She shrugged. “I work at a bar. It’s not exactly the kind of place where I’d go around talking about children.”
“True that. So, has she got a father?”
Laney stiffened and he instantly wished he could take the words back. Why’d he asked that? Shit, he knew why. He was fishing to find out if she was single, not that he was looking for a relationship or anything.
“He’s not a part of Laney’s life. Or mine,” she said in a quiet voice.
Riser didn’t bother trying to interpret the rush of relief he felt hearing that. The guy had to be a prize asshole. If Riser ever had a kid of his own, no matter what happened, he wouldn’t leave her. If she got sick, he would be there in an instant and nothing could keep him away.
Riser started putting the picture of Laney’s past together. The birthdate on her driver’s license put her just as young as she looked, twenty-five years old. Guess she got pregnant with her daughter pretty young, and the father had probably abandoned them. She worked hard at the bar, and as far as he knew, she hadn’t hooked up with anyone since she’d been there.
Riser continued, not wanting to let the conversation drop on such a sour note. “So, what do you do when you’re not working?”
“Mostly spend time with her. We don’t get out much. What about you? What do you do when you’re not working?” She glanced up at him, and he found himself lost in her light-brown eyes. How did he not notice her full mouth before now? Her flushed lips were parted, like she was waiting on him to kiss her.
As if reading his mind, her gaze dropped to his mouth, and she blushed.
Maybe she wasn’t totally immune to him after all.
Perhaps he’d have to stop by the bar later this week when she started back to work. Check on Lily. Check on her. “Not really much of anything. Getting ready for my next mission. Hanging out with the guys some.”
Now that he thought about it, what did he do when he wasn’t on a mission?
The past few years flashed through his mind in sequences, from mission to mission, mostly in the desert, some stateside, and then his last little adventure in the jungle. He didn’t think about family or people or relationships; he thought about guns and ammo and tactics.
Not that he hadn’t had the occasional one-night stand, but he couldn’t remember any of the women’s faces. They’d served a need, helped him take the edge off, and then he—and they—had moved on.
“What about family? Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Laney asked.
“Nope. One and only right here. My folks have a little ranch back in Texas, but they keep busy like me, so I don’t see them very often.” Come to think of it, last time he made a trip back home was a year ago. His mom and dad had been helping birth the spring calves on his last visit. Watching the little boogers stumble around on their knobby legs was hilarious.
“I haven’t seen my parents in a long time either,” Laney whispered.
The hint of sadness in her voice drove his attention back to the woman in his arms. She’d never spoken this much about herself before and he was eager to delve deeper. “Do they live in your hometown?”
She nodded and began to trace absentminded circles on his leg. That light touch sent chills down his leg, but he acted like he didn’t notice. He didn’t want her to yank her hand away.
“Don’t feel bad, I haven’t gotten to see my folks in almost a year.” His voice came out gruffer than he’d anticipated, but he was finding it hard to concentrate on keeping a conversation active. All he wanted to do was lean down and capture her lips in a gentle kiss.
“Me neither. I’m not sure if my daughter even remembers them.”
Riser’s gaze was pinned on the abstract prints on the wall across from them, meant to bring comfort, no doubt, but he wasn’t actually looking at them. Laney filled his senses. He’d spent plenty of time around her at the bar, but not with her. Not like this. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about her refined features—her petite, curvy nose and her satiny, pale skin; her long brown hair. He let himself look at her again, filled by the sudden impulse to pull her hair down from that ponytail and see it falling in waves around her shoulders. Because he wanted to see all of her, and also because it would give him an excuse to touch her.
Laney glanced up and his breath caught in his chest at the raw emotions playing out on her face. And then she focused on his lips and his vision tunneled. They both needed comfort right now, and he couldn’t think of any other place he’d rather be.
In some kind of blood loss-induced haze, Riser lowered his head, taking in the way her pulse quickened at the base of her throat and her lips parted. She didn’t jerk back or gasp in outrage.
He wanted to taste her. Smell her. He wanted to swallow her whole. Instead, he let his lips hover an inch away, giving her plenty of opportunity to stop him.
She quit tracing circles and her nails dug into his thigh through his jeans, sending a rush of blood to pool in his cock.
Riser was barely aware of the nurse approaching.
“Mrs. Browder?”
Chapter Four
Dear Lord, this man had wound some type of spell around her. Everything about him was rugged and sexy and raw. The black T-shirt stretched taut over his chest did nothing but emphasize the hard-packed muscles underneath. She’d never wanted to kiss someone so bad in her entire life.
Not even her ex at the beginning of their relationship.
“Mrs. Browder?”
Mrs. Browder?
Laney reeled back and the blood leached from her head. It was like that devil had heard her thoughts and come for her. She licked her suddenly dry lips. “What did you say?”
A few feet behind Riser stood the nurse who’d been so caustic and uncaring during Laney’s check-in. But she sure as hell hadn’t used her real name. “No, you must have me mistaken for someone else. My name’s Jane Smith.”
There is no way this woman could have discovered her true identity, unless…
The shuttered, yet confused, stare that Riser was giving her made her heart beat faster. Had he said something? Had he told them her real name?
