The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  Tears sprang to her eyes and bile rose in the back of her throat. While Laurie had never been vain, the impact of the injuries on her face devastated her. Her stomach churned, her gut tightened.

  Ugly! I’m ugly now!

  Using her counselor voice, she tried to silently reason with her tumultuous emotions. The injury would heal. The scar couldn’t possibly be as bad as she imagined it would turn out. Ross wasn’t with her merely out of pity.

  Or was he?

  All of a sudden, Laurie knew the score. Now it all made perfect sense to her. Ross had stayed by her side in the hospital and had brought her home like some pitiful, abandoned pet because he felt sorry for her. Her heart shattered like fine crystal hurled against a wall. She couldn’t stop the pain that spasmed through her body and the sobs slipping from her mouth.

  Ross heard her wails and came running back into the room. Seeing the anguish on her face as she looked at her reflection tore at his heart. She stared back at him from the mirror, her eyes full of fear and despair. He dropped her clothes he’d carried from the bathroom on the bed. It took only a moment for him to reach her. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her when she whirled to face him. She clutched at his shirtfront, buried her face against his chest, and cried.

  All he knew to do was stroke her damp hair and whisper words of comfort in her ear. Her whole body shook as she wept.

  After several long minutes, Laurie seemed to be pulling herself together. “You okay, Kitten?”

  Laurie nodded and sniffled. “I’m sorry. Look what I did to your shirt.” She hiccoughed and sniffled some more.

  He chuckled as he glanced at the wet spots she’d made on his chest. “It’ll dry.” He figured he should offer some sort of nurturing advice, but he hadn’t had a lot of practice at giving any. “It’s not that bad, Laurie. You’ll heal.”

  Laurie snorted a disbelieving laugh. “Yeah. Right. I look like friggin’ Frankenstein. Why’d you bring me here anyway? Am I that pathetic?”

  “You’re not pathetic.”

  “Sure I’m not. You feel like this is your fault, don’t you? That’s why you came back. That’s why you brought me here. Well, it’s not your fault, Ross. You can take me back home now.” She turned away from him and started shoving her dirty clothes in her bag.

  Ross took a slow mental count of ten. “That’s not why I came back.” He went to her and drew her back into his embrace.

  “I’m ugly now.” Laurie pushed her hands against his chest and fought his hug. “Ugly.”

  He held her tight enough she finally stopped struggling. “No, you’re not. Hell, Laurie, someone pushed you down a flight of stairs. It’s not like the movies where you gracefully bounce around on your way down.”

  “I sure have enough padding to protect myself and there’s nothing graceful about me.”

  “Stop it.” He was sorely tempted to shake some sense into her, but Ross reined in his temper. Lord, she exasperated him. “Do you know why I’ve got Bruiser looking into this?” Laurie shook her head and hiccoughed. “Because everyone keeps telling me you tripped, that you stumbled. And I knew it was bullshit. You move like a cat. There’s no way you’d fall down those stairs on your own.”

  “Really?” she squeaked. “Like a cat? You think I move like a cat?”

  Ross figured Laurie Miller had to be the most frustrating creature on God’s green earth. She had an absolute inability to ever see in herself what other people so easily noticed. “Yeah, like a cat.”

  “But my face—”

  “Is still beautiful.”

  She blinked back her remaining tears and looked up at Ross wide-eyed. “Really?”

  He sighed out of aggravation. If she wasn’t still so fragile, he figured he would show her just how attractive he thought she really was. “Really, Laurie. You’re beautiful. Not only here,” he said as he brushed her cheek with his fingers, “but here.” Ross gently placed his hand over her heart.

  Laurie’s hand covered his as it rested against her chest. She stared up at him as if trying to search his eyes for the truth. The fear and disbelief were plain on her face. He tried to will his strength to her, to will his love to her. “You’re beautiful, Kitten.” She dropped her gaze, shook her head, and tried to pull away from him again.

