Tangled Hearts (Passion in Paradise) (18 page)

“N-no,” Melody denied
breathlessly, her voice thin.  “I’m g-good exactly where I am…where
we
are.”

Stroking his thumb
against the side of her neck, Cal grinned against her temple.  “See, that’s
what I thought you’d say.  I’m glad we can agree.”

Placing a hand against
his solid chest, Melody shoved lightly.  “Enough.  You got your way.  Again.  I
won’t ‘test’ you,” she said, deepening her voice and making air quotes with her
fingers as she mocked him.  “Just open your gift, hotshot,” she ordered,
nodding toward the wrapped box still in the hand not wrapped around the side of
her neck.

Pecking her on the lips
before he released her, Cal chuckled.  “Persistent little thing, aren’t you?”
he playfully grumbled as he tore the paper off his present. 

Melody shrugged.  “I’ve
been called worse things,” she replied easily as he tossed away the gift wrap
and cracked open the black box.  Watching as he pulled out the contents, she
breathed a sigh of relief when she watched his smile grow.  He liked it, she
mentally cheered.

“Tickets to the
reenactment of The Battle of Stones Creek?  Really?” he asked, looking up at
her in surprise. 

Melody nodded.  “It
runs through the third of January so you should have plenty of time.  The map I
looked at said Stone Creek was not too far from Nashville.  You and whoever you
take as a guest will probably…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! 
Timeout, lady.  Flag on the play,” Cal interrupted, lifting his hand to form
the sign for a timeout. “What do you mean me and a guest, Princess?  YOU’RE the
only person I’d wanna go with so don’t even try that guest bullshit.”

“Well, I didn’t wanna
assume…” Melody’s said, her words trailing off.

“Well,
I
want
you to assume.  Assume away, dammit!” Cal growled.  “We’ll go next week.  Plan
for an overnight stay in Music City,” he instructed firmly.

Melody bit her lip to
keep from grinning.  Yes, Cal could be a high-handed SOB, but she was quickly
realizing that he was
her
high-handed SOB. 

“We clear?” Cal asked
with a hard look.

“Clear,” Melody agreed
huskily a second before Cal’s leaned toward her again, touching his mouth to
hers.

“Thank you, baby,” he
murmured appreciatively against her mouth.  “Best Christmas
ever
,” he
declared, resting his forehead against hers before stealing a long kiss from
her lips before she could avoid it.

Humming into his mouth,
Melody didn’t even bother trying to fight the attraction she felt to him.  It
was too late for that.  Heck, it had been too late for her that day in the
parking lot when he’d wrestled her tire iron out of her hand, dropped to his
knees and changed her tire.  She’d just been too stubborn to admit it. 

“We’re going to go next
week, okay?” he repeated again against her damp lips.  “You, me… a nice hotel
room in Nashville… tell me that’s not something you want as much as me,
Princess?” his voice rumbled against her mouth.

Not entirely ready to
trust him with her heart since she’d had it hurt before, she forced herself to
shrug.  “Maybe,” she offered, playfully nipping his lip.  “We’ll just have to
wait and see,” she added, nervously reaching for one of the holiday cookies
she’d unwrapped earlier from Brad’s parents and popping it in her mouth. 
Neither she nor Cal had been thrilled to see that Brad’s parents had sent her a
holiday gift, but she wasn’t going to waste the scrumptious gourmet cookies. 
His parents might be pretentious, but they still had excellent taste, she
thought to herself as she chewed another butter cookie.  Hell, the gift had
probably been her ex’s idea of a peace offering.  He must have known she’d
never accept a present from him and forced his parents to do his dirty work.  

“Open yours, baby,” Cal
reminded her huskily, nodding toward the gift she still held.  Hurriedly
chewing the remainder of the cookie, she nodded, her fingers already sliding
beneath the tape, tearing the bright blue snowflake print paper.  Finally
unearthing a black velvet box, Melody’s eyes widened on it and lifted to look
at Cal with alarm.  “Cal, what is th-…”

Shaking his head, Cal
ordered, “Just lift the lid, Princess, and take a look.”

Nervously pressing the
tip of her tongue to the roof of her mouth while her throat did funny things,
she cracked the lid on the box and gasped, short of breath.  “Cal!”  she
breathed as her eyes stayed glued to the gorgeous charm bracelet nestled inside
the box.

