Rory

Evernight
Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2014 Vanessa
Devereaux

 
ISBN: 978-1-77130-801-4

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Kerry
Genova

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All
names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

To Uncle Freddy

RORY

Big Sky
Cowboys, 3

Vanessa
Devereaux

Copyright © 2014

Chapter One

Rory couldn’t figure out if the
music was in his dream or not. Wherever its origins, it was persistent. He
turned over in bed and suddenly recognized the tune.

It was his cell phone jingle.

He’d let his niece, Emily, pick
it for him. She knew every word of the song. Funny how he’d loved it when she’d
sung it to him, but right now, if he heard another note, he’d throw the damn thing
out the window.

He slapped the bedside table,
finding everything but the phone. He knocked the paperback he’d been reading earlier
that night on the floor. Next the bedside lamp teetered, almost joining the
book before he reached and caught it.

Still the jingle played on.

“Shit. That’s downright
obnoxious. Note to self, pick another tune.”
 
He swung his legs out from under the bed covers, and squinted at the
clock, hoping he’d be able to see the time without having to find his reading
glasses. The numbers were blurry, but he could just about make out that it was
six minutes after midnight.

No one called with good news at
this time of night. He hoped everything was okay with his mom. She’d had heart
surgery three months ago, but according to the doctors she was doing just fine.
He flicked on the light and tried to get his eyes adjusted to the sudden
brightness.

The tune continued. Whoever was
calling wasn’t giving up which meant it had to be very important. He grabbed
the phone and pressed the green button, his heart picking up tempo, silently
praying that nothing had happened to his mom or another member of the Malone
family.

“Hello.” Rory couldn’t help but
yawn as he spoke.

“Can I speak to Rory Malone?”

It was a woman’s voice. One that
he didn’t recognize which sent him into more of a panic, thinking it might be a
doctor or even the police.

“Yes, this is Rory Malone.”

“This is Saint Patrick’s Hospital
in Tacoma Washington.”

He went cold.
Midnight
and someone calling from a hospital.
His initial inclination at been
right, someone was sick. He tried to think if anyone he knew was in Washington
State. Nope, all the family including his mother, Shane, Flynn and their
families were safe in Timber Creek and hadn’t gone traveling.

“We found your name listed on the
emergency contact number for Cassandra Perkins.”

Rory’s heart beat even faster. Cass.
Something had happened to Cass. He stood and began pacing beside his bed. He’d
told her to list him as her next of kin when she’d left town.

“Is she okay?” he asked.

Please
let her be all right.

“She was brought into the ER
tonight.”

He ran his hand through his hair.
“Anything serious?”

Dumb question to
ask Malone.
They didn’t take you there because of a paper cut.

“She was the victim of a hit and
run driver.”

Holy shit.
The poor girl.
When would her bad luck end?

“Is she going to be all right?”

“It’s hard to say right now.
She’s been rushed into surgery, so we think someone should be here for her.”

“Of course.
I’ll check on
flights and be there as soon as I can. If you’re able to talk to her, tell her
Rory’s on his way, okay.”

“I’ll do that Mr. Malone, and
thank you for your help.”

Rory pressed the end call button
and didn’t know quite what to do next, pack or tell Flynn that he’d need him to
take over running the ranch while he was gone. Tell the family about Cass. Book
a flight was probably top priority. He tried to dial the number for the airline
but was suddenly all fingers and thumbs.

What sort of person knocked someone
down and then just left the scene? He tried to dial again, but gave up because
his hands were shaking.
 
Booking online would
probably be better. He walked out of the bedroom and into the study where he
fired up his computer.

He yawned again as he typed in
the airline’s URL and checked on flights. They had one leaving Missoula at 8:00
a.m. He’d also need to hire a car once he arrived in Tacoma. He made a note of
St. Patrick’s, just in case he forgot what hospital Cass was at. He’d need to
leave around five to get to Missoula in time for the flight. If he got back to
sleep straight away, maybe he’d get some shut eye for a few hours.

He stood and walked back to the
bedroom. He got under the covers on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. While
he was looking forward to seeing Cass again, he just wished it was under better
circumstances.

