Page 44 of His Own Heaven

“I told you I do.”

“What I mean is, this is more than just sex for you, isn’t it?”

Toby took one more look around, then gave up on finding a vending machine. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, heading back to the waiting room. “It was just sex for her, and now it’s over.” He huffed a sardonic laugh and shook his head. “Back to our regularly scheduled programming.”

“Sooo, does that mean you’renotgoing to call her, then?”

Toby stiffened. “What?”

“Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but you did say you’d call her later.”

“What’s the point?” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “She’s already made up her mind.”

“Because womenneverchange their mind, right?”

He really didn’t want to talk about this anymore. “Charlie, just… let it go.”

“Did it ever occur to you that she might be scared?”

That got his attention. He stared at his twin as a trickle of dread slid down his spine. “Of me?” It wouldn’t be the first time a woman had found him frightening to be around.

Charlie shrugged. “In a way. I mean, think about it. Here’s a woman who’s used to being treated a certain way because of how she looks. She even told that little shit-stain on Friday night—what did she say?”

“At least I’m only ugly on the outside,” Toby quoted, remembering how ferocious she’d been as she’d stood up to that entitled twat, how fascinated he’d been by her show of strength, and how much he’d wanted her.

“And then you come along and tell her she’s beautiful and treat her like a queen, even when she’s kneeling at your feet. That’s gotta be confusing for her, don’t you think?”

And then he’d added to that confusion when he’d scolded her for trying to help them. Assuming of course that Charlie was right. Which—annoyingly—he tended to be.

Shit. He really was a clueless arsehole.

Oblivious to Toby’s inner turmoil, Charlie continued. “But I suppose if you’ve given up all hope that she’d ever change her mind, then I guess there’s no point calling her. ’Cause, you know, the absolute best way to win a girl’s heart is to make promises you have zero intention of keeping.”

His brother’s sarcasm hit way too close to home, but just as Toby opened his mouth to respond, the doors to the emergency room swung open and Rafe appeared, his arm in a sling, his wrist bandaged, and his face looking like he’d just gone three rounds in a boxing ring.

And lost.

“Rafe!” Their sister ran to Rafe and threw her arms around him. When he hissed in pain, she pulled back, issuing apologies and bombarding him with questions at the same time.

Charlie nodded at Toby, and in three long strides they were at Rafe’s side, bracketing him with their big bodies and making sure he didn’t face-plant into the floor. They walked him across the room, then parked his arse in a chair. Their father sat on one side of him, Jane’s mother on the other, and everyone waited with bated breath for him to speak.

“Is she… how is she?” Mary asked quietly, her face tight with concern. “They’re not telling us anything.”

“There’s no news yet,” Rafe said, taking the older woman’s hand in his. His voice was steady and sure, his words efficient and clipped. He sounded like he was performing in a courtroom, and Toby realised that was probably the only thing stopping him from falling apart. He couldn’t imagine the chaos inside his brother’s head, inside his heart at that moment. “They’re still running tests,” he continued, “but when they’re done, the doctor said they’ll take her to a room in the maternity wing.”

Rafe scrubbed a hand over his face. He looked about ready to collapse with exhaustion. “All we can do now is wait,” he said. Then Toby watched helplessly as his younger brother broke, as the always-in-control lawyer dropped the charade, fell apart, and let his tears cascade down his face as he sobbed like a small child. “I can’t lose her,” he cried, his body shaking and his shoulders slumped. “I just got her back. I can’t lose her again. I can’t do this without her.”

“Rafael,” Mary said sternly. “She’s made of tough stuff, our girl. She’ll be all right. You’ll see.”

His brother turned to the small woman beside him, enveloped her in his arms and clung to her tightly, and Toby knew they were all clinging to the hope they’d heard in Mary’s voice.

A throat clearing grabbed everyone’s attention, and Toby turned to see Scott Turner, the police sergeant assigned to their tiny home town, the man he was trying very hard not to knock on his arse for letting this happen to Rafe and Jane on his watch.

“I have information I think you should hear,” he said, flipping open a notebook and scanning the page. He then proceeded to explain that the graffiti at the patisserie, Jane’s Jeep being set on fire, and the car crash had all been the work of Jane’s ex-fiancé’s ex-girlfriend, retaliation for being dumped and left for broke.

Rafe stared at Scott, the confusion on his face mirrored by pretty much all of them. “Why come after Jane when it was Sam who screwed her over? What could she possibly hope to gain from any of this?”

Scott shook his head as though he were having trouble believing it too. “She claimed Sam left her because of Jane.”

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