Page 200 of Her Daddies Saving Grace (Montana Daddies 11)

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Juliet opened her eyes, gasping in a breath. There was something in her nose irritating her. Along with a beeping noise. And the smell of antiseptic.

It all annoyed her.

Juliet didn’t let herself get annoyed by much. But yeah, it was grating.

She looked around. She was miserable. Exhausted. Her head ached. She felt jittery, like she wanted to climb out of her own skin. She raised her hand to rub at her chest, her heart felt like it was racing.

A small whimper escaped her.

“Juliet? Duchess? Oh, baby. Thank fuck.”

Brick’s face appeared in her vision. He looked terrible. Pale and exhausted. Black marks were under his eyes. Poor guy looked like he needed a good twenty-four hours of sleep.

“What’s wrong?” she croaked.

“Nothing now that you’re awake,” he replied.

Aw. That was sweet. But what was going on? Obviously, she was in the hospital. But why . . .

Then it all came flooding back.

“I didn’t eat any shellfish,” she muttered.

Brick’s face went blank. She watched him curiously. What was he trying to hide?

“Don’t worry about that right now, Duchess.”

Okay, even an idiot had to know that would make her want to know more. And Brick was no idiot. He grimaced. “Fuck. The sheriff is looking into what happened, all right?”

“You think someone tried to hurt me? That they what? Tampered with my food?” It was so hard to think. And something was niggling at her brain. What was it, though?

“Yeah. Maybe.”

“The people who are after Reuben.” Panic flooded her. “I need to call him.”

“Calm down.”

“No, no, I need to talk to him. I need to make sure he’s all right.” She pushed the covers back, trying to get out of bed.

“Duchess, get back in that bed,” he told her in a stern voice.

But she was too far gone to pay attention. “I need to—”

“What’s going on? Juliet, what are you doing? Lie back down.” Xavier appeared on her other side.

“Xavy, I need to go call Reuben.” She reached for his hand. He clasped hold of her hand in his then gently pressed her back into the bed.

“You don’t need to do anything except lie down,” Xavier added firmly.

She was so tired.

“Reuben—”

“Reuben is a big boy who can take care of himself,” Xavier told her. “You’re to stay in bed. Doctor’s orders.”

She gaped up at Xavier. He placed his fingers on her wrist to take her pulse. As though he didn’t have a monitor that could do that.

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