To Bedevil A Beauty (Southern Sanctuary - Book 5) (7 page)

“I
know it sounds ridiculous, but there’s no other way to explain it.  That’s
why I’ve started dropping Joanne off and picking her up personally.”

“Sure.” 
Ramsey agreed. Not quite sure how his conversation with Berry had managed to
veer off on such a strange tangent.

Berry
scoffed a laugh but kept on moving.  “Trust me Hotshot, you’d better pray
the cats never come after you.”

“I’ll
be on the lookout.”

“Now
you sound like you’re reassuring the crazy lady.”  Berry stopped abruptly
as she’d finally reached her car, a ten year old blue Volkswagen.  “That’s
me, crazy as a loon. You’d be advised to keep your distance.”  She
awkwardly, still crouched low, fitted her key in the door and opened it.

“Berry.” 
Ramsey’s large warm hand came down to rest on her arm, preventing her from
climbing into the car.  “We really do need to talk.  I have something
I need to tell you.”

“That
sounds ominous.”  More perturbing was what the touch of his hand on her
arm and the closeness of his large frame crouched beside her, emitting too much
heat, was doing to her senses.  Her heart was suddenly beating way too
fast and there were butterflies doing a conga line in her stomach threading
their way to lower places in her body.  Whoa, this was completely
unacceptable. She categorically refused to be attracted to Ramsey Hughes, to
any man.  She was through with men.  She stood up, attempting to
break his hold, trying to create some distance.

Ramsey
rose beside her, trying not to loom – with intent or otherwise.  “Look
this isn’t easy.” 

The
expression on his face suddenly so serious, his eyes suddenly full of… 
Berry couldn’t credit it, but large, capable, professional Ramsey Hughes,
suddenly looked nervous.  She froze, without thinking she gripped his arm
back, the two of them now locked together.

“I
don’t know exactly how to tell you this…”

Looking
into his slate grey eyes Berry’s pathfinder power instantly kicked in, but
instead of dozens or hundreds of options open to Ramsey, there were only a dim
hazy few.  What the… instantly, knowing she had less than a second, Berry
threw herself hard against Ramsey, causing him to stumble back a step.

Ramsey
caught Berry as she unexpectedly stumbled forward, knocking him off
balance.  She cried out, the sound of the bullet loud as she was ripped
out of his arms, spinning away from him, falling, her head hitting the side of
her car with a loud thud as she went down. 

Ramsey,
within a blink of an eye was down on the ground next to her, her head cradled
in his lap, Berry’s blood splattered across his face.
 
Ramsey had his gun out, his upper body
twisting, searching for a target, listening for footsteps.
 
Nothing.

Berry
let out a small groan as she struggled to get up, her eyes blinking rapidly,
her pupils large and unfocused.  Ramsey holstered his gun, restraining
Berry gently with one hand as he grabbed for his walkie talkie and called for
an ambulance and requested back-up.  Once that was done he leaned over
Berry, making soft crooning senseless noises, feeling useless and angry at
himself for dropping his guard as he applied pressure to her wound. 
Berry’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment.

“Stay
with me Berry.  Stay with me.”

Her
eyes opened suddenly and just for a moment her dark, sinful, chocolate coloured
gaze focused on his face, she frowned, a small furrow appearing in the middle
of her forehead.  “I know you from somewhere, don’t I?”

Chapter
Six

Berry
woke feeling groggy, numb and strangely weighted down.  She stared at the
unfamiliar ceiling and the bright filtered daylight that played across
it.  Her first thought that she was in hospital was quickly dismissed. The
bed was too large and way too comfortable. 

Turning
her head on the pillow she slowly took in the unfamiliar room. The
light-coloured hardwood floors, the crisply painted white walls, the expensive
furniture and the top of the line sheets and coverlet draped over her. 
Where was she?  The scent of the ocean teased her nostrils, turning her
head the other way she noted the sliding doors leading to what must be a
balcony were slightly ajar, the curtain billowing gently, letting in fresh
air. 

Damn,
why did she feel so… icky and off balance?  She frowned, and that hurt a
little. Surprised, she reached up, her fingers tracing the edge of a large square
adhesive bandage plastered to her forehead just above her right eye. 
Hmmm, and what was up with the left side of her body?  Staring down she
received two more surprises, the first was the unfamiliar navy crepe silk
sleeveless loose pyjamas she found she was wearing and the second was a lot
more disturbing. Her left arm was heavily bandaged from elbow to
shoulder.  What the…? 

Experimentally
she tried to lift her arm, but it felt too heavy… distant, as if the limb
belonged to someone else.  The movement also caused a low level wave of
hot pain to shoot up her left side.  Flashes of memory assaulted her, the
car park, Ramsey Hughes… she’d been talking to Ramsey Hughes, hadn’t she? 
Yes… and then what?

“You
were shot.  They got away.”

Berry’s
focus flicked to the bedroom doorway.
 
“Mum?” 
She didn’t bother asking the rest of the questions swarming like killer bees in
her head.  Her mother had an annoying habit of answering questions that
Berry had yet to put voice too, it was an incredibly irritating trait in a
parent.  But a great one if your throat felt like sandpaper.

