Monroe, Marla - Their Broken Lady (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

MARLA MONROE

Copyright © 2012

Chapter One

Saturday afternoon Amber stepped out to cross the street when it was free of cars. She had just gotten to the middle when a car came careening down the road heading straight for her. She ran for the other side, but twisted her ankle when her heel broke. She hit the pavement hard. She braced herself for being run over by the car, but out of nowhere, someone grabbed her and dragged her out of the street. They both ended up against the curb as the car sideswiped the car next to them and kept going.

“Fuck! Are you okay?” a man’s voice asked.

She blinked her eyes trying to make sense of what had just happened. She’d had the light to cross and there had been no traffic when she looked.

“Lady, look at me. Are you okay?”

“Y–yes. I twisted my ankle, though. Damn high-heeled shoes.”

The man immediately began checking her over.

“Move out of the way. Let me through.” Another man that looked enough like the first one to be his brother pushed his way through the crowd of onlookers. “Bryan, man, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but she’s hurt,” Bryan said.

“Let’s look her over. Did anyone call the police?” he asked, looking around.

“I did,” a man said, raising his hand.

“Good. Let’s see how bad it is.” He began checking her out.

“Hey, look. I’m okay. I just twisted my ankle.” She tried to get up, but Bryan, the first man, held her down.

“My brother is a doctor. Let him check you out. You’ve got skinned knees as well as that twisted ankle.”

“Name’s Tanner Jordan,” the second man said as he checked her ankle.

“I’m Amber. I really appreciate you both, but I’m okay.”

“Did you recognize that car?” Bryan asked.

“Huh? Why would I know that car?” she asked.

“Because whoever was driving it was obviously after you. He pulled out when you started across the road and headed straight for you.” Bryan took a cloth from someone and began to clean her knees.

Amber winced, but refrained from saying anything about the pain.

“Surely he was just some drunk driver. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to run me over.”

“You can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like you?” Tanner asked.

“Not enough to want to hit me with a car.”

A police car pulled up alongside the damaged car. The officer got out, adjusting his utility belt as he did. Amber hated getting the police involved. She had dealt with enough of them in the past.

“Hey there, Tanner, Bryan. What are you two doing here?” Officer McKenny asked.

Amber knew him from the night she had called in a possible burglar at her house. She had just gone to bed when someone began jimmying her bedroom window. She had shouted that she was calling the police, and then did. The would-be intruder had left by the time the policeman showed up. He had left behind a footprint below her window, though. And there had been obvious signs of tampering around the window.

“Helping this little lady. Someone wanted to hurt her enough to try and run her down.” Bryan stood up and shook the other man’s hand.

“Ms. Reynolds. Interesting meeting you again,” he said, squatting next to her. “Are you hurt?”

“Just my ankle, really. I’m fine. I think the whole incident was just some drunk driver.”

“Let me be the judge of that. Tell me what happened.”

Amber repeated the entire thing to him. Then he got Bryan’s viewpoint, along with several other people’s reports as well. By then, Tanner and Bryan had helped her up to sit on the curb. She found to her dismay that she couldn’t put any weight on her ankle.

“It’s badly sprained,” Tanner said. “Plus you’ve got scraped knees, hands, and a bruise on your left elbow that worries me.”

“What do I do about my ankle?” she asked.

“You go to the hospital and have it x-rayed to be sure there isn’t something broken in there. I can only make suppositions at this point. You need an X-ray on it and your elbow.”

“Really, is that necessary?” Amber asked. She didn’t want to go to the hospital. She hated them.

“Yes, it really is,” Tanner said with a wry smile.

“Ma’am, do I need to call an ambulance for you?” Officer McKenny asked.

“No, thanks. I can drive myself.”

“I don’t think so,” Bryan said. “That’s your right ankle. You aren’t going to be able to put any pressure on it.”

Tanner spoke up. “We’ll take you. Our truck is right around the corner.”

“Oh, I appreciate it, but it’s okay. I’ll manage.” Amber didn’t want to put anyone out.

“Nonsense. You can’t drive, and you don’t want to go by ambulance. We’ll take you.” He turned to Bryan. “Go get the truck.”

“Got you.” Bryan jogged off.

“I hate causing all this trouble,” she fussed, wringing her hands.

“You didn’t cause anything. The idiot who nearly hit you did it.”

Amber resigned herself to going to the hospital with the two men. She didn’t know them, but the officer appeared to. She hoped she didn’t have a broken bone. That would cause problems with her job. She had time off available, but hated to take it. She didn’t like being off work.

She worked as a teller at one of the banks in town. She could sit on a stool to work, but if it was broken and she had to be on crutches for any length of time, it could interfere with her work. She sighed as she waited for Bryan to bring their truck over.

