Harlequin Intrigue May 2021--Box Set 2 of 2

by Carol Ericson

  “Reece...” She tried to help him up, but he was too heavy and wasn’t trying to get up himself. “Reece, where are you hurt?”

  He exhaled in huffs, as if trying to breathe through a pain, but from her vantage point, she had no idea... That was when he rolled over onto his back and she could see the tear of his shirt, the terrifying spurts of blood. So much blood. And a bullet wound, right below his rib cage, that left little to the imagination.

  Dizziness threatened but she bit down on her tongue. She had to be brave and figure out what to do about this horrible, horrible thing. Her hands shook but she touched his face. “Shh. It’s okay.” What should she do? Pressure. They put pressure on wounds in movies. Did she trust a movie? “It’s okay,” she repeated, because maybe if she said it enough times she’d believe it.

  “I’m not so sure about that,” Reece gritted out. “Lianna. Get out of here. I don’t know what happened to Holden and Sabrina. I don’t know... Get out of here. Keep Henry safe. Okay?”

  His words were harder and harder to understand, gritted and slurred and oh, God. She rolled up the bottom of his shirt and forced herself to put all the pressure she could manage on his wound.

  He groaned in pain, but he was going gray. “Reece. Stay right here. Everything is going to be okay.”

  “Of course it is,” he gritted out, squeezing his eyes shut. “But if it’s not, it’s okay. Everything’s okay. I love you.”

  Love.

  A hand wrapped around her arm and Lianna immediately fought it away, pushing and punching against the person who grabbed her.

  “Hey. It’s okay. It’s okay. Lianna. Look at me.”

  It finally broke through her panic and fear about the blood that it was Holden grabbing her, talking to her.

  “Where were you?” she demanded, tears filling her eyes against her will. “Help him.”

  “We already called in a medic team. Sabrina knows some basic field medicine.”

  Lianna looked at Reece, and finally realized Sabrina was here, too. Her face was all bloody and she held her arm at an odd angle, but there was no trace of pain in her expression. Only grim determination as she used her good arm to check Reece’s pulse, then press a lump of cloth, which Holden handed her, to Reece’s bloody chest.

  “What happened?”

  “She got ambushed by a couple guys,” Holden said. When Lianna looked at him, he was checking the pulse of the man who’d shot Reece. He dropped the man’s arm and stood. “We took care of them. Just took some time.” She could hear the guilt in Holden’s tone. Because if something happened to Reece, it was all their fault. “More people coming. Medics. Cleanup.”

  “He’s dead?”

  Holden nodded.

  Dead. She’d killed a man. The man who’d killed Dr. Winston, the man who’d wanted to kill her. Who might have killed Reece.

  She looked at him. If Reece died, wouldn’t that be two lives on her conscience? He couldn’t die. He couldn’t. Lianna crawled back to his side.

  “Is he going to be okay?” Lianna asked Sabrina.

  Sabrina looked up at Lianna grimly. “I don’t know.”

  Lianna closed her eyes and ran her hand over his hair, his cheek, whispering encouraging things. Anything she could think of. “I love you, too. So you have to live. You have to fight. You have to come back to me and Henry. You have to.”

  The words kept tumbling out of her mouth long after the medics arrived and took him away.

  * * *

  REECE HAD BEEN here before. In the dark. In pain, or worse, that floaty place where there was no pain. No nothing. Except sometimes memories. Of his parents. Of fear.

  Of all the ways he’d tried to make up for what bad his parents had done.

  Sometimes he heard Lianna’s voice, but it must have been a hallucination, because she’d murmured things about love and taking care of him forever, and that was a dream. Not reality.

  But they still made him want...more. More than the darkness. More than the pain.

  He came in and out in waves. Sometimes he wasn’t sure what was real and what was a dream. Surely Sabrina offering tearful apologies for being too late was a dream? Shay scolding him for not following protocol probably wasn’t.

