Ryan, Debora - Crimes of the Heart (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Debora Ryan

  Without letting go of her hand, Will slid a chair close to the bed and sat down. “I’m not dictatorial.”

  “Oh, but you are.”

  “How so?” Leah impaled him with such a scathing look that he held up his hand. “Question withdrawn.”

  “I thought so.” She closed her eyes, suddenly tired. “I think she drugged me.”

  “Or maybe worrying about Cece so much and having your head split open in a car accident is exhausting.”

  “Will?”

  “Yeah, honey?”

  Languor stole over her body. She struggled against it. “Why are you here?”

  “Because I care about you.”

  “I called Anne.”

  “On my phone. You have to admit it looks like you want me here.”

  “She wouldn’t answer her phone. I knew you were with her.”

  “You could have called your assistant. Or hers. Instead, you called me. You knew I would drop everything to be here for you.”

  Leah struggled to open her eyes. “I wish you weren’t you.” The words came out, but they didn’t make much sense. She was glad it sounded odd. He would think it was the drugs talking. She meant she wished their relationship was different. She wished he wasn’t blackmailing her. She wished she could throw caution to the wind and fall in love with him. Instead, she had to focus on resisting him, on resisting her own need to have him in her life. That exhausted her more than the accident.

  When she opened her eyes later, Will hadn’t moved from the edge of the chair he had pulled up next to the bed. He stroked the back of her hand. “What time is it?” She couldn’t shake away the dreamlike state fogging her mind. “How long have I been asleep? I have to go see Cece.”

  “Mary was just in. Cece is fine. She’s sleeping. She wouldn’t notice you anyway.” His voice came out flat. He was tired, she realized.

  “I told her I would stay the night with her.”

  “I’m sure she’ll understand.”

  A single mournful laugh escaped from Leah. “You don’t know Cece.”

  “No,” he said carefully. “But I’d like to.”

  The door opened suddenly, letting the noise from the busy emergency room hallway spill in. Anne burst in. “Hey, how are you?”

  Leah struggled to sit up, but Will tenderly pushed her back down. “Anne will understand if you don’t get up.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him slightly because any more pulled too much at her cut. “Dictatorial,” she whispered.

  “Live with it.”

  Anne squeezed in front of all the equipment on the other side of the bed. Leah followed lines from the beeping equipment to her arm, chest, and hand. “When the hell did they do that?”

  “When you were sleeping,” Will said. “I told them you wouldn’t mind.”

  Ire burned in her chest. “You think this is funny?”

  “Apparently not.” He eyed her warily, and she wondered what he was thinking.

  “Her sense of humor turns off in hospitals,” Anne explained. “It’s not you.”

  “I beg to differ,” Leah said.

  “Hush, Lee-Lee,” Anne said. “Leave Will alone. He’s here because he cares about you. The least you could do is be nice to him. Now, tell me what happened.”

  Haltingly, Leah summed up the details of the accident the best she could. “I didn’t see it. This is what Dr. Scott told me.”

  “Is that your doctor?” Anne asked.

  Leah shook her head. “She doesn’t work in the ER. I don’t know where she works, but I’d like to send her a card to thank her for being so nice to me.”

  “So, you have a gash in your head and, what? A concussion? What else?”

  Leah shook her head. “That’s all. Isn’t it enough?”

  “You look like hell.” Anne moved around the bed and reached into a bag she brought that Leah hadn’t noticed before. “I stopped by your place and brought you some of your things. I didn’t know if they would admit you or not. You sounded okay on the phone, but one can never tell.” She flipped her long blonde tresses out of the way and dug deeper into the bag. She pulled out a brush. When she went to push Will aside, he resisted.

  It was a standoff until Anne smiled menacingly. “Then do you want to brush the glass out of her hair? Be careful you don’t push it into her scalp.”

  Will accepted the brush from Anne. “I’ll do it.”

