by P J Gordon
“I’ll be fine. I’m s-starting to warm up now,” Manda assured him, not sure why he wanted to retrieve the rags that remained of his clothes. “And I don’t care about my camera,” she assured him.
“I need to find it though. We can’t leave it here.” He slid out of the car quickly, trying not to allow too much of the heat to escape, and raced into the trees. Manda gasped and stared after him in disbelief. She recalled how quickly they’d reached the car a few minutes ago. She’d thought she was imagining it. Had she hit her head that hard? She relaxed back into the warm seat and tried not to think. Nothing was making any sense and her head hurt. She hoped Richard would hurry. She was beginning to think the hospital was a very good idea.
Chapter 24
Manda was jostled awake by Richard’s hands on her shoulders.
“Manda? Manda wake up!” he commanded urgently. Her eyelids fluttered open and she found herself staring into Richard’s frantic eyes. “I told you not to go to sleep. Are you alright?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m okay.”
“I found everything except my wallet. You had that before. I saw you take it out of my pocket. Where is it? I can’t leave that here.” His words were quick and urgent, but his face was tight with his worry for her.
Manda shook her head to try and clear it, and immediately regretted it as pain stabbed through her skull. She moaned and pressed her hand to her temple. Richard growled.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m getting you to the hospital.” He reached across her and fastened her seatbelt securely, then fastened his own and put the car in gear.
“I have your wallet. It’s right here in my pocket,” Manda suddenly remembered. Her mind kept trying to wander. She wanted to go to sleep, but fought against it. Richard said she shouldn’t. She wasn’t sure why.
“Good,” Richard breathed. He was speeding down the road now, driving fast enough through the tight switchbacks to make Manda slightly nervous. “We don’t have time for me to explain everything to you before we get to the hospital, so you’re going to have to trust me and do what I ask. I’ll explain it all later, okay?” He glanced over at her, waiting for her agreement.
“Of course,” she responded immediately. She trusted Richard completely.
“Okay. First of all, you can’t mention the mountain lion at all. Just say you slipped and fell, just like what really happened, but without the lion. You slipped and fell and then I found you and carried you back to the car. Do you understand?”
“Okay,” Manda agreed, uncertainly, “if you say so, but why?”
“You’ll just have to trust me for a little while. We don’t really have time for me to explain it all, but if they know about the lion they’ll come looking for it and I really can’t have them snooping around back there. It would raise way too many questions. I tried to hide all the tracks I could, but I didn’t have time to get very many.”
Richard’s explanation didn’t make much sense to Manda, but one part of it did concern her.
“But doesn’t someone need to come looking for them? If they attacked me they could attack someone else. Someone could get killed.”
“The first one is already dead. I made sure of that, but I can’t very well tell the authorities.” Richard’s voice was gentle and reassuring. “Don’t worry. He won’t hurt anyone else. And the second one is no threat. Trust me.” He’d been driving quickly and Manda could already see the edge of town in the valley below them.
“Of course I trust you,” Manda assured him. “I just don’t understand what’s going on.”
“I know, and I’m very sorry. I wish I could explain everything right now, but my first concern is getting you the medical attention you need. If anything were to happen to you, I don’t know what I’d do, Manda.” He reached over and caressed her cheek tenderly, then picked up her left hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. They drove in silence the rest of the way, with Richard holding her small, cold hand in his large, warm one. Manda still had a million questions. She hated not knowing what was happening—she felt helpless and out of control—but she trusted Richard. She would do what he asked for now. Later though, she promised herself, she would get answers.
******
Hours later, Richard lifted Manda from the hospital wheelchair and placed her into the passenger seat of his car. After a seemingly endless series of exams, tests, x-rays, and scans, the doctors had finally decided it was safe for her to go. The wound on her arm had required multiple stitches. She’d denied all memory of receiving the injury, unsure how to explain it. It hadn’t been much of a stretch to claim disorientation and head injury as the reason for her spotty memory. The x-rays of her ankle had shown no fractures, but it was badly sprained and she would have to keep off of it completely for several days. Though the cut on her head had bled profusely, it was minor and hadn’t required any stitches. She also turned out to have two bruised ribs, caused, she assumed, by her impact with the tree. She hadn’t even noticed that particular pain amidst her other injuries. Assorted cuts, scrapes, and bruises rounded out her list of injuries.
Richard had demanded extreme thoroughness in all of her care, though Manda guessed that his insistence hadn’t been necessary. Judging by the uproar caused when Richard Raines strode into the emergency room carrying a battered and blood-soaked woman in his arms, she was willing to bet they would have been just as meticulous without his constant vigilance. Regardless, the painstaking thoroughness was wearing, and Manda was well ready to leave the hospital by the time they released her.
“So, do I get my explanation now?” Manda demanded as soon as Richard slid into the driver’s seat. Her questions had multiplied during her time in the hospital and she was impatient to have them answered. She wasn’t sure how much had been real and how much had just been her mind playing tricks on her.
