After he finished, the two men threw up their hands and walked away. "We"re just following orders."
"Then next time maybe do them with an ounce of compa.s.sion," Mason snarled. "She"s just come in from being kidnapped, tied up and d.a.m.n near blown up."
"Hence, the d.a.m.n stretcher. We were told she couldn"t walk."
Tesla gasped and sat up. "You didn"t even ask me. My feet are painful to walk on but I"m ambulatory."
"Ha," Mason said. "You could lie here and make this easy on everyone."
She glared at him.
"Uh oh." Hawk smirked. "Now you"ve done it."
She opened her mouth, and Mason placed a finger against her lips. "Remember, I know how to close this."
Heat flamed over her cheeks, getting hotter as she heard Hawk"s strangled chuckles. Her mouth snapped shut and she lay back down. But her gaze, yeah, it promised retribution. But not when there were a dozen strangers watching.
"Good choice." Mason motioned to the men. "Take her in. But no straps," he warned.
When he stepped back. She reached out for his hand. She tugged him lower. He bent over. "Are these men okay?" she whispered.
THE FEAR IN her voice made his heart break. She"d been trying so hard to be brave, but the straps had done her in. "Yes," he said, his voice low, gentle. "You can trust them."
She dropped his hand and relaxed. "I knew that."
He grinned. And couldn"t help himself. As the men went to wheel her away, he dropped a hard kiss on her lips, whispering, "You got this."
Her smile was breathtaking.
And he was such a sap.
He brushed past his men, all of them smirking at him.
"Let us know."
"Let you know what?" he turned to face them.
"If you"re keeping her," Swede said, a serious tone to his voice belied by the grin on his face.
"Why?" he said, narrowing his gaze at the men he"d known had bedded hundreds of women between them.
""Cause, if not," Hawk said, sauntering past, "I am."
"Not if I get her first," chimed in Shadow.
Mason snapped. "None of you are keeping her."
Swede, his voice calm yet serious said, "If you"re fool enough to let her go, you can bet we aren"t."
"d.a.m.n it." Mason ran his fingers though his hair. "It"s not that simple."
"Sure it is. You"ve found her." Hawk grinned. "Never thought you"d be first though. Always figured Dane would succ.u.mb to the lure of love first."
"Hey," Dane said, in protest. "I fall in and out of love weekly."
It was true of most of them. But for Dane, the romantic in him saw the good in everyone until he saw the great in the next one.
"He"s right there." Swede smacked him on the shoulder.
The group fell silent as two stretchers carefully brought out their fallen comrades. A reminder of how precious life really was.
Chapter 14.
WORDS TO LIVE by. She did have this. And she really appreciated them. It had helped to right her world. As had his kiss. Stupid really.
After being unloaded, she was taken through to a large medical facility where she was carefully moved to an examining bed. She was treated so carefully she had to wonder if Mason"s warning to the medics hadn"t preceded her.
Once on the bed, her feet were carefully unwrapped, her wrist checked and she"d forgotten about the chafing and bruising brought on by the restraints Daniel had put on her. She studied them critically then dismissed them. Torn skin, green discoloration and tenderness. All mild compared to her feet. Her injection site had even calmed down. Now that she was being treated, and warm, she was exhausted. Had it only been last night she"d had a fever. Did they know?
Did any of it matter?
She lay quiet as the muttering rolled around her. Her feet were a concern. Duh. She knew that too. A smidgeon of fear rippled through her as they continued to stay at her feet.
"I know they aren"t the best, but surely they don"t warrant that kind of attention," she said to them.
The men looked over their gla.s.ses at her. "You"ve run them raw."
"I remember." And how. She lay back down and let them mutter. As long as her running through the bush days were done, she was fine.
"We"re going to need to clean them well, and we"ll be able to see the damage a little clearer."
At the term clean, she bolted upright again. "Mason cleaned and bandaged them already."
The one doctor walked over to her. He laid a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Please lie down and relax."
She flopped backwards and groaned. "I"d really like to go home."
"Not today," she was firmly told.
"Tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.
