He braced an arm around her. She took a shaky step forward, then suddenly went rigid as another contraction hit her.
Travis swallowed hard, tightening his grip to hold her upright. “You’re doing fine,” he murmured as she puffed and shuddered. With his free hand, he stroked her upper arm, offering the same quiet encouragement he’d have used to gentle a skittish mare. “Just a few more seconds…that’s right…breathe real short-like…that’s good, ma’am, that’s real good.”
A rush of air escaped her slack lips. She sagged against him, gasping. She was just a slip of a thing, really, barely big enough to rest her head against his shoulder. Faded freckles were scattered across the bridge of her nose, and the scent of sweet flowers wafted from hair that tangled around her shoulders like a curly mass of poppy red fire.
A protective surge swelled up in his gut, an odd sensation that made him want to whip out a saber and fight the world to keep her safe. At the moment, that meant getting her to the hospital.
Travis tugged down his Stetson, grabbed the valise and ushered the exhausted woman to the cab.
* * *
“Aa-a-ah!”
The cry from the back seat sent chills down Travis’s spine. He looked in the rearview mirror, and could have wept. The poor woman was contorted in pain, white as death except for a bright trickle of blood where she’d bitten her lip. “Hold on, ma’am. We’ll be there soon.”
Her features relaxed slightly. She licked her lips and gave a weak nod.
Focusing on the road, Travis swerved around a large rock dislodged by the rain, then slowed to forge a muddy puddle. Black sludge splattered the cab’s hood and fenders. Travis’s brother-in-law, who owned the cab company, was a spit-and-polish stickler, but at the moment Travis didn’t much care. He concentrated every ounce of his attention on his mission, which at the moment was traversing a winding gravel pathway that was pitted, potholed and edged with a quivering mass of muddy muck.
Navigating Virginia Road had always been a challenge; now it was a nightmare, But with paved interstate access still blocked by the overturned big rig, this was the only available route into town.
Squinting into the dreary late morning light, Travis saw the hairpin curve up ahead and touched the brake with his boot.
A blood-curdling shriek came from the back seat.
Travis jerked his eyes from the road to the mirror and back again, but it was too late. The mud slide loomed like a mountain. And they were heading right for it.
Chapter Two
Travis yanked the wheel. The woman shrieked. The cab spun doughnuts on wet gravel, then sank to its hubcaps in the mucky shoulder.
He gunned the engine. The tires spat mud and sank deeper. Logically, Travis understood that the vehicle was irretrievably mired, but panic was not a logical emotion. He jammed the cab into first gear and stomped the gas pedal to the floor. The engine revved madly. Black goo shot from beneath the spinning tires.
“Aa-a-ah!”
A quick glance into the rearview mirror confirmed that the situation in the back seat was not going at all well. Sweat trickled into his eyes. He snatched up the microphone. “We’ve got big trouble! Send an ambulance to Virginia Road, about three miles down from the turnoff. For God’s sake, hurry, Sue Anne. We’re fixing to have a baby here!”
The radio crackled. “Say again?”
“A baby, a baby!”
“Ayeee-ee!” The woman gasped, bolted upright. “It’s coming! Oh, God, it’s coming!”
Travis spun in his seat. “Not yet, ma’am, please. Help is on the way. Just hold on a few more minutes, okay?”
She went limp and fell back against the door, panting. “I need to push.”
“Oh, Lordy, don’t do that!”
“I have to.”
“No, no, you don’t.” Frantic, Travis dropped the microphone and hoisted his torso over the headrest far enough to grasp her cold hand. “Think of something real calming, you know, like a pasture of grazing horses or maybe a pretty little creek. That always helps me to hold off during, uh, well, you know.”
She gave him a look that could freeze meat.
Travis swallowed hard. “I guess maybe you’re not in the mood to think about that sort of thing right now.”
Her eyes were green slits. “Oh, I’m thinking about it, cowboy. Believe me, I’m thinking about it— Ah! Oh! Oh!”
As the contraction hit, she clutched his wrist with both hands, hauling half his torso into the back seat. Behind him, a voice cracked over the radio, but Travis couldn’t deal with that because the thrashing woman with a death grip on his arm was shrieking distinctly unladylike epithets along with horribly graphic, gender-specific alterations she planned to perform on a man named Clyde.
Sue Anne’s voice crackled from the radio. “Travis! Travis, pick up. I’m patching you through to Vanderbilt Memorial’s ER. Travis!”
The driver’s headrest pressed Travis’s throbbing ribs as he teetered over the seat back, struggling to extricate himself from the woman’s clenched fingers. When he freed himself, he scooped up the microphone.
Before he could scream into the speaker, a crisp, female voice crackled out. “This is Dr. Jennings—”
Travis plunged his thumb on the mike switch. “Help!” he blurted. “She wants to push!”
“How close are the contractions?”
Travis shifted a wary glance toward the thrashing woman. “One right after another. Geez, they just won’t stop.”
“Can you see the baby’s head?”
“Huh?” Travis frowned at the microphone. “You’re kidding, right?”
The doctor gentled her tone. “My name is Amanda. What’s yours?”
“Travis, ma’am.”
“Well, Travis, you’re going to deliver this baby—”
“The hell I am!”
“And I’m going to help you.”
“Uh-uh, no way.” Travis shook his head so hard his hat shifted. “This is not going to happen—”
“It’s coming!” the woman screamed, then curled forward, teeth gritted as her face folded in on itself.
Travis dove into the back seat, dragging the microphone with him. “She says it’s coming!” he shouted, yanking the mike cord taut. “What do I do?”
The doctor’s voice was crisp, competent. “Remove her clothing and see if the head is crowning.”
Defeated, Travis issued a pained sigh, licked his lips and mumbled, “I’m real sorry, ma’am, but we, ah, need to adjust your skirt and such.”
The woman bared her teeth, allowed him to do what had to be done, then snarled like cornered prey.
Taken aback, Travis wiped his forehead, blinking at the woman who appeared ready to rip out his Adam’s apple and shove it up his nose. But he saw something else in her eyes. He saw terror.
Her snarl slipped into a broken sob. “Please,” she whispered. “Help me.”
Travis’s heart melted. “I will, ma’am. Don’t you fret. I’ll take real good care of you and your baby.”
Her gaze was skeptical, but tinged with hope. “Have you done this before?”
“Hmm? Oh,