That was when her tears surfaced. This man was so unbelievably sweet. Thoughtful. Fierce. Loving. “I don’t want to spend it fighting either.”

“Good.” He placed hot, wet, openmouthed kisses down her neck. “When does your flight leave?”

“Four.”

“Mmm. That leaves us plenty of time.”

Her body tingled from the eroticism of his mouth on her skin. “For what?”

“For me to prove to you that this shouldn’t end. Ever.”

And prove it he did. In the bed. In the shower. In the chair.

Hank systematically left his mark on her body, her heart, and her soul. Their parting at the airport was bittersweet. When he whispered that he wanted more than three lousy weeks with her, she asked him to give her a little time to get her head together.

Lainie felt more confused than ever. She kissed him and forced herself to turn away.

Chapter Twenty-four

Lainie figured the summons from Dusty on her day off meant he wanted the lowdown on what happened in River Bend—without interruptions. She rapped on his office door.

Doc motioned her to a metal stool, the one piece of furniture not mounded with papers.

His clinical gaze swept over Lainie. “How are you?”

“Fine.” When he looked as if he didn’t believe her, she said, “Seriously. I’m fine now. But I won’t lie: Having Ace Newharth corner me scared the piss out of me.”

“I imagine so. Have you called your mother to let her know what happened?”

“I intend to. I took a three-week sabbatical from her too.”

“So Sharlene and her husband don’t know what’s going on?”

Since when did Doc care about her stepfather’s involvement in her life? She shook her head.

“Good enough.”

He tapped his fingers on the desk blotter.

The first bit of niggling doubt surfaced.

“You wondering why I called you in today?”

“I thought it was about the River Bend incident.”

“No. There are a few things we need to discuss.”

“Pay rates for my new job?” she joked.

Doc sagged back in his office chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, let me just say this straightaway.”

Not good. Seriously not good.

“I offered you something I had no right to.”

“Is this is about the office position?”

“Yes. I’m afraid the job’s already been filled.”

Her hopes sank to the tips of her boots. “By who?”

“A woman with previous experience in office management. She started last week. I’m sorry. It was out of my hands.”

Bullshit. “When was this decided?”

Dusty didn’t answer.

She forced herself to remain calm. Forced herself to swallow the ugly reality. “You never intended to hire me for the full-time office position, did you? You used it as a carrot to force me to take vacation time, knowing that when I returned you could pull this ‘the position was filled’ crap on me.”

He didn’t deny it.

“After you talked to me in Lamar, I came back to Colorado Springs and quit my EMT job, thinking I wouldn’t need it.” She laughed bitterly. “How wrongheaded that decision was.”

Dusty wouldn’t meet her gaze—an indication that this situation was worse than she’d initially believed. “Are you firing me outright?”

“No. When we spoke in Lamar I told you the organization was being restructured, remember?”

“The entire organization? Or just this office?”

“Mostly this office.”

Liar. Dusty could do whatever he wanted, hire whoever he wanted. Something else was at play here.

“The good thing is, I can keep you on in your current capacity, part-time, as a med tech, but only on the CRA circuit.”

Lainie was stunned into speechlessness.

“We feel it’s best for our employees to stick with one rodeo organization, rather than switching back and forth between them like you’ve done.”

Her disbelief expanded. “You’re penalizing me because of Ace attacking me on the EBS circuit?”

“Not a penalty,” he chided. “We’re making a business decision. To be honest, sending you to the EBS wearing the ‘Mel’ name tag was a joke gone awry. I’m rectifying that mistake by assigning you solely to the CRA.”

The EBS was blaming her for getting attacked. She’d bet money Ace wouldn’t even get a slap on the wrist. “So I’m being reassigned because of my gender?”

“No. But Bryson did contact the Lariat corporate office questioning your medical qualifications.”

“And?” she demanded.

“His phone call brought up an oversight. So corporate revised the med tech standards for employees working in the Lariat Sports Medicine division, specifically relating to our professional relationship with the EBS. New criteria, effective immediately.”

“Which is?”

“A four-year degree in a health-related field. So, see, you don’t qualify with your CNA, LPN degree, and EMT certificate.”

Shame, hot and thick, expanded in her throat. She couldn’t speak. She’d been so proud of her accomplishments. So confident in her ability. Certain Lariat Sports Medicine had hired her as a qualified medical professional on her own merits. When the truth was, Dusty had hired her out of pity, or worse, solely out of an obligation he felt to her dead father.