  But more often than not, when he thought he opened his eyes, it was Lianna’s blue eyes staring back. Warm and loving. And tired.

  This time when he woke up, he felt...almost real. No fuzzy dream world. There was a sharp pain right below his rib cage, and there were the annoying beeping sounds he associated with hospitals. The lights seemed too bright and he blinked against them, but closing his eyes didn’t send him back into the dark.

  That was something. He wasn’t sure how long it took him to come to full consciousness. Aware of his surroundings, his body and his own thoughts. This wasn’t the first time he’d been shot or injured. He’d had his fair share.

  But this was the first time he’d woken up and known there was something...and someones...waiting for him.

  He looked over at the woman sitting next to his bed. Her eyes were assessing, and she didn’t say anything. Just sat there, arms crossed.

  “Shay.”

  “Don’t sound so disappointed.”

  “Everything’s okay? Everyone? Bring me up to speed.” Everything was a scramble. He’d stopped the bullet from hitting Lianna, hadn’t he? She’d gotten away? Henry was safe and...

  “This’ll be the third time I do that. Think it’ll stick this time around?”

  Reece tried to shift in his bed, but it sent a wave of pain through him. “How long have I been in here?” he muttered.

  “Day five, buddy. But you seem about as alert as I’ve seen you. Gunshot nicked some organs in there. Surgery’s no joke on that. On top of blood loss and the like. But you’ll live.”

  “Well, I guess that’s something. Lianna and Henry...”

  “Safe and sound. For good. The small weapons distributor Todd Kade was involved with has been taken out. All dead or arrested. They were only out for Henry because he could ID their head guy, thanks to dad of the year. Won’t matter now. They basically identified themselves with all this, and what we couldn’t pin on them the shrink had kept a record of in his journal. He’s the only casualty outside of the weapons dealers.”

  Reece let his fuzzy brain work through that. Lianna and Henry safe and sound, and for good. The ghost of Todd Kade laid to rest.

  “Holden and Sabrina?”

  “Banged up, but on the mend. You’re the only idiot who jumped in front of a bullet.”

  Reece let out a breath. The whole thing was hazy, and he didn’t fully remember jumping in front of anything, but he knew the feeling that had gone through him. “Couldn’t let it be her.”

  “Yeah. Well, you’re okay and getting better now. I know you’ve all been worried about North Star going under, but we’re not going anywhere. This has opened up a new case for us. We’ve got some weapons to find for our new friends. So you have to get better and fast. We’re going to need you.” She smiled, but he could see the worry around the edges. The fear. Being this injured had affected their unflappable leader. Just like when Granger had been hurt.

  Because North Star was a family. They had become his family. He wasn’t sure he’d ever have admitted that to himself if he hadn’t flirted with death there for a few minutes. Or days. Whatever it had been. But he cared about each member.

  And they cared about him.

  But that didn’t mean North Star was his life anymore. Even if he could heal as fast as Shay wanted him to—which he doubted, based on all the machines attached to him—he didn’t want to. “I’m not taking any more assignments, Shay.”

  “I know you’re going to have to be out for a few weeks. Obviously, you’ll take your time and get all healed up. Then you’ll be good as new, and when you’re ready—”

  “No
, I’m done. Really done.” He knew people would doubt him. He was laid up in a hospital bed, after all. Probably pumped full of drugs. But he knew it in his heart. In his soul. “I don’t want to fight anymore. I want...”

  Shay was very still and looked at him with perhaps a little too much understanding. “A family?”

  “Yeah.” He’d never thought he’d want something so simple, but he’d never known what family was. Until Lianna and Henry had shown him.

  “You don’t think you’ll miss it?”

  Miss it? He’d joined North Star after the army because he’d had a need to...help. To ease something inside of himself. It was never about the work. “I’ve been fighting my whole life. For survival. Then to help people, hoping to fill that hole of never being helped myself. But the only thing that’s ever come close is...love. I guess.”

  Shay snorted. “You guess.”

