Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10), Laylah Roberts [tohfa e dulha read online .txt] 📗

think you can remove the blankets.”

“What if it’s her appendix? What if it’s about to rupture? Should I bring her into the hospital?” Ed asked as he drew the blankets off.

She gave a sigh of relief. Then she grabbed her handbag and pulled out some antacids. “It’s just indigestion.”

“Should she take those?” Ed snatched up the antacids.

“Hey!” she protested, trying to snatch them back.

“I think I should bring her in. Or you should come here to check on her.”

“A storm is about to hit. And Xavier has actual sick people to take care of,” she griped at Ed.

“How about we talk about what hurts, sweetheart,” Xavier soothed.

“Fine,” she muttered.

Ed gave her a firm look.

“I didn’t say I was fine!” No way did she want to be writing lines right now. She grimaced at the burning in her stomach. Then she answered Xavier’s questions. Finally, he sent Ed off to get a thermometer.

“I really am fine, Xavier,” she told him. “It’s just indigestion.”

“Sounds like it. I sent him for the thermometer to give him something to do. Help calm him down. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine.” She winced as Ed walked back in and heard those words. Uh-oh. “I’m good. I’ve been resting, eating, everything I’m supposed to be doing.”

“I’ve only got the kind of thermometer that goes in the ear,” Ed grumbled. “Will that work okay? I need to get a rectal one.”

“Ed!” she protested.

“What?” He stared down at her. “Is something wrong? Xavier?”

“You are not ever using a rectal thermometer on me,” she hissed at Ed.

“We’ll see,” Ed replied. He brushed the hair from her ear and placed the thermometer inside.

“Xavier, tell him that he doesn’t need a rectal thermometer.”

“Oh, I think I’ll leave that conversation up to you two.” Xavier sounded amused.

The thermometer beeped and Ed drew it back with a frown. “She’s got a fever. It’s 102.”

“That could be because you were smothering me under a pile of blankets,” Georgina pointed out.

“Wait five minutes,” Xavier told Ed. “Then take it again. Georgie, take your antacids. If they don’t work and you still have a sore tummy or a temperature or the pain gets worse then call me, okay?”

“You sure she doesn’t need to come in?”

“Not yet.”

Ed didn’t look happy but he agreed. “Fine, but Xavier?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s the most accurate sort of thermometer?” Ed asked.

“Oh, that would be the rectal one.”

She gasped as he ended the call. That slimeball! Ed gave her a triumphant look.

She pointed at him. “Don’t even think about it, buddy.”

He leaned in. “I’m ordering one tonight. Now, take these. If you’re not feeling better in fifteen minutes, I’m taking you in.”

“That’s not what Xavier said.”

He tapped her nose. “Xavier isn’t in charge of your health. I am.”

24

“I think I should sleep in the spare bedroom.”

“Nope.”

“But what if I can’t sleep beside you?”

“You did just fine last night,” he replied before lifting her off the bathroom counter and carrying her into the bathroom.

“What if you can’t sleep?” she asked as he set her down on the side of the bed. She should have asked Xavier whether he thought it was necessary for Ed to carry her everywhere just because of a small cut on her foot.

Of course, that was assuming Ed would listen to Xavier. Even though he’d totally overreacted over her sore tummy, he’d still insisted on taking her temperature every half hour.

Yeah, he wouldn’t listen.

They’d watched the rest of the movie and had a lighter dinner. Her stomach had been fine once the antacids started working. Ed had spent some time working while she’d had a bath. With her foot wrapped up.

Now he was insisting that they sleep in the same bed. Okay, sure, technically they’d slept together last night. But she’d been totally out of it. This was completely different.

“Your job isn’t to worry about me, Georgie-girl.”

She frowned at that as he tucked her into bed. “Then what is my job, sugar plum?”

He gave her a look. “To do as you’re told, of course.”

Indignation rose inside her. “Ed!”

He grinned. “Your job is to stop worrying so much. To relax. Let me look after you.”

“My job is tough.”

“That’s why you don’t need to be worrying over me,” he told her.

She chewed at her lip as she watched him move around the room, getting ready. She was dressed in another of his T-shirts. She knew she should ask for her own clothes. But she liked wearing his.

Suddenly, he sat beside her. Grabbing her hand, he ran his finger around the palm. She sucked in a breath and raised her gaze to his.

“Good girl,” he murmured then leaned in to kiss her. The kiss was soft. Gentle. But it still stole the thoughts from her head, sending them tumbling through her brain until she couldn’t grasp hold of them.

When he drew back, his chocolate eyes were warm. “What’s your real worry, my girl?”

“That I’ll have a nightmare,” she told him.

“And if you did? What would be so terrible? What would be the worst-case scenario?”

The worst-case scenario? “I don’t know. That I’ll wake you up? Maybe thrash around and hit you?”

“What happens if you wake me up?”

Was this a trick question. “Umm, I interrupt your sleep.”

“So then my sleep will get interrupted,” he said calmly. As though it was no big deal.

“Won’t you be annoyed? Angry? My mother used to hate when I’d wake her with my screams.”

“I’d be more upset if you had a nightmare and didn’t wake me up,” he told her. “If you suffered through it on your own without asking for help.”

She sucked in a breath. “I’m not good at asking for help.”

He reached up and undid the bun she’d put her hair in to have a bath. “I know. I’m going to help you with that. As for hurting me . . . even if you wake up punching, you’re not going to do any real damage. I promise.”

She narrowed her gaze. “A knee to the groin can hurt no matter how big you are.”

“You knee me in the balls, then