Healing Heather

by Aiki Flinthart

  ‘Sorry ma’am,’ the woman replied stoically. ‘You’re not to have visitors. Including him. Mr Miller’s own instructions. When the doc releases you, we’re to take you straight to Mr Miller’s office. You can speak with him then.’

  Heather looked at the woman, then at herself. She sat in bed, dressed in nothing more than a hospital gown, with a drip still attached to her arm. The security guard and her clone sat near the door, dressed in jeans and longsleeved business shirts, carrying pistols in holsters under their arms. They also wore gloves. She needed skin contact to influence someone.

  Kade had taken precautions. No way could she escape the room.

  Lethargy and misery overcame her and she lay on her side, facing the window, staring out at the blue sky. Tears dampened her cheeks and dripped off her nose. She wrapped around her fear and cried herself to sleep for the first time in many years.

  When she awoke the next day, it was to a cheerful doctor and his professional assessment that she was ready to go home. He admonished her to take better care of herself and recommended she see a dietician. When she cautiously asked about the bill, he beamed and told her it was all handled and not to worry about it.

  Subdued, she dressed and came out of the bathroom as ready as she could be. Her bodyguards carried her bag and escorted her in close formation—careful not to touch her—to a waiting car. Not a car; a limousine.

  She climbed in. Before she could slide out the other door, it opened and one of her guards ducked inside, giving her a quick nod.

  Heather ground her teeth, humiliation mounting and rapidly becoming anger. What right did Kade have to hold her against her will? What right did he have to pass her over to Carleton, like she was some sort of commodity, a slave, a…thing to be bought and sold?

  How could he do it after she’d saved his life, and after what she’d revealed? She’d trusted him to make the right choice, the humane choice, and he’d chosen to throw her aside.

  Well, she folded her arms and smiled grimly, she had one last card to play. Hopefully it wouldn’t backfire on her.

  KADE

  ‘She’s on her way.’ Torin restored his office-phone in its cradle and grimaced at Kade. ‘Emma says she’s pretty angry, too.’

  Kade supported himself on the dark timber desk, his head lowered. He’d spent the better part of four days digging into Andrew Carleton’s background and what he’d found, frankly, scared him. Heather had been right. Carleton had a reputation as a ruthless businessman, but that wasn’t the worst of it. There were hints, buried deep in his activities, of things a whole lot more unsavoury than just dodgy business practices. But nothing concrete. Nothing that could be directly linked and proven.

  But more than enough to make Kade doubt the wisdom of giving Carleton any access to someone as vulnerable and unique as Heather.

  The question was: how did they prevent it? Torin, unaware of the events in the mountains at the time they unfolded, had already informed Carleton of their success in finding her. So now there was no choice but to follow this thing through. But there had to be some way to give Carleton what he wanted, whatever that was, and still keep Heather safe.

  Kade glowered. ‘What does he really want with her?’

  ‘Not sure.’ Tor tapped on the grey suede folder that contained all the information provided by Carleton. ‘All he’ll say is that he wants to know what his daughter’s last words were, and speak to her husband. Obviously there’s more to it, but no way of knowing what. Possibly he suspects Amali isn’t dead and wants her back.’ He raised steady eyes to Kade. ‘You know there’s only one way to find out for sure.’

  ‘No! We can’t—’ Kade’s hot reply was interrupted by a brisk knock on the door. He swung around, unsure how to handle her if she was really angry. He couldn’t blame her. From her point of view he’d kidnapped her and was intending to give her over to a man she feared. And that had been his intent.

  Days of research and introspection had changed that.

  He wished he had a solution to offer her. And he wished even more that he understood his own feelings for her. All he knew was that he’d let his anger and fear push him into making stupid, hurtful decisions and Heather had every right to be bitterly angry at him.

  He braced himself.

  The door opened and Torin’s secretary held it wide, closing it quickly behind Heather.

  Kade gaped. The change was extraordinary. A few days rest and food had wrought wonders. Her short, dark hair fell in soft waves to her jaw and framed a face that, while still thin, was fuller than the last time he’d seen it. Her eyes were no longer dark-shadowed and sunken. They flashed fire in ice when they met his.

