She got the message. But she’d be damned if she’d let Tars call the shots.
“You tell your boss to call me on this line at noon tomorrow. I’m not meeting him anywhere. If he thinks destroying inanimate objects and threatening my family is going to make me cave, he’d better reconsider.”
“What will, Alexa?” Mark’s tone was curious now. “What will make you cave?”
She stayed silent a minute. Tars wanted to know her price. She had a feeling he would give it to her if he was certain she’d give herself to him, but there was only one thing that would buy her.
“Nothing less than watching Cyrgyn transform before my eyes—in the flesh—from dragon to man, permanently. If he gives me that, he can have me.” Before Mark could respond, Alexa hung up.
“What was that about?” Bing had come up behind her and she’d been so intent on the call she hadn’t known it. He patted her shoulder. “Are you in some television program, now?”
Alexa gave him a brief, relaxed smile. “No, not TV. A game.” She shut the phone off and tucked it into her rear pocket. “You’re back quick.”
“Your aunt’s room is pretty crowded. I didn’t want to linger. If you don’t need me, I’ll head home.”
Alexa stretched to kiss him on the cheek. “Thanks for the ride,” she said, and waved before heading into the hospital. She stopped in the gift shop and picked up a pack of Mentos and her aunt’s second-favorite entertainment magazine, the one she didn’t have a subscription to. She checked at the desk for her room number, then headed up to the second floor via the stairwell. She passed a couple of nurses she recognized from high school and exchanged brief greetings before reaching her aunt’s room. Preparing for the onslaught, she took a deep breath and pushed through the door.
“Hey, hey! I hear there’s an invalid in here.”
“Alexa!” Peter leaped to his feet and wrapped her in a hug. He’d been her little brother for so long she always remembered him smaller, but he topped her by nearly four inches and carried a wide receiver’s broad shoulders. He’d matured in the year or two since she’d seen him, too. He’d actually become a man.
She wrapped her arms around him as best as she could and held tight. “You look good, little bro.”
“Hey, that’s younger bro.” He pulled back and grinned. “No one can call me little anymore.”
“I can.” She punched his arm and moved to give her father a kiss on the cheek. He hated that kind of affection, so she lavished it on him. “Hi, Dad. How’s your hand?”
Paul waved the bandaged appendage and scoffed. “Barely a blister.”
“Yeah, sure.” Since the bandage engulfed his entire hand, she doubted that assessment, but he had to be the stoic, so she turned her attention to her aunt.
“Hi, lady.” She kissed her, then hovered as Ethel stroked her papery hand over her cheek.
“Sweet child, to come all this way. And so quickly, too. Peter said there were storms and you might not be here until tomorrow.”
“Uh, well, I was able to catch a flight.” She handed Aunt Ethel her gifts and waited while she oohed and ahed over the “special items.”
Alexa claimed the only empty chair and glanced around the room. “Bing said it was crowded in here. Doesn’t look crowded to me.”
Her father scowled. “Peter’s fiancée and her brother went to the cafeteria a minute ago. Ethel wanted a donut.”
Alexa wondered when Victoria had acquired a brother. She remembered the girl as an only child. That had always been Alexa’s impression, anyway.
“Now, don’t start scolding, Paul.” Ethel smoothed the blanket over her legs. “I had an ordeal. I think a little sugar will be a good boost to my system.”
“You have diabetes, Ethel. Your system is already in shock.”
Alexa forgot about Victoria’s brother with that revelation. “Diabetes? Since when? Are you on insulin?”
Ethel lifted her chin. “I may have diabetes, according to the doctor last week, but they aren’t sure yet. The doctor who examined me last night said my blood sugar was fine. And no, no insulin, I am simply to control my diet. Since I haven’t eaten all day, the donut will be a good thing.”
Paul’s scowl deepened. “You didn’t get served breakfast?”
“You know I don’t like eggs, Paul.”
“Or lunch?”
Ethel glanced at the wall clock. “It seems a little late, though I do believe I smell grilled cheese. It should be here shortly.”
