by Becca Van
“Shh, it’s all right, sweetheart. Just rest. We’ll take care of you.”
Sabrina sighed and then let her body go lax as she drifted to sleep.
* * * *
Trick Wendall had just entered the diner to meet his brothers, Trent and Tristan, for lunch. He’d noticed the young woman at the counter through the window and had been speculating about who she was as he searched the interior for his brothers. Just before he’d come level with her stool, she’d slid from it and then swayed on her feet. She’d reached out to grip the stool, but that hadn’t been enough to stop her fall. He was glad that he had quick reflexes and was able to scoop her up into his arms before she hit the linoleum floor.
She stiffened in his arms as if afraid, and the whimper that left her mouth went straight to his heart. She was a sweet bundle in his arms and she smelled so fresh and clean, but when he saw the perspiration on her brow and felt her shiver before she went limp in his hold, he realized she was sick.
“Someone call the doc,” Trick called out.
“Done,” Hilda, the middle-aged owner and waitress, said as she hung up the phone. “He’ll be here in a moment. Why don’t you bring her to the office so he can check her over in privacy?”
“Do you need some help, bro?” Trent asked when he and Tristan stopped in front of him.
Trick nodded. “One of you go hold the door to the back open.”
Tristan and Trent rushed ahead of him as Trick carried the woman around the counter to the side door leading to the back.
“What do you think’s wrong with her?” Tristan asked.
“I don’t know,” Trick answered. “Could be the flu. It’s been making the rounds.”
“She’s tiny,” Trent said as Trick walked passed him. “She doesn’t look like she weighs much.”
“No.” Trick sighed as he looked down at the woman’s beautiful face. Some of her blonde hair had come loose from her ponytail and brushed over his skin. Her lips were full but pale, a testament to her being ill. She was a stunning woman, and he wondered if her eyes were blue. He shuffled past Tristan as he held Hilda’s office door open and headed straight for the sofa against the wall.
“Put that cushion at the end of the sofa and grab that throw rug,” Trick said to Trent and waited until his brother did so, before he carefully placed her on the couch. He took the throw from Trent and covered her with it.
“Help me get her shoes off,” he said, and then he moved toward her feet. He wrapped his hand around her ankle and couldn’t help but notice how petite she was. Her feet were so small that his hand looked big and clumsy. He removed her shoe and dropped it on the floor as Tristan did the other.
“She’s so damn tiny,” Trent whispered as he squatted down near her head and placed the palm of his hand over her brow. “Shit! She’s got a fever.”
“Move aside and let me check her out,” the doc said as he entered the room.
Trick and his brothers watched as the doctor placed the electronic thermometer in her ear. Then he felt up and down her neck, checked the response of her eyes with a pen light, and took her blood pressure. Trick had been right. Her eyes were a beautiful sky blue.
“She’s got the flu, and from the looks of her, she hasn’t been taking care of herself. She needs to rest, and when the fever has passed she’ll need food. I don’t think she’s been eating properly. Her face looks a little gaunt, as if she’s recently lost weight and she has dark smudges under her eyes, which tells me she’s not sleeping. Plus there’s the fact that her clothes look a little loose.”
“I brought her purse,” Hilda said as she entered the room. “I also called Luke to let him know what’s going on. He and Damon will be here in a minute.”
Trick took the purse from Hilda and nodded his thanks. He wanted to open that purse and find out who she was, but he didn’t. He’d leave that to the law.
“Search her purse,” the doc said.
“Shouldn’t I wait until Luke and Damon get here?”
“No. I want to know if she’s allergic to anything or has a medical condition.”
Trick opened the purse and tipped out the contents. There wasn’t much inside. A box of tampons, a brush, a small bottle of perfume, and a wallet. He turned to Hilda. “Did she tell you who she is?”
“No. Just that she came in on the bus,” Hilda said.
“She didn’t have another bag with her?” Trent asked.
“Not that I know of.”
“She could have left it at the bus station instead of lugging it around town,” Tristan suggested.
“I’ll send someone to check,” Hilda said before leaving again.
Trick opened the wallet and looked at her license through the plastic. “Her name is Sabrina Brown and she lives in Fort Collins.”
Sheriffs Luke Sun-Walker and Damon Osborne entered the office. Trick handed Sabrina’s wallet over when Luke wiggled his fingers at him. “I’ll check her out. She might be on the run from the law.”
“I don’t think that’s the case.” Tristan stepped closer to Sabrina and stared at Luke with his hands on his hips. Trick felt protective of Sabrina, and when he glanced over at Trent he saw that his younger brother felt the same.
He had been drawn to her before he’d even seen her face, and now that he had, he wanted to get to know her and hopefully have a relationship with her, but first he and his brothers needed to take care of her so she could recover from her illness.
“I need to check, Tristan. With all the shit that has gone down around here lately, with the danger following the women who come to this town, we need to be prepared.”
“And what if she is on the run? Are you going to lock her up?” Trent asked as he moved to stand between Sabrina and the Sheriff.
“If I have to.”
“Damn it, Luke.” Trent shoved his fingers through his hair and sighed.
