Cowboy with a Cause by Carla Cassidy Page B

“First there was the teakettle, then my robe and nightgown and now this.”
    “What about your robe and nightgown?”
    She quickly explained to him about how those articles of clothing hadn’t been where they were supposed to be the night before. “Then there was that weird phone call where somebody was just breathing on the line. Maybe I just imagined that.”
    “That’s easy enough to check.” Adam got up from the table and grabbed the cordless phone and handed it to her. “Check the caller ID. Show me what phone call you’re talking about. It should be easy, because you don’t get that many calls.”
    She nodded and punched the button for the history of calls. There were several calls from Tilly, but no number that didn’t belong there. “It’s not here,” she said flatly as she handed the phone back to Adam. “I must be going crazy.” She rubbed her forehead once again.
    “You aren’t crazy,” Adam scoffed. “You’re under stress. Your leg has been bothering you. You have somebody living under your roof. You might be doing some strange things, but you definitely aren’t crazy.”
    She flashed him a grateful smile. The gesture lasted only a moment and then her lips turned downward. “One thing is for certain. I’m never taking one of those pain pills again!” she exclaimed.
    “You took one last night?”
    “Two,” she admitted. “My leg and foot were giving me fits, so I took one about ten and then around ten-thirty I took another one.”
    She wheeled back from the table and into the living room, where she carefully transferred herself from the chair to the sofa. Adam followed and sat next to her, wanting to somehow comfort her as tears began to fill her eyes.
    “I feel like I’ve lost everything that meant anything to me and now I’m slowly losing my mind.” As her tears began to trek down her cheeks, she lowered her head in obvious despair.
    Aware that once again he was treading on dangerous ground, he pulled her into his arms. She remained stiff for a long moment and then collapsed against him as her tears became deep, wrenching sobs.
    He held her without saying a word, knowing that anything he might say would only be salt on her wounds. To tell her she hadn’t lost something important was a lie. To tell her to buck up and face what had happened to her was insensitive. He knew instinctively what she needed at the moment was his silent support and his arms around her.
    Despite the fact that she was crying, he couldn’t help but notice that he liked the feel of her slender body against him, that as he ran his hands down her arms, he could feel sinewy muscle that attested to the upper body strength she possessed.
    She cried until she was all cried out and then she pulled herself to an upright position with a small embarrassed laugh. “I’m sorry,” she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
    “Don’t apologize. You’re upset.”
    “You’re a nice man, Adam, but I’m sure you didn’t move in here to be my crying towel. You can go on upstairs if you want. I’ll be fine.”
    He frowned. “You aren’t dismissing me so easily this time,” he said and made no move away from her.
    Her gaze left his and once again went to the wall of photos. “I’ve been so angry about everything. Maybe last night, with my pills and the crazy bad dreams, I finally vented that anger in an outward, physical way.”
    “And hopefully the outburst has allowed you to get rid of the anger and move into the acceptance phase of all this.”
    She chewed on her lower lip, a look of fear darkening her eyes. “I hope so.” Tension rolled off her in waves.
    She leaned her head back against the sofa, looking as lovely as he’d ever seen her despite the redness of her eyes. “The anger has felt safe for so long. It was easy and had become comfortable. I don’t know how to feel about acceptance. I don’t even know if I’ll ever gain total acceptance.”
    He fought the impulse to stroke the shiny hair