Part 15 (1/2)

”Finished?” he asked impatiently.

”Almost. You've got a nasty cut right above your eyebrow. I'm going to have to st.i.tch that up.”

He looked at her dubiously. Left on his own, he would have just washed the wound and left it alone. ”Are you qualified to do that?”

She went to get a new suturing tray. ”Yes, I'm qualified to do that.”

He s.h.i.+fted, uncomfortable. He didn't like being fussed over. ”I won't start having cravings for dog biscuits after you finish, will I?”

”No.” She brought the tray over to the table. ”But you might have this urge to bay at a full moon every once in a while.”

He thought of the way he'd felt, making love with her. ”I had that urge the other night.”

Patience took the cellophane off the tray, aware that he was watching her every move. She tossed the cellophane into the wastepaper basket. ”Then this shouldn't be a problem for you.”

No, he thought, but being so close to her was. Because, despite the aches that began to take hold of him, he could feel himself responding to her. Could feel himself wanting her. This was far too intimate a setting for them to be alone together.

He watched her thread a needle. ”You don't have to do this.”

The look she gave him told him to stop arguing with her. ”Yes, I do.”

Brady began to slide off the table. ”I could go to a hospital.”

She put her hand in the middle of his chest and pushed. She was surprisingly strong for such a little thing. ”But you won't.”

He knew he could easily overpower her. All he had to do was to get off the table and just keep walking. But he wanted to remain near King. And to do that, he had to let Patience do what she wanted to.

Brady frowned. ”I don't think I like having you be able to read me so well.”

She looked at him and said, ”Tough,” before she went back to work.

The single word echoed, inching its way along a wireless path out into the night. Taken there by the electronic devices that had been covertly placed throughout the clinic and her house. The devices she knew nothing about.

The devices her stalker had planted.

Chapter 13.

Brady sat amazingly still as she sutured the gash on his forehead. Not a muscle moved when she pushed the needle through his skin. Each time she took another st.i.tch she could almost feel the needle breaking the surface. Yet he gave no indication that he felt anything at all. Maybe he was channeling his pain, she mused.

”There,” she announced, completing the last st.i.tch. ”Done. You're free to go.”

About to put on his s.h.i.+rt, he glanced at the shredded garment then left it where it was. Between the pit bull's attack and Patience's pa.s.s with her scissors, there was no saving the s.h.i.+rt. He reached for his jacket instead, then looked over toward where his dog was sleeping on the pallet on the floor. ”How long is he going to be like that?”

Patience glanced at her watch, gauging the amount of anesthetic she'd given the animal. ”King should be waking up in a few hours. There's nothing more you can do for him right now, so if you want to go home-”

”I don't want to go home.”

He was looking at her, not King, when he said it. She felt her flesh warming. It took her a minute to find her tongue. With effort, she picked up the tray she'd just used and set aside the instruments.

”I've got a spare bed in the guest room I can make up for you upstairs.”

”I don't want to be in the guest room.”

Very slowly, she turned around to gaze at him. All her pulses were suddenly awake and active. Her antic.i.p.ation was at a heightened level. ”Then what is it you do want?”

He touched her face and felt that same longing spring up within him he'd felt before. The longing that only seemed to be a.s.sociated with her. The longing he'd never felt before.

”You.”

”I see.”

It was as if everything inside her had been holding its breath. And now she felt herself melting. Logic tried desperately to break through the barriers she'd set up. She was getting in too deep and the deeper she went, the less chance she had of coming back out again. At least, not whole.

But logic stood very little chance of succeeding tonight. It found itself pitted against a very particular reality. She could have easily lost Brady today. Lost him to a bullet or a pit bull or G.o.d only knew what else. Lost him to all the pitfalls that were out there, waiting to take out a man who wore a badge and strapped on a gun each morning. But she realized that rather than run from what she found here, in his arms, she was going to make the most of it. For as long as she had. And if that was just for tonight, okay. If it was for longer, well then, even better.

But she knew she couldn't count on anything beyond the moment she was in. Being a policeman's daughter had taught her that. And she had always been one to make the most of what she had.

Patience smiled up into his face. ”Shouldn't be a difficult prescription to fill.” She moved closer to him until she was in his arms. ”Are you sure you won't hurt too much?”

What was too much? He was already aching. Mostly for her. Very slowly he moved his head from side to side, giving Patience her answer. ”I'd hurt even more if I went home.”

Her smile widened. ”You know, for a man who doesn't talk all that much, you do come up with some lovely things to say.”

”Must be the company I'm keeping.”

She laughed softly, touching his face. How had she gotten here? And how had she managed to resist for so long? ”I'll accept that.”

Brady bent his head and kissed her. And everything else faded away. The concerns, the pain, and most of all the loneliness that ached so badly it threatened to swallow him up whole and send his soul back to the abyss from where it had come. He had no idea how he had managed to stay away from her for these past two days. Nor could he remember why.

An urgency filled her, making her want to race even as she wanted to savor every tiny moment, absorbing it like a sponge. Even as his mouth slanted over hers, taking her higher and higher into the euphoria that he created for them, she was fumbling with his belt, desperate to undress him. Desperate to make love with him.

She managed to unnotch his gun belt. Heavy, it slid down the length of his legs like a lead weight, thudding to the floor in a semicircle around his feet. She didn't wait for the sound to register before she started to undo the belt on his pants.

Her heart vibrated like a tuning fork as she pushed the b.u.t.ton through its hole and then pulled down the zipper. She bit back a moan of antic.i.p.ation as, his kiss deepening, he ripped away b.u.t.tons on her s.h.i.+rt, yanking away the material.

And then touching her.

Softly, reverently, in complete conflict with the wild, erotic sensations that slammed through her like an ocean of tiny rubber b.a.l.l.s.

She wanted him to take her this second. She grasped his shoulders to anchor herself to him as her knees began to feel as if they were buckling. When he winced in response, guilt filled her.

She pulled back to look at him. ”You're sure I'm not hurting you.”