Midnight Kiss (Men of Midnight #7) - Lisa Marie Rice Page 0,98

and sooty and completely colorless. She met the man’s eyes. “Take care of him.”

“We will.” His voice was steady. “And we’ll take care of you, too.”

“I don’t need it,” she said, and passed out.

The next afternoon, a little dinged but feeling fine, Hope sat by Luke’s hospital bed, holding his hand. He was sitting up and there was color back in his face. The surgeon said that his greatest risk had been blood loss, not the wound itself. He was stitched up, infused and taking the ribbing of two guys from ASI who’d flown down to see how he was doing and had orders to stay until he could be flown back to Portland.

Hope was starting work as soon as she could and Luke was under strictest doctor’s orders to not even think of work for a month. He wasn’t happy at the thought.

The two who were to accompany them back in the corporate jet, Raul Martinez and Pierce Jordan, were known as the ‘twins’, Luke said. They didn’t look anything like each other but they’d been brothers-in-arms in the Navy as SEALs and they’d been through hell together. They’d been assigned a psychopath as a commanding officer in Afghanistan, a man who killed innocent civilians and reveled in it. Taking their career in their hands, they’d reported the commanding officer, who was then subjected to a court martial. The twins had paid a price, though. Their command had shunned them and they’d both quit and gone to work for ASI.

The twins were ribbing Luke for being rescued by a ‘girl’. They winked at Hope as they said it. They were funny and annoying as hell. And they never shut up. Or rather Raul didn’t. Pierce was less of a talker.

“I’m going to get so laid thanks to your story,” Raul said, waggling his eyebrows like Groucho Marx. “The man known as Cool Hand Luke being rescued without getting off a shot.”

“By a girl,” Pierce said, for the billionth time.

It was a miracle Luke’s eyes were still in his head, he was rolling them so much.

Her teeth set. “It wasn’t like that.” He didn’t seem to be annoyed but Hope was. “Luke was very brave,” she said stiffly and the twins laughed. It was really annoying that Luke laughed too.

Hope’s teeth ground. Luke seemed incredibly relaxed for someone who’d been shot at and nearly burned to death. On the other hand, her nerves were shot. She still had the shakes.

Which was why she jumped at the soft knock at the door.

A tall, gray-haired man stuck his head in the opening. “May I?”

Raul and Pierce stood at attention. Luke sat up straighter in his bed. The man who walked in had such a commanding presence Hope felt like saluting herself.

He walked in slowly, never taking his eyes from Hope and her heart started pounding and her hands shook.

Raul stuck a thumb out. “Gotta go see a guy about a thing,” he said. Pierce nodded and they disappeared. Hope barely noticed. Her gaze was fixed on the man’s face. A face that looked just like hers.

“Hope,” he said softly.

She nodded, a huge lump in her throat rendering her incapable of speech. She felt so many emotions, all of them huge and unsettling, that she couldn’t open her mouth for fear that she’d scream.

“I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know. I thought your mother — Lucy — had left me. I’d been wounded and she didn’t answer any of my letters. She seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. It was all my father. He didn’t think she was worthy of a Redfield. Even though he wasn’t worth her little finger. Your mother was so bright and so alive.” He swallowed heavily. “She was pure magic and I loved her with all my heart. I’ve never loved another woman.”

Hope swiped at the wetness on her cheeks. “I don’t remember her.”

“You wouldn’t. You were so small. And you were in a coma for months. I checked. There was a very young girl in a coma in a hospital in Modesto. A Jane Doe.”

“Who was it? Was it your father who did this?” She finally found her voice but it was raw, as if the words were being torn out of her.

He nodded.

Her heart was still pounding. “Is he — is he dangerous to me? To us?” She glanced at Luke, who was watching her with a sad expression on his face. His grip on her hand was warm and strong and