And all she received were multiple head shakes.
The same doctor said, "It"s far too early to make that decision. You will need to be debriefed."
Right. Military talk for someone wanted to talk to her. Of course. She wasn"t going anywhere any time soon. Then again that also meant she might see Mason again. Possibly more than once. He said he"d find her.
She had to trust he would.
In the meantime they were going to take care of her whether she liked it or not. A nurse came over with a bowl of warm water.
She lost her smile. d.a.m.n, this was going to hurt. Another nurse brought a foot bath and helped her sit up. Slipping her feet into the warm water, she groaned gently as soothing warmth eased through her puffy skin.
"Does that feel good?"
"It feels lovely."
She sat there for several long minutes loving the treatment. By the time her feet were cleaned, they were on fire again, and she wished she could go put them back into the water. Just when she was at the point of requesting a second foot bath, the nurse put on something that numbed the pain. It gave her feet an instant cooling effect that had her resting back. "Thank you. That feels better."
"We do try to help," the nurse said with a bright smile that matched the rest of her.
Done, Tesla lay back down, quietly relieved the ordeal was over. She hadn"t expected to nap, but warm and safe had the same effect as a sleeping pill and she drifted in and out. She woke when there were sounds of someone coming in to her room. She sat up, wiping the sleep out of her eyes and looked around.
"Feel better?"
Mason. With a bright smile, she shifted so she could see him.
"Easy, you don"t have to move." He walked around the side and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached out and picked up her hand. "You look rested. Do you feel better?"
Looking at their joined hands, she realized how nice a man he really was. He was so d.a.m.n nice.
"Did they take care of your feet?" he prodded her when she didn"t answer.
She winced at the reminder. "Yes."
He laughed. "It"s over. That"s all that matters."
"And now I"m starving." She frowned. "When does anyone eat around here? It"s been hours."
Now he was grinning. "I actually have permission to take you out of here."
She gasped. "Really? Oh, let"s go."
He pointed to the wheelchair she hadn"t noticed sitting at the doorway. "In that."
Her face fell.
"It"s the only way."
She glared at it. Then at him. "Fine."
His grin was a mile wide as she reached up her arms to wrap around his neck. He scooped her up and carried her to the chair. She sat down and wiggled into a better position. He stepped behind her and grabbed the handles, pushing her out of the room.
"Where are we going?"
"Outside to the garden."
"Lovely." And she meant it. "It is a beautiful afternoon."
He pushed out the front door to a small garden on the side. In the sunshine, she tilted her face upward.
"When are you leaving?" she asked, knowing he"d come to say good-bye. His silence was too silent. As if he didn"t know what to say.
"Tomorrow."
"So soon?"
"Yes."
She nodded. "Good. You like to be busy."
"We have to go after the men who attacked you."
She twisted to look up to him. "Really? But that"s dangerous."
He laughed. "And that"s why we go, so the world is safer for everyone else."
"Of course." She leaned her head back, already missing him. Yet they were nothing other than friends and even that was in doubt. They had nothing in a relationship...and yet they had something. But what? She didn"t know what to say. "How long are you going to be gone?"
"A week." But it was too fast an answer. He either didn"t want to tell her the truth or he didn"t know.
"Or a month?"
"No. It won"t be that long."
"Good. There are a lot of bad guys out there. You can"t spend too much time with just one of them."
He walked around and squatted down in front of her. "True enough. I"m in high demand."
"Ha." She scoffed with a teasing grin. "You just think so."
After that the conversation turned to a casual discussion as they both tried to avoid any reference to their relationship. They talked about nothing and everything and all superficial. Before too long he stood up. "I"ve got to go."
She swallowed hard but nodded bravely. "I understand."
"I"ll take you back to your room."
She wanted to tell him to leave her where she was. That she"d sit in the sun a little longer. Only she didn"t think she could make it back on her own steam. Just the effort of not talking to him like she wanted to was exhausting. He turned her around and pushed her forward. Before she was ready, they were back. He scooped her up and sat her down on the bed. He opened his mouth as if to say something and then stopped.
"What?"