A Silverhill Christmas (14 page)

Tori pushed Rio onto his back, revealing a dark stain spreading out from his left shoulder. Gulping, she ripped the neck of his T-shirt, her hands slick with Rio's blood. “He has a bullet wound in his shoulder.”

Ted called back as he hauled the anchor overboard, and the helicopter's lights pierced through the sky. “Put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. I'll see what I can do when we get in the chopper.”

Tori ripped the remainder of Rio's T-shirt from his body, bunched it up and pressed it against the oozing wound. She put her face close to his. “Open your eyes. Open your eyes, damn it.”

The chopper suspended above them, a ladder unfurling toward the boat's deck. A man's dark face appeared over the side. “Bring the boy up first.”

Her hands clamped over Rio's shoulder, Tori called out, “Ted.”

He lifted Max. “Don't worry, Tori. I've got Max.”

Ted clamped Max securely against his side as he climbed up the ladder to the chopper. Waiting hands pulled Max inside the helicopter. Ted jumped back onto the deck. “Go on up, Tori.”

Tears flooded her eyes. Rio had put himself in the line of fire for her and Max. He'd shot out the gas tank of the other boat at the risk of his own life.

“I—I can't leave him, Ted.”

He laid a hand on her back. “Rio's suffered worse than this little scrape. You did a good job staunching the wound. I'll take it from here. We all need to get in the helicopter…now.”

Reluctantly, Tori peeled open her stiff fingers, stained with Rio's blood. Ted clamped his hand over the T-shirt and smacked Rio's face. “Wake up. Stop faking.”

Rio's lids flickered, and he clenched his jaw. “Tori?”

“She's fine, and so's the boy. Now Derrick's getting mighty impatient up there in his bird, so haul your ass up and let's end this vacation.”

Tori stumbled toward the ladder swaying in the wind and grabbed one rung. Ted slid an arm beneath Rio's good shoulder and heaved him to his feet. Rio staggered and almost fell backward. Then he shook his head and straightened his back. Clutching his shoulder, he shuffled toward the ladder.

Letting out a ragged breath, Tori clawed her way up and into the helicopter while steady hands grabbed her arms. She scooted back to the edge on her stomach and reached her arms out toward Rio climbing up the ladder with one hand, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side as Ted pushed him from beneath.

When Rio's head was level with the chopper, Tori reached down and hooked her arm beneath his right shoulder. She braced her feet against a bin in the helicopter and hauled him over the side as Ted wrapped his arms around Rio's legs and hoisted him up.

Rio grunted as he fell into the chopper. The man named Derrick flipped open a first aid kit and doused the wound with alcohol. Rio's breath hissed between his teeth.

Tori hovered over him, her fingertips smoothing a line down his jaw. “Is he going to be okay?”

Derrick nodded and grinned. “Once I get through with him. Now go sit down next to your son.”

She knew a dismissal when she heard one. She secured Max in his seat and belted herself in the one next to him. She eyed Derrick as he pulled scary tools from his black bag and probed Rio's wound as he lay stretched out on the floor.

Ted lurched into the chopper and pulled up the ladder.
He smacked the side of the bird and shouted to Derrick's copilot, “Let's go.”

The helicopter tilted and swept forward, back toward land, and Tori laced her fingers through Max's. Were they really safe? She wouldn't believe it until they hit the mainland and Rio was fully conscious and healed.

She looked out the window at the powerboat still bobbing on the water. “You're just going to leave the boat out there?”

“Not exactly.” Ted pulled a switch from his pocket and waved it back and forth.

Tilting her head, Tori asked, “What's that?”

“Insurance.”

He flipped the switch, and the boat exploded in the water, orange flames leaping from the oil slick on the surface of the ocean.

Tori swallowed. These guys didn't fool around.

Rio groaned as Derrick injected a needle into his shoulder.

“What are you doing? I thought you were a pilot, not a doctor.”

Derrick looked up as he pulled out the needle. “I'm a man of multiple talents, and I have to remove the bullet. He doesn't have time for a stay in the hospital.”

Doctor
Derrick totally lacked a bedside manner. “Can I help?”

“Are you squeamish?”

“No.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and patted Max's arm, tucking the blanket around him. “You doing okay?”

Max nodded sleepily, lulled by the buzz of the helicopter.

Tori crouched next to Rio and doused her hands with disinfectant. “Tell me what to do.”

Rio faded in and out of consciousness as Derrick removed the bullet from his shoulder and cleaned and bandaged the wound. He pulled out a bottle of water and a couple of tablets. “Lift his head. He needs some antibiotics and painkillers.”

