Sean's Reckoning (10 page)

Not until he was on solid ground again did the rush of adrenaline fade. He barely made it to where the paramedics were working on Hank before collapsing.

“He going to be okay?” Sean demanded, his voice hoarse.

“Looks as if he might have broken an ankle,” Cal Watkins replied. “Smoke inhalation, too, but he’ll make it.” He looked over at Sean. “What about you?”

“I’m fine,” Sean insisted.

Cal frowned at him. “Yeah, you sound fine, like you’ve been smoking for about a hundred years and have no lung capacity left.” He slapped an oxygen mask over Sean’s face, then peered at him more intently. “A couple of minor burns on that handsome face, too. Don’t worry, though, they’ll just give you a little character. You can hitch a ride to the hospital in the same ambulance with Hank.”

Sean hadn’t even felt the burns. Now, though, with the adrenaline wearing off and relief coursing through him that Hank was going to be okay, he was beginning to feel the pain. It wasn’t the knock-you-on-your-butt pain some of the other guys had described after burn injuries, but it was bad enough to keep him from arguing about the ride to the hospital. Besides, one glance at his lieutenant’s fierce expression told him he’d be better off in the emergency room than facing the storm that was brewing over his decision to go into that burning structure not just once, but twice, in direct defiance of orders.

Thanks to plenty of repeat visits to various fallen firefighters, Sean had a passing acquaintance with
most of the burn specialists at the hospital. It was the first time, though, that he’d been on the receiving end of their attention. They were like a bunch of mother hens. He kept explaining that he could go home, but before he knew it he was upstairs in a room with a grumbling Hank in the bed next to his and a male nurse who looked like a linebacker for the New England Patriots stationed at the door.

He tried the phone, but calls were blocked. He turned to the nurse. “I don’t suppose you could get this phone turned on, could you?” he asked. He really needed to call Ryan in case word leaked out about his injuries. He debated a call to Deanna, but decided it could wait until after daybreak. She needed her sleep.

“I’ll have a phone hooked up in here in the morning,” the nurse said.

Sean tried his best smile. “It’s almost morning now. What difference will a couple of hours make?”

“The orders are on your chart. No calls. No visitors till morning. You both need some rest.”

“What about the old man we pulled out of that building? How’s he doing?”

The nurse shrugged. “Haven’t heard.”

“Couldn’t you find out?” he coaxed. “After all, we risked our lives to save him. I’d sleep better knowing he’s going to be okay.”

The man scowled, but finally relented. “I’ll check. You stay put.”

As soon as he was gone, Sean slid out of bed, cursing the indignity of the hospital gown that was flapping around him. He made it as far as the door, opened it and peeked out, when a familiar scent caught his attention. He looked up straight into Deanna’s worried face. Ruby was right on her heels.

“Going somewhere?” Deanna inquired lightly.

“Looking for a phone that works,” he admitted, surprised by how glad he was to see her.

“Not to call me, though, right? It wouldn’t occur to you that Ruby and I might hear about the fire and panic.”

He frowned at her tone. She was clearly angry. “It’s not morning yet. The local news isn’t on, and I doubt this fire was big enough to make CNN.”

“Actually, your boss called because Hank asked him to,” Ruby said. “He also tried to let Ryan know you were here.”

Sean didn’t even try to hide his shock. “The lieutenant called you and my brother?”

“That’s the one,” Deanna said. “Nice man. Seems to understand the importance of keeping friends and family informed.”

“Of course, the staff has kept us cooling our heels out here in the hall,” Ruby complained. “But now that you’ve tried to make a break for it, I figure we can come inside and prevent any more attempted escapes. Out of my way, handsome. I need to see for myself that Hank’s in one piece.”

She pushed past Sean and left him standing there to face a still-indignant Deanna.

“I would have let you know what happened,” he swore. “You weren’t in great shape yourself last night. I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Nice try, but I’m not buying it. Who were you about to call? And don’t try to pretend it was me.”

“Ryan, actually.”

She nodded. “Good choice. Give me the number. I’ll try him again. I’ll tell him to come by in a couple of hours after you’ve had some sleep.”

For a woman who’d collapsed herself not twelve hours earlier, she sounded amazingly strong. And she didn’t seem inclined to take no for an answer. Sean didn’t know quite what to make of this new, take-charge woman who was facing him down. This woman didn’t look as if she needed anyone to rescue her. She looked more like an avenging angel herself.

“Where’s Kevin?” he asked.

“Asleep in the waiting room right over there.”

“Take him home. As you can see for yourself, I’m fine.”

She reached up as if to touch his face, then pulled back, her eyes filling with unexpected tears. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“Surface burns,” he said, clasping her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “They’ll heal before you know it.”

