[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
and your cell phone.
Casey could have kicked herself. In her rush to get to the civic center she d left both in the pocket of the
blazer she d worn to work that day.
When you didn t answer, she asked us to check on you.
Will glanced at Casey and nodded agreement, but his hard stare returned immediately to Mark.
Glancing over Mark s shoulder, Casey spotted her brothers vehicles parked across the street. If she d
been more alert she would have noticed them when they drove up.
You re lucky we didn t break your door down, Will added. Mom was certain you were passed out
on the floor. Fortunately for you, we looked in through the ga-rage window first and saw that your car
was missing.
Now, back to my oriGinnal question. Where the hell have you been. And who is this guy?
Not that it s any of your business, but we were at the hospital. This is Dr. Mark Adams. And this is his
niece, Jennifer, Casey informed them in a haughty voice. Don t be afraid, sweetie. These big lugs are
just my brothers. Slowly, the frightened girl edged around to her uncle s side. Mark and Jennifer, meet
Will, Brian, Ian and Aiden.
Deliberately, Casey made no mention of the softball game. She was no fool.
What s wrong? Will demanded. Why did you have to go back to the hospital? Damn, you must be
hurt a lot worse than you let on if a doctor had to bring you home.
There was a problem with the wound, Mark replied before Casey could. I reopened it, repaired a
couple of blood vessels and stitched her up again. She should be fine now, if she ll stay off that leg for the
next forty-eight hours.
Oh, she ll stay off of it, Doc, Brian said. We can guarantee that.
Right. If we have to, we ll take turns sitting on her, Ian said.
That won t be necessary. Mark looked from one brother to another. You see, my reasons for
bringing your sister home are more personal than medical. Casey and I are dating. I ll be staying here
tonight to look after her.
The hell you will! Hotheaded Ian charged forward, but Will held him back.
Easy. Easy. You can t hit him while he s carrying Stretch.
Damn you! You re sleeping with our sister, Brian charged.
Aiden took a step forward. Doctor or no doctor, you can kiss your ass goodbye, you
Stop it! Stop it right now. All of you. Casey glared at her brothers. I will not have you starting a
donny-brook in my front yard. And will you kindly remember that there s a young, impressionable girl
present.
The brothers backed off, looking sheepish but no less angry.
Casey s right, Will said. Let s go inside before the neighbors start complaining.
You re not going to fight in my house, either.
Look, fellas. Why don t I take Casey upstairs and get her settled. Then I ll come down and we ll
discuss this.
There s nothing to discuss. I m going to whip your sorry
Can it, Aiden, Will ordered. He turned a warning glare on Mark. We ll give you one minute. If you re
not back by then we re coming after you. We ll be in the living room.
Fine. Mark instructed his niece to get Casey s keys out of her purse and unlock the door.
Oh, for Pete s sake. What do you think he s going to do? Ravish me while the four of you are
downstairs? And for your information, I m a grown woman. I make my own decisions, Casey scolded
her siblings over Mark s shoulder while they all trooped inside. 1 don t need a bunch of Neanderthals
running my life. If I want Mark to stay overnight, that s my business.
Hush, sweetheart. Mark gave her a little shake. You stay out of this. This is between me and your
brothers.
Shock dropped Casey s jaw and silenced her tongue. The brothers exchanged a surprised look that
held a touch of reassessment.
Upstairs, Mark carried Casey into her room and place her on her bed. Jennifer, help her get ready for
bed while I go talk to the brothers. I ll be back in a few minutes.
Are you sure? his niece asked, twisting her hands together.
Mark, you don t have to do this. Why don t you just take Jennifer and go. My brothers will look after
me.
He bent and kissed her forehead. Stop fretting. It ll all work out.
He turned and left the room, and Casey shouted after him, loud enough for her siblings to hear, Tell
them if they lay a hand on you they ll answer to me!
Do you think he ll be all right? Jennifer asked.
Oh, sure, Casey said with a lot more confidence than she was feeling. My brothers are more bark
than bite.
With the girl s help, Casey hobbled to the bathroom for her nightly hygiene rituals. They left the door
open and both she and Jennifer kept a sharp ear out for any sounds of violence from below, but all they
heard was the murmur of voices fairly calm voices, considering the situation.
