With an effort, she lifted her head to glare at him. Even behind the dark glasses, she had perfected the expression so it had maximum impact. “I said no.”
His laugh vibrated through her body. “Has anyone ever told you that you are the most stubborn person in the whole world?”
“Apart from you?”
“Apart from me.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Your family? I’d like to meet them.”
You never will. The thought jerked her back to reality. “I’ll be fine now, Bryce. You can go. Thanks for your help.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.” The sarcasm in his voice was withering. “I’m just going to walk out of here and leave you when you can’t even crawl to your own bed.”
“You don’t have any choice. I don’t want you here.” With a determined effort, Steffi pushed herself away from him and tried to sit up straight. It was a mistake. Behind the tinted lenses, the edges of her vision went black. Everything swam out of focus. She heard Bryce call her name in alarm, and the last thing she felt was his strong arms catching her as she fell back onto the pillows.
* * *
Steffi would kill him for ignoring her wishes, Bryce decided as he ended his call. If she couldn’t find something to do to him that would cause more pain than death. He checked on her again in between waiting for Leon Sinclair to answer his summons and fixing the pathetic front door. Her breathing seemed way too shallow.
Stop panicking. Leon will know what to do.
Bryce was pleased to have found this decisiveness within himself. It was a trait that often went missing at the most important times. Day to day, he could function. No one would know there was a problem. At Delaney Transportation, he knew the drivers viewed him as a good boss: tough, uncompromising, a little picky about the details. It was when the unexpected happened, if he was faced with an emergency, that it all came back to him. The explosion, the blood, the guilt. That was when his mind and body froze and he ceased to function. But he had made this decision about Steffi without hesitation. The thought brought with it a new and unexpected tingle of pride.
He prowled restlessly around the little cabin. In contrast to its ramshackle exterior, the inside was scrupulously clean and neat. In the midst of this squalor, Steffi had tried to make the place comfortable. Somehow, the sight of the bright cushions and throw on the sofa brought with it a feeling of sadness. He frowned. If she suspected him of pitying her, Steffi would be outraged. In the bedroom, the quilt on the bed was a colorful, cozy patchwork and there were vases of wildflowers throughout. The whole cabin smelled fresh and clean. There was a TV in the tiny den and a smaller one in the bedroom.
Even so, there was nothing about this place that made it Steffi’s. The few prints on the walls were landscapes. There was nothing personal, no photographs, no knickknacks, nothing that claimed it as hers. It was as bland as a vacation rental or hotel room. If she walked out of here right now, no one would know who had lived here. The only unusual thing was the stack of newspapers—she must read several each day—and celebrity gossip magazines. He wouldn’t have figured Steffi was the type to enjoy those. He shrugged. It just confirmed how little he knew about her.
When Leon arrived, Bryce studied him cautiously. Both men were veterans of the war in Afghanistan, but their career paths could not have been more different. While Bryce had been an explosive ordnance disposal—EOD—specialist, or bomb disposal expert, Leon had been an army doctor. Bryce’s promising career had been brought to an end two years ago by a roadside bomb. His physical injuries had healed quickly, leaving him with only a slight limp. He knew his brothers would say he had been left with other, deeper scars. Bryce didn’t encourage such comments, even if he knew them to be true.
Although Leon retained his medical license to practice, he had been given a medical discharge for mental health reasons. He had come home to Stillwater just over a year ago and had proceeded to make a name for himself by getting drunk and raising every kind of hell he could come up with. He had achieved the distinction of getting himself thrown out of every bar in the city and beyond.
Leon’s arrival in town had coincided with a period in Bryce’s life during which he had wondered whether alcohol might be the answer to his own problems. Since he didn’t even know what the question was, he soon found out it wasn’t. He and Leon had been on some spectacular benders while he tried to find out. Bryce had quickly sobered up, but it took Leon a lot longer. A spell in rehab had followed and he was still fighting his demons day by day. His reputation lingered and Bryce was the only person in Stillwater who didn’t believe it was still Leon’s ambition to drink the town dry.
Although Bryce knew how hard Leon was working to fight his addiction, he was secretly relieved to see that Leon was perfectly sober.
“Where’s the patient?” The slight stammer that disappeared when he had been drinking was evident now as Leon held up his medical bag.
“Through here.” Bryce led him through to the bedroom. “She was on the floor when I found her. Although she was conscious then, she passed out again after I lifted her onto the bed.”
“Who is she?” Leon had removed Steffi’s glasses and was checking her pulse.
“One of my drivers. She didn’t show up for a meeting today—” He broke off as Steffi blinked.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Bryce.” Although her voice was weak, she still managed to sound belligerent. “I told you I didn’t need a doctor.”
“As the only doctor in this room, I’m going to overrule you.” Bryce had never heard that sort of authoritative tone from Leon before. “I expect you would prefer it if Bryce left us while I examine you?”
Steffi subsided back on the pillows, nodding submissively. So that was all it took? Somehow Bryce doubted the high-handed manner Leon had used would work for him. Before he left the room, he overheard a brief doctor-patient exchange.
“When did you last eat?” Leon asked as he opened his medical bag.
“What day is it?”
“Wednesday.”
Steffi seemed to be struggling to work something out. “That means I was sick all day Tuesday, my day off. So I may have had a snack on Monday evening.”
Bryce closed the door quietly behind him. Damn it, Steffi. How the hell could she not know when she last ate? What was he going to do about her? There must be a story behind why she was here, but the chances of Steffi letting anyone get close enough to know what it was were remote to nonexistent. The chances of Bryce being the person she chose to confide in... He shook his head. Worse than nonexistent. Stillwater was a small city and Delaney Transportation had its own grapevine. Bryce had overheard the inevitable speculation about Steffi when she first arrived in town. He knew she had been a disappointment to the gossips, who had been unable to discover anything about her. He was fairly sure she had no friends in Stillwater. Who did Steffi talk to? Who knew anything about this intensely private and prickly woman?
Bryce gazed out the kitchen window at the hayfield of lawn surrounding the cabin. He knew what his brothers would say. Bryce was good at collecting waifs and strays. It was what he did instead of dealing with his own problems. He had a sixth sense for people who were in trouble. And when that sense kicked in, he had no mechanism for walking away. Was that what he was doing here? Maybe there was no problem with Steffi other than her current illness. Okay, this cabin she lived in was a dump. There could be a good reason for that. Eccentricity. Debt. Maybe she was getting out of a bad relationship and didn’t want to be found. It was her business. She didn’t want him here. He should just walk away, leave her to it.
Oh, hell. I’m already involved. Walking away wasn’t an option.
The sound of a door opening drew him away from his thoughts. He went back to the hall where Leon was closing the bedroom door behind him. “I’ve told her to get some rest.”