Texas! Chase #2 Read Free Page B

until she reached his bedside.
    For the first time in two years, she gazed into Chase Tyler's face. The last time she had looked into it, their positions had been reversed.
    She'd been lying semiconscious in a hospital bed and he had been standing beside it, weeping over his wife's accidental death.
    By the time Marcie's injuries had healed and she was well enough to leave the hospital, Tanya Tyler had been interred. A few months after that, Chase had left Milton Point for parts unknown.
    Word around town was that he was running the rodeo circuit, much to the distress of his family.
    Not too long ago, Marcie had bumped into
    Devon, Lucky's bride, in the supermarket. After
    Marcie had introduced herself, Devon had confirmed the rumors circulating about Chase.
    Family loyalty had prevented her from openly
    discussing his personal problems with an outsider, but Marcie had read between the lines of what she actually said. There were hints about his delicate emotional state and a developing drinking problem.
    "Laurie is beside herself with worry about him," Devon had said, referring to Chase's mother. "Sage, Chase's sister—"
    "Yes, I know."
    "She's away at school, so that leaves only
    Lucky and me at the house with Laurie. She feels that Chase is running away from his grief over Tanya instead of facing it and trying to deal with it."
    Chase had also left the foundering family business in the hands of his younger brother, who, if rumors were to be believed, was having a hard time keeping it solvent. The oil business wasn't improving. Since Tyler Drilling depended on a healthy oil economy, the company had been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for several years.
    Marcie put to Devon the question that was never far from her mind. "Does he blame me for the accident?"
    Devon had pressed her arm reassuringly.
    "Never. Don't lay that kind of guilt on yourself.
    Chase's quarrel is with fate, not you."
    But now, as Marcie gazed into his face, which looked tormented even in repose, she wondered if he did in fact hold her responsible for his beloved Tanya's death.
    "Chase," she whispered sorrowfully.
    He didn't stir, and his breathing was deep
    and even, indicating that the drug he had been given intravenously was working. Giving in to the desire she'd felt while lying in pain in her own hospital bed, Marcie gingerly ran her fingers through his dark hair, brushing back wavy strands that had fallen over his clammy forehead.
    Even though he looked markedly older, he was still the most handsome man she'd ever seen. She had thought so the first day of kindergarten.
    She distinctly remembered Miss
    Kincannon's calling on him to introduce himself to the rest of the class and how proudly he had stood up and spoken his name. Marcie had been smitten. In all the years since, nothing had changed.
    The mischievous, dark-haired little boy with the light-gray eyes, who had possessed outstanding leadership qualities and athletic prowess, had turned into quite a man. There was strength in his face and a stubborn pride in his square chin that bordered on belligerence, inherent, it seemed, to the Tyler men.
    They were noted for their quick tempers and willingness to stand up for themselves. Chase's lower jaw bore a dark-purple bruise now.
    Marcie shuddered to think how close he had come to having his skull crushed.

    When he was standing, Chase Tyler topped most men by several inches, even those considered tall by normal standards. His shoulders were broad. Marcie marveled over their breadth now. They were bare, as was his chest. The upper portion of it had been left unshaven, and she was amazed by the abundance of dark, softly curling hair that covered it.
    The tape that bound his cracked ribs stopped just shy of his nipples. Marcie caught herself staring at them, entranced because they were distended.
    Thinking he must be cold, she reached for the sheet and pulled it up to just beneath his chin.
    "Jeez, did he die?"
    The screech so startled Marcie that