  “Let Anne do it,” Leah said. “I can’t imagine you have much experience at this sort of thing.”

  “The pitfalls of being the younger brother. My older sister, Erika, used to make me brush her hair all the time. She told me one day I’d thank her for it. I never thought that day would come.” He helped Leah into sitting position. “Let me know if I hurt you.”

  Anne flipped on the lights in the room. Pain shot through Leah’s head and settled behind her eyes. “Close your eyes,” Will said. “I’ll be gentle. I promise.”

  He carefully and methodically brushed the glass from most of her hair. Leah wanted to relax against him, but she knew that would hinder his ability to finish the job, and she didn’t relish having shards of glass wedge themselves into her scalp.

  “Anne?” His voice soothed her nerves.

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you get a wet cloth or something? I need to get the dried blood out of her hair.”

  Leah’s hand flew to her hair, and her eyes opened suddenly. The pain wasn’t as bad. Will caught her hand and put it back in her lap. “Relax, honey. It’s from your cut.”

  She twisted around to look at him. That’s when she noticed the blood that covered his shirt. “Will, you’re bleeding. What happened? Are you all right?”

  He glanced quickly at his shirt. “I’m fine, sweetheart. That isn’t mine.”

  For the first time, she looked down at herself. Blood stained most of the left side of her favorite business suit. Several rips in the fabric gaped up at her. There would be no salvaging this suit. She closed her eyes. Her meager supply of work clothing was dwindling too rapidly. She had already run up her one remaining credit card nearly to the limit when she paid Cecelia’s last bill for Sunshine Acres.

  As a healthy person who almost never caught a cold, she had opted to take the cash payout instead of carrying health insurance. The hospital bills for both of them would be too much for her to bear.

  “Hey, it’s okay. We can buy you a new outfit,” Will said. “I know you like that one, but it’s beyond repair.”

  Leah chose to not respond to his offer. She didn’t want accept gifts from him, and she didn’t want to take him shopping at the secondhand stores where she could still barely afford the clothing. “I’m sorry about your shirt,” she said. “It’s ruined.”

  “It’s not a big deal, honey. I have dozens of them. They all look the same. No one will know the difference.”

  This failed to cheer up Leah. Anne returned at just the right moment. She had impeccable timing. Together, Will and Anne cleaned the blood from her hair and face. Anne removed the jacket of Leah’s suit and dropped it into the waste basket. When she tried to help Leah take off the rest, Leah stopped her.

  “Will, wait outside.” She didn’t know what kind of damage she’d sustained.

  He wasn’t happy about it, but he stepped outside to wait.

  “Let’s get you changed.” Glass fragments pinged to the floor as Leah removed her shirt. Tiny fragments even fell from her bra. Anne made Leah throw away everything. “I have extra washcloths and some warm water. Let’s get you washed up and into some fresh clothes. I brought those sweats that look killer on you.”

  “I don’t really care if I look attractive right now, Anne.”

  “I know,” she said. “But you might care later.”

  Mary returned shortly after Leah finished dressing to collect her for her X-ray. It had been challenging to change her shirt while hooked to the IV, but she did it. Anne and Will both stayed with her while she waited for the results. She had a slight concussion. The do
ctor released her with strict instructions to rest and follow up with him the following week.

  “My office will call you to schedule an appointment,” he said.

  Will put his cell number on the forms. “This is the best number at which to reach her.” After the doctor left, he informed Anne that Leah would be staying at his house. “If she has to be woken up every two to three hours, then we can’t leave her alone. You have to go to work, though probably not tomorrow. I won’t be in until Leah is feeling better.”

  Leah made a sound of protest. “I can stay with Anne.”

  Will lifted a hand to caress the side of her face that didn’t hurt. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

  * * * *

  She stared at him. When she failed to protest further, he knew she must really be hurting.

  He also realized something else. He was in love with her. The vise that had begun squeezing his insides the moment he heard her voice on the phone went in for the kill. He couldn’t stand to see her like this. He couldn’t stand not being able to make it better.

