Bearing It All

by Vonnie Davis

  “I could have Mary Kate make me some hot chocolate.”

  “Well now, ’tis a good idea ye have.” His gray eyebrows rose. “What? Nay cookies?”

  Effie smiled weakly, a little twinkle in her eyes. “Well, what good is one without the other? Take me home, my dearest Earnan.”

  No sooner had they left than orderlies delivered a huge bed. They had to push Anisa’s toward one wall to make room for a bed fit fer a bear. Within minutes, they had it made up and saluted Ronan as they exited the room.

  Chapter 18

  Dr. MacGuiness ordered an IV drip of saline solution for each arm in hopes of flushing most of the poisons out of Anisa’s system. Damn, but she was tired of being poked and touched and talked about. Just because she could barely move didn’t mean she couldn’t feel. Whatever poison flowed through her body had her scraped raw inside. It even hurt to blink her eyes.

  Until the doctor knew for sure what kinds of toxins he was working with, he chose generic anti-poison meds to give her. Since her vitals were nearing normal, he told her he was going to check on his other patients before he went home for the night. Anisa was almost happy to see his behind and his brusque ways exit the room.

  Davina popped her head in the doorway. “There was a message for me at the nurses’ station on the first floor that me main patient had been moved up here with Anisa. I was told to report to this room. Was that correct?” Her gaze swept from Ronan in the wheelchair to his empty bed to Anisa.

  Jaimie motioned Davina in. The two nurses leaned against Ronan’s bed, talking in hushed tones about the horrific turn of the day’s events. As Davina’s jaw dropped, Jaimie opened her laptop and went over Anisa’s records.

  She’d recovered enough to utter more than a word or two, if one could call her rasping voice speaking. “Ronan, ask Kendric to stand beside you.” The two men leaned close. “It was someone from the CIA. Or hired by them. The woman told me my poison would wear off.” She squeezed Ronan’s hand. “If I don’t call the CIA team and return with the files I copied, Ronan dies next. And members of his family, after that.”

  Kendric made a note on his pad. “Not bloody well likely. What else?”

  “She stole my clothes from the closet and said the copied intel better be in them.”

  Ronan glared at Kendric. “I was told ye changed her room assignment numbers. How in the feckin’ blue blazes did she find me woman?”

  “Bloody hell, man, I did. I have her in room four-twenty. There must be GPS chips on or in her.” Kendric stood and checked in her closet. “Odd, she knew yer clothes were in here. Even stranger, she left behind yer boots.” He stooped, snatched them from the bottom of the closet, and examined them.

  He opened the pouch hanging from a silver chain below his waist and glanced at Anisa. “Dinna think these are male purses we wear at the front of our kilts. They’re sporrans, a replacement for pants pockets we dinna have in our plaid. ’Tis where we keep our driver’s license, mobile phones, and other needed items.”

  Gee, looks like a male purse to me.

  He pulled out a pocketknife and pried off the heels of her boots. “Hello.” He held the heels up for them to see. Tucked inside a carved-out space in each one was a tiny wired device. “They’ve known where ye were all the time.”

  Ronan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fook, I checked her flight suit and helmet. Even her ID badge. It never entered me mind to check her boots fer a wire.” He cast sad eyes on her. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. Who would think to check there?” She quickly gave Kendric a look she hoped telegraphed he wasn’t to add he had. Ronan felt bad enough as it was. Truth be told, she should have thought of checking her own boots, especially with all the training she’d been through. But from the first night she’d stumbled onto her Scot, her hormones had taken over her mind. She’d never forget how he looked, standing in his doorway, all muscle and brawn in his kilt. His long hair pulled back and tied with a leather cord. Then it struck her. “You’ve shaved your head.”

  The crunching sound of Kendric smashing the wires with his heel filled the room.

  “Ye just now noticed me head is as bald as me arse?” Ronan’s sexy-as-hell grin spread. He so seldom smiled like that, but oh how it made her feminine parts do the cancan when he did. At least the poison hadn’t destroyed that part of her body. Thank God for that.

