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

by James, Sandy

“Soon, I promise.” She tried to reassure the poor obsessive-compulsive man. He needed consistency and her life had been anything but consistent in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, his life had been impacted in the process.

  “And your husband won’t make you leave?” he asked for what seemed to her like the hundredth time. Laurie could read his apprehension, so she kept her patience. “He’s not making you leave me?”

  She laid a comforting hand on his arm. “No, Miguel. I’m not leaving because of him. I’m not going right away anyway.” The guilt over the fact she would be leaving within the next month or so to take the reins of the Miller Foundation was smothering. She tried to assure herself that she would find a replacement quickly and help Miguel bond to his new therapist.

  “And...and your face will heal? You look so...hurt.”

  Thanks a heap, she mused. “My face will heal.” She brushed her bangs over her marred forehead.

  “And you’ll be here next time I come?”

  Poor Miguel. “Yes. I’ll be here.”

  Maybe she could keep just a few of her patients and still work at the Foundation. Maybe she wouldn’t have to leave Miguel and her other patients behind.

  Yeah, right. Maybe if I give up sleeping.

  Once Miguel finally left the clinic with his sister, who always patiently waited for each of his appointments, Laurie turned back to Connie. “Any messages?”

  Connie handed her a small stack of pink slips. “The usual nonsense. You really need to catch up on your dictations. And that lady from Medicare called again about the meds you wanted for Mrs. Linderman. She can’t seem to get it through her thick head that there isn’t a generic for Zyprexa yet.”

  Thinking of all she had to do and how little time she had to do it, Laurie indulged in a pitiful sigh. “I don’t think I’m ever gonna get caught up. Feels like I was gone a month. Did you get the ad put in the paper?”

  Connie nodded. “Should start running tomorrow. Do you want me to schedule the interviews?”

  “Go ahead,” Laurie replied with a wry chuckle. “But I wouldn’t expect too many calls.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Horrible job. Terrible pay. Grueling hours. They oughta be lining up around the block.” Connie answered the ringing office phone.

  Alex walked into the clinic, taking Laurie by surprise. He was the last person she wanted to see. Her intuition nudged her, but she didn’t have time to pay too close attention.

  “Hello, Laurie.” He quickly closed the distance between them and rudely invaded her personal space.

  Laurie took a deliberate step back as she tried to read him.

  “You feeling better?”

  “I’m fine. What do you want, Alex?” She was frustrated she couldn’t read anything from him except that carefully constructed mental wall blocking her probing stare.

  “I thought I’d take you to lunch. We still haven’t had a chance to catch up, and...and I hoped we could talk about the journal.”

  Connie interrupted as she held up her phone’s receiver. “Dr. Miller, you’ve got an important call.”

  “We’re busy!” Alex shouted back. “Take a goddamn message!”

  Laurie immediately caught the flash of anger before he could put the cognitive barrier firmly back into place. “Don’t shout at Connie,” she scolded Alex before turning back to her receptionist. “Who is it?” She knew the answer the minute she read the mischief and amusement running through Connie’s mind.

  In slow and very deliberate words, Connie replied, “It’s your husband.”

  “Husband?” Alex’s roar frightened everyone in the reception area. “Husband? You married that bastard?”

  The rage Laurie read was so overpowering it literally knocked the wind out of her. The quiet professor had been replaced by a psychopath. This man was dangerous. Why hadn’t she seen it sooner? She had to shake off what she read and gather her wits. “Alex, I want you to leave. Now.” She tried to sound calm and determined, and she hoped he wouldn’t see how much her hands trembled and hear how out of breath she was.

  “You married him! You can’t! You’re mine! How could you?” Alex railed as he stomped around the waiting area. All of a sudden, he whirled around to face Laurie again. “You slut!” He picked up an empty chair and sent it flying at the wall.

  What she read in his eyes terrified her. “Get out! Now! Connie, call 911,” Laurie ordered as she fretted over the possible danger to the few people sitting in the waiting room. Every one of them read of fright.

