by Sable Hunter
Stepping lightly, he made his way back down the hall, only to run into Rafe and Ky.
Ky gestured toward his brother’s room. “Is he up?”
“No, I think he’s resting.” Drew didn’t elaborate on what he’d heard.
“Let him rest, Ky,” Cooper said. She kissed her husband on the cheek. “Our prayers may have been answered, Drew.”
“What did she mean?” Drew asked.
“You busy?” Ky asked.
“I was on my way to check on Angelina and get her IV hooked up. What’s going on?”
Rafe looked at Ky, then spoke to Drew, “Go take care of my sister, then come see us. We might have a plan.”
“Great! I’ll be there as soon as I make her comfortable.”
Gathering his equipment from where he’d left it near the back door, he headed to her room. When he tapped on the door, a soft feminine voice granted him entrance.
“Come in.”
“Thanks, I’m a coming,” he muttered as he clanged the metal pole against the door. “Hattie tells me I’m like a bull in a china shop. I can’t do anything quietly. The town librarian won’t hardly let me come in to check out a book. She says I don’t know how to whisper.” He carried on, hoping to earn a smile.
Angelina did smile, she couldn’t help it. She also fought off a fresh wave of longing for him. When he mentioned that he couldn’t do anything quietly, she wondered what kind of noises he made in bed. A groan slipped from her lips and she tried to cover it up by exclaiming, “Oh, you brought the saline.”
Her voice held such relief that Drew felt ashamed he hadn’t thought of having something like this on hand. “I did. We’ll get you fixed right up. Good as new.”
“I won’t argue with that,” she murmured as he arranged the pole, the bag, and took her arm in his big hands to find a vein.
“We’ll put a little port in place and secure it with some tape, that way you won’t have to go through this every time.”
“Okay.” Angelina closed her eyes tightly and winced in preparation for the stick. She didn’t expect him to be so good at his job or so smooth. To her surprise, it was over before she knew it had begun. “Thank you, you’re good.”
Drew winked at her. “I try.” He’d almost make a suggestive remark, but under the circumstances that would’ve been in very poor taste. “I don’t usually have complaints.”
“I bet you don’t,” she said dryly. Since he had turned down Angelina’s desperate request, she’d kept her reactions to him carefully in check. He had hurt her. She knew it hadn’t been his intention, but he had hurt her. “Thank you for getting this for me. I am in your debt and I always pay my debts.”
“To see you smile will be payment enough.” He meant it, but when he looked at Angelina, he could tell she thought he was full of shit. “Are you feeling a little better?”
Angelina nodded. She did. “I guess it’s because you’re distracting me.”
“Good. I’ll remember that.” Once he had adjusted a piece of tape on the top of her small hand, he had an overwhelming urge to kiss it. Taking a deep breath, he laid it down. He couldn’t take those types of liberties – not yet, anyway. “Okay, let’s see how everything else looks.”
“Do we have to?”
“Yes, we do. I’ll be gentle and fast. Promise.” He waited until she opened her blouse again, trying not to notice her gorgeous breasts or the sexy blush that turned the perfect globes a beautiful rose. Glancing at her face, he saw that she looked pained. “I’ll hurry,” he whispered as he applied the healing ointment, then changed the dressing on a couple of the deepest burns at her waist. “Hopefully, the saline will make you feel better soon. When that bag is empty, we’ll put up another. I brought enough for several days.”
“I hope so, thank you. I can change out the bags myself. I’m not sure what they gave me that last time, but it knocked me for a loop.”
After he straightened her shirt and checked a few places on her lower back, he reached for a small lab tray. “I need to take a little blood. Okay?”
“All right. More sticking.”
“Yea, but I’m good. Remember?”
“If I had my microscope, I could analyze it for myself.”
“Really?” He made quick work of it, so as to cause her as little pain as possible.
“Yes, I worked in a diagnostic lab while I was putting myself through medical school. I think I enjoyed that work more than I did the military task force.”
“You’re a very talented woman, Spanish Eyes.”
