“Good.” Isabelle nodded her satisfaction. “Where do the choppers land?”
He gestured to the far end of the clearing. “Usually over there, away from the guests.”
“Then do you think you can find us a four-wheeler so he doesn’t have to walk the rest of the way?”
“Yeah. Sure. Sorry, Mr. Guero. Right away.” The poor guy looked so rattled that she relented and gave him a smile.
“Thank you. We’ll wait right here.” The guard strode away, but she called after him, “Wait! Did you find out who was shooting at us?”
“They’re working on it. He got away, but they’re tracking him. Left a hunting rifle behind, so I’m sure they’ll get him soon. Be right back.”
He jogged toward the parking lot where the lodge’s four-wheelers were parked.
“Just a few more minutes, my love,” she murmured to Lyle. But when she looked up at him, she saw that he looked almost completely revived.
“Dr. Isabelle Rockwell in action. That was something else.”
“I fight for my patients.”
“Yes you do. That poor kid didn’t know what hit him.”
She smiled, tugging her lower lip between her teeth, tears welling into her eyes. Now that help was coming, and they were out of the woods—at least the literal ones—emotion threatened to overwhelm her.
“I’m going to kill whoever shot you,” she said fiercely. “I’m going to go after him with a…a ski pole or something and literally kill him.”
“Honey.” He laughed, his face softening, all those severe lines chased away. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. This is … just the beginning.”
“The beginning of what?”
He snagged her hand, making her realize she’d lost her gloves at some point and her hand was red and raw. “The beginning of the other side of the earthquake. And I feel fine.”
32
The rest of the night was a blur for Lyle. There was a helicopter, a gurney, medical people buzzing around him, plenty of pain, and always, no matter what else was going on, Isabelle’s face where he could see it.
Even when he was going under, anesthesia pumping into his veins, the last thing he saw was her fierce green eyes beaming love and courage into his heart. He kept wanting to tell her that it was no big deal, that he wasn’t at all worried about his arm. Now that he knew she loved him, everything else paled in comparison. It would all sort itself out. Besides, he had total faith in her abilities, especially after she reamed one of the assisting surgeons over an overly cursory scrub-in.
He’d never had someone advocating for him like this, as a child or as an adult. Well, Amira had her moments, but this was different. Isabelle was all-in, one hundred percent. As he drifted into the twilight world of anesthesia, he felt her entire being right there with him. As if she’d never leave.
He could die happy now—but he had no intention of doing so. He had a few things to take care of before he let that happen.
For his first task, he chose a quiet moment when Isabelle was off conferring with the surgeon after they’d operated on his arm. He snagged his cell phone, which the nurse had kindly brought him, and dialed Drew’s number.
“Did you shoot at me?” he asked, not bothering with a greeting.
“Lyle? What’s wrong, you sound funny.”
“Did you shoot at me?” he repeated. “I won’t file charges, but I need to know.”
“Are you out of your fricking mind? Why would I shoot you? I’m taking you down with lawyers, I don’t need a gun. What am I, some kind of vigilante?” The outrage in his foster brother’s voice told Lyle even more than his words did.
It wasn’t Drew.
That raised a lot more questions, but he didn’t have time for those now. “Listen, Drew. I want to make a deal with you.”
“Oh, now you want to—”
Lyle ignored him and kept talking. “I’ll give you what you want. I’ll step down as CEO. But you have to give me something in exchange.”
Stunned silence on the other end of the phone. “Are you drunk? You sound funny.”
“No, I’m not drunk.” He really didn’t care to elaborate. “Are you interested?”
“Go on,” Drew said cautiously. “There’s gotta be a big catch here. What do you want from me?”
“I want all the information you have about my parents. And I want you to not make it public. Whoever they are, I don’t want them dragged into your twisted spotlight. But I want to know everything you know about them.”
Another shocked silence. “That’s it? You’ll step aside for a couple of names?”
“Yes.”
“Why, are you afraid of being exposed? Because you—”
“No.”
“You want some kind of sappy reunion?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Genetics,” he said briefly. “But that’s not the point. Do we have a deal? You might win with your sleazy tactics, but then again you might not. We could wrap this up right here and now.” Pain was gnawing at his arm, and he’d have to hit the morphine button soon. Come on, Drew. Don’t be a dick.
“Yeah. Okay, it’s a deal. Why are you doing this, Lyle? One of your renegade moves?”
“I want the information. And I don’t need to be CEO. Fuck, I’ll start a new company. I don’t need Guero Enterprises.”
Fact was, he needed Isabelle more. And he needed a future. A family. His family.
“I guess I’m still in the Christmas spirit, Drew. So what do you have for me?”
And that was how he got one more present—his past.
He was still deep in thought when Isabelle came back from her meeting with the surgeon.
“Good news—” She stopped at the look on his face. “What happened?”
“Two things. One, I love you. So actually it’s three things.”
Smiling, she sat on the edge of his bed. “I never get tired of hearing that. I love you too. But what are things two and three?”
“Two, I made a deal with Drew.”
“Oh. Because he was trying to shoot you? Because that’s a terrible reason—”
“No. It wasn’t him shooting. He knew nothing about it.”
