Merle turned to the video operator. “Pull up images of the vending machines on the ICU floor.” He ran through the images within the time frame until Colton came into view.
“There I am.”
A moment later the man appeared in the frame.
“That’s him.”
Colton watched as they spoke for several moments before the stranger handed over the envelope. The man turned to leave and stared right up at the camera. The operator cropped a perfect image of his face.
“He wasn’t hiding,” Colton said. “He didn’t even try to hide his face. He knew the camera was there. He’s looking right at it.”
“What did he say to you?”
“He offered me money to basically throw Laura to the wolves.” He pulled the envelope full of cash out. “I was hoping we could find a way to link this cash to Randall.”
Merle examined the cash. “That’s unlikely. The bills are out of sequence and small tenders. We may, however, be able to pull some prints from the envelope, but I wouldn’t hold your breath about that, either.”
“He knew I wouldn’t leave Laura for long. He was keeping me busy while his friend lured her down the hall.”
Merle made certain he’d received all the images before they left the security office. “Maybe we’ll find something that will link this attack to Randall. In the meantime, I want to talk to Laura and take her statement. Stay close.”
“I will.”
Merle didn’t need to worry about that. Colton wasn’t leaving her alone again. And as soon as possible, he would get her out of River City and back to the ranch.
* * *
Laura didn’t complain about the guards Colton had placed at the door. She knew them both and she knew they were necessary. Randall and his men had proved the hospital wasn’t a safe place for her. They’d lured her here by beating her father nearly to death, then tried to grab her when she’d come to see him.
Randall had surely hit a new low.
Denise finished stitching her up. “All done. How do you feel?”
“I’m okay,” Laura said. She tried to sit up but dizziness washed over her and Denise reached to help her.
“Be careful.”
They’d checked her for a concussion, but Laura knew it was only a deep cut. She’d smashed into the railing when the stranger had thrown her aside after Colton’s appearance, but she hadn’t lost consciousness at all. She shuddered, thinking of what might have happened had he not found her.
But he had. She’d walked into a trap and Colton had rescued her just in time.
Denise shook her head. “I can’t believe it’s gotten this bad. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Laura knew her friend was worried. “I was embarrassed I’d let it go this far. If Colton hadn’t been there, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“He cares for you,” Denise said.
“You don’t know that.”
“I see the way he looks at you. Don’t you like him?”
Laura suddenly felt as if she was back in middle school and was getting the lowdown on who liked whom. “Colton is great. He’s funny and strong and reliable.”
“And gorgeous,” Denise finished with a fond smile.
She kept quiet at that remark. It was true she’d found herself unexpectedly attracted to Colton, but Denise knew her history with men. She couldn’t allow anything to happen between them.
“Laura, I love you like a sister. You deserve to have someone care for you.”
“And I want that. I really do. But you know that’s not possible for me. I’ve put my heart out there too many times only to have it broken. I won’t go through that again.”
“But maybe this time things could be different.”
She wanted to believe in Colton. She owed him so much and he’d been there for her. But it was too frightening to let her heart lead her. She never got the chance to tell her friend that, though, because the door opened and Colton came into the room.
“How are you feeling?” he asked her.
“Better. Denise got me all stitched up and I’m good to go.” She looked at her friend. “Right?”
“Yes,” Denise said. “Just watch her. Tylenol for any pain. Come back in if you have any nausea or lethargy. You know how this works.” She turned to Colton. “Thank you for looking out for my friend,” she said, her voice softening.
“My pleasure,” he responded.
Denise walked out and closed the door behind her and that was when Laura noticed Detective Merle had come in behind Colton.
“Laura, Detective Merle wants to ask you some questions about the man who tried to attack you.”
“Like what kind of questions?”
“Well, for starters, did you recognize the man who grabbed you?” Merle began.
“No. I don’t remember seeing him before.”
“What about this man? Do you recognize him?” He held out his phone to her and showed her a picture of a dark-haired man in a suit.
“I’ve never seen him before, either. Who is he?”
“We think he works for Randall. He was in the hospital tonight.”
Colton spoke up. “He approached me at the vending machines. We think he was trying to keep me busy while his buddy grabbed you.”
She shook her head. “Well, like I said, I’ve never seen him before.”
Merle put away his phone. “Tell me again about the call you received. Was it a man or a woman on the line? Did you recognize the voice?”
She shook her head. “It was a woman’s voice. She knew my name. She knew my father’s name. She even knew the doctor’s name. Do you think it was someone who works at the hospital?”
“Randall has a lot of people indebted to him. Honestly, it could have been anyone. This man who tried to grab you might not even work for Randall. He could have just been looking to collect the money.”
She sighed. “Everywhere I go, I’m a target.”
“I’ll feel better when I get you back home,” Colton said.
She nodded, then realized she liked the idea of referring to the ranch as home. It already felt like home to her and she, too, couldn’t wait to get back there. “I’ll give the ICU nurse your phone number. Denise will also keep me updated on my father’s condition. I understand I can’t stay here any longer. It’s not safe.”
