Devil in Disguise (24 page)

“Shhh,
mon amour
. I’m here. I’m okay,” Conrad whispered in her ear. “There are more of them. Let’s go before they figure out which direction we headed.”

Relief washed over Rachel even as a tidal wave of sadness swept in. Neena’s perfect little haven was completely engulfed in the blaze.

There was no time to mourn what had been lost, though. Rachel produced the small GPS Rick had given her earlier and handed it to Conrad. He was better qualified to lead them through these woods than she was. Conrad kept them at a hard pace. He moved with grace through the forest, completely silent despite his size. Rachel and Julia tried to follow his lead, but between struggling to keep up with his long stride and the fact that they grew up in Jersey, they weren’t quite as silent.

They stopped only long enough for Conrad to listen to be sure they were still alone. He appeared so calm. Rachel didn’t know how he did it. Every time a twig snapped, she wanted to jump out of her
skin. Julia clung to her hand so tightly that Rachel’s fingers were going numb.

The walk seemed the longest of Rachel’s life. She didn’t know how far they trekked before they came on the old red-and-white
truck that had been left for them. Conrad approached the vehicle alone first, testing the door as if expecting someone to jump out of it when it
popped open. When nothing happened, he stuck his head in the cab of the truck, emerging a moment later with a set of keys dangling
from his finger. “It looks like we’re in business.”

“Thank God.” Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. “Come on, Julia – you can sit in the middle.”

Conrad tossed the first GPS into the woods before climbing in the truck. Julia sat rigidly between them. Rachel melted into the seat, her weary body grateful for rest. As he fired the car to life and pulled onto the road, Rachel tried to figure out how best to help
Julia.

“I think I’m the one who killed that man,” Rachel told her. “I’d stabbed him just as you hit him. Besides, you were protecting me.”

Julia nodded but didn’t speak. She closed her eyes and leaned against Rachel, who took that to mean the discussion was over.
Conrad fiddled with the radio. The country song they’d listened to on their wedding night floated out of the speakers, and Rachel smiled.

“It’s our song.”

“Is that our song?” he asked, a hint of a tired smile on his face.

“It is,” she informed him.

“It’s a good song.”

They rode the rest of the way in silence. They all had too much to process for conversation. Rachel was torn between guilt over
handing her sister a knife and relief over the same action. She worried Julia would always have the image of that man seared into her brain, but Rachel didn’t want to think about what would have happened if they’d been able to get their hands on Julia.

They stopped for the night in Tupelo, Mississippi. They booked one room with two double beds, even though that meant Conrad’s feet would hang off the end. While Julia took a shower and changed into the pajamas Veronica had left in the car for her, Conrad and Rachel sat wearily on the edge of the bed, watching the nightly news.

“So, the last time we were in Tupelo, could you ever have
imagined that our next visit would be like this?” Conrad sighed.

Rachel gave half a laugh. “The last time we were in Tupelo, you would have had a hard enough time convincing me that by our next visit, we’d be married and I’d be pining for babies and a nice, quiet life with chickens in the yard.”

“You want chickens now, too?”

“They grew on me,” she admitted.

“Wait until you see the babies in the spring.”

“Um, there is something incredibly sexy about you talking about baby chickens.”

“I’ll have to remember that under different circumstances,”
Conrad mused.

“I wasn’t suggesting you use it as pillow talk,” she was quick to clarify. “Just observing.”

“Duly noted. You’re up for a shower.”

“You can go next,” she offered out of obligation, really wanting the next shower.

“Go.”

“Thanks.” She didn’t offer a second time.

Rachel hurried through her shower, knowing Conrad had to be
sore and tired. She did take the time to remove the contacts she’d put in that morning, placing them in the case Rick had given her for
them. She’d forgotten them until just now, and her eyes were screaming in protest. When she rejoined Conrad and Julia in the room, she felt much better, almost like the events of the evening must surely have been a bad dream.

“Hey, Rachel. Could you take a look at something for me real quick?” Conrad asked casually as he headed for the bathroom.

