Protecting Rose (27 page)

“Sounds good.”

Nate sobered. “Can you tell me what happened?” He traced his finger over a bruise on her arm where the ape had injected her with the drug.

Just that quickly her smile fell away. She told him how they had come into the farmhouse and found her under the bed. How she’d thought him dead after seeing his bloodied body lying on the ground, just before they threw her in the trunk.

He grew tense as he ran his thumb lightly along the rope burn at her wrist. “I’m sorry. So sorry you had to go through that again.” A muscle tightened at his jaw.

She closed her eyes and tried to push away the terrifying memories of being trapped in the trunk again. She never wanted to see the inside of a trunk for as long as she lived.

“It’s all right,” she assured him. “We’re safe now, that’s all that matters.” She smoothed her hand over the tension at his jaw until the muscles relaxed beneath her fingers.

“Nate, I’m so sorry about your parents’ house.” She leaned up to kiss his jaw where her hand had soothed.

“Don’t be.” He captured her hand and kissed it tenderly before placing it over his heart. Rose was comforted by the slow steady beats under her palm.

“It’s just a house,” he said roughly. “It can be rebuilt. You’re what’s important, Rose. You...are irreplaceable.”

Rose snuggled closer, as though she could bury herself into him. She never wanted to let him go. “It’s over now. The important thing is that you came for me. You saved me.”

Nate shook his head and grinned. “No. You saved yourself, sweetheart.”

Rose returned his smile. “How exactly did you find me?”

“After we connected you to Larsen, we went to his house in hopes of finding you. We had just arrived when you came running out of the house as if you were being chased by the devil himself. Someone started shooting, so I grabbed you and Rick and his team secured the building.”

Rose vaguely remembered fighting with someone as she ran from the house. “That was you? I do kinda remember that. But I thought it was one of Larsen’s men.”

Nate chuckled. “Nope, that was me and you put up quite a fight for such a tiny little thing. For a while there, I thought you’d actually busted my nose.” He chuckled. “I think we should just call you Rocky from here on out.”

She snorted. “Rocky, not hardly.” If she’d been Rocky, she would have been able to stop her uncle long ago. “I’m sorry, Nate.” She leaned up and kissed his nose.

“Well, you are one tough little cookie.” He lowered his head to slide his tongue between her parted lips for a long passionate kiss. Lifting his lips from hers, he met her gaze. “Can you tell me what you remember?”

Before she had a chance to answer, a sharp knock sounded on the door and Rick stepped into the room. Rose had to give him credit for reacting with nothing more than one raised brow when he saw Nate in bed with her.

“Rose, glad to see you’re doing better.” His eyes moved to Nate. “Hey, Stone,” he said with an amused grin.

“Hey, Rick. Rose is just about ready to tell me what she remembers.” He glanced back at her. “Is it okay if Rick stays? Say the word, babe, and he’s out of here.”

She reached for Nate’s hand and entwined her fingers with his. “No, that’s all right. He can stay.”

She tensed, and told them how her Uncle Larsen had murdered her parents and used her inheritance money to build his power. He had planned for her to commit suicide before she ever turned twenty-five and the entire estate passed to her. But when she overheard him discussing his plans with Brett, she’d fled, and had been able to stay hidden for over a year.

“How did you survive for an entire year on the run?” Rick asked.

Rose shrugged. “I took some cash when I left, as well as some of my mother’s jewelry, which I was able to hock. I also gave private piano lessons here and there and that helped bring in some extra cash. And the rest you already know.”

She glanced over at Rick. Her stomach clenched. “How’s Sheila?”

Rick’s eyes flashed as he told her about Sheila, although she suspected he glossed over the true extent of her injuries. Rose planned to check on her as soon as she was released from the hospital.

“But she’s going to be all right?” Rose asked.

“Given time, she should be fine,” he assured her.

“Rose,” Nate said through gritted teeth. “What happened at Larsen’s after they took you from the safe house?”

“My uncle wanted me to sign the estate over to him.” Her lips curled. “Then he planned to kill me and make it look like a suicide. He had one of his apes inject me with some kind of drug, intending to hook me on it. Thinking I would become more compliant as my need for the drug took over.”

She shrugged. “I resisted.”

Tension poured off Nate and he cursed. He was angry, although he continued to stroke her hair as his arms tightened around her.

“What about the guy with the fork in his throat?” Rick moved closer to the bed and rested his hand on the back of a chair.

Rose shuddered and her stomach churned when she remembered her part in his death.

“It’s all right. You don’t have to talk about it right now.” Nate’s voice had an edge to it, and she imagined him glaring at Rick over her shoulder as he sheltered her in his arms.

Bile rose up her throat when she remembered shoving the fork into the ape’s neck. She closed her eyes and tried to brace herself against the ugly memory.

“No. It’s okay. I need to tell you everything.” She gave them a shaky smile. “I was able to hide the fork under my mattress and when he came back to give me another injection...”

She cleared her throat, stalled for time. Looked down and allowed her hair to fall forward to shield her eyes. “I stabbed him.”

“Rose,” Nate said. There was a long silence as he waited for her to look at him.

With a sigh, she turned her head and met Nate’s gaze. “Yes.”