****

Cass felt like she was sinking
down into an abyss. Her mouth was dry, devoid of any saliva, and her throat
felt like shards of glass were clinging to her tonsils. And her nose, well she
was positive something had been shoved up both her nostrils. She raised her
hand to try and clear the blockage, but intense pain shot through her arm and
shoulder. She quickly lay still hoping it would go away, but it didn’t.

She wanted to cry.

 
Just where the hell
am
I?

Nothing seemed familiar as she
focused on her surroundings. She heard people talking close by but didn’t
recognize any of the voices.

“Hi Cass.”

It was a woman who’d spoken her
name.

She turned toward the voice.
 
She squinted, trying her best to get her
vision in focus.
Somebody in scrubs with a stethoscope
hanging around their neck.
Yikes, it was a nurse standing over her.
Something had to be seriously wrong.

She tried to sit up, but a
stabbing pain shot through every muscle in her legs and back.

“Cassandra, just relax because
you’ve had surgery.”

Surgery…now it was slowly coming
back to her. She was crossing the road, heading back to her apartment when a
car had come from literally out of the blue. She recalled being hit, being
thrown in the air and then hitting the blacktop. She remembered her body
feeling like it had been broken into tiny pieces, and after that she must have
blacked out.

“I can’t remember coming to the
hospital.”

“You were unconscious when they
brought you in.”

“When can I go home?”
The nurse shook her head. “You had surgery on your leg, it was broken in a
couple of places and the surgeon had to put some pins in it. You have
contusions on your head, face, and arms. We’re also monitoring you for a
possible concussion.”

Cass eased herself back on the
pillow. Jeez, could anything else go wrong. She wouldn’t be able to work, and the
rent was due next week. No, she didn’t want to think about the
other
payment that was already overdue.

“But don’t worry because Rory
Malone is on his way to be with you.”

Rory… He’d made her write his
name and number on a sheet of paper under which she’d written
call this number in case of an emergency
,
right before she’d left Timber Creek.
 
She
hadn’t seen him since then, and now he was on his way to be with her. What
would he think of her in this mess?

“Can I have a mirror?” she asked.

“Sure, sweetie but I warn you, your
face is pretty battered.”

The nurse pulled open the drawer
on the cabinet by the bed, got out a mirror and handed it to Cass. However, her
fingers and wrist hurt too much to keep a grip on it.

“Here sweetie, let me hold it for
you.”

The nurse held it in front of Cass’s
face. Oh shit. Pretty battered was an understatement. The nurse had been
downright diplomatic with her choice of words. Cuts and abrasions covered her
face, and her hair looked like it hadn’t been combed or washed for days. At least
the black eye she’d gotten before the accident blended in with the rest of the
injuries. In fact, now she wondered if the car…no, they wouldn’t go that far.
And whatever she did she couldn’t let Rory know about her little problem.

“Do you know when Rory will get
here?” Cass asked.

“He called about thirty minutes
ago to say the plane had landed, and he was on his way to pick up his rental
car and then he’d be right with you.”

She sunk back in the bed. Out of
all the Malone brothers; Rory was the one who reminded her most of Ryan. She
fought back a tear. Seeing him again was going to open up wounds she’d done her
best to seal.

Chapter Two

Rory wasn’t sure if Cass would be
in the mood for food, or even be allowed to eat anything after surgery, so he’d
opted to buy a bunch of flowers from the hospital gift store. He was dead on
his feet. He hadn’t even had time to shave before he’d left the ranch. He
caught sight of his reflection in the aluminum panel on the elevator door as he
waited to go up to the fifth floor. He looked like shit. What would Cass think?
He lifted his cowboy hat to check what sort of shape his hair was in just as he
heard the ting of the elevator door opening. He nodded at two nurses as they
got out and walked by him

“Beautiful
arrangement.
Someone’s going to be lucky,” said one of them.

He didn’t know much about
flowers, but he’d obviously chosen well.

Rory pressed the button for the
fifth floor and was there sooner than he’d have liked. His stomach did flips as
he turned the corner, knowing he’d see Cass every soon. Downstairs at reception
they’d told him she was in Room 569, and judging by the arrow, it seemed to be
one of the rooms to the left of the nurses’ station.

One looked up from a computer
screen as he walked by. She smiled. “Those are gorgeous flowers,” she said.

There were also a lot of them.
He’d gone all out, hoping they’d brighten Cass’s day just a little.