If the Dark Wins (Finley Creek Book 4) Read online

  He was a Deane, but definitely the wrong one. “Where’s Travis?”

  “Marc and I bullied him. He was afraid to leave you for a little while.”

  “I remember.” He’d been there. Somehow, he had been there every time she opened her eyes.

  “Losing our sister-in-law the way we did left a lasting impression on my brother. He adored her. Marc finally convinced him to go home and shower.”

  “What’s the damage?”

  “You’ll heal. No lasting effects. You’re going to be fine.”

  “Did the TSP say who?” Was the bastard still out there somewhere?

  “Suspicion is that it was a kidnapping attempt on Ariella or Jillian; they’ve made arrests in Missouri.”

  “How is Jillian?” Lacy tried to sit up. The COM worked the remote for her.

  “Snoring softly.” He waved a hand toward the other occupied bed. “She’ll be on crutches for a while. But she’ll make a complete recovery. You three were damned lucky.”

  “Yes; she’s really ok? And Ari?”

  “Yes. And Barratt insisted she be brought to him. Rumor has it the two of you are headed that way in the morning. Under heavy guard.”

  “Not me. I’m going home.”

  He hesitated. “They love you and you belong with them. Let them take care of you for a few days. Appreciate that you have them. A lot of people in this world are completely alone. Be thankful that you’re not.”

  70

  She had a bright shiny purple cast on her left arm. It already had more than two dozen signatures all over it. When she'd broken her arm as a child while in foster care, she hadn't had signatures to cover it. Virat had also drawn a cartoon sexpot on the underside of the cast. Where she could cover it with her lab coat, he'd said. It was supposed to be her, but the breasts were far too big. Lacy didn't have much of a chest to brag about. Not like that character.

  Jillian had gotten out at the same time. But unlike Jillian, who had a limo waiting to drive her home from the hospital, Lacy had a…Travis.

  He'd spent most of the last two days in and out of her hospital room. He brought her chocolates. Different brand than the ones that had been left on her front porch, of course. She'd shared it with Jillian and Ari, and Fin and Wanda and Therese and anyone else who’d wanted a piece. Well, she’d shared half of them, the rest were hers. And she was saving the cardboard box, too.

  Other than the box that had been left on her porch, she'd never had a man bring her expensive chocolates before. Fitting that it should be Travis Worthington-Deane.

  She'd enjoyed having him sit with her. But she'd wished they'd let her out of there earlier, like she'd asked. There had been no internal damage done. The break was healing, and she had every expectation that she was going to keep functionality in it. She’d been through it before. She’d broken her arm in the explosion at Houghton’s place just a few months ago, after all. Even her concussion, though a little bit worse than mild, was now down to a steady throb. She didn't need to be in the hospital.

  Rafael Holden-Deane, that ass, had insisted differently. She could've signed herself out against medical advice, but it was not the best career move to thumb her nose at the very hospital where she made her living. At least the hospital had a very good insurance policy for its physicians. Other than the cost of medications, she would probably pay next to nothing.

  Or so she'd thought, until Marietta from Billing had shown up in her hospital room early the last morning she'd been there. All she had to do was sign, Marietta said, and Barratt-Handley Industries and Lucas Tech would be covering every cent of her bill. Hers, Jillian’s, and Ari’s.

  She confronted Houghton about it when he and Mel had come in to visit later that afternoon. He’d just shrugged, said that if she hadn't been with Jillian, she most likely wouldn't have been a target of the kidnapping attempt. Consensus was that was exactly what it was. Houghton had also almost made her cry when he’d reminded her that he’d adopted her as his little sister and it was his job to take care of her. Even Mel had gotten misty-eyed over that one.

  Elliot had gotten Major Crimes involved with the joint task force out of Chicago and St. Louis, and they were close to finding all the men responsible in the ring. It was just a matter of time.

