Page 30 of Two Hearts
Hope was sobbing softly.“I d-don’t want to leave you, Grace…”
But Grace was already being nudged along again by that damned gun barrel.“You’ll be okay,” she told her sister.“Just do exactly what they tell you, and you’ll be fine.I promise you that, Hope.”
“But…but…”
“I can take care of myself.Youknowthat.”
Benny paused only long enough to kick Jack in the ribs and growl at him to get up.Jack did, doubled over and clutched his arm to his blood-soaked shirt.He walked slowly, grunting in pain with every step he took.Grace moved up beside him, and pulled his free arm around her shoulders.“Lean on me,” she told him.
He did.
She was worried as hell about him.But, God, one thing at a time.At least Hope would be all right now.Please, please, let Hope be all right now.
At the back of the place, a smaller door stood open into a room that was pitch-black and tiny.
“In you go,” Benny said.
“You’re going to take her to a hospital, aren’t you, Benny?”Grace asked.“If she dies, she’ll never deliver your boss’s note.And she’s in bad shape, Benny, I can tell.I know her, and I can tell—”
“Yeah, yeah, enough already.I’ll drop her across the street from Memorial.Now get in there, already, will you?”
She turned, looked him in the eye.“You keep her safe, and I’ll repay you a hundred times over.That’s a promise.”
He held her eyes for a moment, and she thought maybe he believed her.“Sure you will,” he said.“Don’t worry.I’ll see to it she’s okay.”Then he gave her a shove and she stumbled through the doorway behind Jack, into the pitch blackness.The door banged shut, and she heard the padlock snapping.
“Jack?”
She reached out a hand, only to feel his chest, strong and solid.And then he pulled her close to him, pressing her face to his neck, weaving his fingers in and out of her hair.“You’re okay,” he whispered.“My God, you’re okay.”
“But you’re not.”She felt tears threatening, and battled them for all she was worth.“Jack, you’re wounded!”
“Not so you’d notice.”Tipping her face up, he kissed her mouth, then backed up slightly.She could only see the darker outline of him, and bits of shape and shadow.But she sensed him removing his shirt and whatever he wore underneath it.“Still got that flashlight?”
“Yeah.”She pulled it out of her pocket, flicked it on and set it on a nearby shelf, so that it spotlighted her and Jack.Her gaze skimmed his unclothed chest now, damp with the rain, but not bloody.And no wounds marred his tight belly or his hard abs.“But…I saw it!”
“You saw the same thing they did—which was what I wanted them to see.”He tipped his arm toward her, and she saw the nasty, bloody gash across the forearm.“Paulo’s a lousy shot.He grazed my arm.I automatically clutched it to me, and it bled like hell.When I went down, he thought I was gut shot.I thought it was best to let him keep right on thinking it.”
“Give me your shirt,” Grace said, and when he did, she located a sleeve, used her teeth to tear it off and then wrapped it around Jack’s wounded arm, pulling it tight enough to stop the bleeding, and tying it in a knot.She sighed, not happy with the job.“It’s going to have to do for now.”
“It’s nothing, Grace.”
Grace closed her eyes slowly, finally letting the relief warm her, ease her rigid spine.“My God, I thought I was going to lose you.”Then she curled into her husband’s arms, wrapped hers tight around him and held him close.“You scared the hell out of me.”
“Yeah, well you scared the hell out of me, too.When that goon reached for your wallet, I thought for sure you were gonna try something.”
“I was,” she said.“I would have, if you and Hope hadn’t been in the line of fire.”
“Thank God you didn’t, Grace.Just because your self-defense moves worked on that one bastard, don’t go getting overconfident.You got lucky.Okay?I don’t want you getting yourself killed.”
She stared up at him for a full minute before the smile finally pulled her lips upward, and then she stroked his dark hair and shook her head slowly.“We’re…going to be honest with each other from now on…right?”
“Right.But that’s changing the subject.”
“Not really.”She licked her lips, turned herself away from him and, looking down, said, “Jack, I know you wanted a real…lady.Delicate and well-bred and classy.I—I basically tricked you into marrying me under false pretenses…but…the truth is…I’m none of those things.”
Catching her shoulder, he turned her slowly.“Grace…hon, you are all those things.And then some.Don’t you ever sell yourself short.”
She took a breath and blurted the truth.“I’m a black belt in karate, and the current State kickboxing champion.”