Angelina was about to ask why he called her that when the door opened and Cooper appeared with a tray.
Drew stood. “Wow, Angelina, you’ve got a feast there.” He rubbed his belly. “I think I’ll go see if I can get me a little grub.”
Cooper rolled her eyes. “He pretends to be so country. The man drinks out of Waterford crystal and has an honest to goodness ballroom in his house.”
Drew held up his hands. “Hey, I’m just trying to keep the past alive. It’s hard to live in a museum.”
At Angelina’s puzzled expression, Cooper explained. “His house is on the historical register. It was built by one of Redland’s founding fathers in 1807. He named it Palo Gaucho. At one time the original builder owned a million acres in Texas and rode his favorite horse a total of twenty-thousand miles looking after his property.”
Drew grinned. “Remind me to hire you as a tour guide, Cooper.”
“Twenty-thousand miles on one horse?” Angelina was flabbergasted.
“That’s what you took away from her speech?” Drew laughed. “A woman after my own heart, always worrying about the animals.”
While the women talked, he slipped out and was glad to inform Rafe that he thought Angelina might be beginning to show some improvement. “Now, what did you want to talk to me about?”
“You told Cooper that you have a meeting with an oil company in Yemen.” Ky had an excited look on his face.
“Yes, that’s right.” He looked from one to the other of them. “The company’s name is Aswad and the owner has a palace in a town called Ta’izz, right on the coast. I don’t know any more details. I’m just a small-town doctor, the oil business is mostly just a lark. I sign papers when Frank tells me to.”
“Drew, you’ve just given us the answer!” Rafe exclaimed.
“How?” Drew wasn’t getting it. “What did I do?”
Kyler looked so relieved, he had to sit down. “You’re our ticket to rescue Aliyah, Drew. God, I can’t wait to tell Tyler.”
“I don’t understand,” Drew still look confused. “Spell it out to me.”
Ky laughed. “The Sheik who held Angelina, the one who has Aliyah, is Ben Yasin. Yasin is Aswad Oil, Drew. Your meeting is in the same place Aliyah is being held prisoner.”
From that moment, the atmosphere at Aliyah’s compound changed completely. Drew left to ready things on his end and to drop Angelina’s lab samples at the clinic. He didn’t give anyone a lot of details other than Frank and Hattie. Hattie told him to be careful and Frank agreed to pave the way, informing others of their staff that they wouldn’t be making the trip so that the rescue entourage could take their places without arousing suspicion.
Rafe made phone calls, prepared his men who were still in the Middle East to meet them at the palace, and served as a liaison to ease their way past a mountain of government red tape. He delegated strategic plans to Rebel and Jagger, who obtained blue prints and gathered enough weapons to take down what amounted to a small battalion of armed terrorists inside their own stronghold.
Kyler had the best job, however, he got to break the news to his twin. Making as much noise as possible, he invaded Tyler’s space. “Get up, lazybones. We’ve got places to be, people to see, and ass to kick.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Tyler asked, afraid to hope.
“We’re going to Yemen. Aliyah is as good as home.” With joy, he explained the situation to Tyler, who rose with renewed
energy and a determination to rescue his beloved. Kyler also called their parents to come and stay with Cooper and Angelina.
After they sat down together and came up with a plan, Drew made another trip to the clinic and returned with a whole case of tiny syringes. Rafe obtained a quick, painless knock-out drug that could disable a man for at least four hours.
“As soon as we take out the interior guards, we can open the gates and let in our men. Once they’re in place, we can secure the castle and insure Aliyah is released.” Rebel started drawing pictures on a replica of the blueprints.
“This reminds me of when we used to sit down and plan our football plays,” Kyler reminisced.
Tyler nodded. “Only this is a helluva lot more important.” He pointed at one of the diagrams. “You make damn sure I lead the assault. I’m packing enough bullets to take out every one of those sons-of-bitches.”
“I know how it feels to want to destroy the bastards who hurt the person you love the most.” Ky patted his brother on the shoulder. “Let’s all get a good night’s sleep and tomorrow we’ll put our plan into motion.”