Casey slipped into her nicest nightgown and gave her unruly hair a good brushing. She had barely
returned to the bed when Mark reappeared.
She gave him a quick once-over. I don t see any blood. What happened?
Nothing. We came to an understanding and every-thing s fine now.
What does that mean? Where are they?
They ve gone. Will and Brian took your keys. They re going to go pick up your car and leave it out
front.
They re gone? Just like that? Flabbergasted, Casey stared at him with her mouth agape. Then she
shook her head. I don t understand any of this. You go downstairs and confront a pack of angry men,
and scare Jennifer and me half to death, then a few minutes later you tell me that everything is fine. What
happened? What did they say? What did you say to them to make them back off?
Mark grinned and ruffled her newly brushed curls. Never you mind. As I said before, my love, that is
be-tween me and your brothers.
Now, he said with finality, Jennifer and I are going to rustle up something to eat.
After a meal of scrambled eggs and bacon, Mark brought her another pain capsule and insisted that she
take it.
And if you wake up during the night in pain, which you probably will, call me, he ordered.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and kissed her good-night, a sensual, lingering kiss that made her
pulse pound and her head swim. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and returned the kiss with a
hun-ger that she hadn t experienced in more than a year.
Maybe it was the situation, or the fact that she was in bed, dressed in her sexiest nightgown, or maybe it
was merely more than a year of abstinence catching up with her, but the kiss was so arousing that, if
Mark had pressed just the slightest, she would have thrown back the cov-ers and welcomed him into her
bed with open arms.
However, Mark did not press. When his control threatened to crumble, he reluctantly pulled back. His
face was flushed with passion, and his hand trembled when he smoothed her hair away from her temple.
He gave her a rueful smile. Being a man of honor is tough. But I gave my word. He touched her cheek
with his fin-gertips. Good night, sweetheart. Call if you need me.
With that he left the room, leaving the door open so that he could hear her if she called to him.
Casey sighed and switched off the bedside lamp and turned onto her side, propping her throbbing leg up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
and your cell phone.
Casey could have kicked herself. In her rush to get to the civic center she d left both in the pocket of the
blazer she d worn to work that day.
When you didn t answer, she asked us to check on you.
Will glanced at Casey and nodded agreement, but his hard stare returned immediately to Mark.
Glancing over Mark s shoulder, Casey spotted her brothers vehicles parked across the street. If she d
been more alert she would have noticed them when they drove up.
You re lucky we didn t break your door down, Will added. Mom was certain you were passed out
on the floor. Fortunately for you, we looked in through the ga-rage window first and saw that your car
was missing.
Now, back to my oriGinnal question. Where the hell have you been. And who is this guy?
Not that it s any of your business, but we were at the hospital. This is Dr. Mark Adams. And this is his
niece, Jennifer, Casey informed them in a haughty voice. Don t be afraid, sweetie. These big lugs are
just my brothers. Slowly, the frightened girl edged around to her uncle s side. Mark and Jennifer, meet
Will, Brian, Ian and Aiden.
Deliberately, Casey made no mention of the softball game. She was no fool.
What s wrong? Will demanded. Why did you have to go back to the hospital? Damn, you must be
hurt a lot worse than you let on if a doctor had to bring you home.
There was a problem with the wound, Mark replied before Casey could. I reopened it, repaired a
couple of blood vessels and stitched her up again. She should be fine now, if she ll stay off that leg for the
next forty-eight hours.
Oh, she ll stay off of it, Doc, Brian said. We can guarantee that.
Right. If we have to, we ll take turns sitting on her, Ian said.
That won t be necessary. Mark looked from one brother to another. You see, my reasons for
bringing your sister home are more personal than medical. Casey and I are dating. I ll be staying here
tonight to look after her.
The hell you will! Hotheaded Ian charged forward, but Will held him back.
Easy. Easy. You can t hit him while he s carrying Stretch.
Damn you! You re sleeping with our sister, Brian charged.
Aiden took a step forward. Doctor or no doctor, you can kiss your ass goodbye, you
Stop it! Stop it right now. All of you. Casey glared at her brothers. I will not have you starting a
donny-brook in my front yard. And will you kindly remember that there s a young, impressionable girl
present.