“It could have been worse,” she said with a shudder.

“But it wasn’t.”

“I heard the whole story. The lieutenant’s mad as hell, but he said you saved two lives tonight—Hank’s and the old man’s.”

Sean sighed with relief. “He’s going to make it, then. I just sent the nurse out to check.”

“Yeah, sure. You sent the nurse out so you could make a break for it.”

He grinned. “That, too.”

“I thought you said Hank was the danger junkie,” Deanna said, her frown back in place. “But the lieutenant says you’re the one who took all the chances tonight.”

“Calculated risks,” Sean insisted. “There’s a difference.” To his chagrin, the night’s events finally
caught up with him and his knees almost gave way. He reached for the doorjamb, but Deanna was right there, putting his arm around her shoulder and leading him back into the room, muttering a stream of surprisingly colorful curses all the way. He grinned.

“I hope you don’t use that language around Kevin,” he said.

“Of course not.” She scowled at him. “He never deserves it.”

“And I do?”

She settled him onto his bed and pulled up the sheet as if she were tucking in her son. This time when she reached out to Sean, she did touch him, smoothing his hair gently back from his forehead.

“Yes,” she said softly. “I think you do.”

Sean sighed, relaxing at last. He let his eyes drift shut.

“Not supposed to be this way,” he murmured. “Supposed to be looking out for you.”

“Oh, Sean, don’t you realize you have people who care about you now?” Deanna whispered. “People who would be devastated if anything happened to you?”

Her fierce words drifted into his subconscious and he finally fell asleep, a smile on his lips.

D
espite assurances that Sean was going to be fine and that he’d probably be released from the hospital by midday, Deanna refused to budge from his bedside. Ruby was just as adamant about staying beside Hank. Deanna left the room only long enough to get her son. Kevin crept in from the waiting room, studied Sean intently as if to satisfy himself that his hero was okay, then fell back to sleep in a chair in the corner.

Deanna had never in her life been as terrified as she had been the night before when the lieutenant had called to inform Ruby about the fire. Nor had she ever seen Ruby as shaken. Despite the lieutenant’s reassurances that both men were going to make it, neither Ruby or Deanna had hesitated before dragging on clothes and heading for the hospital to see the men for themselves.

“I’ve never felt this wiped out in my life,” Ruby mumbled from across the room.

“It’s been a long night. We should probably go home, shower and go to work,” Deanna said half-heartedly.

Ruby looked at her as if she were crazy. “I’m not going anywhere. Give me some change. I’ll call the office and explain things to Charlotte the snake.”

Deanna managed a weak grin at the venomous but fitting nickname. “You really need to stop calling her that. One of these days you’re going to say it in front of her.”

“Well, she is a snake,” Ruby retorted. “Just look what she did to you, making you take the rap for that report that didn’t get mailed to the other law firm. I guarantee she’ll never own up to that to Hodges.”

“She’s been better since then,” Deanna said. “Haven’t you noticed? She actually says good morning when she comes in, and adds please and thank you to her commands.”

“Only because she’s terrified you’re going to rat her out to Hodges,” Ruby insisted.

“Hey, ladies, could you keep it down? My head’s killing me,” Hank muttered hoarsely.

Ruby was on her feet in an instant, the expression on her face a dead giveaway. Deanna wondered if Hank could see it. Was he smart enough to see all the love Ruby would willingly shower on him, if only he was ready for it?

“Hey, beautiful.”

Sean’s voice drew Deanna’s attention away from the other couple. She smiled at him. “Now I know your injuries were more severe than they’re saying, if you think I’m beautiful.”

“You are beautiful.” He started to sit up, then winced and fell back down. “Have you been here all night?”

“Yes.”

“Kevin?”

She gestured toward the corner. “Sound asleep.”

“Go home.”

“Trying to get rid of me after I’ve invested all this time and energy worrying about you?” she teased.

“You fainted last night. You need to be in bed, too.” A devilish grin crept over his face. He patted the bed beside him. “Of course, there’s plenty of room here.”

Deanna laughed. “I don’t think so. By the way, after you fell asleep I tried to reach your brother. There was no answer at the apartment, so I left a message on the answering machine at the pub. Somebody named Rory called here a little while ago and spoke to the nurse. He says Ryan and Maggie went away for a couple of days, but they’ll be back this afternoon and he’ll let them know what happened.”

“Thanks.” He glanced across the room toward Hank. “Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?”

Hank’s pithy response had them all grinning.

“Watch your language,” Sean said, sobering. “Kevin’s here.”

Hank winced. “Sorry.” He fell silent, his expression unreadable. “Hey, buddy, I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Sean said. “You’d have done the same for me.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you risked your life to come back after me.”

