The Gilded Cuff (23 page)

His rough laugh teased her ears, sending a flurry of shivers dancing down her spine.

“So you’re giving me orders now?” He spanked her hard, and she jumped against his body.

He was not going to distract her. “You’re damn right I am.”

She dug her nails into his shoulders in retaliation for her stinging bottom.

Leaning into her, crowding her against the tile, his lips curved in a smile against her mouth as he stole a kiss. When she tried to deepen it, he pulled back.

“Not that I don’t want to continue this
discussion
, but we’ve got to get to the hospital. I need you to watch over Cody while I talk to the police.”

Finally, Emery would allow her to carry part of his burden. Her love for him only strengthened, like an ever growing oak tree, the roots sinking deeper, lodging in the rich soil.

“Okay.” She smoothed her hands up his arms, over his shoulders and around his neck, pulling him back down for one more kiss.

S
ophie had never been a fan of hospitals. The pungent aroma of death and the scent of sterile disinfectants made her stomach churn. Emery walked with long purposeful strides beside her. His face was a mask of stone, betraying no emotion, but his jaw popped once or twice as they headed down the hall to Cody’s room. The last time Emery had been here must have been when they’d brought him in after he’d escaped Antonio. Sophie’s throat burned as she imagined the little boy, scared and hurt, with his brother dead. Her hand sought his as she laced her fingers through his, tightening her hold. He didn’t react except to shut his eyes for a second before opening them again.

At the end of the hall, Royce sat in a stiff-looking metal chair with a stack of papers in his lap. A red pen cap jutted out from between his lips as his pen skated across the top of the page. He glanced up through weary eyes. Relief softened the stress that tightened his features as he watched them approach. He blinked, scrubbed his face with his hands, capped his pen and dropped the papers on top of a worn leather briefcase next to his chair. He stood as they reached him.

“How is he?” Emery asked in a hushed tone.

Royce grimaced. “Not good. He’s quiet, which isn’t like him. The doctor said he’s out of the woods, but the healing will take time…” He rubbed his neck, glanced away before his eyes returned to Emery. “The man who took Cody…he shattered his hand with a metal mallet. Most of the bones were broken, even the small ones. It may be years before he gets control back over his hand, if ever. The doctor is worried about nerve damage, too.”

“Christ.” Emery hissed under his breath.

“Yeah. That’s not all. He’s got broken ribs, a broken leg, bruising all over his body. The kid took one hell of a beating. If I ever get my hands on the bastard who—”

“He’s mine. You can finish off whatever pieces I leave behind.” Emery growled low, like an alpha wolf issuing a challenge. A storm brewed behind his eyes. Tension emanated from him like static sparks.

Desperate to distract him, Sophie spoke. “Is Cody allowed to have visitors?”

Both men focused on her. After a moment Royce nodded. “Yes. Go on in.”

Emery pushed the door open, then put a gentle hand on Sophie’s back as he ushered her into the room first.

Cody was in a bed, blankets tucked around him, except for one of his legs, which was in traction. White wires and clear tubes were everywhere, connecting to bags and IVs in Cody’s arms. A saline bag hung from a metal rod by the bed and several machines beeped, sending numbers skipping across their black screens. Cody’s head was angled toward the window, but he turned to face them as they approached.

It took everything in Sophie not to cry out, not to run over and hug him. Black and purple bruises covered his face, and one eye was swollen shut. She could barely recognize the handsome carefree man she’d come to care so much about.

“You start to cry, babe, and we’ll have a problem.” Cody’s raspy voice ended on a rough chuckle.

She answered him with a watery laugh and went to him, pulling up a chair by his bedside. She blinked away the stinging tears, refusing to let them fall, and smiled.

“Well, I’m sorry, but you look like crap,” she teased, knowing humor would make him feel better.

Cody cracked a grin, even if it was one obviously faded with pain. He switched his attention to Emery. “Hey, bossman.”

Emery reached out as though to touch Cody, but froze inches from his shoulder and pulled his hand back. His hazel eyes swirled with a torrent of greens and browns, matching the array of emotions that warred on his face.

“You had me worried.” Emery finally spoke.

“I always worry you.” Cody winced and flattened a hand over his chest. “Emery, could you get me a cup of coffee? Nurse Ratchet won’t let me have anything besides water, but I need caffeine.”

“I’ll go.” Sophie started to rise, but Cody’s left hand, the unbroken one, caught her arm, the grip surprisingly tight for someone so wounded.

