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Authors: Kathy Love

Devilishly Sexy (7 page)

BOOK: Devilishly Sexy
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Tristan, now alone, watched Finola leave the offices through the glass walls. He finished gathering his stuff and headed out of the boardroom.
Finola didn’t have any idea what a short time she had left to be in charge of
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magazine and the demon rebellion. She also didn’t realize that right at this moment she had Tristan’s coconspirator tucked under her arm.
You are in for some surprises, Finola, my dear.
Chapter Seven
H
ailing a cab didn’t seem like the most efficient way to get an overdose victim to the ER, but Liza was a surprisingly stubborn patient, even in her less than coherent state.
Fortunately, getting a cab wasn’t too difficult, and within only a few minutes he had her maneuvered into the backseat and had ordered the cabbie to get them to the closest hospital.
“I don’t need a doctor,” she insisted again for at least the fifteenth time.
Her head lolled against his shoulder as she said it. But her words were a little less slurred. He prayed that was a good sign.
“You probably don’t,” Michael lied, discovering very quickly it was easier to get her to cooperate if he humored her. “But just tell me one thing, what did you take?”
She nuzzled her cheek against his shoulder. “Just allergy medicine.”
Okay, he didn’t know anything about allergy medicines or how much it would take to overdose on them. But he did know having her cuddled up against him felt good, which was a highly inappropriate thought given that she was possibly headed toward coma or heart failure.
“How many do you think you took?” he asked, ignoring the fact that she now had a hand on his chest, almost. . . caressing him.
Focus, man.
What the hell was wrong with him?
He felt her shrug. “I’m not sure. Maybe twenty. Maybe thirty. Just a few.” She held her thumb and forefinger slightly apart to indicate just a tiny amount.
Twenty or thirty? That was not “just a few.” He leaned forward, which caused Liza’s head to slip off his shoulder and wedge between his back and the taxi seat.
“Put the pedal to the metal,” Michael urged loudly.
The cabdriver gave him a strange look in the rearview mirror, but did speed up. Behind Michael, Liza giggled, the sound muffled against his back.
“Breaker, breaker, good buddy,” she said, giggling again as she managed to lever herself upright on her own before he could help her.
He didn’t understand her reaction; clearly she was getting delusional or something.
“This is fun,” she suddenly announced, her head falling back against his shoulder.
“I’m glad you are enjoying yourself,” he said wryly.
“It was just enough,” Liza then murmured. “Enough to quiet that damned voice. God, that annoying voice.”
Michael wasn’t sure what exactly she meant by “that damned voice,” but he suspected it was Liza’s own guilt. She had to have realized the huge mistake she’d made signing a deal with Finola. People who sold their souls always realized very quickly the error of their decision. But now, from what Elton had said, maybe her soul could be broken from the bonds of the contract. She had to hold on and find out. She couldn’t give up when help was, hopefully, right around the corner.
And thank God, the hospital was right around the next corner quite literally. Michael threw the driver a twenty, not sure if that was too much or not enough. He really didn’t care. He had to get this woman to a doctor. Frankly, it was amazing she was still conscious at all.
This time, she didn’t argue when he scooped her up in his arms.
“You really do have a nice chest,” she murmured, her hands curling almost affectionately around his neck. “And really nice shoulders.”
He thanked her, although his attention wasn’t on her words or her roaming hands, miraculously. He remained focused on finding someone to help her. It turned out overdoses got a person to the head of the line, which in this ER was very long; the waiting room was packed with miserable-looking people. But the triage nurse only had to look at Liza, limp in his arms, and she directed them to a large room lined with hospital beds and only separated by curtains.
“Place her on the bed.”
Michael did and stood back as the woman began taking her vitals.
“I’m fine,” Liza tried to assure her with one of her cute giggles. And while the nurse agreed, clearly knowing that people in Liza’s state dealt better with compliance, her frown as she took Liza’s blood pressure and pulse didn’t reassure Michael.
“Can you fill out the top of this form?” the nurse asked. “I will have a doctor in here as soon as possible.”
Michael nodded, looking down at a white form on a clipboard. He really didn’t know enough about Liza to fill in much, but he at least wrote down her first name.
“I can do that.”
Michael looked up from the clipboard to find Liza sitting up in bed. She held out a hand, and aside from blinking a little more than natural, almost like she was waking up from a sleeping state, she appeared relatively fine.
“I think you should rest and wait for the doctor, sweetheart.”
She gave him a stern look and again gestured to the clipboard. “You don’t even know me, so I highly doubt you can fill that out.”
He stared at her for a moment, amazed that she suddenly seemed almost totally lucid. Actually more than lucid; completely in control like she was back at her job, rather than in a hospital bed.
He handed her the board.
She pulled the pen out from under the clip and started to fill in the paperwork.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked, almost hesitantly. She looked a hundred times better, but how could that be?
“I told you I’d be fine,” she said, her voice clipped almost as if she was annoyed with him.
Before he could say anything else, the doctor pushed back the curtain, rushing into the small cubicle, clearly expecting to find a patient in serious distress. She immediately halted as soon as she saw Liza sitting up in bed, filling out her own forms.
“I’m sorry.” The doctor frowned. “I think I must have the wrong cubicle.” She double-checked the chart the nurse had filled out earlier. “Are you Liza McLane?”
 
