A Billionaire's Redemption - By Cindy Dees Page 0,78
tried to kill you?” the voice asked doubtfully.
“Well, obviously not the van itself. Someone in a van. It hit me and then pushed me off the road.”
“I’ll notify the police, ma’am. But please lie still.”
She subsided, impatient for the stupid MRI to end. “Where’s Gabe?”
“Mr. Dawson?”
“Yes, yes,” she answered impatiently.
“He’s waiting for you. You can see him as soon as you’re done.”
And just like that, everything was all right. She was alive. Gabe was alive. He’d saved her like he always did, and he was nearby. Her knight in shining armor. Warm, soft, joyous feelings flooded her. This so had to be love. She loved him. Overwhelmed and overjoyed at the notion, she relaxed until a technician came to wheel her out of the MRI machine.
Her first words were, “Can I see him now? Can I see Gabe?”
“I’ll tell the doctor you’re asking for him.”
But she was wheeled into a room and hooked up to a bunch of machines, and still there was no sign of him.
A new doctor came in and announced, “Your MRI looks good. There don’t appear to be any serious internal injuries. I think we can safely say you’re going to make a full recovery.” He shined a bright flashlight into both of her eyes and added, “We’re going to keep you here for observation overnight, though, because you hit your head and were unconscious for an extended period of time. It’s just a precaution. Is there anyone we should notify?”
A deep voice said from the doorway, “Consider me notified, doctor.”
Her heart leaped, and she smiled at Gabe. Even through the bright spots dancing in front of her eyes from the doctor’s flashlight, Gabe was beautiful. His jaw had a long scratch on it, and he was moving carefully, but he was still her Gabe.
She held out her arms to him and he brushed past the doctor to gather her in his embrace. Tears of joy overflowed her eyes.
“Hey, no need to cry, baby. You’re going to be fine,” Gabe murmured into her hair.
“I’m not sad,” she whispered back. “I’m happy. To see you and to be alive. I knew you’d save me.”
His arms tightened around her. He spoke over her head. “Does she get a clean bill of health besides the knock on her noggin, doc?”
“Yes, sir.”
His arms tightened even more, but she didn’t care one bit that he was squeezing the stuffing out of her. For a while there, she’d been pretty sure she wasn’t getting off that mountain alive. The doctor slipped out of the room, for which she was entirely grateful. There was something she needed to tell Gabe, and she darned well didn’t want an audience when she did it.
She hesitated, nervous, and opted for a circuitous approach to the topic on her mind. “I thought I was done for up there.”
“God, Will. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to you sooner. I was no more than a mile away when I had to turn around and go back to town. If only I had known you were out there—” He buried his face in her hair and took a shaky breath.
Why did he have to return to town? She would normally have asked, but she didn’t want to get sidetracked. “I had a little while to think about my life in between bouts of unconsciousness.”
“Reach any conclusions?” he asked.
“Actually, yes. I realized how much I trust you. And depend on you. I think of you as my knight in shining armor.”
He laughed a little, sounded embarrassed. “Well, maybe I’m an old knight in dented and tarnished armor.” He added teasingly, “To heck with a horse. I charge to rescue in a Cadillac.”
“Nonetheless, you saved my life. I can never thank you enough.”
“Willa, if something had happened to you—” He didn’t finish the sentence. After a moment he said soberly, “Believe me, saving you was as much for my benefit as yours. If something bad had happened to you...” he tried again. Still no conclusion to that thought other than his arms crushing her until she squeaked for air.
“What I’m trying to say, Gabe, is that I think I lo—”
A commotion at the door stopped her on the verge of declaring her love for him. Gabe looked up sharply at the same time he leaned over her protectively. Two large, black-shirted men barged into the room in a rush. Her security guards. The poor guys looked nearly as frazzled and glad to see her alive as Gabe had.