“Of course.” She preceded them down the corridor toward the examination rooms. “We’ve already done X-rays and an MRI, and your brother has no bones broken or a head injury,” she assured Fawn. “We’ve also ensured he had the appropriate pain meds suitable for his condition, which should have started working by now. But I should warn you to prepare yourself before you enter the examination room,” she added apologetically. “Mr. Meadows does have extensive bruising to his face from the fall.”
In Declan’s opinion,extensive bruising didn’t even begin to cover the damage that had been done to River Meadows’s face.
Danny was seated in the chair beside the gurney the younger man was lying on behind the drawn curtains of the cubicle, but he stood when they entered the room and moved to Declan’s side.
River Meadows looked to be a slender young man, possibly a little over six feet tall. His dark hair was shaved short at the sides and left longer on top. He was probably a good-looking guy without all that bruising and swelling to his face.
As Danny had said, the younger man must have face-planted when he fell, because Declan couldn’t see an inch of skin on the younger man’s face that wasn’t showing myriad evidence of that fall.
There was a mottled bruise on his forehead, the skin around both his blue eyes was already turning black, and his nose looked as if it was swollen to twice its normal size. Even his bottom lip was split open, swollen, and still weeping blood, despite the gauze he was holding against it. His jaw was darkening with the same bruising as his forehead.
“Steady,” Declan murmured, his hand having tightened on Fawn’s elbow as he felt her sway after staring at her brother in disbelief. No amount of warnings could have prepared Fawn for this. “How’s the other guy?” Declan teased River to fill in for Fawn’s shocked and horrified silence.
“I’m happy to say I completely demolished the coffee table— Ouch. Bugger.” The younger man gave a pained grimace, his attempt at a smile obviously having caused him discomfort. “Okay, sis?” he prompted the still-frozen Fawn even as he opened his arms to her in invitation.
“I— You— My God, River,” she choked, tears streaming down her cheeks as she pulled away from Declan and threw herself into her brother’s open arms. “I’m not hurting you?” She lifted her head to inquire before attempting to hug him back.
“They gave me the good stuff for the pain,” he assured her gruffly.
Declan turned away to give brother and sister a degree of privacy. “You’re sure there was no one else involved?” he prompted Danny quietly.
“Very.” The other man shrugged. “But, as River said, the coffee table didn’t survive to fight another day.”
Declan’s eyes narrowed. “Did he say what caused him to feel dizzy in the first place?”
Danny’s gaze moved away from meeting Declan’s. “He told the doctor that he’d just blacked out.”
“But why did he?” As far as Declan was aware, healthy twenty-year-olds didn’t just black out. The relevant word in that sentence seemed to behealthy. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked Danny.
The other man glanced at Fawn and River, still hugging each other, before bringing his gaze back to Declan. “You should probably have that conversation with them, not me.”
His brow arched in surprise. “In other words, you know, but you aren’t going to tell me?”
Danny gave another glance at River before his chin rose. “Yes, I do, and no, I don’t intend to break River’s confidence.”
“Good man.” Declan slapped him on the back. “Loyalty to a client is admirable.”
Danny frowned. “Isn’t Fawn the client, rather than River, and then only because she’s currently looking after you?”
Declan gave the other man a searching glance. “Oh,” he finally murmured, his eyes having widened at the admiration he saw in Danny’s warm brown gaze whenever he looked at River.
Danny gave him a rueful smile. “I’ve been watching him for the past three days, and he’s bloody gorgeous. After this morning, I now know he’s also very articulate and charming.” He chuckled. “I’m not even sure if he’s gay, but I’m still going to ask him out to lunch or dinner once he feels up to it. I’d like to be his friend, if nothing else,” he added wistfully.
Until that moment, Declan hadn’t known Danny was gay. The other man’s sexual inclination had never been, and still wasn’t,of any relevance to them working together. It simply wasn’t a subject that had ever been necessary during the team’s conversations regarding their clients and the strategy to protect them.
Nor was it necessary to know now from a professional point of view or personally. Declan didn’t give a damn about someone’s sexual preferences.
But before Declan could reassure the younger man of that, he heard the sound of voices out in the hospital corridor, two of which he instantly recognized. Telling him that the questions he wanted to ask Fawn and River would have to wait a while longer.
CHAPTER TEN
“That’sthe Nikolai Volkov you told me about?” Fawn stood beside Declan, staring at the tall and handsome blond-haired, gray-eyed man, possibly aged in his midforties, who was currently standing in the hospital corridor with them, charming the hell out of the same nurse who, minutes ago, had been so overwhelmed by Declan’s Irish charm.
It seemed by the mere fact that Nikolai Volkov had managed to get this far that Russian charm could be equally as lethal, if not more so, than Irish.
It certainly wasn’t because Nikolai was more attractive than Declan—Fawn doubted anyone ever could be—but the other man effortlessly exuded an aura of authority that was as compelling as his harsh good looks.
Fawn would take a guess at this being the innate power this man had acquired and yielded as second to the head of the London bratva.
