Part 33 (1/2)
Zach wiped his mouth with his handkerchief and shoved the square of white cotton into the back pocket of his navy blue slacks. He turned and saw that the officer had stepped out of the car and was approaching him.
”All right, buddy. Put your hands behind your back. There are speed limits, my friend, and you broke just about every one of them.”
”Look, officer, I had to get to the emergency room. I didn't have time to stop and explain.” He thought of Elizabeth lying pale and unconscious in a cubicle alone, hurt, maybe even dying, and started walking toward the door.
”She's unconscious. I don't know how badly she's hurt. I had to get her here quickly. If it was your friend, I think you'd do the same.” He'd started to say wife, just to be sure he could see her, then caught himself. It was time to face the truth. He couldn't deal with the kind of emotional attachment he felt for Liz. He'd seen that clearly tonight. He had to detach himself, bring some control back into his life.
As soon as all of this was over, he was leaving. And he wouldn't be coming back to San Pico for Liz.
”What happened?” the officer asked, falling in step beside him, apparently deciding to let the matter of the broken speed limits drop.
”We were attacked by three men behind my friend's apartment. One of them hit me over the head with a piece of pipe. One of the others. .h.i.t my friend.”
”You sure she isn't more than just a friend? From the blood on your face, looks to me like maybe the two of you had a fight. Maybe you're the one who hit her. Maybe you're the guy who put her in the hospital.”
”I didn't touch her. I told you we were attacked by three men. The lady's name is Elizabeth Conners. She's a family counselor here in Sam Pico.” He started walking faster, anxious to find out what was happening, afraid to think how badly Liz might be hurt. Whatever happened between them, he still loved her. Nothing could change that.
He didn't think anything ever would.
They shoved through the gla.s.s doors into the emergency room, which was overflowing with humanity, a large percentage of the group Hispanic.
”Elizabeth Conners,” he said to a nurse who pa.s.sed through the room. ”Where is she?”
”In cubicle B. You'll need to fill out some paperwork.”
”Is she is she going to be all right?”
”You'll have to ask the doctor. She took a pretty bad blow to the side of the head. She must have landed hard, too. Dr. Lopez says she's got a concussion.”
A concussion. d.a.m.n. Couldn't something like that be deadly? ”Is she awake?”
”I think so.” The nurse walked off and left him standing there. Zach tore after her, leaving the policeman behind. He poked his head through one of the curtains, saw a white-haired old woman lying on a gurney, searched behind another curtain and saw Liz lying in one of the narrow, sheet-draped beds. He stepped inside, letting the curtain fall behind him, fighting the fear and the lump that was building in his throat.
For several seconds he just watched her, silently praying, as he hadn't done in years. Then she opened her eyes and looked at him, and a wave of relief hit him so hard his knees nearly buckled beneath him.
”Hi ”
He sat down in the chair next to her bed, reached out and took hold of her hand. ”G.o.d, I was so worried. Are you all right? How are you feeling?”
It took an effort for her to swallow. ”I'm a little rocky. The doctor wants to run a couple of tests but he thinks I'm going to be all right.”
His hand shook as he reached up and touched her face. ”I've never been so scared in my life.”
”I was scared, too, Zach. When I saw that man coming at you with the pipe I thought he was going to kill you.”
He managed to muster a smile. He ought to be the one with the concussion, but apparently he got lucky. ”I'm tougher than I look.”
”There's blood on your face. Are you sure you're okay?”
”I'm fine.” His jaw went hard. ”Tomorrow I'm going out to see Carson.”
Her fingers tightened on his. ”Maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you should just go to the police, tell them what happened.”
”We don't have any proof that my brother was involved. We have no idea who those men were and by now they're probably long gone. Carson has an endless supply of people ready to do his dirty work if the price is right.”
Liz closed her eyes. ”This is all so mixed up. I can't make sense of any of it.”
”I know what you mean.” He bent and pressed a kiss on her forehead. ”Get some rest. Maybe tomorrow things will look better.”
Liz nodded, but neither of them believed it.
Twenty-Eight.
Elizabeth slept lightly off and on. Dr. Lopez had ordered an overnight stay for observation and scheduled a CAT scan procedure in the morning to be sure there were no serious injuries. Sometime during the night, she'd been moved into a hospital room shared by an older woman asleep in the other bed. One of the nurses gave her some Tylenol for her seemingly endless headache and the general soreness she felt all over.
Just before dawn, she awakened and was surprised to find Zach sitting in the chair, asleep next to her bed.
He was still in the chair when she awakened several hours later, his dark eyes watching her, his expression full of worry and fatigue. A rough shadow of beard outlined his jaw and his dark hair was mussed, making him look dangerous and even s.e.xier than he usually did. If her lip hadn't hurt, she might have smiled.
Instead, she reached over and caught his hand, gave it a rea.s.suring squeeze. ”Good morning.” The words came out thick and husky, as if her voice didn't work quite right.
He smiled, but his eyes still looked tired, and it was obvious that he was worried about her. ”How are you feeling?”
She managed a smile. ”Like I've been run over by a truck.”
”You werethree of them, as I recall.”
”What about you?”
”A little stiff, is all. It's been a while since I've been in a street fight.”
”I think you would have taken care of all three of them if it hadn't been for that pipe.”
The edge of his mouth faintly curved. ”I would have done my best.”
A uniformed nurse came in just then and Zach stood up from his chair. His pants were wrinkled, his s.h.i.+rt torn and spotted with dried blood.
”We need to get those tests underway,” the nurse said to him kindly. ”You can wait in the room down the hall.”
Zach just nodded. Reaching toward where she lay against the pillow, he gently traced a knuckle over her cheek. ”I'll be here when you're finished.”
Elizabeth just nodded. Her heart was squeezing, reminding her how much she loved him. Telling her that here was a man unlike any she had ever known, would ever know again. He had once said that he loved her. When she thought of the way he had looked at her last night, the worry she had seen in his eyes, she found herself believing it might be true.
But this was Zachary Harcourt, the Lone Wolf, and she thought that even if he loved her it might not be enough.