One by one they left to do last minute things before retiring for the evening. Tyler went to shower and Rafe took the time to check on Angelina. He was planning on surprising her with the information, but Cooper had already spilled the beans. “You women and your gossip,” he teased her, hating the dark circles under her eyes. “I’ll be so glad when you’re better. I wish it was me hurting instead of you.”
“No, don’t say that, you have so many important things to do.” She gave him a wan smile. “Besides, you probably wouldn’t look on this condition as being much of a hardship. Men think about sex all the time anyway, don’t they?” Angelina thought it was best that he not be aware of the spikes of pain that speared through her. She could tell whatever drug they’d given her on the trip home was different and the realization scared her.
Rafe knew she was joking, trying to put the best spin on her predicament as possible. “Just don’t let this change you, Angelina. This was done to you, nothing you deserved and nothing that should affect your future. You’ll come through this stronger than before.”
“I know.” She let him take her hands. “When you come home, we’ll leave and I’ll research this myself. I can do it.”
“I know you can and I’ll be home as soon as possible.”
Please be careful, Rafe. I want you all to be safe. Bring Aliyah home and…take care of Dr. Drew.”
“Oh?” Rafe snorted. “Take care of Dr. Drew, is that how it is?”
Angelina blushed. “Many people depend on him and I don’t think he and Ky are as used to this type of thing as the rest of you.”
“I’ll do my best…” A banging on the door interrupted their conversation.
“Rafe! Rafe! Are you in there?”
“Yes, come in.” Angelina managed to sit up on the side of the bed. To her surprise, their visitor was Tyler Landon. He looked harried, his shirt undone and barefoot. She hadn’t spoken to him before. Knowing his relationship to Aliyah, she didn’t know what to say.
Tyler tipped his hat. “Excuse me, ma’am.” He couldn’t deny the resentment he’d felt toward this woman, even though he could mentally work through the reasoning. When the heart is involved, sometimes reasoning doesn’t matter. Now, that they had a plan to rescue Aliyah, he could afford to be more civilized. “How are you feeling?”
Angelina nodded. “Better? I’m glad there’s hope.” How inane. “I am so grateful to your Aliyah, but I wish there’d been some other way.”
“Me too,” Tyler said simply. “But I think I have more good news.” Turning to Rafe, he held up a piece of paper. “Aliyah gave this to me before she left, but in the turmoil of telling her goodbye, I jammed it into my pocket. I just found it again and read it. What I thought was a goodbye note, is much more.”
“What is it?”
“Yasin’s son was Aliyah’s contact.” He handed the note to Rafe. “We have a friend on the inside.”
…The next morning, the whole place buzzed with excitement. Angelina wanted to go out into the common area, but her knees were still wobbly and she didn’t want to get in the way. When Cooper brought her breakfast, she informed her that her new in-laws would be coming to stay with them. “We’ll have a blast. They’re fun. They play a mean game of poker. Plus, you and I will really get to know one another.”
Cooper was putting on a brave front. Neither of them could deny this was a dangerous mission. Angelina knew firsthand what those people were capable of. “They’ll be home before we know it,” she tried to sound positive. After Tyler had left them last night, Angelina had told Rafe everything she could remember about the different buildings, people, and firepower she’d seen. Aliyah probably wouldn’t be kept in the same area she’d been housed, but every little bit of information helped.
When it grew time for the men to leave, Angelina wasn’t surprised that Drew came to examine her one more time before he left. Even if she hadn’t been looking toward the door, she would’ve known he was there. Every cell in her being reacted to him like she was a flower and he was the sun. As always, she tensed up, not wanting to betray her involuntary response. She didn’t know why it was worse with him, she hadn’t felt like this when Tyler dropped in to speak to Rafe. Maybe her feelings were heightened because she felt so vulnerable to him as a physician. She’d never been fond of going to the doctor. But by the way her heart pounded and her nipples peaked, she knew her body was crying out for him – and she hated it.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, noting her expression. “Are you experiencing any new symptoms?”
