Fires of Autumn (21 page)

Colt could
see it wasn’t an unwelcome embrace.  Casey and the woman hugged fiercely and
Casey started crying again.  The redhead had tissue in her hands and wiped
Casey’s face.

“He’s
going to be okay,” she insisted. “He’s just sore and he wants to go home.”

Casey was
back to sobbing. She held the tissue up to her mouth and nose as the redhead
began to pull her towards the elevators.

“What
happened?” she wept.

The
redhead pushed the elevator button, realizing that the very big man who had
followed Casey in from the parking lot was still following them. Riley wasn’t
sure if the man was with Casey or just happened to be going in their direction.

“He was
going to Jackson’s house and just wasn’t paying attention,” she told her sister.
“The woman that hit him is a wreck. She’s come to the hospital every day to
bring him gifts and to make sure he’s okay.  She said he just jumped out in
front of her.”

The
elevator door opened and Casey growled angrily as she stepped on with Colt behind
her. “That’s so typical of him,” she said furiously. “He never looks where he’s
going. I swear, I’m going to kill him.”

Riley
wriggled his eyebrows. “He knows he’s in trouble.”

“Has
Dennis been here?”

“He’s with
him right now.”

Casey
sniffled, wiping at her eyes, suddenly realizing that Colt was right beside
her.  “Oh, my gosh,” she sighed, putting her hand on Colt’s arm. “Riley, this
is Colt Sheridan.   Colt, this is my sister, Riley.  Sorry I was so rude and
didn’t introduce you two right away.”

Colt grinned
at Riley. “No worries,” he said. “I sort of figured out who she was. Nice to
meet you, Riley.”

Riley took
a second look at the very big and very handsome man with his arm around her
sister. She shook his extended hand. “Nice to meet you also,” she said.  Then,
realization dawned. “
You’re
Colt Sheridan?”

His grin
broadened. “I see my reputation precedes me,” he teased. “I’m famous with the
Cleburne clan.”

Riley
grinned, already liking his sense of humor about their familial relations.
“Maybe,” she teased back, wondering what the man was doing with her sister and
wondering why he had his arm around her. “You’d better watch out.  We don’t
like your kind around here.”

Colt
laughed, looking at Casey. “Is that right?” he wanted to know. “You don’t like
my kind?”

Casey
grinned, putting her head against his chest and wrapping her arms around his
waist. “I like your kind just fine,” she said, then looked at her sister. “You
may as well know. Colt and I were married last week.”

Riley’s
eyes nearly burst out of her skull. “What the
hell
?”

Casey
giggled as Colt wrapped his big arms around her. “Just kidding,” she said.
“We’re going to wait a little while before we unite the north and the south.”

Riley just
looked at the pair, realization dawning. It was very apparent from the
affection going on between them. “So…,” she pointed fingers. “You two…?”

Casey
nodded. “Sorry I haven’t really had time to tell you,” she said. “Things have
been kind of busy.”

Riley went
from surprised to stricken. “Lies!” she exclaimed softly as the elevator came
to a halt. “You were home all last week and you never said a word!”

The doors
open and Casey charged out. “That’s because there wasn’t anything to tell,” she
insisted. “It happened kind of fast.”

Riley
followed her sister out of the elevator with Colt tagging along behind the
pair. “I’m going to kill you,” Riley hissed at Casey. “I’m going to smash you
in to smithereens when I get the chance for springing this on me.”

Casey
pointed at Colt, a rather smug look on her face. “You can’t touch me,” she
said, “because he’ll protect me. He can kill you twenty different ways and
never leave a trace.  So
there
.”

Riley
pretended she was angry when the truth was that she was thrilled.
Deeply-protected Casey had apparently let herself feel something. Riley took
another look at Colt Sheridan, a truly handsome and spectacular male specimen,
and narrowed her eyes threateningly at him.  He grinned, causing her to break
down in a smile as she caught up with her sister to direct her to the right
unit.