Richard smiled reassuringly and started the car. “Soon. I don’t want to be interrupted and David, Stacey, and Josh are waiting for us at the hotel. I called Josh when you were having the CAT scan and filled him in.”
“Can I assume that they aren’t going to be in on this explanation then?”
“Josh will be. I’m hoping he’ll help me explain it to you, actually. David and Stacey can’t know anything though.” Richard turned toward her with a grim expression. “You have to understand that up front. No one else can know any of this. Understood? No one. Not David. Not your family. No one.”
“Um...okay,” Manda agreed, wide-eyed. She felt some of her confusion trying to sneak back. This morning everything had made sense. Now she felt like Alice in Wonderland. The more she thought about the day’s events, the farther down the rabbit hole she fell.
“It’ll be okay,” Richard assured her, squeezing her hand comfortingly.
It was a short drive to the hotel. Richard pulled up in front and then walked around to collect Manda, leaving the car for the valet to park. He lifted her gently from the seat and carried her into the hotel lobby. She was wearing one of Richard’s spare shirts, which he’d gotten from his car, as hers had been a bloody ruin. Her coat had been a loss as well, and shortly before they left the hospital, Richard had produced warm coats for both Manda and himself from who-knows-where. “I’m nothing if not resourceful,” had been his only explanation when she asked where they had come from.
“You know, you can’t just carry me everywhere all the time,” Manda complained as Richard carried her past the hotel desk. The clerk watched with raised eyebrows, but said nothing.
“Why not,” he challenged. “You can’t very well manage crutches with your arm in that condition. Besides, I enjoy it.” To punctuate his point he bent his head down and kissed her.
Manda smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Yeah, I suppose I can see the appeal,” she sighed. “But won’t you get tired?”
“No,” he said wryly, and carried her onto an elevator from which a young family had just exited. “Do you mind?” he prompted Manda, nodding toward t
he buttons. She grinned and reached out to push the button for their floor. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like you to move into our suite tonight,” he suggested as the elevator rose. “You can take Josh’s room and he can move down the hall into yours. That way I can be close by if you need me. You won’t really be able to get around very well on your own.” The elevator door opened before Manda could answer, and Richard continued with a slight frown furrowing his brow. “I may be getting ahead of myself though. You don’t have to decide on that until after the explanations.” He sounded suddenly uncertain and tightened his arms around her slightly as he strode down the hall to his suite. He wasn’t able to reach his keycard while holding Manda, but rather than putting her down to retrieve it, he tapped on the bottom of the door several times with his foot.
“Josh, open up. It’s me.”
“Richard, put me down,” Manda whispered urgently. It suddenly occurred to her how pathetic she would look being carried in like an invalid and she struggled against Richards arms.
“Be still,” he admonished, not loosening his grip on her in the slightest. “You’re hurt and there’s no need trying to pretend you’re not. No one expects you to be invincible you know... except you.”
Manda glared at him in frustration and he chuckled.
“Sorry, sweetie, but you just don’t look very fierce right now. You look like the only survivor of a train wreck.”
Manda hadn’t realized how bad she looked. She frowned, her eyes dropping to her hands. Seeing her wounded expression, Richard sighed softly.
“You are still the most beautiful woman in the world, sweetie, but you can’t try to play this off as nothing. You’ve been hurt pretty thoroughly and no one thinks any less of you for it. It could have happened to anyone.”
As Richard spoke, Josh opened the door and held it wide for them.
”Manda! Are you okay? You look awful!” he exclaimed, contradicting his brother. Manda would have been annoyed, but the honest concern on his face made it impossible.
“I’m fine,” she mumbled, embarrassed.
Richard carried her into the sitting room, where David and Stacey were waiting.
“Manni, what have you done to yourself?” David teased, but his face was anxious. “Trying to get an extended vacation the hard way?”
Manda blushed scarlet. “I’m fine, really.”
“No, she’s not,” Richard corrected, “but she will be with some rest. You guys have five minutes before I kick you out of here, so you’d better make it quick.” He sat her down gently on the sofa and propped her right ankle up on a pillow before helping her remove her new coat. He tossed it over the back of the sofa and then removed his own and laid it on top of hers.
Stacey perched on the corner of the coffee table near Manda’s feet. “Josh said you fell,” she explained, “but he didn’t tell us how badly you were hurt. Oh, Manda, I’m so sorry! Not a very fun vacation for you, is it?”
“I have had better,” Manda agreed wryly.
“How badly are you hurt?” David asked solicitously, and Richard answered for her, quickly running down the list of her injuries as he arranged one of the ice packs the hospital had provided on her ankle.
“And now she needs to get some rest. It’s been a rough day and she’s in some pain. We’ll see you guys tomorrow though, right?” Richard was firm but friendly.
“Naturally,” David agreed. “We can have a late lunch together, so Manda can sleep in. Night, M.” He patted her shoulder as he and Stacey walked by on their way out. “See you, Richard, Josh.”
“Night, guys,” Josh called after them.
As soon as Manda was sure they were gone she folded her arms across her chest, wincing at the pressure on her stitches, and fixed Richard with an expectant stare.
