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“Baby, are you okay?” asked Madeline. “You’re covered in blood. ”
Lana decided not to go into detail about how the blood got there. That would only cause more problems. “I’m fine, Mom. It’s not mine. What are you doing here?”
“It’s al over the news. They said someone was shot and then showed your office building. I caled your office and kept caling until the police answered and told me you were safe. ” Madeline puled Lana in for a tight hug, and despite knowing how this scare would make her mother overreact, a hug from Mom felt good. “Sit down, honey. You shouldn’t be on your feet at a time like this. ”
“My feet are fine. ”
“Nonsense. I know how much your legs ache when you overdo. Sit. ”
Lana puled in a deep breath in an effort not to take off her mother’s head with the scathing remarks leaping behind her sealed lips.
“I bet you haven’t eaten anything today, either. Let me take you home and make you some nice soup. ”
“Stacie is in surgery and you want me to go have soup?” Lana asked her mother.
“You have to keep your strength up if you want to be of any use to her at al. ”
“My strength is fine. I don’t need to sit and I don’t need soup. Just stop, okay?”
Madeline gave Lana a disapproving frown that made Lana feel like a child. “You’re upset. You’l feel better if you just rest for a while. ”
“I’l feel better if you just leave. Let me deal with this on my own. Please, Mom. ”
Madeline pretended not to hear the plea in Lana’s voice. “You should have caled me earlier. You need a cel phone, Lana. You had me scared half to death. ”
Lana realized that her mother’s fear was driving her now, and she couldn’t blame her for being worried. Lana might have been the one hurt in Armenia, but Madeline had to watch her suffer through a mother’s eyes. That couldn’t have been easy. “We’ve talked about this. I can’t afford one right now. ”
“Then let me buy you one. ”
Lana closed her eyes in an effort to gather her patience. “Mom, please. Not now. Stacie is in surgery, and I just can’t deal with you, too. ”
The hurt look on Mom’s face made Lana feel like she’d just kicked a dog. “No one’s asking you to deal with me. I came here to support you. ”
“I’m fine. You should go home and make sure Dad knows I’m okay. ”
Madeline patted Lana’s arm. “You can come with me. After a scare like this, you should come stay with us for a few days. ”
It had taken Lana months to get out of the house the last time, and she wasn’t strong enough for that kind of battle again. As far as her mother was concerned, Lana should just come live at home permanently, because she was too weak to live on her own. “Thank you, but I’l be fine. ”
“Nonsense. You shouldn’t have to be alone at a time like this. ”
“I’m not,” said Lana before she could stop the words from coming out of her mouth. Too late now.
Lana motioned to where Caleb sat a few feet away watching them silently. “Mom, this is Caleb. He’s a friend of mine. ” A lie, but a necessary one. She couldn’t let her mother get involved. It wasn’t safe.
Madeline’s blue eyes narrowed. “A friend or a boyfriend?”
Caleb stood up to his impressive height and stepped over to them, offering Madeline his hand. “Just a friend, ma’am. It’s nice to meet you. ”
Madeline’s expression turned from skeptical to speculative, and Lana realized her mistake. If Mom couldn’t control Lana’s life, a husband was the next best candidate.
That’s why she hadn’t given up hope that Lana and Oran would patch things up.
Lana was sure that in Madeline’s eyes, Caleb had gone from friend to boyfriend to husband in the blink of an eye.
“You should come over for dinner tonight,” invited Madeline.
“Mom, now isn’t a good time,” said Lana. “I need to be here for Stacie. ”
“When she’s better, then,” replied Madeline, stil addressing Caleb. “You can come over and meet the family. We’l have a cookout, and Lana’s father can show off his new roses. ”
“That would be nice, ma’am,” said Caleb.
“No promises, Mom,” said Lana before Caleb could make any. He had no idea what he was dealing with—that in Madeline’s mind, they were probably already engaged by now. “Maybe after the fundraiser I’l have some time. ”
“You should make time for your family, Lana. We’re al you have now. ”
That was not true. She also had Stacie and the foundation. And the kids. “This isn’t the time. I’l cal you later, as soon as we know about Stacie’s condition. ”
“It sounds like you’re asking me to leave. ”
Lana puled in a deep breath. Aside from the fact that she realy couldn’t deal with her mother’s wel-intended interference, the less she was around her family, the safer they’d be. She couldn’t forget that. “I am. I’l be fine. There’s no sense in you spending your day here. You hardly even know Stacie. ”
“I’m not here for her, Lana. I’m here for you. ”
Lana wanted to say that she didn’t need her, but that was too cruel and hurtful. Instead she settled for, “Caleb is here with me. I’l be fine. ”
As if trying to help her prove it, Caleb looped his thick arm over her shoulders and puled her against his side. “I’l keep an eye on her for you,” he told Madeline.
