“Shit, she’s panicking,” Jared said, pulling some blankets off.
Okay, that was better. Immediately, she could breathe easier.
“Fuck, sorry, baby. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“My arm . . . it hurts to move it,” she said, feeling breathless.
“Then you shouldn’t move it,” North told her.
Right. Of course she shouldn’t. As usual, North was right.
“You have several stitches in your side,” North told her. “There was obviously something sharp that you scraped your side on. There is also bruising on your side, your upper arm, shoulder and hip. We had to bring you to the hospital because of the blood loss and the risk of infection. The doctor didn’t give you a blood transfusion, but you are on fluids to rehydrate you. Thankfully, whatever scraped your side didn’t penetrate too deeply or hit anything vital.”
North spoke matter-of-factly. But there was something tense about the way that he held himself.
Was he mad at her?
Why had she been trying to climb the wall?
It started coming back to her as she took a moment to think. The conversation she’d overheard.
The way she’d reacted.
Fuck.
Why had she run like that? She should have stayed. Should have talked to them. But she’d been worried that she wouldn’t like what they said.
And that they wouldn’t let her leave, no matter what her wishes were. That she’d learn the truth.
That they didn’t want her.
“Why did you try to leave, baby girl?” Jared asked. “Did something happen? And if it did, why didn’t you talk to us about it?”
“Obviously, it’s something we did,” North said. “So what was it?”
“I . . . I . . .” Shit.
“Tell us the truth,” Jared told her sternly. That softness in his voice was gone.
The Lord of the Manor was back.
He really wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
“I overheard you both in Jared’s office,” she blurted out.
God, she was so tired.
She wasn’t sure she had the energy or stamina for this.
“What did you overhear?” North asked.
“That you know who killed Rex and delivered his head to the house,” she said. “That you think that I might be at risk because I’m living here as well. And that the only reason you wanted me to stay was to keep me safe from this Beltran!”
There was silence and she stared from one to the other, then both of them glanced down at her.
Holy. Moly.
It would take a stronger woman than her not to be affected by twin glares.