Angelina shook her head. “No, same old crap.” She pressed her hands to her face. “When will this be over?”
“Hell, maybe I shouldn’t go.” Drew worried. “I should be here. Maybe Frank could stand in for me at the meeting. Yasin wouldn’t know the difference.”
“No!” Angelina insisted. “You have to go - rescuing Aliyah is far more important. I’m sure the executives at Aswad Oil have researched you. Someone else showing up in your place would set off all kinds of alarm bells.”
Drew was torn. “Angelina, I want to help you and I promise that I will when I return.”
Frustration born of hopeless desire and fear over the mission broke her control. “No, I don’t want you to. I want to go home. I don’t want your help. I want someone else! Anyone else!”
Drew froze, he felt like he’d been slapped. “I see.” He nodded. “Well, that can be arranged.” He tipped his Stetson and backed up toward the door. Her outburst hurt him more than he’d ever imagined it would. Losing a grip on his professional demeanor, he said what was on the tip of his tongue, “Frankly, I’d rather someone else be your doctor too.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The moment Drew left the room, she regretted her outburst. She owed him an apology, he’d been nothing but kind to her. Her feelings of rejection were just absurd, Angelina knew this. She owed him a great debt of gratitude for rejecting her drug-induced advances. Any doctor who’d give her what she begged for would’ve been merely taking advantage. She lashed out at him because she was so attracted to Drew that she wanted to scream, any woman would be. And now, he and the others were about to face untold danger and the last thing she’d said to him was that she didn’t want his help.
“Drew! Drew!” She stood, grasping the robe Cooper had loaned her. God, she was weak. Jamming her hands in the sleeves, she pulled it on and padded to the door. “Drew!”
Steadying herself against the wall, she made her way toward the front. “Drew! Come back!”
“They’re gone, Angelina,” Cooper stepped into view, wiping tears from her eyes. “Did you need something?”
“No.” She stopped. “I just said something to him that I regret saying. I wanted to apologize.”
Cooper came to her and gave her a hug. “You can tell him when they come back. I’m sure he understands. You’ve been under a tremendous amount of p
ressure.”
Her consoling words didn’t make Angelina feel much better. She resolved to try and get herself pulled together. “I know you’d rather wait at home, Cooper. Aliyah’s compound is comfortable, but it’s not your house. If you need to leave, I’ll be fine.”
“Nonsense!” Cooper responded. “I’m going to make a trip to my house to get us a few things and then we’ll just have a slumber party.” She stepped back and looked at Angelina. “We’re almost the same size, I think. You’ll feel better when we get you out of that gown.”
Angelina stared at Cooper as if she’d lost her mind. “I’m sure I wear a bigger size than you.”
Cooper laughed. “I bet you don’t. What are you, a size 12? I’m a 14, bust size 38 and hip size 40. And you’re a C cup, right?”
“Yes, close. I’m 38, 27…42. C cup. But I buy size 16 clothes, I don’t like to wear anything too tight.” She felt totally out of her element discussing body size with this beautiful woman. “You look so much smaller than me.”
Cooper snorted. “I buy clothes to fit, you buy clothes that swallow you whole.” When she saw Angelina’s frown, Cooper laughed. “I used to be just like you. I hid behind voluminous clothing. My ex-husband told me I was fat, but Ky loves my body.” She picked up a lock of Angelina’s dark hair. “You have a beautiful complexion and I’d kill for this hair. You’re exotic as hell. No wonder Drew was looking at you like he could eat you up with a spoon.”
At the mention of Drew’s name, Angelina just vibrated, shivering so hard she had to hug herself. “No, he didn’t,” she protested. “I wasn’t very nice to him.”
“You’ve been through a hard time, Drew understands. He’s a doctor. He’s also one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. What he does with horses is a wonder, he rescues them and trains them to be companion therapy animals. I swear, his heart is as big as all outdoors.”
Cooper’s recommendation wasn’t making Angelina feel any better. “I can tell he’s great, he’s been good to me.” And I’ve been a pain in the ass, she thought.
* * *