Damon (6 page)

“Thank you, b
ut I have some clothes of my—”
She st
opped when he raised his hand.
He didn’t look mad really just…sh
e guessed frustrated with her. She smiled to herself.
He didn’t look like a man who had many people tell him no and probably even less of them told him they didn’t need his help.

“As soon as you’re finishe
d, I’ll take out the catheter.
Then we’ll se
e how well you do standing up.
If you don’t keel over, I’ll let you take a quick shower, but I’m standing outsid
e and the door will be opened.
I’d have Ronnie come up and do it, b
ut I’d still have to be close.
It’s not that I don’t think she could do it, but I’d wor
ry and have to be here anyway.
Besides, Connor is charming her little girl.”

When he cleared away her tray, she felt acutely aware of the man and not the doctor when he pulled out the needle to remove the flui
d in the ball of the catheter.
He never made a sound or touched her in any way but a professional one, yet she still felt he
r body stirring.
She was so glad when he stepped away and went into the bath to dispose of the equip
ment and to turn on the water.
All she could think about was the threatened kiss from last night.

“Okay, Charlie, put your arms around my neck and then when you’r
e ready, we’ll stand together.
Don’t try anything more than just standing for now and don’t let me go
until I tell you, all right?” She nodded.

With
heart pounding, she stood up. Damon did most of the work.
She didn’t so much as stand as he l
ifted her to her feet.
The room swayed just a little, but ot
herwise, she felt really good.
She grinned up into his face and froze.

He was looking down at her with
the fiercest look on his face. She wasn’t afraid of him.
On the contrary, she felt her breath ca
tch and her pulse rate double.
She was aware of his hands on her ribs and the heat that penetr
ated the thin gown she had on.
Of his thigh pressed intimately between her legs and her fingers laced together behind his neck. When she licked her suddenly dry lips, his groan moved through her entire body.

“Charlie, I want to kiss you.
But I don’t want you to think I’m taking advant
age of you and your situation.
But tasting you right
now is all I can think about.
It’s all I’ve thought about since last night.”

His words were soft and gentle, but sh
e could hear the need in them.
It matched her o
wn in both urgency and hunger.
She moved toward his descending mouth and
felt her eyes begin to close.
When his mouth brushed over hers, she moaned at the contact.

“Momma!
Momma, Miss Ronnie wants to know if I can go to
the store with her and Marie.
She wants
to know if I got any halogens
. Y
ou okay?
You look all, I don’t know, sort of red and all hot.”

Damon hadn’t pulle
d away from her, but held her.
When she had tried to jerk away from him when she’d heard Connor bounding down the hall, he’d simply tightened his gr
ip on her and held her firmly.
She started to struggle, but he pressed his erection into her belly and she stopped.

His whispered, “
S
orry, but it’s not often I hold a beautiful woman in my arms
,
” made her flush again.

“Well, do I?
Mo
mma, are you paying attention?
You sho
uld go back to bed with Damon.
I bet he could make
you feel a whole lot better.”

Damon lau
ghed and she embarrassed more.
Ch
rist, what was wrong with her?
She’d practically thrown the man to the bed and had her way with him and all he’d asked for was a kiss.

“No
you don’t have any allergies.
Halogen is a gas. And
I think you should stay here
. Y
ou never know, I might need you
for something.”
Yeah, like not leaving the room in case she lost her mind again and tried to kiss her doctor.

“I think you should let him go
. Y
ou’ll be all right with me.
Cait is coming over in a little while to talk to
you and it’s sort of personal.”

Yes, but w
ould he be all right with her? “All right, Connor. But you listen to her.
She’s probably not used to children and I don’t wan
t you to upset her, all right?
And
you remember what I told you?
You know it’s right.”

She saw his face drop.
It hurt her to see him
hurt, but they had no choice.
He
knew this as well as she did. They couldn’t trust anyone.
She felt the Damon’s arms tighten around her.

As soon as she looked into his ey
es, she realized that he knew.
Connor must have said something t
o him about trust.
She felt his withdrawal from her, not just physically but emotionally as well.

“Let’s get you in the shower.
I don’t think yo
u’ll have time for a long one.
I’m afraid that the hot wate
r has been running for awhile.
There are girly soap things over your head. If you can’t reach them, let me know now. Good.
I’ll be right out here.”

He fled the room quicker than Connor had. She heard the steel in his voice. Trying not to think about what
it meant, she washed her hair.
The warm water felt good on her skin and the smell of the herbal shampoo and soft soap made her
skin tingle and feel so soft.
Lingering as long as she dared, she turned off the wat
er and opened the shower door.
Damon had his back to her with a towel in his hand.

“I’ve changed your bed linens, but if you want, I can take you downstairs.
We don’t want to overdo it
. Y
ell when you’re dre
ssed and I’ll be right there.”