As she finished speaking a willowy young woman entered the room. She smiled at Alexa and Peter, then brought Ethel a plastic-wrapped glazed donut. “Best I could do, Aunt Ethel. My brother is holding out for an éclair, but he’s not too hopeful.”
“Thank you, dear, this will be fine.”
Peter stood and slipped his arm around the woman’s waist. “Alexa, this is my fiancée, Victoria Chambers.”
“I remember your sister, of course, Peter. She’s the reason I passed math.” She smiled at Alexa again, but seemed as shy now as she had ten years ago.
“You got an A, as I recall. You just needed help focusing.” Alexa took in details without being obvious. Victoria wore a nice floral rayon dress, not designer but fairly new. Her shoes were inexpensive but leather, and well taken care of. Her long reddish hair was pulled back in a velvet scrunchy that matched the purple flowers on her dress. Her ears held tiny gold posts, her neck an old locket that Alexa remembered from high school.
She still, however, did not remember a brother. “I never met your brother, Victoria. When did that happen?”
The younger woman flushed with pleasure. “Well, he’s my stepbrother, actually. He’s eight years older and disappeared when I was pretty young. We recently reconnected.”
“How nice.” Alexa was just feeling foolish for her suspicions when the door began to open. The hair on the back of her neck lifted and she knew an instant before the man walked in who she would see.
Tars Suinn stepped into the room.
Chapter Ten
Alexa squelched her urge to leap up and yell, “You!” She also tamped down the need to point and call him an arsonist or, more appropriately, to wrestle him into handcuffs and haul him to the nearest police station. She simply sat where she was, the weight of the immeasurably higher stakes pressing her harder into her chair.
Tars allowed the door to close and met Alexa’s gaze with his own highly amused one. He gave a tiny quirk of one eyebrow at her lack of surprise, then followed the well-worn path to Ethel’s side.
“No éclairs, I’m afraid. I did manage to find an orange that looked pretty healthy, however.”
Alexa expected her aunt to beam at him the way she’d been beaming at everyone else. Instead she accepted the orange with a reserved “thank you” and picked up the magazine Alexa had brought her.
Aunt Ethel had always been a good judge of character.
Not so Peter, Alexa noted. He moved to Tars like a puppy to an old shepherd.
“Let me introduce you to my sister,” he said, pulling him by the elbow. Tars didn’t allow his annoyance to show, but Alexa felt it. She felt the entire roiling cauldron of emotion that boiled beneath his polished surface. And that would be to her advantage.
“Alexa Ranger, Tars Suinn.”
Alexa didn’t stand. Tars held out his hand but she didn’t reach for it. She had no need for pretenses in front of her family.
“I know Mr. Suinn,” she said, not looking away from the fiery pale blue eyes. Amusement sparked in them once again. “His holding company owns my former employer,” she said. “I wasn’t aware we had a past connection as well, however indirect.”
“I understand you once tutored my little sister.” He moved away to stand next to Victoria and behind Paul.
“I understand you weren’t around to do it.”
Victoria gasped and Peter gaped. Paul winked at her, though, and Alexa heard a “humph” from her aunt that was probably a smothered laugh.
“Yes, un
fortunately I had a misspent youth. I was angry at my father and resentful of my stepmother and their favored child, and I ran away. We’ve all reconciled, however. And I am proud of the success I can bring to them.” He put his arm around Victoria, who hugged him and never stopped grinning.
“Tars has offered to…what did you call it?” She looked up at her brother. “Underwrite our wedding.”
Paul stood and turned. “He what?”
Peter stepped closer to his fiancée. “We had planned a small civil ceremony and a reception at the house. Now that that isn’t possible, Tars has generously offered the opportunity to have a traditional ceremony and a catered reception. We’d planned to start looking tomorrow, but since Aunt Ethel—”
“Nonsense.” Ethel dropped her magazine to her lap. “I’m perfectly fine, going home in the morning. You two keep your plans. Especially now that you can do something worthwhile.”