“Well, don’t just stare
at it, sweetness.  Take it out and look at it,” he invited her with an amused
chuckle.

Lifting the piece of
jewelry gingerly, she stared at it and tried to swallow, frowning slightly when
she found it difficult to do so.  Cal had chosen her the perfect piece,
including charms that pulled at her heartstrings. 

“I tried to pick charms
that I thought would speak to you,” he offered quietly, watching her face. 
“Did I do okay?”

Moving her eyes from
the musical note that she knew represented her late parents to the yellow
ribbon that she knew was for her brother, she nodded wordlessly, her eyes still
moving over the other pieces.  There was a ball of yarn and a pair of knitting
needles that she knew he’d chosen for her granny, an open book that represented
her coming store, and a pair of entwined hearts that she instinctively
understood symbolized their new relationship.  “It’s boo-ti-full,” she tried to
say, frowning when she heard her garbled voice.  Suddenly, her tongue felt
thick and swollen inside her mouth as her throat tightened even more. 

“Melody?” Cal asked,
his faded blue eyes darkening with concern.  “What’s going on, Princess?” he
asked as she gasped and lifted a hand to grip her throat.

Her eyes dilated as it
quickly clicked in Melody’s mind what was happening to her.  Dropping the jewelry
box as she wheezed, her scared eyes darted toward the tin of cookies she’d been
eating earlier.  Oh, God, she thought, growing more terrified as she gripped
her neck with her other hand and struggled to pull in a breath.  Those stupid
cookies had peanuts in them!  “A-allerrtic, Callll,” she managed to rattle past
her thickened tongue.  “Nuts.”

“Nuts?” he repeated,
confused.  Blinking slowly, Melody watched as comprehension dawned on him. 
“Nuts!” he repeated again.  “You’re allergic to nuts!”

Melody nodded
frantically.  “Need sot,” she panted while she stared at him with terrified
eyes.

“Sot?” Cal growled,
coming to his knees as he reached for her.  “You need a fuckin’ ER, Melody!” he
continued, his usually calm voice declared in panic.

“Sot first!  Peaze!,”
she begged, wheezing heavily and gripping his arm tightly when he would have
picked her up off the floor and rushed her to his truck.

“What the fuck do sot
and peas have to do with anything?” he yelled frantically, bending his head to
stare at her now puffy face.

Oh, good God, she
thought, as it became harder to breathe.  This was like a bad rendition of “Who’s
on First.”  She could tell by his wild eyes that he wasn’t sure what was
happening to her.  “Sot!  Sot!” she rasped, slapping his arm with one hand as
she mimicked giving herself a shot in her thigh with the other.

“Shot!” he shouted,
finally understanding her bad mime impression.  “Where, baby?  Where is it?” he
questioned sharply, his eyes darting around the room.

“In ma puss,” she
answered tiredly, clawing at her throat.

“Your puss?” he echoed,
shaking his head wildly.  “Babe, I’m needing help here.  Say it again.”

Melody couldn’t help
it.  She slapped him on the side of the head.  “MY PUSS, ya thuckin’ idit!” she
hoarsely screamed, pointing at her purse on the coffee table.

“Your purse!  Why the
fuck didn’t you just say that?” He growled loudly, finally understanding what
she was trying to convey as he dove toward her pocketbook.  Jerking it to him
as soon as he had it in his hand, he turned it upside down and emptied it on
the floor beside them.  Quickly locating the epi pen that she carried for
emergencies amid the load of crap she’d been packing around with her, he
plucked the syringe from the clutter on the carpet and ripped off the plastic
lid, jamming the needle into her thigh and depressing the plunger in one smooth
movement.

Melody gasped as she
felt the life-saving epinephrine hit her system and almost instantly, she began
to feel better.  “Cal,” she rasped as his strong arms slipped around her, one
under her knees and the other behind her lower back.

“We’re goin’ to the
hospital,” Cal pronounced, his arms going tight and rigid as he lifted her
against him.  “Fuck!” he cursed, his lips against her temple as he carried her
out the front door to his truck.  “I almost lost you!  I almost fuckin’ lost
you to a fuckin’ cookie!” he continued to rant as he settled her in the seat
and fastened the seatbelt around her waist.

She wanted to comfort
him, but the tremors that the epinephrine caused had started, causing her to
quake against the seat.   She knew it was a side effect of the medication, but
she also knew from the look in Cal’s frightened eyes that he didn’t.   “C-cal,”
she tried to reassure him through chattering teeth.

