Page 47 of Deputy Brand Gets Her Man
“Where to?” he asked.
“My place, but we’re fixin’ to take the back way in and park behind my cottage, so my parents don’t lose their minds.”
He didn’t really want to get on the wrong side of her very huge family with its multitude of muscly, over-protective males, much less on the wrong side of his newfound half-brother. But he couldn’t say no to her, so there was no point trying.
“You sure you’re okay to be out of the hospital?” he asked.
“My head barely hurts.” He thought that was a lie. “I feel fine. Weak, a little dizzy, but that’ll pass.”
“You probably ought to have some PT to get your strength and balance back,” he said.
“What do you know about it?”
He shrugged. “Got the hell kicked outta me in prison. Had six weeks of PT after I healed up. On the outside, it would’ve been triple that, but that’s the system.”
She was looking at him, her head tilted, but he opted not to look back just then and kept his eyes on the road instead.
“How bad were you hurt?” she asked after a longer than normal stretch of quiet.
His gaze shifted her way without his permission. Her brown eyes were huge, round, and full of feeling. He focused on the road again. “Busted ribs, shin, nose, but the main thing was the pelvic bone. It was just a hairline fracture, but it was painful as hell to walk again after that. The PT forced me to do it anyway.”
“What the hell, Gringo? What did they hit you with?”
He flashed back to seven men around him, pounding and kicking him while he curled around himself on the floor to protect his vital bits. Fighting back would’ve just prolonged his beating. He liked to think he was pretty tough, but seven-on-one was hopeless, even for him.
Her hand curled around his shoulder. He said, “I don’t know. I prefer not to talk about it. You’re the one injured now. Let’s focus on that.”
“Okay,” she said. Then she yawned and settled more comfortably into her seat, leaning her head to one side, closing her eyes.
A little shiver went up his spine. “Willow?”
No reply.
“Hey, Willow.” He clasped her shoulder, shook gently.
She opened her eyes, smiled slightly. “Just nappin’. Not passin’ out.”
“You sure?” But her eyes were already closed again.
Okay, so she was napping, not unconscious. But she’d left the hospital against medical advice, and he was terrified that her nap was taking her right back into trouble.
He needed help. It was the first time in his life he’d ever believed those three words to be true. He pulled the Jeep over, and she didn’t wake. Her hair hung over her left cheek, and he got stuck on the shape of her face for a moment. God, she was beautiful.
Giving himself a mental snap-out-of-it slap, he took her phone from the console. She’d plugged it in as soon as she’d got into his Jeep, and it was still attached to power by its umbilical cord.
He tapped to unlock it, then said, “Hey, Willow? Open your eyes for me, will ya?”
She did, with a goofy smile. “Can’t you let a gal sleep?”
He held the phone in front of her face. Her goofy smile became a frown. “What’cha doin’?”
“Letting your family know I’m taking you home. And asking Ethan to take my dog-sitter home.”
“Why you need my phone for that?”
“I’m not on the family text chain,” he said. “Though I’ve heard tell of its legendary power.” He glanced at her, read her face, realized she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him.
Interesting.
