Texas Heroes_ Volume 1(72)
Not this time. Oh please, not this time.
Hot. So hot. She was going to die and he would hurt Davey.
“No!” she screamed, but no sound erupted from her blistered throat. Desperately she summoned the strength to lift feet gone leaden, hands turned to stone—
“Davey!”
But he was gone. Vanished. She knew she would never see him again. He was her heart. He was everything—
“Sh-h-h,” a deep rumble murmured. “Easy. Lie still.”
Cool. The blessing of moisture slid over her skin. A strong arm slid beneath her back and lifted her.
“Grandpa?” Perrie opened her eyes.
Golden brown eyes turned to stone. A strong jaw flexed. “Drink this,” ordered a man she’d never seen before.
“Who—” Her throat hurt so badly. She stiffened and tried to scramble away, but her limbs wouldn’t move. “Who are you? Davey—where is he? Where’s my son?”
“He’s asleep. Drink this.”
“I don’t believe you. I have to see—”
The big body shifted. Past his broad shoulder, she saw a familiar blond head lying on a cot beside the wall. Her son was the picture of peace, snoring faintly. She gathered herself to go to him, but her body wouldn’t obey her.
“Take it easy. He’s just asleep. Nothing’s wrong.”
Head spinning, she closed her eyes and fought the tears, her fingers tightening on an arm that felt like granite.
She shifted her gaze back to the man who held her. Across a rugged, handsome face framed by shaggy dark hair, distrust and dislike warred with a tiny flicker of sympathy.
“He stayed awake a long time to protect you, but he finally went out like a light.”
“How long have I been asleep? What time is it?”
“A little after two. Now drink this.” Any sympathy had vanished.
“What is it?”
“Same thing I’ve forced down your throat for hours. Aspirin crushed in water. You’ve got a hell of a fever.”
It hurt to swallow, but she downed the whole thing, then lay back, exhausted. She peered around the room that was lit by a single kerosene lantern.
Her breath caught. She knew this room.
Her gaze flew to his. “Who are you? What have you done with my grandfather?”
He didn’t hide his contempt. “What do you care? Why did you come now? Here to pick the carcass clean?”
She squeezed her eyes shut. This had to be a nightmare. But when she opened them, the same hard eyes met hers. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play innocent. You didn’t care enough to call or write, much less come see an old man who loved you, not even when he was dying. Don’t expect a welcome mat now.”
“He’s…” Perrie couldn’t make herself say the words. For more than two thousand miles, her only thought had been that her grandfather would help her save her son from Simon, the monster who was Davey’s father.
“Cy is dead.” The stranger glared. “And I want you out of this cabin the second you’re able. There’s no place for you here.” His rock-hard jaw flexed, those eyes boring into her as though he could turn her to stone.
She couldn’t even cry, so deep was the despair she felt. “How did he—”
His eyes flashed as if he couldn’t bear the very sight of her.
She fell silent, too dizzy and weary, every bone in her body aching. But she had to ask one last thing. “Davey—please. Please don’t hurt him. I’ll take care of him—” She struggled with the covers, thinking she must get to her son, protect him from this man who hated her for some reason she couldn’t understand. But she couldn’t seem to untangle herself. Her muscles had turned to water.
“The boy is fine.” Hard brown eyes turned curiously gentle for one brief second. “He’s a great kid. I won’t let anything happen to him.” Then his gaze focused on her again, and the gentleness vanished. “Go back to sleep,” he dismissed her curtly and headed for the door.
Perrie wanted to explain. Wanted to understand. Wanted out of here, away from that man.
Then the dream flickered, and she remembered.
She had nowhere else to go.
Davey was all that mattered. The silent man had tucked him into a cot and set his shoes neatly beneath it. Her son’s face bore a look of innocent trust, not fear. But how could she trust a total stranger?
She couldn’t think, couldn’t scrape away the mist that fogged her mind. Even now, sleep claimed her, pinning her helplessly to the bed.
Grandpa was dead. Her ex-husband had threatened to take Davey away where she would never find him if she breathed a word about his crimes.
And a tall, forbidding stranger wanted her out of the refuge she’d dreamed of during all the years of Simon’s prison.