Cal shook his head
quickly, pressing his lips to her forehead.  “You just hang on, baby.  We’re
gonna get you some help,” he assured her before pulling back and slamming the
car door. 

Despite the harsh
tremors wracking her body, her eyelids fluttered as bone deep exhaustion tugged
at her, threatening to drag her under.  Aware of him climbing into the vehicle
next to her, she forced her head to turn in his direction, focusing on his
hard, unyielding profile.  “I-it’ll b-b-be okay, C-cal,” she chattered, the
words taking all her energy as her eyes fell closed before she could hear his
reply.

“Wake. Her. Up. Now,”
Callum Valentine insisted through his clenched teeth as his dark gaze went once
again to the now still woman lying in the hospital bed in one of the tiny
cubicles of Paradise County Hospital’s emergency room.  He’d thought the
shaking had scared the shit out of him, but the fear this sudden stillness
produced was threatening to claw its way up his throat.  Fuck, if anything
happened to her… he’d never recover.  

“Mr. Valentine…”

“Thought I told you to
call me Cal,” he growled, barely sparing the white-coated doctor a glance as he
kept his stare focused on Melody.

Dr. Cain Turner nodded
and offered the other man a slight smile.  Cal had called Zeke on the way to
the hospital and since Zeke had been eating Christmas dinner with Cain and the
rest of the McKinnon brood, Zeke had explained what was happening.  Cain had then
volunteered to go with Zeke to the hospital and check on Melody.  Zeke was
waiting in the hall to talk to Cal.  “You did.  Professional courtesy is a
habit for me though.  At any rate,
Cal
, she’s going to be fine.  Sleep
is the body’s natural cure for trauma.  Melody’s body took a hell of a hit this
afternoon.  Her peanut allergy caused her airway to close, requiring you to
administer a heavy dose of epinephrine to her system.  The drug opens her lungs
back up, but it also causes heavy tremors in the body.  Quaking like that
requires a huge dose of energy.   Now, her energy levels are depleted and she’s
working on restoring them through sleep.  Zeke and my brother mentioned that
you were an army man, right?”

“Your brother?” Cal
asked, lifting an eyebrow as he forced himself to look at the doctor.

“Abel Turner. 
Patience’s husband.”

“Oh, yeah,” he nodded. 
Zeke mentioned that Abel had a twin,” he recalled, his eyes going back to
Melody when she shifted in her sleep on the bed.

“Yeah, I’m the prettier
one,” Cain stated wryly, gesturing at his scarred face.  “I was Army, too. 
It’s how  I came by these pretty scars.  At any rate, being Army, you’ve seen
the same thing Melody is doing when you’ve seen guys after an adrenaline rush. 
What do they always do, Cal?”

“Crash,” Cal replied
hoarsely, reaching a hand out to smooth the hair off Melody’s forehead.  “They
crash.”

“Exactly,” Cain
returned with a nod.  “This is Melody crashing.  She’ll feel much better when
she awakes.  Thanks to your quick actions, she’ll recover fine.  I’ve seen some
allergic reactions go a lot worse.  I’m surprised, though.  Usually patients
with food allergies are very careful.  Especially during the holidays.”

“She ate some cookies
that were a gift; knowing Melody, she assumed they were safe.”

“Who were the cookies
from?” Cain asked curiously.

“Her ex’s parents,” Cal
replied through barely moving lips as he felt a surge of rage. 

“You think it was on
purpose?” Cain questioned, looking from his patient to the man standing protectively
at her bedside.

“Dunno.  Gonna find out
though; I can promise you that.  Just need her to open her pretty eyes for me
first,” Cal growled, continuing to gently stroke the back of his fingers
against Melody’s hair. 

“Maybe you ought to let
me handle that little chat you wanna have with your girl’s would-be in-laws,” a
deep voice suggested from the doorway.  “Can’t imagine that conversation will
go very well if you have it with them.  Coulda been a complete accident, Cal.”

“He’s right,” Cain drawled,
dropping his hands in the pockets of his white doctor’s coat.

Both men turned to look
at the Sheriff who was leaning against the doorway as if there was no place
else he should be.  Cal’s eyes narrowed on Zeke Monroe.  “I know I’m new around
these parts, but both you boys are involved with McKinnon women, isn’t that
right?” he asked, waiting as both men nodded.  “So, if this had happened to
your Faith,” he said to Cain before his gaze went to the Sheriff, “or if Honor
was the one laid up in this bed, would either of you still be saying that?”

