Page 75 of The Honorable Texan
She didn’t speak.
“I had a shattered bone in my cheek that they couldn’t repair,” he persisted.
“I’m not…going…to any damned…plastic surgeon!”
His eyebrows arched.“Your face could be distorted.”
“So what?”she muttered, wincing because it really did hurt to speak.“It’s not…much of a face, anyway.”
He scowled.She wasn’t pretty, but her face had attractive features.Her nose was straight and elegant, she had high cheekbones.Her mouth was like a little bow, perfect.Her eyes, big and grey, fascinated him.
“You should go,” he said.
She ignored him.“Can you…drive me by the pharmacy?”
“Sure.”
She gave him directions and he waited while she had the prescription filled.He drove her back to her house and left her there reluctantly.
“I’ll be at the hospital with Leo if you need anything,” he said as if it pained him to say it.
“I don’t need any help.Thanks,” she added stiffly.
His eyebrows arched.“You remind me of me,” he murmured, and a thin smile touched his lips—a kind one.“Proud as Lucifer.”
“I get by.I really am…sorry about your brother.Will he be all right?”she asked at her door.
He nodded.“They want to keep him for two or three days.He’ll want to thank you.”
“No need.I would have done it for anyone.”
He sighed.She was going to look bad for a long time, with her face in that condition.She’d been beaten and he felt responsible, God knew why.He took a breath.“I’m sorry I had you arrested,” he said reluctantly.
She pursed her lips.“I’ll bet…that hurt.”
“What?”
“You don’t apologize much, do you?”she asked, as if she knew.
He scowled down at her, puzzled.
She turned away.“No sweat.I’ll live.So long.”
She went in and closed the door.Rey, who’d done without companionship for a number of years, suddenly felt alone.He didn’t like the feeling, so he shoved it out of his mind and drove back to the hospital.He wouldn’t see her again, anyway.
* * *
Leo came backto himself with a vengeance late that afternoon.He had Rey lever the head of his bed up and he ate dinner with pure enjoyment.
“It’s not bad,” Leo murmured between mouthfuls.“But I wish I had a biscuit.”
“Me, too,” Rey said on a sigh.“I guess we could buy a restaurant, as a last resort,” he added dejectedly.“One that serves breakfast.”
“Who was that woman who came in with me?”he asked Rey.
“You remember her?”Rey was surprised.
“She looked like an angel,” he mused, smiling.“Blonde and big-eyed and all heart.She held my handand sat down on the sidewalk in the cold and talked to me until the ambulance got there.”