  Ross wasn’t about to let her continue to feel so terrible, not only about her injuries, but also about herself in general. Figuring some people needed to be shown something rather than told, he put his finger under her chin and gently made her raise her face look at him. Then he placed his lips on hers.

  Hoping to simply offer solace with a short kiss, Ross wasn’t ready for Laurie’s response. She quickly pushed her arms around his neck and pressed her full breasts against his chest. With her clad only in a thin nightshirt, he could feel every inch of where their bodies touched.

  Pulling away from the kiss, he whispered in her ear, “Laurie, I want you so much.” His ego loved the fact she trembled at his words.

  Laurie needed him to show her, she needed him to make her believe his words. She tried to stand on tiptoe to kiss him again, but her injured knee gave. Ross caught her against him. He held her as if he feared she would break. She instinctively understood his body language. Part of her was grateful he was so considerate of her pain, but she was still shocked at her disfigured face. She wanted some kind of reassurance that the injuries hadn’t made her repulsive.

  He cradled her against his body. She heard him gulp a couple of deep breaths. “When you’re better,” he finally said. “That’s a promise.”

  “You still want me?” she whispered against his shoulder. “Even when I...I look like...this?”

  Ross groaned his obvious frustration. He took her hand in his, led it down his body, and splayed her fingers across his erection. “What do you think?”

  Laurie knew she should be shocked at the contact, but she just wasn’t. The proof of his attraction was exactly what she wanted. Exactly what she needed. She let her curious hand rub gently against his lap for a few moments before pulling away. “Thanks.”

  Ross walked her to the bed, pulled the quilt back, and encouraged Laurie to crawl under the covers. He tucked her in and kissed her nose. “I’ve got a couple of things to do. You know, like take a cold shower or skinny dip in Lake Michigan. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

  She smiled and laid her head on the pillow. Ross turned the light off and fled the bedroom.

  Chapter 16

  When T.J. went to meet Ice, he found Ice dead! Someone stabbed him in the back. T.J.’s money and all of Ice’s diamonds were gone. T.J. knows he’ll be blamed. Either the cops or the bootleggers would come for him if we stayed. We left Chicago as soon as we found Ellie. Even before T.J. told her Ice was dead, she was so upset she was almost hysterical. I didn’t know what to do to calm her down.

  T.J. plans for us to go to St. Louis. Then we’ll try to find a little town to settle in. He says he’s as good as dead if any of the bootleggers ever catch up with him.

  I pray we’ll all be safe.

  To save a Fortune, One paid the toll.

  ‘Twas worth the price. One’s immortal soul.

  Laurie was getting confused by continually waking up in strange places. It took her a few sleepy moments to remember she was in Ross’s condo. The sheets next to her looked rumpled, and the pillow still bore the impression where he’d obviously slept. She’d been so mentally and physically spent, she couldn’t even remember if he’d been next to her in the night.

  Scooting over to his side of the bed, Laurie pushed her nose into the pillow. His masculine scent still lingered there. She could hear muffled noises coming from the kitchen, so she decided not to stay in bed too long. But it was hard to pull herself away. The bedside clock showed the time close to nine. She finally found the will to rise, if not the strength. Judging from the trembling of her legs as she stood, she decided not to make the bed. She would be resting in it again in a very short time.

  Rubbing the sleep from
her eyes, she limped up to the large kitchen island and leaned against it. Ross buzzed around preparing a late breakfast. “Morning,” she said. She stretched and then flinched at the aches wracking her muscles.

  “I was going to bring you breakfast in bed,” Ross said before he walked around the island to pull out one of the black and chrome barstools for her. He helped her sit. “Still sore?”

  “Yeah, but a little better. The bath helped,” she replied before remembering the intimacy of that event. Heat quickly spread across her cheeks. He muttered something about “torture” when he turned back to grab a plate and pile it with food.

  He set the plate in front of her. Laurie glanced down at the breakfast and smiled. It looked wonderful. Fresh cantaloupe, scrambled eggs, buttered wheat toast. A blueberry muffin. Ross also slid a bowl of dry Froot Loops across the counter. She was touched he’d remembered what she’d been eating back at the ranch.