  She drew herself up and looked down her nose. Without uttering a word to him, she switched her attention to Torin. Her expression transformed, softening into wonder and tentative joy, bringing new beauty and youth.

  She took a step and stopped, tears pooling on her lashes. Then she dashed forward and threw herself at Torin, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his shoulder.

  ‘Oh! It is you, Torin!’

  Kade froze. Jealousy strangled hope in his throat. She did know Tor. In the cabin…her reaction to his name hadn’t been his imagination. She knew Tor—too well by the looks of it. And trusted him more than she trusted Kade.

  He swore, intending to tell Torin to go to Hell. But Tor’s startled confusion gave Kade pause. His partner had his hands apart, body held stiff. He patted Heather’s back awkwardly.

  Then he pushed her away, frowning. ‘Um…’

  She gulped and scrubbed at her tear-stained cheeks. ‘Don’t you recognise me? I’m Heather.’

  Tor looked a question at Kade, who shrugged in reply, tasting bitterness at her quick revelation of her identity. He hadn’t told Tor her real name. He wasn’t sure why. It didn’t seem appropriate. It had been a gift of trust he hadn’t wanted to betray, a moment of private connection shared only between the two of them.

  Torin inspected her for a few seconds. Then his fingertips on her shoulders whitened and his jaw dropped open. He sat heavily on the edge of his desk

  ‘Heather?’ He shut his teeth with a snap. ‘But you’re…they said you were…it’s not possible!’

  For a long moment the three of them waited in stasis, immobilised, Kade watching in angry mystification. Hope and fear warred on Heather’s face.

  Then Tor stood again, uttered an oath, and snatched her into his arms. She began to cry in earnest and Kade was astonished to see tears leaking from beneath his partner’s closed eyelids. He’d never seen Tor cry. Not ever. Not even when his father suicided when Tor was fifteen, leaving him alone in the world. He was the coolest sonofabitch Kade had ever seen and he was crying.

  Hopelessness seized Kade and he spun on his heel, heading for the door. The irony of Torin caring that much about this particular woman would, he was sure, hit him and he’d laugh about it later. Right now he needed to put some distance between them.

  ‘Kade!’ Tor’s call stopped him at the door. ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me who she was?’ He pulled Heather against his side, smiling at her. She rested her head on his shoulder, but her attention stayed on Kade.

  Kade gritted his teeth.

  ‘It’s not his fault, Tor,’ she said softly. ‘I didn’t tell him. I wasn’t sure until I saw you, so I didn’t want to get my hopes up.’

  ‘What are you on about?’ Kade snapped, one hand on the doorknob so hard his fingers ached.

  She smiled. ‘Torin’s my older brother.’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  KADE

  ‘So explain,’ Kade crossed an ankle over his knee and folded his arms.

  The three of them sat in a group of leather chairs, near the picture windows that looked out over Washington Market Park. Pale winter-sky sunlight streamed in through the window and touched red into the dark beauty of Heather’s hair. She sat on a couch opposite Kade. She met his eyes briefly, flushed and wrapped her arms around her stom
ach, focussed on the floor.

  ‘Mother and I left home when I was eleven.’ She flicked a fearful glance at Torin. ‘You were thirteen.’

  ‘I remember,’ he said, bitterness in his tone. ‘I woke to find Dad passed out on the kitchen floor with blood on his knuckles and a bottle of scotch beside him. All he would say when he sobered up was that Mom had taken you and left.’

  ‘Yes.’ Heather paled and touched her left temple. When Kade observed the gesture and frowned, she hastily tucked her fingers under her thighs. ‘We…had to leave.’

  ‘But why?’ Tor’s fists clenched. ‘And why did he tell me you were both dead a year later? And what the hell do you have to do with this?’ He pointed at Kade.

  ‘Dead!’ Heather pressed her hands to her cheeks. ‘I’m so sorry Torin. I had no idea. Mom wouldn’t let me write you. She must have sent Dad that information to keep him from searching for us. I went to the house years later, but you’d gone and none of the neighbours knew where. I couldn’t find you.’