  “Well, yes. I was so happy to see you when you first got here. All I wanted to do was stare into those brown eyes and think about how I’d like to suck on…”

  “Whoa! Bloody whoa! We might have virgin ears here.” Kendric’s gaze slid over to Jaimie and she scowled at him.

  “Calm down, Detective. I was talking about my man’s sexy bottom lip.” Anisa tried lifting her hand to touch it, but couldn’t raise it high enough. Ronan leaned in to rub his lower lip over her fingertips. This man had so many loving little gestures she found endearing.

  He moved his lips to her ear. “He’s trying to make an impression on Jaimie and falling flat on his feckin’ face.” The breath from his lips fluttered her hair.

  Her gaze snapped from the blond nurse to the dark-haired detective. She hadn’t noticed. “Really?”

  Jaimie flounced toward the door, barely giving Kendric a glance. “When I come in tomorrow, I hope ye’re over all the effects of the poison, Anisa. Have a good night, fer ye’ve surely had a rough day.” Her green eyes snapped toward Kendric. “Virgin ears, me arse.” She stormed out and his face reddened.

  Well, well, Ronan was right. Anisa was surprised the silent push and pull of attraction had zipped right over her head.

  “Now, me bald patient, how long have ye been sitting in that chair?” Davina’s one eyebrow arched. “I’m thinking ye need to get back in yer bed fer a couple hours to stretch out and take a nap. Are ye afraid yer bear will come out? Is that why the big bed is up here?”

  “Aye. He nearly went frantic when he found out Anisa was poisoned. I had a terrible time controlling him since I was practically out of me mind with worry, too.”

  “Which is all the more reason ye need to rest. I’m here to keep others out if he shifts. Let what will be, be.” Davina turned her attention to Kendric. “Do ye have any more questions fer Anisa? She looks like death warmed over, so she does.”

  “Just a couple. Then I’ll be gone. First of all, the Office of Political Asylum in Glasgow has received yer forms and assigned ye a case number. I have it fer now, till ye’re better able to keep it. Can ye give me a description of the woman? Any small thing?”

  The female was branded in her mind. “I’m thinking she was mid- to late thirties. She wore Chanel No. 5 and black glasses. Brown eyes. Her hair was shoulder length, straight, and brunette. She was petite, about five-feet-two. Slender. There was a mole in front of her ear.”

  “Left or right?”

  Anisa thought for a second. “Left. Oh, and she had a tattoo of flowers on her hand. Right hand.” She indicated the placement. “It looked fake to me and I wondered why a grown woman would wear a fake tattoo to work. She seemed too serious for something frivolous like that.”

  Kendric’s pen tapped against his notepad. “So everything about her may have been a disguise—glasses, wig, tattoo. Even the mole.” He groaned as he exhaled a sigh. “Okay, I’ll work with what I’ve got. You two get some sleep. I’ll be by tomorrow.” He exited the room and exchanged words with the guards on duty in the hallway.

  “Okay, Baldy, off to bed with ye.” Davina held out her hands as if to help Ronan out of the chair. “I bet yer legs are a bit numb from sitting so long. Grab a hold.”

  Ronan leaned over Anisa, his lips covering hers. “I love ye, me Beauty. Dinna be surprised if Magnus makes an appearance during the night. He needs to see ye, too, and I promised him ’twould be all right. The shifting will use up a lot of me energy, so he’ll be with ye for several hours until I build up enough energy to make the change back.”

  She cupped his face before he straightened. “Y
ou’re treating him gentler. That pleases me, man of mine.”

  He snuggled his face against her neck, below her ear. “I never imagined I could love a woman this much.” One more kiss and he limped the few steps to his bed.

  Davina covered him and left the railing down. “I’m going to check yer vitals.” She stuck a thermometer under his tongue and wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his biceps. Taking note of the numbers, she tapped the info into her laptop. “Now, to sleep for both of ye. Ronan, do ye need pain medicine?”

  “Everything I need fer any ache I might ever have is in the bed next to me.” He yawned on a deep breath.

  Anisa asked the nurse to turn her on her side and prop her back with pillows so she could lay there and watch him sleep.