“You’re sure?” She twined her fingers through those on his uninjured hand. “You believe him?”
“I know when he’s lying, so yes. And he held up his end of the deal. He told me about my parents.”
Shock rippled across her face. “I thought you didn’t want to know about them.”
“Now I do. For you.”
Only for you. Yet another thing he’d done for her, and her alone.
Color swept into her cheeks. “Lyle…you really did that for me?”
“Yes, and now I know what he was up to. My father was from Syria, my mother from Albania. They were both deported back to their countries, and my father was killed almost immediately. But my mother is still alive. Drew was trying to make it look like I might have shady extremist blood in my veins.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’ve never even met your parents.”
“I know, but he was hoping that would be enough to scare off the board. Could have worked, too. Anyway, I made a deal. I stepped down as CEO, and he told me about my parents and guaranteed their privacy.”
Her eyes shining, Isabelle stretched out next to him on the bed, on his good side. “Your mother is alive, Lyle. That’s means you’re not an orphan.”
“Nope, I’m not an orphan. My mother even came back on a tourist visa and tried to find me at one point.”
She spread her hand across his heart. “Now you can find her, if you want to. I’ll help you. My first Doctors Without Borders assignment was in Albania. I know the territory pretty well. You’ll have time on your hands, being unemployed and all.”
“That’s … nice … Isabelle…” He was so sleepy, and his aches were fading away next to her warm body. “Isabelle…important…question.”
“Yes?”
He had so man
y questions—about their future, her thoughts about children, maybe a wedding date. But most immediately, “Did you hit the morphine button, doctor?”
He checked out of the hospital early, thanks to Isabelle.
“I’m his doctor, I’ll be with him around the clock, and I can do a better job with his recovery if I can take him home. Besides, I’ve been less than impressed with the sanitation in this wing.” The local doctor didn’t put up much of a fight; they were probably all glad to get Isabelle out of their hair.
She helped him to the parking lot, where he got a surprise. Kai, Griffin and Jake were all waiting for them outside a white Escalade van with the Rocky Peak logo on it. He shot a curious glance at Isabelle, who explained, “Since I flew in the Medivac with you, someone had to drive to Majestic to get the Tacoma. Serena drove it back, and the rest of them decided to keep going in the van and meet us here.”
Kai and Griffin greeted him with a mix of handshakes and cautious hugs.
But Jake jogged toward Isabelle and wrapped his arms around her with fierce protectiveness. “You’re okay,” he muttered into the crook of her neck.
Buried against Jake’s chest, Isabelle gave a squeak. “You’re crushing me. Jake, what’s the matter with you? I’m not the one who was shot. What’s going on?”
“Hang on. Gotta do something else first.”
Finally Jake released Isabelle and turned to Lyle. With suspiciously wet eyes, he hugged Lyle next, murmuring in his ear, “You took a bullet for her. I love you, brother. I got your back, forever.”
Lyle’s eyes got a little misty as well.
“Okay, let’s hit the road. They’re getting antsy back at the lodge.” Kai opened the door of the van and ushered him into the passenger seat. Isabelle sat right behind him, her hand on his shoulder, with Jake right next to her. Her twin didn’t seem to want to leave her side.
Griffin, always the official driver, slid behind the steering wheel. “Max, Nicole, Serena and Gracie all send hugs and kisses. Well, Max sends a cigar.” As he steered the vehicle toward the highway, he gestured at the glove compartment. “And Gracie sends her very strict orders not to smoke that cigar until you’re entirely healed.”
Lyle laughed. It felt absurdly good to be back among the Rockwells. “I already have a bossy doctor.”
In the back seat, Jake put his arm around Isabelle again.
“Why are you acting so strange, Jake?” she asked.
“It’s about the shooter.”
“We figured he’s either a hunter or someone going after Lyle.”
“Neither one. You were the target.”
“What?” Lyle spun around so fast his right arm hit the door handle and pain lanced all the way down to his toes. “Why?”
Isabelle’s mouth fell open, her face draining of color. “Someone wanted to kill me?”
“Not necessarily,” said Kai. “He panicked and wanted to scare you, or get rid of you, or something. It was Bill McConor, maintenance worker. He overheard you asking about those frat boys. Turns out Bill’s son Rick was partying with them that night. Remember how Griffin’s coach mentioned a local kid was involved? Well, it was Rick. Bill was trying to protect his son in a very fucked up way.”
“He could have killed Isabelle.” Lyle’s every muscle tensed with rage. “Is he under arrest?”
“Yes, and no bail.” said Jake. “I’ve been talking to the DA. It would be great if he could give up some more details about Mom’s accident, but he’s not being all that cooperative. Still protecting his son. Rick McConor doesn’t even live here anymore.”
“Sure makes you wonder if there’s something else they’re hiding. What the hell is worth nearly killing someone over?” Kai shook his head in disgust. “There’s got to be more to this story. Luckily, he’s no sniper. Fucking idiot.”
Griffin spoke up from the driver’s seat. “He did admit to sending Serena those threatening letters. So that’s something.”