Lana was too shocked to move. She just stood there, soaking in his heat. And it felt good being inside his embrace. Too good. Caleb’s comfort was something she could get used to in a hurry, and that was a dangerous thing to her hard-won independence.
Madeline looked from Lana to Caleb, and that speculative light flared in her eyes. “I suppose you two have this handled. You’l cal if you need me?”
Lana nodded. “I promise. ”
Madeline hugged Lana, making Caleb step back and take his warm comfort with him. It felt strange being swept from one set of arms to another, and Lana gave herself permission to enjoy something so rare.
Madeline repeated the motherly hug with Caleb, who took it like a man, smiling down indulgently at the top of Madeline’s head. “You take good care of my baby girl,” she told Caleb in a firm tone.
“Yes, ma’am. ” He gave her a solemn nod.
“Cal me tonight or I’m coming to stay at your place. A mother can only take so much worry,” said Madeline.
“I wil, Mom. See you later. ”
Madeline left, wiping a new set of tears from her cheeks, and infuriatingly, Lana felt an answering sting in her own eyes. Despite Madeline’s interference, Lana loved her.
“Something tels me that there isn’t a force on this planet that would keep that woman away if you needed her,” said Caleb.
“Be careful,” warned Lana. “She was looking at you like you were prime son-in-law material. ”
Lana expected a look of surprise or horror to cross his face, but instead he just gave her a level stare. “You think?”
“I know. ”
“She doesn’t know who I am, does she?”
“It’s best that way. Mom wouldn’t be able to handle the truth. ”
He opened his mouth to say something, but before he had time, a man in rumpled scrubs pushed through the double doors, heading straight for Lana.
She surged toward him, her fingers twisting together with nerves. “How is she?”
“Are you family?” asked the man.
“The closest thing Stacie’s got. She works for me. ”
That seemed enough to satisfy him, and he ran an elegant surgeon’s hand through his messy hair. “She’s going to be okay. There was some bleeding, but we got it under control. ”
“Can I see her?”
“She’s stil in recovery. When we move her to a room in a few hours, then you can see her. ”
Lana felt hot tears of relief wel up in her eyes, and she
blinked hard to hold them back. “Thank you for saving her. ”
The surgeon gave her a charming smile. “It’s what I do. Now, you look like you could use a bit of cleanup yourself,” he said, looking down at her bloody jeans. “Go home and get a shower, get a meal. Come back in four hours. No sooner. ”
“I’d rather stay,” she told him.
The surgeon’s mouth flattened. “How do you think she’s going to feel if she wakes up to see you covered in her blood?”
Lana hadn’t thought about it that way. She just hadn’t wanted to leave Stacie alone.
“There’s nothing you can do for her now. Go home. ” He looked up at Caleb for support. “She realy should go home and clean up. ”
Lana almost told him that she’d make up her own mind, but she didn’t have the energy for a pointless squabble. “Wil you cal if she wakes up?”
“If that’s what it wil take to get you to leave, sure. ”
Lana gave him her number and left the hospital with Caleb by her side. “She’s going to be okay,” Lana repeated.
“Yes, she is,” Caleb agreed.
“I almost kiled her. ”
He glanced down at her, a fierce frown on his face. “This isn’t your fault. You can’t think like that. ”
Lana swalowed hard to dislodge the lump of guilt in her throat. “She’s my employee. My responsibility. ”
“She’s a grown woman who makes her own decisions. You can’t control her any more than you could those terrorists. ”
Lana flinched as if she’d been hit. “I don’t want to control her. ”
“You can’t hold yourself responsible for something out of your control,” said Caleb.
“What if it wasn’t out of my control? What if I caused this?”
Caleb puled her to a halt. The summer heat beat down on her head, and out here in the sun, she could see those golden chips in Caleb’s eyes clearly. He had amazing eyes. So dark they were black in al but the brightest light, where they were a rich, mink brown.
“How could you have caused this?” he asked. “Did you ask that guy to shoot her?”
“No. ”
“Then explain to me how this is your fault. ”
Lana’s eyes slid away from his. She didn’t want him to see her thoughts—didn’t want him to know that she was hiding something from him. “I don’t know. ”
“Bulshit. What aren’t you teling me?” he demanded.
“I’m just being paranoid,” she said.
“Paranoid is just another word for cautious if there’s a reason for it. Is there a reason for it, Lana?”
“You tel me. You’re the one who showed up teling me I might be in danger. ”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. ”
“Our history together proves otherwise. ”
He jerked as if she’d slapped him, and then his face went hard. Expressionless. “Hate me al you want. I’m stil not going anywhere. ”
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