  The threat of police seemed to help Alex get a grip on himself. Taking deep breaths, he clenched his hands into fists. “I’m all right. It was just a...a...surprise.”

  Laurie tried to muster what bravado she could. “I don’t give a damn whether it was a surprise or not. I want you out of my clinic.”

  “Laurie, I—”

  “Out! Now!” she shouted as she pointed to the double doors of the exit.

  “What about the journal?” Alex asked, no longer hiding his anger.

  Not only could she see it in his eyes, but the rage glowed around him like an aura. She blinked a couple of times to try to make the horrible vision disappear. “Why in the hell does it matter so much to you?”

  “I need that journal!”

  “You can’t have it!” She turned back to Connie. “Did you call 911?”

  Connie nodded like a jostled bobblehead. “Oh, yeah. The cops are on their way. And your husband’s screaming at me on line two.”

  A police cruiser pulled up in front of the clinic. Alex made a run for the glass doors. He disappeared before the officers even had a chance to get out of their car.

  * * * *

  Laurie wasn’t happy when her husband informed her that he had hired Bruiser Glenn to follow her. It had been more than two weeks since Alex had come to her clinic, and she’d hoped to put the scary incident behind her. She hadn’t seen Alex since, and she didn’t think he’d be back. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”

  Ross didn’t appear much happier at her reticence. “Bruiser’s not a bodyguard.”

  “What would you call him then?”

  “Insurance,” he responded as he put away the last of the clean dishes from the dishwasher. “I don’t want that son of a bitch anywhere near you again. Since Bruiser can’t find Alex, I want Bruiser to keep an eye on you in case Alex comes back around the clinic. Why do you think he wants that diary?”

  “I’ve got no idea. There’s nothing special in it. Just a sad story about a woman who died young.” She closed the closet door where she had just hung up the coats they had both thrown over the chair when they got home. When it dawned on Laurie that she had actually done so without Ross reminding her, she smiled.

  Compromise. A good marriage involved compromise.

  In the weeks they’d been living in the old house, Ross had helped put some order to the confusion of her life. He never pushed or insisted. He simply suggested, but he had definitely helped her make some good changes. They’d stayed at the house longer than they had planned, and Laurie knew Ross was anxious to return to his condo.

  She figured the big test of marital cooperation would come when she had her turn at his spotlessly clean place. Turn about was, after all, fair play. And she had some definite plans on making the condo more inviting. She’d help make it a home.

  Laurie turned her mind back to the current topic. “You don’t need to worry about me. Alex won’t be back.”

  “You know, if we went to the condo now, he wouldn’t know where to find you,” Ross said as he walked into the living room.

  “We’ll be there next week.” She straightened the few items remaining on the now virtually clear dining room table. “You know, I hate to admit it, but I can actually find stuff now.”

  Ross gave her a smug smile. “You and Deepika just needed a little help getting organized. But don’t expect miracles. I don’t think there’s anything I can do about all those shoes.”

  Laurie had to laugh at that. “There ar
e some things men will never understand. You can’t separate a woman from her footwear. You should just be glad I’m not a purse fanatic.” She started to file her recent psychology journals with the older ones Ross had placed on the new bookcase shelves.

  He came over to help her. “Look, I know you don’t like the idea, but Bruiser’s only going to check in on you every now and then.” He pushed a journal on the shelf and aligned the spine with the rest of the books. “I need to know you’ve got someone close to reach out to if that lowlife bothers you again. I hate that I’m in the city during the day.”

  She shuddered, remembering what she had read in Alex’s eyes. She finally gave her husband a resigned sigh. “I guess you’re right. I really hate to put Bruiser through so much.”

  “That’s his job. I programmed his cell number into your phone if you need to reach out to him. Just hold down the three key,” Ross explained before he set down the stack of magazines and reached for her hand. He tugged Laurie into his arms. “I know you won’t believe me, but there’s something I’d rather do than clean up this place.”

  She smiled at him as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “And what would that be?”

