Page 3 of Hush Money

“Here,” I say. “Get dressed.”

He nods and takes his things, looking as overwhelmed as I feel.

“Tamsyn,” he says as our gazes connect, but now is not the time. And there’s nothing to say, anyway.

“Don’t,” I say, directing my attention to my patient so I won’t have to see the turbulence in his eyes. It’s far too painful. “Let me look at her.”

He lingers for a beat or two. I’m afraid he’s going to argue, but he walks off without comment, leaving me to my work. Thank God.

It’s the weirdest moment of my life as I assess Lucien’s wife. She’s got inky-black brows and a heavy fringe of lashes. A perfect nose. Perfect bone structure. Perfectly kissable red lips without a drop of lipstick on them. I know I’m supposed to be fully in nurse mode, but she’s absolutely angelic, and I’d have to be dead not to notice.

Luckily, my professionalism makes a belated appearance, and I notice all those things about her while also noticing that the laceration on her forehead is deep enough to require a few stitches. Her pulse is strong. Her blood pressure is in the normal range. The blanket seems to be warming her up a bit.

But it’s her semiconscious state and head injury that I’m most concerned about. “I don’t see my penlight,” I say, rummaging through my little bag with increasing urgency. “I need to check her pupils.”

“Use my flashlight,” Daniel says, passing me his phone.

“Thanks.”

I lift her lids one by one and take a look. It’s no surprise to discover that Ravenna has spectacular eyes, a vivid green color that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen on a human being before. She’s also got sluggish pupils.

“Well?” Lucien says as I hand the phone back to Daniel.

“We need to get her to the hospital,” I say grimly. “She needs a CT scan to make sure she’s not bleeding into her brain. If we can’t get an ambulance here, we’ll have to take her ourselves. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER TWO

TAMSYN

“Get the car,” Lucien tells Daniel. “Bring it around front. I’ll meet you out there.”

“Right,” Daniel says, taking off and admitting a burst of wind and driving rain as he leaves through the front door.

Lucien turns to me. “You stay here. No need for us all to get soaked. I’ll keep you posted.”

I shake my head. By now, I’ve found some of my little antiseptic wipes and bandages. I keep myself busy dressing Ravenna’s wound so I don’t have to meet Lucien’s gaze right now. This is all too raw, and I’m barely holding it together as it is. “I’m coming with you.”

I’m not sure where that came from. I’d just been so eager to run and hide, but now I discover that waiting around in the shadows isn’t really my style.

“Tamsyn. You don’t have to.”

Something about the new huskiness in his tone touches a chord inside me that only makes things worse. “You might need the extra pair of hands, and I’m the only one with any medical knowledge,” I say, finishing up with the bandage. “And how can you keep me posted when the phones aren’t working?”

“I know you well enough by now to know that I’m not stopping you,” he says wryly.

“Good.”

“Tamsyn,” he says, and my heart pangs again. “You can’t even look at me?”

I hesitate. I don’t want to face him, especially with Ravenna between us, but when have I ever been able to resist one of his requests? I look up and our gazes connect. The sight of his beloved face, paler now but with those silvery-gray eyes as direct and intense as ever, sparks that familiar sensation inside me. It’s as though we’re linked together by something invisible but strong, and he’s still just Lucien, even though he’s now Lucien the Husband rather than Lucien the Widower. And I don’t know how to turn off the part of me that always wants to reach out for him.

“I’m sorry,” he says harshly. “I should never have brought you here. It was a mistake.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I say, looking away and doing my best to swallow the growing lump in my throat. But it’s not going anywhere, and neither, apparently, are my feelings. It hurts to hear that he considers any part of our relationship to be a mistake, but what did I expect? That he’d be cool with exposing the resurrected love of his life to his new summer squeeze? “Ravenna is alive. This is wonderful news.”

We hear a horn just then, two short blasts to let us know that Daniel is outside waiting for us.

I wrap the blankets a little tighter around Ravenna’s shoulders—she’s very still right now, which is a relief and a worry—and shoot Lucien a warning look. “Be careful lifting her. We don’t need to jostle her any more than necessary. I’m assuming her spine is okay, but I really wish we had a stretcher or a backboard.”

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