  This nonsense between them stopped now. She would tell him everything and he would find a way to fix it. Then he would marry her. There was no way his mother would let his father prosecute his wife.

  Chapter 10

  Leah was more than a little upset with Anne, who hadn’t attempted to argue with Will. She had simply smiled and asked for his home number so she could call Leah the next day. Leah didn’t want to be near Will because she knew the next few days would be difficult. Her muscles were already sore, and her head pounded. She was sure she wouldn’t be able to be on her best behavior. She might say things she would regret.

  She already suspected that he was sensitive and caring. His behavior in the hospital had clearly demonstrated that he had feelings for her. Because she wanted to maintain a distance between them, she knew it was important to protect her carefully-constructed system of denial. If she were confronted with proof of his humanity every day, her reasons for keeping him at arm’s length would crumble. The fact that he was blackmailing her would cease to matter and she would end up hurt.

  Will didn’t have a house, she realized as he turned into an underground parking garage. He lived in one of the expensive high-rise condos that had recently gone up in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor. He stopped the car near a bank of elevators and turned to study Leah.

  “If I drop you off here, will you still be here when I’m finished parking the car?”

  Leah blinked at him. “Where would I go?”

  He regarded her with a tired smile. They had not left the hospital until the early morning hours. “You’re a resourceful woman. You tell me.”

  “I’ll wait for you.”

  He helped her from the car. Every muscle she had screamed in protest. Will scooped her up and carried her to a bench near the elevators. “Stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  The way her muscles felt, Leah doubted she could make it off the bench without help. Weakly, she nodded her assent.

  He was back quickly, the bag Anne had packed for her slung across his shoulder. The bloodstains on his shirt lent the scene a macabre feel. Leah couldn’t remember ever before seeing the dark circles that had formed under his eyes. She didn’t want to think about what she looked like.

  He bent to pick her up once again, but she protested. “I can walk.”

  “You’re in pain,” he protested. “Relax and let me do all the work.”

  She took a deep breath. “If I don’t use the muscles, they’ll stay sore.”

  “I have your medication in your bag. When we get upstairs, you can take some. Then you can practice walking.” Leah was amazed that Will was able to maintain his calm demeanor. She knew her behavior and attitude left much to be desired. Pain and fatigue robbed her of the ability to filter those things. Perversely, she wondered how far she could push him before his temper got the better of him.

  Painfully, she pushed herself into standing. “I’m not an invalid,” she said. “I can do it myself.”

  “Okay,” he said, releasing her. “We’ll do it your way. See? Not dictatorial.”

  He had truly been bothered by that adjective. She laughed tiredly. “No, you’re not. I’m sorry I said that earlier.”

  In the end, she compromised by leaning heavily on him. Perhaps Anne wouldn’t have been able to help her into her house. The elevator stopped at a floor near the top. It opened to reveal a tastefully-decorated lobby with doors at either end. Leah surmised there were only two residences on the entire floor. Given the size of the building, she knew they would both be enormous.

  Will unlocked his door and ushered Leah into a large foyer that doubled as a library, as far as she could tell. Two and a half walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling custom built bookshelves. Beyond the foyer, she spied a sizeable dining area with a long, rectangular oak table that sat eight. A matching hutch was positioned against one wall, and a sideboard underlined a bank of windows that faced east. Leah thought it looked beautiful in there with the early morning sun streaming in through the open blinds.

  The dining room opened into a large, roomy kitchen with an island in the center. Tall stools lined one side. It looked like the kind of place where it would not only be pleasant to cook, but it also invited social interaction.

  The living room sat to the immediate right of the foyer, taking up twice the space as her entire apartment. Groups of furniture were arranged around the room to create smaller, more intimate spaces.

