Leigh Bale - Healing The Forest Ranger

The girl braced her hands on the armrests, gained her balance, then clopped forward, her upper torso jerking back with each awkward step. Maya opened the door and stood there smiling until Kristen passed through, then led the way down a short hall to an examination room.

Inside, Kristen sat on the only chair, a grimace of pain showing her discomfort.

“Is it hurting you today?” Lyn asked.

“No.” A short, curt word.

Lyn knew better. The wound had healed, but it’d only been a year. The stump continued to pain Kristen whenever she wore her prosthesis. But the girl hated her wheelchair even more. And Lyn knew Kristen’s autonomy would diminish with the chair.

Lyn was determined to speak with the doctor about this. The brave girl refused to show any more signs of weakness than what had been forced upon her. So daring and courageous. So determined not to quit in spite of the adversity she faced. If only this new doctor could help her somehow. If only—

The door rattled, and the doctor entered the room. Lyn’s breath froze in her throat. The man glanced first at Kristen, then at the clipboard in his hand, but Lyn recognized him instantly. A tall, jet-eyed man with short, coal-black hair shaved high and tight like a U.S. marine. Like her, Lyn figured he was in his mid-thirties. With high, chiseled cheekbones, wide shoulders and long, solid legs. Dark and extremely handsome, in a dangerous sort of way. Except for his eyes. Fringed by thick lashes, they sparkled with gentle warmth.

“Cade!”

He looked up, his gaze mirroring her shock.

No, he couldn’t be the angry rancher who thought Lyn was a threat to the mustangs. He didn’t like her, he’d made that obvious last week when he’d saved her from the wild stallion. Surely he couldn’t be Kristen’s new doctor.

But he was. Oh, this day just kept getting worse.

* * *

Cade lifted his head, but didn’t speak for several moments as he contemplated Lyndsy Warner’s presence in his office. Her golden eyes held his like a vice grip, and he sensed her deep intelligence as she studied his face in return.

“You...you’re Kristen’s new doctor?” she asked.

“Apparently.”

“Oh. I guess I didn’t make the connection. But you said your name is Cade.” Her expression looked deflated.

“That’s right, although I’m Dr. Baldwin when I’m working in my office. I didn’t expect to see you here, either.”

Now he regretted not asking her full name when he’d met her in Secret Valley last week. He hadn’t put it all together. Lyn was short for Lyndsy. He decided the name Lyn suited her better. Finding out the new forest ranger’s daughter was one of his patients caught him completely off guard.

The tribal elders wouldn’t like this. No, not at all.

His gaze took in the woman’s skinny jeans, red blouse and white tennis shoes. Instead of a ponytail, she wore her long blond hair straight and soft around her face. But her eyes. A tawny-gold color, like cooked honey, sweet and smooth. Right now, she looked like a normal housewife, not a forest ranger. Not a threat to the wild horses. And certainly too young to have a daughter so old.

Likewise, she inspected him. The stethoscope hanging around his neck. The white smock he wore open over his blue chambray shirt. His denims and scuffed cowboy boots. He shifted nervously, wishing she’d stop looking at him.

“Um, when you rescued me from Buck, I didn’t realize you were a doctor.” A stiff smile curled her full lips, but didn’t reach her beautiful eyes.

“Yeah, we didn’t talk about that.”

“I thought you were a rancher.”

“I own Sunrise Ranch, but it’s not big enough to grow crops and livestock anymore. My grandparents left the place to me. I just live there now.”

“Oh.” She continued to stare.

“You okay?” he asked, trying to hide his own feelings of confusion.

She looked away. “Yes, I’m sorry. It’s just that you’re not really what I imagined a prosthesis specialist would look like.”

He made a soft scoffing sound, the heels of his boots thudding against the wooden floor. “Is that because I’m part Shoshone Indian?”

“No, not at all. I didn’t know until now. Although that’s fascinating, too.”

She found his heritage fascinating? Ironically, that was how he would describe her. But he wasn’t about to ask her to expand on her comment.

“I’m one-half Shoshone, on my mother’s side. Any less, and I wouldn’t be eligible to belong to the tribe,” he said.

With a Caucasian father and a Shoshone mother, he’d spent every childhood summer in Stokely with his mother’s parents. He’d been in Afghanistan when his grandfather died and left him Sunrise Ranch. All his life, Cade had dreamed of becoming a doctor and opening a medical office here to benefit the Toyakoi Tribe, his Shoshone people. Now that he was here, he was haunted by memories of war. Only his faith in God kept him sane.

“Is my ethnicity a problem for you?” he asked.

She snorted. “Of course not. It’s just that you seem so...so casual for a doctor.”

Kaku, his grandmother, had always told him he was wild and untamed. Like the mustangs running free in Secret Valley. And yet, he wasn’t wild. Not anymore. The war had changed him. He’d come to realize what was really important in life. God, family and living with honor. Now he just wanted to settle down and find peace. But one thing was missing. He had no family. They were all gone now. No one to share his hopes and dreams with. No one to love.

And he felt the emptiness like a hole in his heart.

“I’d look a bit out of place in Stokely if I ran around in a business suit.” He reached for a stool on wheels. Pulling it over, he sat down in front of Kristen. “And you didn’t tell me your daughter was one of my new patients.”

“I didn’t realize at the time.”

And whether he liked it or not, it appeared he’d now get to know them even better.

He faced Kristen, smiling to alleviate the girl’s worried frown. “So, Kristen, how are you today?”

“Fine.” Her voice sounded uncertain as she held her clasped hands tightly in her lap. Rather than happy and smiling, she looked anxious and withdrawn.

Frightened.

He made a pretense of scanning the clipboard. “You’re what? Twelve, thirteen years old?”

Kristen’s brow crinkled and she shook her head, looking away. Unsure of herself. Cade didn’t like that. If he was going to help this child, he’d have to win her trust.

“I’m only ten, but I’ll be eleven next November,” she said.

Cade widened his eyes and drew back as though amazed. “Is that right? Well, you’re sure pretty and you look older than your age. Very grown-up.”

His flattery brought a flush of pleasure to the child’s cheeks. Ah, he had her now. He loved helping people; he always had. But for some innate reason, he felt strongly that he must help this little girl feel better about herself. No matter who her mother was and what she did for a living.

“I’ve spoken to your doctor in Reno, and he’s told me you’re wearing a C-Leg prosthesis. Can I take a look?” Cade asked respectfully.

Kristen nodded, pulling her skirt up to a modest inch just above her skinny knees. Or rather, knee.

Setting the clipboard aside on the counter by the sink, Cade studied the mechanisms of the prosthesis. Pink and white scars crisscrossed the thighs of her amputated leg as well as her good leg. “Were both your legs injured?”

She nodded, but Lyn answered. “After the accident, they were only able to save her left leg.”

Thank goodness they were able to save that much.

Cade reached for the socket of the prosthesis, his fingers pressing and pulling gently as he tested the fit around Kristen’s stump.