Colton nodded. “I’ll take you back upstairs to say goodbye, then we’ll go.” He shook Detective Merle’s hand. “Call me if you find out anything else.”
“I will,” Merle stated.
Colton placed his hand on her back as Laura walked to the elevator. It helped her to keep her balance, knowing he was strong enough to catch her if she stumbled. She felt the nagging pull of a headache coming on and rubbed her face. The local anesthetic must be wearing off and she was about to feel the full force of the gash.
“You okay?” Colton asked as they waited for the doors to open.
“Just a little sore. I’ll be better once we’re on the road back home.”
As they stepped into the elevator, Laura realized she’d done it, too. She’d referred to Colton’s ranch as home and he hadn’t flinched when she’d said it.
What would it be like, she wondered, to have a place like the ranch as her home or a man like Colton by her side forever?
She realized such an image warmed her soul.
If only such a scenario could happen, it would be a dream come true.
* * *
Laura sat beside her father’s bedside and stared at him. He was hooked up to machines that monitored his vitals. Sure, she was angry at him for getting her into such a mess, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t worry about him. He was still her father and he looked so frail and weak.
She knew he’d been trying. He’d joined Gamblers Anonymous. He’d convinced Colton to act as her protector. Still, he wouldn’t have to make up if he hadn’t placed her in this situation in the first place by being so weak willed.
All she wanted was a normal life where s
he got to make her own decisions and she wasn’t constantly bombarded with other people’s problems. She took things too seriously, she knew. She was too tenderhearted.
Her patient’s always seemed to bring that out in her, too, causing her to be constantly stressed. She hadn’t yet figured out how to distance herself. In the ER, she saw people who’d been beaten and shot and stabbed...and she longed to help them all. She could help mend their physical wounds, but she longed for more. She longed to help those she saw over and over again realize that it was their own choices that brought them back to the ER again and again. The battered wife she treated at least once every few months who insisted she was only clumsy. The man who kept coming to the ER for alcohol poisoning. As a nurse, she knew one day he wouldn’t survive, yet his behavior never changed.
Her coworkers, including Denise, often told her she wasn’t cut out to work the ER. That she cared too much and needed to work on a floor where patients were thankful for her kindness. But Laura always seemed to get the ones who wanted to take advantage of her kindness. Give them a smile or a sympathetic ear and she became a target for their emotional blackmail.
Well, she was tired of being manipulated and abused. She would no longer be a victim, either physically or emotionally.
She could love her dad, even pray for him, but she couldn’t change his life for him. She stood and wiped the tears that were streaming down her face. Colton had been the one stronghold in all this mess. Her father had asked him to watch over her and she would take solace in his protection.
She kissed her father’s cheek, then hurried out of the ICU unit. Colton was in the waiting room and she went straight into his arms, which wrapped comfortably around her. In his embrace, she felt protected and safe. “I’m ready to go,” she told him. She stopped herself before she referred to his ranch as home again, but it did already seem like home to her.
Colton kept his arm around her as they took the elevator downstairs, then walked to the parking garage. He’d parked on the third level, so they took another elevator to the floor. As they stepped off the elevator, she caught a glimpse of his truck at the end of a row. She was looking forward to getting on the road and back to the ranch. Funny, she’d never felt as at home even in her own apartment as she did at the ranch.
The sound of tires squealing grabbed her attention. She felt Colton tense and reach for his gun. He didn’t have it because it was locked inside his truck.
He gripped her arm and started running to the truck as a car flew down the parking lot ramp and skidded around the corner, barreling toward them. Colton pushed her down and Laura crouched between two parked cars. She looked up in time to see Colton leap onto the hood of another car as the oncoming vehicle slammed into it. Colton fell, sliding to the ground.
“Colton!” He groaned in pain and Laura rushed to him.
His face was red and he was holding his leg and grimacing.
He tried to stand but couldn’t. “Help me up,” he told her. Laura slipped his arm over her and took on his weight as he climbed carefully to his feet.
He slipped the keys into her hand. “Go to the truck. Get out of here. I’ll hold them off.”
She glanced at the car and saw two men woozily pouring out after the crash. One had a cut on his head, blood gushing from it. Head wounds notoriously bled and she suspected he would soon show up in the ER for stitches and possibly a concussion. The other was moaning as he emerged from the passenger’s side. He was holding his arm tenderly. She wished these men would show up in her ER when she was working. She would show her coworkers just how disconnected she could be.
She ran to the truck and slid behind the wheel, quickly starting it. Colton wanted her to escape, but she wasn’t going anywhere without him. Suddenly she remembered the gun locked in the box under the seat. She pulled it out, found the key on the key chain she’d seen him use to secure it and unlocked it, then grabbed the gun. These men didn’t know who they were messing with.
The gun was heavy in her hand, much bigger than the one Colton had shown her how to shoot with, but hopefully she wouldn’t have to fire it. Her shoulder was still hurting, but she would endure a little pain to rescue Colton.
She jammed the truck into gear and backed out of the spot. Squealing to a stop in front of the wrecked car, she jumped out and pointed the gun toward the two men.