  ‘I’ll bet I know why you left,’ Kade put in, resting his elbows on his knees. He ought to leave them alone; let them thrash out their family history in private. But he and Tor were brothers in all but blood and, dammit, he was the one responsible for reuniting them. This was as much his business as Torin’s. Or was it that he wanted it to be his business?

  ‘No!’ Heather put out a hand as though to stop him from speaking.

  He ignored her protest. Nothing would be gained by hiding her abilities from her brother. If they were going to ever make her safe from Carleton, Tor needed to be fully in the loop. Kade thrust aside a twinge of guilt and the possibility that he was rationalising a desire to punish her, just a little. No. They needed everything in the open if they were going to work together.

  ‘I’m guessing your father found out what you could do and that scar...’ he tapped his own temple ‘…is why he had blood on his knuckles. Your mother left to protect you from him, didn’t she?’

  She wrapped her arms around herself again, shooting Kade a hurt little glare.

  Torin was silent a long time. Kade waited. Tor was smart enough to see Kade’s guess had hit a nerve in his sister, without having to interrogate her or make her prove it. Kade had heard enough of Tor’s childhood memories to know Tor’s father had become a morose alcoholic after the departure of his wife and daughter. Tor had never mentioned violence, but it wasn’t unfeasible.

  Finally, Torin swore and scrubbed at his face.

  Heather jumped to her feet and excused herself, fleeing to the bathroom. Tor started after her but Kade held him back.

  ‘Let her go. There’s no way out of there. She doesn’t want to see your reactions. She’s afraid.’

  ‘Afraid of what?’ Tor gazed after his sister, doubt showing.

  ‘Of what you’ll think of her.’ Kade knew Tor better than anyone and even he wasn’t certain how the man would react. The man had always played his emotional cards close to his heart. ‘There’s a lot you don’t know about her.’

  Torin gave a sardonic snort and stalked over to the drinks cabinet. He cracked open two beers, passing one to Kade.

  ‘Like that you’re in love with her?’ He sat and offered his bottle in a mocking toast.

  Kade choked on a sip and sprayed beer on the coffee table. ‘What?’

  With a shrug, Tor sipped his own drink. ‘I’ve known you since we were fifteen, Kae. Your face said it all.’

  Standing, Kade rubbed at the back of his neck. ‘In love? I don’t know. Maybe? There’s something, anyway. What, I’m not sure.’ He took a few turns around the space then stopped to make sure Torin heard him clearly. ‘We can’t give her over to Carleton.’

  ‘Obviously.’ Tor looked again at the closed bathroom door. ‘I’m not letting her near that bastard.’

  Kade went for broke. Tor was well known for his rigid sense of justice. It was one of the things that made their business so well-respected. ‘And we can’t turn her over to the authorities, either.’

  Tor paused in the act of drinking and lowered the bottle. His frown darkened. ‘What about the other young women and babies who’ve died? Even if Amali’s alive, they aren’t and my sister had something to do with it. Or is there something you’re not telling me?’ His focus sharpened on Kade.

  ‘Trust me.’ Kade grimaced. ‘If they could have been saved, Heather would have done it.’

  Tor opened his mouth but Kade forestalled him, adding, ‘Heather only let those girls and babies go because they wouldn’t have survived without medical assistance and they wouldn’t go to a hospital. Illegals.’

  Tor placed his beer neatly on a coaster on the table. ‘I don’t understand. “Let them go”? You make it sound like she had a choice—that she decided whether they lived or died.’

  ‘In a way, but not as you probably think.’

  Kade filled Tor in on the events of the cabin, minus a few intimate details he might take exception to in his role as brother. He tossed his phone over, complete with its photos of his scars, bruises and bloodied clothing.

  Tor inspected the photos and questioned Kade closely. He didn’t appear to disbelieve, but he wasn’t a man easily impressed, either, so it was hard to tell what he thought. He passed the phone across the table and collected his beer.

  ‘It’s...a little hard to comprehend.’ He peered blankly at the ceiling. ‘But it could explain why our mother left and took Heather. She was an obstetrics and paediatrics nurse. It’s most likely she had the same gift.’

  ‘Right.’ Kade pointed the beer bottle at him. ‘And I think your father couldn’t handle it. I think your mother saw he was freaked and took Heather with her when she went.’