“Stay, Sophie. Looking at you makes me feel better.” Cody shot a more energetic grin at his employer and friend.

“Why?” she asked.

“You’re hot, babe.” Cody shot a wicked smirk at his boss.

“Cody, find your own hot woman to drool over.” A war of looks began between the two men, half sneers and mockingly threatening scowls.

“Can’t. Stuck in this damn bed. So I’ll borrow yours.”

Sophie found herself wanting to laugh as she watched them engage each other. It was like watching two brothers feinting back and forth in a play fight.

Emery’s face softened. “I’ll get your coffee. Don’t think you can seduce my woman from me while I’m gone.”

Emery left the room, much less stiff than when he’d entered.

The second the door shut behind him, Cody was even more alert, more like his old self. He fished through his blankets, cursing when his right hand, so heavily bandaged that it looked more like a giant white bear paw, kept getting in the way. Finally, near his hip he found what he was looking for and pulled out a Swiss Army pocketknife.

“Here, take this. Show it to no one. Especially not Emery.”

Her heart dipped low, the beat erratic as she stared at the small pocket knife.

“What is it?” She opened her palm as he set the knife in it, closing her fingers protectively around it.

“There’s a USB flash drive on there. Antonio had a laptop in the room where he held me. After he left me to die, I got on the computer and copied the hard drive. Whatever was on there, we have it now. The computer was destroyed when the place blew to hell.”

Sophie’s lips parted as she drew in a quick breath. Blood pumped wildly in her ears.

This was huge. Beyond huge! They had a chance to anticipate Antonio’s next move. Maybe even figure out where he was getting his intel on Emery, assuming they could get anything from the flash drive.

“Why can’t we tell Emery?” Surely he should be the first to know…

Cody’s face drained of color. His gaze floated to the ceiling, then slowly drifted back down, reluctantly, to her.

“Fenn may be alive. Antonio said he’d been looking for Fenn for years. Why would you look for a dead child, unless that child wasn’t dead?”

Her throat stopped working and she forced an uncomfortable swallow as more shock rocketed through her. Fenn alive?

“Oh god!” Her hands flew to her mouth, stifling her cry of shock. “If we tell him and it turns out Fenn is dead or if Antonio gets to Fenn before we do and kills him, then it will be the last straw for Emery. I know he wouldn’t be able to survive losing Fenn a second time.”

Cody was right. They couldn’t tell Emery. There was only so much devastation and tragedy a heart could withstand. If Rachel were suddenly alive and taken yet again before Sophie’s very eyes, Sophie would never be able to get past that.
Never
. Hope could bring the most horrific trauma to a soul, more so than any other torture someone could endure. It reminded her of the story Granny Bells used to tell about Pandora’s box. The box had unleashed all of the world’s worst nightmares, but it always also released hope into the world.

Emery needed hope, but Sophie wouldn’t dare give it to him, if there was even one chance he’d have it ripped from him.

“If we can find Fenn and get him to safety, then we could tell Emery, right?” she asked. “I could go, since you need to rest and Hans needs to watch Emery’s back.”

“Great plan in theory. But you’re forgetting Emery won’t let you out of his sight,” Cody pointed out with a knowing grin.

The momentary rush of optimism at her plan faded. “True. He’s a little overprotective.” She tucked the pocketknife into her purse, mulling over the dilemma. Then it hit her.

“Royce or Wes could go. I bet one of them would jump at the chance to help out.”

Cody brightened. “That could work.”

The strain in Sophie’s shoulders eased until Cody spoke again.

“We have to work fast. Antonio was supposed to catch a plane to Colorado this morning. That’s where he thinks Fenn is.”

“How do you know that?”

Cody shrugged. “I got him to talk. Villains love to ramble. He figured I’d be dead and wouldn’t be able to repeat what he said. Plus, that dude was making mincemeat of my body parts and I needed to have something else to think about besides the pain.”

Neither of them spoke for a long moment, the weight of what had almost happened seemed a tangible force, pressing down on them. If Emery and Hans had been there a moment later…if she’d begged him to stay or to take her with them it might have cost them those few precious seconds and they would have all been dead. It was a sobering thought.

Their gazes met and held just as Cody opened his mouth to speak, but the hospital room door was opened and Emery strode in, his hands full with three coffee cups.

“Coffee for you.” He set one cup down on the tan tray table that stretched across the hospital bed.