“You
also hit your head as you fell.  I’ve bought you some water.” 
Kimberly Malone, wearing black jeans, boots and an over large red jumper strode
into the room, holding a glass in one hand, a straw in the other.  “And
I’ve mixed in a little something Nell prescribed to help with the pain.”

Berry’s
head collapsed back on the pillow with a muffled thud.
 
Who knew the effort of just sucking water
through a straw could be so draining.  While they waited for Nell’s magic
elixir to work, Kimberly bustled around the room.  Opening the curtains,
smoothing the sheets, adding another pillow to help prop Berry up a
little.  It was funny, if Berry didn’t know better, she’d almost say her
mother was… nervous.

The
two of them had little in common, looks-wise.  Kimberly was a youthful
looking blonde for a start, with a waterfall of straight hair down to her
shoulders that never frizzed or curled.  Her eyes were blue and she was a
few inches shorter than Berry and less curvy in shape, though clearly Berry had
inherited her mother's wide smile and straight nose.

Sitting
on the edge of the bed Kimberly reached over to brush back a stray dark curl
from Berry’s all too pale face.  “Better?”

“Much. 
Thankyou.  Where’s Dad?”

“He
volunteered with some of the enforcers to help search the Nature Reserve. 
Don’t worry, Chief Hughes is under the assumption that the local neighbourhood
watch group are just a bunch of eager helpful do-gooders.”

Berry,
held her tongue.  Ramsey was pretty savvy, she doubted he thought any such
thing.

“Elijah.” 
Her mother referred to the head of the enforcement team.  “Can be very
persuasive.  I called your brother, told him what happened.  He’ll
try to get back here as soon as he can.”

“He
doesn’t need too.”  Berry bit back a sigh.  Her brother’s work was
important.

“You
know there’s such a thing as too independent don’t you?”  Kimberly
frowned.  “Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. We’re family, it’s
what we do.”

Berry
bit her lip. Funny, what some might label as being helpful, others might
interpret as outright interference.

Kimberly
read the stubborn look in her daughter’s eyes.  “When are you going to
stop blaming the family?”

Berry
recoiled slightly.  “I don’t blame the family for getting shot.”

Kimberly
smiled, but it wasn’t in humour.  “I was talking about your marriage and
subsequent… parting.”

“That’s
ridiculous, I don’t blame the family for either of those things.”

“I
think you do.  You need to look at things from your Grandfather’s
perspective.”  Kimberly was referring to her father, Edward, the head of
the High Council.  “When Aunt Alma’s husband died and she left the
Sanctuary, no one, least of all Dad, thought she’d stay away for twenty-two
years.  That’s a long time for the family to be without a match
maker.  You know as well as I do that keeping the Sanctuary grid
functioning is a numbers game.  Without matches, without off-spring, it
doesn’t take a fancy law degree to do the math does it?  So when you rang
Dad saying that you were pregnant five years ago…”

“I
was tricked!  I was never pregnant.”  Berry reminded through gritted
teeth.

Kimberly
patted Berry’s leg but kept on talking as if she hadn’t been interrupted. 
“Your news was like a beacon in the dark.  A baby, even born outside of a
meld match would still be family.”

“More
like I was an experiment.”  Berry rolled her eyes.  “Maybelle as
acting-match maker
turns up in Sydney
the next day and proceeds to let Robert flatter the hell out of her. 
Before I know it, I have High Council approval to get married.” 

“I
know Dad regrets everything, and you have to know I do too, Berry.  I
should have come to see you, perhaps if I’d met Robert I might have seen him
for what he was.  It’s just you’ve always been so…”

“Self-sufficient?” 
Berry queried.

“I
was going to say stubborn.  Ever since you were little.  You always
seemed to know exactly what you were doing and where you were going without any
input from your father or I.”

Berry
hadn’t realised her mother had been blaming herself for the wreck of her
marriage.  Well how could she?  She’d been avoiding spending one on
one time with any of her close relatives from almost the moment the ring had
been placed on her finger.  Too embarrassed to admit she’d made a colossal
mistake.

Goddess,
she really was a stubborn fool.  “I don’t blame the family for my
marriage, Mum. I blame myself.  I couldn’t see Robert for who… what, he
was.  When he said he loved me, couldn’t live without me, I hesitated.
 
Even when that doctor friend of Robert’s told
me I was pregnant, even with Maybelle’s gushing approval, I hesitated. 
And instead of going with my gut, I decided to put all my trust in my magic. So
when I looked at all the possibilities open to Robert when it came to marrying
me, each and every one of those pathways was a bright shiny light.  I only
caught a glimpse, that first step Robert would take… but in each and every one,
if he married me, Robert would be happy.
 
Happier than he’d been in a long time.”

“Oh
darling.”  Kimberly reached over to grip Berry’s hand.

“I
ever so blithely assumed that if Robert were happy… well, that I’d be happy
too.  How could I have known that Robert was addicted to gambling? 
That he’d discovered that I talk in my sleep and was able to pick winning
horses?  That he was in debt so deep when we met that his bookie client,
the notorious bikie gang, had him effectively by the balls, doing all their
dirty work for them? That everything he owned was leased or mortgaged to the
hilt, even his own mother’s house?  Oh Goddess Joanne, is Joanne okay?”

