“They’re nightmares, not dreams.” Never-ending, or at least until he woke because he’d sweated out the sheets. “You said we’d work on storming my senses today. You were Lydia’s assigned psychologist a year ago, so storm away.”
“Right. We’ll get straight to it then.” He removed a micro recorder from his shirt pocket and set it on the coffee table. “Lydia may not have known Johnny Taita personally, but she saw the last moments of his life.” The doctor looked over the rim of his glasses. “As she felt she did with you.”
“I didn’t die.” He stared at doc’s corner file cabinet, itching to peek inside Lydia’s folder for anything to get closer to her.
“Lydia never saw you again, and she spoke of you in almost every session. She suffered over witnessing bullets meant for her striking you. I can’t go into specific detail as that’s client privilege, but I can say the reality of your near death was a heavy burden for her to carry. Particularly since she believed no one’s life was worth more than another’s simply because it was their job to protect.”
“I left her when she needed me the most. I abandoned her, and that’s how I see it.” He examined the framed print of Rangitoto Island and the heavy bush which lined its sides, just like their cove.
“Tyler, you can’t take upon yourself what you had no ability to control.”
He stared at the man. “Doc, she’s needs me now, and I’m still not there for her.” His heart wrenched at the thought.
“No, but she’s taken control of her own life by keeping those she’s placed in harm’s way safe. You have to see that.”
“No, it’s my job to keep her safe. It’s my right.”
The doctor tapped his pen on his pad. “Why is it your right?”
He grasped the recorder, wanting to make sure he’d hear his own words later. “Because I claimed her the moment she came back into my life. I’m living from one day to the next…for her. I can’t give her the control she wants, not when my life is tied to hers.”
“Leaving would have been a difficult decision. Lydia’s an independent woman. You cannot control her.”
Damn it. Tyler both adored her strength and despised it. “As I said, my life is tied to hers.”
“Do you think she made the wrong choice?”
“Yes.”
“Tyler, we have a problem. You keep laying the facts aside, but the truth is the truth, no matter which way I present it.”
“Hold on.” Brigs vaulted to his feet then snapped his fingers as he paced around the armchairs. “Present it?” Brigs eyed Tyler. “The present for Gilchrist from Blenheim. Sorry, Doc, but Tyler when is Nico’s birthday? The wrapping paper had sail boats on it, like for a child.”
“A couple of days.” Hell, who on earth would send Gilchrist a package like that, except Lydia? This was either the breakthrough he’d waited for, or a desperate stab in the dark.
Regardless, he was on his feet. “Whatever was just said in this office, Doc.” He squeezed the device as he raced for the door. “Remains between us.”
At the elevator, he punched in the button for the ground floor.
Brigs heaved in a breath as he chased him. “Ben told me if the opportunity arose, to help you find her, not that Gilchrist can know.”
Tyler slapped his shoulder. “Great. I appreciate the support, more than you can know. And this gift better be from her. She could be anywhere in the world, but Blenheim?” Yeah, if she was there, she’d been placed close.
The doors opened on the lower floor and he was off. Only one place in the world called his name, and if his woman was there, he’d find her. He wouldn’t accept any other outcome.
“Hey, it’s Red.” Drake leapt up the porch steps and bumped into Lydia where she leaned against the waist-high railing trying to swallow down a late lunch. She’d made a sandwich, but it was the most unappetizing one on the planet. “You look a bit green around the cheeks, Red.”
“The gills,” she mumbled around her mouthful, and then spat it back onto her plate. “Yuck. I want to be sick.” She set her plate down on the steps. “Okay, so it’s your turn to check on me, huh?”
Ronson had gone down country for the day to the cattle sale yards and had left her on her own for the first time. He’d been a touch worried, and told everyone to visit her in turns. He took the whole family thing right to heart, not that she minded. She could use the company.
“Yeah, but I also had to come back to grab a rifle from the locked cupboard in the mudroom.”
“What’s happened? Why do you need a gun?” Her heartbeat raced.
“One of the yearlings tried to cut across the river at the low point and went down. The poor thing got tangled in the bushes on the edge. Colt and me heaved her out, but the girl’s leg is twisted and likely broke. The vet’s been called, but Colt wants the gun. She’s in pain.” He rubbed his arms, rucking up his short sleeves. As he did, his bicep tattoo, one of a hyena peeked out.
Witness Pursuit (Bodyguards #1)
Joanne Wadsworth's books
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- Enchanter (Princesses of Myth #3)
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