“I’m the one responsible for you being in that
building in the first place. If I hadn’t been so damned stubborn, you’d never have been in danger.”

Deanna heard the unmistakable regret in Sean’s voice and knew that he’d have been tormented for the rest of his life if he hadn’t gotten Hank out alive. She reached for his hand and squeezed.

“Just be grateful you’re both here to tell the tale,” she said. “You can’t go back and change the past.”

Sean studied her intently. “Something you might want to remember, as well,” he said lightly.

Before she could reply, Kevin yawned widely, blinked and stared around the room until his gaze fell on Sean.

“Hey, Sean,” he said sleepily.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Wearing socks but no sneakers, Kevin padded over to the side of the bed, his gaze immediately drawn to Sean’s injured face. “Does that hurt?”

“Not too much.”

Kevin nodded, his expression thoughtful. “Still, I’m thinking maybe I don’t want to be a firefighter after all. You can get hurt real bad.”

“Knocked off your pedestal already,” Hank teased Sean.

Deanna saw a flicker of sorrow in Sean’s eyes, but he managed a grin. “You’ve got a lot of years before you have to decide what you want to be,” she told her son.

“Maybe it would be cool to be a doctor,” Kevin said.

Ruby grinned at him. “Then you’d have to give shots,” she teased.

Hank moaned. “Don’t go talking about shots, okay?”

Kevin’s eyes blinked wide at the evident hint of panic in Hank’s voice. Ruby and Deanna both stared at him, as Sean began to chuckle.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of shots,” Ruby said to Hank, apparently delighted by the evidence that the courageous firefighter had a very human weakness.

“What if I am?” he retorted defensively. “A healthy respect for needles seems like a perfectly normal reaction to me.”

The same nurse who’d been on guard duty during the night appeared just then and overheard Hank’s remark. “Uh-oh, don’t tell me I’m going to need restraints for this.”

Hank frowned at him. “Who the hell are you?”

“Our warden,” Sean said grimly. “I remember him from when we first came in. And judging from that tray he’s carrying, he’s armed.”

Ruby leaned down until her face was scant inches from Hank’s. “Concentrate on me. I promise you won’t feel a thing,” she said, then glanced up to wink at the nurse.

Hank opened his mouth to protest, but Ruby swooped in and kissed him just as the nurse administered the shot. Deanna glanced at Sean and saw the speculative gleam in his eyes as the nurse headed his way.

“Forget it,” she told him.

“What?”

“You’re a big boy. Take your shot like a man.”

Kevin frowned at her. “But, Mom, can’t you at least kiss it and make it better?”

“Yeah, Deanna, that’s not too much to ask, is it?” Sean coaxed. He bravely held out his arm for the shot, but kept his gaze locked with Deanna’s.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she muttered, after the nurse had finished. She bent down to press a kiss to Sean’s arm. She doubted he’d felt a thing. “Better?”

She stared into eyes twinkling with pure mischief.

“Not yet, but I think I’m getting there.” He tapped his lips. “How about another one right here?”

She planted her hands on her hips and frowned at him. “Did something happen to your mouth?”

“It hurts real bad,” he assured her.

“Liar,” she accused, but she was laughing. And oh, so tempted.

“Really, really bad.”

Knowing that the room was filled with avid spectators, she had two choices. She could ignore the teasing, plaintive note in his voice and walk right out of the room and wind up labeled as a coward. Or she could kiss him and let the man jumble her senses one more time. It was a no-brainer.

Deanna stepped closer, locked her gaze with his and bent down, stopping just as his lips parted and his breath caught. Let him wonder, she thought. Let him feel that edgy sense of anticipation that he triggered in her.

But before he could wonder or feel much of anything, his hand circled the back of her neck and drew her down until their lips met. The teasing kiss she’d intended got lost in yet another swirl of wild sensations and drugging heat.

Apparently, though, Sean was as aware as she of their audience, because he released her mere seconds after claiming her mouth. As she braced herself on the side of the bed and tried to regain her composure, he winked at her.

“I’m feeling better already,” he announced cheerfully. “How about you?”

She leaned close and whispered for his ears only, “I’m feeling an almost overwhelming need to make you pay for that.”

His laugh echoed in the room. “I can hardly wait.”

Sean was going stir-crazy. The doctors had refused to release Hank, so even though they’d released Sean around noon, he was sticking close to make sure his partner didn’t do anything foolish. He’d finally convinced Ruby, Deanna and Kevin to go home for some sleep, so there was no one to talk to except a man who growled the few responses he deigned to make. Obviously, as far as Hank was concerned, Sean was a traitor for not helping him to make a break for it.

The day nurse was a pretty young woman named Susie, a vast improvement over the scowling, muscular night nurse. In the past Sean would have wandered down to the nurses’ station and flirted with her to kill some time, but images of Deanna kept him in the chair beside Hank’s bed.