Tori ran her hands through Rio's dark, tangled hair and propped his head on her knees as she massaged his temples with her thumbs. “Drink some water and take the pills. You're going to be all right.”

Derrick placed the pills on Rio's tongue and held the bottle of water to his lips. He gulped down the water, and his lips quirked into a smile. “Thanks, Doc.”

A tear slid down Tori's cheek, and she leaned over and kissed Rio's wet lips. He sighed with contentment and burrowed his head into her lap.

Derrick exchanged a look with Ted, which Tori ignored. She'd probably just ruined Rio's reputation as a tough guy.

Derrick shook out a blanket and covered Rio. “He should be falling asleep soon, which is the best remedy for him right now. We're taking this bird to a small airstrip in Honolulu, and Rio has a private Gulfstream ready. Where to?”

Tori caressed Rio's hair between her fingertips and tucked it behind his ear as she murmured, “Huh?”

“Where are you and your son going after this?”

Tori traced a finger along Rio's hard jaw, now slack with drowsiness. He might even sleep right through the plane ride. She jerked up her head, eyes wide. “Didn't Rio tell you? We're going to Colorado. Silverhill, Colorado.”

The throbbing pain in his shoulder crept up his neck and pounded against his temples. Rio peeled his tongue from the roof of his mouth and ran it across his dry lips. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he squeezed his eyes shut as the pain zinged through his head.

He shifted, and the soft, cool pillow beneath him soothed his pulsating headache. His body vibrated slightly with the low hum of an engine. He rubbed his eyes. Derrick had dug that bullet out of his shoulder on the floor of the chopper. This ride was too smooth for a chopper over the ocean.

“He's awake.” A woman's voice, low and musical, eased his aching soreness even more, and he floated on a pleasant dream before a twinge shot through his shoulder again.

He swallowed, but his parched throat caused him to choke. Cool hands fluttered about his face and shoulder. Capable fingers curled around the back of his neck, tilting his head up. “Can you drink something now, Rio?”

Another woman's voice, but not the one that had calmed his senses before. He struggled to sit up, and the cushions beneath his back rose to an incline. Someone
pressed the rim of a glass to his lips, which he parted to accept the water tipped into this mouth.

He sipped slowly and then eased open his eyes, blinking against the low light of the aircraft's interior. A woman, her dark hair pulled back, swam into focus.

She smiled. “Welcome back, Rio. Derrick did a great job. You show no signs of fever and your bullet wound, while red, is not inflamed at all.”

He curled his hand around the glass and took it from her. He took another swallow of water and cleared his throat. “Where's Derrick? Are Tori and Max okay?”

She pulled the blanket farther off his bare shoulder. “May I?” She didn't wait for his answer, pressing her hand against his gauze dressing. “Good, no moisture. Derrick's flying this plane, Max is sleeping two rows up and Tori's right behind me.”

She shifted to her right, and Tori's head popped over her shoulder. “How are you feeling, Rio? This is Cora. She's a nurse, and Derrick called her in to accompany you back to the mainland.”

Rio fell back, cradling the glass of water in both hands. “So you're safe? We got away from Maui okay?”

Cora moved into the aisle to grab a black leather bag from the seat across from his, and Tori took her place, crouching beside his reclining seat. She readjusted the blanket, yanking it up to his chin. “We're safe, thanks to you. If you hadn't literally blown their boat out of the water, I'm not sure how we would've gotten away.”

He lifted his injured shoulder and winced. “Had to do it before they did it to us.”

“Shortly after their tank exploded, Derrick brought the helicopter in and we all got inside, including Ted. He then blew up the boat. Derrick flew us over to Honolulu,
called in Cora and we put you on the plane. We just took off over the Pacific. Ted stayed behind.”

Cora returned with her palm open. She shoved three tablets beneath his tongue. “More antibiotics to keep an infection at bay. Swallow.”

Rio sipped more water, and the tablets slid down his throat. Damn. He hated being out of control, loaded on the plane like an invalid, drugged up. “Is Max all right?”

“He's sleeping. He was confused and scared, but he'll be fine just as soon as I get him home.” Tori turned her head, and her hair fell across her face.

Rio's brain, which had been clearing, seemed to fog over again. He struggled against the languor seeping through his body once again. The glass in his hand jerked, spilling drops of water onto the blanket.

Cora caught the glass from his hand as his grip relaxed. “Just go with the flow, Rio. I slipped you another sedative with the antibiotic. Your body needs sleep to heal.”

