Only His (Fool's Gold #6)(68)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TUCKER STOOD OVER NEVADA as if warding off demons.
“I’m really okay,” she said for the fourth or fifth time.
He continued to ignore her.
Just as disturbing as her near-death experience and the realization that she could have been killed by the explosion or subsequent slide was the fact that Cat had made her move. Tucker rarely had to work to keep a woman in his life. Knowing his competition was playing for the other side made him uncomfortable.
He was aware that he’d told himself he needed to back off where Nevada was concerned. That they were too involved. But right now he didn’t give a damn about that. He wanted to stand over her, beating his chest, although he couldn’t figure out what that would accomplish.
One of the firefighters raced over, the EMTs right behind.
“Are they hurt?” the firefighter demanded, dropping to her knees by Nevada and holding a penlight up to her eyes.
“I’m perfectly fine, Charlie,” Nevada said, starting to stand.
“Don’t even think about it,” Tucker and the firefighter snapped at the same time. Nevada kept her butt on the ground.
“I’m all right, too,” Cat called, her expression bemused. “Doesn’t anyone want to fuss over me?”
“I will.” An EMT dropped to her knees and reached for Cat’s wrist. “How are you feeling, ma’am? Dizzy? Does your head hurt?”
“Did you just say ma’am?” Cat closed her eyes. “I’m dizzy now.”
Nevada chuckled.
Tucker glared at her. “Don’t laugh,” he commanded. “You might be hurt.”
A second EMT joined Charlie. They examined Nevada while Tucker watched anxiously. He was aware of a group of men climbing up the side of the mountain and shouts about something he couldn’t hear. There was a lot of activity he would have to deal with later. Right now Nevada was his main concern.
About two minutes later, the EMT removed the blood pressure cuff. “You’re fine.”
Tucker was less convinced. “What if she hit her head?”
“I didn’t,” Nevada told him.
“You might not remember.”
She rolled her eyes. “My head doesn’t hurt, I don’t have any ringing in my ears. I’m okay.”
Cat was pronounced all right as well, but she didn’t seem as anxious to get up. Nevada scrambled to her feet. She held out her arms and turned in a slow circle.
“See? Not broken.”
Cat’s EMT helped her to stand. The other woman reached for Nevada and clung to her.
“I can’t believe we went through that today,” Cat murmured. “We could have been killed.” She gazed at Nevada. “We should go back to my hotel and rest.”
Nevada slowly disentangled herself. “I don’t think so. Tucker, could you find someone to take Cat back to her hotel?”
“Sure.”
He waved Jerry over and told him to drive Cat back to her hotel. Cat protested, but eventually allowed herself to be led away. The EMTs went back to their truck.
Charlie walked over to Tucker and glared at him. “You should know better. She was standing too close.”
Nevada shook her head. “Don’t yell at him. It was my fault. I got distracted.”
“Is that what you’re calling it?” he muttered.
Nevada glared at him. “Don’t start with me.”
“You were kissing her.”
He hadn’t meant to say it, but the words came out before he could stop them.
Charlie blinked at them both. “Excuse me.”
Nevada sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“I have time.” She looked from Nevada to him and back. “But I thought…”
“Me, too,” Tucker growled, not liking anything about this. In theory, the girl-on-girl thing was appealing. But not so much when one of the girls in question was his girl.
“Oh, really?” Charlie grinned. “How was it?”
“Different.”
“Different good or different bad?”
“Are you asking for yourself?” Nevada raised her eyebrows. “Cat’s entering her feminine stage.”
“She’s not my type and I’m not interested. Just curious.”
Will hurried over to them. “Boss, you gotta come see this. When they blew the side of the mountain, a whole bunch of caves were exposed. There’s gold in them. Statues and art and stuff. It looks old. Indian, maybe.”
“Mayan,” Nevada and Charlie said at the same time.
“The Máa-zib tribe,” Tucker said, wondering what had been unearthed and how much it was going to delay construction. Surprises like this were rarely good news for the contractor.
“Can you take her to the trailer?” he asked Charlie.
“Hell, no. I want to see it, too.”
“You heard them—I’m fine,” Nevada said, walking toward the crowd. “How is this discovery going to mess everything up?”
“We’ll have to find out. It depends on where it is and what will happen to it.” He studied the blast area and the people swarming over the side of the mountain. If any more earth gave way, they were all going to fall.
“We have to get the area roped off,” he told Will. “We’ll need security.” Not just for safety purposes, but if there really was gold… He swore. Nothing about this was going to be easy.