Page 79 of Guarded Hearts

Patel hadn’t beaten her. No, he was doing much worse—treating her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

Fear constricted her throat as she shot a sideways glance at him. He sat in a leather chair next to the hospital bed. He’d prepared this suite just for her. Just how long had he been planning to injure her enough to require a plastic surgeon, so he could kidnap her and bring her to this place?

He’d also sent her a threatening note with a box filled with flower stems. Maybe he really was toying with her like a cat played with its prey right before he killed it.

That knot of fear in her throat traveled lower until it spread icy fingers through her stomach.

How was she breaking free? The tight bonds around her wrists held her prisoner. She couldn’t even scratch her nose if she needed to let alone dash away the tears exploding from the corners of her eyes.

“You’re awake, good.” The kindness in his voice didn’t match the dull, crazed haze of his eyes.

Was he on drugs? It wasn’t so unusual for doctors to abuse the medications readily accessible to them.

“Why me?” Her voice was a rough rasp. Her tongue parched.

He got out of the leather chair recliner that was on steroids compared to the wimpy ones of a real hospital and extended his arms over his head in a lazy stretch.

Disgust rolled through Layne as she watched him walk to a mini-fridge. He took out a bottle of her favorite drink—lemonade—and poured a little into a plastic cup. He brought this to her.

She dashed her tongue over her dry lips again. Should she trust him not to have dosed the drink with something?

Since she’d watched him open the can and seen the empty cup he poured it into, she tipped her head to accept the drink.

He held the cup to her lips. She sipped and swallowed. While the liquid solved one problem, she had far worse.

“You didn’t answer me.” Her voice was stronger.

His stare fixed on hers. She lifted her chin in defiance.

When he reached out and stroked a fingertip over her chin, she gulped. “This. This right here. You’re so strong, Layne. Not many women are strong enough to suit me.”

“Did you set out to meet me? Or was it by chance?”

“Oh, I knew about your family’s business. Of course, I did all the research before I ever met you.”

She suppressed a shudder. Her body still felt out of her control, her brain too stunned by the blow to the head, the anesthesia still clouding her senses…and what was happening to her.

“You live in New York. How do you practice in Wyoming?”

“It’s easy once you know all the legalities.”

“You came here knowing you were going to hurt me.”

He tipped his head, watching her. “You forced me to do that when you startedfuckingthat man!” His words grew from deadly soft to a bellow that rattled her. She could almost see it—Patel got angrier the more he saw her with Carson. That made him send the roses with the heads lopped off and a threatening note.

Her stomach pitched and heaved. There was no food in it to come back up, but she didn’t like where this was headed.

A stubborn portion of her refused to be cowed. She wasn’t going to back down to her captor, and she sure wasn’t going to soothehim.

She jerked her head up a notch out of the defiance he claimed to like in her. “Carson is more of a man than youeverwill be.”

He drew his hand back. When it swung forward, she braced herself for a blow that never came.

He dropped his hand. “I can’t undo all the exceptional work I just did to restore your beauty.”

“You’re not going to get away with this.”

He chuckled. “I already have.”

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