A Billionaire's Redemption - By Cindy Dees Page 0,72

Melinda, but fretting over Willa. He called the security company and was frustrated that they’d heard nothing from Willa. Problem was the security team was Dallas based. They didn’t know the local area and weren’t being the slightest bit efficient in searching the western part of the county for her. He’d do a much better job of it if he could just get out of here.

But then guilt at the notion of abandoning Melinda, who’d been through an obviously terrible experience, assailed him, and the cycle of relief, fretting, worry and guilt repeated itself. He felt like he was being torn in two, and it sucked.

The weird part was that he didn’t even particularly like Melinda. She was charismatic, though, and once she had her claws in someone’s head, she didn’t let go. It had taken Willa coming along for him to realize how psychologically tied he still was to Melinda.

An urge to turn around and walk out of the emergency room came over him. To hell with Melinda. She was a grown woman and could take care of herself. Lord knew she’d never needed him or anyone else over the years. Willa, on the other hand, could use a friend. Her life had gone to hell in a handbasket, and not one bit of it had been her doing.

He stood up, determined to follow his heart and go find Willa when a male voice said from behind him, “Mr. Dawson?”

He turned to face a physician in a white lab coat. Spatters of blood on the coat sent a hot wave of guilt through Gabe’s gut. “How is she?” he asked quickly.

“Come with me.”

Agent Delaney fell in beside the two men as they strode through a pair of swinging doors. A brightly lit hallway with all the usual medical clutter lining it stretched away from them. The doctor led Gabe to the first door on the left.

Gabe stepped inside, his heart in his throat.

Melinda was sitting up in bed, her arms speckled by Band-Aids, a small piece of tape across her right cheekbone and a bandage around her right knuckles. She had a fading black eye and a little puffiness along her jaw. But all in all, she didn’t look half-bad. She did, however, look royally pissed off. He knew that narrow-eyed glare she was firing at the nurse all too well.

She looked up at the visitors, spotted Gabe and burst into tears. Honest-to-God wetness issuing from her eyes and running down her cheeks. Never, ever had he seen Melinda Grayson shed a tear before. The woman had sat stony-faced through her own father’s funeral, for God’s sake. Yet here she was, bawling theatrically.

She held both hands out to him in a gesture reminiscent of a toddler, and he lurched forward, shaken. Melinda Grayson wanted to be held? The end of the world must be upon them!

He perched on the edge of the high bed and gathered her into his arms. She stiffened against him, but her arms still went jerkily around him. Frankly, after the way Willa cuddled against him all soft and sweet, this was like hugging a cold, wet fish.

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he banished it. Melinda was hurt and scared and probably exhausted, and she surely deserved better from him.

“Dr. Grayson, what can you tell me about your kidnapper?” Agent Delaney asked.

Gabe looked up sharply. “You didn’t catch the bastard?”

“Please don’t interrupt, sir, or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Melinda’s arms tightened hard around him. Damn, that woman was strong for someone who’d been tied to a chair for the past few weeks. “I never saw him. He kept me blindfolded all the time.”

“What about when that video of you was filmed? Did you see him then? Or even a silhouette? How tall was he? What kind of build did he have? Race? Coloring? Anything?” the agent persisted.

Melinda shook her head. “There was just the camera on a tripod. He told me what to say from another room.”

Agent Delaney pounced on that. “So he did script that video for you.”

Melinda’s gaze narrowed fractionally. Had Gabe not been inches away from her and not been so very familiar with her, he probably wouldn’t have seen it. Now why did the agent’s statement irritate Melinda like that?

“No, no. He just told me when to talk.”

“Did he ever say anything about Senator John Merris, Sheriff Burris or a young man named David Reed?”

“No. Why?”

“All three men were murdered at about the same time