“He was a big man, how were you able to overpower him?” His voice was calm, but the fierce beat of his heart against her betrayed him.

“I...I seduced him.” She straightened and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Just enough for him to get close...close enough for me to stab him.”

Nate’s face hardened, and his jaw ticked. Rick tensed, his grip tightened on the chair. Their narrowed eyes bored into her. She gulped, feeling like a fish in a fishbowl.

Nate grasped her chin with a gentle touch and tilted her face toward him. “Did he...hurt you?” He almost choked on the words.

“No. Not much.” Her body trembled when she remembered how he’d shoved her against the wall and ripped at her blouse.

“Not...much.” Nate repeated. Anger rolled off him and vibrated in the air, but he didn’t push her on it. Although she didn’t think that was the last word on the subject.

The door opened and Dr. Anderson walked into the room.

He smiled at them as he reached for her chart. “Hello again.” He gave her a wink. “You know, we really need to stop meeting this way,” he teased, not seeming to notice that Nate was in the hospital bed with her, or just ignoring the fact.

Rose laughed. Some of her tension drained away. Nate was alive. She was alive. Life was good. There were people here who cared about her. She smiled back at the doctor and glanced over at Rick who gave her a warm smile. It had been a long time since anyone truly cared about her. Her emotional wounds began to heal at the knowledge that she was no longer alone.

“You’ve been through quite an ordeal, Rose,” Dr. Anderson said.

“She remembers who she is now,” Nate informed him. Tension still emanated from him and he continued to watch her closely.

Dr. Anderson nodded. “Good, that’s good. So, what should I call you?”

She smiled. “Rose is fine.”

“Okay. You’re going to feel weak for a while, Rose. Your body will go through a slight withdrawal from the drug they gave you. Fortunately, you were only exposed to it for a short period of time. The good news is they were able to locate the needles that were used, and they were clean.” He flipped through her chart. “Besides some new bumps and bruises, you have a clean bill of health.”

“What was the drug?” she asked.

Nate answered before the doctor could speak. “It was a new drug your uncle and some of his pharmaceutical cohorts were working on. Due to its addictive nature, it was denied approval by the FDA for any medicinal purposes.” He grimaced. “They decided to add their own special soup to it with plans to sell it as a recreational street drug. That lab has now been shut down,” he said with satisfaction.

“What about Larsen?” Rose fought to keep her eyes open.

Dr. Anderson checked her monitors. “I think that’s enough for now. Rose needs to get some rest.”

She yawned and her eyelids grew heavy, and she wondered if the doctor had snuck a sedative into her IV. Nate kissed the top of her head.

“Sleep now, babe. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Rose did just that, giving her safety over to Nate. Even the hospital noises failed to keep her awake as her lids grew heavy and her body relaxed. For the first time in over three days, she slept deeply and soundly. And, as he’d promised, every time she woke up Nate was there, holding her hand, sleeping in a chair, waiting to sneak her food, or just crawling into the hospital bed to hold her.

Doctor Anderson released her three days later with orders to rest at home for another week. She frowned as Nate pushed her outside the hospital in the wheelchair. She was perfectly capable of walking and was none too happy about it. Nate just grinned at her display of temper.

When he pulled out of the parking lot, she glanced over at him. “Nate, was my uncle arrested?”

She was impatient. When every time she asked about her uncle, he told her she needed to concentrate on getting better and they’d discuss it later.

He took her hand, bringing it up to his lips for a kiss. “Later, babe. Let’s get you settled in first.”

Now they were home. Well at least they were at Nate’s home on Pewaukee Lake, a cute little two-bedroom house that sat near the edge of the water. From the screened-in porch in the backyard, Rose was offered a scenic view of the lake and the constant parade of boaters out enjoying the warm summer’s day. It was a home built for fun. She eyed the large hot tub in the backyard and the pier that held a boat and jet ski with amusement. She snorted. Definitely a bachelor pad.

Nate plopped down beside her on the couch, wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, Nate.” She snuggled against him. “I’ve told you a million times, I’m perfectly fine.”

His eyes darkened and he leaned down and kissed her for a long moment before pulling back to look into her eyes. He wiggled his brows with a wolfish grin. “You most certainly are both
perfect
and
fine.
”

Rose laughed, happy to be alive and here with Nate. She didn’t want to spoil the moment, but she had to know. “Tell me what happened after I was rescued. Was my uncle arrested?”

His lips thinned. He took a long breath through his nose and let it out again as he looked out over the water. She knew there was something they were keeping from her. Everyone had been tiptoeing around her the past couple days as though she were made of glass. No one had been willing to give her any information and made lame excuses about her fragile condition. Well, she wasn’t feeling fragile anymore and she needed some answers.

By the time she’d finally decided he wasn’t going to answer, he turned back to her with furrowed brows and a frown. Her heart sped up with a nervous foreboding.

“You know your uncle spent a great deal of your inheritance to buy power?”

“Yes, he told me.”

“He squandered a lot of it, babe.” His voice rang with anger, even though he tried to hide it.

Okay,” she said with a shrug.

Nate raised a questioning brow as he studied her for a long moment. “He also managed to withdraw most of what was left of your liquid assets, which we estimate was over five million.”

“So, what you’re saying is that my uncle absconded with all the money?”