“He’s over
here,” she said.

They ended
up in a regular children’s ward and not the ICU, a unit that was decorated with
purple lions and pink monkeys.  Brody Nantz had been moved out of ICU the night
before and was in the very last room, his arm and shoulder casted, and a big
bruise on his forehead.  Casey walked into the room and suddenly, the brave
young man turned into a weepy child.  Casey went straight to her son, putting
her arms around him as much as she was able. The kid looked like a mess with
casts and tubes all over him.

“It’s
okay,” she kissed his head. “I’m here. Everything’s okay.”

Brody was
trying very hard to be brave, giving in to his mother’s comfort.  Casey pulled
back to look him over, inspecting the wrappings and I.V.’s.

“So I hear
you have a broken arm and a broken collar bone,” she said.

The
handsome young man nodded. “That happened when I put my arm out to stop my
fall,” he said. “I heard the bones break.”

Casey made
a face of disgust. “Gross,” she said, seriously inspecting his head, face,
running a hand over his bruised forehead. “But you’re okay?”

Brody
nodded.  “The doctor says I can go home in a couple of days.”

Casey’s
smile faded. “Why a couple of days?”

“Because
of the head injury.”

Brody
hadn’t answered; the reply had come from behind. Casey turned to the sound of
the voice, seeing Dennis Nantz rising from the chair against the wall. She
hadn’t noticed him when she came in. Blond, well built and very handsome, he
smiled amiably at his ex-wife.

“Hi,
Dennis,” Casey said. “I didn’t see you.”

He grinned
at her; the man had a devastating grin. “I know,” he walked up on the bed,
seeing Colt standing at the foot.  He held out his hand.

“Hi,” he
introduced himself. “Dennis Nantz.”

Colt shook
the man’s hand; he was a good-looking blond devil, seemingly gentle and
friendly. That was the first impression Colt received from the man.  

“Colt
Sheridan,” he replied. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Dennis
acknowledged him pleasantly, turning back to his ex-wife. “Brody’s helmet was
destroyed in the accident,” he said. “The doctor wants to keep him a couple of
days just to make sure there are no issues.”

Casey
nodded with understanding, turning back to her son. “Is that what this big
bruise is from?” she pointed to the kid’s forehead.

Dennis
walked up beside her, looking down at his son. “Yes,” he replied. “But the
helmet did its job; it saved his skull.”

“But he’s
okay?”

“He’s
fine.”

Casey was
trying not to feel sick about it.  Now that she knew the boy was out of danger
and on the mend, she cocked her head reproachfully at her son.

“When you
get out of here, we’re going to have a long talk about skateboard safety, young
man,” she scolded lightly. “Seriously, Brody; you could have been killed.  Do
you have any idea what that would do to me?”

Brody made
a face and tried to look away from her, but he ended up looking at Colt
standing at the end of the bed.  He pointed at him with his good arm.

“Who’s the
big dude?” he asked to distract his mother.  “Did you bring him to punish me?”

Casey
laughed in spite of herself, looking at Colt.  Colt was grinning, too.  “I’m
with the Skateboard Police,” he said. “I’ve come to put you in Skateboard Jail
for doing something dumb on a skateboard and scaring your mother to death.”

Brody
cracked a grin. “No way. Really?”

Dennis and
Riley were laughing as Casey, grinning, shook her head. “This is Colt
Sheridan,” she said. “He’s the President’s Special Agent in Charge. He’s
responsible for all of the Secret Service guys who protect the President.  He
escorted me back to Washington to make sure I got here safely.”

“Oh,”
Brody looked Colt up and down, as impressed as an eight year old could be. 
Colt was a good deal bigger than his dad, who Brody once thought was the
biggest guy he’d ever seen. “Do you really protect the President?”

Colt
nodded. “I do.”

“Do you
carry a big gun?”

“Sometimes.”’

