Page 40 of Heston
“Get these two out of here,” Tucker ordered.
“I’ve got Malloy. Can you handle that one, Eden?” Isaiah asked as he pulled Malloy toward the sleek, black, FBI sedan parked nearby.
She shot him a dazzling smile. “You know better than to ask. I can make former United States Forest Ranger Bates bark like a dog if I choose. Come on, Bates. You’re riding with me.”
True to her word, she strong-armed Bates and led him away. The guy was bigger than Eden, but he looked damned meek with her hand on the cuffs behind his back, the other now filled with a pistol identical to Isaiah’s. Which neither of them needed to take these two men into custody. Not with the psychic talent Heston knew Eden and Isaiah possessed. What he wouldn’t give to watch them interview Malloy and Bates.
“Ma’am,” Tucker huffed as he took hold of London’s free hand and tugged her away from Heston. “My unit could use—”
“No,” Heston declared, his hand already clamped on London’s shoulder, needing to protect her from this oversized, arrogant gorilla who right then thought he was charming and irresistible. “She’s with me.”
“…an investigator with your talent—”
“Save the job offer, Chase. I’m telling you.”
“…and your natural aptitude for—”
Damn, this was not going well. “London!” Heston snapped.
She looked straight at him and blew her jewel-toned bangs off her face. Those pretty turquoise eyes turned cold and calculating. Instead of answering, she gave him her chin.
Shit.He was doing it again. Bossing her. Walking all over her. Thinking he knew better, that he knew everything. Which hedidn’t. She hadn’t needed his advice or his interference before. She didn’t need it now. Hell, she didn’t need anybody’s advice.
What London needed wasn’t him telling her what to do any more than she needed Tucker Chase pressuring her to work for him. She needed time and space to decide her future for herself. It might not include working for The TEAM. Might not include being bullied by the idiot who’d only ever wanted to love her and protect her for the rest of her life, either.
Yeah. That.Heston finally recognized how his internal caveman’s need to control her was pushing her away. He stopped ranting. Just let go, gave up, and trusted London like he’d trust any other TEAM agent. Like he trusted Asher and Renner and Mark and Alex.
Londonwasintelligent and experienced. Shehadproven her worth—over and over. While he’d proven he was mostly stuck in the Middle Paleolithic period—again and again.
Heston swallowed hard. It was hard admitting he’d been a dumbass. Harder yet to let her go.
He’d looked up that name she’d thrown at him. He now knew precisely whoDonna Reedwas, and what she represented to today’s women. Also knew how brainless that sitcom had made women look back then. How her smiling, willing subservience might’ve been the norm for the nineteen fifties, but it had set the bar so low, no man nor woman should ever consider it again. Especially not London.
Heston admitted defeat, nodded at her,message received. I love you. Goodbye.
She sent back the barest nod, then tossed her head like a winner should, and Heston accepted that, too. He had to. Shewasa winner. Always had been. Bottom line, London didn’t need him like he’d once thought she did. She was independent. She’d go far. She might not be a good fit for the Forest Service, but she’d find her way. That was what strong women did. Theyshrugged off the yoke of other people’s expectations and they flew.
With a gut full of regret for not being smarter sooner, he turned his back on the high-pressure employment negotiations taking place on the tarmac at TEAM HQ. It might be best if Tucker got his way. Working with psychics the caliber of Isaiah and Eden was a tantalizing offer. London would bring a lot to their team. Heston had no doubt she’d fly higher if she wasn’t working with him. He’d hold her back. That wasn’t what he wanted for her.
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but London’s happiness was more important than her listening to his ‘manly wisdom.’ He didn’t know everything. The encyclopedias in his head were worthless stores of facts. He had an after-action report to write. He kept walking.
Isaiah was wrong. London wasn’t Heston’s girlfriend, wasn’t even his woman. In order for her to fly, to truly succeed and excel like he knew she would, she had to be on her own. Heston had to set her free, and he would. So he did.Damn it.
Chapter Nineteen
Alex stood over his wife’s bed. He’d overstayed his welcome. Now that Dr. Kang, the neurosurgeon Alex had flown in from the East Coast, had performed the second surgery and replaced the portion of Kelsey’s skull he’d previously removed, she needed more than this understaffed joint had to offer. Like absolute safety and privacy. Protection. Anonymity.
“I’m taking you home, sweetheart,” he told her, as if she might suddenly wake up and argue with him.That’d be nice.
Her stats were good. Too good. Libby, Judy, and Doc Fitz all agreed how extraordinarily well Kelsey had breezed through both brain surgeries. Some doctor on staff here, Alex hadn’t cared enough to ask the man’s name, disagreed. Like a phenomenal prick, he’d stormed out of her room in a huff because Alex had deferred to Dr. Kang’s opinion instead of his.
“You do that, you fly her across country and you’ll kill her!” Dr. Nameless had spat on his way out.
Alex disagreed. Between Dr. Kang’s, Dr. Libby Houston’s, Dr. McKenna Villanueva’s, and Lead Trauma Nurse Judy Mortimer’s professional care, Kelsey would be in the best of hands.
Alex had given this place a generous donation when Kelsey had first arrived. Nobody’d argued with him then. But somewhere between then and what would surely be her quicker departure now, the administrator and his staff had turned on Alex. Which made him think.Think,his motto. His number one rule.
He damned well knew it. He should’ve figured it out sooner. The damned Irishman had infiltrated this hospital and paidsomeone off. Possibly the administrator. It explained how the bastard knew which room Kelsey was in and the phone number to that room. Which also meant some asshole had her in his crosshairs right damned then.
