Secret Weapon Spouse - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,62
woman off the hook.
“It’s all right. You can tell me,” Samantha said. “I’ll keep your confidence. He’s been here?” She thought of Craig Johnson down the hall now in a coma. Was it possible Presley…
The nurse glanced around then leaned in conspiratorially. “He’s been by every night.”
The woman had to be mistaken. Samantha stared at her, trying to hide her surprise. “Ms. Graham’s fiancé has been coming to see her every night?”
“Every night since the accident. The nights she was unconscious, I found him asleep in a chair next to her bed when I checked on her before the shift change.”
“You’re sure it was her fiancé?”
The nurse nodded and smiled. “Good-looking man with dark hair, pale blue eyes and a great smile.”
That would be Presley. “And that’s the only time he comes by to visit, at night?” Samantha asked keeping her voice down.
“Every night since she was admitted,” the nurse said. “Sneaks in after visiting hours.” She shrugged as if it was no big deal he was breaking the rules. “Leaves before dawn. I guess he has a job to get to.
He obviously is a workingman, you know, by the way he dresses.”
Presley was working something, that was for sure. “What about the guard at her door?” Samantha asked.
The nurse looked sheepish. “We distract him.”
Samantha groaned inwardly. What if the man the nurse had described had been a killer? Quite simply, Caroline Graham would be dead.
“I take it Ms. Graham is in on this?” Samantha asked, knowing that had to be the case.
The nurse grinned. “It is kind of romantic. Just seeing the two of them together. They are so much in love.”
And in cahoots. But over what? Caroline had led them to believe that Pres was out of the country and still trying to get back to her.
The question was, why had she lied? None of this made any sense. Unless the nurse was mistaken and the man who was visiting Caroline each night wasn’t Presley. Had Caroline found not just one but two men who were that good-looking and obviously charming, as well?
But the nurse had mentioned Presley’s pale blue eyes and they were incredible. A cool-water blue accented by dark lashes. And when Presley smiled, it was quite remarkable. No, the man had to be Presley.
“It’s that other man that we hate to see here,” the nurse said, then seemed to regret having spoken out of turn.
“What man was that?” Samantha asked, her ears perking up.
“The brother. Not the nice one who’s in there with her now but the other one.”
Brian. “Has he visited much?”
“A couple of times with their father. Is he really as rich as everyone says?” She saw Samantha’s expression. “Sorry. A few times he came by alone. He was fine when the father was with them but the other times he upset Ms. Graham and this last time—”
“When was that?”
“An hour or two ago,” the nurse said, frowning as she looked at her watch. “I think he came about the time we were trying to revive Mr. Johnson. Anyway, I heard them arguing all the way down the hall and finally had to ask him to leave.”
What had Brian been arguing with his sister about? Presley Wells no doubt.
A call bell rang at the nurses’ station. The nurse excused herself and hustled down the hallway.
Samantha heard Alex come out of his sister’s room and turned to look at him. He looked awful and the news she had to give him wasn’t going to make him feel any better.
Chapter Sixteen
Alex raked a hand through his hair as he looked at Samantha. She looked as down as he felt. “Caroline’s lying through her teeth.”
Samantha nodded and motioned for him to follow her to the solarium. “Presley isn’t out of the country,” she said the moment they were alone. “He’s been here every night, staying by your sister’s bedside while she was unconscious.”
Alex swore. “How—?”
“He’s charmed the nurses into helping him sneak past the guards.”
“We’ll see about that.” He started to storm past Samantha, planning to see that those nurses lost their jobs—along with the guards he’d hired.
“Wait,” Samantha said, grabbing his arm. “You don’t want to do that. Think about Caroline. Obviously Presley cares about her. Why else hang around here?”
He swore and walked to the sliding doors, shoving them open to step out into the hot humid night air as he looked out at the city. What Samantha said made sense. Or did it? He stepped back into the air-conditioned room, closing the door