Home. Home. Home.
Tori's words floated through his brain, and he tried to latch on to them, tried to make sense of them. He concentrated every ounce of effort he had on forming his own words in his uncooperative mouth. Finally, he breathed out, “Where we going?”

Cora's voice pierced through the haze cloaking him. “We're going to Silverhill, Colorado.”

 

R
IO STARED OUT THE WINDOW
as Cora patted his fresh bandage. “Looks better already. Are you still groggy? You have time to catch a little more sleep before we land.”

“I'm wide awake now. Do
not
give me any more happy pills.” He shot Cora one of his deadliest snarls, one that
reduced bad guys to quivering blobs of jelly. She smiled her know-it-all nurse's smile.

After Cora packed her bag and moved across the aisle, Tori slid into the seat next to him. “You agreed to be our bodyguard, didn't you? For a price.”

Yeah, and what a price.

Her guileless green eyes didn't show a hint of guilt, not one speck of consciousness regarding the rest of the conversation that had taken place after he'd agreed to protect her and Max. The part where she had dropped the bombshell that she called Silverhill home.

He had agreed to take the job, but hadn't he changed his mind after she'd given him the bad news? He chewed his bottom lip, drawing blood. No, he hadn't. They'd been interrupted by Ivan the Terrible before he could nix the agreement.

But she must've known he'd back out once she changed the rules of the game. Instead she'd taken advantage of his helplessness, packed him on the Gulfstream and headed for home. Her home.

Tori dipped a napkin in water and dabbed his lip. “Be careful. You're still dehydrated. Drink some more flu ids.”

He growled and snatched the napkin from her hand. “I'm dehydrated because you and Nurse Ratched over there drugged me.”

Cora smirked, never raising her eyes from her magazine. “You needed rest, Rio. You lost some blood and your body was going into shock.”

“My body's still in shock.”

Tori grabbed his hand. “We still need you, Rio—Max and I. You rescued him. You risked your life to save us. I can't think of a better audition for a bodyguard.”

Her thumb ran across his knuckles, and he closed
his eyes, savoring her closeness. She'd saved him, too. If she hadn't reacted so quickly after he'd been shot, he would've lost a lot more blood.

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her wrist. “I never thanked you for helping me. I could've bled out on that deck.”

“I never would've allowed that to happen.” She cupped his face with her hand, tangling her fingers in his hair.

Rio dragged in a breath. “It's not that I don't want to protect you and Max. I'd go to the ends of the earth to do that.”

“Just not Silverhill.”

“I guess I don't have a choice now, do I?”

“You don't have to mingle with your brothers if you don't want. We can stay at my brother's ranch. I already called him to let him know we're on our way.”

He ignored her reference to his
half
brothers. “It's your brother's ranch, not yours?”

“My parents had left it to both of us, but I sold out my share to Jared.” She shrugged, but her stiff shoulders hinted at pain and regret.

“Sounds like you couldn't wait to get out of Silverhill. Why is it so important to return there now?”

“I told you before. Home and family became important to me only after I lost mine. Besides, it's the safest place I can think of. Everyone knows me there.”

Including all those McClintocks.

“There is one problem with your timing.” Rio raked his hands through his hair, catching his breath at the pain in his shoulder.

Tori blinked. “What's that?”

“It's ski season. I'm not that familiar with Silverhill, since I just visited the one time, but it looked like the place does a brisk business for skiers. Don't forget. That's
how my mother met Ralph McClintock. She was a ski instructor, and I never knew a more rootless person than my mom.”

The blank look on Tori's pretty face told him that the desire to return to her roots had blinded her to any other factors.

“Silverhill is going to be filled with strangers at this time of year, Tori. You're not going to recognize every face on the street. And that's an advantage for Alexi, not you.”

She hugged herself as her face blanched. “Maybe the CIA will get Grant to talk about his association with Alexi. In the meantime, I guess that just means you're going to have to work harder to earn your money.”

The fasten seatbelt sign pinged, and Derrick's voice scratched over the speaker. “We're coming in, folks.”

Rio yanked up the shade and pressed his forehead against the cold window, gazing at the snowcapped Rockies. If the CIA couldn't stop Alexi Zherkov, the Mad Prince would know exactly where to look for Tori and Max. His reluctance to meet up with his half brothers represented only a sliver of his uneasiness at returning to Silverhill. His greater concern involved Tori and Max.

Her decision to go home just put her life in danger.

 

T
ORI WANTED TO SMACK
Jared's tight face. Had living in the mountains his entire life frozen his heart? Would he go on blaming her for their parents' deaths forever?

