Fawn had been a nurse for three years since completing her three years of training, and never once during that time had she nursed someone who had been shot in a busy London street, in broad daylight, twice.
Gun-related crimes really weren’t that normal in England.
Declan’s notes had also revealed that he wasn’t married, nor did he have any children.
Fawn had already known some of that information from the nurses working in ICU. They hadn’t mentioned any names, because that would have been an invasion of Declan’s privacy and against hospital rules, but they had all been aflutter about the “gorgeous Irishman” in their care.
It hadn’t been too difficult to add two and two and come up with the right answer of it being the same man when Declan had been transferred to this private room four days ago.
Despite not having any family of his own, Declan hadn’t been short of visitors. Thea Morgan and Fergus Wynter had visited him the most, either individually or together, as well as the other three owners of Wynter Security, two of them with their wives.
Only the youngest member of the Wynter family, Linus, remained unmarried, it seemed, in a family that all appeared to be exceptionally handsome and also collectively and individually wealthy.
She had been told by some of the other nurses that Linus was some sort of computer guru who spent most of his time locked away in his apartment, sitting in front of numerous screens. Even if that were true, Fawn had no doubt his boyish good looks still attracted hordes of women to him. She doubted he would remain single for much longer.
The police had visited Declan a couple of times in the past four days. But as there now seemed to be a media blackout, online and in the news, on the events of the day Declan was shot, Fawn had no idea what the outcome of those visits had been.
Members of the four-man team, of which Declan was apparently the head, and other employees of Wynter Security, had also visited regularly.
One of them had been a woman, and Fawn had wondered if the ICU nurses had been mistaken about Declan being unattached. But it soon became obvious the woman was only visiting as another employee of Wynter Security and friend, and not because she was romantically involved with Declan.
Fawn had no idea how or why it was that Declan didn’t have women lining up to be with him, or for one ofthemto want to look after him when he was discharged from the hospital.
Having witnessed the size of his very impressive erection on the first day of his stay in this room in response to her helping Declan to the bathroom, she was pretty sure it wasn’t because he was gay.
Even so, she had a feeling those hooded Irish-blue eyes hid a multitude of secrets. Ones no one would ever learn unless Declan chose to tell them.
But as Fawn was a very private person herself, with her own secrets, she had no intention of ever attempting to probe.
CHAPTER TWO
“Areyou no longer working at the hospital?” Declan frowned his confusion as to how this present arrangement could have come about.
“Oh, I’m still employed here,” Fawn replied cheerfully as she hoisted his rucksack onto one of her slender shoulders, seemingly without any effort. “But I’ve been seconded for two weeks to take care of you, after which I will be returning to my nursing job here. Fergus Wynter asked Mr. Hargreaves if one of the nurses looking after you during your stay here could take care of you during your first two weeks of recuperation. With the option for it to be longer than that if necessary. I’m guessing that has to be because you don’t have anyone of your own at home to look after you? Believe me, there were a lot of volunteers lining up here for the job, male as well as female,” she added dryly.
Declan had no clue what Fawn meant by that last remark, unless it was because of the extra money Fergus was offering for someone professionally qualified to stay with him. But he did know that the other man hadn’t been at all happy with Thea’sidea ofhermoving into Declan’s apartment to look after him until he was recovered enough to return to work.
He would probably be put on desk duty for a while longer once he returned to Wynter Security, but even that would be better than sitting at home doing nothing. He deliberately hadn’t allowed himself to do that for many years. Sitting around doing nothing tended to leave the mind time for thoughts to wander to subjects Declan would rather avoid thinking about.
He hadn’t exactly been thrilled himself at Thea’s suggestion of looking after him. But this…having Fawn Meadows moving into his apartment with him for at least the next two weeks, wasn’t something he welcomed either.
Not least because of his fierce physical reaction to a woman who, despite those shadows he occasionally saw in her eyes, was far too young and new for a hardened man like him. He had no business feeling that desire and arousal for someone like Fawn. Someone he believed was too vulnerable, despite that outer shell of hardness she liked to portray. Declan knew he could easily break someone like her.
“I’m guessing you drew the short straw,” he drawled.
She grinned, those amber eyes once again glowing. “As I said, I’m also being paid way more for the next two weeks than I would be if I was working my usual shifts at the hospital.”
Because Fergus was paying for her to be there for Declan.
It was getting more than a little irritating how much Fergus was continuing to intrude in Declan’s personal life because he had protected Thea. Initially for just this past week in this private hospital, but now it seemed it was for the next two weeks too, this time in his own home.
“Ready to go?”
Declan came back to an awareness of his surroundings to see that Fawn had moved across the room and was standing beside a wheelchair, her expression one of expectation. “Hell, no,” he rasped once her meaning became clear to him.
Fawn grinned. “It’s hospital policy, decreed by the board of directors, that all patients must leave the building in a wheelchair.”
“Well, the hospital board of directors can take their policy and shove it up their?—”