The brothers backed off, looking sheepish but no less angry.
Casey s right, Will said. Let s go inside before the neighbors start complaining.
You re not going to fight in my house, either.
Look, fellas. Why don t I take Casey upstairs and get her settled. Then I ll come down and we ll
discuss this.
There s nothing to discuss. I m going to whip your sorry
Can it, Aiden, Will ordered. He turned a warning glare on Mark. We ll give you one minute. If you re
not back by then we re coming after you. We ll be in the living room.
Fine. Mark instructed his niece to get Casey s keys out of her purse and unlock the door.
Oh, for Pete s sake. What do you think he s going to do? Ravish me while the four of you are
downstairs? And for your information, I m a grown woman. I make my own decisions, Casey scolded
her siblings over Mark s shoulder while they all trooped inside. 1 don t need a bunch of Neanderthals
running my life. If I want Mark to stay overnight, that s my business.
Hush, sweetheart. Mark gave her a little shake. You stay out of this. This is between me and your
brothers.
Shock dropped Casey s jaw and silenced her tongue. The brothers exchanged a surprised look that
held a touch of reassessment.
Upstairs, Mark carried Casey into her room and place her on her bed. Jennifer, help her get ready for
bed while I go talk to the brothers. I ll be back in a few minutes.
Are you sure? his niece asked, twisting her hands together.
Mark, you don t have to do this. Why don t you just take Jennifer and go. My brothers will look after
me.
He bent and kissed her forehead. Stop fretting. It ll all work out.
He turned and left the room, and Casey shouted after him, loud enough for her siblings to hear, Tell
them if they lay a hand on you they ll answer to me!
Do you think he ll be all right? Jennifer asked.
Oh, sure, Casey said with a lot more confidence than she was feeling. My brothers are more bark
than bite.
With the girl s help, Casey hobbled to the bathroom for her nightly hygiene rituals. They left the door
open and both she and Jennifer kept a sharp ear out for any sounds of violence from below, but all they
heard was the murmur of voices fairly calm voices, considering the situation.
Casey slipped into her nicest nightgown and gave her unruly hair a good brushing. She had barely
returned to the bed when Mark reappeared.
She gave him a quick once-over. I don t see any blood. What happened?
Nothing. We came to an understanding and every-thing s fine now.
What does that mean? Where are they?
They ve gone. Will and Brian took your keys. They re going to go pick up your car and leave it out
front.
They re gone? Just like that? Flabbergasted, Casey stared at him with her mouth agape. Then she
shook her head. I don t understand any of this. You go downstairs and confront a pack of angry men,
and scare Jennifer and me half to death, then a few minutes later you tell me that everything is fine. What
happened? What did they say? What did you say to them to make them back off?
Mark grinned and ruffled her newly brushed curls. Never you mind. As I said before, my love, that is
be-tween me and your brothers.
Now, he said with finality, Jennifer and I are going to rustle up something to eat.
After a meal of scrambled eggs and bacon, Mark brought her another pain capsule and insisted that she
take it.
And if you wake up during the night in pain, which you probably will, call me, he ordered.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and kissed her good-night, a sensual, lingering kiss that made her
pulse pound and her head swim. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and returned the kiss with a
hun-ger that she hadn t experienced in more than a year.
Maybe it was the situation, or the fact that she was in bed, dressed in her sexiest nightgown, or maybe it
was merely more than a year of abstinence catching up with her, but the kiss was so arousing that, if
Mark had pressed just the slightest, she would have thrown back the cov-ers and welcomed him into her
bed with open arms.
However, Mark did not press. When his control threatened to crumble, he reluctantly pulled back. His
face was flushed with passion, and his hand trembled when he smoothed her hair away from her temple.
He gave her a rueful smile. Being a man of honor is tough. But I gave my word. He touched her cheek
with his fin-gertips. Good night, sweetheart. Call if you need me.
With that he left the room, leaving the door open so that he could hear her if she called to him.
Casey sighed and switched off the bedside lamp and turned onto her side, propping her throbbing leg up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]