Page 68 of For the Love of Lilah
“No.” But her teeth were starting to chatter in the sultry night. “No, he was—Max came.” She looked over to see Trent crouched beside him, examining a long gash down his arm. “You’re bleeding.”
“Not much.”
“It’s shallow,” Trent said between his teeth. “I imagine it hurts like hell.”
“Not yet,” Max murmured.
Trent looked over as Sloan walked back from the man sprawled on the ridge. Tight-lipped, Sloan shook his head. “It’s done,” he said briefly.
“It was Hawkins.” Max struggled to his feet and stood, swaying. “He had Lilah.”
“We’ll discuss this later.” Her voice uncharacteristically crisp, Coco took Max’s good arm. “They’re both in shock. Let’s get them inside.”
“Come on, baby.” Sloan reached down to gather Lilah into his arms. “I’ll give you a ride home.”
“I’m not hurt.” From the cradle of his arms she swiveled her head around to look for Max. “He’s bleeding. He needs help.”
“We’ll fix him up,” Sloan promised her as they started across the lawn. “Don’t you worry, sweetie, the teacher’s tougher than you think.”
Up ahead, The Towers was ablaze with lights. Another roll of thunder walked the sky above its peaks, then echoed into silence. Abruptly, a tall, thin figure appeared on the second-floor terrace, a cane in one hand, a glinty chrome revolver in the other.
“What the hell is going on around here?” Colleen shouted. “How is a body supposed to get a decent night’s sleep with all this hoopla?”
Coco sent one weary glance upward. “Oh, be quiet and go back to bed.”
For some reason, Lilah laid her head on Sloan’s shoulder and began to laugh.
It was nearly dawn when things settled. The police had come and gone, taking away their grisly package. Questions had been asked and answered—asked and answered again. Lilah had been plied with brandy, fussed over and ordered into a hot bath.
They hadn’t let her tend Max’s wound. Which might have been for the best, she thought now. Her hands hadn’t been steady.
He’d bounced back from the incident remarkably well, she mused as she curled on the window seat in the tower room. While she had still been numb and shaky, he had stood in the parlor, his arm freshly bandaged, and given the investigating officer a clear and concise report of the whole event.
He might have been lecturing one of his classes on the cause and effect of the German economy on World War I, she thought with the ghost of a smile. It had been obvious that Lieutenant Koogar had appreciated the precision and clarity.
Lilah liked to think that her own account had been calm enough, though she hadn’t been able to control the trembling very well even when her sisters had joined ranks around her.
Suzanna had finally told the lieutenant enough was enough and had bundled Lilah upstairs.
But despite the bath and brandy, she hadn’t been able to sleep. She was afraid if she closed her eyes that she would see it unfolding again, see Max teetering on the edge of the ridge. They’d hardly spoken since the whole horrible business had happened. They would have to, of course, she reflected. She wanted to clear her thoughts and find just the right words.
But then he walked in, while the sky behind her was being gilded with sunrise, and she was afraid she would never find them.
He stood awkwardly, favoring his left arm, his face shadowed by fatigue. “I couldn’t sleep,” he began. “I thought you might be up here.”
“I guess I needed to think. It’s always easier for me to think up here.” Feeling as awkward as he, she smoothed back her hair. It fell untamed, the color of the young sun, against the white shoulders of her robe. “Would you like to sit?”
“Yeah.” He crossed the room and eased his aching muscles down onto the seat beside her. The silence dragged on, one minute, then two. “Some night,” he said at length.
“Yes.”
“Don’t,” he murmured when her eyes filled.
“No.” She swallowed them back and stared out at the quiet dawn. “I thought he would kill you. It was like a nightmare—the dark, the heat, the blood.”
“It’s done now.” He took her hand, curled strong fingers around hers. “You led him away from the garden. You were trying to protect me, Lilah. I can’t thank you for it.”
Off guard, she looked back at him. “What was I supposed to do, let him jump out of the petunias and stab you in the dark?”