Seconds later, a large black truck pulled up to the curb. Bryan jumped out and ran around to the passenger side to open the front door. Tanner unceremoniously picked her up before she could say anything, and settled her in the truck. He fastened her seat belt, then he and Bryan climbed in on either side of her.

She tried to make herself as small as possible so as not to touch them, but that was nearly impossible. They were both big men.

Bryan had light-brown hair that reached his collar, while Tanner’s dark-brown hair was cut short. Both men had the same hazel eyes that had more green than brown in them. Bryan appeared to be around six feet two inches, and Tanner an inch or two taller. Bryan looked like he worked hard, with bulging muscles in his arms and across his massive chest. Tanner looked as if he hit the gym regularly with broad shoulders and smaller muscles that hinted at strength but didn’t scream body builder. Both men had small waists and squeezable asses.

Amber realized she was looking at them as if she were interested. She wasn’t. In fact, she wasn’t interested in any man. She’d had her fill of them to last her a lifetime. She had come to the conclusion that she wasn’t a great judge of character, so she would steer clear of them for now. At thirty, she had been in several relationships that had ended badly. She wasn’t going to put herself through another one.

“How’s your ankle feeling?” Tanner asked.

“It throbs a little,” she said.

“They will give you something for pain once you get there,” Tanner said.

“How long have you lived in Blue Springs? I’ve never seen you around,” Bryan said.

“Only a little over a year.” She didn’t offer any more information.

Bryan continued to ask questions, though. “Where do you work?”

“First National Bank.”

“We don’t use them, so that’s why we haven’t seen you around,” Tanner said.

“I don’t see a ring on your finger, but are you married? Is there anyone you need to call?” Bryan continued to pry information out of her.

“Um, no. I’m not married.” She left it at that.

Either Bryan got the hint she didn’t want to talk about herself, or he ran out of questions. Either way, they pulled into the entrance of the hospital emergency room about that time. Tanner got out and unbuckled her seat belt before pulling her out and carrying her over to where a nurse stood ready with a wheelchair.

Tanner walked beside her as the nurse pushed her into the emergency room and straight to a room.

“Hi, Dr. Tanner. How are you doing?”

“Doing fine, Joyce. How are the kids?”

“Rough and wild as always. Do you need help getting on the table?” she asked Amber.

“I can manage, thanks,” she said.

“I’ll help her up,” Tanner added.

“Dr. Quincy will be with you in a few minutes.” The nurse left the room.

“Okay, let’s get you up on the table.” He helped her stand then once again picked her up and settled her on the exam bed.

“You don’t have to keep picking me up. I can hop and stand just fine.” She wasn’t sure why she was being so waspish. Maybe because she didn’t want his help.

“Easier for me to pick you up then for you to hop.” He didn’t seem to take offense by her attitude.

Amber sighed and resigned herself to having to deal with him for the time being. Once they dropped her off at her house, she would be rid of them for good. She doubted she would ever run into them again.

There was a quick knock on the door, and an older man of about fifty with graying hair at the temples walked in.

“Well hi, Tanner. What are you doing here?”

“Brought you a patient. She nearly got run over uptown today. Twisted her ankle pretty good.”

“X-ray?”

“Yeah, that and her elbow to be safe. She’s got a spreading bruise there, and decreased range of motion.”

“We can certainly do that.”

Amber was getting a little perturbed that they were talking around her when she was the patient. She was about to say as much when the older doctor turned to her.

“Let’s take a look at your ankle, young lady.” He probed around it and moved it making her wince and hiss out a breath. “Yep, definitely an X-ray.”

He moved to her elbow and examined it, earning him an
ouch
this time. He nodded and checked her hands and knees where they were skinned up.

“Nasty fall there. Okay, we’ll get some pictures and clean up those cuts and scratches so they don’t get infected. I’ll talk with you again once I’ve had a chance to study the films,” he said, and patted her shoulder.

“Thanks.”

He nodded and turned to Tanner once again. “Haven’t seen you or Bryan at the country club lately.”

“We’ve been busy at the ranch. Lost one of our hands and haven’t replaced him yet.”

“You be careful fooling with those horses. Break your fool neck.”

“I hear you.”

“Talk to you in a little while.” The other doctor walked out the door, carrying her paperwork with him.

“Okay, they’ll take you to radiology for your X-rays. Then the nurse will come in and clean you up.”

“Thanks for all your help. I know I wasn’t the nicest patient, but I can really take care of myself now. You don’t have to wait around.”

Before he could say anything, an orderly walked in with another wheelchair to take her to get her films. Tanner once again picked her up and set her in the chair. She sighed and didn’t say anything. It obviously wasn’t going to do any good. The man didn’t listen. They never did.