  “Where’d you get all of this?” Laurie asked, suspecting he probably had nothing but expired Hot Pockets and an old box of baking soda in his refrigerator.

  “Sheila went shopping. If there’s something else you want, just let me know. She can go shopping again,” he replied with a chuckle. Setting two Tylenol on the counter, he poured her a glass of orange juice and placed it next to the pills. She obediently took the medicine.

  “This is wonderful. Way better than hospital food, but I can’t possibly eat it all,” Laurie said as he handed her a fork.

  “You want coffee?”

  “Like you’d share it.”

  After breakfast, Laurie curled up on the couch and Ross covered her with the black fleece blanket that had been lying over the back. He handed her the remote control and went back to the kitchen.

  Laurie flipped through the channels, finding nothing she really wanted to watch. For a moment, she wondered if she could get Sheila to send some romance novels, but she didn’t want put Ross’s assistant through too much trouble. Ross came back in and sat down next to her as he nursed his cup of coffee. She turned the television off. “You know, we really need to talk, Ross.”

  “Why did you lie to me about who you were?”

  “Boy, you don’t beat around the bush, do you?” Laurie sighed, trying to think of just the right way to tell him everything. Then she decided to be blunt. That seemed to work for him. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I lied because I’d have to sign that friggin’ paper you’ve been dragging all over Hell’s half-acre. And do you know why I don’t want to sign that paper?” He arched an eyebrow. “Because I’ll have to quit my job.”

  He looked confused enough, she wondered why he wasn’t scratching his head. “Why would you have to quit? Can’t you just work at the Miller Foundation part time?”

  “No. It really needs someone there all the time. My father wants me to take it over, and he expects me to do the job right. I already put in sixty hours or more every week at the clinic. When would I have time to work at the Foundation?”

  Ross nodded. “I see your point. So what are you going to do?”

  She sighed again and stared at her hands. “I promised my parents that I’d take over the Foundation, so I will. You know, it’s a great job. You get to help people. But I really like being a counselor. It’s who I am. And my patients need me.”

  “You still haven’t answered my question,” Ross said, putting his coffee cup aside.

  “Yes, I did.” Laurie fiddled with the black blanket before she pulled it off her legs. The place was getting entirely too warm for her taste, and it sure wasn’t because the thermostat was set too high.

  “No, you didn’t. Besides, I’m not stupid. I know a stall when I hear one.”

  “It’s not a stall. If you knew who I was, you’d have wanted me to sign that paper. Then you told me how you felt about rich people. And by then I’d already...” She never finished the thought as she raised her gaze to meet his.

  Ross’s eyes were hard, his face strained. “I’m tired of playing games, Laurie. By then you’d already what?”

  Laurie stared at him, wondering exactly what to say. She was done being coy. The time for honesty had long since passed. Life changing moments like this were frightening in their intensity. If she told him the truth behind her reason for the lie, she would be putting herself on the line. If Ross didn’t return her feelings, she would have her heart broken.

  But hadn’t he come back? Hadn’t he stayed by her side in the hospital? And what about the wonderful things he’d done to show his feelings even before the attack? Laurie remembered the magical night at the Aragon Ballroom and smiled. She thought about the intimacy she’d felt toward Ross from the very beginning. Even back at the Circle M ranch, there had been something important between them, something exciting, something so strong it couldn’t be denied. Something that made her decide to lie to him about who she really was.

  Putting her total trust in the love she felt for him, Laurie took a leap of faith. “By then I’d fallen for you. When you told me how much you hated people who inherited money, I was afraid to tell you. I didn’t want you to hate me when you didn’t even know me. And then you told me about your father. I’m a psychologist. I know how deeply that kind of wound goes. I couldn’t tell you, Ross. I just couldn’t. I’m really sorry.”

  His lips drew into a thin line, and Laurie held her breath. When he finally spoke, the air rushed out of her lungs in a gasp.

