Page 88 of Dare to Love Again

Haunted green eyes met his when he sat down on the couch beside her. Even though she’d slept the entire afternoon, her ashen complexion and the shadows under her eyes made it look like she hadn’t shut her eyes in a week.

Taking her hand, encouraged when her much smaller fingers curled reflexively around his own, he lifted them to his lips for a kiss. Then he leaned forward and placed another on her forehead.

“Esme, darlin’, I’ve got to go, but Val is here, and Thomas is upstairs if you need him. I have guards posted to keep you safe until I return. And when I do, this nightmare will be over. I promise.”

Her grip tightened painfully as she clung to him. “Stay with me, Finn. Let the police handle it.”

“We’ve got leads to check out. They’re strong. We can wrap this up tonight.”

“No,” she exclaimed, her other hand coming to his chest, her nails digging in and biting into his skin even through his shirt. “You won’t come back.”

“I will, baby. We’ll get him and put him away where he can’t hurt you again.”

“No,” she repeated, climbing into his lap and wrapping her arms in a choke hold around his neck.

“Hush, darlin’, trust me.” But she wasn’t hearing him, keeping up a steady chant of “no’s” and “don’t go’s.” He looked over her shoulder at Val for help.

With tears in her eyes, she moved closer and spoke low. “She’s still in shock. In her sleep, she kept talking about blood, death, and Andrew.”

“Her husband.”

“Yes. He died in her arms, and now her boss. I think she needs sedation, maybe hospitalization.”

“She stays here, where she’s safe. Call Thomas,” he demanded. “Maybe there’s something he can give her until this is over.”

“I’ll get him,” Eric said from the doorway.

“Master Thomas? From the club?” Val clarified, turning to her husband in confusion. “What can he do?”

“He’s a doctor, love,” he told her before disappearing into the hall.

“No doctors, no hospitals,” Esme cried in his ear. “If we stay here, he won’t find us.”

He could feel her body trembling, and her voice wasn’t her own, more of a frightened child stuck in a night terror. But today, Esme’s had been all too real.

When Thomas arrived, Keiran tried to put her down so he could examine her. But she shouted, “No!” and climbed up his body like a tree, her arms and legs wrapping him up tight.

It broke his heart, but he held her still while the doctor exposed her hip for an injection. “What is it?” he inquired as he looked on.

“Lorazepam, a mild sedative. It should take effect in a few minutes, and she’ll sleep for a few hours.”

As Thomas predicted, her body stopped shaking and the death grip she had on him relaxed. In about ten minutes, he eased her down on the couch and covered her with a blanket Val handed him. Her eyes were open, though getting heavy, but the lingering fear he saw stabbed at him like a knife in the gut.

“Close your eyes and rest, baby,” he urged softly while stroking her hair back from her face. He continued to do so until he could no longer see her beautiful green gaze and her lashes lay in a dark fan against her pale cheeks. He waited another few minutes, giving the medication time to knock her out, before he moved. Seeing her like this strengthened his conviction to have Hernandez behind bars tonight, or out of her life in other, more permanent ways.

Thinking she slept, he shifted to stand, but her hand shot out to his, her grip surprisingly strong. She looked drugged but sounded lucid when she demanded, “Promise you’ll come back to me.”

“I promise,a stór,” he stated firmly while bending to press a kiss to her lips. “Sleep and heal, baby.”

She nodded but had one last thing to say. “If you don’t come back, and I lose another man I love, so help me God, Keiran Finnegan, I won’t mourn because I’ll never forgive you.” She said nothing more and her eyes drifted shut.

“A vow of love and a threat all in one. Your woman has a way with words, my friend.”

He rose and strode to the door, brushing against Eric as he moved through. “Come on. Let’s end this, so I can keep my promise, my woman, and her love.”

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