Counting on Love (Contemporary Cowboy Romance) (Carson Hill Ranch series: Book 3) Read Free

memories. “You just remember to let me know if you need anything, anything at all.” She gave Emma’s arm a squeeze and went back to the kitchen, leaving her to finish sweeping up before the first wave of customers came in from getting off work.
     
    Chapter three
    Joseph woke up to the heat of a sliver of sunshine shooting across his face. The pain in his head from a night of binge drinking didn’t even compare to the pain in his back and shoulder from not sleeping correctly on his specially made orthopedic pillow. Ever since the accident on the last cattle drive, when he was thrown from his horse, he hadn’t been able to function without pain shooting through his back, even as he slept.
    Eventually, the doctor declared him healed and cut off his pain medication, and no one would listen to him when he tried to explain how much he still hurt. Winters and rainy weather were the worst, when the muscles around his shattered vertebrae would tense up and contract. Joseph was certain his bones were being pulled in ninety different directions and even his nerve endings would turn against him.
    The door to his bedroom door opened a crack, and Carey stood in the doorway leaning against the frame, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He watched Joseph as he reached for the bottle of pills he kept under his mattress. He watched as his younger brother downed a couple of the pills, swallowing them without so much as a cup of water.
    “I thought you were done popping the pills,” Carey said with an angry sneer. Joseph groaned and fell back on the bed, flipping him off before covering his eyes with an arm thrown across his face. “It’s time to get up. Dad wants to see you downstairs.”
    “Tell him I’ll come down in a little while. I just need some more sleep,” he replied, his voice trailing off into a snore at the end.
    “Sleep? You mean like what I didn’t get last night when I was hauling your drunken butt home? You think I like having my future wife pass you off in the middle of the night like some pathetic bum? No, you’re gonna tell him yourself,” Carey shot back furiously. “and you’re gonna do it now. Get up!” He stormed over to the bed and pulled the covers off into the floor. He grabbed Carey under the arms and yanked him out of the bed but loosened his grip when Joseph screamed, his legs buckling underneath him. Carey released him and jumped back, wide eyed at having hurt his brother. “Joseph?”
    “What?” Joseph moaned from where he still lay crumpled on the floor. His hands went to his neck, trying to forcibly rub the pain away with his fingers.
    “Did that seriously hurt you?” Carey asked, coming over to him and squatting down.
    “Well, it sure as hell didn’t tickle,” Joseph replied, angry now that he was awake. There were tears in the corners of his eyes from the sensations that still shot through his neck and down his back. He took a deep breath then dry heaved from the spasm wracking his body. Carey dropped down beside him in horror, afraid to even touch him.
    “Why didn’t you tell anyone? It’s not supposed to hurt this much, the doctor said so.”
    “That doctor’s full of it. It hasn’t let up hurting since the day I left the hospital. I can’t even sleep through the night ‘cause every time I so much as move my arm to scratch an itch, it wakes me up.”
    “Here, come on,” Carey said, straightening up and reaching his hands down to his brother. “Get back in the bed, and I’ll tell Dad you’re not up yet.” He didn’t touch Joseph for fear of hurting him again but instead, he let his brother pull himself up using Carey’s hands to brace himself. The pain shot through him once more, making Joseph clutch at his stomach with nausea.
    Joseph let himself fall on the bed, seeing stars as his neck hit the pillow. He worked to slow his breathing down as the initial pain began to subside a little. Carey watched him warily, unsure of how to even feel about this. Joseph was