Zane didn’t need any more than that. Taking Alyx’s hand in his, he led the way to the elevator. He would have taken the stairs because it was only one flight, but he was beginning to feel just the slightest bit lightheaded.
The elevator arrived almost immediately. “That was pretty quick thinking on your part,” Zane said as they got on the elevator. When she raised a quizzical eyebrow, he added, “Biting McBride like that.”
She didn’t even remember thinking about it. She just did it instinctively. “I was afraid McBride was going to shoot you. I had to do something.”
He hit the button for the first floor. “He shot me anyway.”
“But at least he didn’t kill you,” she pointed out as the doors closed. “I don’t know what I would have done if he’d killed you.”
The emotion he saw in her eyes stirred him, but he had no idea how to respond to what she’d just said. Words had never come easily to him and he had no role models to emulate.
Zane shrugged his good shoulder. “You’re resilient. You would have gone on.”
Was he just dismissing her? Telling her there was nothing between them? She couldn’t tell.
“If you say so,” she replied flatly.
On the first floor now, they got off the elevator. Really struggling to keep the world in focus, Zane let Alyx take the lead.
Hurrying, worried about his arm, Alyx deliberately took the back way into the ER, avoiding the receptionist and whatever patients were out in the waiting room. She knew Zane would want his privacy more than ever now.
None of the rooms were empty, so she commandeered the first empty bed she came to. Telling Zane to sit down on the edge of the bed, she pulled shut the curtain that ran along the bed’s perimeter. Getting the suturing kit ready took her all of a few moments.
“I’m beginning to know how to do this in my sleep,” she commented as she went about the job of cleaning, sterilizing and then finally sewing up his wound. The bullet had mercifully gone clean through this time, doing away with the need to probe and hunt for it within his opened flesh.
As before, rather than turn his head away the way most people did, he watched her work. Fascinated. “I should keep you on retainer,” Zane quipped. “Even with McBride gone, there might be other times that I’ll need you to be my angel of mercy.”
She thought of a few of the women she’d graduated with. Most of them were still single. And Zane’s looks were really hypnotic. He’d be snatched up within sixty seconds. “I’m sure that any number of doctors would fight for that right.”
“I don’t want any one of a number,” he told her, twisting around so that he could look into her eyes. “I want you.” When she stopped working and looked up at him, surprised by his blunt statement, he cleared his throat. “I mean, your work is good, you don’t make these big, Frankenstein-type stitches—”
She laughed, shaking her head. “You can stop now. I get the picture.”
For a moment, he watched her work in silence. “You know,” he began without any preamble, “it’s going to seem strange, not having to guard you anymore.”
It was going to feel strange to her, too, not waking up to his face. Not looking forward to the end of the day because she would be ending it with him.
She did her best to sound cheerful as she worked. “Bet you’re glad about that.”
He raised his eyes to hers. They held for a moment. “You’d lose that bet,” he told her quietly. Then before she could comment or ask any questions, he said, “Marry me, Alyx.”
The needle she’d been using fell out of her hand, making a little tinny sound as it hit the tile and fell at her feet.
“Lucky for you I’m finished,” she said, stooping down to retrieve the needle before someone wound up stepping on it and getting the needle embedded in the bottom of their shoe.
“‘Lucky for you I’m finished’ is not an answer,” he finally said when she didn’t say anything further.
She froze and looked at him. “I didn’t think you expected one.”
That didn’t make any sense to him. “Don’t people usually get answers to proposals?”
“Serious ones, yes.”
He peered at her face as he asked, “What makes you think this isn’t a serious proposal?”
“Because you’re the one doing the asking.” She couldn’t see him asking any woman to marry him. He was too much of a free spirit. He’d told her so. And she’d believed him. “Just for future reference,” she added as she began to clear away what was left of the suture kit, “boredom is a very poor reason to ask someone to marry you.”
“I wasn’t asking you to marry me because I was bored,” he countered. “I was asking you to marry me because I love you.”
For the second time in as many minutes, the needle, which she was just about to deposit into the hazardous waste container, slipped from her fingers and fell on the floor.
This time she didn’t immediately bend down to pick it up. Instead, she stared at him, trying to understand. To focus. “Did you just say—?”
Suddenly feeling as eager as a teenager, he cut her off. “Yes, I did.”
She frowned, looking at the empty syringe she’d just used before starting to stitch up his wound. “Funny, you didn’t react like this to the local the last time I gave it to you.”
“The injection has nothing to do with it,” he told her flatly. “You, you have something to do with it. You have everything to do with it.”
She deposited the syringe into the hazardous waste container, her eyes never leaving his face. She could always tell when someone was lying. “You’re telling me you think you love me.”
“No, I’m telling you I know I love you. I just had trouble admitting it to myself. Until I thought McBride was going to kidnap you right in front of me.” Even saying it sent a cold shiver racing up and down his spine. “And then suddenly, I knew.”
There had to be a punch line here somewhere, Alyx thought. She couldn’t allow herself to be reeled in. “Knew what?”
He took her hand in his, stilling her movements. “That you were the only thing in my life that was keeping it from being empty. That I didn’t want to go back to the way things were. That I wanted to spend the rest of my life guarding that body of yours—and selfishly saving it for me.”
She was beginning to believe him.
Alyx took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Her eyes never left his face. “You’re sure this isn’t a reaction to the injection I just gave you?”
“This is a reaction to you,” he corrected. “Now, if you need some time to process this, I understand.” He did his best to sound patient, even though he was feeling anything but that right now. Rushing her could accomplish just the opposite of what he wanted. “You can have all the time you need to—”
“No.”
The single, two-letter word was like a rapier pushed straight through his heart. He felt devastated—but still very unwilling to accept defeat so readily. “Maybe if you think about it, you won’t turn me down.”
She shook her head. He didn’t understand, she thought. “I’m not turning you down, Zane,” she told him. “I’m telling you that I don’t need the extra time. I know what my answer is.”
Suddenly there didn’t seem to be enough air in the small cubicle. “And—?”
Her smile radiated from every part of her. “Do you have to ask?”
He needed to hear it, to hear her accept his proposal. To accept him. “I’m not nearly as confident as you think I am. Yes, I have to ask.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sakes, she’s telling you yes. So kiss her and get it over with already!” a heavily accented, disembodied woman’s voice on the other side of the curtain ordered impatiently. “What are you waiting for? Cue cards?”
Alyx grinned from ear to ear.
Leaning into him, she nodded toward the common side of the curtain and whispered, “The voice of wisdom has spoken.”
“Certainly can’t argue with that,” Zane agre
ed.
Gathering her closer to him with his good arm, Zane brought his mouth down to hers and kissed her.
The curtain remained drawn and in place for a very long time.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8500-6
IN HIS PROTECTIVE CUSTODY
Copyright © 2011 by Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or r utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book please contact us at [email protected].
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit Silhouette Books at www.eHarlequin.com [http://www.eHarlequin.com]
In His Protective Custody Page 16