  Lacy didn't really care at the moment. All she wanted was some Tylenol and to go home. Travis wheeled her through the hospital entrance to where his truck was waiting.

  But it wasn’t his truck that was waiting.

  It was the governor of Texas and a limousine. Holding the doors open for her himself.

  Travis lifted her out of the wheelchair and held her close to his chest. He helped her inside the limo, and got her settled on the seat. He snuggled up next to her while the governor climbed in behind them. The driver closed the door. Then they were off.

  Travis kept his arm around her.

  Lacy just cuddled up next to him, absurdly touched that the governor had taken time from his busy schedule to give her a ride home from the hospital.

  He and Travis were treating her like she was infinitely precious.

  Rafael Holden-Deane had signed her discharge papers himself, then had helped her into the wheelchair with those big hands of his. He’d wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and almost fussed over her.

  The brothers were acting as if she belonged with them.

  That had her almost as disconcerted as everything else that had happened.

  It was easier just to close her eyes and let Travis hold her for the next little while.

  71

  Logan wanted to be there when she got out of the hospital, so he was. Her little redheaded friend was scooped up by her own family and bundled away inside a limo. He had no doubt she'd be well taken care of until she healed.

  She would weigh on his conscience for quite a while. He wasn't entirely certain why he had done what he had. He hadn't meant to hurt them. By no means had he ever wanted to hurt the three of them. The thought that he could have taken their lives, their lights, out of this world with his careless actions sickened him. He’d been ill every second since it happened.

  Even a handful of joints hadn’t calmed him.

  The newspapers were reporting that it was a failed abduction attempt on the three young women, who were so closely aligned with the Barratt and Lucas families. He’d gotten lucky, and he knew it.

  He was just feeling a little bit more confident about what had happened, and the fact that life was going to all go on. He’d find a way to make it up to Jillian and Ariella. He was just trying to figure out how when none other than that damned Travis Worthington-Deane and the governor of Texas strolled into the hospital.

  Logan knew why they were there. They were there to take his Lacy. To keep her from him. To fill her mind with thoughts and lies, to make her think she needed the youngest brother. To corrupt her, to sicken her, to poison her, from the way her life should be. The way her life should be with him.

  Damn them. Damn them all. Logan watched as Worthington-Deane lifted her into his arms, and held her close. Within moments they had her taken away.

  Logan knew that they never intended to give her back. He went to his office, popped another one of his pills to calm his shakes.

  As long as he had his pills, it would help him get through. And he knew it. In the meantime, he needed to decide what to do about those damned Deanes. Who kept ruining everything.

  He hadn't meant to hit Jillian Beck’s car, to harm those girls, any of it. But if he ever had the chance, the first thing he would do would be to take out those damned Deanes one by one.

  72

  He kept her for over a week. Lacy spent that week learning to let someone pamper her. Travis gave her no real other choice. He kept her in his bed at night, and made sure she had everything she needed.

  He’d even cut back his own heavy workload to make time during the day to be with her. When he couldn’t be, he’d hired a part-time nurse to sit with her.

  That had taken some get
ting used to. Thankfully, the nurse was one she knew from the hospital who had quit when she’d had her third child three years ago. And the nurse had only been for those first three days.

  On the eighth day, she had no choice. She had to go home. She’d already had plans made that she couldn’t get out of. And it was time.

  She couldn’t stay with Travis forever. She had her home, had to go back to work soon—even though she’d not be performing any surgeries for a month or so because of the cast—and she had to get back to her normal routine.

  She had to figure out where the man fit into that normal.

  It seemed too easy being with him every day. Sleeping next to him every night.

  Well, next to him and his adorably ugly puppy Horace, that was.

  The puppy stayed with her during the times Travis was working the ranch. At night, he cuddled the both of them. But he was definitely Travis’ little buddy.

  Seeing him with the tiny dog melted her every single time.

  She was pitiful.

  And beginning to have feelings for him she just wasn’t quite ready for.

