The little girl lisped strongly. Hope had mentioned Heather was trying to find her a speech therapist—before she’d been abducted that day with Powell. Everything had just sort of paused now, Madison suspected.
Madison took the sidewalk up to the back door of what Hope called Coleson Castle. And stepped inside. There was a beautiful dark-haired, dark-eyed man sitting at the kitchen table. “Daniel.”
He had a pinched look on his face. But he was sitting up. The bruises had faded since the attack. Hope was pacing beside him, an almost terrified look on her face.
Something was wrong.
“What’s going on?” Those were the first words out of her mouth. Maybe not the best timing, but…something was wrong. Hope looked terrified and her mother was obviously trying to calm her down.
“Heather…has taken a turn for the worse,” Bonnie said, quietly. “Joy just called. They are moving her into ICU, into isolation. The infection seems to be resistant to the antibiotics. We’re on our way over there right now. Only a few people will be able to go in with her at a time.”
Madison didn’t know what to say. Everyone had thought Heather was gettingbetter.
Madison just hugged Hope.
She didn’t know what else to do.
38
He froze…Oh,hell. This was real.
He wasn’t just seeing things.
Colesons weredangerous.
Daniel almost choked.
That wasHope,Heather’s baby sister, thegremlin,running around the living room in a black thong and…the matching bra…she wore the matching bra under that t-shirt. That…shirt that had the sleeves cut out almost completely and showedeverythingbeneath it. Why had she even bothered to put the T-shirtonin the first place?
The thin well-worn t-shirt just brushed midthigh, when she bent over to pick up the toys on the rug…he stopped breathing. He just did.
Gremlins shouldn’t be built like that. Hope was…athletic, even though she was small. Very toned. In all the right places. He must have made a sound. She whirled around.
“Oh! Commander McKellen! I thought…I didn’t realize you were down here. You actually got out of bed okay. That’s good. Sam said you should be able to move around a bit more soon. Is everything okay? Do you need more pain meds? Cashlynhas your scheduled doses on the chart on the fridge. She’s like a scary dominatrix when it comes to following her precious schedule. And Eden double checked the dosages—for both of us.”
It was probably the first time he’d seen the gremlin—gremlin—with her hair down everywhere. It was longer than he’d expected. Shaggy cut, but it suited her.
It slammed into him. She was as hot as her sister.
She was a beautiful woman. Far too young for him, she made him feel old at thirty-eight every time she spoke, but…he hadn’t realized just how beautiful. How attractive.
How damned hot.
Of course, it was kind of right there in his face. The pale green t-shirt hadTSP: Homicideprinted right over the breasts, and it hung so damned low those breasts were just visible at the top. It was obviously for a big man, and without the sleeves…hell, she might as well have been naked. It showed almost as much.
He would never look at this woman the same way ever again.
He garbled something.
“The…shirt? Whose…?”
She looked down, as the shirt slipped off one thin shoulder. The scars from what hell she’d endured were right there for him to see. He could swear his matching scars pulled. Taunted. “Oh. Miguel left it here when he stayed here last time, and for some reason, Joy slipped it into my basket. She was helping Summer with the laundry. Laundry is usually Heather’s chore, but…well…Heather came up with our laundry system when we first lost our parents. You do not mess with the system, you know. All of my clothes have purple H’s sewn on the tags. It’s how we know they are mine. Heather gets green H’s. Our favorite colors. I don’t know why she put a purple H on this shirt, but…that means it’s mine now. It’s the rule. I should probably give it backto him, don’t you think? He probably paid money for it. Well. At one time. There really isn’t much left of it at all now, I guess.”
“No. There…isn’t. You…why are you up so late?”
“Just…I was talking to Miriam, but she fell asleep on me and everything. And I couldn’t sleep because of the storm. I…called the hospital again. Just…worried. And when I worry, I look for food. Probably not a good habit, really…but I burn it off, mostly.”
“How is your sister?” The Coleson family had held a family meeting, and he’d been a part of it, along with the evidence tech filling in for Hope now. Apparently, Miriam was a regular fixture at Coleson Castle, one they had known for years.
