He shook his head. “The next twenty-four hours are all mine. But she said she wanted to see you before they wheeled her out of the ER. I’ll call you day after tomorrow and you can come.”
“She wanted to see me?” Jane shook her head. “She’s a constant surprise. I thought once she had you again, I’d be history.”
“Because she’s difficult and self-centered and sometimes completely rude?” He smiled. “That’s another thing I have to take up with her. But it’s hard to do, when all of this was about her trying to give her life to save mine. Just accept that you’ll have to put up with a good deal from both of us if you’re going to permit us to hang around.”
“I haven’t noticed the concept of permission being brought up very often with either of you,” she said drily.
“I’ll have her work on it.”
She raised her brows.
“Too late for me.” He shrugged. “Too late for most things. She’s young enough to be molded. My molding took place when I was very young, and most of it was negative.”
She wondered what form that molding had taken. She wanted to ask him, but she knew he wouldn’t answer. “I want you to call me and tell me how Lisa is doing.” She paused. “And I’ve been worrying about Santara. From what you said about him, I wouldn’t think this would be the end. We still don’t know what was behind his taking Lisa.”
“No, but I’ll find out,” he said grimly. “Stop worrying. On the way here, I phoned Palik, one of the agents I use, and told him to get to San Leandro and keep an eye on Santara and the situation there. I told him not to let Santara out of his sight. I don’t want to lose him while I’m dealing with Lisa.”
“And then you’re going to do exactly what Lisa didn’t want you to do.”
He shook his head. “She didn’t want to be bait. I’m sure Lisa’s enough like me to have no qualms about removing Santara in the most painful way possible.” His expression hardened. “After all, he inflicted enough pain during their time together.”
“She wouldn’t want you to endanger yourself because of something that happened to her.”
“I disagree. It didn’t ‘happen’; it was planned. We’ll see. At any rate, I won’t address it for another forty-eight hours.” He turned away. “I need to get back to Lisa.” He looked back over his shoulder. “By the way, did I say thank you?”
“I don’t believe you did. Nor should you. I didn’t do anything for you; it was all for Lisa.”
“What a relief. Gratitude is so boring and interferes with my basic egocentric philosophy.”
Jane watched him walk down the hall before she turned and headed for the elevator. She never knew when to take him seriously, and this time was no different. But if there was one thing she had learned from this time with him, it was that he was dead serious about Lisa. With the emphasis on dead, she thought ruefully. There was not going to be any stopping him from going after Santara as soon as it was possible.
And maybe that was good. Both Caleb and Lisa could be in danger if he wasn’t eliminated. Oh, she just didn’t know. She couldn’t think straight. She was tired, and the events of the rescue and the stress of Lisa’s injury had taken their toll.
So she’d have to forget about Caleb and Lisa until she could do something about them. In a short time, she’d be seeing Jock and be on her way back to Loch Gaelkar. Back to MacDuff and Cira and her own life and not being drawn into that passionate, dark torrent orchestrated by Caleb.
It would be a relief. Once she was certain Lisa was safe and out of all danger, life would return to normal.
And it was only the aftereffects of the crackling high energy of the last twenty-four hours that made that normal seem flat by comparison. The last thing she needed was to walk down that path where Caleb stood beckoning.
CHAPTER
8
The hospital room was dark, but Lisa knew that Seth was sitting there in the darkness as soon as she opened her eyes. She could feel him; his force was always too dominant to ignore. Even when it was a mere link with her, it was powerful, but also soothing. Yet there was an underlying vibrancy in him that was like no one else’s in the world.
“Go back to sleep, Lisa,” he said. “The minute you open your eyes, your mind lights up and blows everything I’m trying to do with you.” She could hear the humor in his voice. “Can’t you do anything right?”
“You should talk.” Her throat was painfully dry and she was hoarse. “I saved your life, didn’t I? If you were going to rescue me, you should have done it better. I shouldn’t have been put in that situation.”
“There’s a possibility you may be right.” He came toward the bed, and she felt a straw slipped between her lips. Cold water slid down her throat, easing the dryness. “So I’ll refrain from giving you a scathing retort that would completely devastate you.”
“It wouldn’t devastate me.” But she knew it would. She could accept disapproval from anyone else, but never from Seth. “How long have I been here?”
“In this hospital? About twelve hours.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “You were obliging enough during that period to sleep and let me have time to heal you. But I’m not finished. So go back to sleep.”
“I will.” She took another sip of water. “So I’m not going to die or anything?”
He chuckled. “No, though I’m not sure what you mean by ‘anything.’ You know I wouldn’t let that happen to you. Though you made it very difficult for me.”
“I had to do it. They wanted to hurt you in some way. I don’t know how, but I knew I couldn’t let you come.”
“So you called Jane instead.” His voice was suddenly steely. “Not a good idea, Lisa. It can’t happen again.”
“That made you angry? I didn’t want to hurt her. I like her. But it was either her or you. It couldn’t be you.”
“And it can’t be her. Understood?”
“Maybe. She didn’t fight it; she just came.”
“Because that’s Jane. Not again.”
She knew that tone and she couldn’t bear for him to be angry with her. “Not again.” She reached out and touched his hand in the darkness. He felt warm and hard and alive. “Turn on the light. I want to see you.”
“And I want you to go back to sleep.”
“I’ll turn it on,” she said, then added deliberately, “Though it might hurt me to do it.”
“Brat.” He reached over to the bedside table and flipped on the lamp. “Five minutes.”
“Maybe. If you’re so good at this blood stuff, you might be able to spare a few more minutes.” Her eyes hungrily raked his features. “Though I don’t know why I should want to look at you anyway. You didn’t come to see me for all those years.”
“It was for the best. It wasn’t as if I neglected you.”
No, the link had always been there when she needed him. But it wasn’t like seeing him, being able to reach out and touch him. “But you left me with those … people. Teresa and Gino didn’t like you any more than our mother and father did. You shouldn’t have done that.”
“It was safer for you.” He smiled crookedly. “And I knew that you wouldn’t be exposed to them too much. Gino and Teresa were always completely self-involved. You had the best tutors; you went to the best schools and had the safety of a normal household when you weren’t at school.” He paused. “And there wasn’t anything normal about me. I was trying to save you from that.”
“I never asked you to do it,” she said fiercely. “I don’t want to be saved from you. You’re my brother. You’re the only one in the world I love. I don’t care about normal.” Her hand tightened on his. “And you told me a long time ago that I wasn’t normal, either. I’m like you. So stop shutting me out.”
“I also told you that pretense could save you,” he said quietly. “And it did for a long time.”
“But it didn’t save me from Santara.”
He slowly shook his head. “No, it didn’t.” He reached down and gently touched the bruise on her cheek. “And that’s when I realized that it was time for the pretense to be over.”