From the way the nurse pursed her lips and arched her brow, Laney got the sinking sensation he had.
“So, you are not Laney Browder, date of birth July 4th?” the nurse pressed.
Laney gulped and frantically scrambled for control. She knew. The woman knew exactly who she was, and from the accusation in her voice, she’d already run Laney’s name and seen her record. What was she going to do? “No, like I said earlier, my name is Jane.”
Margaret narrowed her eyes and Laney fought to keep her expression neutral.
As if reading the absolute terror coursing through her, Riser leaned over, blocking her line of vision to the nurse, and said, “Could you give us some privacy, please?”
His question was reasonable enough, but it was backed by the threat of steel.
“My mistake. I’ll go check my paperwork.”
Laney peered around Riser’s broad shoulders to watch as the nurse walked away, glancing over her shoulder with a knowing look.
When Riser turned to look at her again, she knew. “What did you tell them?”
“They needed more information for your daughter’s surgery. I was sitting there; your purse was right next to me. I was just trying to help.”
A cry tore from her lips. She shot to her feet, her already racing heart tripling its pace. “How could you?”
He would be on his way right now. Her name would’ve popped; his buddies on the police force would’ve notified him. Oh, God, she had to get her daughter now. They had to disappear. He couldn’t find them. Not again.
Laney ran to the OR doors and yanked on the handles, but they didn’t budge. She pulled with all her strength, desperation draining her logic. She had to get Lily out of here. Please, someone open the doors!
“Laney, what’s going on?”
Her skin ripped on her last, most powerful tug, radiating sudden pain across her palms,
but she didn’t care. “He’ll find us!”
She paced down the hall, wrapping her arms around her chest, as she attempted not to hyperventilate. She couldn’t go through that again. If Mark found them, he wouldn’t let them go this time. Worse, he’d throw her in jail and take her daughter away just for punishment. In his sick, twisted mind, it would be what she deserved for running, regardless of the fact he’d beaten her senseless.
No! Laney rushed at the double doors. She’d break them down. She’d do whatever was required to get to her daughter and protect her. Riser’s arm snaked out and snatched her back, just before she slammed into the cold, unyielding metal. “Let me go! You don’t know what you’ve done! I have to save her!”
Laney clawed frantically, trying to scramble free of his grip, knowing in some distant part of her mind that she was acting like a mad woman, but she couldn’t stop.
Riser locked his arm around her chest, pinning her arms to her side, and held on tight. In this position, she could hardly even move, let alone breathe.
“Who’s coming?”
“My husband. Mark. He’ll take Lily.” Where had all the oxygen gone? It was as if the air had been sucked out of the hallway. She tried to focus on Riser’s mouth, the fine, blond hairs in his trimmed beard, but a haze seeped in around her peripheral vision, robbing her of that simple ability. “And he’ll kill me.”
Riser shook her once, just enough to snap her back to the present. “You need to tell me exactly what’s going on, and you need to tell me right now.”
She tried to talk, but her mind was a jumble of darkness. Mark had been her one and only in high school. They’d married young and everything had been perfect. And then he’d started drinking a couple of years into their marriage. Then he’d started to get angry. Really angry.
“Laney, I want to help you, but I can’t do that unless you tell me the truth.” Riser loosened his hold on her. “Why would he want to hurt you or your daughter?”
Why? Hadn’t she asked herself that hundreds of times? She didn’t know why—he just did.
“Mark is a police officer in Arkansas, just across the state border. He put out a record for me after I left him and took our daughter. Now that he knows where we are, he’s going to find us. He’s going to punish me.” Laney started to shake uncontrollably. She couldn’t go back. She couldn’t let him take her baby girl.
“Why did you leave him?” Riser asked in a dark voice, his face falling into a cold mask.
Her ears were ringing; she couldn’t concentrate, but she heard herself say, “Because after he beat me, he started to go after our daughter. I took her and ran. He caught up with us once, but I managed to escape. I’ve been hiding us ever since.”
She’d gotten really good at it. The job at the bar paid her under the table, no social security number or background check required. She paid all of her bills in cash.
“Then I need to get you out of here, stat.”
Chapter Five
“I can’t leave without Lily. He’ll take her, and I’ll never see her again.”
Riser was aware of every ounce of panic in Laney’s voice; he was also aware of what he needed to do.
“You heard the doctor; she will be in recovery for a minimum of three days. He can’t take her from this hospital before then.”
Laney backed up a step, holding her hands up in front of her, as if she could ward off him, his arguments, and anything that could keep her from her daughter. “Then I’ll wait until they roll her out of surgery, and I’ll take her out of here.”
“You can’t move Lily that soon after they’ve cut her open.”
Laney flinched. Riser needed her to see reason. “She’ll bleed out. There’s no way around that. And if that doesn’t happen, she’ll get an infection in her wound. That could kill her too.”
Laney continued to hold up her hands, shaking her head in silence. She backed up another step and bumped into the emergency room doors.
“Laney, you said your husband is a cop. If he’s got an alert on your name or your daughter’s name, that means the cops are already on their way here. If everything you’ve told me is true, then he will have you arrested. And once that happens, there’s nothing I’ll be able to do to protect you or Lily.”
