One More Dance by Roxanne Rustand (fun books to read for adults TXT) 📕

“Shhhhh. It’s all right. We can talk later.”

“Patty—is she—” His voice strengthened. “Is she...”

He was so weak, so stressed. What was the right thing to say right now? “The woman in your car? She was...hurt badly, Jared.”

There were so many questions to ask, she didn’t know where to start. “The sheriff needs to talk to you when you’re feeling better. He needs to know her identity.”

“I’m...” He turned away, his voice defeated. “I’m sure he does.”

He didn’t offer further explanation. He wasn’t even going to try, and she could already sense the distance widening between them. “Jared, look at me,” she said softly.

It took so long for him to turn back to her that she thought he might refuse.

“The sheriff thinks someone intended to run your SUV off the road. He’s trying to figure out who it is, so if you have any idea at all, you need to let us know.”

The almost imperceptible shake of his head was nothing more than she’d expected if he still felt he was protecting a client’s privacy.

“Maybe that person is still after you for some reason,” she said.

His eyes drifted shut, closing her out. But she needed to speak to him before he did.

“We have to get some other things straight, too. I trust you, sweetheart. You’ve been my very soul since we first met in college, and I never should have doubted you. Not all those years ago, and not now. If that woman was in your car, you had a good reason, and I don’t even need to hear it. Just get better, honey, so we can get you out of this place and bring you home where you belong.”

Someone cleared her throat, and Kate looked over her shoulder to see the nurse had returned.

“He should get some rest,” she said. “And there’s also someone here to visit who seems awfully impatient, so maybe you’ll want to talk to him.”

Kate started to rise from her chair, but Jared’s hand caught hers and he pulled her back, his voice thick with emotion. “Stay,” he whispered.

The nurse appeared at Kate’s shoulder. “Sorry, doctor’s orders, but we’ll let her come back soon.”

“I need to tell her—” He tried to sit up but winced and fell back.

“Whatever it is, it can wait.” The nurse smiled as she picked up a syringe and injected it into the IV port. “This will help with the pain and will probably make you sleepy. Now just try to get some rest.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

SEVERAL TABLE LAMPS at the far end of the waiting room had been turned off. A man stood in shadows, his back turned to the door.

Kate felt a frisson of unease crawl down her spine. Yet hospital security had been alerted, and this man had made it in, so he must be all right.

If she wasn’t careful, the next thing she knew, she’d be frightened by moonbeams and butterflies.

She ventured just a few steps into the room. “Are you the gentleman who wanted to see me?”

“Not you, your husband. I’m hoping you can help.”

His voice held a false note of friendliness, and when he turned partway toward her, still in the shadows, her unease turned to foreboding.

“I’m afraid that isn’t possible,” she said. “The ICU allows families only.”

“I just want you to tell them I can go in.” He bared his teeth in a chilling smile. “He’ll be very happy to see me, I know.”

The man exuded danger. She dropped her hands into the pockets of her blazer and found her cell phone, thankful that it had an exposed keyboard. Fingering its surface, she found and pressed the 911 speed-dial numeral that she’d programmed for emergencies. “I guess I don’t recognize you. Are you a friend or a client?”

His shoulders twitched. “Both. Now can you go ask the nurses, or not? I’d just walk on back there, but they’d probably call in the National Guard or something.”

With good cause, Kate thought. Had her call gone through? Would the dispatcher’s announcement also route through the sheriff’s private number? If not, it could be a long time before anyone would figure out where she was right now.

“Okay,” she said, forcing a smile. “Let me go ask and I’ll be right back.”

He turned fully toward her and loomed over her, one hand fastened on something bulky in his jacket pocket. With his collar turned up, his ball cap pulled low over his forehead and his amber-tinted glasses, it was hard to make out his features, but he definitely wasn’t smiling now. “No. I’m coming along.”

“It won’t do you any good. I was just told to leave, so no one can get in there for another hour. But maybe they’ll let you take my turn, okay?”

“I can’t wait that long.” He shifted his weight from side to side. “Let’s go.”

She frantically searched for some way to stall. “H-how did you get past security?”

“What? You didn’t know your husband has a long-lost brother? The fool security guard didn’t even ask to see my ID.”

If a stranger burst into the ICU, Kate had no doubt that the nurses would sound the alarm system in a flash. But even if they did, how long would it take for this man to reach Jared’s bedside? What if he was the one who’d run Jared off the road, and he had a gun hidden in that pocket?

Stall him...find some way to stall.

“Okay...but I have to make a quick phone call to my clinic first.”

He grabbed her arm and propelled her toward the door. “Not now, sister.”

“I just have to tell my vet tech to...um...adjust the dosage on an IV that’s due to run out in the next five minutes. If I don’t call in time, my staff will call security to search for me all over this hospital.” She managed a rueful smile. “They’ve done it before.”

Swearing under his breath, he gripped her arm tighter. “Then make it quick. I don’t have all day.”

“Only if you let go. I have to get at my phone.”

The man hadn’t