  When Davina had her positioned correctly, she leaned over and whispered, “I never thought I’d see him fall in love, but he has, and deeply, too. He’ll never mistreat ye. He doesna have it in him.”

  Oh, but she could hurt him. What if the authorities found her guilty and she ended up in jail? Or the French government ordered her back to active duty if they believed in her innocence? She couldn’t exactly resign her commission because she’d fallen in love. She had obligations to fulfill. Would political asylum override that or would she be extradited to France?

  How would Ronan understand the power of her obligations? There were two years until her current enrollment was up. Then she could walk away from her military career if she chose, but would the man she loved be willing to wait for her? Would his feelings still exist or fade over time? Especially when they had the English Channel between them and hundreds of miles of road?

  One thing she knew for sure, she could never love a man like she did the Scot who could talk to her on an intelligent level and yet woo her like a desirable female he couldn’t resist.

  Anisa couldn’t have been asleep long when a familiar popping woke her. She opened her arms. “Magnus.”

  Her bear hugged her so hard, she was afraid he’d crush her ribs.

  “I’m here to take care of her just as I took care of ye.” Davina sat on a chair in the corner under a light, reading from her e-reader. “Dinna I get a hug from me friend?”

  Magnus preened to Anisa and growled a little.

  Davina, a shifter, interpreted. “Magnus says he has a friend. She’s special, but nay as special as ye.” He lumbered on all fours over to Davina, stood, and wrapped his upper legs around her shoulders. He turned to walk back to Anisa. He murmured again and Davina explained. “He wants to ken if ye’re feeling better? Oh, and he wants another hug.”

  From the corridor came two quick fwrrps of silenced gunfire. Dear God, they sound like the same type of silencers the CIA preferred. Anisa’s mouth went dry and her heart tattooed a beat of fear against her chest. How could she keep Magnus and Davina safe?

  Davina stood. “What was that strange noise?”

  “Shhh, turn out your light and hide in the corner, Davina,” Anisa whispered. Magnus was already shifting back to Ronan. She only hoped he had enough time. In his weakened state, it would take longer. “Stand in the corner in front of Davina. That was gunfire. Someone has come for me. Davina, stay behind him. Be very quiet. I only hope he has enough time to shift.” She reached to turn on the night-light over her bed so she was highlighted when whoever it was came into the room.

  The door snicked open and the fragrance of Chanel No. 5 preceded a redhead, wearing no glasses, slinking into the room.

  Anisa sat up in the bed. “I see you’ve changed your disguise for this visit.”

  “There was no intel hidden in your clothes. Where is it? And let me warn you, I’m not in the mood for games.” She waved her gun. “I will either kill you or drag you back to France. The bounty put on your head by the CIA is for dead or alive.”

  Ronan had not completely shifted when he charged from the darkness of the corner, his roar deafening. The unsuspecting woman stared at the part man–part bear in disbelief a minute before she screamed and pointed her gun at him. His claws dug into her forearm, and she dropped the weapon. With one swift swipe of his front paw, he slashed her face. He clamped his jaws on her throat and tossed her back and forth like a rag doll.

  Davina was on her cellphone calling someone.

  By the time the woman was dead, Ronan had completely shifted. He ran into the bathroom to shower off the blood.

  Davina put a clean hospital gown on the sink in the bathroom for Ronan. “Hurry! Kendric’s on his way. Dinna worry about yer bandages. I’ll change them fer ye later.”

  Except for a dead woman and a lot of blood everywhere, both patients were in their beds when Kendric charged into Anisa’s hospital room, his pistol drawn. He holstered his gun, picked up the woman’s revolver with a pen, and dropped it into an evidence bag. “She killed both of the guards. They never stood a bloody fookin’ chance. She’s wearing scrubs like all the other nurses. There was nothing to give her away until she drew her pistol on them.”

  “I was in bear form when we heard the silenced gunfire. I started to shift, but the process is slower for me now and I still had claws and teeth and some fur when she saw me. I think it might have been a heart attack that killed her, not me bear ripping her fooking neck out. Either way, ye need to ken, Kendric.”

  “By the blood splatters, I suspected as much, but I’m grateful fer yer honesty. I hold no ill will. She was a cop killer and ye were only protecting two women. They’ll be nay charges.”