  ‘Shit.’ Torin put the beer aside. He buried his forehead in the heels of his hands. ‘I’ll be honest. We’ve seen some weird stuff in this job but this freaks me out. But I don’t want to make the same mistake my father did, Kade. I’ve lost her once. I don’t want to screw this up.’ He tugged his jacket straight, giving Kade a bleak, hard look. ‘And if you hurt her, man, you’ll answer to me. So let’s get this over with so we can concentrate on how to get Carleton to leave both her and his daughter alone.’

  Kade knocked on the bathroom door and, after a long silence, it opened. Heather appeared composed when she sat on the very edge of the couch, but the way her shoulders hunched and her eyes darted between the two men spoke volumes. She expected recriminations, anger, some negative reaction.

  He wanted, more than anything, to wrap her close and keep her safe, but this wasn’t the time or the place. She feared and distrusted him, and why not? He’d hounded her and repaid her sacrifice by dragging her to New York against her wishes, ready to throw her to a sadistic misogynist. In that light, he didn’t like himself, either.

  ‘I want to help you, Heather,’ Tor’s tone was quiet and calm. ‘And protect you. But I have to know the truth.’

  The look Heather gave him was still fearful.

  Kade observed the flicker of emotion across her face. What she’d gone through! In one night her life had changed from idyllic childhood bliss to fearful, hand-to-mouth constant running. Torn from her brother and home, afraid for her life. She’d only been a kid.

  ‘Did Dad hit you because of this sort of thing?’ Torin showed her the photos of Kade’s bruising. ‘Is that why you left?’

  Kade tensed, ready to intervene. Tor was keeping a lid on his reactions in an effort not to frighten her but the telltale signs of pain were there: the clenching of his jaw, the working of his throat.

  Heather must have felt it, for she rose and put space between them with a quick, worried glance at her brother and a hostile one for Kade. She stared out the window, her back to them.

  ‘Yes. No.’ She stroked the scar on her temple again. ‘He found me in the kitchen healing our cat. She’d been injured in a fight with the big ginger tomcat from next door. I was crying over her and didn’t hear him come in. He saw blood and freaked, thinking I was injured. Then he saw
the cat, covered in blood, bolt out the door.’ She turned half-toward them and Kade saw tears streaking her cheeks.

  ‘At first he shook me and asked me all sorts of questions I didn’t really understand. About Mom. I guess he must have suspected she was different, but she was careful and hid it from him. He’d guessed. He got so angry. He was screaming at me. Why had I let “her” die; why hadn’t I saved “her”. I didn’t know who he was talking about.’

  ‘I do,’ Torin groaned. ‘When you were only two, they had a daughter, Peggy. She died when she was only a few months old. Cot death. He never really got over it. Blamed himself because he’d put her to bed on her stomach. I suppose, when he found out what you and Mom could do, he transferred the blame to her and you.’

  Heather murmured, ‘Mom told me, years later. She couldn’t have saved the baby. Peggy had been dead too long by the time they found her.’ She covered a sob and wiped her cheeks. ‘But that day, in the kitchen…he got so mad he slapped me.’

  ‘Is that when Mom intervened?’

  ‘No.’ Her reply was barely audible, fresh tears shimmering on her lashes. ‘That was a few minutes later. I was stunned. But when I got up I was so angry and scared I…’ She stopped and covered her face with her hands, turning her back again.

  Kade had to restrain himself from wrapping her in his arms. Tor rose and rubbed her back.

  ‘Hey. It wasn’t your fault. He shouldn’t have hit you. I understand why Mom had to take you and go. She was afraid he would hurt you. It’s ok. I’m glad we found each other again.’ He held her.

  She shoved hard against his chest, glaring with tear-filled eyes.

  ‘You don’t understand. Neither of you! Mom wasn’t afraid he would hurt me.’ She scoffed at Torin’s confusion. ‘Mom staged it to appear he was drunk. He wasn’t. He was unconscious on the floor because I almost drained him, like some sort of…vampire.’

  Her voice shook and she backed away from Tor.

  ‘Don’t you see? We left because she was afraid I would kill him.’