  Ross kissed her long and deep. When he pulled away, he asked in that husky voice she loved so much, “Is Deepika working tonight?”

  “We’ve got the place to ourselves.” Laurie ran her hands from his waist to his backside. She drew him closer as she wiggled her hips. “What did you have in mind?”

  He lifted her by the waist, and she wrapped her legs around his hips. “Why do you think I cleared off the damn table?”

  Chapter 21

  It feels like we’ve been driving forever. The roads are so bad. Sometimes we have to stop and pull the wheels out of the muddy ruts. It’s no longer romantic to camp under the stars. I’m so unbearably tired. My back hurts and the baby keeps kicking me in the ribs.

  T.J. wants to get to River Bend before the baby is born. He tells Ellie and me stories about his home. I hope our child has a wonderful start in life living on the Circle M ranch.

  T.J. worries about where we’ll make a home when we get to Montana. I told him that the baby and I are his home now. Home isn’t a building. Home is where your heart is.

  He watched her grow, with love he eyed.

  One wished he’d seen how hard One tried.

  Yet Ruby’s heart kept him warm

  as Fortune kept us safe from harm.

  Since he’d married, Ross hated working on Saturdays. He used to spend every weekend at the office, thinking he owed it to the firm. Now he resented the loss of time with Laurie. Unfortunately, he found himself so far behind, he wasn’t sure he would ever get caught up again. Despite his best efforts, the files were literally piling up on his desk. But he hadn’t wanted to go to work.

  Laurie had insisted he make the trip to the office so she could use the time alone to do “a few things” around the condo. Ross winced at the idea of the monument to his success being defiled. He probably should have known his wife wouldn’t do anything halfway. But the changes didn’t make him angry like he thought they would.

  He was first greeted by the framed portraits hanging on what had been the empty wall of the small foyer. There were pictures of Laurie’s parents, Ross’s mother and sister, Deepika and Andrew, and even one he didn’t known he had of Sheila and Bruiser. They all formed a circle around a beautiful photo of their Vegas wedding. Laurie had obviously taken quite a bit of time to paint the green vines and red flowers that weaved a pattern around the collage of frames.

  For the first time since he’d bought the place, Ross felt like he was coming home.

  “Laurie?” he called from the hall where he hung up his coat in the closet and kicked off his shoes. Walking into the great room, he stopped short and gawked. The black and white décor had been liberally splashed with vivid color.

  Laurie had replaced the black fleece blanket stretched over the back of the couch with an afghan crocheted in a kaleidoscope design. There were two bright red throw pillows on the couch and one on the leather chair. A large intricately patterned Persian rug banished the bleakness of the white carpet. The Ansel Adams photos were joined by a The Phantom of the Opera poster and a large panorama picture of the Chicago skyline at twilight. A silk fichus tree in a painted clay pot stood silently next to the picture window that was now framed with gold drapes.

  Turning around to check the modifications to the kitchen, he saw a wicker basket filled with fresh fruit, a wood rack with some mismatched coffee cups, and a ceramic cookie jar shaped like a goofy-looking chicken. The black and chrome barstools had been replaced with some made of varnished oak with red cushions on the seats.

  He mentally counted to ten just out of habit. Change was not his strong suit. “Laurie? Kitten? Looks like you had a...busy day.”

  “I’m in our room.” She practically sang the words.

  His wife was up to something more than home improvement.

  Ross swallowed hard and then forced himself to walk into the master bedroom. He never had a chance to notice any alterations to the furnishings because his attention was immediately focused on his wife. Laurie knelt in the middle of the bed, dressed in a red lace negligee that concealed absolutely nothing.

  “Happy birthday, Ross.”

  He hoped he wasn’t drooling.

  Laurie crawled off the bed and slinked over to where he stood. Grabbing his tie, she gave him a saucy smile and pulled his face down to hers. She kissed him thoroughly before she started to undress him. His tie and shirt were quickly followed by his trousers, socks, and boxers.

