Chasing Trouble (Texas Trouble) Read online

  Chasing Trouble

  BECKY McGRAW

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  CHASING TROUBLE, Copyright @ December, 2012 by Becky McGraw. ISBN: 9781301189786

  All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the author.

  Acknowledgements

  I'd like to thank my daughter, Amanda Stoner, Texas Flight Nurse extraordinaire, for her expert medical advice to both injure and fix Chase in this book, and do it properly. I now know more than I ever want or need to know about pneumothoraxes, broken ribs, flail chests, vital signs, and how to treat those injuries under less than ideal circumstances, which is how she and all the other brave heroes in her line of work operate to save lives on a daily basis. I'll let you handle those from now on, baby girl, I can only aspire to your greatness.

  I'd also like to thank Kellie Wyatt for her thorough eye for detail in helping me edit the draft of this book to make it the best it can be. Finally, thank you, the reader, for buying my book and reading it. I hope you enjoy!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Chase Rhodes opened his eyes and thought he was dead. Hovering above him, backlit by blinding white light was a beautiful blond woman dressed in white. He sure hoped she was his angel guide to the pearly gates. It might make dying worth it.

  Reluctantly, he shut his eyes again, flinching as pain shot through his shoulder. Nope, he still felt pain, so he probably wasn't dead.

  He remembered getting shot and slipping on the deck of his boat, but nothing after that. His head felt like little men had set up shop there pounding away at his skull with hammers. The people helping the beautiful angel jostled him around, and a wave of nausea hit him so hard, he was afraid if they didn't quit, they were going become intimately acquainted with what he had for lunch.

  "Sir, we're going to roll you on your side, so I can check and make sure you weren't shot anywhere else," a soft, but serious voice warned right before he was gently, but firmly pushed over on his right side. Chase groaned as his stomach heaved again and he swallowed a couple of times trying to gain control.

  "Are you hurting anywhere?" the soft voice asked him. He figured it must be the angel's voice, because she seemed like she was in control of things. He guessed she must be a doctor, since the pain in his shoulder told him he wasn't dead.

  "Nauseated," Chase croaked not even recognizing his own voice.

  "That's to be expected, you have a concussion. I'll order something for it." He heard her speak in a clear authoritative voice to someone else, then felt long gentle fingers probing along his back and spine. "Does your back hurt anywhere?" she asked.

  "No," he replied and tried not to yelp when her hands moved lower.

  "What's your name, sir?"

  "Chase Rhodes..." he croaked then flinched as another pain shot through his shoulder at the same time one shot through his head.

  "Mr. Rhodes, what year is it?" she asked him and he wanted to say 'what a stupid question', but kept it to himself. He was hurt and agitated. There was no reason to take it out on the angel trying to help him.

  "Two thousand twelve," he told her.

  "Do you know where you are, Mr. Rhodes?"

  "Hospital?" he asked rather than told her, because he still wasn't sure. His head was fuzzy, his thoughts garbled.

  "Yes, you're in the hospital in Henrietta. Is there someone we can call for you?" she asked and he felt her fingers skim along his waist. She lifted his arm and he groaned as pain sliced through his shoulder.

  "Dad," he told her then gave her the phone number. His dad was the lesser of two evils. His mom was going to freak out for sure, and maybe his dad would break it to her gently. His sister, Shauna, was going to have a conniption. Hopefully, his mom wouldn't call her at college to tell her. This was her last semester, and he didn't want to screw it up for her, because she missed class to come home. That brought another female to his mind, one he was worried was in worse shape than he was.

  "Is Jazzie Ramos here?" Chase asked.

  "Yes, she's in the Emergency Room too, but you need me more right now. I'll get to her in a few minutes."

  "She almost drowned...the men took her," he mumbled.

  "She's fine for now, I'm sending her to have some tests," she told him in a slightly agitated tone.

  "You're going to need stitches, but luckily the bullet passed through your shoulder. It went through flesh and not bone."

  "Feels like it's on fire," he told her.

  "It will, and I'm going to get you fixed up here in just a minute. We'll numb it good and give you some pain meds, after I send you for a CAT scan to make sure you don't have a head bleed."

  "Oh, good god, that's all I need," Chase groaned and another wave of nausea hit him. "Please give me that nausea medicine and the pain meds now," he begged.

  "The nausea medication is being dripped into your IV, but the pain meds will have to wait, I'm sorry," she told him firmly, then eased him down to lay on his back again.

  Her talented fingers worked across his chest, down his sides then back up his abs, before she lifted the sheet and ran her hands down his legs one at a time. Things other than pain shot through his system and he swallowed and clutched the sheet trying not to embarrass himself. "Okay, it looks like your shoulder and head are the main issues, so I'm going to send you for that scan, then stitch you up when you get back. That way I can give you the pain meds before I do that."

  "Thank you," Chase told her and shut his eyes again. An image of the beautiful blond doctor was burned behind his eyelids though, so he still saw her. The image was definitely a lot more pleasant than the pain, so he focused on it to keep his mind off of the pain.