She settled in the backseat of Jared's Range Rover and pulled Max close, wrapping his oversize jacket around him. Rio slid in on the other side of Max and raised his brows. He must consider her crazy for wanting to return to her cold fish of a brother, but Rio wouldn't understand
the pull of a place. He'd never experienced that with his mother. He never had a place to call home.

Jared adjusted his rearview mirror, making eye contact with Rio. “So you're really the long-lost McClintock brother? What are the odds of that? But leave it to my sister to drag one of the McClintocks into her mess. She always had one of those boys dancing to her tune, jumping in to save her.”

Tori clenched her teeth. The only reason she'd decided to stay at the ranch was because Jared and his family were going away for Christmas. He hadn't changed a bit.

Rio narrowed his eyes. “As her brother, why didn't you jump in to save her?”

Jared's face reddened, and then he shook his head. “That'd be a full-time job, which you're about to discover.”

“Lucky for me it is a full-time job.” Rio reached across Max and squeezed Tori's thigh.

She grinned her thanks. It felt good to have Rio in her corner. She hoped he didn't swallow Jared's clumsy remarks about the McClintocks hook, line and sinker. Sure, they'd helped her out, but they'd helped out all their friends. Of course, maybe she'd had a few more troubles than the rest of their gang.

She'd watched Rio's face during Jared's diatribe, watched for the characteristic hardening of the jaw and the crease between his eyes every time someone mentioned his brothers. But he'd either gotten used to being compared to the rest of the McClintocks, or he'd learned to school his features into indifference.

She relaxed her shoulders and began pointing out land marks to Max, who leaned across her lap to peer out side. “Pretty soon we'll be on Main Street. It's the
busiest street in Silverhill and should be all decorated for Christmas.”

“Is that where Cora and Derrick will be?”

“No, sweetie. Cora and Derrick are staying in Durango. They're going back to Hawaii.”

“Are they going to see my father?”

A knife twisted in Tori's gut, and she exchanged a quick glance with Rio. She knew leaving Max with Alexi would have jeopardized Max's safety—maybe not today, not tomorrow, but somewhere down the line, one of Alexi's enemies would attempt to take out his revenge on Alexi by harming Max. But Max loved his father. Alexi had fostered an unhealthy relationship with Max, spoiling him and yet imposing a strict set of rules and regulations, unnatural for a little boy. In short, he had been grooming him to be Prince of Glazkova.

“I don't think Cora and Derrick know your father.” She tousled his hair. “Your father is very busy right now.”

Jared snorted. “That maniac's going to come after you, isn't he? I'm glad we'll be on vacation.”

Rio jerked forward and clamped his hand on the side of Jared's seat. “Watch your mouth around the boy.”

Jared coughed and grasped the steering wheel. “Sure.”

Rio's fingers dug into the leather seat. “Apologize to your sister.”

“Sorry, Tori.”

“Whatever.” A thrill of pleasure zinged through her veins. That's the first apology she'd ever heard from Jared, as insincere as it seemed. Rio had embraced his duties as her bodyguard and protector, and she felt that embrace all the way across the seat.

The big car swept down the hill and rolled onto Sil
ver hill's Main Street. As she pointed out the Christmas decorations to Max, Tori's heart was sinking down to her toes.

The people. The crowds.

She gripped her hands in her lap. “Is it always this crowded now at this time of year?”

Jared answered, “Yeah. As some of the other ski resorts get more exclusive and more expensive, it drives people to Silverhill. Winter's worse, but summer's not much better these days. If Rod McClintock gets his way and sets up his dude ranch on his property and the Price property he got his hands on when he married Ennis Price's granddaughter, summer is going to be as packed as winter.”

Tori sucked in her lower lip and slid a glance toward Rio. He'd been right. Alexi wouldn't have too much trouble slipping a couple of his goons into this winter mix. Slap a pair of ski boots on them and they'd blend right in.

Rio started questioning Jared about the ranch, the location, the entrances, the terrain and every other detail about it.

Tori sighed and kissed the top of Max's head. They'd be okay—not because she'd returned to Silverhill, but because she had a McClintock on her side…the right McClintock.

 

R
IO COLLAPSED ON THE
bed in the guest bedroom at the Scott ranch, folding his good arm beneath his head. When he'd met Tori's brother and got an earful of his barbs against her, he'd wondered why the heck she'd want to return to Silverhill. Then she'd begun telling Max about the countryside out the car window and shar
ing stories with him about her childhood. The warmth in her voice had sent an ache to the pit of Rio's stomach.