“She’s
fine.  The Sunshine club have rallied around her.  She’ll stay with
one of the relatives until we find out what’s going on.”  Kimberly patted
Berry’s hand.  “I think you need to cut yourself a break sweetheart. 
Everyone makes mistakes.  What’s done is done.  We all have to move
with the times and it’s no big deal these days to be…”

Berry
couldn’t help but laugh as she watched her mother’s beautiful face screw up as
if she’d just bitten into a lemon.  “You can’t even say the word.”

“Divorced,
okay?  Divorced, divorced, divorced, divorced.”

Berry
laughed again, followed by a groan as her arm protested at all the
movement. 

“Careful. 
Hmmm, it’s probably time to change the dressing and put some more of Nell’s
salve on the wound.  You were very lucky the bullet didn’t do more
damage.  Nell says it’s more like a deep gash than a bullet wound.”

“Tell
that to the throbbing in my arm.”

“Oh,
then I should definitely put some more salve on it.  Nell said something
about a numbing agent.”  Kimberly stood up.  “Let me just go grab
it.  And I need to fine some fresh bandages.  I think the Chief said
he had a first aid kit in the main bathroom, I’ll just go check.”

While
her mother bustled off, Berry spent a minute or so processing her current
location.  When Kimberly came back into the room Berry fought hard to keep
her tone casual.  “Where did you say here was again?”

“I’m
not surprised you don’t recognise it.  Remember the old Life-Saving
Headquarters?  It was renovated into apartments, with shops on the ground
floor.
 
Have you been to the ice cream
parlour?  You should.  Then there are three floors of apartments, two
on each floor, the views are just magnificent.  Chief Hughes’s apartment
is on the second floor.”

“I’m
in Chief Hughes’s apartment?  In his bed?”

“Apartment
yes.”  Kimberly smiled readily.  “But this is the guest bedroom. The
whole place is really very nice.  If you were wondering if I like your new
beau, then the answer is a resounding yes.”

“Chief
Hughes…”  Berry grit her teeth as her mother helped her to sit
upright.  “…is not my beau.  I’ve sworn off men.  Remember?”

Kimberly
carefully unrolled the bandage around Berry’s upper arm. “Is it because Chief
Hughes reminds you too much of Robert?”

“What?” 
Berry jerked abruptly. Hissing with pain as her mother undid the last of the
bandage. “No, of course not.”

Berry
didn’t see her mother hide a delighted smile at the vehemence in her tone.
 
She was too busy comparing Robert with Ramsey
Hughes.  The two were as unalike as a match versus a stick of
dynamite.  For pity sake, Robert had been pale, blonde, average height and
super slick in his high priced suits, oozing false charm where ever he
went. 

Ramsey
Hughes was tall, huge in fact, dark, brooding, gruff, scarred, abruptly
flirtatious, with that wicked come hither smile of his… ouch.  Thank
Goddess her mother distracted her from her train of thought as she applied
fresh salve to her wound.
 
No good could
come of her day dreaming about Hotshot Ramsey Hughes.

Looking
down, Berry winced.  “Yuk.”  There was a nasty looking gash in her
arm, glistening strangely, thanks to the blue salve her mother had just coated
it with.  It looked raw and angry, the skin around it black and purple
with bruises.

Kimberly
nodded in commiseration.  “It’s a pity we don’t have more warrior blood in
our side of the family.  Not to worry though, with Nell’s salve you’ll
hardly have a scar. It just needs a few days to work its magic.”

“Do
they know who shot at us?  Why they were aiming at Chief Hughes?”

“No. 
And you can’t be sure it was Chief Hughes they were aiming at.”

“I
saw all the possibilities. It was always going to be the Chief who got shot,
unless I intervened.”

“What
about if the gun they used always pulled to the right? Or if they were a
notoriously bad shot?  The Chief may have been collateral damage in all
the pathways purely because he was standing next to you.”

Berry
frowned, feeling the bandage on her forehead tug painfully at her skin. “You
may be right, it all happened so fast… my gift isn’t infallible.”  Her
disastrous marriage was proof of that.

“Oh
sweetie, I didn’t mean for you to doubt yourself, I just don’t think we can
afford to make any assumptions until we know more about who fired the
gun.  Once we know who, then it shouldn’t be too hard to work out
why.  Until then, the best place for you is right here.”

“Er.” 
Berry lay back down as her mother finished re-bandaging her arm. 
“Wouldn’t I be just as safe staying with you and Dad?”  Lethargy stole
over her, suddenly her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton each.

Kimberly
shook her head.  “Your father is a finder, not an enforcer.  And my
powers can be defensive but I’m not exactly trained for combat.  I’d feel
much better if you stayed here.  The security is top of the line, the
windows are all tinted and either the Chief or one of his men will be guarding
you twenty-four/seven.  Gideon is here as we speak.”

“Okay…” 
Berry’s eyelids fluttered shut then opened for just a moment.  “Thanks
Mum."