Both men were saved
from having to answer because Melody took that moment to stir, her eyes
fluttering as she groaned low in her throat before finally opening her dark
brown eyes.  “Ahhhh,” she moaned, wincing as the bright overhead light hit her
eyes, blinding her for a moment.  “What the hell?” she muttered, throwing a
hand over her face to shield her eyes. 

“Princess?” Cal said
worriedly, leaning over her body and blocking out the light.  “Baby, say
something,” he demanded with one arm on either side of her.

Grimacing as she tried
to move in the bed again, Melody shook her head.  “I don’t remember asking
Santa for either a hospital or a hangover.  How the hell did I end up with
both
?  
And why the heck is every muscle in my body so freaking sore?” she asked,
offering him a wobbly smile.

All three men chuckled
at her statement, but it was Cain who spoke first as he moved to Cal’s side. 
“Melody, I don’t know if you remember me or not.  I’m Dr. Cain Turner.  We went
to church together a long time ago and I’m married to…”

“Faith.  You married
Faith McKinnon.  I remember you, Cain,” Melody supplied hoarsely, her voice
scratchy.  “Can I have some water?” she asked, looking longingly at the carafe
of water on the rolling table on the other side of her bed.

Cal looked askance at
Cain.  Seeing the younger man’s nod, he reached out to pour Melody a half cup
of water before bringing it to her lips.  “Slowly, babe,” he cautioned her as
she reached greedily for the cup.

Cain waited until Melody
had drunk her fill before speaking again.  “That’s right, Melody.  I did marry
Faith.”

Frowning at him, Melody
blinked.  “It’s Christmas.  Why aren’t you with her and your new baby?” she
asked, belatedly spotting the Sheriff standing by the door.  “And why is the
Sheriff here?”  she asked with a look up at Cal.

“I called Zeke; Zeke
told Cain since he was there, too, celebrating Christmas.  Together, they both
showed here at the hospital.”

“Why in the world would
you call the Sheriff?” Melody asked incredulously.

“Because, I’m gonna
need somebody I trust to stay with you while I go find that asshat you were
engaged to and his parents and have a little talk with them about nearly
killing you.”

“Huh?” Melody grunted,
squinting at the obviously agitated man she shared a house with.

“You had an allergic
reaction to the nuts you ate, Melody.  Cal, here, explained that the source of
those nuts were the cookies you received from your ex-fiance’s parents.  Did
they know that you were severely allergic to peanuts and all its derivatives?”
the Sheriff asked her gravely.

“Well,” Melody said,
hesitating as she shot Cal a worried look. 

“No bullshit here,
Princess.  Did those assholes know that peanuts were poison to you or not,” Cal
asked impatiently, his deep voice gruff.

“I’m sure this is all
just an unfortunate misunderstanding,” Melody began consolingly.

“That’s a yes,” Cal
spat, his big body stiffening as his eyes flashed at the Sheriff.  When he
found that spineless little rat, he was gonna rip his spinal cord out through
his throat. “I’m gonna beat that fucker’s ass because you can bet Brad is
behind this shit.”

“Cal, no,” Melody
denied, catching his hand in hers.  “No violence.  I’m sure this was just an
accident.  Brad doesn’t want to hurt me.  If anything, he wants me back.”

“Yeah, and he needs to
understand that isn’t gonna happen, either,” Cal retorted, lacing his fingers
through hers and squeezing.  It’d be over his dead body that Brad weaseled his
way back into her life.  Fuck that noise.  “Whether this shit was intentional
or not, it’s time I had a word with Brad and his family and let them know that
the more distance between you all, the better off they’ll be.”

Melody shook her head. 
“That’s the problem, Cal.  I can’t trust you to use your
words.
  I’m too
afraid that you’ll enjoy talking more with your
fists
.”

“The woman makes a
convincing argument,” the Sheriff lazily replied, his dark eyes meeting Cal’s. 
“Let us handle this.”

Melody continued to
shake her head.  “I am so sorry that Cal bothered you, Sheriff.  It certainly
wasn’t necessary.  As you can see, I’m fine.  You can both return to your
family.  I’m sure Faith and Honor are missing you both.”