Riser glanced over his shoulder, making sure no one else had come around the corner. No signs of life. But he knew Laney’s file had pinged some kind of an alert—it explained why that nasty nurse had been gaping at her computer. It explained why they’d been left here this long. Local PD would be here any second. The sheriff back home, Bo Lawson, was a solid guy. He’d help them, Riser knew he would, but Bo would have to take Laney into custody until they sorted this situation out. Problem was, men like Laney’s ex wouldn’t sit around and twiddle their thumbs and wait on someone else to butt into their lives. He’d blow in like a raging bull and destroy everything in his path to hurt Laney.
They had to get out of here. The OR doors boxed them in, offering no escape route, but Riser knew a way out the back. He could sneak her out to the little cabin he’d built a few miles out of town. No one other than Ethan knew the location. They could hole up there for a day or two, give Riser time to contact the sheriff and get a restraining order against Laney’s bastard husband.
“I can’t lose her.”
Riser closed the distance between them and grabbed her wrists, careful not to hurt her but forceful enough to get her attention. “Then come with me, now. Like I said, they won’t let anyone move her from this hospital for at least a few days. But Mark can have you arrested tonight, and then what help will you be to her?”
She had that shell-shocked expression he’d only seen on soldiers in battle, but he couldn’t let her freeze up now. Not with this much at stake.
“I’ve got a cabin we can hide out at for a little while. I’ll fill Sheriff Lawson in on the situation, and he can help. He’s a good guy, and he’s best buds with the judge; we’ll get a restraining order against your ex to keep him away from Lily.” Riser took Laney’s face between his hands. “And I’ll personally guard her, if it comes down to that.”
Seeing terror in any woman’s features made rage boil up inside Riser, turning him into a giant, protective beast, but seeing it on Laney’s face felt even worse. He ground his teeth together, knowing she could hear his jaw popping from the force of it.
He’d lost one woman under his protection to a madman, something that haunted him; he wouldn’t allow it to happen again. “I swear on my life, just trust me. You’re no good to Lily locked up in a jail cell, especially if it’s controlled by your abusive ex.”
Laney seemed to snap out of whatever terror-induced haze had taken control of her mind, and heat rushed to her ghostly pale cheeks. “You’re right.” She gulped, the movement making her throat bob. “If he even lets me make it to the jail cell.”
Riser kept his mouth shut, not needing to confirm or deny it was a possibility. They both knew it was a likely scenario. He’d met plenty of men like Mark—men who used their power to hurt and control people rather than protect them—and he didn’t doubt the asshole would twist the law to suit his own needs. Laney had run away with Mark’s daughter, and Riser seriously doubted the guy would forgive and forget. If Mark was allowed to leave the hospital with Laney, Riser was willing to bet no one would ever see her alive again.
“Stay close to me, keep your head down, and don’t act suspicious. We’re going to walk out of here,” Riser took her hand and eased down the hall toward the corner.
Laney grabbed her purse and tucked in close behind him. Riser eased up to the corner and peered around, wishing like hell he’d brought his sidearm in from the car. As long as he did his job right, he wouldn’t need it in here. Besides, ripping out his sidearm in the hospital would be a guaranteed attention getter when the only thing he wanted to do was blend in and coast out. The nurses’ station was a steady buzzing. His particular nurse, the sour face, was preoccupied, dealing with an old man yelling about aliens. Serve
d her right.
He glanced at Laney’s face and saw that it had gone pale once more. She was glancing over her shoulder at the operating room doors.
“Exactly how far away does your ex live from this hospital?”
“A couple of hours,” she answered quietly.
“Then we don’t have much time.”
Riser would wait ’til later to question Laney more about her situation. He had a lot of questions, but right now his number-one priority was getting her safely out of this hospital and hidden. Riser peeked around the corner again, made sure the nurses were still preoccupied, and then led Laney around the corner and down the next hall.
Riser stared straight ahead, listening for any break in the argument going on at the nurses’ station. It was the best distraction he could hope for in the limited amount of time it would take for them to make the crossing. If they were lucky, they’d sail right out the back door.
“Hey you, stop.”
Riser kept walking, maneuvering through the clogged hallway, shouldering his way past staff nurses and patients. Not his favorite scenario, but hopefully the people around them wouldn’t realize what was going on until it was too late.
“Stop those two! They’re wanted for kidnapping!” the sour face yelled.
Riser didn’t look back; he squeezed Laney’s hand and took off, hanging a left and then a right, zigzagging down the hallway toward the back door. No one tried to stop them. Riser dwarfed most of the staff by at least a foot, and only an idiot would get in his way right now. The only thing separating them from their exit was the cardiac unit in the back. It would be a piece of cake to sneak around the front to his truck and leave.
“Police! Stop where you are!”
Riser craned his head to the right to see a pudgy, balding cop giving chase. It was probably the first detainment the man had ever tried to make. Well, he wouldn’t be taking them in today. Riser had promised Laney that he’d keep her safe and protect her daughter—or die trying. It was a promise he intended to keep.
Brotherhood Protectors: Riser's Resolve: Men of Mercy (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 3