  She wouldn’t call it love.

  But just what it was, she couldn’t figure out. And that was when Jillian showed up, her father with her, Lacy had calmly told Travis she was going with her friend for the day. And would see him again the next night.

  He’d accepted, but she had seen the worry and unhappiness in those green eyes of his.

  She didn’t want to hurt him.

  But Lacy knew she couldn’t love him. Not yet. She just wasn’t ready for that…yet.

  73

  There was only one man Lacy had ever trusted enough to love in her entire lifetime. That man had his daughters’ brown eyes and graying red hair. And a heart as big as the Texas sky.

  Kevin Beck had made room for her, and for Ari, the moment Jillian had first dragged them to her home to meet her family. Lacy had never forgotten that.

  She’d been nervous that day three years ago, but Kevin had made her feel right at home. Like she’d always been a part of his life. That had just expanded when Ari had joined her and Jillian’s little group. With the two of them she hadn’t had to watch what she said or did, she could trust them to care for her just the way she was.

  But she had felt so awkward. It was really Jillian’s doing that had brought them all together. She’d taken one look at Lacy on her first day as an ER nurse, during Lacy’s first week as an ER trauma intern, and decided they needed to band together if they were going to survive Finley Creek General.

  And they had.

  Lacy was close to finishing her training and applying for a permanent position at FCGH--which if she could keep from pissing off her bosses, including Holden-Deane, should be possible--and Jillian had finally graduated with her own credentials. They had made it. Succeeded, against some serious odds.

  Ari had just rounded out their little group perfectly. She’d been so lonely when Jillian had run into her in St. Louis, when she’d realized who Ari was when they’d been in class together a little over a year ago now. And when Lacy had met Ari it had seemed natural that they become friends. They balanced each other in so many weird little ways.

  And through Jillian had come Kevin. The closest thing to a father Lacy was ever going to have.

  If he wanted to take her fishing at the Value Reservoir before she returned to work, her and Jillian, then she was going to go.

  But she was dragging Ari with them.

  Ari could sit next to the lake with her pastels and draw or something. Jillian would probably be down there with her fishing gear, competing with her father for the most fish caught, even hopping around with an injured leg, while Lacy struggled to keep up.

  Lacy couldn’t think of a more perfect day.

  They spent a good three hours outside, just enjoying the weather and the sun. Lacy’d needed this, after what had happened. She needed to remember what it felt like to be in the sun again.

  Sometimes, especially when working later shifts, she forgot that the entire world wasn’t shrouded in darkness. Forgot that the world didn’t see the various ways people hurt each other, the way things could go wrong, the way people could just simply cease to exist in a moment.

  She needed this.

  Lacy settled on the large, flattened boulder near where Kevin and Jillian had set up their chairs and the cooler with sodas and water between them, after a trip to the extremely primitive toilets to take care of nature.

  It was the first time in eight days she’d not eaten lunch with Travis.

  She missed him, didn’t she?

  She reminded herself that she’d promised to be with him tomorrow night, after his meetings with a rancher from Masterson, Wyoming was finished.

  But, damn it, she really missed him.

  Ari picked another boulder and pulled out her art supplies--vegetarians did not fish, was how Ari had put it--and started drawing something. Her clever hand dashed across the page, a tiny pastel stick at work.

  Lacy closed her eyes and just let the sun bake her.

  She didn’t open her eyes again until Kevin yelled out and Jillian called her name. When she looked, she saw the blood covering the man’s arm and she sprang into action.

  74

  He heard her before he saw her, and Logan wasn’t ashamed to say he knew it was Lacy. And she needed him. He wasn’t the attending on duty in the Emergency Trauma Department but...he stuck around to learn why she was there.

  His brows rose, seeing what she was dressed in. Worn denim shorts and a thin purple tank top that delineated every beautiful, wonderful curve she had. The hair was clipped up off her shoulders and her skin was flushed and dewy. Like she’d been outside, drinking in the gold of the sun.