Peter kind of grimaced. “I thought, since you were going to be staying with us for a while, we should be there.”
“Can’t you just give me a key? There’s no reason to stand on ceremony, boy. Don’t worry.”
“It’s okay,” Alexa told Peter. “I’m glad you two can have a storybook wedding. I’ll take care of Aunt Ethel.”
“You sure?” Peter asked, still looking uncertain.
“I do not need taking care of,” the older woman barked.
“I would be happy to offer the use of my car and driver,” Tars started to say, but Alexa cut him off.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ve got it covered.” Well, she would, anyway. She didn’t want the fiend to get any more entrenched in her family. Particularly since he was the one who’d uprooted them.
She didn’t know what his new game was. But she’d soon find out.
* * *
Alexa had planned to ask her family about the fire but was hampered by Tars’ presence. Victoria’s, too. Even if Peter’s fiancée had no idea of her brother’s situation, she was clearly enamored and would relay every word to him later. Alexa sighed and hunched deeper into her chair. This was getting more and more complicated.
“Ah, a full house.”
Alexa glanced up and saw a man who looked like the Addams Family’s Lurch in a lab coat. He consulted a clipboard, then asked Ethel how she felt.
“Fit as a fiddle. You took me off the oxygen. Why can’t I go home today?”
“You inhaled quite a bit of toxic smoke,” he told her, obviously not for the first time. “At your age, it’s better to be cautious.”
“But I can breathe fine,” she protested, inhaling noisily and ending with a few hacks. “See?”
Dr. Lurch smiled and patted her arm. “Tomorrow, Ethel, unless you get worse overnight. It’s not unusual for that to happen as you slough endobronchial debris.” He made a notation on the chart. “We’ll keep a close eye on your breathing today. Call the nurse if you have any problems.” He capped his pen and slid it into his coat pocket. “Any questions?” Ethel shook her head. “Then I’ll see you in the morning.” He started to leave. Alexa jumped up and followed him out. He was already halfway down the hall when she got there.
“Doc.”
He turned and lifted a brow. “Yes?”
“I’m Alexa Ranger. Ethel Ranger’s niece.”
“Oh, yes. Nice to meet you.” He shook her hand with his long-palmed one. “What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to ask about her condition. My family isn’t the savviest, medically.”
“Certainly.” He consulted the chart in his hands. “Well, according to her description when she came in, she was in the kitchen fixing lunch when there was a loud explosion at the back of the house. Smoke rolled through the open window before she could move, and she inhaled it.”
“Did she lose consciousness?”
He shook his head. “Not according to the report. Your father found her on her hands and knees on the floor, which was good. She was below the worst of the smoke. He got her out of the house.”
“And ran back in.”
“He told our ER resident that he went back to get his lockbox and it was hot. That’s how he burned his hand.”
Alexa knew he kept all his important papers in the metal box, which wasn’t fireproof. It wouldn’t have mattered, anyway, once the second blast hit. Nothing had survived the fire.
“So they’re both as fine as they say?”
Dr. Lurch smiled again. “Almost. Your father will need some follow-up care at his family doctor or the clinic. I sent some Silvadene ointment home with him. Your aunt will need to take it easy for a little while.”
“Thank you, doc.”
“My pleasure.” He cocked his head at her. “Will you be in town for long, Ms. Ranger?”
“Uh, I don’t know. Why?”
He folded his arms over the chart and looked at the floor. His voice lowered several decibels. “I thought maybe you would like to go to dinner.”
Surprised, Alexa didn’t react right away. “I’m afraid I won’t be in town long enough. I’m sorry. Maybe my next visit.”
“Certainly.” He smiled again and turned away, apparently not overly affected by her rejection. Alexa shook her head as she turned. In her current situation, being asked out was as alien as basking on the beach would be.
“The good doctor doesn’t fit into your plans?”
Alexa jerked back before she slammed into Ryc, who had once again materialized behind her.