  Anisa had to know. “Detective, what are we going to do about the body?”

  Kendric rubbed two fingers across his forehead. “I’ll have to call in me crime scene investigation unit and the coroner. Hope to hell I can keep the reporters away. One look at the claw marks and it’ll be a worldwide media frenzy. Our community will be swamped with outsiders, looking for the killer bear.” He made the calls and then looked at the door. “Guess I better station meself in the hallway. I’ll do me best to keep hospital staff away from all this fer a while.”

  He sneered at the dead woman. “A damn bloody cop killer. I’d like to pitch her body out of the window.”

  “Doesna sound like a bad idea, Kendric. Yer people could pick her up out there. I’ll be glad to raise the window so ye can give her a toss. I’m too weak after all me shifting to do it meself.”

  Anisa began removing her monitor clips. “Davina, I need you to put me in Ronan’s wheelchair. Are you sweating? You look like you’re having a hot flash.”

  “Aye. That I am.” She lifted Anisa and placed her in the chair.

  “Kendric, open the window so Davina can get some cool air. My mother used to say menopause was a bitch. Push the chair over closer to the window so I can get some fresh air, too.” Kendric opened it while he muttered about bossy women, and the dead woman’s body flew out. “I need to be put back to bed now and a clean hospital gown put on.”

  Ronan and Kendric’s mouths dropped open and they rushed to the window to peer down. Kendric was the first to speak. “You can’t do that.”

  “I know. I’m too weak from the poisoning that dead bitch gave me. Leave the room, please, so Davina can hook me back to the monitors and get me cleaned up. Besides, that dead woman was going to kill my man. End of story.”

  Anisa had to admit Kendric guided the whole proceedings with efficiency. What little she saw during her on-again off-again naps, there was little hospital drama. Both of the guards’ bodies were removed, once the CSI team did their thing. While housekeeping mopped the blood in the hallway, the CSI people moved into Anisa’s room to photograph the gory mess.

  “This may sound heartless, but my nerves are so bad, I’m hungry.” Anisa glanced at Ronan. “If it’s a slender woman you want, you’ll never have it with me. I’m a nervous eater just like my Italian grandma was.”

  “I’m too crazy over that hourglass figure of yours to look at anyone else. Brother Bear and I could both eat. Too much drama makes us ravenous.”

  “I could use a wee snack, too. Good
thing me two nieces are working in the kitchen and dining hall tonight. I’ll call Lorna, she’s in charge, and see what we can get this late at night.”

  Davina glanced at both of them after talking to her niece. “They’ve got leftover soup or they can make pancakes and eggs. Which do ye want?”

  “Order a double batch of pancakes for me and six eggs scrambled soft. Och, and honey fer the pancakes.”

  “I’ll have an order of pancakes with lots of syrup,” Anisa said.

  Davina passed on their orders. “Lorna, darlin’, make yer auntie two orders of pancakes with honey. And a pot of herbal tea fer all of us.” Davina glanced at Kendric. “You want anything?”

  “With a body to collect three stories down? Nay thanks. Besides, I need some sleep.”

  Not long after the cleaning crew and Kendric left, a knock came at the door. “Auntie Davina, I’ve got yer food. Are ye having a party in there?” Giggles floated in from the corridor.

  Davina hurried to the door. “Och, there’s me beautiful niece. Come give me a hug.” The two embraced and the young woman pushed in the overloaded cart.

  “Me patients and I got a bad case of the munchies. Me hot flashes have me stomach stirred up, so they do. No need for ye to unload all this food. I’ll do it. We’ll eat and talk our way through it. Thank ye for going to all this work.”

  Later, Ronan crawled out of bed and placed his dirty plates on the cart. He took Anisa’s over, too. When he returned to her bedside, he leaned over, and caressed her cheeks. “I dinna like this danger ye always seem to be in. I canna lose ye, fer it would kill me. Creighton told me about yer applying for Scottish asylum, and that pleases me.” He kissed her good night and burrowed his face in the crook of her neck. “I love ye, Beauty.” Slowly, he crawled into his bed.