“Faith might be
lonesome for me, but Honor is another story altogether.  I’m pretty sure if she
could have gotten away with sprinkling rat poison over Zeke’s helping of the
Christmas ham, she would have,” Cain returned with a grin and a wink.

 “Oh, shut up,” Zeke
muttered, glaring at Cain before turning his attention back to Melody.  
“Listen, Melody, we need to get to the bottom of this cookie dilemma.  Do you
believe that your former fiancé or any of his family would purposefully try to
hurt you?”

“No!” Melody returned
forcefully.

“Absolutely,” Cal
declared soundly at the same moment.

“Brad’s parents adored
me, Cal.  It’s one of the reasons that Brad is so focused on getting me back;
he doesn’t want to disappoint them.  They wouldn’t have tried to kill me with a
freakin’ cookie.”

“Why not?  It’s almost
the perfect crime.  They get pissed that you dumped their Golden Boy, so they send
you a benign-looking cookie that contained just enough ground peanuts so that
you’ll have a fatal reaction to it before anybody can save you.  Well, fuck
that,” he clipped, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at her.  “Not
on my watch.”  His jaw hardened as she rolled her eyes.  It was beyond him why
she wasn’t taking this whole thing more seriously.  Did she not understand how
close she’d come to dying?  Because he sure as shit did!  He wanted to tear the
place apart every time he looked into her pale face.

Melody ignored him, her
eyes going to Cain.  “Can I get out of here?  I feel much better.”

Cain nodded.  “You
shouldn’t experience any lasting effects.  The soreness will probably linger
for a couple of days since you had some pretty hardcore tremors from the epi,
but otherwise, you look good.  Just be careful of what you eat from here on
out, okay?”

Melody nodded readily. 
“Absolutely.”

Cain grinned.  “I’ll
send the nurse in with your dismissal paperwork.  Take care of yourself, Mel.”

“I will,” Melody
agreed.  “Tell Faith and the rest of the girls that I said hello and merry
Christmas.”

“Will do.  Merry
Christmas,” Cain returned, thumping Zeke on the arm as he walked past him and
out of the cubicle.

Cal breathed a sigh of
relief as he stared at Melody.  She was still looking a little wan, but other
than that, she seemed okay.  “You scared the shit out of me, woman.  Don’t do
that again,” he ordered sternly even as he leaned over and placed a tender kiss
in the center of her forehead.

“I didn’t plan on doing
anything this time,” Melody grumbled as Zeke cleared his throat again. 
“Sheriff…”

“Call me Zeke, Melody,”
the other man directed as he moved to stand at the foot of her bed. 

“Yes, okay.  Zeke,
then.  You can go.  I am so sorry that Cal interrupted your meal…”

“I’m not; if this had
gone badly, this guy mighta been the only thing standing between me and a
murder charge,” Cal said honestly, squeezing Melody’s hand.  “Babe, seriously,
when we got here, those tremors were so strong that they looked like
convulsions.  If I’d lost you…”

“You didn’t,” Melody
quickly interjected.  “I’m sitting right here, and I’m going home in a few
minutes.”

“I still need to make a
trip over to Knoxville, Melody.  Babe, I can’t let this stand.  This afternoon
could have had a completely different outcome if you’d been by yourself or if
you hadn’t made me understand what was happening.  If Brad’s parents or Brad
himself planned this…”

“They didn’t, Cal,”
Melody persisted.  “Honestly, I know Brad’s been a bit of a…”

“Dick?  Asshole? 
Fucktard?” Cal supplied helpfully as he grinned down at Melody’s thunderous
face.

“I was going to say he
was a pain, but those other words work, too.  Regardless, he wouldn’t try to
physically hurt me, and neither would his parents.”

“I want to hear that
from them,” Cal scoffed, shaking his head. 

“And what makes you
such an expert on people’s motivations, huh?” Melody returned huffily.

“I’m a pretty good
judge of character.   I fell for you, didn’t I?” Cal countered smoothly,
enjoying the blush that crept over Melody’s face as Zeke chuckled.

“If you’ve got your
heart set on visiting Brad’s parents, I’m coming, too.  They’re elderly, Cal. 
I won’t let you bully them.”  Seeing him open his mouth to argue, Melody threw
up a hand.  “Nuh uh.  I can rest on the drive up there, but I’m going.”

“I don’t bully,” Cal
defended himself grouchily.  “I’m just real serious about getting to the
truth.”