  "You're welcome," she said then added, "Now, I'm going to check on Ms. Ramos and I'll be back in a few minutes." With a pat on his good shoulder and a squeeze, she left the room then he was wheeled out into the hallway.

  Jenny headed for the nurse's station to finish charting, but was stopped by a nurse. "Dr. Anderson, Miss Ramos is back from radiology. The report should be here any minute," she said.

  "Thanks Terri, let me know when you get it," she said and walked behind the curved counter and sat down. Taking a deep breath, Jenny let it out slowly and tried to refocus on the charting. Her concentration had been sorely tested when she examined Chase Rhodes.

  The man was just...beautiful. That's the only word she could use to describe him. Muscular, handsome and tall enough that she could probably wear heels around him and not feel like an Amazon. And that way of thinking is totally unprofessional, she reminded herself and flipped open his chart purposefully. You don't date patients, or anyone else these days for that matter. You're done with men, she added. But if she was in the market...he would definitely be in her cart.

  Her nurse walked up and handed her the folder with the CAT Scan images in it. "Here you go, need anything else?" she asked with a smile.

  "Would you set up a suture kit in Mr. Rhodes room?" Jenny asked her kindly and made notes in his file.

  "Sure, I'll do that right now."

  Jenny sli
d the images out of the folder and looked them over, then read the radiologist's report, before she put them back inside. Breathing a sigh of relief that there wasn't an obvious skull fracture, or bleeding, she got up to go give Jasmine the good news.

  There wasn't really a reason for Jenny to keep her overnight, but Chase Rhodes was probably going to have to stay. She didn't know the full details of what happened out there on the lake, but for him to wind up with a gunshot and a concussion, and her to be tasered with a concussion, it had to be pretty dramatic. She had to file a report on the gunshot wound, so she'd have to ask those questions after she got Chase sewn up. The police hadn't visited her yet, which was a surprise.

  Walking around the counter, Jenny grabbed Jasmine Ramos's chart, then walked to her room. When she entered the room, a tall dark-haired man was leaning over the bed, holding her hand.

  "Nothing scares you," Jasmine told him in a trembling voice.

  "Everything about you scares me...but the thought of losing you scares me the most...that could've happened today." The man punctuated his words by leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. It was obvious to Jenny these two were involved, and in love. Her heart tweaked a little inside her chest. One day she'd have that herself. Once upon a time, she thought she had, but as it turned out she'd been very mistaken.

  Clearing her throat to announce her presence, Jenny walked further into the room. The man stepped back from the bed and when he turned to face her, Jenny almost dropped the chart. She felt the blood drain from her face and her fingers went numb for a second. Forcing a tight smile, she dragged her eyes from his and focused on Jasmine Ramos. If she didn't go on auto-pilot and do what she'd been trained to do, she was very afraid she was going to embarrass herself.

  The only obvious sign of her distress was the higher than normal pitch of her voice. "Miss Ramos, I have good news for you," she told the petite dark-haired woman in the bed, then couldn't help but give Beau Bowman a heated glare. When he returned that glare, anger pushed through her and the blood that had drained from her face now returned with a vengeance.

  "I could use some good news, Doctor Anderson..." Jasmine told her with a snort, then glanced at Beau, who was staring holes in Jenny with his angry eyes.

  Jenny cleared her throat again to try and focus on what she was doing here, then told her, "Your CAT scan didn't show any bleeding, or a skull fracture, so we're going to let you go..."

  Suddenly, Beau spoke up with an edge in his voice, "I didn't know you worked here, Jenny..." and Jenny looked into his eyes. Was that hurt she saw there? What the heck he thought he had to be hurt about she had no clue. She was the one who'd been accused of sleeping with his dad, and had her heart trampled. The fact that they'd dated two years, before becoming engaged, and he'd even thought that was possible still burned.

  He should have known his hateful mother was just stirring trouble. But he'd been too damaged by her to trust any woman, to be intimate with any woman. Beau Bowman just didn't know what love was, or how to express it. She felt a little sorry for the woman in the bed, who was obviously his girlfriend now.

  "I've been here a year and a half, I transferred here from Amarillo to finish my residency...and was offered a staff position," she told him firmly then pulled her penlight from her pocket and examined Jasmine's pupils.

  "You know Beau?" Jasmine asked her.

  Jenny's gaze shot to Beau and she silently let him know that if he wanted to explain their relationship to his girlfriend, it was all on him. There was no way she was going there with the woman. She huffed out a breath and said, "Yes, we know each other..." then she stood up and documented Jasmine's chart, before slamming it shut.

  Before she looked up, Jenny forced her face to relax. She was not going to let Beau know how badly shaken she was by seeing him again. "You should take it easy for a couple of days, Miss Ramos, you do have a mild concussion, you may experience nausea, have headaches, blurred vision, or confusion, if that becomes severe come back to the ER.

  You may have latent effects from the tasering, including cardiac arrhythmia, irregular heartbeats, if that happens, be sure to come back in as well. As for the burns on your back, I'm giving you some cream to put on them, and some pain medication to take home with you. They're not severe, so you shouldn't have any scarring, hopefully. Do you have any questions?" Jenny lifted a brow and asked.