“Well, I’m waiting.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like get some rest first?” Richard evaded. “You’ll feel better after some sleep.”
“Quit stalling!” Manda warned, scowling. “I’m going to need therapy soon if I don’t start getting some answers.”
“You might need therapy after the answers,” Richard commented under his breath. Manda wasn’t sure if she was meant to hear that.
“You knew it was inevitable, Richie,” Josh encouraged. “You’d have to tell her sometime. Now it’ll be out of the way.”
Richard paced across the room and back, clearly unsettled.
“I’m not sure how to begin,” he admitted.
“Don’t look at me,” Josh declared. “I’ve never told anyone before.”
“Neither have I,” Richard countered.
“Well, let me start then,” Manda interjected. “What happened to you? Where did you go? You just disappeared.”
“Well, that cuts right to the heart of it, doesn’t it,” Josh commented dryly.
Richard sat down on the edge of the sofa by Manda’s hip and gathered her hands in his.
“First of all, you have to know that I would never, ever leave you when you were in danger. I know how it looked, but I swear to you I would never do that.” His voice was so earnest and pleading that Manda’s chest tightened and she rushed to reassure him.
“I know that. I never doubted that for a minute. I was afraid you’d been hurt.”
Richard’s relief was tangible. He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed her palms. “Thank you for that, my Manda. You have more faith in me than I deserve.” His voice was unsteady and he took a minute to collect himself before he continued, choosing his words deliberately. “As I told you before, I was trying to take care of you, and the best way I could do that was to kill the lion that attacked you. As you said earlier, it couldn’t be left to attack someone else. It was half-starved and dangerous. So that’s what I was doing. That’s where I went. I drove away the lion and killed it.”
Manda stared at him blankly. He returned her gaze steadily, trying to convey something to her with his eyes, but she didn’t know what.
“But the other lion drove him away,” she said slowly, trying to understand what he was telling her but failing. “And then the dog…”
Richard’s reply was very gentle and cautious. “Manda, sweetie, the other lion was me.”
“Yeah, right…” Manda began, but his earnest expression stopped her and her head began to spin. The things she’d seen began to click into place, like puzzle pieces, but the resulting picture was too surreal.
“And the dog?” she whispered hoarsely, her eyes locked onto Richards.
“That was me, too,” he admitted reluctantly, and suddenly Manda was looking at two Richards spinning in front of her. She heard Josh’s voice coming from very far away.
“She’s going to faint.”
And then the darkness closed in around her.
Chapter 25
I knew I shouldn’t have told her right now. She’s hurt and exhausted, and she just wasn’t ready.”
“Not telling her would have been worse.”
The voices drifted through blackness to Manda. She floated weightless, safe in the darkness and not ready to face the light yet.
“She’s not coming around. What if she’s hurt more seriously than they thought? I’m calling an ambulance.”
“Calm down, Richie. Give her a few more minutes. If she doesn’t come around soon I’ll call. She hasn’t been out that long and it was a big shock.”
Manda realized they were talking about her and she pushed the blackness away, focusing on Richard.
Relief flooded across his troubled face when she opened her eyes.
“I told you she’d come around soon,” Josh said, but she detected relief in his voice as well.
“Manda,” Richard sighed. “Are you okay?”
“I’m all right,” she assured him and struggled to sit up. He held her down effortlessly by her shoulders.
“Oh, no you don’t. You just stay there for a bit. You’re still pale as a sheet and as cold as ice.”
Manda was lying on the bed in one of the su
ite’s two bedrooms with several blankets covering her. Richard was sitting on the comforter beside her, while Josh stood behind him, watching her over his brother’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled miserably, mortification reddening her cheeks. “I don’t mean to cause so much drama. It just all sort of hit me at once.”
Richard shook his head in disbelief.
“She does apologize for the most ridiculous things, doesn’t she?” Josh asked in wonder.
“Yes, she does,” Richard confirmed, scowling at Manda meaningfully.
“Okay, okay. I’m not sorry. Now can I please get up?” Manda complained.
Richard frowned. “That depends. How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. I’m starving, actually,” Manda decided after a moment. “Can we have some dinner?”
Richard looked stunned for a fraction of a second and then turned his head away and swore violently. Manda, who had never once heard him use profanity in front of her, sat up and stared at him in alarm. She was just about to ask him what was wrong when Josh’s mocking laughter preempted the question.
“Are you telling me that my infallible big brother forgot to feed you? Way to go, Richie! No wonder she fainted. Her blood sugar dropped through the floor!”
Manda’s temper flared. Richard would take Josh’s words to heart but it really wasn’t his fault at all. Food had been the farthest thing from her mind.
“Stop it, Josh!” she snapped angrily. “It’s not his fault. We never had a chance to eat. He was a little too busy saving my life to stop and pick up a cheeseburger and fries!” Sarcasm dripped from her voice and she glared at her stunned friend. He stared back at her open-mouthed. When she looked back to Richard, he also looked astonished by her outburst. Manda’s temper cooled as quickly as it had ignited.