  “I’ve survived. I’ve helped a lot of people. At some point... At some point there’s got to be more than that.”

  “For some people,” Shay said, standing.

  “It’s a young man’s game, Shay. Even you can’t do it forever. Look at Granger.”

  “He could do it if he wanted to,” she said, a surprising amount of bitterness in her tone for someone who’d gotten to take over in his absence.

  “Maybe that’s the point. No one wants to forever.” Reece closed his eyes against the wave of pain. Soon nurses would be in to inject something else into him, but he had things to say first. “I’m not sure I would have come to that conclusion if I hadn’t been this hurt, hadn’t had this much not-all-there time to realize... Everyone deserves a chance at a real life. Beyond assignments and missions. No one should have to pay someone else’s penance forever.” It was true. He’d been trying to make up for the bad his parents had to have done in their gang, but he’d never done it.

  Because he couldn’t live his life paying for mistakes that weren’t his. He didn’t feel that mantle of guilt and shame anymore. Not when he wanted something real for the first time in his life.

  “Can you get Lianna in here before one of those nurses forces some more drugs on me?”

  “She’s right outside.”

  Maybe she hadn’t been a dream or a hallucination. As Shay slid out the door and Lianna immediately entered the room, he realized it hadn’t been. She’d been here the whole time.

  She rushed over to him. She had on what he would call her mom smile. Indulgent but authoritative. “Well, hello there. It’s good to see your eyes.” She settled herself on the chair and didn’t give him the chance to speak. “I’m going to need you to get well enough for them to move you into a room with less restrictions. Henry is beside himself that they won’t let children in. School just isn’t in the cards until you’re better.”

  Reece frowned. “He should be back in school. Shay said it’s safe. He should—”

  “My grandfather has been keeping in touch with Henry’s teacher, helping him do any work he needs to for the end of the year,” she interrupted, popping back up to her feet. She straightened his blankets and the wires on his IV. “He worked everything out with the school, so he’s essentially on early summer break without it affecting him adversely. Going home just isn’t an option until you can go with us.”

  “Go with you,” he echoed, watching her fiddle with his bed. He never would have believed he’d like someone fussing over him, but it warmed his heart.

  “Yes, and I won’t hear any arguing,” she said primly. “You’ll need to be taken care of, and I intend to be the one to do it. I owe you my life.”

  Ah, well, this all made sense now, didn’t it? He shifted in his bed, wincing at the pain. When he spoke, it came out gruffer than he’d intended. “You don’t owe me a damn thing.”

  “Now, now.” She leaned over the bed, brushing her hand over his hair. “Don’t get worked up.”

  If he could move right, he would have grabbed her hand and pulled her right on top of him. Show her how worked up he could be. But he didn’t have that option, he supposed. “I’m not getting worked up. And I won’t have you taking care of me because you feel guilty or...or like it’s payback or...whatever. No, I won’t.”

  She blinked, and the hand on his hair that had been so...officious...gentled. She cupped his cheek, studying his face. He didn’t have a clue what he looked like, but it couldn’t be good.

  “I love you, Reece.” She said it quietly and matter-of-factly. “So we’ll be nursing you back to health for however long it takes, and we’ll deal with the rest once you’re well enough to...go back.”

  This time he did reach up and managed to encircle her wrist with his fingers, thick and clumsy as they felt. “I’m not going back.”

  “Don’t be silly. You’ll get better.”

  “Yes, but I’m not going back to North Star. I don’t want to be a field operative anymore.”

  She sucked in a breath at that, and then let it out slowly. Watching him all the while. “What do you want?”

  He thought for a long moment. In his whole life, there’d only ever been one thing he’d ever truly wanted. One thing he’d thought he’d never find. “Home.”

  She didn’t say anything to that, though her eyes filled.

  “You could probably use a hand around the inn. I’m handy. I can wash dishes, pick up groceries. I don’t require much.”

  “No, I don’t suppose you do.” She sighed. “And what about love?”

  “I’d give it,” he said gruffly, not letting go of her hand.