He was about to go down to the gift shop in search of some magazines, maybe even a decent book, when the door opened and Lieutenant Beatty walked in.

“Good. You’re still here,” he said to Sean, then nodded toward the sleeping Hank. “How is he?”

“Cranky but on the mend,” Sean said.

“I heard that,” Hank retorted, cracking one eye open. “Hey, Lieutenant, how’s it going?”

Their boss dragged over a chair, then looked from one to the other with a grim expression. “Here’s the thing,” he began in a tone that sent a chill up Sean’s spine. “There’s a school of thought that the two of
you deserve medals for bravery for going into that building and getting that old man out safely. If it were up to the mayor, there’d be a damned ticker tape parade.”

Sean knew it wasn’t up to the mayor. It was up to the fire chief and this man, and the lieutenant definitely did not look as if he wanted to hand out any medals.

“What’s the other option?”

“Suspension for defying not one but two direct orders.”

Sean winced. “I think I see where this is going, but I’ve got to tell you, if I had it to do over again, there’s nothing I would have done any differently.”

“Same here,” Hank said loyally.

The lieutenant’s scowl deepened. “Couldn’t you show even the tiniest hint of remorse? Give me something to work with, guys. You’re two of the best men I’ve got. I don’t want to put you out on unpaid leave.”

Sean’s gaze narrowed. “You don’t?”

“Not if I can help it, but chain of command and discipline are essential. I can’t have rogue firefighters making decisions that put their lives or the lives of others at risk. If you two had gotten yourselves killed in that fire, the buck would have stopped with me. I was the highest-ranking officer on the scene.”

Sean knew he was right. Jack Beatty was a career firefighter who’d risen through the ranks, a man who took his responsibilities seriously. He’d made a tough call under extreme pressure. That Sean’s instincts had been right was almost beside the point. He could just as easily have been wrong, and three people could have died inside that burning building.

“I couldn’t let that old man die in there, not when there was a chance I could save him,” Sean said, then
held up his hand when the lieutenant seemed about to argue. “However, I see your point. It wasn’t my call to make.”

“And next time you’ll listen to the officer in charge,” the lieutenant coaxed.

“And next time I’ll try to listen to the officer in charge, before doing something on my own,” Sean said.

Jack uttered a resigned sigh. “Close enough. I’ll speak to the mayor. You can have your medals, but he can forget the parade.”

“Was he really talking about a parade?” Hank asked.

Sean frowned at him. “Be grateful we’re not sitting on our butts doing nothing for a month.”

Hank glanced pointedly at the cast on his ankle. “I’m pretty certain I’m going to be sitting on mine, even though Jack, here, has let us off the hook.”

“Yes, but you’ll still have a paycheck,” Sean pointed out. “If you’re smart, you’ll talk Ruby into going to some romantic seaside cottage while you recuperate.”

“You’ve got plenty of vacation time coming,” the lieutenant pointed out to Sean. “You could take a break, too. I know how you hate working with anyone besides Hank, because the other men actually listen to what I tell them to do.”

Sean tried to imagine a week on Cape Cod with Deanna and Kevin. The idea held tremendous appeal, but he doubted he could get her to go for it…unless Hank and Ruby went, as well. Maybe they could convince the women this was a real mission of mercy.

“I’ll think about it,” he told the lieutenant. “And thanks for letting us off the hook this time.”

“Self-preservation,” Jack said. “Can you imagine the outcry if two men who’d saved an old man’s life ended up suspended?” He patted Hank’s shoulder, then shook Sean’s hand. “You two try to stay out of trouble, okay?”

“We always do,” Hank said solemnly.

The lieutenant shook his head. “If only that were true.”

After he’d gone, Sean felt Hank’s gaze studying him. “What?”

“You’ve got something going on in that head of yours. Care to tell me about it?”

“I was thinking about Cape Cod,” he admitted. “The five of us out there for a week. I could call a couple of people, see if there’s a house available. What do you think?”

Hank’s expression grew thoughtful. “I suppose Ruby might go for it, if you guys came along.”

“I was thinking the same about Deanna. She’ll only say yes if you and Ruby agree and we play the pity card, tell ‘em we need to recuperate from our ordeal.”

“It won’t exactly be a romantic getaway with all of us under one roof,” Hank said. “But that’s a good thing, right? Keeps things from getting too serious.”

“Right,” Sean agreed, warming to the idea. “I’m thinking a big house, lots of bedrooms.”

Hank grinned. “And if some of them don’t happen to get used, well, that’s just too bad.”

“Hey, watch it,” Sean chided. “There will be a kid present.”

“I’m injured,” Hank said pitifully. “Let me dream.”