Explosive Attraction - By Lena Diaz Page 0,11
how pale and unsteady he was. It looked as if the only reason he wasn’t falling down was because the policemen were holding on to his arms.
The doctor taking care of Darby pressed a last piece of tape into place on her leg and hurried to Rafe.
“Sit him down over here. He should have been brought in on a gurney. What happened?”
“Gurneys are for sissies.” Rafe’s words were slurred. As soon as he sat on the examining table the doctor pointed to, he fell backward with a groan.
* * *
DARBY YAWNED AND STRETCHED, her muscles aching from being scrunched into the uncomfortable chair in Rafe’s hospital room where she’d fallen asleep. The clock on the wall facing his bed showed it was twenty minutes until midnight.
His face was relaxed in sleep. He looked far less intimidating and more approachable now that he wasn’t wearing his usual frown. She wished he would wake up. The doctors had said he’d fully recover, but she needed to look him in the eyes and hear his impatient voice for herself. The man might be infuriating most of the time, but he’d risked everything for her. She needed to thank him for saving her life.
A light knock sounded on the door. Before Darby could fully rise from her chair, Captain Buresh walked into the room, waving her back down.
“Don’t get up.” His voice was pitched low, barely above a whisper. “What are you doing in here? You aren’t supposed to be roaming the halls.”
“Since my room is next door, I don’t think you can accuse me of roaming the halls. There’d be no point anyway, since there’s no one else to talk to. What did you do, clear out an entire hospital wing just for the two of us?”
“Moving the other patients to another floor was a security measure.”
“For Rafe and me, or for the other patients?”
He shrugged. “I’d feel better for everyone if you stayed in your room, under guard.”
“I am under guard. I’m sure you noticed Officer Daniels outside.”
He sighed as if he was too tired to argue, and stepped closer to the bed. “Has he woken up yet?”
Darby pushed her aching body out of the chair and stood across from him, on the other side of the bed. In addition to the hospital gown she was wearing, she had a second one she was using as a robe. She self-consciously pulled it tighter around her. “He hasn’t been awake since I came in here. The doctor said he has a slight concussion, that he can go home tomorrow if all goes well.”
Buresh nodded, reminding Darby that he probably already knew the details about Rafe’s condition. He was, after all, his boss. She glanced at the wall clock again. “Why are you here so late?”
“I...ah...wanted to check on you and Detective Morgan before I went home. It’s been a long day, and I needed to put my mind at ease before trying to get some sleep.”
Did the hesitation in his voice mean there was more to what he was saying—or rather, what he wasn’t saying?
“Have you caught him yet?” Rafe’s raspy voice called out from the bed. His eyes were open now. He pressed the buttons on the railing, raising himself into a sitting position.
Darby handed him the cup of water on the rolling tray, figuring he was probably as thirsty as she’d been earlier, in spite of the IV. She hadn’t given much thought to the heat when she’d been fighting for her life in the marsh, but afterward, she’d felt like a wilted flower, dry as dust.
He gave her a grateful nod and took a long sip before handing the cup back to her. “Are you all right?”
“The doctor wants me to stay overnight to make sure I don’t develop an infection from getting all that nasty swamp mud in my cuts, but overall, no worse for wear.” She studied him closely. “How do you feel?”
“Fine for someone who can’t remember how he got knocked out. What happened? The doctor had no clue.”
Buresh exchanged a startled glance with Darby.
“You don’t remember?” Buresh asked.
“I remember the boat, the alligator and some old man holding a rifle on me. Everything else is a big blank until I was in the ambulance.”
“Retrograde amnesia,” Darby said.
Rafe narrowed his eyes at her. “I don’t have amnesia. I remember what happened...most of it.” His scowl was as fierce as Darby had ever seen it, which was saying quite a bit.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” she said.