“Return to the estate.You must help me,” Bridget cried.
“Why?”Mikhail spared her a scathing glance before he pressed his fingers to Roscoe’s neck.His pulse thumped beneath Mikhail’s fingers.He huffed out a deep breath.Roscoe would recover.But Edwina… He crawled across the floor, unsure his legs would support his weight.
“Stay away from her,” Bridget ordered.“She is unimportant.”
Hell, no!Mikhail ignored Bridget, his pulse thrumming louder than his panicked feline.Thebang, bang, bangin his ears overpowered everything.A sick sensation swirled through his belly on seeing the pool of blood around Edwina’s head.He couldn’t lose her, not now.
Fearing the worst, he turned her over.Blood trickled from a wound in her shoulder while a small dart protruded from Edwina’s arm.He yanked it out and whirled on Bridget.“What have you done?”
“She was in my way,” Bridget said.
“She is my wife,” Mikhail thundered.
“She means nothing.My need is more important.Please, I’ll give you anything.Help me.”
Rapid footsteps sounded in the hall.A man cautiously poked his head around the corner.One of Roscoe’s men.
“Call a healer,” he ordered.
The man retreated.Bridget relaxed a fraction, lowering the weapon.A mistake on her part because Mikhail sprang with a furious feline yowl.Two men darted through the doorway.
“No!”Bridget shrieked, but the three men overpowered her, despite her thrashing and litany of curses.
“Watch that weapon.It spat darts and bullets.”Mikhail scrambled to Edwina, not hiding his urgency and desperation now.His breath stuttered as he felt for a pulse.There!A faint, thready beat.
“What did the gun fire at her?What drug is it?”he demanded.
Bridget shrugged.“Don’t know.Don’t care.She was in the way.I hope she dies.”
The healer and her assistant rushed into the office.
“Edwina first.Roscoe has a stronger pulse.Bullet wound in her shoulder and darted with an unknown drug,” Mikhail said.
“Your memory has returned.”Satisfaction filled the healer’s words, although she focused on Edwina.Her assistant busied herself with Roscoe.
Mikhail stood, pausing to stabilize his balance.“What drug does the dart contain?”he asked Bridget.Those vicious growls ripped through his head again, and he ached to hold his skull and beg for mercy.Show no weakness.The rumble subsided, and the pain lessened.Mikhail breathed again.
“Mikhail, it isn’t too late to return to Papa’s estate.Untold riches and power await if we work together.Please, Pavel mustn’t learn of this.We must leave now.Now that she’s gone, we can work together.We’ll make excellent partners.”She wrenched free of her captors and sidled closer to press her breasts against his arm.“In all ways.”
Mikhail let his disgust show.“Lock her up where she can’t escape.Smirnoff’s organization can implode from the inside.I want nothing to do with it.”He turned his back on Bridget.Edwina remained unconscious, although it looked as if the healer had halted the bleeding.
“I’ll do tests to ascertain the drug then dig the bullet from her shoulder.Young man, your wife won’t be happy when she awakens.She bears a scar from your knife, and now a bullet wound.”
“Mikhail!Stop.You must help me.Please.I beg of you.”
Mikhail whirled on Bridget, fury scraping him with sharp talons.“I owe you nothing.My memories are fuzzy, but you arenotmy wife.Take her away.”
Roscoe issued a throaty groan.
“He’s coming round,” the assistant healer said.
Tension eased from Mikhail when Roscoe sat up without aid.His vision was blurry because he rubbed his eyes and blinked.
“Bridget shot you,” Mikhail said.“It was an experimental weapon and fired darts and bullets.”
“My focus is shonky.Shadowy.”He rubbed the back of his neck.“Hell.Brain, too.What happened?”
“Bridget arrived.Don’t know why.Do you know?”
