Page 189 of Her Reluctant Hero
Chapter Twenty One
Mallory opened gritty eyes in a dark room. A quiet beep pulsed, a fan whirred and the sharp scent of ammonia stung her nose. As she focused, hard to do since her brain floated, she took inventory of her body. Dull throbbing in her wrist and side, both bandaged, and an ache in the crook of her arm. The IV.
Another sound registered, soft breathing. She immediately tensed, which hurt every muscle, tendon, even her skin. Memories pierced the haze in her mind and flooded her consciousness. Terror, certainty she would watch Adrian die as he faced off with Smoller, the three of them falling to the deck, the sound of gunshots, looking into Linda’s lifeless eyes as her blood ran over the deck.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Adrian had remained conscious while Jacob fiddled with the boat enough that it could hobble along the shoreline, but his skin was cold and clammy by the time the Belize Defence Force encountered them to escort them to civilization. She didn’t recall much after that, floating in and out of consciousness herself, only remembering Adrian trying to explain why they had the body of a dead girl and two injured prisoners in the cabin.
Adrian. Exhausted, hurt and still in charge.
She shifted onto her back and her shoulder bumped a warm body.
A familiar warm body. She opened her eyes and slit them against the light coming through the open door to look into Adrian’s slack, pale face. Her pulse kicked in fear until she felt his breath, warm against her skin. She rested her bandaged hand on his chest. He grumbled something in his sleep. Ignoring her own pain, she edged closer and pressed her mouth to his, then whispered his name.
He grunted and tried to turn onto his back, too, but flailed when he lost his balance over the edge of the bed. He sat up with a snort.
“Hell of a way to wake someone up, Mal.”
“I didn’t expect you’d try to squeeze into a hospital bed with me.” She smiled, but even that movement hurt. Still, she kept her hand on his chest, feeling the reassuring beat of his heart. “Is there a bed shortage?”
He eased onto his hip, slid his hand across her belly and flinched when his fingers brushed the bandage on her ribs. “I’m not leaving you again.”
She couldn’t think about that now, how close they’d come to losing each other forever, what it meant for the future. This was not a conversation she could have while who-knew-what pumped into her blood. The whole thing felt so familiar—how many times had they lain like this in the dark, talking, touching? Never in a hospital room, though. “How are the others?”
“Good. Dehydrated but released. Promised to bring us food later.”
“And Smoller and Brutus?”
“In custody and in better shape than they deserve to be.”
“And you? Your arm?”
He guided her hand to his own bandaged arm and IV. “Taken care of.”
Somehow she doubted that. “Adrian, Linda—”
“Not something I want you worrying about now.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Go to sleep. We’ll talk about everything in the morning.”
Which meant he wanted to go to sleep. But even after his breathing evened out, she didn’t sleep for a long time.
“You’re not supposed to be in here!”
The sharp female voice jolted Adrian awake. He looked over his shoulder to the doorway of the hospital room, where an indignant blonde in scrubs strode through the door, a chart tucked in the crook of her arm. She looked as out of place here as new hospital equipment would.
Adrian reached across the bed to Mallory, only to find the sheets cool. His heart lurched. “Where is she?”
“Sir, I think she—” She moved into the room and set her chart on the table at the end of the bed.
He rolled to his feet in one movement, jolting at the sensation of the needle in his vein and automatically reaching to pull it free. The nurse hurried forward and covered his hand with hers to stop him.
“Sir. Just—you need to calm down, sir.” She pressed her other hand against his chest in an attempt to push him back on the bed and glared when he wouldn’t budge.
He raised an eyebrow at her, daring her to stand in his way. How long had he been asleep? He shook his head. “God, I screwed up. I took her for granted instead of knowing how goddamned lucky I was to have a woman like her love an idiot like me.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “If she’ll have me, I’ll never be that idiot again. Are you going to take this out, or not?” He jerked his arm toward the nurse, pointing to the IV.
She’d probably gone home to Austin now. How long had he been asleep? Adrian calculated the length of the flight as the nurse unhooked him and pressed a ball of cotton to his arm. He’d have to find her once he got there.
Well, his job was finding things.
Movement near the door caught his eye.