Julia wrinkled her nose. “Ew. Don’t do that while I’m in the room.”

“Sweetie, I couldn’t do that right now if I wanted to,” Rachel assured her. “I’ll be right back.”

Curious, she followed Conrad into the bathroom, closing the door behind them. He took off his shirt, wincing at the movement as he did.

“Oh, sweetheart. You poor thing.” Rachel bent over to inspect the wound in his side, mentally chiding herself for not noticing the
blood on his shirt. “Was this a knife?”

“I didn’t ask. I think so.”

“Smart ass.”

“Do you think it needs anything?” He tried to maneuver to examine the wound but gave up.

“Other than to be cleaned and closed, you mean?”

“Now who’s the smart ass?”

Rachel ignored his comment. “Do we have a first aid kit?”

“It’s in my bag.” He licked his cracked lips, leaning heavily
against
the counter. Rachel paused to really assess him for the first time since all
hell had broken loose. She was so used to taking his strength for
granted, but now it was apparent that he was hurting. His beautiful body was
bruised and cut in several places. His face and hands were covered in soot and dirt and blood. Mostly, he just looked tired. Rachel wondered if Atlas had carried as heavy a load as Conrad did at the
moment.

“I’ll be right back,” she promised softly, slipping out the door.

“What’s wrong with Conrad?” Julia demanded the instant
Rachel reappeared in the room.

“He’ll be okay. He’s just got a few bumps and bruises. If I’m in the bathroom a while, I promise I’m just bandaging him up.”

Julia nodded but didn’t respond. She seemed shaken, probably struggling with Conrad’s humanity just as Rachel had.

Rachel found the first aid kit quickly and returned to Conrad, though she insisted he allow her to help him clean off before
bandaging him up.

“I can shower myself,” he protested.

“Humor me.”

“You’re dressed and dry.”

“I can undress and dry off again,” she countered.

“I’m injured, not dead. If you undress, I can’t vouch for my
actions after.”

“If you can feel frisky tonight, then… I’m impressed. I don’t
know what else to say. Now strip.”

“I think you’re the one feeling frisky, and you’re hiding it under the guise of playing doctor.”

“I figure I should stick with the tried and true, you know?” Rachel played along, turning on the shower while he slid out of his pants.

She tossed her own clothes aside while he stepped into the
shower.
When she joined him under the water, he shook his head sadly.
“This should be happening under very different circumstances.”

Rachel shook her head and rolled her eyes, choosing to soap up a washcloth rather than comment. She washed him tenderly, afraid she’d hurt him. Every time he sucked in his breath, she froze, never sure if it was passion or pain that had caused the reaction.

“You’re killing me,
diable
femme
.”

“I doubt that.” She swatted his hand away when he tried to distract her from her task. “Stop it or you’re on your own.”

“This is torture.”

“I’m trying not to get that wound all soapy, but you’re filthy. Besides, I can’t see what’s bruise and what’s dirt until you’re clean. Settle down.”

“
Diable femme
,” he accused again.

“Big baby,” she tossed back, turning off the shower and stepping out to wrap a towel around herself.

“You’re not very nice when you’re tired.”

“Tired and traumatized. I think it’s only fair to add the second adjective,” she countered, dabbing at him with yet another towel.

He grabbed another towel off the shelf, and Rachel stepped back to allow him room to wrap it around his waist.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner that you were hurt?” She moved back in to dab at him with the towel again.

“You’d have started fretting over me, and I didn’t want to worry Julia.”

“You act like I’m a silly mother hen,” Rachel protested.

“Says the woman drying me off by dabbing me with a towel.”

Rachel stopped to glare at him, throwing the towel on the
ground at his feet. “That was incredibly rude.”

“You know I love you.” His grin was most likely intended to get
him out of trouble, and it was working. He captured her hand in his, pulling her closer to him so they stood just shy of skin on skin before
taking her lower lip between his teeth, gently tugging it as his free arm wrapped around her waist. She allowed herself one unhurried
kiss before placing a hand on his chest.