“It’s my job. I don’t interfere in with your construction business, so you stay out of mine. Got it?”
“Calm down,” Trick said. “Luke needs to do his job, guys.”
“Fine. Sorry,” Trent said before extending his hand to Luke.
“No problem.” Luke shook his and then Tristan’s hand. “Are you three going to take care of her, or do you want me to make other arrangements?”
“No, we’ll look after her,” Trick said.
“I’ll let you know what I find out,” Luke said before taking note of Sabrina’s details, and then he left.
“Call if you need anything,” Damon said before he followed Luke out.
Hilda came back carrying a small backpack.
“That’s it?” Trick asked.
Hilda nodded. “She has two changes of clothes.”
“Nothing else?” Trent asked.
Hilda shook her head.
“Shit.” Trick sighed and took the bag from Hilda. He opened Sabrina’s wallet to find a thousand dollars in cash, a credit card, and an ATM card. There was nothing else besides her license. “She’s definitely on the run.” Trick looked at his brothers.
“Yeah,” Trent said. “But why?”
Chapter Two
Trent drove the truck toward home, but he continually glanced in the rearview mirror at Trick. His brother was in the backseat and had Sabrina’s head in his lap. Tristan was sitting in the front passenger seat, but he was half turned and watching Sabrina, too.
The doc had told them to keep her fluids up as she fought the effects of the flu, and he was going to make sure that she drank often. He was glad that he and Tristan had just finished renovating an old house on the outskirts of town and had been planning to take a couple of weeks’ break now that the weather was getting colder. Their construction business was booming, and he and Tris had been so busy with all the new houses going up, plus renovations, they’d barely had time to scratch themselves. He was looking forward to some downtime, especially now that they had Sabrina to look after.
They had even helped out their older brother Trick by refurbishing the
new maternity and baby store for him and his new business partner, Tori.
Trent smiled as he remembered how enthusiastic his older hard-ass brother had been about starting up a new business. At first he’d thought that Trick was attracted to Tori, and even though she was a fine-looking woman, beautiful and sexy, Trent hadn’t felt a connection to her.
Tristan must have thought the same thing, because after meeting Tori one night at the Slick Rock Hotel, and after she was gone, he had asked Trick outright if he was attracted to her. Trick had denied it, but he’d had a smile on his face, so Trent had started questioning him, too. Their older brother had finally come clean and told them that he was trying to rile up the Katz brothers since they had made it blatantly obvious that they had thought of the beautiful woman as theirs. It had worked, too, and Tori had been pissed off at Luther’s, Jeremiah’s, and Bryant’s displays of possession.
But things had worked out for them in the end, and now they were all involved in a loving ménage relationship. Trent and his brothers wanted that, too, but there were so few women in the small rural town, and whenever anyone new came along, they were snapped up as fast as he could blink. None of them were getting any younger, and he felt as if time was slipping by, and so were their chances of finding that special woman to settle down with.
“She okay?” Trent glanced in the mirror again, cursing the fact that he couldn’t see Sabrina.
“She’s still hot,” Trick answered as he met his gaze. “And she keeps shivering.”
Trent nodded and looked back to the road. He hated that she was sick, but other than try to keep her comfortable there wasn’t much they could do.
His mind drifted as he drove.
He and Tristan were thirty-three years old, and he was sick and tired of having meaningless sex. Not that he hooked up with the opposite sex often, but he wanted something permanent like all the others had. Thirty-five-year-old Trick had been more antsy than usual, too. He’d been snapping and snarling at them, but when he or Tristan had tried to get their older-by-two-years brother to talk with them, he’d just shrugged his shoulders and clammed up tight. But Trent had a feeling Trick was pining for a woman they could all share, too. He and Tristan had seen him watching the other ménage trios and quartets with envy in his eyes.
Trick had had to grow up young and take on a huge responsibility after their parents had died years before in a car accident while they had been away on holiday, and Trent had begun to wonder if his older brother would ever let his guard down and let a woman in to see that he could be a loving, tender man, but he couldn’t see that happening anytime soon. Trick had had to take on the responsibility of the bank, and he’d spent a lot of time learning the ropes just after he’d turned twenty.
Neither he nor Tristan had ever been interested in working in the bank, and although none of them needed to work since they were well off, he and his twin brother loved working in the construction industry. He loved the smell of freshly cut wood and seeing things come together to form cupboards, buildings, and such, knowing he’d help build them with his own hands. He and Tris would probably go mad if they had to spend all their working hours behind a desk in an office. He loved working outside and wouldn’t change his job for a million bucks.
“How is she?” Trent asked as he glanced in the mirror again.
“Still sleeping,” Trick answered. “And she’s shivering because of the fever.”
“We’ll be home in a minute,” Tris said. “We can get her into a bed and warmed up real soon.”
Trent slowed the truck and turned onto their road, and moments later he parked close to the front porch. Tristan was out before he’d even taken his seat belt off and was opening the back door for Trick.
“Do you want me to carry her?” Tristan asked as Trent walked around the truck to join them.
“No, I’ve got her. Just open up so we can put her to bed. She’s going to need lots of rest.”
