Tempest - Kris Michaels Page 0,24

inhale. "I'm fine."

She wasn't, not by a long shot, but her injuries weren't what was important. He held her wrist in his hand and examined it. His fingertips carefully moved her joint. She hissed when he trailed his fingers down the side of her arm. "No obvious breaks. Probably a strain or sprain from bracing yourself when you fell." He trailed his fingers across the back of her hand when he lowered it.

"How did you get in here? How did you get past security?" She glanced at the door to her living quarters. It was shut and a high back chair was wedged under the knob. She turned and hissed at him. "Are you insane? Do you know what she'll do if it's reported you're here?"

He reached for her ankle and stopped short of touching her. "Who's going to report it? You?"

"No!" She glanced at the door, although why was beyond her. Nobody came in her rooms when she was home. Ever. The butler was in his quarters this time of the night. The maid was here only during the day, and the chef came in every other day to prepare the meals she ate, which was why she still needed to lose ten pounds.

"What happened here?" His big hands cupped and supported her ankle. He turned her leg to examine the side of her foot and her swelling toe—now the size of her big toe. "I think you may have broken it."

"I did. It was sticking straight out. I pushed it back in place. Stop diverting and answer the question. Why. Are. You. Here?"

He lowered her foot and sat back on his heels. He stared at her for a moment. She shivered at the intensity of those gold-flecked green eyes. "I made a vow."

"I absolved you of your pledge." She shook her head. "Look, you have to go."

"Why, did your mother come back?"

"No... wait, how did you know she was here?" Using her good hand, she pushed herself up into a sitting rather than lounging position.

He rose from the floor and headed to the back of the room. "I've been watching. Is the bathroom back here?"

"Ahh... yes. Wait, how long have you been watching? Why have you been watching?"

The light in the hall came on. "About two weeks. Medical kit?"

"Top cabinet above the vanity." She shot her foot a pissed off glare and dropped back onto the cushion of the lounger. She opened her eyes and stared at the hallway. "You still didn't say why."

She heard him rustling around in her bathroom and then his footsteps coming back to the sitting room. "I've been watching to make sure you weren't in danger and to ensure you aren't being followed."

"Followed? No, she's planted enough people in my life. I don't need to be followed. She dictates my schedule, my appointments, and my life in general."

"People such as?" He moved the coffee table and placed the white plastic medical kit down.

She blew a lungful of air. "The butler, the chauffeur, my legal assistant, security, which by the way, how did you get past him?"

"I came up from the beach when the power went out." He opened the case and removed a beige elastic bandage.

"Oh." He supported her wrist and started to wrap it. "Wait, how did you know there was going to be a power outage?"

He glanced up at her and smiled. Her breath caught in her chest. He was devastatingly handsome. "Planning the outage helps."

"You?" She glanced toward the window. "How?"

"A substation may have exploded... probably more than was necessary." He rolled his eyes and smiled before he turned his attention back to her wrist.

"You blew up a substation?" He finished the wrap and secured it with two of those stupid little claw-like fasteners. "Thank you. It feels better."

"No, I didn't blow up a substation. Ice?"

"Behind the bar." He rose from where he'd been and headed to her well stocked private bar. "Pour me a brandy while you're there, please. No wait. Would you please pour me a bourbon? A really big bourbon." She was having a bourbon day. Definitely a... Oh, wow... His black jeans hugged his thick thighs and tight ass. Broad shoulders and arms which had supported her without any problem veed to a narrow waist. Every part of him she could see seemed to be formed from roped muscles, as defined as if they'd been chiseled from stone. He made the turn to walk behind the bar, and she snapped her gaze away from his body.