She fell in love with
the pretty bra and panty sets.
There was a beige set and a bright yellow set.
Putting on the yellow, she
felt pretty and a little sexy.
She had never
owned anything like it before.
She’d always had to be thrifty when she and Connor had been bu
ying things like under things.
And when she lived
at home, they had been white.
The dark
green blouse was a perfect fit.
The long sleeves buttoned from the elbow to her wrist and the little buttons down the front we
re shaped like little clovers.
The pants, a dark green denim and soft as butter, fit her like a glove and molded to her body
like a second skin.
She was just buttoning them up w
hen Damon knocked at the door.
She opened it and stepped out.

“I wasn’t going to sa
y anything, but I can’t do it
. Y
ou told him, didn’t you?
You told him not to trust us and that you were leaving as s
oon as you’re better.
Why would you
do something like that to him?
Why would you tell him not to trust us?”

“I don’t know you.
Why should
I trust anything you do or say?
I’m a woman on the run with an eight-year-old little boy and you think just because you’re handsome and nice that I should blindly trust you?”

“I see.
Me bringing you into my home, caring for you, and wanting to make sure you’re healthy doesn’t cut
me any kind of slack with you
. Y
ou would just rather lump all of us in the same category and be
done with the whole lot of us.
Is that it?”

“You don’t
know what we’ve been through
. Y
ou have no idea what I’ve done to keep us safe, to keep Connor and me together.”

“You’re right. I don’t.
But then you never gave me or any of the rest of us the opportunity to find out either, did you? You closed the door on us th
e moment you opened your eyes
. Y
ou should remember that I treated those wou
nds on your body, all of them.
If that didn’t give me the r
ight to ask, then nothing did.
But I didn’t. I waited, hoping
you would tell me on your own.
But I guess that’s never going to h
appen, is it, Ms. Kirkpatrick?
I would appreciate it if when you leave, you would please let
us all say good-bye to Connor.
He’s allowed us to grow quite fond of him.”

With that, Da
mon walked out of the bedroom.
He didn’t slam the door shut, but closed it quietly, the sound of the knob clicki
ng into place making her jump.
Charlie thought she would have preferred him slamming it. Sitting down on the bed, she burst into tea
rs. She had hurt him and her son.
The only two men in the world who had done nothing but be kind to her.

~CHAPTER 5~

Anthony
Ormond slammed down the phone.
That bitch was lucky he was two hundred miles away or he’d have to go and teach her respe
ct for the man and the badge.
How dare she act as if he was resp
onsible for Charlotte leaving.
He looked up the next bus stop on the route Charlotte had taken.

It had be
en seven days now and nothing.
He didn’t have a clue, not even a single false lead. It was like she and th
e brat had simply disappeared.
He dialed the next number, wondered how she had managed to get a bus ticket, and took the still ringing phone to his room and looked in his sock drawer.

“Son of a bitc
h! The little bitch robbed me.
Fuckin
g bitch is gonna pay for that.
No more mister nice guy.”

“Sir?
T
his is Glassnode Bus Terminal.
Is there
something I can help you with?”
Anthony grinned at the terror in the voice at the other end.

“Yes. I’m Officer Anthony Ormond.
I’m looking for a woman and a br…kid who might have been on a bu
s that came into your station.
Might have been with
in the last five days or less.
She would have been hurt, the boy too.”

Damn right
they’d been hurt, he thought.
He’d beaten her right good the morning she’d left and that was gonna be nothing like he
gave her when he got her back.
And that fu
cking brat was just gonna end. No need for him anymore. He was gonna end.
He didn’t want to raise any other
man’s fucking bastard anyway.
He’d fuck Charlotte until she took his and then she’d be so busy with his that she’d be happy to have that brat gone.

“A wo
man and a little boy, you say? I’ll have to check.
We’re a big station here and we have ten or so buses come in every three hours. Tell me what they look l
ike.
It might take me a couple of days to get back to you.”

“Couple of days?
I don’t think so
. Y
ou get back
to me today, within the hour.
This woman and her b
r…kid are wanted in a robbery.
Stole about ten grand and I want it…the victim wants it back,
now.
The w
oman is tall, about five-nine. But skinny, long, dark blond hair. Blue eyes and sorta fat lips. The kid? Well, he’s a kid.
Don’
t know what to tell you there.
Never really paid any never mind to him.”

There had only been three hundred dollars missing, but he had discovered people were more apt to help if they thought larger su
ms of money had been involved.
When he did a robbery cal
l, he used the opposite logic.
Then if the money was retrie
ved, he’d keep the difference.
Sometimes more for
his troubles.
That’s what insurance companies were for, weren’t they?