Wildly Inappropriate by Eden Connor Page B

wasn't at the beach. Neither he nor Colton could coax a smile from Lila. Eric was good at that. He excelled at either pissing Lila off or making her laugh till she cried. Black silk stitches showed through her pale hair, still streaked with blood. He thought she might not have latched her seat belt in her anger and she could've hit the windshield. The more he watched her, lying so still with her hands over her stomach, the more he thought he might be right. If she'd gone over the steering wheel and then the air bag had deployed, that would account for a tummy ache. He didn't ask. Colton looked stressed out enough.
    "Take him out in the hall and talk some sense into him, Daniel," Lila pleaded, sounding weary. "There's no need for him to sit in that chair all night when he has a perfectly good bed. I'll just sleep. Watching me do that is silly."
    Taking the hint when she closed her eyes and turned off the light above her bed, the brothers stepped into the corridor.
    "You goin' or stayin'? Dan asked.
    "I'm not going anywhere," Colton burst out. "She's been trying to get rid of me ever since I walked in. I had to raise holy hell to make them let me into the Emergency Room with her. Finally just walked on back." Colton shook his head worriedly. "All she's done is cry right up until you got here. Those damn doctors didn't give her any pain meds. I'm worried about her. And now I gotta find her another truck. I might get her a bigger one, like mine. Those little ones she favors just aren't safe."
    "The National Guard might have some surplus tanks," Dan offered helpfully, but his little brother was apparently too upset to laugh.
    Colton had lost the band he used to tie his long hair back. He raked both hands through it, the way he did when he was worrying about something. "I think she might have breast cancer."
    Dan could only stare at Colton with dismay. "What?" he demanded. "What makes you think that?"
    Colton looked around miserably. "Her breasts. She won't let me anywhere near 'em, Dan. Before the wreck, I mean. And I swear to God, she makes me leave the room before she'll even talk to the nurses. She's had several doctors too. I think that's strange, don't you? I mean, one down in the Emergency Department gave her the sutures and ordered the head scan. A second doctor looked at the scans and said she had a concussion. She let me stay in the room for all of that. Then a third one showed up and she kicked me out of the room so fast it made my head spin. The bastard wouldn't tell me anything, either. She lives with me, sleeps beside me every night, I love her more than anyone on this earth, but we aren't married, so he won't tell me anything. Neither will these nurses."
    Dan put his hand on Colton's shoulder. "Let's hope you're wrong."
    Colton's eyes held such agony it made Dan wince. "If anything happens to Lila, I think I'll end up just like Dad." He heaved a deep breath. "Can you find out if she can go on my insurance? Cancer treatments are expensive. You know Lila doesn't have any insurance with her little business. She lost her policy when Pete died."
    For the first time in his life, Dan could almost see selling the farm. Rafe had left the land to him alone so that none of the younger children could force a sale or sell their share. He'd trusted Dan to do what was best for the family. He didn't have to call their insurance agent to know what the answer would be. Lila wasn't Colton's wife. Colton knew that too, so for him to ask meant his baby brother was desperate. He hadn't fully appreciated Rafe's wisdom in not dividing the farm in his will until their sister Sarah had been murdered earlier in the year. He'd been able to make her arrangements by making one phone call to the bank, borrowing the cash so they'd had no worries about collecting her insurance and none of them had to worry about what happened to her share of the land. It went straight to Jonah, in Dan's mind. No fucking around with courts and wills, just a mental