  Ross seemed to catch the anxious sound. “You know, you’re right. I probably wouldn’t have given you a chance.”

  Laurie gawked at him in wonder; the man was finally opening up.

  “Do you know how aggravating it is to date a therapist?” Ross asked.

  Laurie shook her head.

  “You made me think, I mean really think, about stuff I was happier ignoring. You made me see everything in a different way. Look, I’m sorry about everything, Kitten. I’m sorry about the Katie nonsense, and I’m sorry that I walked away from you at your office. If I’d stayed, maybe you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

  “It’s not your fault, Ross. There’s no reason for you to feel guilty.” She stopped for a moment as fear suddenly coursed through her. Her trembling fingers brushed the hideous wound on her forehead. “That’s it, isn’t it? You did bring me here because you feel responsible that I got hurt, because I look like hell. God, I’m so stupid! I thought...” Laurie was too ashamed to finish the sentence. Tears pooled in her eyes.

  “And I thought we got past this last night,” he said in an annoyed tone. “That’s not why you’re here, and you damn well know it.”

  “Then why?”

  “Because.” He stood up and stepped away from the sofa.

  She frowned at him and threw her hands up in the air. “Oh, well that clears it up.”

  Ross paced around the large room. Laurie had a brief notion that it was probably the first time some areas of the pristine carpet had ever been trod upon. “Because I... And you were... And then I...”

  She waited patiently to find out exactly what was going on in that overworked brain of his. Whatever was troubling him was enough to throw him into a mental meltdown. “Your turn,” she finally said, hoping to break through his barrier.

  He stopped pacing, turned, and smiled at her. “Yeah, my turn. I brought you here because I wanted to take care of you. I...I might... Ah hell, I love you, Laurie.”

  That shut her up.

  Ross stared at Laurie’s gorgeous ice-blue eyes. The soft yearning he saw there helped him find the courage to say all he’d been wanting to tell her. “I know we haven’t known each other very long, but you and I both know we’ve got something special going on here. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner. One look at you in that hospital bed, and I knew. Shit, I think I knew before then. Before I even heard you were hurt, I’d already decided to call you. To apologize for leaving.”

  She just kept staring, and he could see the weepy look she was getting in her eyes again. It was enough to choke the air from him. “Wel
l?” he asked.

  “Well, what?” she squeaked.

  “Your turn.”

  “I love you too.”

  It took less than a heartbeat for him to reach her, less than another heartbeat before he was kissing her.

  The kiss turned almost brutal in its intensity. Ross’s lips crushed hers as his tongue claimed her mouth. Mine. His heart pounded as lightning spread through his veins and shot straight to his groin. Mine. She slipped her hands around his neck and pressed her body to his, moving restlessly against him. Yes, Kitten. Oh, yes.

  Ross wrapped an arm around her back and slid the other beneath her knees to drag her onto his lap, trying not to jar her injured knee. She didn’t seem to mind. He loved the way she felt in his arms, loved the tiny sounds she made, loved the way her mouth tasted each time he let his tongue take ownership. He started to ease her down on the sofa with every intention of doing his best to charm her right out of that nightshirt.

  The doorbell almost went ignored.

  Ross finally let out a frustrated growl. He set Laurie off of his lap and stomped away to answer the incessant tone. He was rapidly growing weary of his best laid plans being constantly thwarted.

  Angrily yanking open the door, Ross glared at a tall woman with short blonde hair. “I’m very sorry to disturb you, but is Laurie Miller here?” she asked in a heavily accented voice.

  “And you are?” he inquired, entirely annoyed and desperately wanting to go back to what he and Laurie had been busy doing before they were so rudely interrupted.

  “Her mother.”

  “Shit.”

  The woman stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before she drew her brows together. “Pardon?”

  He tried not to sigh in frustration. “I’m sorry. Please come in.” Ross opened the door wider and tried to recover his aplomb. She followed him into the condo as he closed the door behind him.