  She took this all in from the door with the sweep of her eyes. The interesting and arresting décor of the four open rooms blended classic and modern. Leah wondered if Will had decorated it himself or if he had a consultant do it for him.

  Will dropped Leah’s bag next to the door. “It ain’t much, but it’s home.”

  With effort, Leah stopped staring at the rooms and looked back to Will. “It’s beautiful.”

  He yawned. “I’ll give you the full tour tomorrow. Let’s get you to bed.” Will led her to the other end of the living room and through a door into another cavernous room, the master bedroom. He pointed to a door on the right. “The bathroom is through here. Do you want me to help you get ready for bed?”

  Leah refrained from nodding. It hurt too much. “Yes. I need my bag.”

  Will helped her change her clothes and left her to brush her teeth and complete her other nighttime rituals. When she emerged, Will lay across the foot of the bed, asleep. He had removed his bloodstained shirt and had changed into light cotton pajamas. It might have been July, but his air conditioning was set low, rendering a slight chill in the air. Leah was glad Anne’s mind had been on ‘warm’ when she packed Leah’s clothes. She didn’t have air, so most summer nights, she slept in only a T-shirt.

  Leah looked around the impossibly large, luxurious room. Banks of windows lined the two far sides. The cloth blinds were drawn in most of them. The king-sized, four-poster bed dominated the room. It was made from a dark wood that Leah couldn’t identify in the tiny amount of light that spilled from the bathroom. Scattered throughout, couches, chairs, and low tables filled the remaining space. A messy desk with a closed laptop at the center of it crouched under a far window. To her left, she spied a door that she assumed led to a walk-in closet set into the wall separating the bedroom from the living area.

  Drawn to the man on the bed, Leah hobbled closer as quietly as she could. Will’s long frame stretched much of the width of the bed. The arm he had thrown over his head dangled over the side. Leah’s breath stopped for a moment when she looked at his face. In repose, he was even more handsome. The sharp planes of his face softened. His full, dark lips parted slightly, and Leah felt the residual heat from his kisses only twelve hours before. Is this what she missed when she sent him home every evening?

  His long, dark lashes fluttered against his cheeks as he opened his eyes. He smiled to see her standing over him. “You made it,” he said. “Did you take your medicine?”

 
; “It’s not medicine,” she said. “They’re pain pills. I found some acetaminophen in your medicine cabinet and I took that.”

  He frowned. “The doctor said—”

  She cut him off. “Those pills make me cranky and give me migraine headaches. I know that’s what they put in my IV because my head is killing me and I’m nauseous. The only way it’s going to go away is with lots and lots of sleep.”

  Sitting up, he regarded her somberly. “I don’t suppose the fact that you have a concussion has anything to do with the headache or the nausea.”

  She put her hand to her head to stop the pain. It didn’t work. “That’s another good reason to avoid those pills.” She managed a volume barely above a whisper. “I don’t need to compound the problem.”

  “Let’s get you to bed,” he said. “I think we’ll both feel better after a good night’s sleep.” He turned down the covers and motioned for Leah to lie down.

  She slowly lowered herself into the bed and tried to find a sleeping position that hurt less than the others. Will drew the covers over her. The incredibly soft bed conformed to her body. The pillow cradled her head perfectly. Feeling as if she was lying on a cloud, Leah fell asleep in seconds.

  Sometime later, she woke to find him lying next to her, eyes opened. He propped his head on his hand, staring at her. He had removed his shirt, and the morning light cast long shadows across the room.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. It was unsettling to be stared at while unconscious. It was also unsettling to have him sleeping in the same bed, especially since she had imagined this so many times. None of those scenarios had involved a concussion. She felt a bit cheated.

  “I was trying to convince myself that I could determine whether or not you had slipped into a coma without waking you up.”

  Her forehead tried to wrinkle to show her confusion, but the pain stopped the expression. It manifested as little more than a twitch. “Why would you think I was in a coma?”

  “The doctor said to wake you every two to three hours, just to make sure.”