Lyle remembered hearing something about that. When Serena had first come to Rocky Peak, she’d received some scary notes telling her to leave town. Instead, she’d stuck around and Griffin had stepped in as her bodyguard. Which had worked out pretty well for them, all things considered.
“No matter what, this is a huge break. We actually now know the name of one of the people who was there that night,” said Jake. “So thanks for your sacrifice, dude.”
Isabelle swatted her twin on the arm. “Not appropriate. He nearly died.”
“Since when do you worry about what’s appropriate? Besides, he had you. You’d probably scare death away with nothing but one of your glares.”
“Not at all true. Well, except the first part. Lyle does have me. We’re together now. You might as well all get used to it.”
Kai laughed first, then Jake cracked up, then Griffin. “Don’t you worry. We’re already used to it.” Kai reached behind Jake to tug a shank of Isabelle’s hair. “Just wondering what took you so long, but then again, you’re Izzy, so ‘nuff said.”
Isabelle lifted her eyes to the roof of the car. “Any chance you’ll stop teasing me now that I’m in a relationship with someone who can beat you up?”
“That would be a big fat hell no.”
Amidst the laughter, with Isabelle’s hand resting on his shoulder again, Lyle looked out the window at the snow-laden trees flipping past. This strange feeling, so new and wonderful, what was it?
He decided to go with ‘happiness.’
33
A few weeks later…
It was a truth universally acknowledged that when two adults with their own complicated lives tried to figure out their future, several bottles of wine were required.
And lots of good-natured laughter and arguing.
“What we need is a mutually agreeable base of operations,” said Isabelle, trying to keep things accurate.
“You mean, a home.”
“I suppose you could put it that way,” she said, scrawling ‘home’ on her notepad. A cozy fire crackled in the woodstove. She sat on the rug, elbows braced on the guesthouse coffee table, while Lyle lounged on the couch. He was recovering well, but he still wore a sling and needed help with showers.
Which she didn’t mind one bit.
“It sounds so normal.”
“Something wrong with normal?”
“I guess not.” She cocked her head and tapped her finger on her chin. “As long as we create our own normal.”
“Everybody does, especially a couple of renegades like us. Before we get to that, I need to tell you something.”
Her eyes widened as she took a gulp of wine. This sounded serious. “Something good?”
“I hope so. Guero Enterprises wants me back.”
“What?”
“Yes. Drew is many things, but a good CEO is not one of them. The board staged a revolt, and the staff backed them up. Poor Drew, it must have been humiliating.”
“Aw, poor thing.” Isabelle rolled her eyes. “After he tried to slime you, I have no sympathy.”
“The board actually told them they’d prefer someone with my sketchy parental history to someone with his sleazy tactics and possible drinking problem. So?”
“So, what?”
“Should I do it? I’ll be an arrogant coldhearted businessman again. Not sure how you feel about that.”
The vulnerability on his face made her want to crawl into his lap and cuddle him like a baby. “No, you won’t. That’s over with now. You do what feels best to you. I’ll love you either way.”
“Well…I want my job back. I do. But I don’t want to work so hard, so I’m thinking of promoting my assistant Amira. She knows the company and I trust her.”
“You know, she called the lodge looking for you, and Gracie talked to her. She likes her, and she has really good instincts about people.”
“Yeah? What does she say about me?”
“She says you’re much too good for me and can’t understand how you put up with me.” With a teasing smile—
how she loved to tease him—she abandoned her notepad and curled up against his long legs. “I told her love is magic and there’s no arguing with it.”
“True that.”
“I support your decision, especially because—doesn’t it mean you won’t have so many responsibilities? You’ll have more time?”
“Maybe. I hope so. I also have a lot of new ideas I want to pursue. For instance, I think I’d be a good business mentor, especially to bright young people displaced by war or famine.”
“You mean … at refugee camps?” Joy bloomed in her heart. “With me?”
“Maybe, at times. I know about programs that offer micro-loans and so forth, trying to help small business owners. I’d go a step beyond that. I’d offer my expertise and share my knowledge of how to go from orphan to entrepreneur.”
Isabelle blinked up at him in sheer amazement. “That’s incredible. I think you’d find it very rewarding. Even though technically you’re not actually an orphan.”
“No, I’m not.” She could tell, from his broad smile, that saying that made him extremely happy. “Speaking of which, how would you feel about a honeymoon in Albania, so we can meet my mother?”
“Hon—” She caught her breath. “Did we just skip right over the wedding part?”
“I’ll leave that part up to you. I’d be fine tying the knot at an airport terminal in Rome.”
“So…did we skip over the proposal too? The part where we actually decide to get married?”
He pretended to think about it. Outside, a winter storm was causing a ruckus, sending wind howling through the rafters and making the windowpanes rattle. Inside, the crackle of the fire in the woodstove made everything cozy and secure.
“Must be all the painkillers you’ve been feeding me. I could have sworn we settled all that.”
“We didn’t,” she said firmly.
“Did I hallucinate the ‘I love yous’ too?”
“No, those were real. Very very real.” She rested her head on his hard thigh. “Need another one? I love you.”
The Renegade (The Rockwell Legacy Book 3) Page 23