“Don’t move,” she ordered them. She glanced at Colton. “Get into the truck.”
She slid his arm over her shoulder and helped carry his weight as he hobbled toward the truck, but she didn’t take her eyes off the two men. Once she opened the side door, Colton crawled inside. She could see he was struggling to keep the pain to himself. His leg might be broken or worse; unfortunately she couldn’t examine it here.
She climbed into the front seat and put the truck into gear, yet she couldn’t turn off the nurse in her. She motioned to the man with the head wound.
“You’d better get that checked out,” she told him. “Looks like you might need stitches.”
So maybe her friends were right about her, after all, she thought as she roared out of the parking garage.
* * *
“How’s your leg?” she asked when they were safely on the highway headed out of River City and Colton had assured her no one was following behind them.
“I think I landed wrong on my knee.” He grimaced as he tried to move his leg.
“I should wrap it until we can get it x-rayed. Do you have a first-aid kit in the truck?”
“Under the backseat.”
She pulled over to the shoulder and found the kit, removing an ACE bandage to wrap his knee with. Colton opened the passenger door, then hung his leg out as Laura bandaged it.
“When we get to Compton, we should go right to the medical center and have it examined. You could have torn ligaments.”
She glanced up at him and saw him staring at her. “You were amazing back there,” he told her. “I think you really put the fear into those guys. I know I was certainly scared of you.”
She grinned at his wit. He was teasing her again, which meant either the pain was becoming manageable or he’d simply found a way through it.
“Thankfully, I didn’t have to fire. If I had, they would have known for certain I had no idea what I was doing.”
“You could’ve taken out those boys.”
She flashed another smile, happy to know he had so much confidence in her. “Really? You think I could’ve hit them?”
“Sure, they’re much bigger than an aluminum can.”
He reached out and gently stroked her cheek. And suddenly the lightheartedness of the moment morphed into something much more intense. He brushed her lips with the pad of his thumb and she knew he wanted more than a touch of skin against lips. She wanted it, too. He pulled her to him and kissed her, softly at first, then more intensely. She melted into his embrace, loving the feeling of his arms wrapped protectively around her. She could live in his embrace forever and she realized she wanted to. She wanted to call the ranch her home without feeling guilty about it and she could imagine building a life with this man.
But she pushed away from him instead and an onslaught of emotions overwhelmed her. She’d lost so much already and it pained her to think of losing Colton, too, but she was still so afraid of trusting him completely.
She was so afraid of being disappointed by love again.
* * *
Colton left the Compton Medical Center with a knee brace and a set of crutches. According to the X-rays, he’d merely stretched several ligaments in his knee. It hurt like crazy, but at least nothing was broken or torn.
He let Laura drive to the ranch, but he watched her all the while keeping one eye looking over their shoulder in case they were being followed. He tried to figure out what was going on inside that beautiful head of hers. She’d been different after they’d shared a kiss. She’d pulled away from him not only physically but emotionally, too, and he had no idea why.
Maybe it was just all
too much for her, he thought. He hoped that was all it was. She’d been through a lot with her father’s beating and Randall’s attacks. He hoped she would be better once they reached the ranch. Yet he had to keep reminding himself that her stay with him was temporary. He’d already fallen for her spunk and her determination, and while he sensed Laura shared his attraction, he knew his past was something he couldn’t run from...something she could never accept.
She parked in front of the house, then helped him inside and into his recliner, waiting on him like the nurturer she was, fixing him a large glass of iced tea along with an ice pack for his knee. She even tried to convince him to take the pain medicine the hospital doctor had provided, but he waved it off. His knee might be out of commission, but he still wanted to keep his mind as sharp as possible and his gun within reach.
“We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?” she asked, settling into the couch. “You with your knee. Me with my stitches.”
He wondered if she was losing hope in him. “Just a setback,” he told her. “It happens. Our bodies will mend. I’ll be back up on my feet by tomorrow, I’m sure.”
“That knee needs more than a few hours to mend itself. Do you always have to push the limits like that?”
He shrugged. “I do what I need to do.”
“How are you keeping it together, Colton? After all that’s happened, you seem so grounded. I’m going crazy with worry about everything, but you remain so calm under pressure. What’s your secret? Did you learn that from being a ranger?”
“Partly, I guess I did. But mostly it’s just about having faith.”
She sighed. “I try. I really do, but sometimes I just get so scared. I have to admit I don’t see God working in all of this.”
“But He is, Laura. Really He is. Have you ever heard the story from the Bible of Daniel in the lions’ den?”
“Of course. Anyone who’s been in Sunday school has heard that story.”
“I saw this painting once depicting that scene. In the painting, Daniel had his back to the lions and his hands were clasped behind him. He was staring up as if he didn’t have a care in the world, but there in the background was a line of hungry beasts waiting to devour him.” He spoke softly, his gaze never leaving hers. “I confess I sometimes feel like Daniel in the lions’ den. I live in a world where lions are watching my every move, waiting for permission to devour me. The only thing that stops them is God.
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