Cody lifted up his bandaged right hand, cursed and switched so his left hand caught the coffee. He downed a large gulp, and then set the cup aside with a blissful sigh of relief.

“Nectar of the gods,” he said dreamily. Emery and Sophie exchanged relieved looks. Cody was a mess, but he’d be all right.

“Sophie, I got you some hot tea.” He handed her the second of two cups, which she took gratefully. The hot Styrofoam warmed her hands, dispelling some of the October chill which seemed determined to keep her fingers frozen.

Emery took a sip of his coffee. “I spoke to the police.” His brows lowered as he seemed to be mulling over whatever he’d said to the officers. “There wasn’t much to say so it was a short conversation. I told them you were kidnapped. They’ll want a description of the man who took you, Cody. Tell them the truth, but leave out any connection to my kidnapping.”

“Okay,” Cody agreed quietly.

Sophie pursed her lips. No matter how short his conversation had been, talking to the police had obviously unsettled him. She didn’t like the faraway look in his eyes just then, or how the knuckles of his free hand were white where he gripped the frame of the hospital bed.

She turned her attention back to Cody.

“When do the doctors think you’ll be ready to come home?”

Home. Funny, she hadn’t expected to fall so in love with Emery’s home to the point that she thought of it as hers, too. But it was true. She’d never felt more connected to a place in her life. The apartment back in Kansas had never been home. Instead it was a rest stop on the way to where she was meant to be. Arriving at Lockwood Manor that first night…that had been like coming home. Emery had been right beside her, his body pressed flush to hers as they’d passed through the gates and entered the realm of her dreams, a world where she could be happy, she could belong. She suppressed a shiver of longing. If only it were true. But Lockwood wasn’t her home. She was there only for a story and only for a short time. Emery hadn’t been interested in keeping her around for long, and certainly not forever. He’d given her no indication that he wanted her to stay with him. Sophie was a fool for wishing he’d change his mind.

Cody’s groan brought her back to reality.

“The doctor said three weeks at least, plus therapy. Boss, work your magic and jail break me. I can’t stand much more of the food in this place. And Nurse Ratchet keeps taking my cell phone away and says I shouldn’t be texting with my one good hand or I’ll get carpel tunnel.” Cody’s eyes widened slightly and he lifted his lips in a hopeful smile.

Emery set his coffee down and crossed his arms over his chest, giving the younger man a commanding look. “I want you here at least another full day. After that we’ll see about getting you out.”

Cody moaned dramatically and dropped his head back onto the mountain of pillows. “You’re a cold-hearted man, boss.”

Despite his attitude, Sophie could have sworn a smile flickered across his face for an instant.

While she felt bad for Cody having to remain here, she was relieved Emery was being protective. With the extent of the young man’s injuries, it was still unwise to let him leave. Another day under the doctor’s watchful eyes couldn’t hurt.

Emery’s mouth kicked up in a crooked smile. “Just think of all the Jell-O you get to eat.” As he spoke he picked up a plastic spoon and nudged a green Jell-O cup in Cody’s direction on the tray table near the bed.

“I’d rather be at home with my laptop and a cheeseburger,” Cody grumbled, but he picked up the Jell-O. His eyes flicked to Sophie, a flare of meaning blooming for a split second as he reminded her of the USB flash drive in her pocket. She shot a glance at Emery, her heartbeat cantering madly as she prayed he wouldn’t notice her reaction to Cody’s silent message.

“Well, we should go.” Emery rose, stretched long arms over his head, a yawn escaping him as he turned in her direction. “Hans is ready for discharge and Wes is going to follow us home to just to keep an eye on things. Cody, Royce will be outside if you need anything.”

Cody opened his mouth, a wicked glint in his eyes, but Emery cut him off. “And no, he’s not bringing any women, alcohol, or electronics. You need to sleep.”

“Well damn,” Cody moaned and collapsed back on his pillows. “You sure know how
not
to show a guy a good time. I’ll die of boredom before they ever let me out of this hell hole.”

Sophie rose from her chair, kissed Cody’s cheek. “Rest up.”

He caught her elbow, as though embracing her gently so he could whisper. “Keep me in the loop.”

Emery gave a warning growl, but it had little bite to it. “Get some sleep.”

He gave Cody a commanding glare. It was stern, but layered just beneath were softer emotions—love, concern, the determination to protect. He was forever shocking her with his tenderness. Emery wanted the world to see a stoic, reclusive man with no weak spots, no vulnerabilities. But he gave himself away in every breath, in every touch and look for those he loved.