  "Just one, how do you know Beau?" the pretty Latina woman asked her pointedly and stared intently into her eyes.

  Nope, not going there. Beau could explain his issues to her, tell her that he was afraid of commitment and had trust issues with women. Pacifying his girlfriend wasn't her job. She'd done her job here and it was time to get them out of her E.R.

  "I know you came into the E.R. in a swimsuit. I'll have the nurse bring you some scrubs you can change into to go home. I'm sure you don't want to wear that hospital gown out of here," Jenny told her then gave Beau a final look and walked out of the room.

  Jenny talked to her nurse, handed her the chart then walked quickly to the doctor's lounge. She needed to get herself under control. Her stomach was churning from nerves, and she felt the burn of tears behind her eyes. Beau had a girlfriend, and from the looks of it they were serious. Why that should bother her after more than a year, she didn't know, but it did. He'd moved on, and she was still fighting the demons their relationship had given her.

  If Beau had trust issues, he'd passed them on to her after their breakup. Jenny just didn't trust men anymore, and she didn't trust herself to be choose the right one for herself for any kind of permanent relationship. Her relationship with Beau had taught her a lot. Men didn't have a clue about what a woman needed, and Jenny certainly didn't need the hassle of trying to teach one.

  It wasn't in Jenny to quit, but she'd done the right thing throwing in the towel on her association with Beau. It had been a dead end street and she had been headed for the wall. Admitting defeat was a total anomaly for her, but she'd done it and learned a lesson. If she didn't get involved in a complicated relationship, or any relationship for that matter, she wouldn't fail.

  Her heart was not going to be on the menu with any man again...at least not for a long time. Keeping distractions to a minimum meant she could focus on being the best doctor she could be, giving her patients the care they deserved.

  A distracted doctor could mean life or death to her patients, and she'd learned that the hard way too.

  Right before she and Beau broke up during her final year, being distracted had almost cost a baby her life, and herself her diploma and medical license. If she'd had more sleep, had less on her mind, she would have realized that the baby had meningitis, instead of a routine ear infection. She wouldn't have sent the baby home, and her parents wouldn't have had to call a medical flight to take her to the children's hospital later that night on the verge of death. And Jenny wouldn't have that black mark on her record.

  If not for Ben Bowman, Beau's dad, and his connections, she probably wouldn't have her license today. He'd not only gotten her the best attorney in Texas, he'd called in favors from people on the hospital board. That was why she'd been hugging him the day Beau's mother had walked in on them in his study. The bitter woman had put a nasty spin on things and told Beau she was sleeping with Ben to pay for medical school.

  Jenny owed the man her career and her life, even though she'd left his son because he believed his delusional mother. Well, that wasn't exactly why she'd left Beau, she had plenty of reasons to break their engagement, had been struggling over the decision for weeks, but that had been the icing on the cake.

  When someone came through the door of the break room, she turned, and she saw it was Terri and gave her a tight smile.

  "I have the suture kit set up for you, and Mr. Rhodes is back from radiology," Terri told her.

  Jenny took a deep breath then told her, "Thanks, I'll be in there in a second."

  "Are you okay, Jen?" Terri asked her with concern in her tone. Terri was more than he
r nurse, she was her friend too.

  Since she'd been in Henrietta, Terri had done her best to help her adapt and fit in, and they'd grown close. She was about the only female friend that Jenny had here...but Jenny hadn't told her about Beau. It was something that she hadn't talked to anyone about, not even her family. They just knew she'd broken it off with him.

  Not that anyone in her family would notice or care, they were too focused on keeping her brother out of trouble. It had always been like that. The squeaky wheel got greased, and her younger brother, Nick, squeaked at nails-on-a-chalkboard pitch. He just hadn't figured out what he wanted to be when he grew up, and so he was twenty-seven years old and living off of their parents, trying one get-rich-quick scheme after another, practically bankrupting them because they were desperate to help him find himself.

  "Not really, but I will be, I just need a few more minutes..."

  "You got it, sweetie...want me to give him the pain meds and I'll tell him you'll be there in a few?"

  "Yeah, thanks, Terri...can you let me know when the patient in Exam Room 9 is gone?"

  "Jasmine Ramos?" she asked curiously. "Something happen?"

  "No, I just don't want to go in there again. I gave her discharge instructions. She'll leave if you bring her a scrub set, then I'll take care of Mr. Rhodes."

  "Okay, but we are so going for a drink after work, and you are going to tell me what the hell is going on with you. Hiding isn't your style, and you know it."

  Terri was right, hiding wasn't her style, but neither was confronting Beau and causing a scene in the Emergency Department. She didn't need anymore trouble.

  Jenny nodded and turned her back and she heard Terri leave quietly shutting the door behind her.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The pain in Chase's shoulder and head had eased some now, and his thoughts were starting to mesh together again. When his 'angel' walked through the examining room door with a tight smile on her beautiful face, he realized now she was his doctor.