreak starting to rumble in her chest. Why would the universe bring her this man at this time and yet have him on a life path so incompatible with what she wanted in her own life? She swallowed the pill and handed the glass back to him. “You may have missed your calling.”

“Nope. I faint at the sight of blood. I once clipped an umpire with my bat on a backswing. His nose started to bleed, and I fainted in the batter’s box. I think it was an MLB first.”

He smiled when she laughed and then grimaced as she moaned with pain.

“I’m sure the nurse wouldn’t approve of my making you laugh.”

“I have to get out of here.” Not just out of the hospital, but away from Jake. Before she made a fool of herself. He had been honest about what he wanted for his life. She should’ve listened to her head. But her heart had dodged her common sense.

“We’ll get you out tomorrow if I have to carry you out. Your brain scans were good, Sabrina told me. No concussion.”

“Then I have nothing to blame my stupidity on. How is Dylan? I feel so awful about scaring him.”

“He’ll be better when you come back to Trovare.”

She couldn’t miss the gentle message. Or was the drug taking effect and allowing her to turn his words into what she wanted to hear?
Stay focused. Talk about Dylan.
She had plenty to say about her guilt for being so stupid with Dylan.

“God, scaring him that way on top of his mother dying—I’m worse than my mother, being impulsive like that. I know better.”

Jake touched her hand. “Hey, you wanted him to have some fun.”

At his touch, warmth spread through her body. But before she could enjoy the fleeting feeling, a young man in green scrubs entered the room. He eyed Jake but continued moving until he was beside her bed. He darted a look over his shoulder and then leaned in close to her.