“Will you please stop doing that!”
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” she countered. “If you were, you’d stop.”
“You’re right. I like catching you off guard.”
“Why?”
Ryc wrapped his strong fingers around her shoulders, bent closer, and pressed his lips to hers. They moved gently and were gone before she could shove him away—or pull him closer.
“That’s why.” He placed one finger to her chin and lifted it to close her mouth. “It’s fun.”
Alexa cleared her throat and stalked down the hall in the direction the doctor had gone. “You’re right. That was fun,” she said sarcastically. “I’ll have to get a sign that says ‘lips off.’”
Ryc caught up to her. “I thought your aunt’s room was that way.” He aimed his thumb over his shoulder.
“It is.” Alexa lengthened her stride, not sure why but convinced Ryc and Tars could not meet. “I’m getting you away from it.”
“Why?”
She stopped at an exit door. “Do me a favor. Go check on Cyrgyn.” She told him how to get to the glade. “I’m worried he’ll be detected.”
Ryc studied her, his hands cupped over her shoulders again. Alexa liked the warmth seeping down into her. If only things were different…
But they weren’t. It wasn’t good that she had to keep reminding herself of that fact.
“Alexa, Cyrgyn can take care of himself.”
“So can I.”
“What’s going on?”
She tossed her ponytail. “You don’t trust me to handle things?”
His brow crinkled. “Usually, of course. But something odd is happening here.” His fingers tightened and she felt his tension mount. “Tell me.”
Alexa didn’t want to consider the consequences if Cyrgyn found out she was so close to Tars. “Later. I have to get back to my aunt.”
“Alexa…”
“Go.” She opened the door and shoved him out.
Not a moment too soon. When she started back down the hall, Peter came out of her aunt’s room.
“Whatcha doing?” he called quietly. Alexa waited until she got close to answer.
“Talking to the doctor. Then I needed a breath of air,” she added when he looked skeptically at the empty hall. “It’s crowded in there.”
“Yeah. That’s why I had to leave. Dad keeps glaring at Vic and her brother. Aunt Ethel ignores Tars, but at least she’s nice to Vic.”
Alexa started strolling with her brother toward the
nurse’s station. “I always liked Victoria. But Aunt Ethel is a good judge of character. Maybe you should pay attention about the brother.”
Peter shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I’m still marrying her.”
Alexa decided that was a conversation best left for later. “Where’s Dad staying?”
“With us. He called the insurance company already. The chief thinks it was a meteorite, but the company wants to send their own investigator.”
Alexa knew what that meant. If they got it into their heads that it could be arson, the policy wouldn’t cover the damages. “Great.” She didn’t want them to question Bing. Meteorites didn’t strike the sides of houses the way he described.
Peter slipped his hands into his pockets. “I gotta tell ya, Lex. I love Dad, but he hates—”
“Don’t even say it,” Alexa warned, knowing the poor relationship between father and son kept Peter’s self-esteem somewhere around his ankles.
“—the way I choose to live,” he continued, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “And he really doesn’t want me to marry Vic. I don’t know how long we can live in harmony.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll get him and Aunt Ethel an efficiency apartment that will last them until the insurance comes through.” If it came through. “Do you know anything about Dad’s savings?”
“Not really.” They neared the nurse’s station and went silent until they passed it. “He won’t like you acting like he’s senile or something, Lex. He’ll say he can handle it.”
She sighed. “And he can, I know that. I just feel responsible.” She cursed herself the second that slipped out. Guilt was not an emotion she wore without cause, which meant she rarely wore it. That made it more difficult to deal with.
“Why should you feel responsible? You couldn’t have stopped it if you’d been here.”
Alexa didn’t correct his misinterpretation. “What happened? Were you around?”
“No.” He stopped and leaned his back against the wall. The corridor was deserted and they weren’t close to any patient rooms. Still, he kept his voice down. “Well, not at the beginning. You saw Bing?”
“Yeah.” She reiterated what the man had told her. Peter nodded gravely.
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