Liza looked up from the form she did not want to be filling out, seeing this as her opportunity to get out of there, but that hope was quickly dashed when she realized her would-be rescuer was bound to correct her if she tried to deny being Liza McLane. “Yes, I am, but I think we’ve just had a small misunderstanding. Nothing major is wrong with me. I was just experiencing a little light-headedness, but now I feel—”
But the man, the mailroom clerk and hunk, interrupted, “She took at least twenty allergy pills.”
She just knew he wasn’t going to let her get out of here. Not easily anyway.
The doctor looked from Liza to the man, then back to her.
“You look surprisingly alert for someone who took that many pills.”
Liza smiled, giving both the doctor and the man an indulgent look. “I’m sorry. I fear he misunderstood. I said I took too many allergy pills. I took four, which I know is too many, but honestly my allergies are just making me crazy.” She rubbed her nose for good measure. “I knew it was too much and it did make me a little loopy. And my friend here overreacted. Believe me, nothing like this will ever happen again.”
That much was true. She knew better than to medicate her demon at work. She’d just been so tired of Boris and his constant running commentary. And it had been the end of the day. She’d intended to take the pills, go back to her office, wait out the side effects, and enjoy a quiet evening at home.
But here she was in the hospital. What a waste of her quiet time.
She forced another smile at the doctor, trying to ignore the baffled expression of the man beside her.
The doctor looked at the chart in her hands again. “What did you take?”
“Just Benadryl.”
The doctor nodded as if that confirmed what she had written down there.
“And you say you only took four?” she asked, looking up from the chart.
Crap, she wasn’t buying Liza’s explanation either, but Liza nodded.
“Well, the nurse recorded here that your blood pressure and pulse were very highly elevated. Both of which would be a symptom of antihistamine overdose.”
“Maybe I should stop taking them then,” Liza said, trying to sound duly concerned. “Wouldn’t that be something if I was allergic to allergy medicine?” She forced a laugh.
The doctor nodded. “That is actually a possibility. And I would definitely recommend not taking this type any longer. I would also recommend we do some blood work as well. Just to see exactly how high the levels of the drug are in your system.”
No. No, Liza couldn’t risk that. She had no idea how the high dosage of allergy medicine would appear in her bloodstream. All she knew was that high doses knocked out the damned demon possessing her, and aside from a few minutes of wooziness and confusion herself, she always felt fine. And she had a blessed six to eight hours of peace.
She couldn’t risk that the antihistamine would show up as an unusually high dose. If the doctor thought she really had tried to kill herself, she’d be admitted, and that she absolutely couldn’t risk. She dared to drug the demon, but she sure as hell didn’t dare to miss work. Finola White would really make her pay then.
Liza shook her head. “I don’t want to do that.”
From behind the doctor, the man looked like he was going to argue, but when Liza shot him a warning look, he remained silent.
“Well, you do seem fine now,” the doctor admitted. “I am worried about how high your blood pressure and heart rate are, and I’d like to see them lowered before you discharge yourself. But again I can’t make you stay. Only recommend it. I will, however, give you a list of allergy meds that won’t affect your blood pressure.”
Liza pretended to listen as the doctor discussed further reasons why maybe she’d had such an adverse reaction to the Benadryl and other ways to combat severe allergies. Mostly her attention was on her rescuer, who listened with his arms folded across his massive chest and an expression of disbelief on his handsome face.
He knew what he’d seen, and he didn’t understand what was happening now. Liza understood that, and even felt a twinge of guilt. After all, he’d only been trying to help her. But she needed to stick to her story. She’d only taken a double dose, despite what he thought he’d seen.
Finally the doctor finished her exam, still concerned that Liza’s heart rate was elevated, but since Liza wouldn’t agree to any further treatment, and the physician clearly needed the bed in this busy ER, she had little recourse but to let Liza leave.
“I would feel better, at the very least, knowing you have someone to stay with you tonight.” The doctor looked at her rescuer.
He nodded. “I will stay with her.”
Liza appreciated the man’s lie. At least that would help get her out of here. Finally.
Liza sighed as she stepped outside the hospital, breathing in the cool spring air. That had been close. And she still had her would-be savior to deal with.
He walked beside her, not saying anything, but she could feel his gaze on her. He had to be completely confused and she did feel bad about that.
“I’m sorry for getting you caught up in this mess,” she said.
He shrugged. “I was just concerned.”
His comment made her chest tighten and fill with an unfamiliar warmth. He had been concerned and he’d done something she hadn’t seen in a long time. He’d gone out of his way to help another person.
How could she not admire that? And appreciate it? Suddenly she felt ashamed for not being more grateful. He’d been doing the right thing, and that was so nice to see.
“I’m Liza McLane,” she said, not immediately offering him her hand, out of habit. But then she remembered old Boris was knocked out and she reached toward him.
He accepted her hand, his own huge and roughened and warm, encompassing hers wholly.
“Michael Archer.”
His gaze roamed her face, suspicion still clear in his eyes. She supposed she didn’t blame him.
“Nice to meet you, Michael. Sorry it was in such a strange way.”
He nodded, his expression stating that he found the circumstances very weird indeed.
“I have never had that happen before,” she said, giving him what she hoped was a believably baffled shrug. “I guess I will have to try some of the other allergy medications the doctor suggested.”
He nodded again, his expression still skeptical.
“Thanks for getting me there and staying with me,” she added, not sure how to bring this situation to an end. Especially before he started to ask the questions she could see he wanted to ask.
“Well, I guess I should head home and get some rest,” she said, looking around, realizing she wasn’t totally sure where she was. But she wasn’t going to admit that fact. That would reveal that she had truly been totally out of it when he’d brought her here. Fortunately it only took her a moment to get her bearings, and she was pleased to see she was just a few blocks from her apartment.
She gestured in the direction she needed to go. “I live right up this way. So I can walk.” She started to step away from him, but Michael’s hand on her upper arm stopped her.
BOOK: Devilishly Sexy
4.98Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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