  The garish purple cast was nearly the same color of her shirt. Her favorite color. That made sense. She was with a redheaded man he recognized as Jillian Beck’s father.

  They’d met before, when the man’s daughters had been in the hospital. Before he had been shot by that bastard who’d ordered Lacy beaten.

  The glass doors opened and two more women dressed in similar garb rushed in. Jillian Beck’s shorts were almost indecently short. If she bent just right a man would get a good look at things men dreamed about at night. Did she realize that? She was barking orders the moment she hit the ER intake. “Annie, do we have a room open? Dad cut his arm pretty badly.”

  “He’s going to need sutured,” Lacy said. “I don’t think it’s too serious, but Kev’s lost a lot of blood and that concerns me. He’s on a blood thinner.”

  “Trauma B is open. But we have a few ahead, it might take a while,” the pretty dark-haired nurse said.

  “I just finished,” Logan said, wanting to have Lacy’s attention on him, not the older man. “I can take care of Mr. Beck.”

  Lacy looked at him with approval in those green eyes. Approval and surprise. “Thank you, Dr. Lanning. I’d do it myself, but I think I may be sidelined for a while longer.”

  He nodded, fighting a wince. How close he’d come to destroying her brilliant career was hard for him to miss. “Of course. Mr. Beck, Trauma B.”

  The older man looked at him with clear distrust. Logan had to admit things hadn’t been exactly friendly between them before.

  Lacy cared for the Becks. There had to be a good reason for it.

  Lacy hovered, her care for the older man more than evident. Kevin Beck spent the time more worried about soothing the trio of young women than being concerned for his injury.

  Logan finished with the stitches and though he wanted to keep her nearby for a little longer, he knew better. She’d know exactly how long it should take for him to treat the man. If he dawdled too long, she’d wonder why.

  They were talking about a family barbecue. She was going to help her little friends prepare something as simple as cole slaw and fried chicken to feed the masses.

  He couldn’t think of anything more enjoyable. He’d never appreciated such plebeian pastimes before. But
apparently Lacy did.

  Envy hit him. What would it take for a family like the Becks to let him in? Make him a part of their world, the way they so obviously had his Lacy? Kevin Beck patted Lacy on the cheek. “I’m ok, girlie. I told you I would be. I’m tough as nails, remember?”

  “I know. But a girl is allowed to worry now and then about her favorite man. Do you need a tetanus booster?”

  “I’m up to date. We should get going. The rest of my girls will be at the house soon.”

  “I’ll get the car.” Jillian limped in front of him, expertly maneuvering around on one crutch now. She should probably be using two, but Logan suspected she was too stubborn for that. Logan could smell the floral shampoo she’d used that morning. While she was an extremely attractive woman, she did nothing for him.

  No. It was all sun-kissed blonde for him.

  Did Lacy even realize how he felt?

  Was that why she hadn’t truly looked at him since entering Trauma B?

  75

  One thing about the Becks that Lacy had always loved was the way they took every excuse to get together, and get outside. Kevin had built a large deck on the back of his house overlooking the rosebushes that Jillian tended almost obsessively. He also had a large barbecue grill, and plenty of seating out there. For everyone, especially for his ever-expanding family. Speaking of expanding, Brynna had gotten larger just in the few days since Lacy had seen her last. And if she wasn't mistaken, the baby had dropped. Significantly.

  Brynna was paler than usual. Lacy was going to keep an eye on her, just in case. And…Lacy would be dropping a little birdie in Chance’s ear to be on the lookout.

  In the meantime, she and Ari had been assigned the Herculean task of chopping enough cabbage to make coleslaw for what had to be a million people. Somehow, Lacy managed, though her dominant hand was still in the purple cast. Even using her other hand, she was a safer bet than Ari. That girl… In a kitchen. Well, it was a disaster waiting to happen.