“Conrad.”

“Yes?” his seductive voice rumbled low.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Damn it.”

Rachel’s mouth crooked into a small grin. She used the window of opportunity to move away from him, grabbing the first aid kit to see what supplies she had and laying them out on the counter.

She pressed some clean gauze against the wound, instructing him to hold it in place while she doctored the easier wounds. There
was
enough bruising over his ribs to make her wonder if he’d broken
them.
She explored each rib with her fingers, not feeling any fractures, though admittedly she had only instinct to tell her what they were
supposed to feel like.

When the first round of gauze was soaked, she switched it, again instructing him to apply pressure while she finished her other work. Once she was confident she’d done her best with the smaller wounds, Rachel turned her attention to cleaning the bigger one. It
had stopped
bleeding, so she used butterfly bandages to hold it closed before covering those with more gauze and taping over the whole thing.
She didn’t know if that was the right thing to do, but it looked good to her.

“All done,” she finally announced, satisfied with her handiwork. She shimmied back into her nightgown while he slid on his pajama
bottoms.

He caught her by the hand when she went to open the bathroom door. She opened her mouth to protest, but he quickly promised, “No funny business. Just come here for a minute.”

She nodded, allowing him to pull her closer without a fight. He
cupped her face with his hands, looking down into her eyes with
such tenderness that it made Rachel want to cry.

He brushed a gentle kiss against her lips and whispered, “Thank you.”

“I just put a big Band-Aid on it,” she admitted. “I could have
totally done it wrong, too.”

“No,” he chuckled. “Tonight, when the house exploded. You
were going back for me. As scared as you were, you were charging right back into hell to save me. Thank you.”

“Anytime,” she promised softly, reaching up to run a finger along his jaw. Rachel stole just one kiss before rejoining her sister in the room.

“Geez. How much bandaging did you have to do?” Julia
protested. Rachel let the complaint slide off her. She imagined Julia wasn’t in the mood to be left alone.

“Sorry,” Rachel apologized, feeling guilty for leaving Julia out there as long as they had. Conrad joined them in the room, still shirtless, giving Julia a glimpse of the battle wounds he bore.

“You look rough. No wonder it took a while.” Julia’s face
softened. “I’m sorry I crabbed at you, Rachel.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Rachel kissed her sister on the top of the head, feeling like the world’s biggest heel. It had taken longer than it should have, but she didn’t really see how she could admit that to Julia at this point.

“I don’t know about you, ladies, but I am ready for this day to be over.”

Both sighed in answer. As much as Rachel dreaded the next day, having to tell Neena what had happened to her beloved home, she was ready to put the nightmare of this particular day behind her.

“Where do you want me to sleep?” Rachel asked Julia.

Julia shooed her over to Conrad’s bed. “I’ll be okay.”

Rachel wasn’t so sure she believed her, but she also didn’t want to embarrass the girl by making a big deal out of it. She climbed into bed with Conrad, noting he’d taken the spot closest to the door.

“Good night, Julia. I love you.” Rachel realized even as she said the words that she probably didn’t say them often enough.

“I love you, too, Rachel. Good night. Good night, Conrad. Thank you for saving me tonight.”

“No worries. Good night, Julia.”

“Goodnight, Conrad. I love you.” Rachel kissed the spot on his chest closest to her.

“Goodnight, Rachel. I love you, too.” After a brief moment of
silence, Conrad added, “Goodnight, John Boy.”

“Who is John Boy?” Julia asked.

“It’s a reference to an old T.V. show,” Conrad explained as Rachel started to giggle. She could remember so clearly sitting in her office teasing Jacob about visiting his family. It felt like a lifetime ago, and
yet
it hadn’t been very long at all. Still, her entire world had drastically and permanently changed since that day. The more she thought
about it, the harder she giggled.

“I still don’t get it,” Julia complained, causing Rachel to laugh even harder.