rescue vehicle stopped behind it, along with four police cruisers. Soon the bystanders were herded back into the hospital.
Trey ushered Debra inside, but Shelby, Patrick and Kate refused.
“Those are my sons,” Kate insisted. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The firemen extinguished the blaze and the hospital’s medical staff carried the injured driver into the hospital on a gurney.
Once the driver was taken care of and the flames doused, the Winston sons and Daniel joined Patrick, Shelby and Kate.
While the Winstons checked out their mother, Daniel touched Shelby’s chin. “You should have that cut looked at. Are you okay?”
With his fingers warm on her face, Shelby couldn’t think straight. “I think so.” Shelby pressed her palms to her ears and flexed her jaw. “But you sound like you’re in a tunnel.”
“Concussion from the blast.” Daniel’s hand dropped to his side. “It’ll take a while before your hearing returns to normal.” He faced Shelby’s grandfather. “Maybe we should get everyone back inside the hospital to be treated.”
Patrick nodded. “I agree. Starting with you.” He turned Daniel around. “Looks like you collected some shrapnel from the explosion.
Shelby looked at Daniel’s back and gasped. “You’re coming with me.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the door.
He pulled free of her grip. “I’m okay. I’d rather get everyone back to the Winston Estate and out of range of anyone else targeting you or Mrs. Winston.”
Kate and her three sons gathered around them. “What the hell happened?” Kate looked at the destroyed limousine.
“It appears someone got to the limousine and planted a bomb in it,” Daniel said.
“How? I thought the drivers were with them at all times.”
Thad wrapped an arm around his mother’s shoulders. “I’ll have security camera footage checked. Maybe it’ll shed light on whoever did this. Main thing now is to get you and Shelby home.”
Kate shook her head. “I can’t leave now. I have to stay and see to the well-being of my driver.”
“No.” Sam took his mother’s hand. “You have to get home. If someone is willing to bomb a vehicle at a hospital, he’s not concerned with collateral damage. By being here, you’re putting others in danger.”
Shelby watched as Kate’s brows pulled together. “I’m so damned tired of my family being terrorized. Who is doing this?”
“We don’t know, but I’d prefer to get you out of here before someone tries again.” Sam nodded toward Shelby. “And Shelby could use some recuperation time after what she’s been through.”
Kate reached toward her. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Shelby stepped away from the woman’s hands, not yet willing to accept her as anything other than the person who was going to host her and her grandfather for the next few days. “I don’t understand why I’m a target, or why it’s because of you. But I agree standing around here isn’t going to solve our problems.” And she didn’t want to let on that she had a splitting headache. Not when Daniel was cut and bleeding and willing to forgo medical attention to get Kate and her to safety.
“I can take a total of five in my SUV,” Trey said. “I’ll bring it around.”
“Sam can take the rest in mine,” Thad offered. “I’m staying to help gather evidence. This is now a crime scene.”
Daniel stepped in front of the women. “We need to search the vehicles before anyone gets in.”
“Daniel and I will handle that,” Thad said. “Patrick, could you take Mother and Shelby into the hospital and have the staff give them a once-over?”
Kate shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“As am I,” Shelby assured him.
Thad shrugged. “Hardheaded women.”
Kate’s lips quirked and Shelby couldn’t help but think the men were tough and hardheaded like their mother. Not an entirely bad thing in this case.
A few minutes later, Shelby was in the backseat of an SUV with Daniel riding shotgun, her grandfather at her side and Trey Winston at the wheel. Kate rode in Thad’s SUV with Sam driving and Debra sitting beside her in the backseat. They’d decided to leave the second limo behind in case it was similarly rigged to explode.
Once they were away from the hospital, Shelby noticed Daniel didn’t sit all the way back in his seat.
She leaned forward. “You should have had your back seen to.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine until I get to the Winston Estate.”
“You can barely sit in this vehicle.” Shelby tapped Trey on his shoulder. “Take us back to the hospital. This man needs medical attention.”
Trey shot her a glance in the rearview mirror. “Thad’s fiancée is on her way. She’s a nurse and can remove the shrapnel and clean the wounds.”
Not completely satisfied with Trey’s response, Shelby sat back in her seat, chewing on her bottom lip.
Her grandfather patted her knee. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about your grandmother.”
Shelby covered her grandfather’s hand. “It’s okay. I guess I understand why you didn’t. A woman willing to give up her baby isn’t worth knowing.”
“My mother didn’t give up her baby knowingly,” Trey said, his jaw set in a hard line, his fingers tight on the wheel.
“I didn’t know she was lied to. All I knew was I had a baby to raise by myself. What did I know about raising a kid?”
Shelby’s fingers squeezed around her grandfather’s. “Apparently you knew enough to raise my mother and me.”
“Not enough to keep Carrie safe.”
“You did the best you could. You couldn’t have known she would die in a car wreck.”
Patrick lifted Shelby’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. How can I forget when you look just like her?” He smiled, then his lips turned down at the corners. “When I thought I’d lost you as well, I had to get help.”
“I’m glad you did.” Memories of being abducted washed over her, and she relived the terror of being so helpless. “I’m sorry I didn’t come home on time that night.”
“You think I could be mad about that?” Her grandfather laughed, choking on a sob. “You couldn’t have known someone would target you.”
“Yeah, but if I had left when there were more people out, I might not have been captured and imprisoned in that horrible basement.”
“Well, it’s all over now. We have to count our blessings and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
And that was where Daniel came into the picture. If he was to be her bodyguard, he’d be around all the time.
Shelby’s insides quivered, her core heated and her palms grew clammy. “I don’t like living in someone else’s house. I’d rather go home to my own home, with my own bed to sleep in and the people I know and love around me.”
Patrick nodded. “I’d like nothing better. But it’s clear someone wants to get to Kate through her family. And like it or not, you’re part of Kate’s family.”
At that moment, they pulled up to a gate. Trey pressed a remote-control button on the sun visor and the gate opened. They wound along a driveway and through parklike manicured lawns and gardens, and finally stopped in front of a huge white-painted brick