  “And take it?”

  “I guess I’d have to.”

  She leaned closer, one hand still on his face, one hand captured in his. She kept her gaze steady on his and said very seriously, “Yes, you would.”

  “Lianna, I only want to go home to you and Henry. It’s all I want.”

  “It’s all I want, too.”

  EPILOGUE

  Everyone told Reece he’d change his mind. When he got out of the hospital, when he moved in with Lianna. North Star people, Lianna herself. Everyone.

  Reece didn’t miss it. Weeks out of the hospital, moved into the Bluebird, living with Henry and Lianna as a family... No, he’d never once looked back and missed his work as a field operative.

  He fixed things that broke. He helped around the inn, getting groceries, making beds, greeting guests. He’d been roped into coaching Henry’s baseball team, and he found the home he’d always wanted.

  He loved Lianna and Henry, and built the life he hadn’t known would have been possible a few short months ago.

  But most of all, he didn’t give up one family for the other. Even secret group operatives could take a break to see a kid’s Little League game. As evidenced by the fact Shay and Betty were standing next to Lianna as he and Henry left the field after one of Henry’s games.

  “Where’s Sabrina?” Henry asked, all but dancing on air. He’d gotten his first extra-base hit and hadn’t come down from cloud nine.

  “She’s on assignment, but she’ll be at the next game,” Shay said, giving Henry a high five.

  “But I’ll send her video of your monster hit, Mr. Baseball,” Betty added, slinging her arm around Henry’s shoulders.

  Henry grinned. “Cool.”

  “We’ve got to get back,” Shay said to Lianna.

  “You’re not coming over for the barbecue?” Lianna asked. “You know you’re both welcome. And you can take some leftovers to Holden and Sabrina.”

  Shay shook her head. “Both out on jobs. Next time we’re in between assignments we’ll be better, longer guests.”

  Reece nodded. “Well, you’re always welcome.”

  Some of Henry’s teammates came over and dragged him off to the playground. Betty and Lianna had their heads together about something, and Shay just looked at him, shaking her head.

  “Can’t say I ever
predicted any of this, but it looks good on you, Reece.”

  “Yeah, it does.”

  “You’re really not coming back, are you?”

  “Really not.”

  She slapped him on the back. “Well, I guess I won’t ask you to come back anymore. But if you ever change your mind...”

  “I won’t.”

  Shay smiled. “Yeah, well. See you later. Come on, Bet.”

  Shay and Betty left, and Lianna rounded up Henry so they could drive home. Reece barbecued dinner, and they ate together discussing the week ahead. They had two couples coming for a stay, making for a busy week.

  Henry ran off to play his hour of video games as Reece helped Lianna clear off the kitchen table.

  “Did she ask you to come back?” Lianna asked lightly as she rinsed off dishes and placed them in the dishwasher.

  Reece didn’t have to ask who or what she meant. He came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Yes.”

  “And you didn’t feel the slightest twinge to agree?” she asked, and though her voice remained light, he could feel the tension within her.

  “Not the slightest.”

  Her shoulders relaxed.

  “Come on, Lianna. I thought we were past this.”

  “It isn’t that. It’s only...” She let out a breath, then laughed. She nudged him off her and turned to face him. She blew out a breath. “Reece, I’m pregnant.”

  He stood there, those words echoing in his ears for...he didn’t know how long. He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat had tightened up. But Lianna had given him a few lessons along the way. Among them that even when he didn’t have the words, he could reach out and find someone to hold.

  Which was what he did. Pulled her into his arms. Buried his face in her shoulder. Held her tight until he knew what to say. “We have to get married.”

  She pushed him away, but he didn’t budge, just pulled his head back to look at her. “You said you wanted to wait a year.”

  “I didn’t want to. I thought we should, but now? No. We’ll get married. Then we can do the adoption paperwork for Henry. And we’ll get it all done before the new addition. So we’re not just a family, but legal. Names and everything.”