“No family, no. I don’t want to bother them. My boyfriend can look after me. Won’t you, darling?”
He blinked in surprise, but the pleading look on her face did him in.
“Is this true, Mr…?”
The doctor looked down at his notes with a frown, as if he’d suddenly realised that Rhod was in with a patient without any of the staff having any clue who on earth he was, or having questioned him. They had of course. When he’d arrived with Candy, they’d done the usual round of twenty questions. But Rhod wasn’t your average elf.
He was a Claus, and when it came to mind-tricks even the Jedi had nothing on him. The Clauses had developed mad mental skills to ensure they went unseen while delivering presents to excited, hyperactive kids. And knowing that the hospital staff wouldn’t let him stay with her without being family or her significant other, he’d blinded them with the old Claus charm. So they forgot his answers and assumed the correct ones that would let him stay.
“Claus. Rhod Claus.” Rhod gave the doctor a deadpan expression, daring him to mention anything about the name. “And yes, I can look after Candy for the next couple of days. Just try and stop me.”
The doctor nodded and scribbled something on the notes. He didn’t argue, but then Rhod didn’t expect him to. Faced with the ‘charm’ of a full-blooded Claus, he had no chance. If Rhod had told him he was a chicken and to go find a road to cross, he’d have been out making a nuisance of himself on the main intersection outside the hospital. Rhod wouldn’t be that cruel though, not with Candy watching, so he simply plastered a smile across his lips and waited for the older man to announce his decision.
“Okay. Good.”
The doctor turned slightly to include him in the conversation.
“You’ll need to take it easy for the next couple of days. There are some things you should watch out for…” He pulled a flyer from the back of his clipboard and circled some writing on it, then held it out to Rhod. “Here, take this. It outlines the major things to watch out for. If you see evidence of anything in the top box, you should bring her straight back in to see us.”
Rhod nodded as he scanned the list. Pre-printed and photocopied badly, it was faded in places, but he could still make out the instructions. Warnings against drowsiness, mental confusion, weakness down one side. It was all fairly standard, and familiar to him from his first-aid training with the agency. Humans were a fragile species when all was said and done, so Iliona made sure all her guys knew how to patch them up and get them to the Emergency Room.
“No problem, Doctor. I take it I’m okay to take her home now?”
Candy didn’t say anything to him as they prepared to leave the hospital, instead concentrating on the discharge procedure with the cutest little frown on her face. Rhod tried to ignore the sexy pout of her pursed lips as she concentrated, and stayed quiet to let her deal with all the paperwork and forms that she needed to sign. But he made sure he was close. Just in case. She’d taken a pretty solid knock to the head, and there was always the chance that the concussion was worse than they’d thought. If she looked in danger of face-planting on the floor, he’d be there in a nanosecond to catch her. Wrap her in up arms that had never felt as strong as when her delicate frame was sheltered within their embrace.
She didn’t want her family to know. Strange.
Lounging with one shoulder against the wall, he studied her as she went through the forms. The staff had asked her again if she wanted them to contact her family. Again she declined, a flash of irritation in her unusual eyes. It was quick, barely noticeable before she got it under control. Something the hospital staff, overworked and already rushed off their feet with the new cases piling through the doors, missed. But watching her, he caught it.
Kane. Kane…
The name rang a bell but he couldn’t place it. Her coat in his hands, Rhod scanned his memory of the recent cases to go through the agency. Had the name cropped up as something to do with a job? He was good with lists. Had to be really, with the family he came from, but his excellent memory came up blank. The only Kane he knew of was Kane Incorporated, and he highly doubted anyone from that family would be slumming it down in the rougher areas of the city.
He shifted; transferring his weight from foot to foot and barely stopped his lip from curling. He knew the sort. The Kanes were the kind of family he’d hated to deliver to when wearing the red suit. Pristine fireplaces in showcase rooms in the expensive mansion with far too many rooms for the amount of people who lived in them. Showy gifts to go under the tree, ones he could tell were purchased by the father’s PA and wrapped in store and without an ounce of thought in them. Presents given to spoilt brats whose sense of entitlement overshadowed their common sense, and who wailed that their lives were ruined if they didn’t get the latest tablet, PC or smart phone.