  Ross lifted her arms to banish the red lace before burying his lips against her throat. He loved the sweet sound she made every time he nuzzled the spot just behind her ear.

  Laurie knew she would never get tired of the sensations every one of Ross’s touches sent roiling through her. She ran her hands over his muscular chest and teased the patch of hair with her fingertips. Sliding her hands over his stomach, she smiled at the way he sucked in his breath when her hands moved lower.

  When her fingers wrapped around him, Ross literally growled his approval. She gave him a mocking laugh. “Easy, Boy. Easy.” Kissing his chest, she let her lips work their way down his body.

  Realizing it would take every ounce of courage for her to do exactly what she wanted to do, Laurie kept reminding herself that everything she’d done with her husband had felt wonderful. More than wonderful. The birthday gift she intended for him seemed almost too intimate, but she knew it would please him. She pushed aside her shyness and tried to replace it with bravado.

  Ross must have been aware of her intentions. “Laurie, you don’t have to—”

  She didn’t even let him get the sentence out before she took him into her mouth. The sound he made was enough to make the whole experience worthwhile. The embarrassment she expected never came. The fact that she enjoyed it so much only added to the thrill. She decided to settle in and learn his taste and to take pleasure in the power she now held over him.

  Before she had a chance to play too long, Ross pushed his hands under her arms and pulled Laurie to her feet. He had her back to the bed in a split second, was inside her a mere moment later.

  Laurie let herself be swept away in the fierceness of his passion. He made her dizzy as he pulled her along toward paradise. She raised her hips to meet him as he drove himself into her with so much force she was amazed the bed didn’t collapse. She wasn’t sure if she screamed when she came or if she just imagined it. When he shouted her name at his release, a new shower of tremors raced through her. God, how she loved the aftershocks.

  Ross didn’t seem in a hurry to move after he collapsed on her. “I can’t breathe,” Laurie finally squeaked. She assumed he was still conscious when he rolled to his side.

  Waiting for some kind of praise, Laurie snuggled up against him. But he didn’t say a word. Not a syllable. Not even a damn nod.

  “Ross?” She tapped his shoulder
and waited for a few more moments. Heavens, did he frustrate her. “Ross?”

  When he started to snore, she uttered a very unladylike curse. Then she heard him laugh. Smacking his chest with her palm, Laurie rolled away from him and jumped off the bed. She grabbed his shirt and pushed her arms into the sleeves before pulling it closed.

  “Ah, come on, Laurie. I was kidding.” Laurie scowled at him. “You know, that’s not a very effective reprimand when you’re standing there bare legged. I’m not exactly looking at your...face.” He teasingly growled at her. She just continued to scowl. “Careful, you’ll end up looking like me,” Ross cautioned as he bounced off the bed and went to hug her. She tried to pull away, but he only held her closer. “I’m sorry, Love. I really am. It was so good I’m amazed you didn’t have to call the paramedics to revive me.”

  She relaxed in his embrace and rested her cheek on his chest.

  “Thank you,” he finally said.

  Laurie rubbed her face against his skin. “For?”

  “For the best birthday present ever.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ve got an idea.”

  Laurie raised her head to look into his eyes. “Out with it. I can see the gears turning in your head.”

  He gave her a wicked smile. “How about we take a shower and then I give you a present?”

  * * * *

  Ross would have been quite content to simply stay in bed the rest of the day. He wasn’t really tired, but he’d obviously worn Laurie out. A smile crossed his face as he remembered exactly how he had gone about exhausting her. The woman was a hell of a lover, and he was damned glad to be the only one who would ever enjoy all she had to offer a man. He knew it might be an entirely old-fashioned notion, but he felt extremely possessive. He’d never let anything—or anyone—lure her away.

  Doing something as relaxing as lying around in bed wasn’t torture anymore. Insomnia no longer plagued him. He didn’t watch the digital clock changing minute after weary minute. He didn’t wonder why he had nothing good in his life. He didn’t wake up during the wee hours of the morning inundated with worries of work.