Smoked (The Invincibles #5) - Heather Slade Page 0,10
I heard in Smoke’s voice. “What is that?” I asked, motioning with my head at a large structure that sat near the bank of a pond.
“My house.”
I was stunned. It looked more like a large mountain lodge.
“Let’s get you inside and settled.”
“For feck’s sake, Smoke, you can put me down. I can walk.”
“We’ve been traveling for going on eighteen hours. You’re more tired than you think.”
“It’s also time for your pain medicine,” the nurse, whose name I couldn’t recall but who was walking beside us, said.
“I don’t want it,” I whispered in Smoke’s ear. “I don’t need it.”
“We’ll talk about it once you’re in bed.”
He carried me up to the front door and waited for the man who’d met us at the airfield, to open it.
“I’ll fetch Ms. Wynona, and then the boys and I will start bringing stuff in,” Smoke said once we were inside and he set me in a chair.
“Who is that?” I asked.
“She takes care of the place when I’m not here.”
“It’s about time you showed your face.” A very short woman with hair that looked more blue than gray approached. “Welcome to the Blazing T,” she said.
“Ms. Wynona, this is the woman I told you about, Siobhan Gallagher.”
The woman raised both eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. “You best get Ms. Siobhan into bed, Mr. Smoke. She looks near-dead tired.”
“We’ll set up in the master,” said Smoke, turning to the nurse. “This way.”
I shrugged my shoulder when Ms. Wynona winked. “You and I will have plenty of time to get to know each other later,” she said as Smoke plucked me out of the chair.
He opened a door and walked into a room that was larger than any place I’d ever lived. “Is this your bedroom?”
“Yes.”
“It looks like an apartment.”
“Do you want to change your clothes?” he asked, setting me on the bed.
“Into what?” I wore the same hospital gown I’d had on since yesterday and a pair of joggers that were at least two sizes too big.
“We’ll see what we can find.”
Two other men, who looked just like Jack, brought in medical equipment like what had been on the plane. “Where did all of this come from?” I asked, standing up to stretch my legs.
“I had it delivered.” Smoked walked over to me. “Siren, sit back down before you fall.”
“Settle yourself, you narky hole. I’m fine.”
“What did you call me?” He was trying so hard not to smile. I laughed.
“You heard me.”
“A narky hole?”
“That’s right.”
He swept me up in his arms like he had so many times in the last few hours and deposited me back on the bed.
“What is your name?” I asked the nurse, who was busy reconnecting my IV.
“Maureen.”
“Nurse Maureen—”
“Just Maureen is fine.”
“Okay, well, I do not need any pain medicine at this time. I feel perfectly fine.”
“You’re lying,” she muttered, looking over at Smoke. “And that one threatened me within an inch of my life if I didn’t take right good care of you.”
“Is it even legal for you to administer that to me?”
She nodded and inserted the liquid from the syringe into the IV port. “Jaysus fecking Christ,” I mumbled when the warm feeling coursed through my arm. “I don’t want this.”
“Excuse us,” Smoke said to the nurse, walking up to the bedside with something in his hand. “This should work to sleep in until we can get you some other clothes.” He waited until after she left the room before helping me out of the hospital gown and then into the shirt that had to belong to him, based on its size.
“Sweatpants on or off?”
“Off.”
He moved the shirt out of his way and tugged the joggers off the lower half of my body.
“You’ll need underwear,” he said, his gaze focused on my bareness.
“You mean knickers? I never wear them.” I looked into his eyes. Two things about that statement surprised me. First, that I remembered I didn’t, and second, that Smoke didn’t.
He pulled the shirt down and then covered me with the bedclothes. “I’ll be right back.”
I looked down at the artwork on the shirt Smoke had put on me. It was the letter T, and it looked like it was on fire. Blazing T, that was what Ms. Wynona had said. Smoke. Siren. My eyes drifted closed as I muttered other words to do with fire. Heat. Sex.
Where was that man? I wondered, again trying to force my eyes to remain open.
7
Smoke
When I walked into the bedroom, carrying the tray of food Ms. Wynona had