“Move!”
Rob looked up to see Lance racing across the room toward them. He dropped down to his knees beside her.
“What’s her injury?”
“Here.” Rob moved her arm so Lance could reach it. “The way she’s bleeding it looks like an artery was cut.”
“Take the bandage off, I need to hold the bare skin.” Lance rolled up his sleeves.
“I’ve only now gotten the flow to slow. If we take the bandage off she’s likely to bleed to death.”
“She might, but look at her. Dammit, she’s not going to make it like this either!”
Rob watched the slow, shallow rise and fall of her chest. Lance was right, she was slipping away and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. His hands shook as he untied the scarf and watched as the blood started to flow.
Lance placed his hands over the wound, closed his eyes and appeared to go into a trancelike state.
Rob leaned down next to her ear and started telling Eris about all they were going to do in the years ahead.
Epilogue
Eris sat on the back porch of her parents’ house and watched as Rob took an exceptionally hard hit from Zane. It’d been two weeks since her attack and she still hadn’t returned to her apartment or Rob’s. Two weeks of living back at her parents’ place was starting to feel like an eternity in hell.
This morning it’d finally dawned on her why she didn’t want to live in either place she’d shared with Rob. Tomorrow she was going to ask for help packing her apartment and moving into the house Orbit left her. She just hoped she wasn’t moving in alone.
She watched as Rob crossed the yard, grabbed a couple of beers from the ice chest and walked over to her. He took the seat next to her on the wicker loveseat, twisted the tops on both bottles and handed one to her. She took the bottle and watched as Rob played with the label on his, slowly peeling it away.
“I have a question no one will answer for me.”
His voice carried such a serious tone she stiffened. “What?”
“How did Lance get to us so quickly? I didn’t call any of your brothers and we only told Zane where we were. I’m totally baffled here but they all refuse to say a word.”
Eris sighed and wondered if he would like or dislike what he was about to hear. “Remember when he called because he’d picked up on my uneasy feelings?”
“Yes.”
“Apparently when Carmen showed up I was so focused on her and you, I let down the mental wall that normally keeps him out. He picked up on my thoughts and he realized you’d been hurt. He knew Lance was still in town and called him to come help you. He had no idea at the time of the call that Lance would end up saving me.”
“I didn’t think he could pick up thoughts from any distance. How did it happen?” His voice was very neutral, not giving away any of his feelings.
“Zane told me nothing like this has ever happened to him before and he hopes like hell it never happens again. Mom has always said that Zane and I have a strong mental connection, and that’s why I can block him from reading my thoughts. So, when I dropped that barrier, my fear-amplified thoughts hit Zane like a freight train. I don’t remember reaching out to Zane but maybe I did. We might not ever know how Zane picked up my thoughts.”
Rob brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I don’t care how it happened, I’m just glad it did. Then when Lance showed up, I had a decision to make. Not so long ago I’d have not let Lance perform his woo-woo, but I did because deep down I knew Lance was your only hope. It scared me to take that leap of faith. Now it feels like you’re slipping away anyway and I’m as helpless to do anything about it as I was that night. Only now, Lance nor any of your other family members can help. What’s going on, Eris, did you have a change of heart?”
He dug into the pocket of his shorts, pulled out a box and flipped it open.
“I bought this a week ago and have been waiting for the perfect moment to give it to you. You’re breaking my heart one small piece at a time, princess. What’s going on?”
Tears burned her eyes as she looked at the beautiful princess-cut diamond winking back at her. A knot the size of Dallas formed in her throat. “I know my grandfather hired you, he confessed everything to me in the hospital.”
Rob sighed. “He hired Titan to protect you, not me. Believe me, he didn’t ask for me to seduce you and he definitely didn’t plan on me falling in love with you.”
Eris studied the man she loved. “I know that, and he even said the same thing.”
“Then what’s wrong? Your entire family is being unwanted-guest polite to me until you decide if I’m a keeper or not. If not, I’m going to be hurting in more ways than one, but there is nothing any of them can do to me that’ll surpass the pain of you turning me down.”
She brushed his hair back and traced the new scar at his hairline. “Nothing’s really wrong. I just need to know I’m going down the right path. I’ve been thinking a lot and I do have a couple of requests.”
Rob took a deep breath. “Let me hear them.”
“I want us to move into Orbit’s old house. The one time we were there it felt like…”
“Home,” Rob finished for her.
Eris smiled for the first time in two weeks. “Yeah, it did, didn’t it?”
“Done.” Rob brushed the pad of his thumb across her lips. “What next?”
Her stomach tightened at his touch. “I want to do something about Drew. He can’t stay where he is and I don’t want to let him down like others have.”
His eyes grew serious. “We won’t let him down. Tomorrow we’ll make calls and start figuring out what we can do. Until something legal can be worked out, we’ll get Drew a key to the house and make sure he understands he’s welcome anytime, all the time. He can even have his own room.”
She looked him in the eyes. “You’re sure about this? Because my family has a take-no-prisoners attitude.”
Rob pulled her into his arms. “The only one capable of running me off is you, and I don’t plan on going anywhere without a fight.”
He lowered his mouth to hers and she felt the kiss all the way to her heart. The fear and uncertainty plaguing her since the attack melted away. It was Rob’s understanding, acceptance and love that would heal her wounds. She needed him as much as he needed her. Slowly she ended the kiss, pulling back so she could look into his eyes. “I was thinking we could move in tomorrow.”
“I have a better plan.” Rob took her hand in his and slipped the ring on her finger. He kissed her palm before looking back into her eyes. “Why not start our lives together tonight, princess?”
Happiness and certainty filled Eris as she stood and held out her hand. “Let’s go home.”
Without a word, Rob stood and took her hand. Together they headed down a new path together and Eris knew no matter how crazy her life became, Rob would always be there, strong and steady by her side.
About the Author
Having grown up in Southeast Texas with summers spent on the Louisiana bayous, Georgia Tribell is a woman who’s heard and told many a story in her life. After she received a BA in computer science, she spent several years at NASA and then became a victim of the Enron scandal. It was then she decided to take a more artistic turn in life, go back to her roots and make storytelling a career. She currently resides in Deer Park, Texas, with her husband and sons, where she coaxes garden blooms in the southern sun and writes stories with their own kind of heat.
The author welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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