Trent unlocked and opened the front door then stood aside so Trick could enter. He followed his brother as he walked down the hall toward the master bedroom, and his heart flipped in his chest. They had more than one guest room Trick could have put Sabrina in, and he knew his brother’s actions spoke volumes. The master bedroom had been set up a couple of years ago, and no one had entered it except to dust and vacuum. None of them had brought a woman home, preferring to slake their lust with consensual females elsewhere, but it had been an unspoken agreement between the three of them that this room would remain unoccupied until they had found the woman they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with. It was damn significant that his brother had brought her to this room.
Trent rushed to the bed and pulled the covers down. “Should we take her clothes off?”
Trick gently placed Sabrina on the bed. “I’m not sure. What do you guys think?”
Tristan moved closer to the bed and stared down at the small woman. “I think we should. She’s sweating and shivering. I don’t think she’ll be too comfortable sleeping in clothes. We can leave her underwear on and she can sleep in one of our T-shirts.”
Trent hurried away to get one of his shirts, and when he came back, his brothers had already managed to remove her sweater and shirt, and were working on her jeans. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her full breasts spilling over the top of her lacy bra, and if he stared hard enough, he could just make out her pinky-brown areolae and her nipples. When he realized what he was doing, he felt like a real bastard. The poor woman was asleep, sick, and couldn’t even cover herself. He averted his eyes from her chest and helped pull the shirt over her head.
“Remove her bra,” Trick said as he gently lifted Sabrina up and against his chest. Trent pushed his hands under the shirt and nearly moaned when they connected with the hot silkiness of her skin, but he pushed his lascivious thoughts aside, unhooked her bra, pulled the T-shirt back down, and then searched up her arms to her shoulders to remove the straps from her arms. When he’d pulled them off, he once more pushed up under the shirt, but this time at the front, and tugged the garment from beneath it.
Trick laid her back down onto the bed and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. Trent sat on the side of the bed and stroked the loose tendrils of blonde hair away from her face. He hated feeling the heat radiating from her skin and decided to get a cold washcloth to wash her face with. He rose to his feet and went into the large en suite bathroom, and then he gently rubbed the cool cloth over her face.
She sighed and then mumbled incoherently, but Trent couldn’t work out what she said. One of her arms flailed, and her little hand connected with his chest. Trick kneeled on the other side of the bed and placed his hand on her forehead and then shifted it to her neck where he hadn’t wiped the cool cloth yet.
“Her temperature is spiking again,” Trent said, and frowned. “We need to get her cooled down. Tristan, go run a tepid bath.”
Tristan hurried to the bathroom, and Trent heard the water come on. “Should we call the doc again?”
“Not yet. Let’s see if we can get her fever down first. She needs to drink, too.” Trick moved toward the bedroom door. “I’ll go and get a jug of water and a glass. I want to see if we can get some fluids into her before we try and bring her temperature down.”
Trent dropped the cloth onto the floor and moved Sabrina until her back was resting against his front. They needed her sitting up so she could drink without choking. It wasn’t long before Trick was back, and he slowly fed her water. At first Sabrina had turned her head away when his brother had placed the glass against her lips, but Trick was determined, so he’d taken hold of her chin in his hand and then slowly trickled the water into her mouth. She must have been thirsty, because as the water first dripped into her mouth she’d relaxed instead of trying to fight them and tried to gulp it down. Trick hadn’t let her of course, because none of them wanted her throwing up. His brother had been resolute about giving her the thirst-quenching water a little at a time until half the glass was gone.
“All right.” Trick placed the glass on the bedside table. “Let’s get her in the bath.”
Trent shifted her in his arms and carried her to the bathroom. Between the three of them, they removed her clothes and then Trick took his off. Trent handed her over, and then Trick stepped into the cool water. “Damn, that’s fucking cold. Get ready to help me to restrain her. She’s so hot and the tepid water is going to make her fight.”
“I’ll change places with you if you want,” Tristan said as he ran his eyes all over Sabrina’s body. “I feel the need to cool off.”
“You’re not the only one,” Trent said and adjusted the fit of his jeans. “I’m so fucking hot and hard right now.”
“Cut it out,” Trick snapped. “This isn’t the time.”
“Like you haven’t noticed how damn beautiful and sexy she is.” Tristan snickered as he looked toward Trick’s burgeoning erection. “It’s kind of hard to miss, bro.”
Trick sucked in a breath as he sank into the water and immediately wrapped his arms around Sabrina’s arms and chest, and hooked his legs around hers when she started thrashing and yelling. When Trent picked up some of the words, his heart felt like it froze in his chest.
“No. Don’t…want…die. Run…” Her blue eyes were wide open but glazed over with fever, and she didn’t look comprehending at all. After a while, she quieted in Trick’s arms, her panted breaths slowed, and her eyes drifted shut.
Trick stood up, handed her over to him and Tristan, and then got out of the tub. He and Tris dried her off, pulled the shirt back on, and then Tristan carried her back to the bed and covered her up. She sighed as she snuggled into the pillow, and Trent was pleased to see that she seemed to be resting more peacefully than before.