“Do you
have one of those radios that’s shoved down into your sleeve?” he lifted his
good arm, gesturing. “I’ve seen the Secret Service guys talk into their
sleeves.”

Colt
grinned. “I have a lot of radios,” he said. “I’ve got one that’s so small, I
can pin it to my collar and no one will see it.”

Brody
looked interested. He was about to ask more questions when a nurse came into
the room, looking around at all of the people.

“Looks
like a party,” she laughed, seeing a new face in Casey.  “You must be Brody’s
mother.”

Casey
nodded. “I am,” she replied. “How’s my boy?”

The nurse
looked over at the bruised young man. “Lucky,” she said frankly. “The doctor
will be in later, but Mr. Brody is very lucky. It could have been a lot worse.”

“He’s
going to recover?”

“Completely,
providing he stays clear of cars and skateboards.”

Casey felt
vastly better.  The nurse reassured her that Brody would be fine and so did the
doctor when he came by later that afternoon.  Meanwhile, Casey planted herself
in a chair next to her son and refused to leave, even when Colt tried to coax
her to go out and get a little dinner with him.  So Colt went with Dennis and
Riley down to the hospital cafeteria, leaving Riley and Dennis down there to
eat while he brought dinner up to Casey.  He sat with her and Brody, eating
sandwiches and coming to know a young man who was still convinced his mother
was going to let him ride his skateboard after all of this.   He was a very
smart kid, and very wily.  Colt kind of liked that.

When
visiting hours were ended, Casey was forced to leave but she did so under
protest.  Dennis had left just after dinner, so Riley and Colt escorted Casey
down to the parking lot and made sure she got to her car, preventing her from
pulling a stunt out of an ‘I Love Lucy’ episode and sneaking back up to her
son’s room to spend the night with him.  

Riley
headed for home in her own car as Colt wrapped Casey up in his big arms and
held her close.

“So now
what?” she asked softly, her head against his chest. “Where are you going?”

He sighed
faintly. “Not where I want to go.”

“What do
you mean?”

“I want to
go home with you.  Casey, I don’t want to go to my empty townhouse. I want to
go with you.”

She looked
up at him, putting her warm hands on his cheeks. “Then come over later,” she
said softly. “Go home, unpack, and come over later. I’ll introduce you to
Hunter. You can hang out with us for awhile.”

He smiled.
“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Pleased,
he nodded. “Okay,” he said. “But you need to tell me where you live. You never
did tell me.”

She
laughed softly and pulled out one of her business cards from the glove box,
writing her address on the reverse side.

“There,”
she said. “Now you can find me, anytime.”

He kissed
the address on the card and then bent down and kissed her lips. “What time?”

She
lingered on the kiss. The man was a great kisser. “It’s eight o’clock now,” she
said. “Come over any time you want. We’ll be home.”

“I’ll drop
my stuff off and head over.”

“Okay.”

Now that
it was settled and he knew he’d be seeing her later, he hugged her tightly and
kissed her again.

“I love
you,” he whispered.

She closed
her eyes to the sweetness of the words, the first time he’d told her directly.
“I love you, too,” she murmured. “See you in a little bit.”

“I’ll be
there.”

When Colt
still hadn’t come by midnight, Casey called his cell phone but it went straight
to voicemail.  Concerned, and a little hurt, she left a nice message and went
to bed.

***

The
enormous house was dark except for a very small light near the downstairs
entry.  Exiting his Audi, Colt made his way to the very dark front porch of the
mansion that had stood in the same spot since the revolutionary war days.  It
was a great, cold expanse of brick and mortar, a testament to the wealth and
glory of days gone by, and also to the sheer power that the Meade family had
wielded for over one hundred and fifty years.  Before he could lift a hand to
knock, the door opened.

Mr. Meade
stood in the archway.  He didn’t even say a word to Colt; he simply opened the
door wider and admitted the man.  Closing the door softly behind him, he
silently led him into the room off the entry with the small light emitting the
only warmth in the entire house.